Destiny Online: Halo Paladin - Chapter 38

Chapter 38: Wiped Out In Sudden Death

A while later, the second boss was taken down. The party got two green gear.

They pressed on but they arrived at a square chamber filled with magma. The third boss was in the center of the square with only four narrow paths connected to the platform.

“The third boss is much easier. Its normal attack has chances to unleash magma on a single target, it will cause Fire damage to the target within 30 yards. Everyone has to move around frequently to dodge the attack and after using five magma attacks, the boss will appear in the next block.”

“It’s nothing in normal and hard mode but in sudden death mode, everytime it moves to the next platform by diving into the magma, it will recover 3% of its HP.”

Then, Beitang Meng led the party forward. They cleared out the little monsters first before engaging the boss. Since the third boss was ranged and the center platform of the chamber was smaller, they had to clear out the other monsters first to secure their position.

After clearing out the small monsters, Nocturne finally saw the third boss. It was a huge bug with fiery red shells on it. Its huge mouth was breathing fire from time to time, it looked similar to a centipede but a lot more robust.

The party engaged the boss but Nocturne soon realized a problem. He had to pay attention to dodging the fireball the boss spat out and whenever the boss dived into the magma to swap platforms, he would be messed up because he was not familiar with the rapid change of position.

Other than that, the other difficult part about the boss fight was its steady DPS and self-regeneration. If the fight prolonged, healers might not be able to keep up, ultimately causing a wipeout.

Everyone had top quality gear and Nocturne had Fortitude and Flame Purification Halo activated, the party’s Magic Resistance had been boosted.

The fight might be troublesome but Nocturne did not feel pressured. When he realized it, the boss had been taken down.

“The next one is the last boss. It has three skills. First one, Seismic Slam. It will cause physical damage and knockback targets within a 250 yards range, but after we ran some tests, we realized the boss will lift its leg before unleashing the skill. If we can jump when the boss unleashes Seismic Slam, we will be able to dodge the attack.”

“The second skill, Ground Rupture. It will randomly create a crack under a target’s feet, causing physical damage and knockback. This one is mainly used to disrupt channeling skills, it might cause the healing to slow down.”

“The third skill is Fury. When the boss reaches 30% HP, its Attack Speed and damage will go up. This Fury can stack with the one that activates at 5% HP. So during the last Fury stage, you tanks will need to take turns at tanking the boss.”

The last boss was a disfigured giant orc warrior, it was covered with sharp thorns, as though it went through mutation.

The fight started. Nocturne took his time to adapt to the boss’ first skill. He had to jump at the correct moment to dodge the Seismic Slam and there was no other way to do it, so he had to adapt to it step by step.

Until the end of the fight, Nocturne believed that he could dodge most of it already.

After clearing the dungeon in normal mode, Nocturne handed in the quests and went for the hard mode.

Compared to normal mode, the monsters in hard mode had higher damage and defense. More importantly all the bosses had a large area of effect, which increased the pressure on Nocturne.

The next would be sudden death. Nocturne tapped his face to clear his mind, he could not afford to be careless now.

“Calm down, just progress steadily, don’t put pressure on yourself,” Wind&Rum said when she noticed the nervous looks on Nocturne.

“Okay, I’ll try my best,” Nocturne said with a smile.

The small monsters in sudden death mode were more or less the same except for the higher HP, Attack and Defense, they were not much of a problem.

As the party pressed forward, they arrived at the first boss.

The others were already familiar with the first boss’ pattern, so they knew what to do and how to react. As a tank and a newbie, Nocturne was tough enough to make up for his mistakes.

A while later, they were able to take down the boss and got a normal blue gear.

They then took a break to regroup and recover.

“How is it? How’s the battle now?” Beitang Meng asked after the party took down the first boss.

“I think the pressure isn’t as heavy as before and everyone is losing HP slower compared to last time. It seems like our GM did the right thing by giving Nocturne a set of Stamina and Spirit gear. It’s a little slower but with the regeneration effect, it’s worth it,” said ILikeDPS.

“Yeah, I think it’s better than before as well. The boss can burn away half my total HP with a single fire breath but now, only a chunk. I don’t have to be worried anymore!” Meowmeow Tang said.

“Our Defense and Magic Resistance are a lot higher now. Together with my Magic Resistance skin, I don’t feel any pressure at all,” Wind&Rum said as she tapped her chest.

“Great. It means we’re on the right track. Nocturne’s halos are good for prolonged battle,” Beitang Meng said as she nodded.

After the break, Beitang Meng got up and said, “Let’s carry on. Let’s try to get the First Blood in the next few days.”

The party pressed on and arrived at the second boss.

Wind&Rum charged forward to build up the aggro and the party engaged the boss on Beitang Meng’s command.

This time around, Nocturne did not care about how much damage he dealt to the boss, instead he focused on dodging so that he could lift the burden off the healer.

The boss was a spellcasting class, so its HP and Defense was not too high. As long as the party could manage their HP loss, they would eventually take it down.

As expected, as the battle went on, the boss lost HP at a steady rate. No one made any mistakes as well, so even though it was a little longer, they made it through.

The second boss gave them an exalted blue gear but it was not as good as what they already had, so Beitang Meng kept it away.

“The next one will be the third boss. We were stuck here for a long time. Everyone, remember to dodge the boss’ attacks at times and maintain your DPS. If we prolong the fight, our only healer won’t be enough and we will be wiped out.”

Beitang Meng voiced her last reminder when the party was clearing the smaller monsters.

“Understood.” Everyone answered in one voice.

“Okay, let’s go.”

Everyone unleashed what they had on Beitang Meng’s command.

The third boss required them to frequently move around, otherwise a careless mistake would cost the party a ton of HP. Frequently moving around would mean lower DPS as well.

When the boss was at 8% HP, ILikeDPS finally succumbed to the pressure, he was out of Mana and unable to heal in time.

The party was wiped out.

After reviving, the party regrouped at the entrance.

“Not bad, it’s better than our previous attempt at 15%. I think it’s because Nocturne is still not familiar with the positioning and missed the timing for potions. Anyways, it’s fine. You will get used to it after a few more times,” Beitang Meng said as she concluded the run.

“Yeah, sorry about that. I did my best,” Nocturne said with an embarrassed tone.

“Okay then. If everyone is done, let’s continue.”

After eating the dishes to boost their stats, Beitang Meng continued the dungeon run.

The second run, they failed at 5%

The third run, they failed at 7%

After being wiped out three times, it was already late at night. It was already late and everyone was exhausted.

Beitang Meng decided to call it a day since it would be meaningless for an exhausted party to press on.

The group disbanded and decided to continue tomorrow morning.