“Hey there De’ruuune” Raven said with a soft chuckle as he backed up slowly from the towering figure. The boss didn’t take kindly to the codling voice he tried to put on and took a step forward, which caused the ground to shake as a deep voice rumbled from within whatever counted as the throat for this terrifying creature.
“You have slain many monsters in my domain, these creatures are under my protection. Now it is you who shall be hunted” the Ent said, his voice booming throughout the plains outside Rosewood. Raven grit his teeth together as he finally understood what was going on. He had not recognized this random boss at all and now he knew why.
‘So it’s a Special Event Boss’ he thought to himself as his heart sunk further into his stomach, because it meant that it was stronger than a normal boss of the same level. Event Bosses were a random occurrence within ‘Wrath of Titans’ that could show up in an area after a certain series of conditions were met.
It seemed that this Protector Ent was angry that he had been grinding all the mobs in the area, he had never heard of the boss when he was a normal player which meant it was triggered because a single person killed a certain amount of monsters. As exciting as a new boss could be for people though he was more in despair. He had no skills, only decent equipment, was 15 levels lower, and had absolutely no idea about how to fight it.
‘Am I just going to have to use another Respawn already…’ he thought to himself as he glanced around in hopes of seeing a nearby guard patrol, no luck there, he was out here solo.
“Would you like some help there, guardsman?” a voice asked through the fog and gave Raven a bit of a shock. He had just looked around and hadn't seen anyone but now when he glanced towards the direction the voice had originated from he was met by a wonderful sight.
Tristan Willow, Knight of Ember Level ??- Swordsman
'A Knight! He's gotta be at least level 30 too. He won't have a problem with this boss...probably' Raven assessed in his mind as he gave a firm nod towards Tristan.
"That would be greatly appreciated Sir Knight, if you would be so kind!" He replied openly and respectfully. It was always good to treat NPCs, especially powerful ones, with as much respect as one could muster. There had been more than one occasion of a rude player being killed by such NPCs when he had been a normal player.
Tristan gave a small smile as he came fully into view; he was garbed in crimson and gold armor and sat atop a white warehouse that looked like it could also dish out some damage if it so desired. The knight grabbed the hilt of a blade hanging from his saddle bags, and the act of unsheathing it released a torrent of heat immediately dispelled the chill that creeped through Raven. Small flames danced around its length and even the Ent could no longer afford to ignore the man as he unclipped the black cloak that hung from his shoulders.
‘He even has a magic weapon?’ Raven realized as his eyes went wide, magic equipment was rare and even more so for an NPC to have one. Just how important was this knight roaming around this far out from the capital?
“My wrath is not for you warrior, you should depart from this place” De’rune warned with a guttural growl as they lowered themselves into an offensive stance towards Tristan who didn't seem very intimidated by the giant staring down at him.
“Your wrath is of no particular concern of mine, beast, you are but cinders before my blade” Tristan said with a small smirk on his face, his flaming longsword coming up in a two handed grip.
The Ent did not seem too happy at the insult and charged towards Tristan with intent to kill, dark blue energy seeping around its body as it prepared some sort of unique skill.
"Adamantine Piercer" Tristan whispered softly, but his voice carried on the wind at the announcement of his skill and Raven nearly fell to his knees at the utterance of its title.
Skill the Wrath of Titans were classified in different levels: Class Skills, Learned Skills, Acquired Skills, and Heroic Skills.
Class and Learned skills were the most common, because as a player or NPC reached higher levels in their class they would learn skills associated with it. A Learned skill was the next easiest as certain training NPCs or even other players could teach certain skills. The Magi Spell 'Light' for example was learned by all Magi at level 1, but it could be taught to any class as long as they learned it from a Magi.
Acquired Skills were a bit more rare due to one needing to find a skill book. Skill books could show up in a variety of different locations or possible loot drops. These skills were also the most varying in power, as they dropped from a Skill Tome, which had its own loot rarity.
Heroic Skills were monstrous in their usefulness, but were so rare that even he had never seen a player use one in the game before he got sick. He had seen a video of an NPC Barbarian using the Heroic Skill 'Earth Split' to defeat a demi-Titan boss once though. Regardless, they were super rare and could only be given as rewards for Legendary or higher ranked quests, and that was if you were lucky.
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From what he remembered from the lore of the game, and the wiki he used to research on, 'Adamantine Piercer' was a Heroic Skill that pierced all defenses and dealt damage straight to the targets weakest point. It was truly a sight to behold.
Flames gathered around the tip of the blade as the knight shunted it forward, leaning forward and ramming his body into his attack. A spiral of light joined in with the spiraling flames and embers that grew in strength before it finally slammed into the center of De’rune’s chest.
Everything seemed to freeze for a few moments as the two figures finally clashed against each other, De’rune’s giant fist stopped a few inches from Tristan, whose sword barely glanced against the chest of the Protector Ent.
It was oddly serene, in that movement, before a flash of heat and light exploded from the sword and threw De’rune back ten feet and sent them stumbling and roaring in pain. Raven’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when he saw the amount of damage that popped up above the monster's head.
- 20,000 Health
A boss of the De’runes stature would probably only have around 50,000-60,000 health, and Tristan did a significant amount of that in one hit. Though, albeit, with a Heroic Ranked Skill that he wasn't likely going to be able to use again.
“Swift Slash” Tristan said as he ran forward, not giving the monster a chance to regain it’s composure. Swift Slash was a more common Swordsman move, it allowed you to slash two times in quick succession, or more if you wanted to spend more Concentrated Power to keep the chain going. Each attack dealt a little less damage than the last for each use however.
- 5,000, - 4,200, -3,000, -1,500
“Nature shall rend your bones!” De’rune screamed as he used some sort of unique skill to cover himself with rocks in some sort of armor. The skill also caused Tristan to be thrown backward, but he landed easily on his feet and readjusted his fighting position. Raven sat on the sidelines with his jaw hitting the floor, this knight was crazy. He kept charging at a boss level monster over and over, and had yet to take even a single point of damage. Tristan had to be getting low on Concentrated Power though, which meant he was going to need a few moments before he could properly use skills again.
As if the knight had read Raven's mind he glanced over and spoke out, his voice soft but stern as he asked “Are you confident in your ability to fight?”
“If I had a stronger weapon, definitely.” he confirmed, wasting no time to sugarcoat his words. They could both be in very real danger if they didn't trust each other, even if Tristan was this strong they still faced a highly ranked monster.
Tristan gave a firm nod and reached into the small bag he had strapped to the back of his belt, taking out a black handled dagger with a crystalline and clear blade, his eyes never leaving the Ent who had fully regained it’s compuse now and watched the interaction carefully.
“Do you know how to use one of these?” Tristan asked, and both Raven and De’rune realized the item he held in shock.
‘Crystal Dagger?!’ Raven exclaimed silently to himself, he was so surprised that it took him a few seconds to respond, but he quickly answered when he remembered what their situation was, “Yes, I do.” he admitted with a nod. Tristan seemed a little surprised, even wasting half a moment to glance at him with a look of acknowledgement before he tossed the dagger towards Raven with a soft underhanded toss.
Crystal Daggers were mastercrafted magical items that took a high leveled Magi and a master ranked blacksmith to create. They were super rare, and back when he was a regular player they could sell for upwards of 4,000 gold in auction houses. Why? Because when made a Magi could imbue it with magical power and their knowledge of abilities and classes that they have studied. It allowed whoever used the dagger to temporarily take on the level and abilities of whatever was infused into them. For every dagger someone had in their possession it was like having a whole other class in their back pocket! The only downside was that if you were a high leveled player yourself they became less and less useful, because higher leveled Magi could just make better items, and it was less useful for level 50 players to have access to level 20 or 30 abilities from other classes. Still though, for lower level people they were amazingly useful tools to have one at his stage was an incredible power boost.
De’rune also realized this, and he certainly didn't feel like fighting two powerful people at the same time when he had only come to kill a single weak one. The Ent charged forward, much faster than one would think from a giant covered in stone at the moment, and reached forward to try and grab the dagger as it flew through the air.
“I won’t let you”’ they roared as the ground shook under his quicked pace to intercept the magical blade.
‘Damn it’ Raven cursed to himself, he was so surprised that this knight had one of these things that he didn't think to go after it. He started to run forward as well but he didn't have a chance to reach it before the Ent did.
Luck Bonus Trigger! Environmental Hazard…
“Wha..!?” De’rune exclaimed as his ankle suddenly hit a protruding branch from the ground, which was just barely covered from view by the grass of the plains. The ground cracked at the sheer force of De’rune hitting the ground with such force.
“Huh..lucky!” Raven exclaimed happily as the dagger finished sailing through the air to land perfectly in his palm, “Good throw!” he complimented towards Tristan. The knight's face was contorted slightly in a look of surprise at the falling monster that was so confidently charging forward before, and how casually this small town guard was acting about everything.
“There we go, now let’s show this boss how to play.” Raven said with a big smile spreading across his face, the Crystal Dagger in his hand glowed brightly as he pointed the tip of the weapon towards his own chest and stabbed it into heart, before screaming loudly as his body was flooded with power and potential.
Crystal Dagger Item Used, Temporarily granting level 30 Magi Skills, Spells, and Powers…