Former Hero, Solo Play Oriented – Chapter 65

[1st Named]

[Level 45 Ancient Golem Minotaur]

[HP 4,290,056/8,600,000]

Rumble rumble!

The entire cube-shaped boss room started shaking violently.

Chris lowered her posture and shouted.

“Special phase! We can’t miss the red wall this time!”

Click.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

The walls in four directions separated and soon started rotating to the right. The wall that flickered red as it entered the special phase was originally at 12 o’clock, where Bae Merong was standing.

Rumble rumble!

However, the strong vibrations of the boss room prevented the party members from focusing on the movement of the walls.

“Uwaa! It’s shaking too much!”

“I-I missed it!”

“Ugh! No matter how I think about it, it’s impossible to grasp with the naked eye in this situation!”

Even though everyone strained their eyes while barely maintaining their balance, it was no easy task to figure out which direction the original 12 o’clock wall moved in the shaking view.

Chris bit her lip. She too had missed the wall that flickered red.

Thud, click.

Soon the vibrations of the boss room stopped, and the wall rotation ended. Inside the boss room that returned to a cube shape, Chris instructed Deathly Death.

“F-for now, try ramming into 12 o’clock!”

“Got it!”

Tap tap!

Towards Deathly Death, who quickly used Backward Evasion to stand with his back to the wall at 12 o’clock, the bull golem that had taken a stance started charging.

Thud, thud, thud!

Crash!

The bull golem’s huge horns rammed into the wall, and strong vibrations swept through the boss room once.

Flash!

Red light burst from the wall.

Not from the 12 o’clock wall where the bull rammed its horns, but from the 6 o’clock wall where Chris was standing.

“Oh no!”

Oooooh-!

The bull golem shook its head a couple times, then started attacking Deathly Death who was holding aggro.

Cherni’s shout rang through the boss room.

“Damage isn’t going in! It’s definitely a stronger barrier than the first phase!”

“It’s about one-fifth of before, can we continue the attack?”

“Let’s keep trying this time! With our party’s firepower, it might be possible!”

Even if they fail to match the direction of the wall that flickered red, damage doesn’t completely stop going in. There’s probably an enrage that strengthens the boss after a certain time passes, but there’s a possibility of defeating it if they succeed with the gimmick in the 25% special phase.

The damage the golem was taking decreased drastically and the normal phase lengthened. Deathly Death started to struggle.

But Chris’s Raid Party’s firepower was definitely excellent. While dealing damage reduced to one-fifth, they managed to enter the 25% special phase.

Oooooh-!

Boom boom boom boom!

Blue light burst out centered on the bull golem, and the wall at 6 o’clock flickered.

“This time it’s 6 o’clock, I won’t miss it!”

After avoiding the full area-of-effect attack with Ice Prison, all of Chris’s party immediately started watching the wall.

Rumble rumble!

The floor vibration, wall rotation, and soon, the movement of the boss room stopped.

“Did you find it!?”

“I missed it!”

“Is it really possible to see?”

This time too, everyone failed to grasp the wall movement. There was no need to say more if even Deathly Death’s eyes missed it.

“Oh whatever, it’s just a 1 in 4 guess! Death, 3 o’clock!”

At Chris’s shout, Deathly Death immediately reacted, and the bull’s charge also headed towards the 3 o’clock wall.

Crash! Rumble!

Ooooom-!

Red light burst from the 3 o’clock wall where the bull golem rammed its horns. The golem entered a groggy state as its barrier flew away.

Color returned to all party members’ faces.

“We did it!”

“No time to delay! Start dealing damage immediately!”

Chris’s Raid Party’s firepower focused on the immobilized golem.

[1st Named]

[Level 45 Ancient Golem Minotaur]

[HP 1,409,581/8,600,000]

Oooooh-!

While Chris’s Raid Party was smoothly chipping away at the last section of HP, a barrier was generated along with the bull’s roar.

Chris couldn’t hide her flustered look.

“Barrier!? The special pattern wasn’t over?”

“Almost no damage is going in! Th-this is!”

“It’s a triple-layered barrier!”

Whoosh, slam!

“Ugh!”

Deathly Death’s body, hit by the bull’s horn uppercut attack, flew up as if about to touch the ceiling. It was truly a terrifying power.

Chris’s face turned pale.

“Enrage!”

The golem’s attack power, defense, and speed rose exponentially. They were caught in the time attack.

In the end, it was impossible to clear with the current firepower unless they properly passed all gimmicks.

Thud thud thud thud!

Deathly Death, unable to control his body floating in the air, became a decoration on the bull’s horns. The bull, with him dangling on its horns, quickly charged towards Cherni.

“Ah, aaaah!”

Cherni screamed and used an invincibility skill, but was torn apart by the horn attacks swinging strongly left and right.

The bull’s charge didn’t stop until the whole party was wiped out.

“It’s no joke for a 1st Named. If we switch the aggro from Death senior tank to ranged tank momentarily, couldn’t we reduce the time to induce charging?”

“Hmm, that’s worth considering. But it won’t be easy. It means we need to control damage delicately. And if we can’t match the direction of the wall where red light burst out, we’ll have to retry anyway.”

“By simple calculation, if we try 16 times, we should be able to pass once, right? The probability would be 6.25%. Since we need to get it right twice with a 1 in 4 chance.”

“If the charge angle is even slightly off, the red light doesn’t burst out. The pattern response is difficult and the time attack is tight. Even if we leave it to luck, the clear probability would be less than 6%.”

“We can’t play by grinding time and leaving it to luck from the 1st Named. There must be some gimmick we’re missing.”

Chris gazed at the boss room walls, lost in thought.

No matter how much she concentrated, it was impossible to grasp the wall movement in the violently shaking view.

Could Rain do it? Had Rain cleared the 1st Named?

Chris opened the messenger window for a moment.

[Swordswoman ‘Drizzle Rain’ (Online, Rejecting Messages)]

“Should I go to her room?”

Chris, who had muttered quietly, soon closed the messenger window and shook her head.

What are you thinking, Chris?

Were you thinking of asking Rain just because you’re stuck? Calling it friendly competition.

Contacting Rain’s capsule from outside could interfere with her clearing.

Moreover, if Rain is really soloing, it would feel even more pathetic.

“…?”

Chris’s emotions, which had fallen into self-loathing while blankly staring at the wall, soon changed to a sense of incongruity.

The pattern engraved on the wall, glowing with a soft blue light.

But, did the wall pattern originally look like this?

Chris, who turned her head urgently, looked alternately at the walls in all four directions, north, south, east, and west.

They were different.

The patterns engraved on the walls in all four directions were all different.

At a glance they looked similar, but looking at them in this stable state, she could feel a clear difference.

“Aha.”

Confidence returned to Chris’s face.

* * *

[1st Named]

[Level 45 Ancient Golem Minotaur]

[HP 316,819/8,600,000]

At some point, Mr. Minotaur’s attacks became faster and stronger. The barrier I had stripped off was generated again. The remaining small amount of HP hardly decreased.

It’s the enrage pattern that I, being alone, inevitably have to face depending on the boss type. As time passed, the boss became so strong that it couldn’t be cleared normally.

However, it’s not the type of enrage that’s a big problem for me. Even if the damage going in has decreased significantly, it will eventually fall if I keep hitting it steadily over time. Rather, the 2nd Named Galovan from the outpost who directly restricted the battle area was much more threatening.

Stronger attacks? Just don’t get hit. Only use patterns that can be used for blocking.

Faster speed? It’s not that fast compared to the ‘Ancient Warrior’.

Whoosh!

Clang!

I blocked the horn uppercut at the exact timing, but my light body bounced high into the air.

He raised his sharp horns, ready to skewer my body floating in the air.

Swish.

I twisted my body in the air, glaring at Mr. Minotaur, and moved my sword to my waist.

I’m aiming for only one spot. The effort of attacking consistently paid off.

The bull’s sharp horns were cracked here and there.

Using the falling force from the air, I thrust Flash Strike towards the bull’s cracked horns.

Flash!

Crack!

My body, which became one with the sword and pierced down to the ground like a beam of light, shattered the weakened left horn of Mr. Minotaur.

Oooooh-!

Mr. Minotaur twisted his body as if in pain.

Even with the barrier, he couldn’t completely block my Flash Strike that mobilized potential energy too.

It’s a part destruction, you bastard!

But the right horn remained. Mr. Minotaur turned his body and uppercutted me again.

Whoosh!

Clang!

I regained my posture while floating in the air.

Flash!

Suddenly, light burst from my body and all skill cooldowns were reset.

[Bracelet of Hammer and Anvil]

[Elite]

[Strength +35 Agility +35 Intelligence +35]

[Unique Ability: Reset all skill cooldowns (Cooldown 10 minutes)]

It’s the activation of the bracelet’s unique ability. Flash Strike can be used again.

I should take care of that annoying horn too.

What do you call a bull with no horns?

Anyway, it’ll hurt, but.

“Bear with it, Mr. Minotaur.”

Flash!