Chapter 70: 0.01%
Translated by Karai of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
Editor: Addis
By the time Bitter Melon finally managed to disengage the boss and the healer and cleric revived everyone, it was already 9 a.m. The first attempt at the boss had taken nearly an hour, with the best result being 25%, but the most critical issue had yet to be resolved.
ClearWind had been blown away several times. “That recurring skill is so nasty. If it hits three times, no amount of skills can withstand it!”
ScarletFruit said, “Yes, that skill gets harder as the fight progresses. The skill frequency increases, and if we lose one healer, there’s no time to revive them. The spring breeze messes up our arrangement.”
Yellow Peach added, “This boss is ridiculous. Even after dying, it still hits us. Finding someone in this vast prairie and reviving them is really difficult.”
Apple said, “Those elite teams were probably wiped out by this skill. We have a higher margin for error with our bear, but they can only rely on skill rotation. Are there any mechanisms we haven’t figured out?”
While everyone was discussing, Su Mo and Yu Zhen exchanged a few words and confirmed the timing and strategy. Bitter Melon, seeing the two in discussion, asked, “Momo, do you have an idea?”
“I do,” Su Mo replied, coming back to his senses. “Actually, at 50%, we made a mistake and encountered three rounds of the recurring skill early. If it were another team, they might have found it easier to get past this stage.”
FireworksAndLanterns asked, “Why? Don’t we have an advantage?”
“We rely too much on the bear, and when hiding behind it, the summoned beasts block our way, preventing us from dealing damage during the spring breeze phase. So at 50%, teams using defensive skills to withstand the damage will find it easier to get past this health threshold,” Su Mo explained succinctly. “After 50%, it’s all about understanding the mechanics and teamwork.”
This was a detail Su Mo and Yu Zhen noticed during their collaboration: the recurring skill mechanism.
The two special mechanisms in the Spring Realm activated after 50% health: one enhanced the boss’s skill cycle, and the other boosted the boss’s health.
According to their observations, the recurring skill appeared at 50%, 40%, and 30% health thresholds. They inferred it would also appear at 20% and 10% health, which they had not yet reached. The main issue was that this skill repeated itself; as long as the boss’s health remained at 50%, the skill would continue to activate—first at 20 seconds, then at 10 seconds, and finally at 5 seconds.
So, in the beginning, they chose to kill the minions before attacking the boss, but they didn’t manage to reduce the boss’s health in the allotted time, leading them to experience three consecutive rounds of the recurring skill at 50%. Fortunately, they managed to finish in time.
Based on the pattern, they deduced that this skill had only three rounds. If it reached a fourth round, it could drop to zero seconds, leading to infinite recurrence. They wouldn’t be able to get close to the boss and would be wiped out by its continuous skills.
In other words, within the 20 seconds when the recurring skill appeared, they needed to reduce the boss’s health by 1%, or else the second recurrence would be triggered.
Bitter Melon pondered, “This skill is like a berserk skill. More than three times means a wipe. A total of five attempts, and too many mistakes will lead to insufficient damage output.”
“So we need to find a different approach,” Su Mo said, looking at the boss still sitting under the tree in the distance. “For example, how to maximize output using our professions’ advantages after 50%.”
After a ten-minute break, everyone prepared themselves.
Su Mo glanced in Yu Zhen’s direction. The array master remained as aloof and silent as ever, standing there like another cornerstone of the team.
“Boss, should we start?” ScarletFruit asked.
Su Mo snapped back to reality, “Start, Bitter Melon…”
He saw that Bitter Melon had already moved ahead to the boss. “Bitter Melon has high defense and health. This time, ScarletFruit will be the main healer, and Yellow Peach will be the support healer. Make sure to keep everyone’s health safe. Watermelon, you’re still on targeted tanking.”
Watermelon, looking serious, warned Yellow Peach, “Brother, take good care of me. I don’t want to go through the pain of dying and being corpse-whipped again.”
The group quickly engaged the boss.
With the previous experience, their movements and awareness were spot on this time. They got through the first 40% of the boss’s health very smoothly. When the boss’s health reached 55%, Su Mo’s commands changed. “Bitter Melon, stay in position. FireworksAndLanterns, move the bear to Bitter Melon’s left side. Everyone else, follow.”
FireworksAndLanterns immediately adjusted their position, and the others followed suit.
At this point, another bear came down. Su Mo summoned it to another position, providing double protection with staggered spacing. This allowed the physical swordsmen and assassins to have space for output and room to dodge.
FireworksAndLanterns hesitated briefly. “Aren’t we keeping one as a backup?”
“No, if the situation changes, we can cancel the summon.” Su Mo glanced at the DPS and healing data from the plug-in. “My healing is enough. We can go all out.”
“Physical swordsmen, assassins, find your positions and keep an eye on the minions.” Su Mo watched the boss’s health getting closer to 50% and continued calmly giving instructions. “Magical swordsmen, array master, summoner, stay back. Below 50%, minions will spawn. Array master, gather the minions. Summoner, control the minions. Everyone else, focus on the boss.”
“Tornado incoming, magical swordsmen and array master use your skills, physical swordsmen save your skills.”
Everyone focused on their output. As the health reached 50%, the recurring skill echoed in everyone’s ears. The sweeping wind made the massive bear stagger slightly, but with the other bear for support, the risk was greatly reduced.
The array master was the first to act. His defensive array fell in the center immediately, protecting his teammates from the approaching tornado. Then, a gathering array controlled the oncoming minions, pulling them together.
In just four seconds, the array master quickly stabilized the situation. “All out.”
Su Mo and FireworksAndLanterns sent their control-type summoned beasts out to handle the minions, focusing all their main output on the boss.
9 seconds, 10 seconds…
A spring breeze arrived, blowing away the summoned beasts.
Su Mo said, “Cancel and resummon.”
11 seconds, 12 seconds… 16 seconds!
The boss’s health dropped to 49%.
“Everyone, clear the minions,” Su Mo instructed. “The spring breeze will hit in 8 seconds, move in 3.”
The DPS switched targets. After ten seconds, the minions’ health had tripled, but under the array master’s gathering array, they stayed neatly grouped together, significantly speeding up the minion clearing process.
Su Mo quickly ordered, “Move.”
With 2 seconds left on the spring breeze, the ranged professions and magical swordsmen were in the safe zone, while physical swordsman ClearWindIsHere and the array master retreated, aided by a speed array placed at their feet, quickly returning to the bears’ protection.
At this moment, the two assassins successfully eliminated all the minions and immediately went into stealth to avoid the spring breeze.
ScarletFruit cast a group heal, exclaiming, “Damn, everyone here is amazing!”
ClearWind, still shaken, continued attacking, “Brother Wanderer the array master is playing superbly, managing to put down three arrays while almost missing the retreat.”
Yellow Peach remarked, “Watermelon, you used stealth just in time, didn’t you?”
Watermelon snorted, “An excellent assassin uses their skills precisely.”
As he spoke, the boss targeted him again, reducing his health to just 2%.
“Quick, quick, save me!” Watermelon cried as he ran back.
At that moment, a sinister voice echoed, “Hehehe, WhatAHugeWatermelon, won’t you become my nourishment?”
Just as Yellow Peach’s heal was about to land, Watermelon died right in front of him.
Watermelon exclaimed, “?”
“Unbelievable!” Yellow Peach quickly revived him. “No worries, bro, you died close this time, no blowing away. Just remember, if you’re going to die, do it at my feet. I’ll be the first to revive you when my cooldown is up.”
Watermelon replied, “Thank you so much!”
Yellow Peach chuckled, “No need, just doing my job.”
Su Mo said, “Attention, after 45% health, the boss will start regenerating. All out on damage, don’t let it heal.”
Besides the recurring skill every 10%, the second mechanism was “Endless Renewal.” The timing of this skill was tricky; it only lasted for 5% of the boss’s health each time it appeared and would only disappear once the recurring skill replaced it. Simply put, this skill limited their damage output, requiring the team to reduce the boss’s health by 1% within 40 seconds despite all skill disruptions. Otherwise, they would make no progress.
For a team with enough damage output like theirs, this was no problem. But if there were significant casualties, this skill would exacerbate the situation, making it impossible for the remaining players to damage the boss.
After some playful banter, everyone refocused and attacked the boss with full strength.
By now, the boss’s health had dropped to 42%, and they had been fighting for nearly 20 minutes.
At 40%, the recurring skill struck again.
“40%,” Su Mo called out just as he saw UnchainedWanderer casting arrays in quick succession. He was even more adept than in the previous round, adding a damage-increasing array to the existing rotation.
As the only array master in the group, UnchainedWanderer flawlessly handled crowd control, support, and additional damage. His output was on par with others while maximizing team support.
Yu Zhen noted, “The skill speed has increased.”
Su Mo immediately said, “Yellow Peach, watch out for dual targeting. ScarletFruit, keep Bitter Melon alive. The combo is coming.”
This combo was a test for the main tank. As the boss’s skill rhythm sped up, the attacks on the main tank increased as well. Bitter Melon was a very special warrior; his slow movement speed meant he could only dodge attacks within a short range. A boss with a fast attack speed was deadly for a slow-moving warrior because he couldn’t dodge quickly and would likely take more damage than a typical warrior.
However, Bitter Melon managed it. Despite his slow speed, he executed every dodge flawlessly. He was very familiar with his skills, sometimes using auxiliary skills for instant movement or defensive skills to block damage. This required precise calculation of each skill, the attack range, and his movement range, minimizing the damage he took.
So even with minimal healing from the cleric, his health remained stable. Despite everyone else dealing much higher damage, he held aggro consistently, and there had been no threat of losing it.
Su Mo had rarely worked with warriors; the first who left a deep impression was Little Bear Cookie, and the second was Bitter Melon. In these dungeon challenges, having a strong main tank significantly reduced the overall hassle.
As the attack rhythm quickened, ScarletFruit had to focus entirely on healing Bitter Melon, while the group healing fell to Yellow Peach. Their team remained stable, with no significant casualties so far.
When the boss’s health reached 25%, they entered uncharted territory.
Su Mo said, “Watch the health milestones, especially at 20% and 15%!”
They safely passed 20%, but at 15%, the recurring skill and the endless renewal overlapped. The array master immediately set up all the support arrays. “More mobs are spawning!”
Su Mo ordered, “FireworksAndLanterns, use Black Tortoise, protect the healers.”
Two Black Tortoises landed, each guarding one healer closely to maximize damage reduction. At this moment, small mobs charged towards them. Yu Zhen swiftly placed a group damage array under everyone’s feet and added two damage amplification arrays.
As the boss’s health dropped to 14%, everyone relaxed and immediately cleared out the small mobs.
But just then, the endless renewal status suddenly resumed!
The dreaded ‘repeating cycle’ of the boss’s skill echoed in everyone’s ears again.
Unable to contain himself, Watermelon cursed over the channel. He had been targeted twice in quick succession, “I’ve been targeted more times in this raid than in my entire life!”
“Damn it!” ClearWind finished off the small mobs and swiftly turned to attack the boss, “This is ridiculous!”
Apple commented, “This endless renewal mixed with the repeating cycle is the epitome of evil.”
Fortunately, everyone managed to stabilize their output. This time, after defeating the boss, they allowed the small mobs to enter the group, enduring the pressure of group damage, and persevered through this phase.
At 10%, the endless renewal disappeared, replaced by a single round of the repeating cycle.
Su Mo made a decisive call when they reached 9% health, “Slow down the output, adjust positions. Yellow Peach and ScarletFruit, focus on saving people, ensure everyone stays alive.”
After two minutes, the health dropped to 8%, and everyone completed their adjustments.
“At 5%, we’re likely to face two waves together. First, focus on the boss until it’s at 4% health. Magical swordsman and array master, switch to group attacks. Assassin and physical swordsman, continue attacking the boss,” Su Mo commanded decisively, “Bitter Melon, come here. Array master, gather the mobs near the boss. We’ll focus on both the boss and the mobs together.”
“Are the healing enhancements and major buffs ready?” Su Mo asked.
“Huge buffs are ready,” Yellow Peach confirmed.
“Enhancements have 5 seconds left,” ScarletFruit added.
At 5%, under full conditions, it would take about 15 seconds for 1% of health to drop, during which they might endure 1-2 rounds of endless renewal.
In the worst case scenario, they needed to hold out for 2 minutes under pressure from high-attack small mobs.
“Two minutes, everyone’s skill cooldowns should come around for 3 rounds, which should be enough, but it’s pushing the limits,” Su Mo’s tone turned serious, “Once everyone’s skills are ready, focus all firepower on the boss. We’ll withstand the damage from the small mobs and push through.”
“Got it!”
“Let’s do it!”
“I really don’t want to do this again.”
……
At 5%, the raw and the weekly came again.
“Defense array, magical swordsman greatsword formation.”
“ScarletFruit, turn in reinforcement.”
“Array master, turn in double damage augmentation.”
“Physical swordsman, greatsword formation.”
At 3%, with 10 seconds to go on the raw blood return, the week comes around again.
“Yellow Peach, turn in guardian, array master defense follows.”
“Summoner, refresh Black Tortoise, ScarletFruit, turn in reinforcement again, assassins, open Shadow Attack.”
2%, bleed back again, week after week.
Su Mo’s voice is calm, “Turn in Double Greatsword Formation, assassins dive to avoid damage, summoner, refresh Black Tortoise.”
The boss’s attacks started to be frequent, and the small monsters’ blood was thick and their attacks were high.
Everyone’s blood level basically just wasn’t above 80%, the lowest was the Assassin, and at 1%, the Double Stranglehold directly took away two Assassins, and the next named target fell on Su Mo, who had the lowest blood level.
At the critical moment, Su Mo and FireworksAndLanterns realized the problem at the same time, they decided not to keep any more skills, rushed to throw out all the remaining skills before the name call.
“Yellow Peach, give up summoner, save the others, double sword formation against Spring Breeze after summoner dies.”
Just then, the boss named hanged Momo, hanged FireworksAndLanterns again .
0.65……0.46%……
The others in the voice channel were very quiet, only the voice of the commander continued.
“Defense array……ScarletFruit reinforcement…… Yellow Peach, hand over guard.”
The double sword formation was handed over, carrying over a section of spring breeze, Magical swordsman lay down, Physical swordsman wasn’t spared either, but thankfully no one was blown away.
Just then, Yu Zhen stacked four layers of incremental damage on everyone, Bitter Melon’s knife hit the boss heavily, and the two healers started outputting at the critical moment. Yellow Peach used three singles to pull his teammates’ blood to 70% at the critical moment, making himself the person with the least amount of blood in the whole group.
Yellow Peach sharply voiced, “I’ll carry the name call!”
He was the person with the weakest output out of the four.
There were only four left in the field, lying on the ground, everyone’s heart hanging high, completely afraid to make a sound to disturb them. Just at 0.12%, Yellow Peach ate the name call.
Su Mo was still reading the spring breeze inside, there were still 3 seconds, there was no more bear on the field, and there was no double sword formation.
His eyes fell on Array master.
At this point, 0.01%!
