The heavy obsidian doors groaned as Lin pushed them open. The air that rushed out wasn't just stale; it was corrosive. It smelled of sulfur and burning plastic, thick enough to make his eyes water.
Lin stepped into the Boss Chamber.
It was a massive circular dome, but there was no floor. Instead, the entire room was a churning lake of neon-green acid. Rising from the deadly liquid were a dozen small, slippery stone pillars, forming a precarious path to the center.
In the middle of the lake, a mountain of sludge rose up.
[ Boss Monster: Giant Acid King (Lv. 10) ]
[ HP: 5,000 / 5,000 ]
[ Status: Dormant ]
It was a colossal version of the slimes he had farmed earlier, but darker, denser. A crown of undigested bones floated inside its gelatinous head.
"5,000 HP," Lin muttered.
He checked his quiver.
[ Arrows: 16 Standard, 2 Makeshift ]
He did the math.
His current max HP was 1,990.
1% True Damage = 19.9 Damage per shot.
19.9 damage times 18 arrows equals roughly 360 damage.
He couldn't kill it with arrows alone. Not even close.
A normal party would panic. They would need a tank to hold aggro on the slippery pillars, a healer to spam cure spells, and a mage to whittle it down over thirty minutes.
Lin didn't have thirty minutes. And he didn't like pillars.
"Environment check," Lin whispered.
He walked to the edge of the stone platform. He dipped the toe of his boot into the green lake.
HISS.
Smoke rose instantly. The leather of his boot turned black and soft.
[ System Alert: Corrosive Environment Detected. ]
[ Acid Burn: -20 HP per second. ]
20 damage a second. A normal Level 3 Hunter with 300 HP would dissolve into bone soup in fifteen seconds.
Lin looked at his status.
Constitution: 70.
Natural Regeneration: Approx 1% of Max HP per 10 seconds (standard combat regen) + Vitality Bonus.
"Regen is roughly... 15 per second," Lin calculated.
He would be losing a net 5 HP per second.
With nearly 2,000 HP, he could stand in the acid for 400 seconds. That was almost seven minutes.
"Plenty of time," Lin grinned.
He didn't jump to the first pillar.
He stepped off the ledge.
SPLASH.
He sank waist-deep into the boiling green liquid. The pain was immediate—a sensation of a thousand hot needles pricking his skin. His clothes began to smoke.
[ HP -20 ]
[ HP -20 ]
Lin gritted his teeth. "Adapt."
[ Passive Regen: +15 ]
The numbers fought over his head. Red minus signs and green plus signs flickered like a strobe light. His health bar trembled, dipping slightly, then refilling, then dipping again.
The disturbance woke the King.
The massive slime roared—a gurgling, wet sound—and surged toward the intruder. It expected hunters to be hopping around the pillars like frightened rabbits. It didn't expect a human to be wading through its bathwater.
"Come here, ugly," Lin taunted.
He drew his bow.
The Acid King raised a massive pseudopod and slammed it down. A wave of acid crashed over Lin.
[ Physical Impact: -40 ]
[ Acid Splash: -20 ]
Lin didn't dodge. He planted his feet on the submerged floor of the lake. He took the hit.
The acid washed over his face. He blinked the stinging liquid out of his eyes.
He was right in front of the Boss. Point blank range.
THWIP.
He fired an arrow directly into the Boss's "face"—the dense cluster of nerves in the center.
[ Critical Hit ]
[ Damage: -39.8 (True Damage) ]
The Boss shuddered. The red aura of the arrow burned a hole in its membrane.
THWIP. THWIP.
Lin fired again. Two shots.
The Boss roared and lashed out with two tentacles. It grabbed Lin, lifting him out of the acid and squeezing.
[ Crushing Damage: -50 ]
"Bad move," Lin wheezed, the pressure cracking a rib.
But being closer meant he didn't have to aim.
He stabbed an arrow into the tentacle holding him. -19.9.
He stabbed again. -19.9.
The Boss dropped him. Lin splashed back into the acid.
He checked his quiver. Empty.
He had fired or stabbed with every arrow he had. The Boss was down to 4,500 HP.
"Phase Two," Lin said, wiping blood and slime from his mouth.
He waded toward the Boss. The Acid King tried to retreat, confused by this prey that wouldn't dissolve.
Lin lunged. He didn't attack the Boss's body.
He grabbed the fletching of an arrow he had already fired, currently stuck in the Boss's gelatinous side.
He ripped it out.
SQUELCH.
[ Secondary Damage: -5 ]
The arrow was sizzling, the wood smoking, but the [Eternal Hunt] aura kept the core integrity intact.
Lin nocked the slime-covered arrow.
THWIP.
He fired it back into the Boss, two inches to the left.
[ Damage: -19.9 ]
This was his strategy. Recycle. Reload. Repeat.
He became a parasite. He climbed onto the massive body of the Acid King, ignoring the burning pain of the contact. He ripped arrows out of its flesh and fired them back in point-blank.
The Boss thrashed. It smashed Lin against the stone pillars. It dove underwater, trying to drown him.
[ HP: 1,200 / 1,990 ]
[ HP: 800 / 1,990 ]
Lin's health was dropping. Seven minutes was optimistic. The physical attacks were adding up.
But the Boss was dying faster.
[ Boss HP: 1,500... 800... 200... ]
Lin's clothes were gone, dissolved by the acid. His skin was red and raw, constantly peeling and regenerating in a grotesque cycle. He looked like a flayed man.
He reached for his last arrow. It snapped in his hand.
"Damn," Lin cursed.
The Boss had 50 HP left. It was trying to reform, to heal.
Lin didn't have a weapon. His dagger had dissolved minutes ago.
He looked at his hand. The bones in his fingers were exposed, white and hard, before the flesh knit back over them.
"I am the weapon," Lin growled.
He lunged forward. He didn't punch. He plunged his hand directly into the Boss's core, grabbing the pulsating Boss Core.
The acid ate at his arm. -50 HP.
Lin squeezed.
He activated [Eternal Hunt] not through the bow, but channeled through his own blood.
BURST.
The red aura exploded from his hand inside the monster.
[ Fatal Hit ]
[ Damage: -19.9 (True) x 5 Fingers ]
The Acid King stiffened. It turned grey. Then, with a sound like a bursting dam, it dissolved into harmless water.
Lin fell into the now-neutral pool, gasping for air.
[ Target Eliminated: Giant Acid King (Lv. 10) ]
[ Experience Gained: 5,000 ]
[ Level Up! ]
[ Level Up! ]
[ Trait Triggered: Infinite Growth ]
[ Target Classification: Boss ]
[ Reward: Max HP +100 ]
The golden light of the level-up washed over him, repairing his dissolved skin, fixing his cracked ribs.
Lin floated on his back, naked, exhausted, but alive.
He laughed. It was a wet, raspy sound.
"Too easy," he whispered to the cavern ceiling.
A chest materialized on the central pillar. A Gold Chest.
Lin swam over, climbed up, and kicked it open.
Inside lay a pile of credits, a glowing blue Skill Book, and a pristine, recurve bow made of white bone.
[ Skill Book: Multi-Shot (E-Rank) ]
[ Weapon: Acid-Etched Bone Bow (D-Rank) ]
Lin picked up the book.
"Multi-Shot," he read. "Fires 3 arrows at once."
He smiled.
One arrow dealt 20 damage.
Three arrows... 60 damage.
And if he had 10,000 HP?
He crushed the book in his hand, learning the skill instantly.
"Time to go shopping," Lin said, climbing out of the pool.