Rebirth: Rise of the Slave Master

Chapter Seven: Every True Gamer

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Theo once again couldn’t hide the glee in his eyes as he checked out the items which the snake twins had dropped. Putting aside the essences, skins, and fangs, the results were quite good.

[Snake Prince’s Core Rune] Rune point: Core; Rank: Lesser Lv.1

HP +150

HP Regen +2.5 per second

Agility +3

Charisma +3

Special Ability: +10% Poison Resist.

What a perfect rune for him to use as soon as he evolved his [Beginner Rune Mastery]. Monsters with attacks that couldn’t be totally dodged would start appearing soon, and he would need some HP if he wanted to fight them.

There was also a rare weapon drop!

[Snake Fang Twin Daggers] Rank: Lesser; Durability 120/120

Damage: 36~41

Special Ability: 40% chance to apply Lesser Poison on hit for 6 seconds.

Twin Daggers were a popular choice of weapon for characters who enjoyed a fast and fierce style of combat. They were light and could hit twice in quick succession. While the damage of each hit would be slightly weaker, this made it easier to combo skills and apply status effects. It was dream gear for Assassin-type fighters.

Lesser Poison was similar to the Poison effect from the [Big Bee], draining about 1% of the afflicted person’s HP every second. While 40% might seem like a high chance for an additional effect, this was before Constitution was taken into account. With only 5 points in Constitution, on top of his base resistances, Theo had about a 7% resistance to poisons.

If he equipped the [Snake Prince’s Core Rune], this would increase to 17%, giving the daggers a respectable 23% chance to apply the effect. With a higher Constitution attribute, this chance to inflict poison could even be reduced to 0%, negating the special ability entirely. Of course, higher ranked gear would have a much higher chance of triggering effects.

For instance, his [Fend] skill had a 95% chance to apply knockback, which was quickly reduced to only 5-10% by the Constitution and size of the giant snakes. This number would increase, however, every time the skill leveled up. At Level 10 it would reach 160%, and then even the heavy bodies of the Snake Princes would be knocked around like tissue paper.

“I don’t really care to use the daggers, but they’ll sell for quite a bit…” Theo said cheerfully as he pocketed the weapon.

After looking over his stats one final time, Theo decided to put all 10 of his attribute points into his Constitution. His Strength was already high enough for the time being, and this boost would bring his HP up to 250. Theo was hoping the experience he received would be enough to level up, or else he would have had to wait for more monsters to spawn in. This extra HP was mandatory for the coming boss battle.

Holding his trusty spear, Theo entered the boss chamber. The huge cavern was formed from rock and soil, and was held together by the roots of the massive Withered Ash Tree above. Like a host of giant serpents, the woody tendrils spread out and intertwined in all directions. A dull hiss seemed to echo throughout the chamber, and the air was hot and stifling.

All around the base of the roots, clutches of mottled green and black eggs were gathered together in huge piles. As if quivering with life, the eggs shook and swelled with an eerie rhythm not unlike a beating heart.

“Snakey snake!” Theo’s call echoed into the cavern, brandishing his weapon, “come out and plaay~aay!”

As if on cue, a pair of glowing yellow eyes suddenly opened, flashing with malign intent. In a slow, theatrical fashion, the massive body of a snake began to descend from the shadowy canopy of roots. It was at least three times the thickness of the elite snake monsters, with a head large enough to swallow an elephant whole. The body appeared impossibly long, with no end in sight, and was covered with bony protrusions and a dusty coat of mustard-colored scales.

[Desert Serpent Queen] Lv.10 Cave Boss

Despite its impressive appearance, the snake queen was still only a level 10 boss, and not even a fully-fledged dungeon boss at that. Dungeon Bosses were like the big bad guys at the end of a book or movie, and would normally be the strongest boss a player faced in their level range. Below them were Floor Bosses, which could be considered henchmen or pets to the bad guy. Then there were Cave Bosses, which were usually scattered around the world in places like this.

There were also Hidden Bosses, Event Bosses, and Field Bosses, but those were only concerns for higher level players.

The first dungeons wouldn’t be accessible before level 15, so each major city had a Cave Boss located somewhere nearby. Some were more hidden than others, like the Desert Serpent Queen, but they would all be discovered eventually and mercilessly slaughtered by the loot-starved players.

With her cinematic intro over, the [Desert Serpent Queen] began the fight.

The majority of boss battles would take place in different phases, and these phases tended to be triggered by dealing a certain amount of damage. Similar to how [Jorm] got the rage buff after his brother was slain, initiating a new phase could radically strengthen the boss and even change the way it approached the fight. A sudden change like this could shake up the flow of combat and leave a previously effective strategy totally obsolete.

This was to keep players on their toes, as a strong boss often required challengers to piece together a proper, multi-step strategy through repeated trial and error. Even a Cave Boss could take out a player twice their level if the poor sap didn’t know how to tackle it properly.

Luckily, Theo was well versed in many of the game’s bosses, though certainly not all of them. A vested interest in nothing but video games and the constant chatter of a huge guild had afforded him strategies for even low-level bosses he’d never personally beaten.

In her first phase, the [Desert Serpent Queen] would act a lot like a regular monster. She would bite and strike at the player just like the rest of the snakes. These attacks were fast and powerful, and could kill the unarmored Theo in a single hit, even with his boosted HP. They were easy to predict, though, and Theo continued his unbroken dodge streak.

-88

-92

-90

Critical hit!

-195

[Lunge]

-142

Hitting the snake queen was like hitting an armored van, and every attack was reduced by her high Defense attribute. Theo looked almost like a fly buzzing around a horse’s tail, or perhaps it would be more apt to call him a hornet. Again and again the spear struck, carefully whittling away at the massive HP value.

Nearly 10 minutes later, almost the amount of time it had taken Theo to defeat the [Desert Serpent King], the boss’s HP had reached 76%.

[Lunge]

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Critical hit!

-312

“It’s now!” Theo’s eyes lit up in anticipation.

At precisely 75% HP, the [Desert Serpent Queen] would switch to a new phase. She quickly reared up, filling the cavern with her imposing form as she let out a terrifying sound that could shake stone.

HSSSSSTH!

Theo’s body was a like a loosed arrow.

He threw himself at the piles of eggs as swiftly as his movement speed would allow. Without such a high Strength stat, he would never have made it.

You have received [Serpent Queen’s Roar]... Dazed for 7 seconds.

A 7 second Daze! It was a truly debilitating status effect at this stage in the game, with no way for low level players to possibly resist it. Daze would leave the player totally helpless, as the [Desert Serpent Queen] would end her roaring animation after just 4 seconds. 3 seconds was more than enough time to launch a follow up strike, and although the Daze effect broke when you took damage, all she needed was one clean hit to end her prey.

Normally, the strategy to handle this attack would be to have a Tank-like player with high HP and Defense up front to take the hits while the other members of the group recovered, but that was clearly impossible for Theo.

Thankfully, the developers had been kind enough to leave a way out, and not unintentionally so. Not only would the queen’s roar Daze players, it would also cause several eggs around the room to hatch. Dozens of miniature snakes erupted from the shattered eggs and quickly latched on to Theo’s body, biting him all over.

You have received an attack from [Infant Serpent Brood]. -17

You have received an attack from [Infant Serpent Brood]. -15

Tiny damage values shot up over Theo’s head, draining a shocking 133 HP. This would have put him in a critical condition without the bonus from his last level up! Just like that, a five day long no-hit streak was woefully ended by these pitiful, worm-like babies!

[Fend]

After letting the baby snakes break his Daze effect, Theo quickly stepped back and whipped them away with his skill. Rather than getting knocked back, the snakes immediately dropped dead. They were newborns, after all, and only had about 10 HP a piece. It was their nasty damage and large numbers that made them a threat.

Inexperienced players would definitely suffer more than one party wipe because they weren’t paying attention to the eggs.

The [Desert Serpent Queen] resumed her attacks in short order, trying to corner the elusive little hornet that continued to sting her. Theo knew the boss would activate [Serpent Queen’s Roar] every 2 minutes, dazing him and hatching more [Infant Serpent Brood]. He would need to run to a nearby egg clutch before then to make sure the baby snakes bit him first.

Thanks to his [Novice Core Rune], on top of his base HP regeneration, he would naturally recover about 6 HP every 5 seconds. In two minutes of combat, assuming that he didn’t get hit, Theo would recover 144 HP. It was just enough to effectively ignore the assault from the baby snakes, only so long as he quickly wiped them all out!

70%...

60%...

50%...

The [Desert Serpent Queen] launched her debilitating roar every chance she could get, but it couldn’t do anything but slow him down. As defeat seemed inevitable, the giant snake could only regret her own programming.

40%...

30%...

“The final phase is coming up…”

At 20% HP, the boss would begin thrashing about in the cavern, crushing everything that happened to be in her way. As if her giant body wasn’t difficult enough to avoid, it would also cause rubble to fall from the ceiling, dealing damage to any player it hit. It was a wide area attack almost guaranteed to wipe out an unsuspecting group on their first attempt.

20%!

“Here it comes!”

The massive snake began furiously charging about the room, covering nearly every inch of the floor. She crushed hundreds of her own eggs in her rampage, and even slammed her elephant-sized head against the walls of her den.

Theo was just as busy as the [Desert Serpent Queen], flawlessly executing a dodge every time her body swept by.

You received shock damage. -23

You received shock damage. -34

You received shock damage. -16

You received shock damage. -39

The dreaded shock damage!

That’s right, no matter how perfect his timing, the monster would still deal a small amount of damage. In this case, Theo had lost 112 HP in just one round of attacks. If he had let even a single bit of the debris hit him, it would mean a significant loss of experience and a long walk back from Oasis.

To make matters worse, the [Desert Serpent Queen] would use this attack every sixty seconds. That was only enough time for Theo to recover 72 HP. Although the power of shock damage tended to vary wildly, it would still average out to be 100 damage or so. That would mean a loss of around 30-40 HP every minute, giving him only five minutes at most to finish off 20% of the HP bar.

It had taken 10 minutes to deal 25% damage before, but now the [Desert Serpent Queen] only had 18% of her HP left. She had injured herself while thrashing about wildly.

[Lunge]

-188

Her Defense attribute had fallen as well!

This was the do or die moment of the boss fight, where players were forced into a race against the clock… it was kill or be killed!!

Theo didn’t conserve a single bit of his MP, launching his [Lunge] every time it came off of cooldown. He no longer had to worry about the [Infant Serpent Brood], who were all crushed.

A minute later the boss began thrashing again.

14%...

10%...

6%...

2%...

Theo’s HP had dropped after taking the shock damage five rounds in a row. He only had 83 HP left, and there was zero chance to survive if he didn’t end this fight in the next sixty seconds. His 100 MP had long since run dry, and only recovered at a rate of 1 point every 5 seconds. All he could do was stab with his spear.

“Heeheehee... Looks like I get to die with a lady this time around! Too bad she isn’t much to look at!” Theo was still taunting the boss even while his life was hanging by a thread.

1%...

10 seconds left... His MP had recovered by 10 points... 11 points!

[Lunge]

Critical hit!

-367

HSSSSSSTH! BOOOM! The cavern shook as the [Desert Serpent Queen] hit the ground.

Victory… with only 3 seconds to spare.

“Wooohooo!” Theo literally jumped for joy, tossing his spear into the air with a triumphant yell.

He had accomplished something that most people would write off as impossible. At level 9, with only the starting equipment, he had conquered a level 10 Boss. While Theo had already long since determined the possibility of this feat, it was another thing to actually attempt it. If he had been unlucky enough to receive max shock damage multiple times, or if he scored a few less critical hits, it would have meant certain defeat.

This was what every true gamer was after! Conquering the odds! That, and...

“Loot! Loot! What will it be? Maybe a new equip for me~?” it was Theo’s victory song again!

If only the once proud [Desert Serpent Queen] could see her killer now.

[Serpent Queen’s Wrath Rune] Rune Point: Arm; Rank: Lesser Lv.1

+3% Melee Damage

+1% Critical Hit Chance

+10% Critical Hit Damage

Special Ability: [Rampage - Channel the power of Wrath. Effect: +50% Melee Damage,+100% Damage Received. Duration: 60 seconds. Target: Self. Cooldown: 3 hours. Limit: Lv. 20 and below.

“What a ridiculous effect, I feel like I should remember something this outrageous being in the game…” Theo said skeptically.

It wasn’t as if he remembered every loot drop that came out of the level 10 Cave Bosses, but this [Serpent Queen’s Wrath Rune] seemed to defy his expectations for what a Lesser-tier rune was capable of. The attribute bonuses were already top shelf for the rank, but the Special Ability was something else entirely.

“Ah! I remember now, sin runes!” Theo snapped his fingers.

These especially rare runes were named after the seven deadly sins, and typically came with some kind of big, double-edged ability tied to a long cooldown. In this case, [Rampage] became available because this particular rune carried the sin of Wrath.

Unfortunately, these abilities would only affect players below a certain level, and there was no way to reliably farm them. Anything in the game that dropped a normal rune could also drop a sin rune, as well as other types of special ability runes. If you were lucky enough to get one that worked for you, all you could do was graciously thank whatever origin of causality you believed in.

Of course, these types of runes would eventually fall out of favor with players when rune “sets“ started appearing. If you equipped some or all of the runes in the same set, it would grant additional attribute bonuses and special abilities. Even if you found a rune that was slightly better by itself, could it make up for ruining your set bonus?

“I’d be crazy to sell something that fits my style so well. Need! Need right away!”

Not that anyone was there to fight Theo over his precious loot.

The [Desert Serpent Queen] also dropped plenty of essences and other crafting materials, as well as a Lesser heart rune which Theo could equip to raise his Defense attribute.

Sadly no weapons appeared. It was a shame too, since Theo knew the boss could drop Lesser-tier weapons of any type. This was a consideration the game devs added for players that were still on the fence about their weapon choice, or needed a change after unlocking their class.

[Fine Iron Spear] - A standard issue weapon for new adventurers. The edge is quick to dull, but it remains a reliable starting weapon nonetheless.

Rank: Beginner Lv.1, Durability: 9/100

Damage: 9~21

After five days of hunting, Theo’s spear had only 9 durability left. Even unarmed strikes were tied to a relevant skill proficiency, so he wouldn’t be able to attack at all if his weapon broke. He needed to return to Oasis for repairs, as well as empty his inventory and start on his class quest. His real goal in coming here had already been accomplished, after all…

[Serpent King’s Left Eyestone] - A tiny mineral deposit that formed in the eye of a giant serpent, what use could this possibly have?

[Serpent Queen’s Right Eyestone] - A tiny mineral deposit that formed in the eye of a giant serpent, what use could this possibly have?