Chapter 31: Frail Woman
Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
Editor: Karai
Can’t catch him? The rest of the team seemed a bit puzzled by this. What does “can’t catch him” mean? Does it mean the summoner can substitute for two players? Apple and mage Mewminati exchanged glances and, seeing UnchainedWanderer remain silent, decided to trust the summoner and try again.
“The healing position remains in its original place. The other three ranged DPS should each choose their positions, making sure not to overlap or interfere with each other’s dodging skills,” Su Mo strategized again based on the recent issue. “Except for the assassins, who should step back two positions while outputting, other melee should not dodge the mud bombs.”
With this statement, assassin ChatMasterWu asked, “Can’t we dodge the mud bombs? Standing still doesn’t that just add pressure on the healer?”
Although mud bombs were fast, they were not impossible to dodge.
“When assassins output up close, the mud bombs emerge from the boss and spread outward, irregularly shooting out in four directions—front, back, left, and right. If assassins are too close to the output, the situation we just encountered will arise, where you’ll be hit by multiple mud bombs and die,” Su Mo answered ChatMasterWu’s question. “Based on my observation, at your recent output position with your back to the boss, without moving, you’ll at most be hit by one mud bomb. But if you move multiple times, you might accidentally enter the mud bomb’s range again and receive multiple hits.”
Ranged DPS players had enough reaction time, but melee players had too short a reaction time; they were practically in the boss’s damage range as soon as the boss started its moves. Running around would only make them susceptible to more skills, so standing still maximized benefits.
ChatMasterWu was surprised. “You even noticed this detail?”
ChatMasterWu, known for his hyperactivity as an assassin, was speechless.
Su Mo finished explaining the details and asked about the cooldowns of the two healers’ skills. After confirming there were no issues, he initiated the fight again. During the monster pull, SnackTimeBear, unlike other warriors, showed an unusual steadiness. Su Mo had noticed him during the tea party; he almost always hit every skill accurately, often causing ClearWind to get up from the tea seat, which eventually helped them clear the last checkpoint.
Despite the abundance of violent DPS in the team, with several players even outgearing SnackTimeBear, there was no threat of Over Threat. As the team’s tank, SnackTimeBear’s skills were not wasted, and apart from the boss’s three ultimate skills, he was the tank who took the most minor skills from the boss. Even during the first chaotic challenge, SnackTimeBear could still hold his position, ensuring that every major skill hit him directly, making him a very reliable main tank for the team.
As soon as the fight began, SnackTimeBear immediately stabilized aggro, and the entire team’s DPS began full output.
“Bro, are we really standing still?” ScarletFruit was a bit nervous.
Su Mo remained calm. “Yes, when the boss calls your name, just take two steps forward.”
No sooner had he finished speaking than the boss immediately called out.
[Really want to play with you~ScarletFruit14~]
ScarletFruit followed the command and took two steps forward. A hand emerged from the swamp, brushing past him and grabbing something beside him. He hesitated for a moment, checking everyone in the team, but no one was caught.
Apple, however, noticed the issue. “Did you just use a summon to take the hit? Summoned creatures are like pets; CloudTraveller’s team also used pets to take hits at the beginning, but the boss doesn’t grab pets. Why would it grab a summon?”
Yu Zhen glanced over, unsurprised by this. No wonder momo didn’t die during the first round.
“ScarletFruit, take two steps back. SubmergedFish, don’t move,” Su Mo calmly summoned the LunarFeline behind ScarletFruit to output, explaining, “You were grabbed because the boss prioritizes grabbing the named person. If the named person isn’t grabbed, the boss will randomly grab another person nearby. That’s why we initially used ranged professions to take the hit.”
Su Mo decisively used SpectralFox to protect SubmergedFish. “SubmergedFish, take two steps back, return to coordinates South 126.” He continued, “However, the game mechanism is ultimately an intelligent program. Even with holographic Global, its priority reading is positional coordinates. It only recalibrates after missing a target. If you cover the coordinates with a summon before it recalibrates, it won’t attempt a second capture.”
Mewminati nodded in realization, “Smart, stacking coordinates to evade the rules.”
This was within the scope allowed by the mainframe. It wouldn’t be fair if only specific skilled professions could clear the dungeon; that would violate the principle of equality among all professions.
“It’s not evading the rules,” Su Mo clarified. “It’s just a skill for profession clearing.”
“Assassins, step back one position and maintain straight-line output,” he continued to direct. “Healers, save two AoE heals. Healer, go first, SubmergedFish, save your skill.”
As expected, the AoE and mud bombs arrived according to the summoner’s prediction, leaving the entire team at half health. ScarletFruit successfully healed the team back to full health with the first AoE.
“SubmergedFish, prepare to raise health,” Su Mo calmly commanded.
Two seconds after the AoE, the boss directly dropped the mud bombs. The ranged professions barely took any damage, the assassins avoided casualties from close attacks, and SubmergedFish quickly raised the main tank’s health, followed by another AoE heal. The whole team remained unscathed, and the boss’s health dropped to 75%.
“Good, keep up the rhythm and stay focused,” Su Mo reminded briefly. “The boss grabs four times, with a 50% chance of a loop of AoE and mud bomb skills. Don’t waste the AoE heals; time them wisely.”
“Got it,” ScarletFruit affirmed.
“Got it,” SubmergedFish joined the team for the first time. Prior to this, her knowledge of momo was limited to the banter and praise among players on forums. Honestly, she didn’t have high expectations for clearing the dungeon, but she hoped to hone her skills in such a challenging event. However, when she actually joined the team, her perception completely changed.
In large-scale comprehensive dungeons, the usual team configuration would include at least two healers: one for single-target healing and one for AoE healing. For even more challenging dungeons, some teams would bring three healers for added security. So when SubmergedFish saw the healer in the team today, her first thought was worry. However, once the battle began, she felt absolutely no pressure as a healer.
The healing output of this healer was substantial, and he could perform extreme healing under limited circumstances. He often achieved high healing bursts, and the coordination with him made SubmergedFish feel no pressure as a healer, which was unexpected.
More importantly was the summoner’s command. Encountering healers in this type of comprehensive dungeon was rare, but encountering a summoner was even rarer. Especially when the summoner mentioned giving up on taking hits, SubmergedFish was genuinely worried about the immense pressure of healing. She couldn’t imagine the stress of protecting herself while taking care of the entire team’s health, especially under the pressure of extreme skills.
But after the second run, not only was she not caught by the boss, but she also experienced an incredibly comfortable healing environment. The teammates’ positioning was meticulous. Starting with the main tank and physical swordsman, who stayed within her safety zone and managed their health predictably, to the three melee professions, who were the most likely to take damage. After receiving commands from the summoner, the assassin and physical swordsman stood in the same output position, avoiding a second wave of damage after taking the mud bomb. The two reserved AoE heals were more than enough to restore their health.
The four ranged professions’ positioning and movement were excellent, never straying from SubmergedFish’s healing range despite additional skills. This indicated that all of SubmergedFish’s teammates had a high level of operational awareness.
Especially the summoner. Despite the need to control the summon and adjust positions for attacks, he maintained a high level of focus, commanding the entire team and controlling the summon while dealing damage.
SubmergedFish found it hard to believe that this highly precise and comfortable healing environment was in a six-star event dungeon.
At the 50% mark, a special situation occurred, and the boss began randomly selecting targets.
Apple stepped back, and the pet under his feet covered the target in time, successfully resolving the crisis. “Incredible, pets actually work!”
Yu Zhen was caught, but he managed to survive using his life-saving skill.
Su Mo reacted quickly. “ChatMasterWu, ZenSlasher, summon pets, and switch coordinates. ClearWind, save your life-saving skill for self-protection. Warriors, report your coordinates,” he instructed, seeing the two assassins summon pets swiftly and adjust Solitary Wolf near the warrior. He then assured the warrior, “Little Bear, stay still. I’ll protect you if you’re targeted.”
SnackTimeBear posted his coordinates in the team’s text channel.
The entire team remained highly focused, and the boss’s sudden change in targeting didn’t alter their strategy. Those caught could protect themselves, with the summoner assisting if needed, and the AoE heals were always ready.
Finally, the boss’s health dropped to 0%. With no casualties and no berserk phase, they successfully defeated the first boss.
“Wow, they even drop equipment boxes?” ClearWind exclaimed in surprise.
Mewminati explained, “Comprehensive dungeons have multiple bosses. In addition to the completion rewards, each boss drops equipment boxes. But this time, the equipment box is quite good. It’s a level 70 box.”
Many in the team chose to open their boxes, and they all received level 75 purple-grade equipment pieces. This was the first time such high-level equipment had appeared in an event dungeon channel since the introduction of levels 70 to 80.
Celestial Horizon’s equipment system mainly consists of three types: PvP equipment, which requires reputation for refinement exchange or can be obtained through quest gameplay, such as the “Sky Cloud Cloth,” which is a high-level material required for 80th-level PvP golden-grade equipment.
Initial PvE equipment is obtained from dungeon drops and could be upgraded with reputation. The Desert Inn equipment box fell into this category.
The last type is handcrafted equipment made by crafting professions. High-level players usually have two sets of equipment, and some even invest heavily in a third set crafted by artisans.
The new Demon System introduced demon points, which could be used to exchange various in-game items. They could also be converted into PvP reputation at a certain ratio and used to obtain PvE upgrade materials, making it the primary source of equipment for all players.
“It seems like there will be many high-level dungeons like this in the future. These level 75 purple boxes used to be rare drops from the final boss of advanced dungeons, and they were random professions. But with these high-level boxes, encounters like this might become rare in the future,” Apple remarked. “I knew there had to be a reason why the official hadn’t released new dungeons. With this start, there might be many more in the future.”
ScarletFruit unexpectedly opened a [Snowy Robe] from the Desert Inn equipment box. When this message appeared in the team system, everyone turned to look at ScarletFruit. ClearWind was especially astonished, “Fruit, you got a gold-grade item!”
Apple glanced over, “The stats on this Snowy Robe are several levels higher than our purple-grade equipment. Is gold-grade really that powerful?”
ScarletFruit was a bit surprised. “Maybe it’s the benefit of having all lucky gear?”
The rest of the team looked on with envy when two more messages popped up in the team system:
“[momo] got a [Breath of Life Crown] from the Desert Inn equipment box.”
“[UnchainedWanderer] got a [Crane Returning Crown] from the Desert Inn equipment box.”
ScarletFruit exclaimed in amazement.
Other people, “??? Does the golden drop rate really get this high?”
Su Mo glanced at the time, about to lead the whole team forward when suddenly he received a private message from UnchainedWanderer. Attached to the message was a document containing information about the second boss’s skills. He was a bit surprised, “So soon?”
ScarletFruit asked, “Bro, are we continuing?”
“Not yet,” Su Mo opened the skill information and found that it seemed to be summarized twice, with both a first version and a second version. The second version appeared to be refined information summarized by UnchainedWanderer.
“I know CloudTraveller; his team is currently stuck on the second boss, not wiped out but struggling,” Yu Zhen said concisely, “Time is limited, just look at the content on the second page directly.”
Su Mo questioned, “Time’s limited?”
Yu Zhen replied puzzled, “It’s 12 o’clock on Capital Planet, you’re logging off to eat. We still have an hour and a half; maybe we can try two sets of skills before 12.”
Su Mo paused for a moment at the words, “Thank you, I do need to eat at 12.”
The whole team paused for about ten minutes before Su Mo continued forward with the group. After the swamp disappeared, the path became much easier, but what remained unchanged were the various narrow passages underground. After walking for about three minutes, they still encountered narrow corridors, and there sat a woman wearing shackles.
“Damn, after seeing so many monsters, finally, we see a beauty,” ScarletFruit took a few steps forward intending to greet this beautiful NPC, but coincidentally met the woman’s sorrowful eyes, and immediately stepped back, “Sis, I don’t think we’ve met before, have we?”
ClearWind remarked, “Look, the lady’s still wearing chains; can we unlock her before talking?”
Just as the two were eager to try, Su Mo suddenly spoke up, “You can go up and unlock her, but I believe you’ll disappear before the next second.”
ScarletFruit’s hand retracted, “Sp… spicy beauty?”
Little Bear realized, “Is she the second boss?”
Su Mo replied, “Yes.”
UnchainedWanderer’s summary was brief; the second boss was a rare humanoid monster. Despite her delicate appearance, her health was extremely high, three times that of the first boss, with as many as five attacking skills. From UnchainedWanderer’s strategy, it was seen that CloudTraveller’s vanguard team, after passing the first boss, got stuck on the delicate woman for a full three hours. In the end, because it was too late, they had to temporarily give up. Just when they reached 50%, the delicate woman suddenly unleashed an ultimate skill, followed by her health immediately returning to 100%, and her skill power would increase again.
In short, apart from two mandatory area of effect attacks that must be avoided, the main focus is on the other three skills.
The first one was Shackles; players targeted by the shackles cannot use any skills and will die immediately after 5 seconds, so when someone gets shackled, teammates must break the shackles within 5 seconds.
The second one was Snowfall; once affected, all negative statuses on players cannot be dispelled. When the debuff reaches 10 stacks, the player turns into an ice sculpture, unable to use skills or engage in combat, similar to being dead, lasting for 3 minutes.
The third one was Enhancement. Under the enhancement state, Snowfall debuffs stack twice, Shackles target two people, and all skill powers increase by 10% (enhancement occurs every 10% of health after 60%).
Su Mo briefly explained the skills, and everyone in the team fell silent for a while. “Actually, it sounds quite complicated, and the boss changes tactics after 50%, they say it instantly regenerates health and goes into a frenzy. But talking too much is pointless; everyone will understand the difficulty after dying once.”
ScarletFruit commented, “Bro, you make it sound so simple.”
Su Mo raised an eyebrow, “Isn’t it? The memories of being close to death are the most vivid.”
Without further ado, Su Mo and his team began testing skills in turns. First was Shackles; the first time Su Mo had four people attack the shackles, but the countdown timer still had 20% health remaining, so the second time, he adjusted to have six people attack, which was just enough. The timing of the shackles’ attacks was unpredictable, sometimes every 10 seconds, sometimes every 20 seconds, sometimes every 5 seconds.
Next was Snowfall; theoretically, Snowfall could be avoided, but it entirely depended on luck. It was easier to dodge for ranged players, but almost everyone in melee range would get hit by the debuff. Snowfall occurred approximately every 20 seconds, and if all hits landed, it would completely freeze a player in 3 minutes and 20 seconds. If the frozen player was a healer, it would essentially mean wiping out the team prematurely.
After about five attempts, they reached 60% health, but the enhancement disrupted their rhythm. Su Mo breathed a sigh of relief at the sight, thankful that they had obtained the skill strategy beforehand. Otherwise, with these troublesome skill rhythms, they would probably be stuck for three hours like CloudTraveller and his team.
By this time, it was already 11 o’clock.
Once everyone was familiar with the skill mechanisms and event trajectories, Su Mo proposed a second adjustment, “Shackles target healers and the main tank, everyone focuses on attacking. If two people get targeted within a short time, prioritize protecting the main tank and healers.”
ChatMasterWu asked, “What about targeting both the tank and healers at the same time?”
Su Mo replied, “Protect the healers; I’ll cover the off-tank position. Target two healers to protect SubmergedFish, and leave ScarletFruit alone.”
ClearWind patted ScarletFruit on the shoulder upon hearing this.
ScarletFruit said, “I understand, I understand, sacrificing for the team.”
Yu Zhen looked at Su Mo, “What about Snowfall? How do you plan to deal with it?”
Su Mo asked, “Have you observed Snowfall’s trajectory?”
“I almost got blinded as soon as it appeared,” ClearWind complained, “Felt like I swallowed a mouthful of snow.”
Yu Zhen said, “Its trajectory is similar to the first boss’s Mud Bomb, but a bit slower. The main thing is that this skill comes with a dazzling light effect. It’s blinding in melee range, but ranged players can still see the trajectory clearly, much harder to dodge than Mud Bomb.”
“Got it,” Su Mo succinctly proposed a method, “Consider the positioning I suggested.”
The whole team followed Su Mo’s suggestions and quickly regrouped.
ClearWind stood in front of Little Bear, with two assassins flanking them. On the ranged side, Array Master and Mage stood against the wall, with a healer stationed behind each. Apple and Su Mo had flexible positions.
“Is it you, ScarletFruit14? Are you secretly watching me?”
“Targeting,” Su Mo immediately called out, “Protect the healers.”
The ranged professions switched targets, and the melee fighters rushed forward. In less than four seconds, ScarletFruit had been hit with the debuffs.
“Back to positions,” Su Mo commanded in an organized manner, “Restore the original coordinates and don’t move.”
This front-back positioning was actually quite uncomfortable, hindering their weapon usage. ClearWind hurriedly ran back to their original spot, ducking to avoid Little Bear’s blade. Just as they crouched down, they were hit by a wave of snowflakes, their face covered in snow.
Little Bear, standing behind ClearWind, clearly felt the change. Initially, they were standing too close to see clearly, but now they understood that the snowfall shot out in a straight line and bounced off, and their tanking position had been specified by Momo. As long as they stood on this spot to hold the boss, the trajectory of the snowfall wouldn’t deviate much.
Regarding the trajectory of the snowfall, two positions were the limit distance. If there were three positions, they would probably be hit by two waves of damage… Little Bear was very surprised. Had the Summoner figured this out during the five test attempts just now?
“Damn, block it!”
“How many people got hit?”
“ClearWind, ZenSlasher, and Mewminati.”
“Close range and still managed to block it!?”
Su Mo looked understanding, “Melee can adjust their positions. Return to positions in 15 seconds.”
ChatMasterWu moved aside to continue DPS, “Impressive, these two positions are just right. If there were more, we’d have to take two waves of damage.”
He couldn’t help but be amazed. How keen was this Summoner’s insight? While everyone was still familiarizing themselves with the skills, he had already memorized the positions and distances. In just half an hour of testing, he had found such a precise strategy.
From the coordination in the previous boss fight, he knew the Summoner’s mental strength was extremely high, but the difficulty of the previous boss lay in catching people. Once they resolved that, clearing it became easy, mostly relying on some skill and luck.
But the delicate woman boss was different. Her difficulty was much higher than the previous one, both in detail handling and operational difficulty. Yet the Summoner remained calm to find a breakthrough, from position distance to skill range rules… Although CloudTraveller was formidable, his reaction speed was nowhere near as quick as the Summoner’s. He suddenly understood why ReturnToSimplicity chose to team up with the Summoner rather than CloudTraveller.
Su Mo noticed another deviation in the snowfall trajectory and pondered for a moment, “Mewminati, try adjusting the distance. Move two steps forward with the healer.”
Mage Mewminati immediately adjusted their position, “Ok, SubmergedFish, stick close.”
Healer SubmergedFish followed closely, “Got it.”
Several rounds of attacks progressed orderly. Su Mo silently counted down. Just as it was about to reach 18 seconds, another change occurred on the battlefield.
“Is it you, ClearWindIsHere? Are you secretly watching me?”
Everyone’s movements halted abruptly, but at this moment, a stern voice came over the voice chat, “Don’t move,” Su Mo commanded sharply, “Block the snowfall and focus on ClearWind.”
The snowfall arrived in the next second. ClearWind, who was in the front, took a hit and fell to the ground as the 5 seconds ended.
SubmergedFish rushed forward after the snowfall ended and successfully revived ClearWind.
ClearWind said, “Scared me to death. When I got hit by the snowfall, I jumped out of my skin.”
If anyone else had come to save them just now, at such a close distance, most people would have been hit by the snowfall and debuffed. It was now 11:10, and everyone had managed to reach 70% health without incident.
Just then, Yu Zhen suddenly received a voice message from CloudTraveller. He dodged another wave of snowfall before having time to open the voice message.
CloudTraveller’s voice was solemn, “Be careful, the delicate woman is actually two bosses.”
