Chapter 446 - Spider Silk Dress
With the all-powerful pillar standing there, Ludovic’s {Axe Barrage} was rendered ineffective on the second time. In the 10 seconds of channeling duration, Zhang Yang and everyone were able heal themselves with their own [Bandages] to save Han Ying Xue’s MP. 10 seconds later, everyone shot up, with Zhang Yang taking all the heat, like a indestructible punching bag.
70%...
"I will smash you into mincemeat!" as the battle dragged on, his temper tantrums got frequent. By the time that boss was damaged to 70%, its normal axe attacks were imbued with powerful forces, that the wind generated after swinging it could cause damage when it struck everyone else.
"What a disgusting face! Stupid Yu! It’s all because of you! You just HAD to knock his helmet off! Well, have a good look now! Dammit! Great…I just lost my appetite!" said Han Ying Xue.
"You dare to mock my beauty!? You’re nothing but peasants! No! You’re nothing but insects! I will never forgive you!" Ludovic continue to throw a fit.
"Buddha once said, charm is deceptive, and beauty does not last; in the face of Time, nothing will last." Zhang Yang quoted. He wanted to sound wise, but failed so miserably due his laughing, not-taking-it-seriously kind of tone.
Everyone fell silent as they did not know how to react to Zhang Yang’s random, sudden speech.
The team had 3 attackers, and Sun Xin Yu, Wei Yan Er, and Daffodil Daydream were not the average, run-of-the-mill attackers. They were the best there were, currently. With Zhang Yang matching their damage output, and the Mythical Turtle attacking, the team’s firepower was as strong as a 10-man party. Along with the inexhaustible number of Grade 10 Transmuted Power Potions in hand, the team was able to maintain a shocking amount of damage output.
Even though the materials to craft Power Potions were expensive, as the game had progressed into the Level 90 threshold, lower leveled materials, including the herbs to craft Power Potions had because less of a scarcity, hence the lower price of them. Because of that, Zhang Yang was able to find a large number of herbs in the market and purchase them all to craft Power Potions in large quantities. All Grade 9 and Grade 10 Transmuted Power Potion would be reserved for his team mates, while the rest would be placed in the Little Merchandise Shop to be sold. Some of them were also placed in the guild’s storage as a motivation to allow guild members to farm more Contribution Points in order to exchange them.
10 minutes into the battle, Ludovic had finally been hacked down to his last 20% HP.
Once his HP range had enter the {Killing Cleave} bracket, Wei Yan Er had consumed another Grade 10 Transmuted Power Potion, activating {Indiscriminate} and whacking the boss with {Killing Cleave}. Her attack had even managed to land a Critical Strike!
"I’ll be d*mned. A Berserker is really powerful!" cried Zhang Yang. Even he was impressed at the damage Wei Yan Er had just dealt.
"Yeah! I wish that other classes would have skills like {Indiscriminate}!" said Daffodil Daydream. She was slightly envious of Wei Yan Er.
"Hahaha! Relax. All classes do have that sort of skill as well!" Zhang Yang explained. "I remember a skill called, {Scorch} for Pyromancer. Upon activation, it would cause a 100% increase for all attacks on targets with 20% HP or less. It’s much better than a Warrior’s {Indiscriminate}!"
100% increase in attack is almost the same as having a 100% increase in Critical Strike. Both dealt double the original attack. However, even since a 100% increase in attack power could have the potential to have a Critical Strike. If the caster is lucky, the attack could trigger a Critical Strike which will cause the original attack to have 4 times the attack power.
"B-But…The Instructor did not teach us the skill…" said Daffodil Daydream sadly.
"Hm. In that case, it must be a skill that requires a skill book, which could be farmed from monsters!" said Zhang Yang.
The team continued blasting, hacking, stabbing and slicing. Eventually, Ludovic had reached the end of his line.
"Pests! Insects! I would never lose to such scums! I am but a royal member of the Cylonia Royal Family! The blood in my veins are of that of the highest of nobility! I will never allow myself to be defeated by the likes of you!" cried Ludovic as he entered a berserk state.
Wei Yan Er laughed. "Noble blood? What are you talking about? You’re rotting from the inside, literally! Blood or not, there’s no nobility in your veins right now."
"You bastard! Humiliate me or my family honor, and I shall kill you!"
"Oh, shut up already. Kill, die, kill, die. Could you at least come up with a better way to intimidate your enemy? You’re like a kid!" so said the kid.
"GRAHHH!" Ludovic was greatly angered to the point where he could no longer come up with any more insults. If the boss was a human player, Wei Yan Er could have been the first person alive to kill a man by forcing his blood veins to pops via anger alone.
When the boss’ HP dropped to 1%, it stopped there. Ludovic’s character glowed with an intense red hue. Along with his battle cry, Ludovic bellowed. "If I am to die! You will be coming with me!"
BOOM!
The boss’ huge body exploded in a massive explosion, like a human-size H.E. grenade. The impact of the shockwave had sent everyone off their feet, and into the walls. The explosion was too quick and everyone, not even Zhang Yang had any time to prepare for it. Each of them was left with only 1 HP left.
Zhang Yang made a split-second decision and activated {Berserker’s Heal} to restore all his HP, in case anything else was coming to get them. Fortunately, his intuition was right on spot. Right after the boss died, there was tunnel that revealed an underground tunnel at the very same spot where the boss had exploded. Over 10 soldiers, clad in metal armor had rushed out of the tunnel, and had charged towards Zhang Yang and the party.
Han Ying Xue quickly made her way to the back of the party and cast a {Healing Shower}. Zhang Yang quickly used {Charge} to rush into the group of enemies, and used {Thunder Strike} to slow them down and provide enough time for the team to heal up.
[Armored Guard] (Elite, Spectre)
Level: 95
HP: 3,000,000
Defense: 2,000
All the soldiers were heavily armored with metal cuirasses and long spears in hand. Zhang Yang had not dared to charge directly into the fight with these elite soldiers that were as strong as Yellow-Gold bosses! Instead, Zhang Yang engaged in a kite-and-chase strategy. There was one factor that had made the monsters weaker than Yellow-Gold bosses. Despite being more powerful than them, the monsters could be affected by status effect skills!
Zhang Yang had kited the monsters around the pillar and had used {Thunder Strike}, {Blast Wave}, {Heroic Leap}, and other skills that could induce a slow or stun effect on them. With that, Zhang Yang’s kiting strategy was a success. Sun Xin Yu and Wei Yan Er both had joined Zhang Yang after being healed by Han Ying Xue. Daffodil Daydream had not required much healing, since her attacks were ranged.
Each monster had 3 million HP, so 10 of them would total up to 30 million HP. It was much longer than a boss’! However, since they could take on status effect skills, the battle was only made harder by the draggy fight. However, their attack power rivaled that of a Yellow-Gold boss. Hence, if the kiting was not done properly, the entire party could be wiped out if the stunning or slow was not done perfectly. Luckily, Sun Xin Yu, Wei Yan Er, and Daffodil Daydream each had their own unique status effect skills. In any situation where monsters had managed to keep up with Zhang Yang, they would proceed to stun them.
Eventually, since this was a matter or cooperation and time, the battle ended with a consecutive falls of the Armored Guards. Every soldier was defeated only after 20 minutes of constant running and stunning. As soon as they were done, Zhang Yang made sure that the coast was clear, before dropping to all fours and resting. There was a wet, sticky feeling behind his back. He was not sure if it was an effect in the game, or if he was really sweating in his bed!
As such, Zhang Yang now understood more about the reason why the previous teams had never been able to clear this Royal Palace dungeon. The previous boss was already tough to begin with, coupled with the sudden explosion and 10 ambushing soldiers with the power of Yellow-Gold bosses! That was only the first floor! There were four more to go! Just how high would the escalation of power be, after this floor, and the one after?
While everyone was resting, Wei Yan Er hopped jubilantly towards the loot. After picking up the gold coins, Wei Yan Er flipped open a loot and had obtained a beautiful, tight dress.
[Spider Silk Dress] (Yellow-Gold, Cloth Armor)
Defense: +8
Vitality: +336
Intelligence: +302
Spirit: +134
Equip-Effect: Increases your attack and healing effect by 2%.
Level Requirement: 100
"I want it!"
"Mine!!!"
"I like it."
"Erhm. Can I have it?"
All four ladies of the party voiced out their intention to own the dress. Zhang Yang felt that it was a little strange. Although the dress did have good properties, it was a Level 100 equipment. Furthermore, this dress was not much stronger than a Violet-Platinum Level 90 dress. So, why the request? It made sense on why Han Ying Xue and Daffodil Daydream would want it, but why Wei Yan Er and Sun Xin Yu?
After a while, Zhang Yang understood why. It was because Wei Yan Er had tried it on and had showcased the dress’ beauty.
The dress was a good replica of a Chinese traditional women’s attire, called the Qi Pao. It was made with a light green color fabric and had beautiful woven purple-red trims on it. Since the dress would adjust itself according to the wearer’s body figure, it would emphasize the women’s figure naturally, without overdoing it.
It couldn’t be helped, the artist that designed the armor and equipment of the game did not have much sense of creativity and concept for fashion. Many equipment were designed to be extremely plain. Dresses like the [Spider Silk Dress] were extremely rare. No wonder the ladies would want to get their hands on it.
Since everyone wanted the dress, all they could do was to roll for it, fair and square. As they continued rolling for it, Zhang Yang had a sudden urge to roll for it as well. He was extremely lucky, and rolled 100 points, and gained the dress.
"Give it!"
"Dummy, what are you doing? I want it!"
"I like it."
"Erhm…guild master? Could I have the dress?"
Zhang Yang frowned at first, but he had a sudden idea to pull a prank.
"Haha, the first person who kiss me will have the dress!"
"What!? You want me to kiss an old uncle?! YUCK!"
"I’ll kill you."
"Erhm…guild master…."
Everyone except Han Ying Xue protested. Han Ying Xue raised an eyebrow at his proposal and walked towards him. With quick motions, she grabbed his head closer to her and kissed Zhang Yang on his cheek.
"Hmph. Now, for my dress," said Han Ying Xue with a sinister smile as she held her hands out.
Zhang Yang immediately regretted his decision to pull the prank, as he was immediately assaulted with a killing glare by Sun Xin Yu. After him, she turned her gaze and glared at Han Ying Xue. This time, her glare carried a heavier killing intent. Han Ying Xue noticed her glare and responded, by tilting her head provocatively. The two of them knew that they had feelings for Zhang Yang. Before this, it was unclear, since women would only leave subtle hints at their target. But now, Han Ying Xue’s public kiss to the cheek was a public declaration of her love for him. The real battle had started.
Sun Xin Yu continued to glare at Han Ying Xue. The two of them did not waver.
"Zhang Yang!" Both of them turned to Zhang Yang, since there was no other way to solve this conflict.
Both Wei Yan Er and Daffodil Daydream were snickering by the side, watching silently, hoping for some popcorn to eat.
The phrase "A silent tiger would look like a sickly cat" could clearly describe this situation. Both girls thought that they could "grab" Zhang Yang quietly. But when one tries to do so, the other would retaliate. Now, both of them had to reveal their claws in order to claim Zhang Yang!
Zhang Yang gulped down his saliva, walked towards the two of them with an earnest smile. He pats their shoulder side to side and say, "Let’s kill some monsters first, shall we?"
Sun Xin Yu and Han Ying Xue bashfully turn away from each other. Although they were unsatisfied with his answer, neither of them could do anything for the moment. Wei Yan Er on the other hand, looked disappointed, as if she had just missed the chance to watch a live soap opera unfold.