Genius Chapter 72: Roll Call

Chapter 72: Roll Call

Translated by Karai of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Addis

The moment Watermelon disappeared, his voice vanished from the team chat as well. Everyone stared at the distant giant wave in shock. Yellow Peach quickly ran back from the water, and the battle ended. With it, the two special Summer Realm mechanics also vanished. However, Watermelon was nowhere to be seen, not even a bubble in the water. 

“Where’s Watermelon? Does this water eat people?”

“Watermelon, are you there?”

Su Mo asked in the voice chat, “Watermelon? Watermelon, if you can hear me, say something.”

After a while, they didn’t hear Watermelon’s voice but saw him typing in the team chat.

[Team] WhatAHugeWatermelon: ??? Can you not hear me talking?

[Team] WhatAHugeWatermelon: I don’t know where I am. I have a status that says I’m deeply imprisoned, and it has over 2 minutes left? 

“Is he in the water?” Yu Zhen abruptly looked at Su Mo.

Su Mo quickly understood and realized that it was likely related to the underwater structure they had seen earlier. “Let’s go check it out. Everyone else, stay here,” he said.

Before the others could react, they saw the array master and summoner use their lightness skills to fly across the lake, landing in a specific spot before diving underwater, seemingly to find Watermelon.

FireworksAndLanterns, seeing this mechanism for the first time, curiously asked, “What does it mean? Deep imprisonment? Is it a boss skill mechanism?”

ScarletFruit responded, “We can’t see him, so even if we had a dispel, it wouldn’t help.”

“It’s probably a sealing-type skill,” said Apple, who had experience with many dungeons. “There are sealing skills in regular dungeons too, like skills that prevent some players from moving. But the sealing skills in this dungeon seem quite special.”

As they talked, they suddenly saw Momo and UnchainedWanderer appear on the shore. ClearWind exclaimed, “Was that teleportation?” 

“I saw Watermelon,” Su Mo explained briefly. “Underneath the pavilion in the lake, there’s a cage. Watermelon is locked inside and it seems it needs to be unlocked. But since we’re out of combat, if we get close to the cage, we’re teleported back here.”

[Team] WhatAHugeWatermelon: So what should I do?

“I suspect that deep imprisonment is one of the boss mermaid’s mechanism skills. It’s like a targeted seal that locks the selected player in the cage. We can’t get close to it, so we can only wait to see what happens when the timer ends,” Su Mo said, thinking it over. Then he asked Watermelon, “How much time do you have left?”

[Team] WhatAHugeWatermelon: 5 seconds.

Not long after Watermelon typed in the team chat, everyone saw a message indicating ‘WhatAHugeWatermelon’ had died. Yellow Peach dived into the water to find him. “Where did you die?”

Before long, they saw a body floating on the lake’s surface nearby. It was none other than Watermelon’s corpse.

“He’s coming,” Yellow Peach said as he used his lightness skill to fly to Watermelon’s vicinity and revive him.

ScarletFruit remarked, “That’s tragic, so tragic I can’t bear to look.”

“Wait… does this skill mean whoever it targets is done for?” ClearWind was shocked. “And they can’t even talk, only type in the team chat.”

FireworksAndLanterns was curious. “Is it like being locked in solitary confinement for three minutes and then you’re done?”

Apple commented, “Interesting, last time we had people dying everywhere, and this time, even in death, they float up. The main brain is really good at designing these things, huh?”

“Deep imprisonment itself shouldn’t cause death. Watermelon’s death was probably due to the water-breathing limit,” Su Mo said, seeing the people approaching from a distance. He continued, “Deep imprisonment lasts for three minutes, and water-breathing also allows for three minutes of underwater time. So, this skill isn’t completely unsolvable. When a player is in deep imprisonment, we can rescue them in some way.”

“The lock is right at the bottom of the lake,” Yu Zhen added. “We couldn’t get close earlier, but it’s not hard to save them. If we’re in combat, it takes about four seconds to dive to that location.”

Bitter Melon pondered for a moment. “So basically, if someone gets locked, we have two options: rescue them or not.”

The others, after hearing this, felt that this boss’s mechanics were particularly annoying. The targeted player could be rescued, but it required unlocking rather than healing. There was also the burning debuff under the scorching sun that caused health to decrease. The most troublesome part was the stripping mechanic, which targeted body equipment. They had 16 pieces of equipment in total, with eight of them being body parts. It took 48 minutes to disable all of them. The problem wasn’t just stripping; it was the loss of attributes. Every six minutes, they lost some attributes, meaning players needed to attack quickly to resolve the issue.

“Everyone, don’t get nervous. Come here and cool off with some tea,” Bitter melon said as he brought out the teahouse item again. “Little Firework, didn’t you get a piece of Millennium Ice last time?” The others curiously looked at FireworksAndLanterns.

FireworksAndLanterns, realizing this, responded, “Oh right, let me find it… here it is, here it is.”

FireworksAndLanterns brought out a huge block of ice, and the sudden cold air revitalized everyone. ScarletFruit exclaimed, “Whoa, there’s actually something like this?!”

Apple looked at ScarletFruit, “Do you want it? I also have a rocking chair.”

ClearWind chimed in, “I want it, I want it! Let me have a seat.”

Su Mo looked surprised. Yu Zhen explained, “It’s a novelty item. Before the Apocalypse update, the game often had these quirky items, but they were mostly useless, just for fun.” 

“Now it’s very useful,” Su Mo corrected, then walked over to FireworksAndLanterns. “Firework, see if you can put this thing in the teahouse and use it as an air conditioner.” FireworksAndLanterns responded, “Sure, I’ll give it a try.” 

Watermelon asked, “Can you knock off some ice? Make a couple of iced teas. I was almost baked over there.” 

Yu Zhen watched from the side as the group turned the teahouse into a summer retreat. Some people even went swimming, completely forgetting about testing the boss’s mechanics. As it neared 11 o’clock, Yu Zhen was about to remind Su Mo, but he stopped when he saw the natural smile on Su Mo’s face.

Su Mo asked, “Can you still make this item now?”

“It’s a limited novelty item,” FireworksAndLanterns replied. “But you’re an astrologer, right? Why don’t you try making something like this?”

Su Mo pondered for a moment, “An ice-type item, magical swordsmen have an ice sword technique, don’t they? I’ll research it when we get out.”

Apple covered FireworksAndLanterns’ mouth, “Don’t research it, it’s not practical and too troublesome; no one buys it.”

With two minutes left before 11 o’clock, Su Mo logged off and told them to meet again at 3 PM. After logging off, he saw Lele happily bringing over a bowl of soup. “We’re having tonic soup for lunch today.”

“Did Brother Zhen bring this over?” Su Mo paused slightly.

Lele, hands on hips, proudly replied, “No, Lele made it myself. But Mr. Yu Zhen sent me a document with several star system tonic recipes. I calculated that some of the ingredients’ nutrients could replace the nutritional supplements.”

“Su Mo! Be careful, it’s hot!”

Su Mo couldn’t wait and took a few sips, praising, “Lele, you’re amazing, it tastes great!”

Lele’s display screen immediately popped up with several heart emojis. “Really?”

Su Mo confirmed, “Really.”

Lele’s electronic voice carried a hint of emotion as it walked back and forth next to Su Mo, “I’m happy. I’ll make more for you tonight.”

Su Mo looked at the table filled with three dishes and a soup, “But it seems like there’s a lot of food.”

Lele said, “I did a nutritional calculation. Su Mo, you can finish it all.”

“I can definitely finish it,” Su Mo’s eyes twinkled, “but I’ll need to digest after eating.”

Lele replied, “Oh no, Su Mo, you’re trying to trick me again!”

“My senior once said that owners occasionally use distraction tactics to deceive robots, exploiting their logical thinking,” the smart robot Lele retorted. “You can’t play games to digest! You need to take a nap in the afternoon.”

Su Mo’s plan to trick the robot into letting him play games failed. As he walked around the living room to aid digestion, he checked Lele’s intelligent system. He discovered that its intelligence library had many random learning programs, such as “How to Avoid Men’s Tricks,” “15 Ways to Spot Scammers,” “High-Emotional-Intelligence Robots,” and “How to Avoid Logical Command Scams.”

After reviewing these, Su Mo decided to delete all these random programs the next time Lele went into sleep mode for charging.

***

When Su Mo woke up from his nap and logged back online, it was already past two in the afternoon. When he logged back in, he saw the lakeside relaxation tea house, resembling a vacation spot. Bittermelon was drinking tea with Yu Zhen, ScarletFruit was playing cards with a few others, and FireworksAndLanterns was swimming in the lake.

“You’re back online?” Yu Zhen looked at Su Mo walking over. “Want some tea?”

“Sure.” Su Mo sat down next to him. “What are you guys talking about?”

“Discussing the boss mechanics.”

Su Mo only learned upon logging back in that during his offline period, his teammates had tested the boss’s skills several times. The players from the Fruit Gang were not ordinary players; Bittermelon, Apple, and FireworksAndLanterns were all pioneers from the Apocalypse, extremely familiar with skill testing. Over the course of a few hours, in collaboration with Yu Zhen, they roughly figured out the boss’s three skill mechanics.

The Lake Mermaid boss, in addition to the two special summer mechanisms of the Realm of Summer, had three additional skills:

1. Deep Imprisonment: A targeted skill that seals a player for three minutes. It can be unlocked by deep diving, which takes about 8 seconds. The targeting intervals are irregular, occasionally resulting in two consecutive targets.
2. Phantom: The mermaid summons phantom minions into the water to attack players. Submerging for a prolonged period results in a significant 50% health drop from phantom attacks. Two hits would be fatal, but players can reposition to evade them.
3. Wave Slam: The tail strikes the water surface, causing knockback to players in the water with moderate damage.

Most importantly, the mermaid is an event boss. It stays on the water surface or submerges into the water. While on the water surface, its defense is weaker, but its attack power increases underwater.

“Targeting, AoE attacks, and enhancements?” Su Mo understood the skills. “Any estimates on timing?”

“The boss’s health bar isn’t high, but its damage increases, and it moves more,” Yu Zhen explained briefly. “Deep Imprisonment has no fixed interval, Phantom occurs roughly every 15 seconds, Wave Slam only exists on the water surface, and Posture Change is about every 50 seconds. It becomes challenging once submerged, with increased skill potency. Players can take refuge in the pavilion after submerging. However, in our tests, we only managed to lower its health to 90% with these initial skills.”

Bittermelon added, “Oh right, the burning effect doesn’t harm us in the water.”

With the Commander online, the challenge continued. After understanding the skills, Su Mo made a simple calculation and roughly clarified the mechanism rules. He planned to conduct test runs to refine their tactics. The other teammates had also become familiar with the skills from previous tests, but to ensure the team’s survival, they tested in batches, with superficial understanding but no deep engagement.

“Put this on,” Yu Zhen suddenly said.

Su Mo hesitated briefly as a trade request popped up in front of him. Upon accepting, he found a fashion item inside. “Fashion?”

“Fashion items won’t trigger the effects, avoiding exposure,” Yu Zhen explained concisely. “Everyone should wear one.”

“Thanks, bro,” Su Mo replied. “Is this expensive?”

“It’s free. I’ve had the reward from a quest for a while,” Yu Zhen said.

In the voice channel, teammates listening to their conversation couldn’t help but ponder. Quest fashion items indeed cost nothing, but such a precious item was given away just like that???

Apple glanced at them.

“Putting on pants would suffice,” Watermelon remarked.

“Brother Wanderer has been calling Brother recently. It’s kind of weird for me,” ClearWind commented.

ScarletFruit looked somewhat enviously at the fashion item. “If Brother Wanderer gives it to me, can I call him brother too?”

Under the scorching sun above, everyone was prepared. Watermelon had long departed and waited at the lakeside pavilion. After everyone arrived and took their positions, he stood ready. “Ready?”

“Melee up on the pavilion, ranged stay in the water,” Su Mo ordered out of habit. “Chip away its health on the surface, safeguard underwater, don’t save when singled out, save when two are.”

This round was primarily a test and a collaborative effort to coordinate.

Therefore, they also figured out the escape routes. Regardless, they must protect the healers at all costs. If they died, it wouldn’t matter; without resurrection scrolls, losing all healers would mean a wipeout for the team. The positions on the pavilion were already cramped. Bitter melon occupied a large space for himself, while the other three squeezed into smaller areas. It was uncomfortable even to cast skills, with ClearWind, who had longer range, opting to stand on the steps. 

Seeing this, Su Mo instructed, “Bring the boss closer to the water’s edge for easier melee attacks.”

At that moment, the tail of the mermaid suddenly moved, brushing against Bitter melon who was adjusting his position.

Bitter melon muttered, “…Seems like it’s started?”

Watermelon, familiar with this, replied confidently, “Be more assured, it’s not ‘seems like,’ it has started.”

The mermaid opened its deep blue eyes, its icy gaze locking onto Bitter melon. With a swift tail swipe, it initiated the battle with a wave slap that caught everyone off guard. ClearWind, standing on the steps, took a direct hit and was sent flying, splashing into the water with a loud thud.

The force of the slap was overwhelming, startling everyone.

“Whoa, wasn’t it splashing water at the beginning?”

“It scared me, why start with a slap?”

“Wasn’t it supposed to start with targeting someone? How did it change its mind so quickly?”

ClearWind surfaced from the water, “The mermaid sister woke up on the wrong side of the bed, huh?”

“Get back in position,” Su Mo calculated the timing in his mind. “Next up, it’s either Phantom or Targeting. Ignore the target, everyone in the pavilion wait for the Phantom.”

“Is it you? Disturbing my sleep.”

Suddenly, the mermaid looked towards a distance.

Su Mo’s heart tightened. Was it targeting ClearWind in that direction?

“ClearWind is down.”

“It’s targeting ClearWind.”

After the wave slap, the mermaid immediately targeted someone. ClearWind was halfway through swimming when he was caught and sent into the underwater cage. Su Mo confirmed that the boss’s targeting didn’t come with a warning, but its eyes would gaze towards the chosen target, reminiscent of his previous encounters at the Desert Inn.

“Don’t rescue,” Su Mo instructed. “Apple, FireworksAndLanterns, focus on reducing damage while diving.”

Watching the boss’s health fluctuate, their current damage output seemed steady. In the first 10 seconds since the start, its health had dropped by 1%.

At that moment, the boss unleashed its Phantom skill.

Su Mo saw this skill for the first time. The mermaid raised its hand and released countless illusions. A sudden gust of wind blew everyone in the pavilion into the water, followed by numerous illusions descending into the depths.

“To the pavilion,” Su Mo decisively commanded. “Adjust positions.”

However, the illusions moved faster than Su Mo had anticipated. Those close enough from melee could climb into the pavilion, while the ranged fighters were blown away by the recent gust of wind and struggled to get back up for a while.

Seeing no hope of reaching the pavilion, several people in the water immediately began to adjust their positions. Those who reacted quickly used their light skills to leave the water surface, but the illusions were too fast. Yellow Peach was accidentally struck twice and perished instantly.

ScarletFruit quickly pulled him up. “This wind is so annoying. Brother, can you get the bear to block the wind?”

Su Mo summoned the bear. “Let’s see.”

It turned out that the bear’s wind-blocking ability was still effective against the boss, but the wind from the boss’s tremors also affected the water, causing those in the water to drift away.

“Can the bear get into the pavilion?” Watermelon asked.

ZenSlasher replied, “I can make room for it.”

Su Mo sighed, “…It can’t get up there. It’s too big and there’s no place to stand.”

This dashed everyone’s hopes of using the bear as a shortcut.

The plan to use the bear to block the wind failed, and a second round of targeted summons began, pulling the main tank, Yellow Peach, into the fray.

Su Mo promptly used the summoned bear to taunt the boss. “ZenSlasher, save Yellow Peach!”

The assassin ZenSlasher dove deep into the water to rescue Yellow Peach. The fact that the Deep Imprisonment skill would target the main tank came as a surprise to everyone. During previous tests, Yellow Peach had never been targeted, leading them to believe that this Deep Imprisonment skill wouldn’t lock onto the main tank.

Even though they were familiar with the skills in advance, the boss’s skills combined with the changes in the water surface greatly affected everyone’s positioning. Despite Su Mo’s timely reminders, movement speed and the waves still impacted everyone’s performance, making the originally simple maneuvers difficult.

“Phantom in 5 seconds, everyone be ready. Use light skills after it ends,” Su Mo kept calm and continued counting, “Move to avoid the Phantom.”

Yu Zhen added, “Use protective skills with cooldowns for self-protection.”

However, at this moment, the wave came early, knocking everyone back and creating distance once again. The phantoms rushed in directly, engulfing everyone.

Su Mo evaded the damage with light skills, landing with everyone severely injured. The mermaid’s attacks were intense, and the bear’s health was fluctuating unpredictably.

He saw ZenSlasher climb up and asked, “Where’s Yellow Peach?”

ZenSlasher said, “He’s behind.”

Yellow Peach struggled to resurface from the water, the waves pushing him away again. Another phantom appeared, making his path to the platform incredibly difficult. “Wait a bit longer, almost there,” he gasped.

Su Mo instantly abandoned the idea of having the main tank take over the aggro. “Another bear ready to take over anytime, healers, keep an eye on the bear’s health.”

After being knocked away three times, Yellow Peach finally managed to reach the shore and took over Su Mo’s aggro. At that moment, the timer reached 50 seconds, and Su Mo reminded, “Healers, top up health, it’s going underwater soon, get ready in the pavilion.”

Space in the pavilion was limited, reserved for healers and ranged attackers.

As melee attackers went underwater, their positions were reversed. The mermaid in the water became frenzied, and the players left in the water began losing health rapidly.

51, 52…

Su Mo continued counting down; the phantoms would appear next…

But just then, everything went black before his eyes, his vision dimmed, and the pressure from the water bore down on him.

He had been targeted.