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3.47% Zenith Online: Rebirth of the Strongest Player / Chapter 22: Guraha and Shibak

Chapter 22: Guraha and Shibak

After dealing with the ten Quartz Bears, Kieran was forced to consume his first Beginner Mana Potion. The consumption of Warrior's Aura and using Force Slash as much as possible took a toll on his Mana Pool. 

Although his quest restricted the use of Health consumables, it didn't mention anything regarding Mana consumables.

After all, Starter Characters couldn't rely upon their regeneration rates as their primary recovery source.

"Everyone, make sure to top off your Mana," Kieran directed as the vial in his hand dissipated. His Mana Pool gradually recovered, replenishing 25 units every second.

The others acted according to Kieran's orders and consumed a potion. After their Mana was topped off, Kieran revealed what he learned after having them dodge Guraha's occasional ground pound.

"These Mini-Bosses are like Hrulhar. They possess a hidden trait that is hinted at by their name. As such, Guraha is the most dangerous opponent here. It's likely that her ground pounds are just the beginning of her aggressive actions."

"So what do you suppose we do?" Altair questioned.

He shifted his gaze between Shibak and Guraha, noticing how their movements were subtly changing now that there were no more Quartz Bears nearby.

"Although they are faster than the average monster, they're still much slower than Hrulhar. As long as we control Shibak's actions, dealing with Guraha won't be an issue."

"Ah! Is that why you need my Mana full? You want me to keep Shibak bound? But… that skill description said the constraints weaken in relation to the target's might. Will it hold?" Aspaira muttered.

"Most crowd control skills indeed lose efficacy against stronger opponents, but we don't need him restrained at all times. Only when it counts. Remember that foresight I spoke of? It's time to apply it but I'll give you pointers regardless," Kieran said.

Afterward, he lifted his Novice Greatsword and shifted his body to the right before dashing up to Guraha with a wide swing.

Clang!

Although Guraha didn't seem as sturdy as Shibak, Kieran understood their DEF was not to be ignored.

-40

'Considering that my Attack Power has surpassed 120, Guhara's DEF is considerably high.'

Less than 30% of Kieran's Attack Power applied to his damage, but that was understandable given that Guraha was a Mini-Boss. Its attributes were much higher compared to players, which is why any of its large skills could cause a party wipe.

Groaaahhhhhhh!

Guraha bellowed and pounded the ground, but Kieran evaded the shockwave by timing a side jump. Once he landed, he executed an unbroken string of basic attacks to gauge the average amount of damage he could inflict.

-35

-32

-38

-40

-30

'It's more or less acceptable,' Kieran thought. 

Kieran dealt just under 4% of Guraha's in these couple of strikes thanks to Warrior's Aura and the Novice Greatsword's damage increase. In comparison, Altair's attacks didn't fare very well, inflicting anywhere from 8 to 14 damage per strike.

However, given that Altair could attack two to three times faster than Kieran, their DPS on the Battle Analysis Chart was somewhat the same. Of course, this was only true because Kieran had yet to use his skills.

"Speed is king! Hehehe. You may hit harder, but I hit much faster," Altair said with a smug look under his scarf. 

"Tutututu," Kieran clicked his tongue and shook his head with a mischievous gleam in his eyes. "I won't lie; speed has several supreme advantages. Unfortunately, it won't make you king in this situation—not while I'm here."

Altair scoffed. "Is that a challenge?"

"It can be," Kieran remarked, glancing toward Altair while simultaneously taking a step back. 

Bang!

He avoided Guraha's ruthless smash that most tanks would have to withstand without the necessary AGI to evade. 

When the dust cleared, Kieran noticed that crystalline armor covering most of Shibak's body began to emit a faint blue hue. 

"Aspaira, Bind!" Kieran called out.

Because Kieran had mentioned how crucial Bind was for a fight like this, Aspaira prioritized that skill over inflicting damage. Thus, she was ready the moment Kieran gave the command.

A lasso-like construct discharged from Aspaira's wand and wreathed Shibak's body, restricting its movements and cutting off the faint blue glow. This action was known as Canceling, which a lot of players employed in old game titles. It required a deep understanding of when an opponent's skill would activate.

That, or it required a skill with an innate canceling effect. Bind fell under the latter category.

"Excellent execution," Kieran praised, which made Aspaira beam. She had finally done something correctly during the run! Following this praise, Kieran suddenly sped up.

"Charge!"

Bang!

-247 «Stunned»

After ramming into Guraha, Kieran's eyes widened, and he inhaled sharply. The effects of Charge applied successfully, but it wasn't without its faults.

'Goddamn! Damnit! GODDAMNIT!' Kieran screamed internally.

Kieran clenched his jaw as a thick vein surfaced in his neck, intense pain shooting through his shoulder. Some skills had drawbacks when used against strong opponents, and Charge was such a skill. 

The rebound force could damage the user if their END weren't up to par.

〈Battle Alert: «Razing Guhara» has been stunned for 1.5 seconds.〉

"Get ready, Altair," Kieran said, warning Altair.

An instant later, Kieran ignored the pain and unleashed a follow-up attack.

"Savage Break!"

Boom!

-442

The Savage Break dealt a considerable amount of damage, almost a tenth of Guraha's Health, but it also lowered its DEF for Altair's attacks to deal increased damage.

At the same time, Aspaira prepared a Flame Wave to unleash upon the stunned Guraha. 

However, midway through the attack, Kieran narrowed his eyes and attacked to his right.

Tang!

After breaking away from Bind, Shibak tried to attack Altair from the side, but Kieran intercepted that action. Parrying Shibak's assault made the pain in his shoulder flare, but Kieran couldn't complain.

Dealing with two Mini-Bosses simultaneously required immense concentration to scan for sudden changes. 

Nevertheless, a gentle aura encompassed Kieran's body, returning the quarter of his Health he lost to this parry. Sithik was responsible for the heal, and he responded with a cheeky thumbs up.

'A much better response time. I have nothing to critique there,' Kieran thought, inwardly praising Sithik's decision.

As Kieran expected, Shibak didn't back down after he parried its rush. It repeated the same exact pattern, but Kieran dodged like a matador evading a charging bull. 

"Force Slash!"

Kieran's forceful slash created a strong wind, but the outcome made Kieran grimace.

-199

〈Battle Alert: «Reinforced Shibak»'s «Hardened» Trait has reduced 20% of the inflicted damage.〉

Damage Reduction was an effect that was just as perverse as Defense Ignore because they both applied after standard damage calculation meaning its produced awful consequences for those unlucky enough to go up against it.

Because of their perverse nature, these two stats could not be obtained naturally. Players could only acquire Defense Ignore or Damage Reduction through special skills, excellent equipment, or fortuitous encounters.

Before Kieran could come to grips with Shibak's Damage Reduction, a sense of danger overwhelmed him. 

Guraha had recovered from its stunned state, and its paws shone with an earthen light. 

"It is important that you jump when I direct you to!" Kieran shouted at the top of his lungs.

Kieran's shout alarmed everyone because Aspaira's Bind and his Charge skill were on cooldown, which meant the current ordeal couldn't be avoided.

Shortly after, Guraha slammed its paws against the earth, sending a visible tremor hurtling towards Kieran and his party. It wasn't a single ripple but a triple-layered one at least two meters in width.

"Jump!" Kieran said, jumping just as the ripple neared his feet. The party followed his instruction, but Cygnus paled in fright when she realized her STR and AGI didn't let her jump as high as the others.

'I-I won't make it,' Cygnus thought while pursing her lips. If she died here, the team's chance of clearing the dungeon would plummet. Although only one needed to pass to clear the dungeon, dying sucked.

Whoosh!

Cygnus's eyes widened when she felt her feet touch something hard in midair. Kieran had flung his greatsword beneath her feet to act as a makeshift platform.

However, this action didn't solve all of their issues. 

Once the ripple passed, the earth began splitting apart, revealing decent-sized earth spires. These spires were capable of one-hit kills. The aforementioned ripples were designed to knock the party down and keep them grounded for the spires to kill them instantly.

"Dodge!" Kieran ordered.

He ripped the sword from the earth and pressed his palm against Cygnus's torso. A light force propelled them in opposing directions as an earth spire pierced the ground between them a few milliseconds later.

Even though the class didn't rely upon it, this situation was why Kieran felt all classes should add sparse amounts of STR and AGI. It could act as a cushion in close calls. 

The spires appeared persistently for 15 seconds, making it appear as if the party was attending a dance party.

〈System: «Razing Guraha» has entered «Exhaustion». [Remaining Time: 11 seconds.]〉

"Unload your skills, and don't stop until this shit is almost dead!" Kieran called out.

Kieran, Altair, and Aspaira unloaded every skill when it came off cooldown, ignoring their plummeting Mana. 

When Guraha recovered from its weakened state, its eyes lit up with deep yellow light. No sudden actions were made, yet the entire map began trembling.

"Group together," Kieran directed, moving his positioning so that he lined up with Guraha. "Sithik, cast Restorative Mist."

The moment this skill was cast, the ground suffered several explosions, catapulting rock shards in every direction. It was an unavoidable skill, but it could be mitigated if the players grouped.

At the end of the explosion, two giant rock slabs emerged from the ground.

"Run to Guraha, now!"

The area before Guraha was the only safe location from this final attack, so the party quickly relocated there with Kieran's guidance. A thunderous noise sounded behind them as they safely avoided the collision.

〈Battle Alert: «Razing Guraha» has entered a «Weakened State».〉


CREATORS' THOUGHTS
ApexPen ApexPen

Make sure to point out any spelling errors, grammar errors, or numbers/information that wasn't properly updated so I can immediately rectify those issues.

Thank you, guys!

P.S: A LOT of game terminology will appear in the novel, because well, I'm a gamer. :shrug:

Until May 15th:

Release Rate: 9 ch/week

50 Power Stones = +1 Ch

100 Power Stones = +2 Ch

250 Power Stones = +3 Ch

500 Powers Stones = +5 Ch

Chapter 23: Arrival of the Final Boss

A Boss or Mini-Boss's Weakened State signified their increased susceptibility to more damage due to natural DEF suffering some debuffs.

Unlike before, where skills were the primary source of large amounts of damage, one could inflict ample damage upon a weakened opponent with simple basic attacks.

Furthermore, these monsters couldn't generate additional aggro value while in a weakened condition.

Because of how helpless they became, the duration of this state was fleeting, ranging from 5 to 30 seconds, which was dependent on the monster's rank.

Guraha's Health plummeted like an open drain faucet as the team unleashed a steady, overwhelming damage output. However, due to Kieran and Altair's accelerated actions, the Stamina drained quickly.

Since dungeons usually lasted a considerable amount of time, players were granted reduced consumption, but it wasn't enough to offset the consumption of players that performed exhaustive movements.

Fortunately, Kieran, Altair, and Aspaira's attacks emptied Guraha's Health Bar before it could recover from its weak condition.

〈System: You have gained 9,200 EXP.〉

〈System: You have leveled up! [Lv.13 → Lv.14]〉

〈System: You have received 5 Unassigned Attribute Points and 2 Skill Points.〉

〈System: You have leveled up! [Lv.14 → Lv.15]〉

〈System: You have received 5 Unassigned Attribute Points and 2 Skill Points.〉

[Experience: 520/9,200]

Because Kieran was higher than the others, Guraha's EXP Value was lower, amounting to 4,600. Altair and the others received 6,000 EXP.

Considering that he possessed the Medallion of Growth, Kieran didn't stress this situation.

Guraha dropped plenty of loot, but it couldn't be gathered because of Shibak's presence. After Guraha's death, Shibak released a deafening roar.

Kieran recalled that if players killed one Mini-Boss, the other would receive a moderate boost in their attributes because they were mates.

Once this information was made public, all players chose to deal with Shibak in the end because if Guraha grew faster, it would be a pain to overcome. In Shibak's case, his DEF would increase accordingly.

Following Shibak's roar, the crystalline armor covering its body expanded to cover most of its body. Its joints and other areas were left vulnerable to promote mobility. 

So, Kieran readily chose Shibak as the last one to face. Subsequently, the crystal armor covering Shibak's body grew further.

Although leveling up twice returned a decent amount of his Stamina, Kieran understood that Shibak's increased DEF meant the battle would be drawn out, even if he could use Savage Break often to reduce it.

All of a sudden, Shibak targeted Kieran with a quick charge. The outcome made Kieran furrow his brows before quickly recalling what was wrong.

'Although Altair delivered the fatal blow, Shibak is chasing me due to the previous aggro value,' Kieran thought.

Aggro values within Zenith Online were a tricky subject that took some time to understand. It wasn't the value themselves that were tricky, but how to reset and manipulate them. Every monster was different, but aggro generally began dissipating after 30 seconds and vanished after 2 minutes.

However, Shibak's aggro wouldn't vanish or dissipate if Guraha was killed and vice versa. 

After recalling this information, Kieran stepped back and avoided Shibak's smash while retaliating with a spinning slash. Unfortunately, the outcome made everyone's expression darken. 

-1

"Oh! What the hell? Why are you dealing one damage?!" Sithik shrieked in fright. 

Kieran's damage was the team's driving force! If his high Attack Power couldn't penetrate Shibak's current DEF, was this even clearable?!

"Calm down," Kieran uttered coolly. "The run is salvageable solely because of my presence and hers."

Kieran pointed at Aspaira, who returned a blank gaze. Unlike Kieran, Aspaira was privy to the varying types of DEF in Zenith Online.

"Me?" Aspaira muttered.

"Yes. As I said before, your Magic Power is pivotal in this run. If it weren't, I wouldn't have spent hours looking for a suitable Mage."

After speaking, Kieran executed three more slashes that ranged from 1 to 4 damage.

Again, Kieran slashed his sword.

The test confirmed that Shibak's DEF and Damage Reduction were the only things that increased because Shibak failed to match Kieran's AGI. If he had limitless Stamina, Kieran could easily solo Shibak, but he didn't, so that possibility didn't exist.

"Altair, ignore AGI for the time being. We need to increase our damage to assist Aspaira," Kieran said.

"Ah… you're suggesting I dump it all into STR?! I can do that, my good sir," Altair said excitedly. The high AGI playstyle was fantastic, but Altair began to feel the drawbacks of lacking STR, which was unacceptable for all physical classes.

Different from Guraha, Shibak didn't possess any troublesome skills; its redeeming quality was its DEF. Players chose Shibak as the second opponent with a 100% selection rate for this very reason.

"Aspaira, you'll lead with your spells while Altair and I act as the distraction to deal assistive damage. Understood?"

"Understood, Aatrox," Aspaira expressed, gripping her staff. 

Once he gave the order, Kieran and Altair split apart, targeting Shibak's left and right side while keeping its front clear for Aspaira to aim her spells. Because she kept Kieran's advice in mind, she saved her SP and didn't use it to level up her spells.

As such, Aspaira's damage only skyrocketed when she managed to land a Critical Hit with a Fireball or Aqua Bullet. But, her constant spell usage forced her to drink another Beginner Mana Potion.

One Fireball cost four times the Mana of Kieran's Force Slash.

Fortunately, a Mage's primary stat was Intelligence, so their Mana Pool eclipsed a Warrior's.

Once Kieran used Savage Break, the string of -1 to -4 damage increased to -9 to -15. This further increased when either Kieran or Altair used a skill.

By employing a tactic where they constantly moved, Kieran managed to bring the team's average DPS above 30. But there were times when Shibak was unapproachable due to its frantic fits.

Roughly ten minutes later, Shibak's large body fell with a mighty tremor before rewarding a decent amount of EXP and generous loot.

〈System: You have gained 8,700 EXP.〉

〈System: You have leveled up! [Lv.15 → Lv.16]〉

〈System: You have received 5 Unassigned Attribute Points and 2 Skill Points.〉 

[Experience: 20/15,000]

Aside from curiousness regarding the loot, everyone sighed and deflated. Ten minutes of constant fighting was enough to exhaust anyone. Kieran and Altair, especially, took the time to recover their Stamina.

Due to Shibak and Guraha's identity as Mini-Bosses, their loot surpassed Hrulhar's. Although Kieran didn't see any skill books within the haul, he noted several Uncommon Items and a few Rare Items based on their luster.

Aside from the equipment, there were a few materials and approximately 13 Silver Coins.

A majority of the items were geared toward a tank since Shibak was an opponent that dropped tank-based loot. It was similar to how Hrulhar dropped Thief-exclusive loot.

Fortunately, aside from a Rare Shield and pieces of Plate Armor, Shibak also dropped Heavy Armor Top, Bottom, and Shoes that were much better than Kieran's current equipment.

When he changed into it, the color of his suit became much brighter, and some of his attributes received a respective boost.

Next, Kieran found the last Rare item—a ring.

「 Crystalline Ring (Accessory)

Item Rank: Rare

Item Level: 15

Health +60

Defense +15

Item Ability «Hardened Skin» - Allows the user to obtain a 10% Damage Reduction for 20 seconds. This ability can only be used once every 30 seconds.

Description: A ring chiseled from a crystal material that promotes stability, improving the user's solidity. 」

The ring was primarily gray in color, but it possessed dark yellow engravings throughout the inner space. Overall, Kieran grinned because this ring made it so he wouldn't need to dump an insane amount of Attribute Points inside Vitality and Endurance.

"Take it," Altair shrugged.

"Yeah. I think that item is best in your hands since there isn't a tank on the team," Sithik agreed.

"You deserve the items since despite being the most valuable party member, you've changed your items the least," Aspaira voiced.

Since the party agreed with the notion of his taking it, Kieran didn't stand on ceremony.

「Name: Aatrox

Lv.16 (Experience: 20/15,000)

Class: Warrior

Title(s): None

----------------------------

[«Stats»]-

Health: 325/325 (0.2 HP regen/sec)

Mana: 155/155 (0.16 MP regen/sec)

Stamina: 69/119 (0.1 Stamina regen/sec)

Attack Power: 142

Defense: 135

-----------------------------

[«Attributes»]-

»Strength: 55 (43 + 12 + 0)

»Intelligence: 25 (25 + 0 + 0)

»Agility: 50 (42 + 8 + 0)

»Endurance: 33 (13 + 20 + 0)

»Control: 30 (30 + 0 + 0)

»Vitality: 33 (18 + 15 + 0)

»Perception: 50 (50 + 0 + 0)

[Unassigned Stat Point: 20]

[Skill Points: 8] 」

Kieran's stats were outstanding for his level, but he knew that feeling joy over a Starter Character's inferior parameters was in vain.

Perhaps only after he could promote his class would he feel some satisfaction. 

Following the loot distribution, Kieran remained in place and recovered. Not because he didn't want to visit the dungeon boss, but because this boss was unique.

Ten minutes later, numerous towering trees fell and sent intense quakes through the entire forest. Amidst the earthquakes, thunderous steps resounded throughout the forest.

Except for Kieran, the party's expression paled after catching wind of an enormous shadow cast by a bear over 4 meters tall.

The dungeon's final boss had arrived!


CREATORS' THOUGHTS
ApexPen ApexPen

Make sure to point out any spelling errors, grammar errors, or numbers/information that wasn't properly updated so I can immediately rectify those issues.

Thank you, guys!

P.S: A LOT of game terminology will appear in the novel, because well, I'm a gamer. :shrug:

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