The Gigantic Dragonplant hit the ground with a great ka-blam, leaving it down and crying out in agony...but it wasn’t finished yet! It sprouted countless broad tentacles and whipped them all toward me while I was still falling! I was powerless to dodge in midair.
However... “To me, Bow!”
The moment I spoke the words, my Beginner’s Bow came flying back to me, spinning like a boomerang until I caught it. Thanks to my Hello? Forgetting Something? skill, I could throw it away at any time without worrying—and now, with a series of rapid movements, I began nocking and shooting Puffster arrows.
“Currsss!”
“Grrgaaah?!”
The hazy arrows zoomed out like lasers, breaking through the swarm of tentacles and plunging straight into the massive treelike dragon’s face directly below me. It shrieked and lost control of its tentacles.
Now for the final blow. I threw away my bow midair—it had done its work—which activated my Twisted skill. For the next three seconds, I’d be dealing double damage to enemies at close range!
“Uroooooooh!” I felt a surge of power as I hurtled toward the Gigantic Dragonplant’s face with my fist clenched tight!
“Grrgahgaaah?!”
“Take this!”
Thanks to the concentrated force of a hundred-meter fall, my limited strength was irrelevant this time. A shock wave ripped through the arena as my fist smashed right into the dragonplant’s kisser!
For me, Last Stand negated the fall damage, but for the Gigantic Dragonplant, it was fatal.
✦ ✦ ✦
Congratulations! You successfully soloed the Gigantic Dragonplant dungeon boss!
Yuri, Puffster, and all summoned monsters gained copious experience! Puffster reached level 27! Yuri reached level 25!
Puffster has surpassed level 25 and is ready to evolve!
Yuri has reached level 25 and is ready for a class upgrade!
“All riiiiight!” I shouted victoriously atop the dragonplant’s remains. The explosions of firecrackers resounded all around me as the Puffster crew was vibrating once again to congratulate me on my victory.
So Puffster really is gonna evolve?! And me too?! I’ve never even heard of a class upgrade!
I was still busy being equal parts happy and surprised when another message popped up.
✦ ✦ ✦
New achievement: Use your fist to deal a finishing blow to a boss monster 10 levels higher than yourself!
Skill acquired: God-Killing Fist!
God-Killing Fist: Triggers automatically when attacking with a fist. For one second, your hand, from your fingertips to your wrist, becomes invulnerable. This region is immune to all kinds of damage, knockback, and status effects for the full duration.
New achievement: Use the Last Stand skill 100 times or more!
Your Last Stand skill evolved into Relentless!
Relentless: Gain a low chance to survive with 1 HP after taking fatal damage. Your next attack on an enemy will deal double damage.
New achievement: Solo kill a boss monster 10 levels higher than yourself!
Your Giant Killer skill evolved into Genocide Killer!
Genocide Killer: Gain a very low chance to deal double damage to an enemy, or triple damage if the enemy is higher level.
“Oh... Oooooooooh!” Two of my skills evolved now! Is today evolution day or something?!
Last Stand had gained a damage boost effect, and Giant Killer had turned into a deadly skill that worked on monsters of any level! And the boost had gone from ten percent to double or triple! God-Killing Fist sounded interesting too—I’d be able to punch a blade without taking any damage!
This is gonna make fistfights a whole lot easier. Now I’ll be throwing my bow away even more often! Bwah ha ha!
“World news! Yuri, fighting solo, was first to defeat the Gigantic Dragonplant! The race to clear the Bug Eater God’s Forest high-level dungeon has concluded!”
Oh! Here comes the world news! I hope all you evil beta testers who pranked me are listening! Same goes for anyone who said I can’t fight with a pure luck build! I’m tearing through this game, and I’m gonna show you hell in that battle event two days from now! Just you wait!
“Okay, I’d better head back to town and try this evolution stuff,” I said to myself while jumping down from the dragonplant. Then I realized something wasn’t quite right. “Hold on. If the boss is dead, why’s it still here?”
Monsters always disappeared within a few seconds once their HP hit zero, but somehow, this dragonplant was still lying on the ground.
What’s going on? I prodded its face.
“Grr... Grrgaaah?!”
“What?! It’s still alive?!” I leaped back and readied my bow...but the massive tree dragon merely groaned without moving an inch.
As I was trying to make sense of this weird phenomenon, a message window popped up in front of me.
✦ ✦ ✦
You found a hidden quest, limited to summoners only!
Your reward will vary depending on the Gigantic Dragonplant’s fullness and satisfaction.
Tastes bad and I’m still hungry: The angered Gigantic Dragonplant will respond with a Genocide Seventh Laser attack.
Delicious but give me more / Tastes bad but that’s plenty: The Gigantic Dragonplant won’t be too mad. You’ll receive an ultrarare item at random.
Delicious and I’m full!: The Gigantic Dragonplant will be fully satisfied! You’ll receive a mystery reward!
Huh?! What even is this?! “You’ve gotta be kidding me! Since when was it my job to feed this thing?! It almost roasted me to death a few minutes ago!”
I would’ve left the dragonplant to find its own food, but then it gave me the saddest little groan as it lay there motionless.
What are you? A hundred-meter-tall baby? Hey! Get those tentacles away from me. Don’t touch the breasts! Don’t squeeze them! Nothing’s gonna come out, far as I know...
Gaaah... Fine!
✦ ✦ ✦
I wondered whether I could head back to town to pick up some food items. The problem was, if I left the boss area, I’d probably have to fight the boss again when I got back. That was the last thing I wanted.
“Maybe I’ve got some food on me...”
As I opened up a menu window, a thought suddenly came to me. Wait, wasn’t this dungeon called the Bug Eater God’s Forest? Then wouldn’t that make this guy...?
“Puffster squad, stand down! Jumbo worms, you’re up!”
“Gweeeee!” A writhing mass of green giant caterpillars appeared on the ground. They were just a fraction of the hundred or so I’d tamed while rampaging through the forest.
Ha ha ha... There’s no way I’m supposed to satisfy the boss with these...right? Any summoner with ordinary luck wouldn’t be able to catch them. It’d be an all-around horrible answer to the quest.
But I was soon proven wrong when the dragonplant cried a joyful “Grr gaaaah?!” and grabbed the caterpillars in its tentacles. “Grr gah gah gah!”
“Gweee?!”
Mealtime was now underway. The dragonplant swallowed the caterpillars whole one after another, growing visibly more energetic in the process.
You really were supposed to catch worms for the boss?!
“Grr gaah?! Grr gah gah gah?!” the dragonplant cried out, as if to say, “Got any more of those?! You’ve gotta have more!”
I forced a smile as I handed over caterpillars one after another. The dragonplant happily devoured each one until, over a hundred jumbo worms later, it was finally full.
✦ ✦ ✦
Hidden quest successful! You gained a giant boss, the Gigantic Dragonplant, as an ally!
* Giant boss monsters can only be summoned once every ten minutes for a maximum of ten seconds.
The giant boss does not count toward the summoned monster count. The boss will be summoned with the same level as the summoning player.
Uh, whaaaaat?! I’ve got you as an ally now?! Getting Armor Knight was already crazy, and he’s human-sized. I never thought they’d let me have a hundred-meter-tall boss! This is totally nuts... But it looks like I just got some serious firepower before the PvP event!
“Nice to have you with us, Giganster!”
“Grr gah gah!” Like a baby reaching out for its mother, Giganster extended a few plump tentacles in my direction.
[The Clearing!] General Discussion Thread 220 [It Never Stops!]