“It may be best to prioritize progress,” Maeda assented.
As nobody seemed to have any complaints, we decided to go in using the Special Warp Stone for our second run. Thanks to the full hour we were given, we made it just fine despite Akira and Emily’s somewhat poor teamwork.
After delving all the way down to B60F, we found a save point on the next floor. It was clear that the interval was every ten floors. Also, there was no boss on B60F.
“Nice, nice! A Special Warp Stone really is all we need.”
“Hey, Ren. I say we do another with the Special stone!” Emily proposed, and the others agreed. So we decided to use another Special Warp Stone.
For our third run of the day, we went from B61F to B70F without issue and saved at B71F. Again, no boss. We were just about ready for the next one to appear.
On the fourth run, we went from B71F to B79F. All was going well. Upon reaching B80F, we heard a familiar ping!
Gate Condition: Defeat the boss monster!
“Heh. ’Bout time you showed up!”
We still had fifteen minutes left. We’d be able to win with time to spare. As we were using a Special Warp Stone, we couldn’t afford to lose!
This boss area was unlike the arena where we’d fought the Death Chariot. It was the usual rectangular room, but crowded with tons of lush foliage.
If they made it like this on purpose, does that mean we’re up against a plant boss?
Indeed, my prediction was correct. The ground started to quake as a humongous plant sprouted from the center of the floor. It bloomed with enormous black roses.
Level 120 Hadean Rose
Crown Icon (rare monster)
It was an even higher level than the Death Chariot! That made sense, as it was on a deeper floor. Either way, it was time for it to meet its end!
“Wow, it’s big. I’m excited to see how it attacks! Let’s go!” Our valiant Emily took the vanguard, charging at the Hadean Rose.
See enemies, charge in. I don’t know if that’s like the tank’s instinct or what, but it’s a pretty successful formula.
“I’ll try hitting it with a shock wave to see what it does!” Akira shouted to her.
“Gotcha!”
Immediately after, Emily activated Provoke. Akira’s Skyfall shock wave struck the monster a moment later.
Akira attacked.
Dealt 102 damage to Hadean Rose!
Yep, looks like normal damage to me. As Emily had used Provoke, it would choose her as the target of its attacks... or so I thought.
When the Hadean Rose took damage, it arched all the way back before flying forward, sending strange, round things spewing from its flower.
Hadean Rose sent seeds flying!
A Black Rose sprouted!
A Black Rose sprouted!
A Black Rose sprouted!
A Black Rose sprouted!
A Black Rose sprouted!
A Black Rose sprouted!
Whoa, what the heck?!
Black roses sprouted up around the Hadean Rose, looking almost like smaller versions of it. They moved their stalks like little legs, all closing in on Akira at once!
“Huh? Hey, why me?!”
Akira was shocked. They should have been focused on Emily. It was a surprise to me too. The approaching cluster of Black Roses sprayed a black mist in Akira’s direction.
Black Rose activated Dark Haze.
Dealt 333 damage to Akira!
Black Rose activated Dark Haze.
Dealt 333 damage to Akira!
Black Rose activated Dark Haze.
Dealt 333 damage to Akira!
Black Rose activated Dark Haze.
Dealt 333 damage to Akira!
Black Rose activated Dark Haze.
Dealt 333 damage to Akira!
Black Rose activated Dark Haze.
Dealt 333 damage to Akira!
Akira is exhausted...
The Dark Hazes erupting from the Black Roses felled Akira in an instant!
“Whoa, seriously?!”
“Everyone, I’m sorry!” Akira said with a sniffle, then dropped to the ground, still wearing her yukata.
This thing is bad news! It trounced my poor best friend in no time.
“What’s goin’ on here?” Yano cried. “Emily was supposed to have aggro!”
“It must be a counterattack!” Emily shot back.
Basically, instead of actively attacking the player it targeted, the Hadean Rose would instead act in response to attacks it received. No doubt Emily had been targeted by the monster, but the fact that it had instead gone after Akira meant that it had responded to Skyfall’s shock wave by spitting out a ton of Black Roses.
If there’s any way to die on your first attempt, it’s by dying to weird counterattacks like this one! Really, she had no way to get out of that.
Had it not happened immediately after Emily had activated Provoke, she could’ve used it again to draw the horde of Black Roses away from Akira. But as the skill had still been on cooldown, she couldn’t do it. Indeed, Akira and Emily’s gameplay just wasn’t meshing right now. And it was highlighted at the worst possible time!
“Let’s start by killing these things without touching the big one!”
“Yeah, good idea!”
If we attacked the big one, it could counter by vomiting up more Black Rose seeds. First, we needed to stabilize and figure out what conditions made it counterattack. Skyfall’s shock wave was a magic attack, so maybe that was what had caused it? In that case, I first wanted to see if it would counter physical attacks.
Emily once again activated Provoke, taking the aggro of six Black Roses. While leaving Emily to tank, we dealt with the Black Roses one by one. In terms of strength, they were about as difficult as the normal mobs in Aswarth’s Undersea Ruins. Still, it was pretty annoying when they all came and activated Dark Haze at once.
Upon taking their focus fire, lower-HP classes would die immediately like Akira had. Emily’s armor knight and people with stupid-high VIT like me could make it through, but as Dark Haze itself was a magic attack, increasing one’s magic resistance was clearly the best way to reduce the damage.
Regardless, it was too dangerous to attack the Hadean Rose when Emily’s Provoke was on cooldown, as it could just spit out seeds and cause a Dark Haze explosion at any time. I could survive them with my sheer HP alone, but using my ultimates lowered my health nearly to zero, so I would still need Emily to take aggro if I didn’t want to die immediately.
“Ren! Wanna try a physical attack next?” Emily suggested as she hacked away at the Black Roses. Clearly she had the same idea as I did.
“Yeah, let’s do that!”
“Try your ultimate! They might not counter ults!”
“All right!”
I was using attacks from my Elemental Circle to help take them down, as well. This time, the circle was yellow. Earth element, then. As we chipped them down, the Hadean Rose did nothing. Soon, one Black Rose remained.
Is it just a machine that does nothing but spit out seeds? RPGs do occasionally contain counter-only bosses.
Hadean Rose sent seeds flying!
A Black Rose sprouted!
A Black Rose sprouted!
A Black Rose sprouted!
A Black Rose sprouted!
A Black Rose sprouted!
A Black Rose sprouted!
Hey, stop! I didn’t even do anything!
“This thing summons Black Roses even when you don’t attack?!” I balked.
It shot seeds when you attacked, and it shot seeds when you did nothing. That seemed like all the monster could do, but it was really annoying!
“Oh! It’s me this time!”
The newly birthed Black Roses scrambled toward Emily.
Instead of a counterattack, is the Hadean Rose just targeting her? She has the most aggro, after all, since she’s Provoking so much.
“Magic Barrier!” Maeda cast support magic on her.
Magic Barrier was force-field magic that reduced the damage dealt to a target. It had a short duration of only thirty seconds and a target of just one ally, but it cut the damage they took in half. As the effect duration was so short, it required someone who could figure out the best time to use it and do so promptly. This time, the timing was perfect.
Nice job, Maeda!
Black Rose activated Dark Haze.
Dealt 161 damage to Emily!
Black Rose activated Dark Haze.
Dealt 161 damage to Emily!
Black Rose activated Dark Haze.
Dealt 161 damage to Emily!
Black Rose activated Dark Haze.
Dealt 161 damage to Emily!
Black Rose activated Dark Haze.
Dealt 161 damage to Emily!
Black Rose activated Dark Haze.
Dealt 161 damage to Emily!
Nice. At this rate, Emily will never go down! She’ll take those hits like a champ!
Following that, Maeda cast a healing spell on Emily. “Ex-Heal!”
This action prompted the Black Roses to turn toward Maeda, which meant that her healing aggro took priority now.
“Nope, you’re stayin’ right here!” Emily promptly activated Provoke, causing them to return to her.
Awesome! They’re working well together.
“Ultimate move: Hidden Rising Blast!”
“Ultimate move: Rising Dragon’s Triple Gleam!”
Yano and Shizuku attacked the young Black Roses with their ultimates, killing them. Now we had dealt with both the ones that had come from the counterattack and the ones it had created spontaneously!