บท 71: The Final Fight Against the Mastermind!
Akiol looked at the notification. It was a little late wasn't it? That didn't matter however, surviving did.
Without hesitation Akiol used [Aura Boost] and charged back to the Mastermind. As he ran he shouted, "Tilia! All strength!"
Tilia immediately began to buff and Akiol exchanged his speed and defense buff for more strength. Tilia's current buff limit was 50% add that to Akiol's 360% buff from [Aura Boost] Akiol had a 410% buff in strength. Meaning his strength reached the six hundreds! However with such a massive boost a notification appeared.
<Due to multiple powerful buffs increasing your strength. Your body will grow extremely weakened afterward.>
<Due to your slime body this weakened effect has been reduced.>
Of course it would be too easy for players to stack multiple buffs and clear dungeons easily. So a countermeasure was made. That was the effect of weakening when multiple buffs were in affect. This was no surprise to Akiol, he had experience with strength increasing skills before.
However this buff would only last three minutes. Akiol had to fight for as long as possible.
Akiol clashed swords with the Mastermind. A loud 'clang' sounded and the Mastermind smirked, "Got a bit more powerful huh?"
Pushing Akiol off the Mastermind began to furiously slash Akiol. Even with the massive buff Akiol could barely block the strikes. He had enough strength to not get sent flying, however he lacked the speed to keep up. The only choice he had was to go on the offensive.
As Akiol blocked another blow he stabbed towards the Mastermind. Of course the Mastermind blocked this easily with his arm sword. However that was enough for Akiol. Now switched to the offensive Akiol began hid counter attack. A test of pure strength commenced as swords bounced off each other.
Akiol knew he was on the losing side. He had been holding off for a minute and he still hadn't made any progress. By this time Wrock had been fully healed and he watched the battle carefully.
The Mastermind shouted, "Enough!" And began to regain the offensive. Akiol held him off and began to formulate a plan. Something had to happen or they would lose the dungeon. While losing wasn't a completely bad thing, they had come this far and it would be a waste to lose.
Akiol blocked another attack when he realized something crucial. The Mastermind's attack had gotten a bit slower and weaker. It wasn't much but Akiol noticed it. It was at this point Akiol had an eureka moment. Such a powerful increase of power would also have a time limit. Or maybe an energy limit. If he could hold off the Mastermind until he weakened enough then it would be victory for them.
He kept up his resistance, fighting for every bit of time. Even if he couldn't finish off the Mastermind here he had full faith in the rest being able to.
Another minute had passed and Akiol no longer struggled to block the attacks. It seemed as if more time passed then the faster the Mastermind grew weaker.
Akiol continued his assault, not give the Mastermind a moment of rest. Thirty seconds had passed and Akiol now had the upper hand in strength. However only a few seconds remained before the buff ran out. At that time he wasn't sure if the Mastermind would have been weakened enough.
The Mastermind began to be pushed back, he shouted angrily, "You pests! You dare! After years of hard work why did YOU have to come and stop it?!"
Akiol clashed swords again and answered, "I told you this already! You. Ruined. Our. Camping. Trip!"
Akiol pushed back the Mastermind as the final second of his buff remained. As soon as it ran out Akiol felt his body start to fall apart.
<You have been weakened: -50% of your stats for the next 2 hours.>
The Mastermind dusted off his coat. Seeing Akiol he laughed, "Looks like your strength increase is over! You cannot defeat me now!"
A playful laugh escaped Akiol's lips, "I can't, but they can."
Falling to the ground Akiol left the rest of the battle to the party who was long since ready. Kan'na immediately fired of several piercing light beams. The Mastermind destroyed them all only to have the ground collapse underneath him.
Seeth came up next to Jarvis. Smiling Jarvis patted the snake and said, "Fantastic job."
Seeth used the tip of its tail to salute before burrowing underground. The Mastermind soon broke free of the collapsed earth and charged towards the party. As he went to stab one of them he was stopped by Tilia. With her own buff she managed to withstand the power of the Mastermind.
Wrock then grabbed the Mastermind's arm and flipped him over. Once he was on the ground Kan'na let loose several magic circles. Beams began to bombard the Mastermind and he screamed in pain.
"You-you brats!" With another surge of power the Mastermind shattered the magic circles and stood up shakily.
Wrock said, "Give up, it's already over."
"As if! You will all pay!" The Mastermind spat back.
"Look at yourself your incredibly weakened, that surge of power took a lot out of you I can tell. Isn't it best that you just surrender?"
"I. . . No, you will pay. I spent years doing this!"
Wrock shook his head in disappointment, the Mastermind has long since descended into chaos. It was best to put it out of his misery.
Wrock walked up to the Mastermind and snapped his neck. With their body being weakened to the point a civilian could finish them off. It was a simple task of erasing their health. Their body crumpled onto the floor and a notification arose.
<You have completed the dungeon! Rewards, +1 level, +5000 gold, The Mastermind's Coat>
<You have completed the dungeon the fastest! Would you like to broadcast your achievement?>
Akiol responded, "No."
<Automatic exit of the dungeon in 5 minutes...>
Akiol shook his flabby arms, "Great job everyone. It's a shame I couldn't do much."
Wrock patted Akiol's shoulder, only for Akiol's entire arm to fall off. Akiol looked at the pile of slime before it automatically absorbed itself back into his body.
"You uh. . . you did more than us. Is your arm okay?" Wrock asked sheepishly.
Akiol wiggled it a bit before nodding, "Yeah, but I am going to be weakened for a bit."
Kan'na stretched and reminded, "The coat everyone. I want to see the coat."
Akiol pulled it out of his inventory, unless the rewards was grabbed by another party member, distributed items usually were left to the party leader.
[The Mastermind's Coat: Chest Armor]
The coat of the evil mastermind. Forged with his power he gained from various experiments the coat brings some generous benefits.
When equipped receive:
+40 Intellect Stat
+30 Armor Stat
Once the wearer reaches 10% MP or HP: Regain all MP in exchange for 1/2 regeneration rate for 10 minutes.
Kan'na immediately spoke up, "Me! It's a beautiful piece of equipment."
With no arguments the coat was handed to Kan'na. Akiol on the other hand was slightly confused, "What's an Armor stat?"
Wrock explained it to him plainly. Essentially an Armor stat is damage reduction. If a player had 50 in armor stat and gets attacked with a player with 100 damage. They would receive 50 damage instead. It was an essential stat to all players, except for maybe Akiol.
Since Akiol was weakened everyone decided to relax at the Adventurers Guild before attempting another dungeon.
Players only had the ability to do three dungeons a day. Even then they couldn't use all their attempts on a single one. The developers didn't want some crazy players to repeatedly clear dungeons for levels after all.
Unexpectedly, Tilia claimed she had something to take care of and hurried off. This wasn't a major inconvenience so the party agreed to meet up at a later time.
After Akiol logged off he felt a bit tired, so he decided it was best to simply sleep for a bit.
~ ~ ~
Desk Guy nodded in approval, another spectacular battle he had witnessed. The usual strategy employed by players consisted of waiting out the Mastermind's initial burst of power. Once they survived then they could fight him in his weakened state. However a head on confrontation? Only this party he assumed.
Luckily he had recorded the fight. It wasn't anything much compared to the large scale battle from before, but there might be something of use.
Sending the video clip to Scott he was going to begin working when he received a response.
Scott: You really enjoy these guys huh?
Desk Guy laughed and responded.
[Redacted]: A great team yeah. I shall be their number one fan!
Scott: Heh, well don't get too distracted. The competition stream is going to start soon. You should know we picked you to answer some questions.
[Redacted]: Woah?! This is news to me!
Scott: Forgot to tell you. Now is better than never though!
Desk Guy sighed, looks like he had some troublesome work ahead of him.
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