Destiny Online: Halo Paladin - Chapter 35

Chapter 35: Fire Cloud Hornet Queen

Two hours into leveling, the party arrived at the heart of the valley and found a huge tree.

They saw a gigantic Fire Cloud Hornet resting on the tree.

Unlike other Fire Cloud Hornet, this one was not just big, it was extremely vibrant as well, even its wings were fiery red. Its body was covered in thorns, making it look like a fierce predator.

[Fire Cloud Hornet Queen Garheral] (Boss)

[Level: 18]

[HP: 90,000]

“There’s a boss here? Why didn’t we run into it last time?” Beitang Meng was shocked by its appearance.

“Maybe it was moving away from its territory last time,” Wind&Rum answered.

“What’s it gonna be? Do we engage?” Nocturne asked.

“What? Are we going to fight the boss? We might die!” Meowmeow Tang tried to capture the boss with her skill but failed and it surprised her.

“So, we’re just gonna let it go?”

“I think you should change your perspective a bit. You are now someone with a guild and whenever you run into a world boss of the same level, you must…”

Beitang Meng reminded Nocturne of his current status and that he should not think like a solo player anymore.

“We must call for backup!” The two other girls giggled and answered.

“???”

Beitang Meng then sent a message through the guild channel.

“Night Town (1597,8647). A world boss sighted. Guild members Level 15 and above are required for backup.”

“Roger! I’ll be right there!”

“Woooo, another boss fight!”

“A large amount of points are waving at me!”

…

Nocturne finally had the chance to experience a guild’s response to a world boss sighting.

“Is it okay to just say it out loud like that?”

It was a world boss and Nocturne felt like it was a little too casual or unprofessional.

‘Relax. In the current stage of the game, all the guilds are progressing fairly. Excessive competition at the current stage will definitely hinder the guild’s growth and development, so smaller guilds won’t come near us. Besides, the world boss out here isn’t like the one back at newbie village, you need to heavily outnumber it.”

As expected of Beitang Meng, the guild master of a powerful and big guild, her answer was convincing enough.

“You should also build an image for yourself, try to be or at least look more powerful, otherwise it will affect our guild reputation. Don’t create a mess and don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty, as long as you do nothing wrong, the guild will be your support,” Wind&Rum reminded Nocturne.

“Meowmeow, you’re on guard duty at the entrance. Those who don’t have the guild icon are not allowed to come in here, tell your little ‘cat’ to be smart this time, don’t let the thieves sneak in,” Beitang Meng said.

Even though Dreaming Back to Great Tang almost had no rival at the current stage, it was good to be cautious.

“Roger.” Meowmeow Tang then left for the entrance with her panther.

Half an hour later, the other members of the guild arrived one after another. Nocturne even spotted Mayday and Faraway Song, it became quite crowded and lively in the end.

Beitang Meng clapped her hands to gather attention since almost everyone had arrived.

“Okay guys, quiet. According to the mob’s status and the boss’ size, the boss might have enhanced Poison and Fire element attack, it might even summon smaller mobs during the fight. I told GreatDream to bring us Antidotes and food that increases Fire Resistance. Go get yourself a set of supplies and get ready.”

Nocturne got in line with everyone for the supplies and everyone started to chow down on the food together with the Antidote.

Despite the large number of players, it got quiet when everyone started eating and getting prepared. Everyone started to check their gear and status, only soft whispers could be heard in smaller groups.

“Wow, everyone is so disciplined. As expected of a top guild!” Nocturne was impressed by what he saw.

“This is nothing. The Nation’s Guardian Wings are the ones you should be impressed with. Those guys are all retired soldiers, so they marched on the boss like an elite army. The battlefield is absolutely quiet except for the commander’s commands. Compared to them, us civilians are nothing,” Wind&Rum said.

“Okay, gather up. Party up. Supports, buff up.”

A legion was made up of countless smaller parties and theoretically, it should not have an upper limit. As for the boss ranking, the party that sustained the most damage would get one place, followed by the party with the highest healing amount. The party with the highest DPS had three places instead of one.

Swoosh! All kinds of flashes and auras appeared. Nocturne’s status bar was instantly filled with several other buffs, his stats also welcomed a significant boost. Though, similar buffs could not be overlapped, only the highest would be taken into consideration.

After getting their buffs, everyone got into position. The legion formed a semi-circle formation around the boss.

Mages and Hunters took the center spot to inflict damage from afar while healers sandwiched them in the middle.

“Okay. Rum, go initiate the fight.”

Nocturne noticed that the damage Wind&Rum dealt and received was nothing astonishing, he realized the boss’ Defense and Attack were nothing stellar. However, the more common the boss appeared, the harder the fight would be because it would mean that the boss had many different skills.

“Let’s get to work!” Beitang Meng gave the command and everyone started attacking the boss.

Garheral buzzed furiously when attacked, it would unleash a Sweep attack at the legion frequently but it seemed like it was not as skilled in the attack.

The attack only caught all the melee classes and it did not even have Bleed debuff. All the melee classes lost more than 100 HP per attack.

When it lost around 10% of its HP, Garheral buzzed sharply and flew high up into the sky. The fiery red patterns on its wings glowed and it lifted its head high up into the sky, as though it was trying to inhale more air.

“Potion” Beitang Meng shouted immediately.

Fooosh!

Garheral blasted a powerful flame attack from its mouth, engulfing every target in front of it. Be it melee or ranged classes, everyone was caught.

Other than the Fire damage, the skill also placed a Burn debuff on everyone.

Nocturne missed the opportunity to drink a potion but as a tank, his HP was high enough to survive the attack. Though he was quite shocked at how fast his HP fell due to the Burn debuff, he quickly drank a vial of potion to keep himself healthy.

After breathing fire at the legion, Garheral flew down and attacked Wind&Rum.

When its HP was lowered to 80%, it flew up again with a sharp buzz.

This time around, the entire legion knew what to expect. They quickly drank the Fire Protection Potion to protect themselves from the Burn debuff.

This time around, no one died.

When its HP fell below 75%, Garheral unleashed a new skill. It fired needles at where it was facing but Wind&Rum managed to capture its attention, no one except for Wind&Rum got hit by the needles.

The needles had Poison element damage in them and Elementary Antidote was not enough to cure the poison.

After getting used to the pattern of the boss fight, Garheral’s HP dropped steadily.

When it got to 50%, it unleashed yet another new skill.

Garheral flew to the sky and unleashed a strange buzz. The strange call summoned a large swarm of Fire Cloud Hornets from the trees around the area.

The swarm of Fire Cloud Hornets attacked everyone in sight.

Garheral flew back down after summoning the swarm and continued its attack on Wind&Rum.

The number of Fire Cloud Hornets summoned was astonishing and they smartly scattered themselves all over the place, which became a burden to the tanks.

For a moment there, everyone lost HP quickly and it pressured the healers.