And fight the thing I shall do.
I start to walk towards the amorphous blob to try and give it a cursory stab, but I am stopped by a familiar voice before I can start.
“Ho there” the old grave keeper says from afar.
“Before you go in, I have a few things to tell you about what lies in there.” he says to me.
“This place is the absolute deepest part of this graveyard. I dug here to have more space for graves, but when I tried to dig my first grave in this room, I dug up a hole through the mountain.” He says with a grave expression on his face.
“What does that mean?” I say back with a curious face.
“It means that when I dug it up, there was nothing underneath, not even more earth.”
‘Nothing underneath, I guess that’s where the name “deep crypt” comes from, must be the end of the map on the bottom side.’ I think with sudden enlightenment.
“So what does that mean for the big monster there?” I say, pointing towards what I believe to be an absolutely massive version of the other slimes, even larger than the one I encountered in the forest.
“What I was getting to, was that shortly after I dug that hole, those pesky slimes started appearing from it. I figure that since this place has been abandoned for so long, that one is some kind of conglomeration of a ton of them.”
‘Well, I guess that makes sense, though if that thing is too big I don't know if I’ll be able to reach its core.” I think with a bit of worry.
“So do you think you’re ready to face it?” The grave keeper asks.
“Ready as I’ll ever be”
“On your way then” the grave keeper says, beginning to walk away.
After the grave keeper fades out of view in the dark, I turn back towards the large slime, and begin to form a battle plan.
‘Alright, he said that that thing is likely a much larger version of the other slimes I have fought. Which means that my pike, long as it is, probably won’t be enough to reach its core, so what should I do’
‘I could probably start by throwing the pike with my threads to try and immediately kill it, but I might miss and lose my pike for the rest of the fight, so that's out.’
‘Maybe this one is some kind of amalgam of slimes, and has multiple cores? That seems like it would be balanced. Not to metagame, but I don't think that anyone could kill this if it just had one core way in the center of its who knows how big body. So it would make sense if it could take multiple hits, because it has multiple cores, but those cores are hittable by melee classes.’
‘So I should start with a couple stabs in random areas on what I can see right now, and when it moves into the arena proper, try and feel it out from there. That sounds like a good plan.’
‘Unless I am actually too early in the game to be here, and only am because I sequence broke something, and all my efforts will go to waste.
But don’t think about that too deeply will you Ren.
Readying myself, I stand with my pike ready for a quick flurry of thrusts, and dash at the mass of black before me.
Rushing forward, time seemingly slowing thanks to my bullet time passive, I deliver 20 quick stabs in the span of about three seconds, though none seem to hit anything of importance.
Ending my stabbing, the slime undulates and seemingly rolls backward further into the bossroom, where I’m able to get a better appreciation for the full size of the boss.
Boss Encountered- Amalgamated Slime of the Deep
‘Jesus that thing is massive’ I exclaim in my head.
Right I am, as the boss’ size appears to be something around ten meters in diameter. Quite the crazy size if I am hoping to ever hit one of its cores.
The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
Reengaging, I once again rush toward the massive slime, time slowing down once again, this time able to stab it while circling around its massive size. During which I notice how the room is an incredibly plain, circular area, but I guess I shouldn’t expect much from a graveyard, let alone an unfinished one.
After a couple dozen more stabs, I finally feel something shatter during one of my blind stabs.
“Alright, one down, whoever knows how many more to go”
The slime, seemingly in agony, ripples and pulses before…
Contracting?
Because I’m not moving, the bullet time passive isn’t active, which is why even with my impressive AGI stat, I’m unable to react to what happens next.
At an insane speed, the boss slime shoots out what looks like hundreds of the same kind of pseudopods the condensed deep slime used and my threads are made of.
Tens of them coming at me way faster than I’m able to react to, hitting me all at once, I’m unable to withstand, and it kills me pretty much instantly because…
Duh, no DEF
“Ugh”
YOU DIED
1 hour until respawn
Log out?
Y/N
Well
Uuuuuuh
Shit?
That seems very hard.
Like, how the hell am I supposed to dodge that.
I know I’m fast, but I don’t think I can dodge that many whips at once.
‘This sucks, I didn’t know there was an hour respawn timer that was never mentioned in the show.’
‘Although, I guess neither Maple or Sally ever died so there was no POV to show what happened.’
‘See, I can die, I’m not the main character’
“Hmmm.”
‘Okay, I need to rethink my strategy.’
Taking off the headset, and laying it beside me after coming to my chair, I stand up and start doing a little pacing.
‘I think I can beat it, I was able to destroy a core before it ganked me, and I doubt it has any more than ten in there, so if I can find a way to not die when It lashes out with those tentacles, then I can destroy another one.’
‘After that just rinse and repeat until victory’
‘All I have to do is’
“git gud”
____________________________________________________________________________
Rematch #1
“Alright, let's do this”
“You won’t get away from me”
“How do you like me now”
*Shatter*
‘Alright here it comes’
Looking around the room, I see 4 large piles of rubble, presumably from when this place was being constructed.
‘I guess I can hide behind one of those whenever the big guy lashes out.’
‘But I think I’ve spent too long thinking about what to do and am now unable to make it to one of those piles and am going to die.
“Fuck”
YOU DIED
“I guess I’ll need to position better next time”
____________________________________________________________________________
Rematch #2
“I’ll get you yet big man”
This time fighting the slime, I keep close to one of the piles of rock.
*shatter*
Running behind the closest pile, I peak my head out to see what the slime does.
This turns out to be a mistake, as when it pulses it hits my head and I die
Again
“Fuck”
YOU DIED
____________________________________________________________________________
Rematch #3
“You sonova’ bitch, you’re mine this time”
‘No playing around this time’
Maintaining my strategy of staying close to as pile, I find out what happens when the slime hits the rocks
*rumble*
It just happens before I get a core
“Fuck”
I guess these piles are single use.
I’ll just move to another pile an find ano-
*shatter*
…
Double fuck
YOU DIED
____________________________________________________________________________
Rematch #4
“No mucking about this time it's just you and me”
This time, being wary of not letting the slime destroy the rubble before I’m ready, I manage to make it past one lashing.
*shatter*
*Rumble*
“Aha, I got you this time”
“I’m so awesome, I’m so coo-”
I fail to account for the fact that I’m still in a bossfight, and I get smacked across the face.
“Fuck”
YOU DIED
____________________________________________________________________________
Its like a fucking darksouls boss, but worse.
I learn more every time it kills me
It wouldn’t be so bad if there wasn’t a fucking hours wait between each attempt
Maybe I can petition the GM’s to cut down the wait time.
What ticks me off the most is that every time I die, I feel like I make it further and further.
So every time I start a new attempt, I take risks trying to get back to where I was faster.
And sometimes, in my rush I get sloppy and make mistakes
Like run 5, where before I even get one core, greeding for more hits I get smacked and die.
This also happens in runs 6 and 7, but those times I at least manage to make it past one shatter.
It turns out its very hard to kite the boss to another pile after the first phase
Attempt 8 sees me getting a core and making it behind a pile, but somehow I get doomed by a piece of rock after the slime destroys it and I die.
In round 9, I die in the same manner I did on round 5, and that prompts me to try and take a break, maybe try and get some sleep.
I’ll try again tomorrow.