Zyrus took out 99 poison glands and placed them in a hexagonal formation. He initially wanted to hand them over to the researchers. All of them were excellent materials for creating daggers for rogues and assassins.
But now, he had a better use for them.
The essence of the Nidhogg was neither in their hearts nor in their brains. It was precisely these glands that contained the majority of their mana and life energy.
Each one of these could give him a trait if he used blood fusion on them. But what he wanted was something much grander. He didn’t have much hope at the beginning, but after hearing Franken’s report, he could give it a shot.
‘I wonder if someone took them away in my previous life,’
Zyrus was sidetracked in his thoughts while he arranged the glands in nine-by-nine formations. What Franken found were the eggs of the Nidhoggs. It was nothing special in and of itself, but the key here was that they were the eggs that had yet to mutate.
Nidhoggs were a species of toxic serpents. According to records he found in the higher rings, they were the rulers of one of the islands in the middle of the Pisces archipelago.
What caused their freakish transformation? Why did such an irreversible event occur that even the sanctuary’s time loop couldn’t fix? He had many such questions.
Zyrus knew that he couldn’t possibly uncover all the secrets in the sanctuary. But since he found the eggs that had yet to mutate, that implied that the Nidhoggs weren’t transformed by genetics.
It must be a sudden mutation caused by an external object. What Franken found this time was precisely the location of this object.
It was right beneath the Nidhogg king’s current location. It was no wonder why so many people ignored that place.
The field boss was standing right in front of the piles of treasure chests. It took hours to kill that thing, so who in their right mind would inspect the ground first before looting the chests?
‘If I’m right, then the entrance below would disappear once a chest is opened,’
The work was almost done as he speculated about the Nidhogg's origins. One in the middle and eight surrounding each direction, nine such formations were laid out on the ground.
*Pahhk*
Zyrus added one additional gland to each formation and stabbed it with a makeshift stake. Finally, he places an intact gland on each of the stakes.
The players were looking weirdly at their leader who was now dripping his own blood on the wooden stakes. As if their current surroundings weren’t creepy enough, now there was a bloody ritual going on just before their fight.
“Jacob, lit up the stakes,”
“…”
“What?”
“Nothing,”
Jacob barely held in his curiosity and threw out nine fireballs. He understood that now wasn’t the time to learn about such things.
*Fwoosh*
The stakes lit up like a torch of flames, but surprisingly, the wood wasn’t burning out. It drew blood from the surroundings and slowly changed the flames into an emerald hew.
“This is called reverse transformation. You used magic flame to burn the wood, thereby creating a normal flame. Now, that flame is triggering the blood and mana around it, and it will transform into a magical flame, amazing, right?”
“Yeah,”
“I’ll teach you about some old tribal rituals and incantations later on. They aren’t the least bit inferior to advanced magic we use,”
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Jacob nodded with enthusiasm and went back to recuperate his mana.
Zyrus made the final tidbits of adjustments and sat down as well. Unlike others who were recovering, he was using his abyssal mana to fortify the formation.
‘I’m glad I learned this from the other arcanists…’
This formation was a simple bloodline-restricting formation. By using the remains of a monster it was possible to weaken others of their race. Although it was formidable, it was practically useless due to the long preparation time and the lack of offensive power.
Besides, using this formation on the field boss was impossible. Their power didn’t come without restriction. All of the field bosses were restricted in their areas with no way of going out.
And who had the leisure to set up the formation in front of the field boss’s nose?
*Hissssss*
“Yeah, yeah, just wait there like a good little snake,”
The Nidhogg king was infuriated as it saw its brethren’s remains being used in such a way. If looks could kill, then Zyrus would have died ten times over.
The Nidhogg king wasn’t any different from the others on the way, except that it was freaking huge. Its total height was enough to match a ten-story building.
But apart from throwing up a tantrum on the other side, it could do nothing.
“Are you guys ready?”
“Yeah,”
“Better than ever,”
“Great. Use the shield battle formation from the start,” Zyrus didn’t have to convey his orders twice as 250 players executed his command.
All of them held up their shields at different angles. The multicolored equipment created a metal fortress that covered the players from every direction.
“Charge after me,”
Zyrus clashed his fists which made the Ymir’s gauntlets gleam in a cold light. It was time to put his new weapon to use.
And what could be a better first opponent than a field boss?
“Expand,”
A cyan wave surged alongside Zyrus as he charged into the field zone. The Nidhogg king didn’t waste a second and immediately smashed its hand towards his direction.
*Bang*
Only to be staggered back by a platinum shield. The players weren’t here to pose as sitting turtles. The shield formation used by them resembled the ones from the medieval era.
However, the shields were magic equipment, and their wielders were dozens of times stronger than the soldiers of the past.
Their combined defensive power was enough to block a crumbling mountain.
“You know, I met an ugly cousin of yours a while back,”
*Whooosh*
-500,-500,-150,-75,-500….
The crashing waves transformed into numerous vortexes and spun in front of the Ymir’s gauntlets. The Nidhogg king was barraged by fists imbued with the power of vortex.
“But unlike then, I don’t have to rely on my wits to beat noodleheads like you,”
Zyrus chuckled and fought in a manner that was unbefitting of an arcanist. Where was the sophisticated use of mana? Where were the single-target spells that dealt devastating damage?
*Bang*
-500,-250,-150,…
This was just a pure beatdown between two monsters.
-2000
*Hisssss*
Zyrus retreated from his charge after finishing the combo.
Cooldown: 2 minutes
It was the second ability of the Ymir’s broken gauntlets. Zyrus gained 2 strength stats from each level up, and thus, he was more than suitable for these gauntlets.
His 70+ strength was dealing triple the maximum damage due to his crit damage and other buffs.
‘Tch.. it’ll be difficult this time,’
One had to keep in mind that the damage dealt to an absolute weak spot was 10 times the norm. Thus, after taking the Nidhogg king’s defense and resistances into account, 2000 was his current maximum damage.
“Save your mana Jacob, it’ll go into the second phase after an hour or so,” Zyrus shouted and jumped towards the monster once again.
*Fwip*
His arms numbed from rebounds as he kept striking the field boss. And this was the case when most of its attacks were blocked by the players.
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to use his summons or void skills. If his goal was to simply kill the Nidhogg king, then there was no need to go through such troubles.
‘As long as I kill it without using the 13 curses and avatar, all will work out,’
*Hissss*
“Stop spitting around dumbass, can’t you see it’s not working?”
*Hissss*
“…”
Zyrus gave up on taunting the mindless Nidhogg and continued with his repetitive attacks. Maybe it was affected by the mutation, but this was the dumbest field boss he had faced thus far.
All of its actions were predictable. Rather than fighting a life-threatening battle, it was more like battling a final boss in a video game. Of course, that didn't mean that it was easy.
‘No wonder melee players spout bullshit when fighting... it’s rather boring to swing your arms for hours,’
*Bang*
-500,-250,-75….
Zyrus didn’t use any other skills apart from vortex and rage of Jotunn. His recovery rates were boosted when fighting against a field boss, and thus, he could pull off a lengthy fight like this.
More than an hour passed by before the Nidhogg king changed its attack. The familiar green scales and yellow lines emerged on its gigantic body.
“Drink your potions and let it transform. We don’t have enough damage dealers to interrupt it anyway,”
The shield warriors nodded in response while Jacob hastened his casting. Zyrus also relaxed his taut muscles and took on a spectator sit.
He knew which spell Jacob was going to use, so he wasn't worried about any mishap.