Bab 37: Out of Stamina
A few minutes earlier, when Pangu was drawing the Wild Dogs towards Stivi and others, I re-equipped my Cape of Concealed Death and entered the faux stealth mode.
Usually, this faux stealth mode could not fool the sharp noses of the Wild Dogs. However, now that these beasts were in a frenzy, I managed to evade their perception and sneak behind them, reaching the Dark Gnoll Dorukh.
The Boss was standing still with its scepter raised in the air. Dark jewel on the scepter glowed and bathed the Dog headed Gnoll in a blue light.
I approached the Boss just enough so that he was in my bow's range and shot an ordinary arrow at its face.
Twang!
-97! (Crit)
A huge dark red number signaling critical hit appeared as the arrow hit Dorukh's exposed snout.
What happened next was just as I had predicted.
A single arrow was enough to distract Dorukh and break his Mind Control spell.
"Grraaahhaaoo"
The Dark Gnoll roared in anger and turned to look at me. Then with giant strides, the Boss closed the distance between us.
Dorukh slammed its scepter at me. I quickly held up my Bow and parried the attack but the impact was so strong that I felt the pain in my bones. This one blow had taken away 30 points of my health but I also used the force to slide back a few meters from the Boss.
The attack just now caused my heart to shudder. Even though the Dark Gnoll Dorukh was a Magic Type Boss, his single physical normal attack had shaved off more than 20% of my HP!
It once again made me realize that what we were facing was not an ordinary mob but a true Boss Monster.
In the meanwhile, the Mini Bosses woke up from their trance. They shook their heads in confusion and their health bar also rapidly shrunk to just 700 points. Furious, they turned their angry gazes at Dorukh.
These caged Wild Dog Leaders hated the Dark Gnoll more than they hated us, the Players. After regaining their senses, they immediately switched their target upon regaining their senses.
Woof! Woof! Woof!
Three loud barks and the situation instantly devolved into chaos. Most of the Wild Dogs present rallied behind their leaders and attacked the Dark Gnoll.
Suddenly, the tables had turned. The Wild Dog Minibosses, our biggest threat and Dorukh's shield, became our most significant advantage.
Nonetheless, like me, Stivi also understood that these beasts were not our actual allies. We could not control these Wild Dogs. They could just as easily turn on us in the next moment.
So, we began to eliminate the Wild Dogs one by one while the Dog Leaders were focused on attacking Dorukh.
Zamir lured over a single Wild Dog and Stivi instantly slashed at its back.
-69
Zamir followed up the strike with a slash to the front limbs, immobilizing the dog.
-42
He quickly followed up his attack with a slit on the dog's throat and then plunged his dagger into the Dog's right eye, straight into its brain.
-105 (Crit)
-284 (Lethal)
Within three seconds, the Wild Dog lay dead on the ground!
On the other side, Stivi and BigSoftie also lured a dog each and finished them off in just a few strikes.
Stivi used her Beheading Strike to masterfully separate the head from the body while BigSoftie bashed in the dog's head with his shield till it was a scrambled mess.
HardBro was toying with two dogs in one corner, letting them know what the phrase Hot n Cold meant literally.
Just a few days ago, the team would need two to three minutes to deal with each Wild Dog. Now, each of them could take on a dog alone and finish it off within a few seconds.
Such efficiency was only possible due to the fact that we knew the vital points and the attack patterns of the Wild Dogs like the back of our hands. We could also trigger Lethal Strikes and Critical hits easily due to our familiarity with the prey.
The improved efficiency also greatly lowered the Stamina Consumption. We no longer had to take a break after dealing with a few packs.
One by one, Stivi and her team continued to pick off the Wild Dogs and thus, the slaughter continued.
Tens of minutes later, the purge of the Wild Dogs came to an end. Only a few scattered Wild Dogs, who assisted the three Minibosses in attacking Dorukh escaped the purge.
During this time, I noticed that the attacks of the Wild Dogs were nowhere as effective on the Boss as that of Players. The Dark Gnoll's Health had fallen by just 1 % in the last 10 minutes and was inching closer to 55%. It meant -
"The Boss is about to unleash Darkwave!"
The team retreated in an orderly manner after my warning. In the next moment, the Dark Gnoll smashed the Scepter's butt into the ground and unleashed a black colored shockwave.
A powerful foul smelling gust of wind slammed into our faces, blowing our hair back but that was all the damage it did to us.
The Wild Dogs, however, took the brunt of the attack.
-250
-250
-250
.
.
The HP bars of the remaining Wild Dogs were directly emptied. Even the Minibosses were not spared and they too lost their lives.
Now it was time for us to take the stage.
"BigSoftie, Zamir, attack with full might. It is a Magic-type Boss; It can't one shot us with physical damage anyways. Mamamia, keep an eye on our HP bars. Hardbro, use Burning Bind and Icy Wind to slow the boss at every chance you get. Samar, don't be stingy with arrows and keep a lookout for the Dark Wave."
Stivi instructed at the last minute, fulfilling her duty as the Party Leader. Then she turned to the boss weakened from the aftermath of Dark Wave and led the charge.
The three melee players engaged the boss immediately.
Zamir used Stunning Stab and controlled the boss for 2 seconds.
Stivi executed her Triple Combo and dealt nearly 200 points of damage to the boss.
Finally, BigSoftie rushed at the boss like a bull and bashed his shield into the canine snout of the Dark Gnoll.
-48
Although the damage was much lower than what Zamir and Stivi dealt, this single attack attracted all of Boss's aggro.
Dorukh angrily snarled and swung his scepter at BigSoftie but our tank simply raised his shield to withstand the attack.
-20
This little bit of damage was not even enough to make BigSoftie budge from his spot. Enraged, Dorukh continued to attack BigSoftie with furor.
-18
-23
Although the damage was little, the continuous barrage had taken away 30% of BigSoftie's Health. If allowed to continue, it was enough to threaten BigSoftie.
HardBro cast Icy Wind at this time and slowed the Boss's movements, helping BigSoftie evade some attacks. Magic Attacks could not do much damage to the boss but the extra effects of the spell were still very helpful in controlling it.
"Stivi, Zamir, BigSoftie form a triangle around the Boss. Attack him from behind just as it is about to attack one of you."
I suggested a strategy and Stivi implemented it. Soon, the three of them fleeted around the Boss like wasps around a flower.
Stivi's movements were lithe and graceful, as if she was performing a deadly sword dance.
Zamir displayed the power of +20% movement speed and skillfully evaded the Boss's wild swings while also getting in a few solid hits of his own.
BigSoftie, however, was not so subtle. He was like a raging bull who charged at the Boss head on and traded blows for blow.
Soon, the three had found their rhythm and brought the Boss under their control.
Now it was time for me to shine.
I replaced the ordinary arrows in my quiver with Fire Rune Arrows and activated Rapid Shot.
-82
-168 (Crit)
-90
-78
-76
Five huge damage numbers popped above Dorukh's head and 2% of its health disappeared in a matter of seconds.
"What the hell is this damage? Even the combined Damage Output of three Elite teams of the Fortune Guild was much lower than this!"
HardBro cursed as he looked at the damage numbers with wide eyes. MamaMia also nodded her head like a pecking hen.
"It's good that Sister Stivi killed Fortune Guild's Pangu. He would've vomited blood out of shame after seeing Brother Samar's damage numbers. Sister Stivi is so merciful!"
Hearing her words, suddenly my left eye began to twitch violently.
Stivi… Merciful… The combination of these two words just didn't seem right. So, I ignored her and refilled my quiver with ordinary arrows and started to shoot without a care for the cost.
-68
-61
-64
.
.
The sixty seconds passed too soon and the Dark Gnoll had recovered its defenses. The damage numbers fell drastically but not for long.
In these sixty seconds, our party had reduced the Boss's health bar to almost 46%!
"Shave off another 100 points of health and retreat outside the range of Dark Wave. Only HardBro and I will attack after that."
The other party members acknowledged my commands and slowly began to retreat.
After the HP hit 46%, I activated Rapid Shot which had just become available again.
-72
-65
-68
-70
-141 (Crit)
Another 1.6% of health was shaved off just like that. HardBro didn't even need to take action as my last arrow had triggered a critical hit. We dodged the subsequent Dark Wave perfectly and suffered zero losses.
Dorukh's physical attacks were also quite ineffective, thanks to BigSoftie. They managed to deal only 20-30 points of damage to him.
If it was ordinary players, they may suffer nearly double the damage and die after two or three hits.
But BigSoftie was wearing two pieces of Armor - Old Chest Plate and Sturdy Arm Guards. He also possessed a White-Wood Grade Shield, the Kite Shield.
There was also MamaMia healing him every time his health went below 70%. Thus it was impossible for the Magic type Boss to kill BigSoftie with its physical attacks.
The Boss that had claimed lives of all the elite players of the Fortune Guild seemed helpless like a chicken against us. However that was not really the case. Even though our HP bars were intact, the Party's stamina bars had suffered a lot.
Just when the Boss only had 20% of health left, Zamir warned,
"My Stamina bar is empty. I need to rest for a moment to avoid being logged out in the middle of the fight."
"I am also in the red. Let me rest for a few minutes and recover."
After Zamir, BigSoftie also said the same thing. These two were melee players. So, they would run out of stamina the fastest.
There was another melee player left and I looked at her in askance.
"I still have 27% on the Bar. I think I can last for 15 more minutes."
Stivi said as she readied herself to charge at the Boss.
Unlike other games, Dreamverse VR's Bosses not only tested Players' strategy and combat power but also their real world stamina and efficiency of use of their physique.
It was a race between the Player's Stamina Bar and Boss's HP bar.
Since this was the first experience of raiding a Boss in Dreamverse, nobody knew how to effectively manage their stamina. The result was two of our players had lost this race and had to be taken out of action.
Sigh!
Then I nodded to Stivi who had just finished her attack. Stivi understood my gaze and immediately commanded,
"Zamir, BigSoftie, take a break. Samar and I will hold off the Boss and try to finish this off as quickly as possible."
At this moment, HardBro cast one last Icy Wind before he too ran out of MP. Due to lack of proper MP recovery potions in the Village, he could only recover his MP using the enhanced Mana Regen effect provided by the Sheep's Milk. Until then, HardBro was just a mage in name and had to sit out.
Now it was truly up to me and Stivi. Just like the old days.
A fire began to burn in our eyes as we exchanged smirks.
"Let's begin Round two!"
Hadiah
-- Hadiah diterima Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
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