Genius Chapter 132: 80%

Chapter 132: 80%

Translated by Karai of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Addis

“It’s time.” Cantaloupe decisively activated the [Universal Salvation] skill.

In an instant, all the teammates lying on the floor received a resurrection notification from the healer’s master skill [Universal Salvation], a group revival that could bring back all teammates within its range. They quickly chose to be revived, and as they were about to use potions, they saw the healer’s long-prepared group heal land on them, restoring their health to 80% and saving the situation.

The three people standing on the stairs were stunned by the sight. Was there anything more shocking than a single skill from a teammate saving the entire team?

ScarletFruit recognized it immediately, “Oh my god, Master skill!”

ClearWind said, “This is the first time I’ve seen a healer use revival in a quest!”

FireworksAndLanterns added, “Cantaloupe, you’re a newbie!!”

The revived teammates were also astonished, not expecting that Cantaloupe still had such a backup plan.

“Nice job, you actually had a revival in reserve?”

“That startled me. I thought we were going to wipe here.”

“No, it wasn’t my credit. It was a great command from the boss.”

Cantaloupe understood. Momo had him stack buffs not for any other reason, but to challenge the limits and build up 50 layers of healer buffs in the chaotic situation, triggering the healer’s master skill [Universal Salvation]. The conditions to cast this skill were extremely challenging, requiring the healer to stack 50 layers of buffs, but in practice, it was nearly impossible to maintain the buff continuously while healing all teammates… In today’s scenario, thanks to the teammates creating an optimal healing environment, he was able to stack the buffs steadily.

At the moment when the boss’s health reached 80%, he was at risk of losing the buff.

But that didn’t happen. The commander, anticipating the consequences of the boss’s ultimate skill, decisively had him give up on group healing and focus on stacking the buff.

If he had been a few seconds slower, it would have been impossible to complete the buff at this stage. Momo must have seen that he had enough layers of buff before making this risky decision… It was incredibly risky, and if he hadn’t reacted quickly or if the buff had dropped, they would have failed.

All of this was based on the commander’s trust.

Cantaloupe couldn’t help but say, “Thanks to the boss for giving me the achievement!! But don’t rely too much on me; my chance of messing up is pretty high.”

When everyone heard this, they recalled the commander’s decision to cut off their healing during the chaos and then remembered the series of ultimate skills from the boss. Even if he had healed them, they might not have held their ground.

The commander said, “There won’t be a wipe.”

Apple added, “The boss still had a group resurrection in reserve, which is why you were asked to keep healing. If you hadn’t managed to stack the buff, he would have used the resurrection immediately.”

ScarletFruit knew that, unlike the others, he was well aware of what had happened before. Last time in the East Sea Fishing Village, Momo’s little elf had revived all the teammates in one go, leaving a deep impression on him. This maneuver seemed risky, but Momo had kept two layers of backup. Initially, he had Cantaloupe focus on stacking the buff for two reasons: to monitor the buff layers and to protect himself.

If Cantaloupe made a mistake, as long as he didn’t die, the group’s resurrection could be activated immediately.

Or, if both of them had died, ScarletFruit was waiting on the 10th floor.

“Reposition. Don’t focus on the female boss. I’ll keep her occupied; you all go after the male boss.”

Watermelon asked, “Why must we attack both bosses at the same time?”

Su Mo continued, “There are three possible sequences to bring their health down to 80%: attacking the female boss first, then the male boss; attacking the male boss first, then the female boss; or bringing both of their health to 80% simultaneously. But don’t forget, there’s a linked skill. We just tried the first sequence and triggered it, so attacking the male boss first and then the female boss will likely trigger the linked skill as well.”

“The mastermind wants to set us up, so its logic is straightforward: no matter which boss we attack first, it will trigger the linked skill.”

Su Mo said calmly, “When facing such powerful bosses, the priority for any team is to avoid the unknown linked skill by separating them and attacking one at a time. This plays right into the mastermind’s hands, achieving its goal of setting us up.”

“And there was also a hint for this layer. Did you notice? When the female boss’s health hit 80%, only two murals appeared. For the 9th floor, there should be 5-6 murals. With two bosses, there should be 4 murals, but we didn’t reach the required number.”

Su Mo continued with his analysis, “So, the additional 1-2 murals are triggered by unconventional means. It can’t be another task because Fruit and the others have already searched this layer thoroughly for the key. Thus, the remaining murals must be triggered by something related to the bosses, such as the attack sequence.”

The team was left stunned by the detailed explanation.

“Anyway, we’ll just keep attacking,” someone said. “Let’s try hitting them first.”

“Yeah, if we fail, we can always try again, and besides, the leader has a revival skill.”

“Cantaloupe, muster up your energy and give it another go with [Universal Salvation]!”

Cantaloupe fell silent for a moment and said, “I actually hope we won’t need to use [Universal Salvation].”

What’s wrong with this group? Are they all eager to meet their end?

On the 9th floor, they continued to fight the bosses in an orderly fashion, while on the 10th floor, new developments had emerged.

The top of the Senro Tower had the smallest area, with only 4 murals remaining, alongside a pile of very heavy chests. ScarletFruit and the others wasted no time and immediately began examining the murals on the 10th floor, discovering that these murals were highly detailed.

Compared to the simpler and more abstract murals on the other floors, the 10th floor murals were complex and intricate, seemingly telling a story.

“The murals tell a story that is related to the Senro Tower,” ScarletFruit said, not daring to describe the story in detail for fear of triggering something on the 10th floor. “I won’t say what the story is for now, but the problem is I didn’t see anything in it that could help us deal with the two bosses.”

ClearWind added, “I used my imagination as best as I could, but I couldn’t figure anything out.”

FireworksAndLanterns also said, “There are too many elements in the murals to discern anything.”

By now, the health of the male boss on the 9th floor had been reduced to 92%, triggering additional skills from him, but they were manageable. The only issue was that occasionally both bosses would use their skills simultaneously, increasing the healing pressure on Watermelon.

“What’s in the boxes?” Su Mo asked.

ClearWind replied, “They’re very heavy and locked. We don’t have the key.”

Su Mo then asked, “Have you tried using the key for the stairway door?”

“No,” ClearWind said, momentarily stunned. “Can the same key open all these boxes?”

He took the key and tried it, and immediately saw the lock on the box open before him.

ClearWind exclaimed, “What? It really worked?”

When he opened it, he found it was filled with gold and jewels. “Is this the boss’s little treasure trove? So much?”

He then proceeded to open all the boxes, discovering that each one was filled with gold and jewels. There were at least a dozen boxes on the 10th floor, and they were all packed with treasure.

“Can we consider this our completion reward?” ScarletFruit grabbed a handful of gold and jewels. “Wow, can this count towards the Celestial Horizon’s currency system?”

FireworksAndLanterns replied, “What use is all this money? We’d be better off with some rare materials. We’ve been really short on high-level materials recently.”

Su Mo paused when he heard it was all gold and jewels, then asked, “Is there anything else?”

“No, that’s it. On the 10th floor, it’s just murals and treasure chests. Oh, and it’s all flat here. You probably couldn’t see much from below,” ClearWind said, walking to the center of the 10th floor. There was a hole in the center from which a faint candlelit staircase could be seen. “Besides the hole for the central staircase, there’s nothing else.”

Hearing this, the people on the 9th floor were equally puzzled.

If there were any traps on the 10th floor, where could they be?

“First, reduce the boss’s health and light up the murals on the 9th floor. Then we’ll head up,” Su Mo said, scanning the surroundings. If he remembered correctly, the 9th floor was extremely luxurious compared to the sparse design of the other floors. It was as if the 9th floor was a completely different space.

Soon, the male boss’s health dropped to 82%, which was very close to the 81% of the female boss.

The problem then arose: how to get both bosses’ health to 80% simultaneously? First, since the bosses had different health levels, the players’ damage output varied, making it difficult to be precise.

When the male boss’s health reached 81%, Su Mo suddenly said, “Everyone stop attacking. UnchainedWanderer and ZenSlasher come over here. The rest of you continue attacking the boss. When the boss’s health drops below 80.1%, stop and let ZenSlasher and Watermelon, the two assassins, continue their attack.”

Su Mo added, “Watermelon, slow down your attacks on the male boss and watch for ZenSlasher.”

Watermelon paused and asked, “Don’t we need to reach 80% at the same time?”

“When the female boss reaches 80%, she will hesitate before using her ultimate skill. We should use that time to get the male boss’s health to 80%,” Su Mo explained briefly. “Simultaneous means reaching a state where the murals are lit before triggering their linked skills, not literally hitting 80% at the same exact moment.”

“Everyone except ZenSlasher and Watermelon, adjust your positions and move closer to the staircase,” Su Mo instructed. “FireworksAndLanterns, get ready to come down and replace Bitter Melon. You and I will use the summoned bears to control aggro. Bitter Melon, you can leave first.”

Everyone quickly adjusted their positions.

Su Mo drew the female boss’s aggro while FireworksAndLanterns managed the male boss’s aggro. The group quickly adjusted their positions to the vicinity of the stairs. The ranged attackers had already moved up the stairs, with the female and male bosses positioned on opposite sides. Only the two assassins and the two summoned bears remained on the 9th floor, while the rest of the team had moved to the stairs.

The bears helped keep the aggro on the assassins, while the assassins hid behind the bears and continued their attacks.

Soon, the ranged attackers on the stairs reduced the bosses’ health to around 80.1%, then stopped and watched the two assassins.

Su Mo said, “Now, take it slowly. Save your burst skills and be ready to lower the health when needed.”

Among the professions left on the 9th floor, only the two assassins were high-burst melee fighters. Keeping their burst skills meant they could deliver high output in the shortest time possible. Additionally, assassins’ high mobility made it easier for them to escape in emergencies.

“Is it really necessary to retreat that far?” Watermelon turned around, feeling isolated and unsure how to describe the current situation.

Apple responded, “By retreating far, we’ve also widened the path for you.”

ClearWind added, “Exactly. The wider path makes you more visible and makes it easier for the healers to reach you.”

ScarletFruit chimed in, “Being visible when you die is better; I’ll make sure Cantaloupe can resurrect you instantly.”

Cantaloupe said, “I can only save one at a time.”

Watermelon was speechless.
ZenSlasher was speechless.

Watermelon gave up trying to communicate with his teammates; in their eyes, he was just a backup assassin.

Before he knew it, ZenSlasher’s health had already dropped to 80%, and the female boss’s posture changed instantly. The wall murals lit up on two sides. Watermelon immediately used his burst skills and successfully reduced the male boss’s health to 80%. As Su Mo had predicted, the murals on the 9th floor lit up four times in an instant.

“Run!” Su Mo commanded. The two assassins quickly moved toward the stairs, while the others on the stairs also hurriedly ascended to the 10th floor.

The situation on the field changed rapidly. After the two murals lit up, the mural in the diagonal center seemed to change, and the other two murals also seemed ready to light up… Su Mo, standing at the stairway entrance without moving, glanced at the murals and then looked back at the two bosses’ health. His expression shifted slightly, “No, we’re still short.”

At that moment, the female boss’s health value changed slightly.

Su Mo realized something and said coldly, “The female boss has a problem.”

As the ultimate skill was charging, the female boss, at this crucial moment, had somehow gained a healing buff.

The situation was urgent. Since the teammates were attacking and the changes in the boss’s health became very subtle under their assault, the team had overlooked the female boss’s health change, assuming that the healing was a recovery effect after the ultimate skill.

But now it seemed that since the previous attempt, the female boss had been healing during the charging of her ultimate skill.

Without any teammates below to manage the boss’s health, the health would likely rebound to over 80% even faster than in the previous attempt.

Everyone’s attention was focused on the teammates running below, and they had not yet reacted to Su Mo’s command.

Yu Zhen frowned and noticed the same problem, “The female boss healed early.”

“What’s going on?”

“The female boss healed!”

“How is it healing at this moment!?”

“Maybe she has a healing buff. She didn’t heal while charging before!”

“Ranged players, get ready to finish it off!”

“We can’t, she’s too far away, out of my skill range.”

ZenSlasher had already reached the stairs and was about to turn back to finish off the boss when suddenly a figure brushed past her.

The summoner leaped down from the high stairs and swiftly approached the female boss. The summoned creatures landed one by one, attacking the boss with fierce blows and reducing her healing. At that moment, the flickering murals seemed to stabilize, and besides the four murals illuminated by the male and female bosses, the other two murals also lit up.

All the murals on the ninth floor were now fully illuminated, showcasing the opulent and beautiful decor to everyone. Meanwhile, the unique task prompt for the ninth floor appeared:

[[Senro Tower – Floor Nine] The Sovereigns have awakened. Be sure to stop them.]

“The murals are lit, hurry to the tenth floor!”

“Run!”

“Big Brother is still down there!”

Everyone seemed to be racing against the clock to avoid the bosses’ ultimate skills, scrambling to reach the tenth floor. Watermelon and ZenSlasher made it halfway up the stairs, completely unable to pay attention to what was happening behind them. At this moment, the two bosses’ ultimate skills were fully charged and headed straight for Momo at the bottom.

Yu Zhen shouted, “Be careful!”

ZenSlasher and Watermelon reached the tenth floor. The damage hit Momo, and the healing buff that Cantaloupe had stacked in advance vanished, breaking Black Tortoise’s damage reduction. His health dropped to only 50%.

At the entrance of the tenth-floor stairs, a few people crouched, and the team voice chat was filled with noise as everyone looked down below.

“It’s over, we’re running out of time!”

“Get ready to save, get ready to save!”

“The ultimate skill is coming!”

As the two bosses’ ultimate skills were unleashed, everyone’s hearts immediately tightened. The team channel fell silent for a moment.

The dazzling light effects and terrifying skill buildup completed, and the ultimate skills of the two bosses were released simultaneously. The light effects of the boss skills almost instantly engulfed the summoner who was running below. Yu Zhen’s gaze briefly froze, and the next second, a figure suddenly appeared. The summoner, with a burst of momentum, crashed into Yu Zhen, pushing him into the tenth floor.

Yu Zhen raised his hand slightly and wrapped his arm around the young, slender shoulders.

With a thunderous boom, the sound overwhelmed everyone’s ears, and the buzzing noise continued.

The intense force caused the two to fall heavily onto the floor of the tenth level. Despite the fall, the young man’s fighting spirit was undiminished, and his cheerful voice came through to Yu Zhen’s ear, “No mistakes this time, the cooldown for the tether caught up.”

The sudden turn of events stunned everyone for a moment. The ultimate skills below had not yet ceased, but ScarletFruit was the first to react.

“My brother is up! Quickly close the door!” ScarletFruit immediately blocked the stairway door between the ninth and tenth floors.

As soon as he blocked it, he felt a violent impact from behind the door, almost causing him to be thrown back.

Wow, was the boss trying to kick the door?! That was intense!

Everyone quickly sprang into action, coordinating their efforts.

“Get more people, block the door!”

“Move some boxes over here!”

“Hurry up, hurry up!”

“Big Brother Bitter Melon! You come here!!”

They finally managed to secure the door.

“Brother, next we…”

ScarletFruit sighed in relief and turned around to see the people on the floor not far away.

Su Mo had just gotten up from Yu Zhen. As he turned around, he saw a group of teammates standing by the stairway door.

Some were sitting on boxes, some were holding the door, and without exception, everyone’s eyes were on them.

 

Author’s note: 

Momo: ?

Fruit: Please continue.

ClearWind: Continue.

Apple: Continue.

Bitter Melon covered little Firework’s eyes: Little kids shouldn’t look.