Chapter 538: The 3rd Stage?
Li Yao frowned and asked, “Does that monster in the middle have health?”
“Yes, but it can’t be hit. Oh, I got it, these monsters appear from the edges and crawl towards the middle, disappearing there. Meanwhile, that monster’s health increases.” Daidai said anxiously.
“I understand now, all of you should focus fire to kill the smaller monsters that spawn. Don’t let them reach the middle, act fast.” Li Yao commanded.
“Alright, I’m best at defensive position fights.” Daidai said as she quickly set up her totems. “Watch my marks, focus your fire.”
Everyone inside nodded in understanding.
Li Yao glanced at the massive Nightmare Ball in the middle, also noticing it had health, and said, “Apart from the tank, everyone focus their fire on this Nightmare Ball.”
Starfire Team quickly went into action, starting to target the middle Nightmare Ball.
The situation became dangerous again. With two bosses releasing abilities over the middle area, evading attacks became much harder.
Due to initially targeting the Crystal and later becoming distracted by healing, the combined health of the two bosses surpassed two million. Coupled with their devious tactics, suppressing the bosses’ health progression was significantly slowed.
Consequently, the fight dragged on longer. The more time passed, the more prone Starfire Team was to making mistakes.
As the conflict intensified, Starfire started losing members.
Thud…
The Nightmare Ball shattered, revealing a large monster.
“It’s a low-ranking boss, with four hundred thousand health,” Shadow Dance said.
Li Yao nodded, saying, “Everyone stay calm. We’re unfamiliar with this mechanic this time, but next time we won’t let it grow. We just need to kill it swiftly.”
Li Yao didn’t hold back or worry about gaining too much aggro from this minor monster, and activated Rapid Shooting.
Although this low-ranking boss’s attack power was not low, it was just a spawn of the Nightmare Monster without any dangerous abilities.
The Spider Tank could tank it easily and quickly the Nightmare Monster was killed.
The team once again focus fired the boss, but after a while, the boss released another Nightmare Ball.
“Bring out your fastest actions, focus fire to kill it fast, as the monsters inside will spawn faster and faster,” said Li Yao before he himself was teleported inside.
“You don’t need to focus fire my target, choose a different one,” Li Yao said as he began killing the newly spawned monsters.
Li Yao’s damage output was terrifying. With him around, not a single monster managed to fuse.
After around thirty seconds, the Nightmare Ball exploded. Ultimately, only a Nightmare Monster with less than two hundred thousand health appeared.
The team easily killed this monster before splitting up again to attack the bosses.
They repeated this process almost ten times, and the bosses’ health was finally reduced to around 30%.
“This boss isn’t that difficult.” The newbie, Mu Zi, muttered.
Unparalleled shook her head, “Don’t be foolish, do not forget the first phase which troubled us for several days. During this second phase, had our leader not discovered the two boss’s secret fusion, their fusion wouldn’t have simply recovered 5% of health.”
“True. If the first phase tested the accuracy of our attacks, then the second tests the commander’s abilities. Once we understood the bosses’ mechanics, this phase becomes a test of damage output,” added Li Jie.
“Right, dealing significantly less damage after splitting up, if we can’t deal over 5% of the bosses’ health before their fusion skill finishes, it’s like we’re doing nothing. Other abilities are said nothing of, they can be dodged, but the Nightmare Ball further compressed our output time. If our output falls short, the powerful demons that emerge are a serious problem. There’s simply no time left to damage the bosses,” analyzed Unparalleled.
“I also noticed, the interval between this boss summoning Nightmare Balls is fixed. If we can’t handle the monsters from the first Nightmare Ball before the second one is summoned, not to mention attacking the boss, we can’t even handle the second Nightmare Ball. And the monsters it summons get stronger each time, with more and more monsters piling up, it’s utterly horrifying,” Daidai added.
All of a sudden, everyone felt dumbstruck. Li Yao’s damage output was like having several additional players. It was not that the boss was ridiculously strong, Li Yao was ridiculously strong.
With output statistics, they finally saw how terrifying Li Yao’s serious damage output was when he’s not restrained and not fearing drawing aggro.
“No, how could you possibly defeat me? I am invincible,” said the Elder Khan and the Nightmare Projection as they overlapped again, but without separating this time.
At this moment, he only has fifteen percent of his health left. His health had not regenerated and his body seemed to be shrouded in shadows.
Above his body was the phantom image of a bow-wielding figure, evidently his Nightmare Form.
“Tanks and healers, be careful. The boss has become much stronger. Watch out for his burst and big skills and use them at any time. Don’t get one-hit killed,” Li Yao warned.
But the warning came a little late. The pace of the fight came too fast for the team as they struggled to grasp what was happening. This was followed by a barrage of bouncing arrows.
Countless arrows ricocheted everywhere. The team found it increasingly difficult to dodge these attacks as well as the shockwaves. Moreover, the boss’s aggro had become chaotic.
Like the second boss, it began to lash out wildly, although it was not as invincible. But with factors to three sides, Starfire lost four or five of its members. Only fifteen remained, having already lost over ten players.
“This is not the Divine Armor. Don’t be afraid, keep attacking. Everyone, move around.”
This stage tests mobile damage output. Not only dodging from three sides, but for Starfire, this was a challenge.
As the boss’s health decreased, more and more of Starfire’s members fell.
Finally, when there were three players left, the boss’s health hit zero and it collapsed.
“First kill.”
The team’s voice chat fell silent before excited questioning ensued.
Then came the cheering, as everyone waited for the first kill announcement to appear in Rainbow World.
“You think you’ve won? Pitiful mortals, you’re too naive.”
As the voice sounded, the Elder Khan’s body exploded violently, instantly killing the remaining three players, including Li Yao.
Subsequently, everyone saw the phantom image of an Ancient Tree Of War appear in the middle.
“Damn it, there’s still another phase. Is there no justice in the world?” Guardian Angel said depressingly.
“Let’s go resurrect.” Li Yao said before releasing his soul.
After resurrecting, everyone was a bit downcast. They had put in a great amount of effort thinking they had won, only to realize another phase was yet to come.
What’s more, by that phase, only three of them remained. Unless they had over fifteen players to start with, it was basically impossible to progress. They all knew this, even without Li Yao pointing it out…