Chapitre 177: Underestimating and Overestimating
The flower was easily destroyed.
Wrock now waited, it was at this point many teams began to fall off. The normal horde of plants charged forward. Behind them was the flower and a walking mushroom.
The pollen spread to the plants causing them to grow stronger. Then the mushroom released spores in several areas. These lingered around in clusters across the battlefield. The players have quickly given these the name 'spore pockets'.
If a player was to step into one of these pockets and breathe, they would be immediately poisoned. This doesn't seem like much of an issue, except the pockets were mostly invisible. Moreover the player could not be cured while still inside the pocket.
Luckily these pockets would disappear shortly after the mushroom's death.
"Phil!"
"Got it! [God's Presence]!"
A large golden aura extended from Phil. It reached quite the distance, even hitting Wrock who was lingering far behind. After quickly scanning through the effects Wrock was surprised. This was a skill that worked like a superior [Minor Blessing]. Which was surprising since Wrock hadn't heard of any Holy Knights obtaining such a skill.
This round was also defeated. Immediately the next started. This time another Elite joined, reducing the number of small mobs.
This Elite was truly an Elite. Voted as the second most troublesome Elite in the dungeon. A plant made of clumped together vines joined the horde.
As the trio fought the vine plant extended its arm. A vine shot out and flew across the battlefield. It wrapped around Andy, preventing him from moving and using skills.
Jay rushed to help, but in return Phil was faced with more pressure. His HP dropping fast he quickly shouted, "[Church's Benevolence]!"
Phil flashed a golden color and his HP recovered, "Hurry!"
Jay freed Andy and rushed back into the fray. The vine plan raised an arm and shot forward another vine. This time it was aimed at Wrock.
Wrock tilted his body slightly just as it was about to hit him, causing the vine to shoot past. Wrock then gripped the vine with both hands and tore it into two.
The trio payed no mind to this, as soon as they verified none of them were hit they continued to fight.
The flower was trapped as usual. The mushroom was left untouched this time, for the trio focused on the vine plant first.
The vine plant held more fighting capabilities than the other two, but it still wasn't enough. As the trio slowly chopped down the vine plant Wrock gained insight on how they managed to get this far.
They truly were unskilled, in terms of fighting that is. However their teamwork was phenomenal. Every thing they did left an opening for another's input. Working together with a mutual understanding of each other's abilities. Wrock guessed that if they were skilled in combat, then they would be quite the team.
It was a shame that the next plant was going to truly put that to the test...
The three's breathing was heavy. Their movements showed fatigue, yet a small wave of plants came charging. Four elites trudged behind. The new one was a pitcher plant. Much like the previous Venus flytraps, this one was quite hungry.
Before Phil could grab the aggro of the small plants. The pitcher plant shot a long stem forward. It was covered in a strong adhesive so the moment it touched Phil he was stuck to it.
The stem retracted and pulled Phil behind the horde. He was dropped into the pitcher plant's... pitcher. His HP began to drop steadily.
"Phil!"
Jay rushed forward, only to be caught by a vine. He fell forward, straight into a spore pocket.
Some of the horde split off and began attacking Jay. His own HP dropping.
Jay shouted, "Andy! Use that!"
Andy frowned, "Already? Alright then... Seal my enemies in strength and mobility! [Flame Seal]!"
Whom-Whom-Whom-Whom.
Four large needles of fire appeared. They shot forward and pierced the Elites. The needles remained burning bright, unlike other skills that disappear after hitting the opponent.
Andy pointed his staff towards Jay, "[Spark]."
The vines burned away, freeing Jay. He immediately jumped up and sliced away the mob plants that surrounded him. Charging forward he slashed at the pitcher plant.
The plant made a gurgling sound but didn't release Phil. Jay swung his sword upwards, a visible magic line appeared. Jay slid a foot back, raised his sword and swung down with all his might. The sword tip followed exactly along the line he created.
Sching~
The pitcher plant was torn open and Phil came out. Phil crashed into the floor and coughed, "That was horrible!"
The pitcher plant fell back. The move Jay did must have been a strong one, for its HP dropped to zero.
With Phil back in action the mob plants were taken care of easily. Slowly the other Elites followed. Wrock smiled, these guys were indeed quite skilled. He didn't expect them to go this far. He wondered how they would handle the next round.
Four plants came this time, not any of the mobs. Yet this time the Elites looked differently. Along side it their abilities changed.
The flower's buffs were greater, along with healing. The pocket spores' effects changed. Some would still poison, some would paralyze, and the rest would confuse its victims. The vine plant now shot out more vines. These were stronger and faster, once catching a victim the vines would slowly leech their MP. Finally the pitcher plant's abilities faced the most drastic change. Instead of snatching players to slowly digest with its fluid. It instead would shoot out the fluid as a weapon.
While the plants had an upgrade, the Trio were roughed up. Their HP wasn't topped off, their MP was running out. They were greatly fatigued.
Phil sighed, "We really underestimated this dungeon. We can only win if I use [Heaven's Radiance]."
Jay finished off the sentence, "Which leaves us with nothing for the boss..."
The trio sighed. Andy lifted a staff and said, "Might as well use it, the boss is a singular opponent. So maybe it will be easier."
"True, I guess... Alright. May the gates of heaven open and shine their light upon us! [Heaven's Radiance]!"
Golden light showered everyone. Wrock quickly scanned the effects of this skill as well, "Interesting... it works similar to Tilia's buff."
Jay and Andy immediately aimed for the flower while Phil distracted the others. Defeating the healer was crucial for any battle.
Yet just as the flower's health bar reached half. The flower released its pollen. The other Elites were strengthened and began to overwhelm Phil.
The vines shot out, hitting Phil. He was quickly incapacitated. Jay saw this and rushed to help, but the pitcher plant began shooting fluids at Jay.
Jay retreated quickly to dodge, yet at one point he stiffened and fell back. He had fallen victim to a paralyzing spore pocket. Andy noticed all of this and sighed, "Well then..."
Wrock vanished from his location. Appearing above the mushroom he raised his leg over his head and slammed his foot down.
[Guillotine Kick]!
Boom-!!
A small crater formed underneath the mushroom as it was slammed into the ground.
Wrock dashed towards the vine plant and slammed his fist into it. An illusion of a sword appeared alongside his fist and stabbed into the plant.
[Xiphoid Strike]!
The plant was temporarily stunned from the move. Wrock kicked upwards, two Cobras following alongside.
[Twin Rising Cobras]!
Wrock jumped upwards, tilted his body and barrel rolled twice in succession. He then stuck his leg out and slammed it into the plant. This all happened within a second!
[Cycle Crash]!
Most of these were Wrock's latest skills. As he slowly gained an arsenal of skills meant to combo a victim until death. So far his count was limited though.
He then asked, "You wouldn't mind me assist from here... would you?"
Phil answered immediately, "If you can take them."
Wrock leapt backwards. Once he was above the flower a large silhouette of a hawk appeared behind him as he stuck out his foot.
[Hawk's Descent]!
His foot crushed the plant, lower its HP bar further. Three vines were shot towards Wrock. Smacking one away he followed up with [Second Tempo Strike] to destroy another. He then grabbed the third vine and pulled the plant close.
As the plant flew over to him he threw his fist forward, a large shockwave with electric energy slammed into the plant.
[Thundering Impact]!
Wrock's eye twitched, the skill seemed different. The electric bolts looked different than before. Yet he couldn't place his finger on it.
The pitcher plant spat some liquid toward Wrock, which was dodged with ease.
Wrock easily took care of the Elite plants. Stunning the trio. This guy they believed to be some random trash talker... easily destroyed the Elite plants!
Wrock looked back at the trio, "I can deal with the boss, just stay alive alright?"
The three nodded, not daring to refute the words of an expert.
Wrock took a breath, it was time for his final new skill.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone