Tomb of the Dead (4) - Creating a Strategy, Success?
The first boss became a barrier, halting Alex's progress momentarily. For him, there was nothing in the world that would make him stop trying.
'I will get past the first stage, no matter what!'
Right after his defeat, Alex re-entered the dungeon without losing a second. The familiar stone corridor with spider webs and dust came into view, and soon, skeletons approached, eager to end him.
He swiftly dispatched all the enemies — easy skeletons that required little to no thinking — and after around thirty minutes of continuous fighting, stopping to recover, and then fighting again, Alex found himself before the door leading to the boss once more.
Alex moved forward, and on the other side of the room, the Skeleton Mage King emerged.
[Skeleton Mage King (Dungeon Boss, LVL 15)]
The boss looked the same, and its moves were too. It waved its scepter upon seeing Alex, and the bones on the ground assembled, forming bloodthirsty skeletons who would do anything to end Alex.
'Killing the skeletons is useless, I think. Even if I kill all of them, the real problem is the bone spear, which will certainly almost one-shot me.'
Alex knew that the boss might make more skeletons after eliminating them all. That was a classic move for such fights.
As he ran in circles inside the room, his mind raced with thoughts, avoiding the slow-moving skeletons.
He looked over his shoulder, noticing the skeletons running in a straight line toward him, forming a row.
'Maybe I could try this…' An idea popped into his mind, and Alex wanted to try it out!
*
A girl wearing a low-quality mage robe entered the city of Crystal. While most of the newcomers were parties, she was completely alone.
The fact would certainly shock others if others were there to see her. She instantly moved to the sides after entering the city, using the alleys to avoid grabbing the attention of others.
"No one posted a video about him, but he has to be around… Where are you, Shadowborn?" the girl said.
*
Alex's heart raced the moment he saw the skeleton mage king cast the bone spear. The spell had yet to appear, but it was already making him nervous.
'Please work!'
Before the boss cast the spell, Alex jumped over the line of skeletons, and then he turned to face the boss. The skeletons were all in front of him, and then the bone spear came his way!
But, unlike before, things were on the spear's way! It hit one, two, three, and eventually hit all the skeletons who were chasing Alex! Each hit made the spear lose its strength. Once it hit the last skeleton, Alex swiftly moved to the side, and avoided the spear!
"It worked! Hahahaha!"
The boss looked exhausted after casting the bone spear. It had happened every other time, but Alex never had the opportunity to capitalize on it. Currently, his HP was dangerously low, and a single hit, be it from the boss or the absent skeletons, would spell his demise.
But now? There were no skeletons, and the boss was vulnerable. For that reason, Alex went all out, utilizing everything at his disposal! He sprinted toward the boss, and a duplicate of himself materialized right beside him, also charging at the boss.
"Shadow Strike!" he yelled.
Alex had transformed his Umbra Blade into that of a massive axe. His weapon's damage varied based on its form. Although the massive axe was slow, its damage output exceeded that of a short sword, for example. Alex aimed to maximize damage during the boss's weakened phase.
[320 Damage Dealt]
[160 Damage Dealt]
Four percent of the boss's health bar vanished in the blink of an eye, and Alex showed no signs of slowing down. His Shadow Strike had a cooldown of 6 seconds, so while waiting for the skill to reset, he employed regular attacks against the boss.
[80 Damage Dealt]
[40 Damage Dealt]
[80 Damage Dealt]
[40 Damage Dealt]
Even with his clone dealing half the damage for both skills and normal attacks, the DPS he generated was incredible. The boss rapidly lost HP, and the intensity heightened when he unleashed his next Shadow Strike.
[Critical Hit]
[704 Damage Dealt]
[352 Damage Dealt]
The damage numbers above the boss's head even surprised Alex.
'This hidden class deals a lot of damage, wow!'
But then, the boss reacted by casting a spell impossible to dodge—an AOE around its body. It sent Alex flying, causing him to lose 130 Health Points.
Still, receiving that amount of damage was far better than the bone spear, which almost one-shot him. Alex considered grabbing a potion but decided to wait for the last moment to do so.
After the boss's AOE, it waved its scepter, creating the same number of skeletons as before. Based on that, Alex knew his strategy worked, and all he had to do was follow it! He ran, skillfully avoiding the skeletons. Staying clear of the boss was crucial, as getting too close would trigger the deadly bone spear.
When the boss started to cast the bone spear, Alex used the skeletons as cover, easily evading the attack. Then, he unleashed all of his abilities, dealing significant damage to the boss.
[320 Damage Dealt]
[160 Damage Dealt]
None of his attacks were critical hits during the second burst of abilities, but even without critical hits, the boss's health bar diminished significantly. He repeated the same rotation four times, using two of his blood potions to restore some of his health.
When the boss reached 5% HP, it discarded its robe, revealing multiple arms on its body! The hands had claws, and the boss transitioned from casting spells to a melee attack, entering a berserk state.
Alex felt a moment of fear, but he took a deep breath, keeping his mind focused on the task.
'Relax, Alex. There's only five percent of its HP left. One critical hit, and it's done!'
The Doppelganger was with him, and he used it to trick the boss into attacking it. All the arms attacked with claws, even destroying parts of the floor! It was a fierce assault, but the real Alex remained unharmed, circling the boss and stopping behind it.
"Shadow Strike!"
His massive black axe, shadows crawling on it as if they were alive, hit the boss, and multiple notifications popped up.
[Boss in Frenzied State]
[Boss is receiving 100% more damage]
[Critical Hit]
[1408 Damage Dealt]
[Skeleton Mage King (Dungeon Boss, LVL 15) is dead]
[Calculating rewards from the Loot Table…]