Hidden Boss- Slumbering Bandit [2]
"Boss, we thought you were some hidden expert, what the heck!"
"You don't even know the 2 classes of the Slumbering Bandit? Then how on earth are we supposed to beat it and the Pork Emperor combined?"
Deadly Musician felt like crying, he felt that this player just took advantage of him and messed with his emotions.
Noah chuckled. "It's been so long since I played the Pork Labyrinth, so I've forgotten. We don't have much time, either tell me now or we die".
In the end, Deadly Musician explained.
To not make the game too hard for new players, bosses in beginner village dungeons are made very basic with predictable attack patterns and combat styles.
But the same thing could not be said for hidden bosses. Even in the beginner village, hidden bosses are made to already have specific main classes that they specialize on, drawing their strength pool from it.
The Slumbering Bandit was no different, rather, it was even more special among beginner village hidden bosses.
Afterall, the bandit had more than 1 main class, it had 2.
BAM!
The Pork Emperor's heavy club hit the ground, creating a mighty shockwave even as the players dodged, still retreating.
While they conversed, the Pork Emperor did not wait for them, already attacking. But due to the towering size of this boss, it was too heavy to match their speed, only lumbering after them.
As for the nimbler hidden boss though, they were lucky that after its stealth was discovered, the Slumbering Bandit was not a fan of attacking head-on.
It preferred players hunting it down instead, being pursued and running was where it could display its true strength. Afterall, it was a thief.
And just like the Pork Emperor, the Slumbering Bandit also had a catchphrase to taunt challengers into attacking it.
"Think you can hog-tie me? Bring home the bacon if you dare!"
Deadly Musician felt like crying. 'The game developers must be sick!'
With the hidden boss not pursuing them and the Pork Emperor too slow to catch them, Deadly Musician explained about the hidden boss.
Apparently, the Slumbering Bandit belonged to the thief and Summoner class. It was mainly a thief; its summoning abilities are only displayed after it was damaged enough to red blood state.
Red blood state is a special state after Warstar boss monsters' HP go below 10%, and most boss monsters have special effects attached to it.
As soon as Deadly Musician was done explaining, Noah furrowed his brows. "If you're right, then I was right, this is not just any Slumbering Bandit".
"What do you mean?" Silky Strings, the other Blademaster of this raid party who was already impatient due to the presence of the 2 boss monsters asked.
"When I attacked the hidden boss, I dodged a landmine and that is a Mechanic skill. There's no way a level 5 dungeon specialized boss already with abilities from 2 main classes has access to it".
"Which means?"
"Which means this is likely a challenge".
"A challenge?" Deadly Musician asked.
Noah nodded, paying keen attention to the approaching Pork Emperor.
"Warstar is a fair game. There's no way the game algorithm will make the mistake of spamming 2 boss monsters on a raid party at the same time unless it was premeditated with a certain motive and reward in mind".
Now that Noah was calmly analyzing the situation, the others no longer panicked in the presence of the 2 boss monsters.
Of course, this was also because the Slumbering Bandit was not attacking them.
"Now that you say it, you're right". Deadly Musician nodded. "2 bosses don't attack at the same time in a dungeon, even if it's a hidden boss".
Noah nodded again. "And not just that, this Slumbering Bandit is different. The bulge in his sling bag is bigger than normal, and that mechanic skill, it implies that it is also a Mechanic, meaning it has 3 main classes!"
The others were stunned.
3 main classes, was that even beatable?
But then, the more Noah explained, the more excited his voice seemed to become. "Which made me to arrive at the conclusion that this is a Unique Skill Challenge, I am 99% sure".
"A Unique Skill Challenge?" The other members of this raid party felt breathless as they let that word sink in.
They may be new to Warstar, but they watched the recent final of the Warstar RPG champions league, and they've also been following the game for some time so they definitely knew about the unique skill challenge.
Unique skill challenges are the only ways for in-game characters to receive unique skills from the game algorithm, and they are extremely hard to come by and they're even harder to complete.
"To think that we would stumble upon a unique skill challenge in just our 2nd dungeon run in the new server!" They were excited.
"But still, these circumstances, is this not too hard?"
"I've never heard of a unique skill challenge that is this hard".
"Can we actually defeat a final boss and a hidden boss together?"
In that moment, Noah grinned. "With me, we can".
Death Note, the Elementalist snapped. "What are you? Noah Harrington, the Godfather of Warstar?"
"Actually, I am".
"…"
'So shameless!' The others obviously felt that he was just boasting.
"Well, if you are, then I am Aria, the Queen of Blademasters".
Noah looked at the party leader. "It's up to you. We can't keep bickering forever. If you want to complete this challenge, make me the leader and let me lead this boss fight".
Deadly Musician could hear the confidence in this player's voice, in the end he shrugged. "Let's give him a chance guys".
"It's not like any of us actually have a way of surviving in this scenario. If he succeeds, awesome, good for us and if he doesn't, we lose nothing".
"Right". The others agreed.
And just like that, this raid party of strangers allowed Noah to temporarily become the leader of the raid party.
As soon as Noah became the leader, he explained. "The Slumbering Bandit is the most dangerous of the 2 boss monsters. Besides, it most likely has abilities from 3 different classes. He won't let us isolate and kill the Pork Emperor while watching, so we have to kill it first".
"But we can't go after it, going after it will be falling right into its hands".
"This is why we'll all attack the Pork Emperor until the hidden boss is forced to intervene. From there on, we'll have to improvise".
The rest of the party members waited to hear more but not hearing more, Death Note, the Elementalist asked. "That's all?"
"Yeah, there's no specific strategy to this. Even I have never fought against 2 bosses at once inside a dungeon, we'll just have to improvise, do our best and hope we don't make any mistake".
"Not hope, don't make any mistake, we only have one shot at this".
Hearing him, the other party members could not help but feel a little nervous. Could they play a perfect game?
Noah didn't let them overthink though. "Before we start, I need to know all your skill combinations".
They answered him, telling him all the skills in their beginner skill tree.
Once they were done, Noah nodded, about to start. "I'll pull aggro, the rest of you, attack with your strongest skills on my signal".
Deadly Musician wanted to say something but, in the end, he held himself back as he watched the Combat Mage charge towards the hidden boss.
The Slumbering Bandit's eyes flashed on noticing this and then, revealing a humanoid grin, this hidden boss shamelessly turned around and ran.
Noticing this, having expected it, Noah's Lord Doom turned immediately, nonchalantly ignoring the running hidden boss as he charged in the direction of the Pork Emperor.
"…"
The hidden boss was stunned when it noticed this.
"Time to squeal your doom!" The Pork Emperor just said its catchphrase again when it was caught by a swift attack.
{Mana Burst=}
Mana Burst is a combat mage skill that is activated by jumping. When landing, it releases a shockwave of raw mana energy, damaging and staggering enemies in a radius.
The Pork Emperor was too big to be knocked up by Empowered Slash, this was why Noah settled for the mana burst.
Before the towering final boss could react, Noah already landed beside it as a shockwave erupted with him as the center.
The gigantic Pig staggered, and Noah's battle lance stung.