Chapter Seventeen #5
The repeated slamming from the vines broke through the tree’s trunk, causing it to collapse onto two of the vines, pinning them underneath it.
Lupa’s tree took a few more seconds but, once the vines broke through it, it came crashing down directly onto the boss’s main body.
I went in with my torch to get the boss lit on fire after three attempts of proccing it.
And this time, while the boss was on fire, the flames spread to the trees pinning it down.
The fight resumed with two of the vines out of action as I waited to see what would happen once the Burning effect wore off on the boss.
One DoT later and Burning finally did its last tick of damage. The fire surrounding the boss’s body vanished.
But the trees remained burning.
Even though no new statuses showed up on the boss, the fire from the trees spread to its body, and its health began to deplete at an even faster rate than it did from the Burning status.
Just like Lupa said, levels weren’t everything.
The world might have been under the influence of a bunch of RPG rules, but those weren’t the only rules affecting it.
“New trees!” I shouted as the boss got down to 30%.
I focused on keeping the status effects up on the boss while Rosie and Lupa baited its vines to a couple of new trees.
And just as the boss hit 25%, with three new vines popping out of the ground, two more trees came crashing onto it.
They only managed to pin one vine that wasn’t already pinned, but one of the trees landed on top of the main body again.
It broke through the burning tree already pinning it, causing two burning halves to roll across it, spreading their fire.
That took the pressure off Rosie. Only two vines were attacking her again which was enough for her to survive through even if it meant chugging potions every time they were off cooldown.
“Take cover behind the fallen trees!” I shouted.
Before the trees fell, they were outside of the arena. Running outside to get behind them would have lost the boss’s aggro and given it all of its health back.
But now, those trees were inside of the arena.
“Keep your tree between you and the boss, and duck!” I shouted while getting behind the tree closest to me.
The boss hit 20%.
Normally, that was when it would pull all of its vines back in and start spinning around while spraying the entire arena with thorns and spores.
But it couldn’t.
It was only able to retract its non-pinned vines, and it couldn’t spin its body all the way around due to the trees pinning its main body. All it could do was twist from side to side as its vines waved around in a failed attempt to spray us with thorns. They still did shoot thorns, but.
They got embedded in the trees instead of us.
“Step back for the spores!” I shouted. “Though, I don’t think we’ll have to worry about them.”
The boss stopped trying to spray thorns everywhere to instead shake its spores free from its main body. Only, all the clouds of spores got immediately consumed by the flames burning its body.
The ultimate attack got hard countered thanks to Rosie and Lupa baiting those attacks into the trees.
It was time to claim our victory. “Go in for the kill!”
From there, all we had to do was what we were already doing earlier. Dodge attacks, attack when we could, and watch as the boss could barely even fight back thanks to all the trees pinning its body and vines.
I got so caught up in our victory lap phase of the fight that I almost forgot what we were there for.
I found one of the baby plants on the ground, held my arm against it, and got it latched onto me.
Then I looked up just in time to see the finishing blow.
Lupa had embedded one of her daggers into another vine, and she used it to lift her up into the air again. And this time, while the vine waved her around to try and shake her off, it swung her over its main body.
Lupa threw her free dagger straight into the boss’s main body from above. Her blade went between the fallen, flaming trees to pierce the center of the boss’s body, and she then jumped free from the vine with her remaining dagger to land right next to me.
Every non-pinned vine rose into the air, trembled for a moment, and then fell flat to the ground.
[Boss Aspirant Defeated]
[The soul of Lycoris, The Mourning, has been bound.]
[The following message will be broadcasted globally.]
[The party of Sev, Rosie Littleears, and Lupa have defeated Lycoris, The Mourning, for the first time. Crimson Maze has been opened within Forgotten Cemetery. Glory to those who pave the way.]
“Rosie,” I said. “When it said first—”
“That was a world first?!” Rosie shouted. “Wha—how?! Nobody has ever come over here before?! What are our world’s adventurers doing?! Is this the power of following around an isekai protagonist?!”
“… that answers my question.”
At the same time, a dark mist that covered the forest behind the arena dispersed, revealing the Crimson Maze in question. A labyrinth of tall hedges decorated with softly glowing spider lilies. A scene every bit as hauntingly beautiful as the boss’s arena.
This also meant… the monster we just killed wasn’t a respawning spirit.
That was a living monster killed for the first time. Was that what the “Aspirant” part of its title about?
Now, its spirit would be bound to the dungeon, and it would respawn over and over again until the end of time.
I wasn’t sure how to feel about that. While I had no problem killing it in the first place, I just condemned it to an eternity of rebirth and death.
A few more system messages popped up.
[A new Skill has been acquired for defeating a boss while everyone present was underneath its level range with an average equipment level beneath half of the recommended average.]
//Goliath Hunter
//Type: Soul (General | Passive)
//Those who are willing to hunt foes beyond their limits strike fear into the greatest of beasts. Even dragons may learn to fear mice.
You no longer deal reduced damage to enemies of a higher level than you.
Defeating enemies of a higher level will now grant 25% additional experience per level over yours.
You may gain experience from defeating enemies more than five levels higher than you.
You may ignore level requirements on equipment.
Your presence can be felt by monsters of a higher level, increasing the range at which they attack you from.
Monsters above your level will recognize the threat you pose and use new abilities and patterns in defense against you.
That… was not in the game.
A skill that made hunting higher-level monsters and bosses way more worthwhile, while making it possible to wield equipment of any level… at the cost of monsters becoming even more unpredictable and deadlier in addition to increasing their aggro range.
Well, to me, those costs were just more bonuses.
They excited me as much as they made me sweat.
Maybe that skill was one of the surprises Seth mentioned.
… and then another system message popped up, which I wasn’t expecting since I figured the skill wouldn’t affect the boss I killed right before getting it.
[Congratulations, you have leveled up!]
[Level 11 -> 15]
[Health: 150 -> 190]
[Mana: 30 -> 38]
[12 Attribute Points Gained]
[Congratulations, you may now choose a Class!]
[You may no longer gain experience until you select a Class.]
I really wasn’t expecting to get any experience since, just like how you couldn’t get experience from enemies more than five levels below you, you also couldn’t get experience from enemies more than five levels above you.
But I just maxed out.
If the skill took effect for this boss, then… I got 225% extra experience from the boss due to our level difference. 325% of its base experience in total. Normally, enemies only gave 10% more experience for each level higher they were up to five levels higher.
I tried asking, “Did you guys get new—”
“Woah, this skill is great!” Rosie shouted. “But the part about new abilities is kind of scary…”
“… that answers my question.”
“Master, hurry,” Lupa said. “The plan.”
“Gah!” Rosie must have totally forgotten about it. “That’s right! I was so distracted by all the popups! Sev, you need to—”
“I know,” I said. “Hang on.” I chugged one of the weaker potions.
“I just got a serious health boost which will help, and I need to loot the boss since I’ve got the armor set bonus.
People complained that any character who looted a monster should benefit from the set bonus as long as someone in the party had it, but Seth never patched—”
“Hurry up and loot instead of talk about when we were a game!”
I playfully pouted at her. “So bossy.” But I appreciated her concern.
I looted the boss and each of the severed vines. Though, the set bonus would only affect the boss’s main body and the first severed vine, not all of the severed vines.
//Lycoris Ring
//Type: Accessory [Ring] (Rare)
//Requirements: Level 20
//80 Vitality | Makes the wearer immune to Bleeding statuses.
//The flower of a spider lily turned into an elegant ring.
//Lily Eyepatch
//Type: Armor [Head] (Rare)
//Requirements: Level 20