Skill active: Giant Killer! Damage up!
Skill active: Fatal Strike! Damage up!
To top it all off, my damage boost skills triggered. It was enough to shatter Armor Knight’s entire body into pieces!
“Grrgghaaaaaaah?! Die, worm!” He might have been blown apart, but he wasn’t done yet. One of his gauntlets—the only part of him that hadn’t shattered—came flying at me, crying out for vengeance. “Diiiiiie!”
“Heh. Aren’t you a tough one! But I’m not done either!” I threw my bow aside once more and rushed forward. As the distance between us shrank, I used another art that I’d learned while leveling up. “Summon Return! Puffster, to me!”
Puffster warped through time and space to return to my hand in an instant. This art was probably designed to defend players who’d fallen prey to a surprise attack while their summoned monsters were busy elsewhere, but I was using it offensively.
With the arrowhead protruding from between the fingers of my clenched fist, I aimed a punch at Armor Knight! “You’re finished!”
✦ ✦ ✦
My fist and his gauntlet collided with a thunderous roar!
It was me, with Puffster gripped tightly in my fist, who came out of the collision on top. Last Stand had negated all of his damage, but he had nothing to stop his gauntlet from cracking.
“Twisted vermin! Impossible... This cannot beeee!” Armor Knight howled as he crumbled into tiny fragments. Then his voice was replaced by the sound of exploding firecrackers echoing through the room.
✦ ✦ ✦
Congratulations! You successfully soloed the Living Armor Knight dungeon boss!
Yuri, Puffster, and all summoned monsters gained copious experience! Yuri reached level 20!
New achievement: Defeat a boss using a starter weapon!
Skill acquired: Absolute Zero!
Absolute Zero: Gain a very small chance to deal double damage with starting equipment.
New achievement: Defeat a boss with your HP at 1!
Skill acquired: Against All Odds
Against All Odds: All stats are doubled while at 1 HP.
New bow-user achievement: Drop your bow several times while fighting a boss!
Skill acquired: Hello? Forgetting Something?!
Hello? Forgetting Something?: Dropped bows return themselves to you.
New bow-user achievement: Defeat a boss in close-range combat while specializing in the bow and with no bow equipped!
Learned new skill: Twisted
Twisted: Deal double damage in close-range combat for three seconds after dropping your bow.
Taming Successful! The Living Armor Knight boss monster (soul fragment) is now your ally!
You can now summon this boss with its level reduced to 1!
Yeaaaahh! Huh?! Hey, I learned a bunch of skills! Against All Odds looks awesome! I was planning on staying at 1 HP anyway, so now my luck’s always doubled! It just broke 1,200 while my other stats are still zero! Bwah ha ha!
“Absolute Zero looks nice too. High luck should push up the activation rate, and I’m already limited to starting gear anyhow. As for Twisted... The effect’s nice, but what’s with that name? If someone throws a punch at me, I throw one right back! It’s what any man would do! There’s nothing twisted about it!”
It also felt great to have Armor Knight as an underling, even if he was in a weakened form.
With a bunch of new arts and skills to get my head around, plus a fully assembled Puffster army with updated stats, I made a mental note to sit down and look over everything carefully with Françoise after getting my new clothes from her.
No sooner than I was done deciding my plan of action, a beep echoed through the boss room. “World news! Yuri, fighting solo, was first to defeat the Living Armor Knight! The race to clear the Tomb of the Death God has concluded!”
The message was broadcast to every player. No one besides Baldy and Françoise would ever guess how I did it, but I’d just solo cleared a dungeon with the unholy trinity: a summoner class, bow, and pure luck build!
“All right! If this keeps up, I’ll wreak havoc at that battle event three days from now!”
Together with my Puffster squad, I returned to town triumphant.
[Still Waiting] General Discussion Thread 208 [For a First Clear]