First Boss Battle
Bjorn held out his dagger as the chicken charged toward him. Just behind the young man the clearing ended, and the large bird would have to slow its impressive speed if it didn't want to crash into a tree.
'I've never seen a chicken as big as a small fridge before. These things can use magic too, right?"
Instead of his usual, pixel-perfect dodges, Bjorn stepped further out of the way of the beast's attack, not even bothering to sneak in an attack of his own.
Against a powerful opponent with unknown abilities, it was better to be cautious.
'I didn't see any skill effects… maybe it just has body-enhancing abilities?'
The massive chicken was able to turn on a dime to charge again, but Bjorn was already ready for it. Withdrawing the rusty dagger from his inventory with his free hand, he chucked the largely useless weapon at the bird.
It instinctively dodged to the side, completely avoiding the ranged attack.
'No throwing skills will be annoying, I won't be able to keep any with my planned skill tree. Hopefully I can make up for it with some ranged magic.'
Taking advantage of the chicken's momentary pause because of its dodge, Bjorn charged forward and slashed his new dagger across its tough feathers. The blade failed to penetrate into the beast's flesh, but he was unconcerned. He already knew that he could land critical strikes if he targeted the head, and that would surely do at least some damage.
Bjorn quickly thrust his dagger forward once more before backing off, then pulled up the system's messages to check the damage.
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Critical Strike!
You dealt 12 damage to the enemy!
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Bjorn frowned a bit when he saw the numbers. This bird's health likely reached over a thousand thanks to it being a field boss.
He might have to hit it a hundred times to claim the kill.
'Well, there's no point in complaining about it. I might level up another two times if I take this thing down, so all I can do is get to work!'
Bjorn ran forward to attack again. His daggers continuously dove for the chicken's head, even striking it when it tried to peck him as a counter-attack.
Almost every strike landed as a crit, but after landing a few dozen attacks, Bjorn frowned.
Why was this bird's HP decreasing so slowly? Surely it should've lost a quarter of its health already, but it still was almost at full?
Just as he was looking at it, he saw the beast's health gauge go up a tiny bit.
'This bastard is healing mid-fight! How is that fair?!'
There was a possible solution for him, but he really didn't want to turn to it.
Stat points were the most valuable thing in the game, and he desperately needed them if he wanted to make his class tree work.
One stat that he wouldn't need later on was strength. Unfortunately, it was the only stat that could help him currently.
"Screw it. Two points into strength, one into stamina, three into agility."
Bjorn heard a faint ding in his ear, and his attacks suddenly gained a bit more bite. They managed to overcome his foe's natural defensive abilities, and the chicken's green health bar quickly started turning yellow as Bjorn took out the anger of his wasted stat points on the poor bird.
The enemy's attack patterns changed as its HP fell, but Bjorn was able to adapt seamlessly and continue pouring attacks onto the boss without allowing a single hit on himself. It was only when the giant chicken's HP hit the red that he finally was forced to back off.
Its previously consistent health regen disappeared, and the chicken's bloodied feathers started glowing with a sinister crimson color.
Instead of squawking angrily, a low hissing noise, almost like water running through a thin pipe, filled the clearing.
Bjorn's eyes shot open when the huge bird suddenly disappeared from his vision, and he instinctively rolled to the side. Just as he started moving, the chicken's empowered talons slashed out at his side, tearing into his flesh.
With a single strike, Bjorn's health dropped by almost 40%.
'Shit!'
Without giving the player a chance to recover, the chicken dove forward again, trying to rip into Bjorn's flesh.
In Grandiunon, injuries had physical effects on players. A damaged leg could significantly slow down one's actions and cause one to lose a fight.
To Bjorn, though, being injured was an advantage.
Seeing its enemy writhing in pain from its first strike, the field boss chicken's beak glowed red as it lunged toward the downed young man.
Right at the last second, Bjorn rolled over, causing the strike to miss. His dagger quickly moved to cut into the beast's neck, and he also stabbed with the rusty knife, which he had picked up while rolling on the ground.
Still, the empowered, magically enhanced attacks from the chicken were still brushing past Bjorn's skin, and he took some minor AOE damage.
It wasn't much, it was enough to slowly chip his remaining health down at nearly the same rate at which he could damage the chicken.
Back on his feet, Bjorn was able to dodge every attack narrowly but it was still going to be a close fight.
As the chicken's health reached 5% and Bjorn's was around 20%, the boss's attacks started growing more frantic.
A cornered animal was the most dangerous type of animal, and this one was on the verge of death.
Unfortunately for the bird, humans also happened to be members of the animal kingdom.
"Die already!"
The game might be good at simulating pain and feelings of exhaustion, but Bjorn was good at ignoring his screaming muscles.
The chicken's beak shot out, narrowly missing Bjorn's shoulder and striking a tree behind him.
'Now!'
Ignoring the reflected damage he took for attacking the bird up close, Bjorn sent a flurry of attacks toward the bird's head, one hand gripped onto his new knife and the other clutching the rusty trash one.
It looked like the chicken was about to enter one last final rage state as its health fell below 5%, but Bjorn didn't intend to give it a chance to act.
4%
3%
2%
Bjorn's health was only sitting at 7%.
1%
The chicken's last-minute rage mode caused the young man's health to drop faster until he only had a couple of health points left.
'Shit, I can't make it!'
Kicking off against the ground, Bjorn left a trail of blood behind him.
2% health remaining. With his measly health pool of 198, it was a negligible amount. A single attack from or against the chicken could end his life.
On the other side, the chicken had only a tiny red sliver left, less than half a percent. Because of its base health being in the thousands, though, Bjorn couldn't be sure what the exact number was.
His enemy had now recovered, and seeing that its opponent was also in a miserable state, it decided to stake it all on one final charge.
'Please be enough.'
Instead of running up to meet the bird's attack, Bjorn backed a few more steps away, his arms trembling as he raised his daggers.
As soon as the chicken began charging, he tossed the good knife directly at its head.
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Critical hit!
You dealt 17 damage.
You have taken 2 damage.
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The chicken continued on, determination in its eyes.
'I can't believe I'm really losing to a damn chicken. If I can't beat this, how am I going to push an entire region to the world championships?'
Defiance in his eyes, Bjorn launched the rusty dagger, putting all his remaining strength into the throw.
Closing his eyes, the young man collapsed to the ground, accepting whatever fate awaited him.
A string of dinging noises sounded in his ears.
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Critical hit!
You dealt 13 damage.
Golden Feathertail Chicken (Lvl 10) slain!
You have taken 1 damage.
You have 1 HP! Caution!
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