Genius Chapter 34: Kill the Summoner? Kill the Array Master?

Chapter 34: Kill the Summoner? Kill the Array Master?

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Karai

Everyone was shocked. They hadn’t expected the boss’s shackle skill to turn teammates into red names and unleash skills uncontrollably. ScarletFruit watched helplessly as the AoE heal he had been saving for so long ended up healing the boss instead. “That was my group heal!! With a 20-second cooldown!!”

Mewminati remarked, “Don’t worry about it, bro. Look at how much health you gave the boss.”

SubmergedFish added, “Is the AoE attack coming? We might not be able to top off everyone’s health.”

ScarletFruit accused, “ClearWind, you hit me!”

ClearWind replied, “Oops, my bad. You ran into my range.”

“Ranged, stay within the array master’s range. SubmergedFish, focus on healing the main tank. Melee, prioritize self-protection,” Su Mo immediately issued new orders and then looked at ScarletFruit. “ScarletFruit, how much longer is the control?”

ScarletFruit finally found the description of the “shackle” skill among the myriad debuffs on himself—[Locked by Soul Shackle, remaining time: 3 seconds].

“Three seconds!” ScarletFruit replied.

At that moment, an AoE attack hit, causing everyone’s health except ScarletFruit’s to drop to 50%. SubmergedFish gritted her teeth and cast another AoE heal, followed by another, while the array master promptly activated his defense array to withstand the blow. However, the entire team’s health remained in an unhealthy state.

Su Mo commanded, “Use health potions, and don’t hold back on skills, especially the DPS.”

Three seconds meant a control time of about 10 seconds.

This situation was extremely dire. With the frontal seal skill and the shackle happening simultaneously, if they collided with each other, it might spell the end for the entire group.

As soon as the three seconds elapsed, ScarletFruit’s control ended. Two shackles disappeared from the boss’s body and instantly appeared on SubmergedFish and the assassin ChatMasterWu. SubmergedFish and ChatMasterWu’s vision changed, and they immediately reported their status in the voice channel.

After ChatMasterWu was controlled, he directly launched a combo at ClearWindIsHere, who was closest to him, nearly depleting ClearWind’s health. Thankfully, ScarletFruit managed to heal him in time.

ClearWind dashed away, shouting, “What the hell, Big Bro! Don’t attack me!”

ChatMasterWu replied, “It’s not my fault! My blade isn’t under my control!”

Su Mo made a quick decision. “ScarletFruit, Apple, Wanderer, seal the assassin’s skills.”

The status of being sealed was called “seal,” and unlike the boss’s skill, which only sealed frontal skills, sealing randomly sealed 3-5 skills. This skill was generally only used in PvP, and they hadn’t expected to have to use it on teammates during an event dungeon. The three of them quickly applied various negative effects to the assassin, successfully sealing most of his powerful skills.

“I’ll control the assassin,” Su Mo decisively commanded Solitary Wolf to go stun him. Assassins had low resistance and were easily stunned by Solitary Wolf. “The rest of you, keep dealing damage. Ranged, shield behind the array master. ScarletFruit, get ready to heal through two AoE attacks.”

Controlled DPS like the assassin turned into powerful mini-bosses, and if they weren’t careful, they could kill someone in an instant. The best way was to kill them directly, but without knowing the cooldown of the shackle skill, it wasn’t safe to kill teammates and then revive them. Combat resurrection had limited cooldowns, and they couldn’t waste skills recklessly.

Ten seconds passed in heart-pounding tension, and apart from everyone being low on health, they hadn’t suffered any casualties.

“Watch your positioning, both healers, focus on healing,” Su Mo stared at the boss’s health, which had dropped to 72%.

“Mage is sealed.”

“Magic swordsman is sealed.”

“Assassin ZenSlasher is sealed.”

The teammates reported their sealed skills in an orderly manner, while SubmergedFish remained focused on healing the main tank, and ScarletFruit prioritized taking care of their health from the very beginning. “What’s the deal with this shackle skill? It felt like agony every second. They won’t lock me down again, will they…”

“Locking a healer will only give the boss a 1% health boost, and that extra healing can be easily negated by our damage,” ClearWind said, still feeling shaken. “But if it locks three DPS, won’t we end up killing each other with one slash each?”

“Locking people along with sealing skills can easily disrupt our rhythm and skill rotation,” Apple added. “We don’t know the boss’s berserk time. If it disrupts us like this, our damage output might not be enough.”

Before reaching 80% health, everyone’s output had been smooth sailing. However, when the frontal seal and shackles occurred successively, interrupting both DPS and healing, it added an invisible layer of pressure to everyone.

At this moment, the shackles dropped from the boss. The first shackle landed on the magic swordsman, Apple, and after about five seconds, two shackles fell simultaneously, directly targeting ChatMasterWu and ClearWindIsHere, accurately hitting three DPS.

The remaining teammates were speechless.

“Focus all damage on ClearWind and ChatMasterWu, control Apple,” Su Mo decisively muted ClearWind and continued, “The boss drops one shackle at 75% health, then at 70%, first one shackle, then two. Preliminary estimation is that it drops every 5% health. So, when approaching these intervals, use powerful skills!”

Everyone instantly snapped to attention upon hearing this. Sure enough, at 65% and 50% health, corresponding shackles appeared. Most of the team’s powerful skills had been used up, so there wouldn’t be a situation where teammates clashed with powerful skills against each other. Locking a healer was disregarded, while locking DPS meant killing two and controlling one.

At 50% health:

“SubmergedFish is locked.”

Everyone skillfully moved into the array master’s range. Just as the array master raised his shield, a grave situation occurred—the remaining shackles landed on ScarletFruit and the mage, cutting off the healing.

“SubmergedFish, protect yourself. All DPS, activate your survival skills,” Su Mo immediately controlled the mage. The chaos caused everyone to change their positions. The frontal seal skill arrived, successfully sealing ClearWind, Apple, and ZenSlasher. The boss’s three misty tendrils directly struck Apple, who happened to be the furthest away, causing him to die instantly.

At 50% health, the boss’s skill rhythm changed.

Su Mo noticed three misty tendrils gathering behind the boss once again. In a brief moment, countless thoughts raced through his mind. A sense of impending doom washed over him. SubmergedFish still had two seconds left to break free from the control. These tendrils might hit SubmergedFish, who had run to the far side in confusion… SubmergedFish was currently the linchpin of the team’s healing. If she died, the team might not last until ScarletFruit could release the control.

Instinctively, Su Mo stepped back, intending to shield SubmergedFish from the impending single-target attack.

But just then, a gust of wind brushed past him. The array master, who had been supporting the defense array, swiftly retreated using his light footwork at a critical moment. He rushed to the back of the team just before the three tendrils descended, taking a slight position shift to shield healer SubmergedFish from the fatal blow.

“Watch your positioning, I’ll take the hit,” Yu Zhen’s calm voice rang out.

Su Mo snapped back to reality instantly. “Focus all damage on the boss, bring its health down below 50%!”

The other players rallied with full determination, pushing the boss down to 48%. At this moment, the chaotic skills ceased, reverting back to their previous sequence, albeit with slightly increased potency, adding invisible pressure to the healers once again.

Su Mo supplemented the correction, “Now correcting the skill timing below 50% health, all DPS need to pay attention to the timing themselves. Seal skill every 18 seconds, single-target pounce every 8 seconds, and every 5% health, a shackle will appear. Healers, note that the interval between two group health drops is shortened by one second compared to before, so be flexible with your healing rhythm.”

“The boss has a kind of enhancement mechanism. It’s at 50%, and then every time it reaches 40%, 30%… be alert. Once the same situation occurs, immediately push the boss’s health past it,” Su Mo analyzed rapidly. “Apart from that, all other skills are avoidable damage. All DPS should watch their positioning, not adding extra pressure to the healers. Don’t worry, it’s not a big issue.”

“I thought the earlier bosses were tough enough, but I didn’t expect this soul-locking thing to be so insane.”

“This is a six-star difficulty event dungeon. Currently, Celestial Horizon has the highest stars, right? The demon dungeon is only three stars.”

“No need to be nervous. If we can finish it, we finish it. If not, we just try again.”

Despite the tense dungeon environment, the mood within the team remained relatively stable.

In the following rounds, the shackles targeted the DPS players. Fortunately, ScarletFruit and SubmergedFish were not sealed, and the group made it through to 35% without major incidents. By this point, 40 minutes had passed since the start, and the dungeon boss had yet to enter a frenzy.

ClearWindIsHere’s livestream was still ongoing, and outside the game, the frequent mechanics of the dungeon boss had stirred up quite a commotion.

[This mechanic is outrageous!]

[This dungeon makes me want to curse the developers. Can normal players handle this difficulty?]

[It’s normal for bosses to have three or four skills, but with these bizarre and high-frequency mechanics, how skilled do players need to be?]

[Sealing front + shackles. With a healer who’s not in the right mindset, one mistake could wipe the team, you know?]

[Leadership is crucial.]

CloudTraveller’s team wiped at 50%. The chaotic skills directly killed the ranged DPS, along with shackles and front seals. They wisely chose to retreat, planning to figure out the pattern before attacking again. He checked his friends list; UnchainedWanderer and others were still challenging the dungeon. He refrained from messaging them not to disturb and instead reopened ClearWindIsHere’s link in the heated discussion group, seeing how Momo’s team handled the situation at 35%.

Speaking of situational awareness, Apple, Mewminati, and ChatMasterWu were all famous players in the rankings. UnchainedWanderer was ReturnToSimplicity’s alternate account. Except for these four, the other six, including Momo, could be considered relatively unknown players, yet they were performing at an exceptional level now.

With only one main tank and a summoner acting as off-tank, SnackTimeBear, whose equipment was not the best, managed to stabilize at critical moments, neither making mistakes nor drawing too much aggro, dutifully holding the boss’s agro. Following closely were the physical sword ClearWindIsHere and the female assassin ZenSlasher, both melee fighters. Despite being sealed by the boss’s skills multiple times, they continued to output their maximum damage. ChatMasterWu had equipment advantages, while these two melee professions had average gear, but their burst damage exceeded CloudTraveller’s expectations.

Not to mention the healing output; ScarletFruit and SubmergedFish bore the pressure of the entire group. Compared to his own team, the summoner’s team’s healing output was not particularly high.

CloudTraveller’s team brought two top-tier healers, well-equipped and skilled, with a healing output about 1.5 times higher than Momo’s team, and they were two healers, which gave them a higher margin for error. However, their actual performance wasn’t as smooth as Momo’s, mainly due to leadership.

From the barrage of comments, it seemed they had been raiding for 40 minutes, with only casualties from the shackle, but no unexpected deaths among the others.

With precise commands from the leader and unwavering cooperation from the members, it didn’t seem like a team in their first collaboration but rather one honed through multiple trials, displaying a seamless synergy.

If in Celestial Horizon, Summoner Momo showcased top-notch awareness and skills, then in this event dungeon, his strategic vision and commanding abilities were nearly flawless. He accurately predicted the boss’s skill timings, coordinated the combat resurrection cooldowns of the healers, maximizing output with minimal casualties.

In the livestream, as the boss reached 30%, the skills changed again, but the erratic rhythm didn’t faze them. The summoner’s voice came through the broadcast clearly, calm and composed, delivering instructions to each member.

“ScarletFruit, Apple, ZenSlasher are shackled. Kill ZenSlasher, control Apple.”

“SnackTimeBear is sealed, SubmergedFish, protect the main tank. Movement is sealed, SubmergedFish, single-target heal.”

“Single-target pounce, Mewminati, move forward two positions. Movement is low, healers, pay attention.”

“ScarletFruit, unlock, revive ZenSlasher.”

…

[The leadership is robotic…]

[If I were the healer, with most of the group’s health below safety levels, I’d probably panic immediately.]

[He must have calculated it; he’s using combat resurrection on whoever is needed.]

[The leadership remains composed; he’s instructing the healers to conserve skills, maximizing the effectiveness of each group heal…]

At 20%, everyone’s hearts skipped a beat. The first shackle landed on Mewminati, and the remaining two were on the summoner, Momo, and the healer, SubmergedFish. As the boss’s chaotic skills were about to hit, there were signs of confusion within the group. Who would control the crowd if the summoner died? The pressure mounted on the shackled healer, SubmergedFish…

Just as tension gripped the team and the rhythm of output subtly changed, the summoner’s calm voice continued, “Momo, SubmergedFish, Mewminati are sealed. Focus on killing Momo, control Apple to kill Mewminati.”

Kill the summoner!?

ScarletFruit couldn’t help but remark, “Bro, are you really ordering your own demise?”

Mewminati confessed, “Honestly, every time Momo calls out to kill someone, I get this chilling feeling down my spine.”

In a short span of time, Su Mo made the most beneficial choice. Mewminati’s shackle was about to expire, but the combat resurrection cooldown wasn’t ready yet. The summoner’s summoned beast skill would have the maximum impact on the battle. Killing him was the best option.

The entire group hesitated for a second, then focused their skills on Momo.

In less than two seconds, Momo lay on the ground, the world turning monochrome in death, vision almost fixed.

Without hesitation, Su Mo switched the viewpoint to his teammates and continued to command, “Movement, position yourselves, watch out for single-target pounce.”

“Melee, return to your positions, focus all on the boss.”

“ScarletFruit, summon the tree, replenish SnackTimeBear’s mana.”

“ZenSlasher is sealed in front, ScarletFruit, protect her.”

…

The boss’s health dwindled with each passing moment. When SubmergedFish’s combat resurrection cooldown was ready, he revived Momo. ScarletFruit’s group heal filled everyone’s health to the brim at 18%. At 10%, as the boss’s skills became erratic again, luckily, the shackles didn’t land on the healers.

At 8%, consecutive AoE attacks brought the group’s health down to 30%, causing a rupture in the group healing.

“Use potions for protection,” Su Mo decisively commanded, “watch for 5%.”

At that moment, with everyone’s eyes fixed on the health bar reaching 5%, the first shackle landed on Apple. Su Mo promptly controlled Apple. Array master UnchainedWanderer swiftly moved to the rear of the group and directly faced the single-target pounce, bringing the health down to 25%.

As Su Mo counted the time until the shackles, the healing suffered a gap, ScarletFruit’s skills were on cooldown, Apple had five seconds left to break free. There was still a chance, as long as the healers and array master weren’t shackled simultaneously…

But then, the last two shackles landed on array master UnchainedWanderer and healer SubmergedFish.

Su Mo’s gaze froze. The worst-case scenario had unfolded.

Yu Zhen’s voice came through the channel, “Kill the array master.”