"Even after my death. Still, you covet my treasure! I knew it!"
A hoarse voice echoed through the world coming from the sarcophagus. Slowly a figure climbed out of its resting place. Perhaps the scene was supposed to be eerie but with 1200 people present there was no need to be afraid. The players could only feel excitement as they watched the emerging world boss.
An old man climbed out of the sarcophagus. He wore a tattered robe which revealed much of his burly body which didn't look like that of a human mage. Neither human nor mage. Tuechou was known for using magic to improve his body. He looked as if wearing an armor of stone, incredibly sturdy. However, so long after his 'death' the stone skin looked dried out, with cracks all over. It was already quite miraculous that after such a long time he could still preserve his body this well and even a part of his soul. This miracle was of course caused by the sun floating above him.
"Are you grave robbers? Adventurers? Hmpf. It doesn't matter. I will never let you take away my treasure! Die!"
Liam and his friends had already made their way to the front of the crowd. Suddenly Tuechou let out a thundering roar and rushed forward, appearing in front of Radiant Shield in the blink of an eye. The tank was startled, raising his shield on reflex. Fist and shield collided. There was no earth-shattering boom or crushing shockwave. Radiant Shield wasn't even pushed back. He peeked over his shield and saw Tuechou's body crumbling apart into a few rocks which scattered before the players.
"What?"
"That's the world boss?"
"An illusion?"
The players were confused until a voice came from the stones on the ground.
"To think that my once fabled body has deteriorated so far. I can't even move ants like you. Whatever. At least there is one source of power under my control which will never weaken! Come to me, Sun of Lumor!"
The players had barely moved their eyes towards the floating sun before it already disappeared. In a flash it was floating above the crumbled body of Tuechou. The stones on the ground rose to the sky, forming the figure of Tuechou behind the sun sphere.
But this was not enough. Rock and stones all throughout the ancient city began to tremble. A large part of the rubble began to rise and shot towards Tuechou. In no time a giant human figure, with a height of twenty meters, created completely from rocks, had formed before the eyes of the players. Tuechou's features were barely discernible. The rock giant had black, brown, and grey skin, with weeds hanging from its body. And in the centre of its chest was the sun sphere, now slowly sinking into the chest, protected by a layer of rocks. Two round eyes opened on the giant's face, looking down on the players.
"Now, adventurers, prepare to die!"
A rolling voice thundered through the city. Tuechou threw another punch at Radiant Shield. But the force contained in this punch and the last were worlds apart.
"REAADYY!"
The guilds had already prepared themselves just now. Five tanks stood together to block the giant's fist. Amon them were powerhouses like Radiant Shield and Immortal Boulder. They raised their shields and braced for impact.
Boom!
This time the expected boom arrived together with a shockwave spreading towards the surroundings. The tanks felt an enormous force travelling through their bodies, trying to stomp them into the ground. Everyone lost around 20 points of stance, and this was after they shared the impact between five people.
"Everyone! Time to attack!"
"Blast that big rock apart!"
"Let's gooo!"
Finally, movement came into the players. The charge was led by Earthquake. The tall orc barely reached the giant's ankles, but he wasn't intimidated. With great sword in hand, he rushed up and delivered a powerful strike.
[-97!]
The boss was incredibly tanky, but this didn't come as a surprise. In Force of Nature Earthquake was at the very top among the damage dealers. If even he could only deal 97 points of damage, it was even worse for the others. After all Earthquake was already level 50. Players of level 48 and below would most likely struggle to afflict damage past the single digits.
The mages were a bit late to attack as they were sprawling out, taking position among the destroyed buildings of the ancient city. Cyclone came to a stop close to one of the few semi-intact walls. She swung her wand, sending her first attack, while checking the boss's status.
[Magma Giant Tuechou
Rank: World boss
Level: 55
HP: 919.212/920.000]
Cyclone knew about Haola's stats from Final Fend. She was quite surprised to see that Tuechou had a staggering 50.000 HP more than the other world boss. However, looking at the giant perhaps it wasn't that surprising that he was quite durable. But what was up with the 'magma' in its name? It seemed the world boss had some tricks up its sleeves. Well, whatever moves the giant pulled the players only had one job. Attack it till it breaks!
[-66!]
[-161!]
[-43!]
The attacks of Cyclone, Fortune, and Cherry Blossom arrived almost simultaneously. The three mages frowned realizing that the world boss had a strong resistance against magic attacks. A bolt of lightning came out of nowhere, crashing into the giant's head.
[-99!]
[-26!]
Cyclone's eyes widened as she stared at the damage number in disbelief. After three months in the game all the top players, Cyclone included, could roughly calculate their own damage. Thus, she was shocked as a terrifying conjecture formed in her mind.
"That big guy has 100% lightning resistance!!!"
Of course, 100% resistance didn't mean that the boss couldn't be damaged by lightning. Instead, it meant that the elemental attack would be treated like a normal attack. But for elemental attacks, where the damage usually relied on the weak resistance of their foes, this was quite a severe reduction. Take, for example, the [Lightning Strike] which Cyclone had just used.
[Lightning Strike (rank 2)
Cost: 300 Mana
Effect: Strike the target with a bolt of lightning, dealing 150% (MDMG) magical damage and an additional 40% as lightning damage.
Cooldown: 16 seconds]
The second instance of the skill, which dealt 40% of Cyclone's magical damage as lightning damage, became essentially a normal attack at 40% strength when used against an enemy with 100% resistance. And yet Cyclone was not the only one suffering from this predicament. Not far away other mages also exclaimed in shock:
"No way! He has 100% fire resistance as well!"
"100% earth resistance?! That's too unfair!"
But there were also some joyous voices.
"Wow, look at my damage! What a terrible ice resistance. That's at most 80%!"
"Haha, same for water resistance! 80%!"
"Yo, there is also a weakness to wind. At most 85% resistance!"
For a world boss 80% resistance was indeed quite low. Many mages rejoiced thinking that it was their time to shine. In Fate of Crunaboul ice and fire mages were definitely the most numerous, closely followed by holy and dark. Below that were water, wind, and earth. Afterwards followed various rare elements like lightning, poison, and wood.
Of course, all of this was not only true for mages. Warriors, hunters, thieves, everyone faced the same conditions. Although these classes were usually less reliant on elemental attacks. But there were also those like Bleary Mirage and Quickstep.
Liam danced around the boss, coming to his back. His swords struck the solid rocky skin and could barely scrape off a few pebbles. But as his swords fell, Holy Marks accumulated above Tuechou's head. Five Holy Marks gathered. A [Double Slash] followed. Blinding light exploded above the world boss's head. But compared to the giant's size, the explosion was barely noteworthy. And yet the damage was enough to amaze all those watching.
[-752!]
Quickstep also ran circles around the boss. She was gathering some storm. She didn't wait until her resource bar was filled, unleashing a swift [Whirlwind Slash]. Her swords shone with a white blade light, and a whirlwind engulfed the boss's foot, slashing with sharp wind blades.
[-123!]
Quickstep grinned confidently. What others said was indeed the truth, the boss's wind resistance was quite low. Her skill dealt damage per second and with a single tick being 123 points…
"Damn! Stop him!"
Suddenly the boss moved. It was not by much, but he pulled his leg away from the stationary whirlwind after enduring only two ticks. Quickstep was annoyed but there was nothing she could do about it. This was the kind of 'intelligence' enemies above level 50 possessed. Even world bosses wouldn't stupidly remain standing within this kind of continuous skill.
However, with so many people attacking him there was no way Tuechou could escape them all. There were freezing winds engulfing his upper body and pools of lava covering the ground. Rain covered a large area, afflicting the boss with various debuffs, although he easily shook them off.