Chapter 185: This is War

[Caution! The boss monster is showing hostility towards you]Ketos was similar to a baleen whale as well. Instead of teeth, it had baleen that could filter the swallowed food. The hairlike bristles in its mouth were shining like sharp swords.

Unlike the players who were flustered after seeing so many enormous whales, the ones in the command center were relieved.

“I’ll deal with it, so finish the rest.” Zyrus didn’t wait for the reply and dived into the waters below. It was easy to guess that Ketos was targeting the dragon of war. And he was prepared for it.

He didn’t laze around in the meeting for no reason. No one had noticed when a perfect trap was laid out in front of the dragon of war.

*KREEEEOOOOOO*

Ketos trilled in an eerie note and rushed at the unmoving dragon of war. What it didn’t notice was that no one was on the deck of the galleon.

[Avatar]

Just as it was about to crash into the starboard, an azure dragon knocked it aside from below. Even after transformation, Zyrus was like a toddler looking at an adult.

The Aydahar Cavaler made their move and thirty green serpents joined the fray, biting down on ketos. The ten-foot-long Nidhoggs had no advantages against its size, but they weren’t just biting randomly.

All 30 points were crucial in maintaining Ketos’s mobility. Of course, with its huge size it had many other weaknesses as well. It was a pity that there were just a few Nidhogg companions among the Aydahar Cavaler.

“Freeze and land,” Zyrus shouted and clamped the baleen whale’s throat. Once its greatest offensive organ was neutralized, Ketos was nothing more than a fish on the chopping board.

*WHUUUuuppp*

Ketos tried to flail around to get rid of Zyrus and the others, but it was futile. One of the major differences between the field boss and other types of boss monsters was that not everyone had the 'Phase’ assigned by the system.

Field bosses were foreign entities who were assigned their role. All of them had their powers restricted by the system. On the other hand, common bosses and even the more powerful roaming bosses were mostly the natives who evolved in the sanctuary. Unlike the field bosses, they could leave their area and ascend to higher rings.

They didn’t have their powers restricted, and as such, they didn’t have the ability to go into different phases.

*Hruuuuuuu*

“Oh no you don’t,” Franken slammed his antlers on the whale’s mouth and prevented it from activating a skill. The disadvantage of not having phases was this: Once you were trapped in a disadvantageous scenario, there was no way to escape from the terrain or debuffs.

The Nidhoggs poisoned it while Zyrus used his abyssal mana to corrupt its mana circuit. The battle was halfway over from the moment it started.

*Awoooooooo*

It was at this moment that 100 goblin riders jumped on the immobilized ketos. After the goblin riders had obtained the insignia of Apollo Lykaios, they didn’t face many hurdles in evolving their bloodline. Of course, their racial improvement wasn’t as drastic as the rats.

Both had different directions for growth. The goblin raiders had devoted their time in increasing their unity. Goblins, the wolves they rode on, and the entire group of hundred; all of them behaved like a single entity. It was a different type of synchronization that was unique to them.

[Wasteland Reaper]

This story originates from NovelFire. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

The crossbows in their hands elongated with a shaft and emitted a curved blade. The new weapon shining in a blackish-blue aura looked like a grim reaper’s scythe; a befitting outcome for the skill’s name.

They were perhaps the first bunch of goblins who were pleasing to look at. Pointy ears and lean muscles, a cool-looking weapon, and last but not the least, the black-grey wolves they were riding on.

“Bind the chains! We don’t have much time,” Zyrus shouted from the top of his lungs and started conserving his mana. This was his first time fighting against ketos, but he believed in his battle-honed instincts.

Just because the roaming bosses didn’t have a phase didn’t mean that they were easy to deal with. Unlike the field bosses, their skills and attack patterns weren’t predetermined.

*Awooooo*

The wolves howled and dived down with an iron chain in their mouth. The goblins also attacked at their signal; some plunged their scythes into Ketos’ skin while others lodged the spiky chains inside existing wounds.

Zyrus knew from the start that although their attacks were landing perfectly on the whale, the damage they dealt was only on the surface level. Taking ketos’ stamina into account, there was no way they could keep up the same strategy.

[Weave]

“Retreat,” Zyrus commanded as soon as Ketos activated the skill.

Even without a translating artifact, Zyrus and the others understood what Ketos was speaking. Or to be accurate, it was using an incantation.

Whale’s singing was good to hear in a peaceful era, but now, it was akin to a lullaby of death. The deep and wrathful roar devoured every sound on the battlefield.

“Fuck, a wide area debuff,” Zyrus retreated further away to no avail. Any boss monsters with debuffing skills were tricky to deal with. Every player had their MP, stamina, and HP regen suppressed to 30%. What was even more annoying was that it was a debuff that ignored level differences and resistances.

*KREEEEOOOOOO*

Thousands of filaments arose from the chaotic ocean. They were similar to Baleen in both appearance and functionality.

“Get back on the ship, this is no longer something you can handle,” Zyrus roared and floated in front of the dragon of war. The fortunate thing was that these threads were conjured with mana.

[Summon]

Hundreds of Ophidian warriors walked out from the cracks. But before they could even lift their claws, they were strangled and turned into beehives under the oceanic threads.

Zyrus curled up like a shrimp and barely managed to maintain his transformed state. He knew that unless he let out Elsid and Zirnitra, his summons would be helpless against the roaming boss.

Games were popular even on the arc of Noah. Pretty much every youth was familiar with the term i-frame and how they were used to gain invincibility. What Zyrus did was similar in principle.

The wider an attack, the more mana it would need, and at the same time, it would result in a lack of control. Zyrus didn’t have a skill that could influence mana in the range of kilometers, but what if he used the system itself? Creating a portal that connected with earth needed a lot of mana. The MP he used was nothing but a manager of sorts who started and controlled the overall process. The real workforce was the mana in the surroundings.

“Launch the torpedoes.”

“On it.” Franken slammed down his hooves and triggered another barrage.

Ketos didn’t have the time to figure out why its skill was canceled. The pesky metal threads attached to its skin were about to become the gravest threat to its life.

*Bang*

*Crrrraccckle*

Ketos’s screams were suppressed by the deafening explosions. It had high resistance against all elements just like every other boss monster.

Zyrus smirked and channeled the mana he was saving up. He had made plenty of preparations to fight against large monsters– the conductive chains being used right now were one such item.

Boss monsters have high resistance? Just insert the chains on their skin and blast ‘em with a load of thunder torpedoes.

The chains would prevent electric charges from dispersing. The sheer amount of shock was enough to incapacitate even a field boss.

And that wasn’t even the worst of it.

*BAAAAANG*

What would happen when super-hot metal was dropped into water? The rapid evaporation and high-pressure steam would cause a violent explosion, potentially shattering the metal and blasting off its shards.

Half of Ketos’s body was shredded apart. The severe pain activated the monster's defense mechanism and blocked all of its senses.

It was a state far worse than berserk.

*ROOOOAAR*

“Use the frost cannons,” Zyrus ordered in a cold voice. Now that the whale’s insides were exposed, it was easier to just freeze its blood.

Perhaps Ketos realized it as well. It had no idea when things went wrong, but everything was pointless now. The only thing it wanted was revenge on the one that had taken its life.

*Wuuuuuu*

All of the whales ignored the players' attacks and rushed towards Ketos. Even if the players hacked and killed them, even if they used their ships to block them, nothing seemed to stop their charge.

Their blood-red eyes didn’t see anything except their dying leader. The leader who was swimming towards the dragon of war even though most of its body was either charred or frozen.

“Hahahahaha….You see, this is WAR,” Zyrus laughed as he gazed down on the ocean. The air that carried the scent of blood and the eyes that held endless resentment…this was a sight all too familiar to him.