Chapter 386
Chapter 386: How a Video Game Boss Should Behave
Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Pranav
"None of you read a walkthrough to prepare for your battle against me! You want to kill me without even reading a walkthrough?! Ha! That's suicide!"
The silver-winged, red-armored me kept shouting "None of you are prepared!" arrogantly from midair . The panicky squadron below me was such a familiar sight .
In a cooperative player vs . AI video game, what gave me more of a headache than a difficult boss were garbage teammates who recklessly started fighting the boss without having even read a walkthrough . In this world, too, these types of garbage teammates were common .
Dark priests would attempt to use negative energy spells against the undead, fire mages would attempt to throw fireballs at fire elemental creatures, idiot assassins would try to use stealth against true sight Beholders, and so on . Every year, the fairies' monthly magazine's most popular feature was forever the portion titled "The funniest one hundred ways to die this year . "
If I recalled correctly, the one ranked first on the list of idiots last year was a Demon Warlock grandmaster who decided to transform himself into a demon when faced with a Three-Headed Horned Demon Lord's might .
It turned out that the demon the Demon Warlock chose, a Speed Demon, was the favorite type of demon the Three-Headed Horned Demon Lord loved to eat . That Demon Lord apparently broke out into laughter and directly used an "Intimidating Stare" ability to freeze the Demon Warlock in his tracks, making a nice meal out of the warlock .
The smart ones who weren't as dumb as the idiots in the fairies' magazines would take advantage of their enemies' greatest weaknesses—obviously far more effective . For instance, the fact that Holy Knights greatly preferred battle hammers over swords wasn't actually due to personal preference . It was because their main enemies would forever be the undead and demons .
Due to the nature of their bodies, skeletons, zombies and other undead would typically be highly resistant against slashing and stabbing attacks . It was far more difficult for them to defend against bludgeoning attacks capable of crushing their bodies and bones .
Rangers who roamed the forests preferred barbed arrows as their main weapon because their primary enemies would be the unarmored beasts and beastmen . Barbed arrows were capable of opening up wounds that would continuously bleed, making them an effective weapon . Sometimes, all a ranger would have to do was follow a blood trail, and then he'd discover a corpse at the end of it . But using such barbed arrows against the undead wouldn't be as effective as throwing a rock at them .
Battle hammers and maces were also very effective against the heavily armored knights typically referred to as tin cans, which was why battle hammers were jokingly referred to as "can openers . " They were capable of creating tremors from a collision against armor that could kill a knight even though the armor remained undamaged . Actually, since demons had magic armor protecting them, they could be treated as a type of heavy armor unit as well . That was why battle hammers were also the most effective "can opener" against demons—this was the logic behind why the Snake Archduchess had begun her attack with a battle hammer . It was simply a test . But since her battle hammer was a weapon barely at the Myth rank, even she herself didn't have much hope it would succeed .
For any powerful individual who had lived for a sufficiently long period of time, obtaining information on one's enemies would become a daily habit . Investigating specific information about one's enemies was something absolutely necessary when facing someone powerful . Fighting without any preparations would be tantamount to suicide—it would be necessary for game players to check a video or a walkthrough before fighting against a video game boss .
Of course, at the same time, it would be fine for game players to not check walkthroughs as well . Game players had the privilege of dying over and over again to probe a boss's abilities—all they had to do was load their previous save file . In real life, however, people only had one life . "Please try again" would only happen in games .
Hence, it could be said that the fight between truly powerful individuals would begin before the battle itself . Those who had critical information about themselves exposed would find themselves killed off quite quickly . As a video gamer would put it: "As long as you have the information, you can defeat the boss sooner or later, but without any information, the boss is undefeatable . " Or, another video gamer's phrase would be "without a walkthrough or any preparations, it's like trying to farm a wasteland . But if you have a walkthrough, experience, and you're prepared, then it will be like speed grinding . There's no comparing the two . "
Everyone would want to hide information about themselves, but for those who had reached a certain level of power, their fighting style would typically be fixed with its specific advantages and disadvantages . As long as there were records of that person fighting, it would be impossible to keep everything a secret . Still, powerful individuals would always have their hidden aces . Unless the difference in power between the two sides was big enough for one side to completely suppress the other, the fight would end up in a competition of who had the better aces .
The undead had indeed investigated and prepared themselves thoroughly, and they'd also extrapolated what possible aces I might have hidden . In the past, I had showed off in public Sword Saint level swordsmanship, excellent ice magic abilities, and the ability to use God's Descent . As for my Holy Light magic and undead magic, there was basically no record of me using them in direct combat .
No matter if it was Holy Light or undead magic, any path would need a lifetime's worth of experience and time to cultivate . It would be impossible to create a Legend's Soul Imprint unless one was able to face their true selves and desires with absolute sincerity, unless they started over from a new life… Fine, my resurrections were probably different from most other undying individuals . At the very least, I doubted that any other existence would be capable of retaining their sense of self while in the River Styx .
"His proven abilities are Sword Saint level sword techniques, and the frightening forbidden spell Ice Aeon . We also need to defend against his ice magic . Of course, since he's an Undead Emperor, he'll be skilled in undead magic . As for Holy Light, there are no records of him using that in combat, and Holy Light clashes with the power of undeath—his Holy Light is probably nothing more than a political trick used to obtain the favor of the Holy Church . "
If I were the undead, even I myself would have come to such a conclusion . But sometimes it would be impossible to measure certain people by common sense .
Judging from what I'd seen so far, the undead had indeed made excellent preparations .
The female vampire before me was as slippery as a snake . She knew more than one hundred ultimate monk techniques and could use them all with ease . Her Dexterity stat had likely far surpassed 30; although I was a Sword Saint, I was clumsier than a banana-throwing monkey in front of her . Meanwhile, that curse expert Agfan had used a Curse of Fatigue on me, making me lose stamina at twice the normal rate . My sweat now reeked of fresh blood .
If I tried to assassinate that annoying bald-headed curse expert in order to remove the Curse of Fatigue on me, Alexandra would interrupt me and keep me busy without even caring if she was injured . At such a time, the Blood Tribe's regenerative abilities would show their disgusting prowess .
As for that death god like assassin, he used the tactic of "striking me only once and then instantly disappearing for another blow" upon failure . The entire time he was the only one to attack me while I couldn't even counterattack . I also needed to divide a part of my attention to stay on guard against him, which made me only more frustrated as I fought .
I had now confirmed that the three of them were equipped with far too many anti-ice magic equipment, thus limiting my large-scale AOE ice magic . The vampire monk wouldn't give me a chance to speak if she saw any signs of me attempting to utter an incantation . As for using undead magic… they wouldn't even need to prepare against it as undead creatures were powered by negative energy to begin with . Either they'd be highly resistant against undead magic or they'd absorb it . The current me was incapable of top-level undead magic that'd be effective against a Myth-ranked Undead Lord .
My sword techniques made me seem to be nothing more than a no-good slacker disciple in front of the Snake Archduchess who had likely cultivated as an ascetic for thousands of years . And my ice magic had been specifically targeted against with all that anti-ice magic equipment . If I had met these three Undead Lords two months ago, I would have probably been killed off by now with all these preparations against me .
Should I say that I was fortunate or unfortunate? My recent battles had been against Undead Emperor Aso and then the Titan Giants . Both were ones where I'd brushed by death, but they'd also helped me discover my insufficiencies .
I was the type who loved to reflect on my mistakes after every battle—this would help me get better and improve myself for the next . "What if Aso had gone all out against me?""What if the Titan Giants had directly tried to ambush me without any warning?" Even if I did my very best, perhaps I'd…
"I can't always hope to get lucky . In the future, high-level opponents will only become more and more numerous . At the very least, I have to think of a method to survive . Only by surviving will it be possible to win in the end and use an ace to overturn the situation . "
The current situation proved my choice . These three veteran Myth-ranked Undead Lords were more than enough to suppress me when counting their actual power levels against mine . If it weren't for my new dragon armor, perhaps I'd have been instantly killed .
[Full-body Dragonscale Ice Armor: Guardian of Eternal Night . System Evaluation: Legend rank, capable of growing in power . ]
[Enchanted Titan's Thunder Metal: This armor possesses Legend-level damage reduction properties . All weapons that aren't at the level of God Equipment will have their damage reduced by 30 against this armor . System Notification: It's ridiculous how you managed to come up with the idea of embedding that Thunder Titan Giant's broken shield pieces into your armor to strengthen its defense . ]
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