There wasn’t yet a common term for monsters that, even without their HP, could withstand serious punishment with their physical bodies, as Sol’s group was the only one that had fought such enemies so far. However, boss monsters outside of Abyss had HP barriers of at most a few thousand. Even Country Eater, the most feared taboo territory boss, had not broken ten thousand, and neither had any of the floor bosses until now. Sol was understandably taken aback by the sight of a number above twenty thousand. Simple math dictated the coming fight would last at least twice as long. Considering the party’s HP, MP, and other resources that they could convert into damage, this was definitely an opponent to be wary of.
At least, without the benefits of Player in the equation.
“Its MP has also jumped higher than thirty thousand,” Eliza gasped. She understood that since the Floor 99 boss had only had around ten thousand, this one would be able to keep going three times longer, or else it possessed attacks that required that much more MP.
The fact that Frederica and Eliza could draw these predictions based on the information they were seeing and raise their guard appropriately proved they had become far stronger than the average veteran adventurer. Sol, Reen, and Julia felt proud of them and, at the same time, chagrined that they had caught up in such a short time.
“It’s so biiig!” In contrast, this comment from Rosalind, filled with pure astonishment devoid of any despair, was heartwarming.
The enemy was indeed big, but the observation was very on-the-nose and not helpful at all in the middle of a battle when every second counted. This group, however, had the leisure to entertain the aside and therefore found her adorable.
“Rosalind,” said Blue Water reproachfully. It was uncertain whether this admonition was because she could not yet understand the rules of exchanging information during a battle or her unregal word choice. Based on the fact that Blue Water stopped short of clarifying, the latter seemed more likely.
Julia, who had caught both meanings and wanted to indirectly show Blue Water that the group had the leeway for some levity, cheerfully asked, “How’s it look, Reen?”
Keeping her eye on the boss, Reen replied calmly, “Hard to say. I would appreciate having a backup if the first attack breaks through my Seven Shield Column, though.”
Her plan was to bring out her most defensive move right off the bat, but she was willing to rely on Sol’s monsters if the situation proved beyond her abilities. “Break through” was the party’s term for taking an attack so powerful that it surpassed the skills and magic protecting Reen to deplete her HP barrier. Conversely, they used “penetrate” for when their own attacks got through to directly harm a monster.
“Got it. Luna, summon an Astral immediately if Reen’s Seven Shield Column is broken through. You can counterattack right away and, if you like, devour the boss too.”
“Understood, my lord!”
Sol was of the same mind as Reen. They wanted to win this encounter by fighting normally, but if it proved difficult, there was no need to stay in harm’s way. A fight was still on as long as the tank was holding the line, but when the tank fell, it would be only a matter of time until the rest of the party crumbled. No matter how much more powerful Sol made everyone else, it didn’t change how important the role was. Be it the traditional type like Reen, who would stop everything, or the type who would evade and parry everything, the purpose of a tank was to take on all incoming attacks on behalf of the party. Those on the back line weren’t equipped to evade or endure attacks, and one that even a tank couldn’t handle would be devastating for other roles. In this way, they were the linchpin of all fights.
In light of this, the moment Reen and Sol both determined that a situation was out of hand, the smart thing to do was to promptly send in their most powerful asset, the All Dragon. Moreover, if the enemy was truly powerful enough to break through Reen’s current defense, the experience and loot that could be obtained from defeating it was worth less than having the All Dragon use her ability to make its strength her own. Since Rodem could also absorb the monster’s characteristics from her scraps, the number of situations where stealing an enemy’s abilities took priority would likely increase going forward.
“I think we’ll be just fine,” said Sol, “but it’s true that angel-type monsters are rather annoying. Reen, it’s almost fully materialized!”
“Okay!”
When all eighteen wings fully opened, the boss was, as expected, revealed to be an angel-type. Perhaps the man-made angels that the Old Rulers had deployed had been attempts at replicating them. Facing such an enormous specimen was a first even for Sol. That said, he knew from having faced this kind of monster before that they were difficult opponents who knew better than to blindly rush in and would employ both magic and skills. Their strength was proportional to the number of wings they had, and one with eighteen wings was sure to be a troublesome opponent.
The moment Sol announced the boss’s full materialization, Reen activated Intimidate and got confirmation that it had taken hold. If Intimidate had failed to seize the boss’s attention, the fight would have devolved into an all-out brawl with no structure at all. Therefore, it was important to inform the rest of the party that this wasn’t the case.
“Intimidate worked on it! Seven Shield Column is deployed, and aggro is fixed on Axis Nine!”
When a boss was in the middle of spawning, it was impervious to all attacks, so the first attack had to wait until it had fully materialized. Being flustered and missing that attack would be a waste of MP and leave the skill on cooldown, on top of giving the enemy the initiative. Therefore, the ability to know exactly when a boss fight was starting, though not glamorous, was extremely crucial.
Reen had gotten the timing down perfectly when activating Intimidate, successfully anchoring the boss’s target to Axis Nine, her largest shield. The fight was off to a good start. The other six shields, each specialized to deal with a different element, were also primed and ready and positioned so that even if they were destroyed in one blow, the attack that hit them wouldn’t strike her fellow party members, who were safely out of the line of fire.
This whole procedure was the essence of her job as a tank. Now that the enemy had been robbed of the freedom to choose which target to attack, even its most powerful moves couldn’t be used to full effect, either being dashed against shields they couldn’t break through or, if they did break through, being expended on decoys. The inability to go after the weakest members of the party, such as the healer, was a huge handicap.
But humans weren’t the only ones who could forcibly redirect what an opponent targeted. Every so often, extremely powerful monsters manifested the same ability. Simple attacks performed with one’s own physical strength were understandably unaffected by such power, but skills and magic converted from mana had no escape. In other words, defeating such monsters required both powerful techniques and spells that could break through anything, no matter how tough, as well as the ability to handle countless decoys.
Or one could rely on monsters of legend. Perhaps that was the very reason for the existence of the All Dragon, the Elven Queen, and the Demon Lord. If monster aggro was effectively the same thing as human targeting, that would make monsters the equivalent of arrows nocked in a particular entity’s bow. It was only a matter of time before Sol reached this answer. Before he needed to reach this answer. But for that to happen, he had to defeat the enemy before him.
“First attack is a long-range light beam! Charging complete in three, two— What?”
A shattering sound suddenly rang out, erasing all other noise in the chamber. At the same time, the intertwined halo writhing over the angel’s head that was clearly building up for a big attack—“Septem Doctrine,” according to Player—disappeared along with all traces of the spell. The very moment before it was fired, the large attack had been fully nullified in one blow.
As everyone shared Sol’s surprise, the sound from earlier simultaneously rang out five more times, resulting in one combined note that only those with exceptional hearing could tell apart. Each signified another attack from the angel that had been foiled, for a total of five.
This was not the doing of anyone in Sol’s party, and there was no hint as to whose power it was, as Sol’s window still showed only one red dot.
“The boss’s HP went down to 27,994,” Sol noted, looking around warily.
This proved the interloper had used the typical strategy of interfering with the angel’s attacks with proper ones of their own. Considering these attacks’ track record of six for six and ability to nick the monster’s HP by at least one point of damage, depending on their activation speed, range, and cooldown, they could pose a threat capable of completely shutting an opponent down. If it had multitargeting, its user would win the moment they seized the initiative in a fight. In fact, it wasn’t just a possibility; if Player had such an attack, the outcome would be set in stone.
Consequently, Sol was instantly on full alert. “Watch out in all directions!” he shouted just as 27,994 flying slashes descended on the floor boss.
The sound of all those cuts slashing at an invisible wall reverberated like one muffled, prolonged note, accompanied by the flashes of them landing. This filled the entire room with a blinding light that lasted until the floor boss’s beefy HP barrier had been whittled down to zero.
Silence returned along with everyone’s vision. They saw the recently manifested boss floating helplessly in the air, completely stripped of its HP barrier and stun-locked by the barrage it had just suffered. The next moment, another storm of slashes assaulted the monster. It had no way of protecting itself, so this time, what rang out wasn’t a clear, high-pitched sound, but the grisly squelch of flesh being rent. The boss practically exploded into a cloud of blood and meat that fell to the ground as red goop.
Sol’s group looked up in a daze at the humanoid figure clad in a white cloak with a deep hood that had taken its place. Now that the boss’s large red dot was gone, a new red dot was visible, leaving no doubt that the interloper was hostile.
This was the very first encounter between Sol Rock, the host of Player for this era and thus the current Wayside God, and one of the Wards, a nexus entity like Sol who had been struck down and was now charged with sealing away others like it.
There was no place more fitting for this than the very bottom floor of Abyss, one of the Four Great Dungeons.