Versatile: Alternate World 68 Chapter 68

"Petrify Splash"

SP:100

Description: Brews Petrifying liquid mixture. Can be thrown into the enemies and causes Petrify debuffs against enemies with range of 50-90% of success.

During the battle against the bosses on Lesser Purgatory, the petrify splash activated most of the time but that was because I have thrown at least five pieces of Petrify Splash to the boss. Even though there is one that won't work, that doesn't mean all of the Petrify Splash Bottles that was thrown won't work. There is a possibility that there is one bottle that will work.

This time, I wanted to make sure that the Petrify Splash works. This boss was very resistant against Petrify Debuff. I don't know how to trigger it but I usually go on quant.i.ty. I gathered 10 bottles and throws it towards the boss before backing away next to Harmless Sparrow's group.

"What were those bottles you have thrown?" Flaming Cutie asked. She might have not seen an Alchemist use that skill.

"Its an Alchemist Skill, Petrify Splash. Has 50 to 90% chance petrifying the enemy," I said.

The bottles broke and its contents spilled to the leaves of the boss. A few of the Petrify Splash did not activate while a few worked and petrified the boss' movements.

"Its time! Attack! Be sure to attack the parts of the boss that are petrified!" I shouted.

An enemy that was petrified might have strong Defense after becoming a stone but there is a 30% chance that the petrified part or the whole part broke off, causing tremendous damage and can sometimes deplete all of its HP off. Since it was a boss, depleting the HP by breaking the petrified parts are not going to happen but causing tremendous damage is possible. That is why I ordered the group to attack them. Even though they have low damages, they can cause big damage if they managed to destroy a petrified part before it was healed.

Chk!

A petrified part that Thunderfire attack got chipped off from the boss.

-20,975!

A very huge damage! Seeing the damage that Thunderfire dealt after chipping off the part, everyone got motivated to attack.

Chk!

Another was chipped off and it was Lina's attack that caused it to chip off.

-20,975!

The same amount of damage was inflicted. However, the petrify Debuff was eventually healed and returned to normal. Everyone quickly backed off from the boss before the boss retaliated. Though they find it hard to trigger, they now find something that can help them inflict damage.

"Wait for a while, I will throw another batch later on. Leona, Lina and me will inflict a few more damage to the boss to raise the chance of inflicting the Petrify debuff!" I said to them.

Peng!

My sword clashed to the vines after the vines sprouted to the ground. Despite being able to parry the vines, I still got my HP chipped off.

The boss was very wild and attacked furiously. Harmless Sparrow and the rest made a frown. The battle lasted for 10 minutes but its HP is still around 64%. The boss was so strong.

"Izzzie! Use Frenzied Bear and Bear Transformation! Ferventure, use Sanctuary of the Sick on Izzzie, Harmless Sparrow, use Smoke Bomb on Izzzie and Harmless Sparrow, cast Forced Berserk on Izzzie! Pooshy, support on healing Izzzie don't mind me!"

"Got it!" Everyone nodded, before doing the sequence of the skills in quick succession. Those skills are considered combination. It was an invented skill by me in the past. I have a few guild members with these skills. We made experiments on what skills combined together can cause a very awesome attack. These combination is very good but it needs proper sequence and good teamwork.

Bear Transformation was the first skill being learned by Druid players so any players who played Druid would have this skill as one of their basics. With the combination of the attacks, the applied strength of Bear Transformation was amplified. What made it more interesting is that, adding the Frenzied Bear into the battle made it more harder. Bear Transformation has a hidden effect. As long as the Bear Transformation and Frenzied Bear are together, the attack speed and critical hits are amplified. It results into Berserk style though not really a Berserk mode due to the fact that their Defense didn't drop down. The reason I made Ferventure and Flaming Cutie use Sanctuary of The Sick and Smoke Bomb is to clear Izzzie from status effects and also to have Izzzie targeted less while inflicting huge damages. That way, aggro is not pulled even with the strong attacks. What amplified that more is the skill that Harmless Sparrow also casted. The Forced Berserk.

Forced Berserk is a skill that Magic Knights have. It forces the target to go berserk. Its not really a troublesome matter since it also helped with the lowering defense. Even with the enhanced attack, the defense drop so bad that it was actually pretty dangerous. I did not want Izzzie to face danger, we still have not encountered the hidden boss so we still needed to have full player team so I let Pooshy handle the healing to Izzzie.

This way, I can just do my thing here and attack. Izzzie rushed alongside with the Frenzied Bear and from the looks of it, they were very strong as they inflicted 2,000 and higher damages every hit on the boss and with the help of the foliage of Smoke Bomb, the aggro is not taken away from me who is currently attacking the boss. My HP dwindled to critical levels as I was also hit by countless of Vines. With the HP down, time to test the might of the skill.

I have 15,000 HP. It could be considered high and on par on small monsters on Level 30 above but I don't know if I can deal the same amount of damage. This 15,000 damage is considered measly at level 100 but it was really big at level 50 or lower. If I really reached above level 100 with around 30,000 HP or more, will I get to inflict that amount every time I use Blood Drain? Let's try then.

I dodge nimbly on the vines, I parry a few that tried to block me on my a.s.sault and when I get near the boss, I jumped up high and with Leona as my support that helped me gain momentum, I put my sword forward as I surged towards the boss.

"Blood Drain!"

The Terraform Sword suddenly raised its Bloodl.u.s.t Aura and the blackness of the Sword glowed with Red runes around and a gripping shadow crept and grip my hand tightly like my sword and my arm felt like it fused together.

Pshak!

The Terraform Sword struck down on the Boss, piercing the petals of the closed flower. As the sword reached inside, the boss trembled and my sword also felt like it grown life on its own. A piercing shriek came from the boss as the sword also wiggled.

SKKKKKKKKRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

The sound was to devastating the even me struggled if I should continue to grip the Terraform Sword or cover my ears. Izzzie also backed away since the duration of Bear Transformation was done but they covered their ears after the ear piercing shriek.

"What is happening?!" Flaming Cutie gritted her teeth as she struggle on covering her ears while trying to loom what is going on.

Meanwhile, I gritted my teeth, as the Terraform Sword Wiggled inside the boss, I also saw my HP slowly rising up. Also, I can feel a string power surging through me.

Guruguruguru

The sound of the sword inside kept on sucking away the life force of the boss

The boss kept on shrieking and its ear piercing scream kept on ravaging my poor ears.

"Ah sh*t! An Ear R*pe!" Izzzie shouted though it was swallowed by the shriek.

My HP returned to full bar and the sword automatically retracted itself from the boss. I also back away from the boss but I was struggling to keep my balance. Must be an aftereffect after being directly influenced by the shriek. Thankfully, Leona and Lina helped me regain my balance as they managed to cover their ears. I looked at the HP bar of the Boss and it fell to 45%. That was a very huge damage. I look into the log but for some reason, my damage was not registered, instead a detailed sentence on what occurred was being displayed, not the amount of damage done.

I look at my Blood Greed Bar and it returned to 0% which is expected after I used Blood Drain. I looked at the others who just recovers from the shriek of the boss before looking at the boss again.

This time, it opened its flower and the flower bud blossomed and matured following the appearance of the little sprite that looked like a green pixie with red flower on its head. I don't know if I should call it a guy or girl since I can't see any kind of gender on this one. Its basically ambiguous. But I shook my head, it didn't matter if it is a girl or a boy, as long as it was a boss, it needs to be slain. I ordered Izzzie again on attacking. Seeing that his damages earlier were very helpful for dwindling the boss HP down, he didn't hesitate to do it again. The HP of the boss plummeted until it reach 25%. When its HP got on that point, the sprite that was only floating aimlessly above its flower shook a few times before it multiplied all of a sudden and gathered around its flower. I finally knew what it was about to do.

"Izzzie back down! Go back to the group! Ferventure! Use Holy Barrier and Pooshy! Use Channeling to Ferventure to sustain the mana! Lina go with them! Leona! Shrink and also go with them!" I ordered.

Everyone was gathered except me who is still near the boss. Harmless Sparrow looked at me and shouted at me.

"Come here!" she frowned even though she didn't know what will actually happen.

"I am fine! Just worry about yourselves!" I shouted before looking at the boss again that multiplied itself. Even if you tried to attack on the sprites, it was useless, they would be invulnerable on this moment. The moment that the sprites circled around the flower, the sprites started dancing before holding their hand up in the sky.

This skill is called Solar Ray. Its a Party Wipe skill. It has 20,000 damage on the whole area and everyone is not safe. I recalled the skill Holy Barrier on what it was.

"Holy Barrier" (Tier 2)

Mana Cost: 100 on cast, 200 per minute if maintained.

Cooldown: 30 minutes

Description: Cast a holy barrier around the players area, the wider the barrier, the more Mana is needed. Needed continuous Mana channeling to maintain. Players inside the Barrier is invulnerable to any attacks.

It would be great to be inside but I don't have the luxury to do that, or else, I would end up everything in vain and would waste the Holy Barrier.

Solar Ray might be a Party Wipe skill but it was also very taxing to the boss since all of its stats will drop for 20 minutes as a sign of exhausted state of the boss. The Solar Ray would cancel out if there is no player or pet that would get sacrificed to catch the attack. And the attack will occur again if it was cancelled. Therefore players in the past hires cannon fodders in the game by paying real world money in exchange for becoming the bait. Of course, they would die unless they would be able to withstand the attack.

If you think I would sacrifice myself for the greater good, f*ck I am not their guild member to sacrifice my own life for them. Also, what a waste of Exp and level if I died and a few of my armors will surely drop which would be bad. I saw the attack of the boss finishing and a gold power gathered on the center of the huge *ss flower before it fires out. I also did not hesitate.

Zzzzzzzaaaaaaaaa!

The Solar Ray quickly burn everything on its path like a vacuum cleaner that is sucking all of the dirt on the place. Ferventure gritted his teeth. Holy Knights have no shield and rely on their body to tank but thanks to the Holy Barrier, it allowed them to block the attack, however, his mana slowly get emptied out and his consciousness seems fading. Excessive mana loss can cause headaches which is very hard to deal with. Good thing is, Pooshy helped and ease Ferventure's burden a bit due to Mana Channeling.

"Mana Channeling"

Mana Cost: Optional

Description: Channels the Mana of the user to an ally or NPC and recover the mana. Costs vary depending on how long it was intended to. Need support on drinking Mana Potions if you needed much mana.

The purpose of Mana Channeling is to help players hold on to the battle that needed ma.s.sive amount of Mana to use. Just like what many like to say, Burdens are meant to be shared by friends.

The Solar Ray last for quite a few moments. And it was still randomly burning the place and everytime the Solar Ray hits on everyone, Ferventure and Pooshy had to grit their teeth to deal the impact. It lasted for around two minutes. When the Solar Ray died out, Ferventure and Pooshy sighed out on relief while they sat on the ground. Harmless Sparrow, Flaming Cutie, Lina, Izzzie and Thunderfire supported them to avoid collapsing. Harmless Sparrow looked around since I was not inside the barrier and she found out that I am still standing. I can see her gasping and wonder how I managed to survive the Solar Ray. It was one due to one of the skills I learned last time when I learned the Splash skills.

"Subst.i.tute"

HP cost: Half of the user's HP

Cooldown: 30 hours

Description: Sacrifice Half of the user's HP to create a double that will help block any attack for 5 minutes. Can keep the user safe from any attacks.

This is a Ninja skill and even though t cost half of the user's HP, it was a great barrier as it blocks any kind of attacks that came to harm the Subst.i.tute user. Whatever attacks it will be, it was just something the Subst.i.tute can block. It would be really overpowered if not for the fact that it cost HP and has a 30 hours cooldown. It would get to be a real pain waiting for this skill so it is used for one last resort.

Seeing that the boss were on a weakened state, I looked at everyone and they seemed to also know what I am thinking. Except for Pooshy and Ferventure who are still resting, everyone rushed out and attack. The boss won't be able to attack due to its weakened state. It cannot even puff out a single spore to retaliate. With its defense down, its HP rapidly falls too.

Everyone released barrage of attacks and even I was very enthusiastic to beat up the boss. The Sprite pitifully cried before its last sliver of HP fell as its HP be fell to zero. The first boss is down. This time, everyone cheered out. I did not retorted them this time since it was worth on celebrating indeed. Surviving a dangerous battle like that was considered one of the dangerous experiences that Harmless Sparrow and the gang experienced meanwhile, it was one of the least dangerous battle I ever experienced. This is still considered as a small fry compared to the bosses later on. But seeing them very happy, I did not stop them and allowed them to celebrate. My EXP bar has grown to 30%. But what I am happy right now is the other bar. This bar is glowing red filled with bloodl.u.s.t. The Blood Greed Bar is full again.