Maria quickly rushed towards the direction of the mutated boss monster that she had nearly forgotten about because of her experiment. When she arrived at the field where the monster was located, she noticed that there were a lot of players around. Many of them were in hunting parties and after looking at the monsters in the area, she understood why there were so many people here. The monsters roaming around the field were cockatrices.
A normal cockatrice was quite large, about 5 meters in height and 8 to 10 meters in length. On Eur, it would have been a boss-class monster, but on Gaia, it was only an ordinary mob. The monsters didn’t travel in herds and only moved around by themselves. With their levels being quite high, at around level 150-160, they were prime targets for parties to hunt since they dropped quite a lot of gold and a few good pieces of high-leveled equipment.
The Black Avian equipment set was one of the farmable sets dropped by the cockatrices which made them even more enticing to the players. When the cockatrices were first discovered, many people began scrambling over to the area they were located in because of their levels and drops. They had high levels which meant that they rewarded a lot of EXP and since the cockatrices mostly roamed the field alone, parties could hunt them down easily and efficiently. Since hunting them rewarded a lot of equipment, EXP, and gold, their hunting grounds were heavily populated by players, even more so than the orc hunting grounds. Judging by the area where her quest target was located, the mutated boss monster she would have to face was likely a cockatrice.
A normal cockatrice was pretty hard to deal with if you weren't in a party, so Maria was greatly anticipating what the mutant cockatrice boss would be like. The red orc she fought last time was created by an origin crystal fragment and since this monster was the same, it had to be quite powerful and troublesome to deal with just like the orc. She flew through the air and locked onto her quest target very quickly since she could see it from afar in the open field she was in.
With her target found, she quickly shot towards it at high speeds. The players down below heard something moving in the skies, but by the time they looked up, they only saw a black blur pass by before being buffeted by a strong wind storm that was kicked up by Maria's flying speed. When she got closer to her target, Maria noticed that there were a lot of players nearby who were observing the extremely large red-color cockatrice that was lumbering around.
All of the players thought that this was the cockatrice field boss and they weren’t exactly wrong. It was a boss monster but it wasn’t exactly a field boss. It was a quest target, Maria’s quest target. Maria frowned when she saw all of the player parties in the area because there was no way they would leave her in peace as she raided the boss monster. They would likely try and get in her way, since they were also eyeing it.
On top of worrying about their interference, Maria also had to worry about the raid difficulty increasing because there were so many players in the area. Field bosses had an extra perk of multiplying their stats proportional to the number of players hunting it. Maria was able to solo many boss monsters because she was powerful and smart, but there was another reason, and that was because she could avoid the multiplying stat perk they had by hunting it solo.
Naturally, no one in their sane mind would try to solo a boss because their class wouldn’t be able to attack, defend, and sustain themselves, but Maria was different since, with all of her abilities, she could do exactly all of that. She was the DPS, Tank, and Support of her 'one-man party’.
“Ugh, this is going to be a pain to deal with. If these idiots jump into the battle, it’ll get troublesome if the boss monster’s stats start multiply…though it might be a bit interesting. I’d like to have a challenge for once.”
Maria floated in the air in deep thought before deciding that it didn’t matter if those other players jumped in or not. They could be of help to her if they attacked the monster but if they got in her way, they could just be an extra source of HP and MP. Her skill, [Fallen’s Cruelty], needed a target and with the cockatrices being independent monsters, she wouldn’t be able to employ the tactic she used against the Red Orc she battled earlier.
However, with there being players in the area, she could just use her skill on them and siphon health and mana from them. As for the stat multiplication, it was of little consequence to her. In fact, she welcomed it since fighting an even more empowered boss would be a lot of fun. Also, it wasn’t just the boss’s stats that were multiplied with more players around. The dropped rewards would also multiply in proportion to the player count though there was a limit to how much it could multiply.
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Maria would be able to gain a large bounty if she monopolized all of the rewards from the empowered mutated boss monster. As for the players that ‘helped’ her get these rewards, they weren’t anything to her. She only saw them as some random strangers that were trying to take her quest target. There was no need to sympathize with them. If they tried attacking her, they would be at the losing end, so she didn't care.
There was no way Maria was going to fail this quest. Gaia’s expectations and favorability towards her would fall if she were to fail and it might affect the outcome of her subsequent chain quests. Just thinking about the chain quests' penalties caused her to shudder. She didn't want to fail her quest at all! With her plan of action decided, Maria made the first move while everyone down below was still discussing what to do.
“We all found this monster so I think it’s fine if we team up to take it down. It’s a field boss so we can just split the rewards based on contributions!”
“Contribution, so we’re talking about DMG and Recovery points, right?”
“That’s the best way, no?”
“Hey, what about my party? We’re barely level 110!”
“That’s your fault, why come through this area when you can’t even hunt any of the monsters here?”
While they were discussing what to do with the monster, someone on the ground spotted Maria floating in the air.
“Hey, what’s that?”
Everyone looked up to see her figure in the sky and one of the players spoke up, “Is that a player?”
When this person spoke up, everyone squinted their eyes and saw the name tag floating above the figure’s head. However, since Maria was so high up in the sky, they couldn't read her name tag. Maria noticed that they were staring at her and she immediately thought of a plan. The consequences of provoking so many players by monopolizing the boss monster's rewards was quite troublesome, so she needed a disguise. Right away, she made her move and began her [Nightmare] transformation.
“[Nightmare]!”
Maria began transforming as her shadow merged with her body and encased her in a black cocoon. With a flap of her 8 wings, she broke free from the cocoon after the transformation was completed. Now, no one would be able to tell that it was her. In her Nightmare form, skills such as [Inspect] and [Appraisal] were blocked, so they wouldn't be able to see her status screen and know her name. She didn't waste any time and immediately summoned her puppet, the Black Orc.
“Black Orc, come out!”
A shadow extended from her body and out popped the Black Orc as it floated in the air beside her. In its hand was a large, black-red cleaver and it gave out a resounding roar, announcing its presence powerfully to those in the area. Without further delay, Maria dove down and used her claws to strike the red mutated cockatrice monster. The cockatrice down below had already taken notice of her the moment she had summoned the Black Orc, so it hopped back and completely dodged her attack.
Maria's strike struck the earth and blew it apart, forming a crater where the cockatrice was previously standing and kicking up a dust cloud as earthen debris was sent flying everywhere. The shifting darkness surrounding her body began to seethe and broil before a loud boom was heard as Maria launched herself once again towards the cockatrice with her weapon, Calamity, in hand. She activated [Calamity Cleave] and threw her ax at the monster while her hands manipulated her shadow-enchanted chains.
“HAHAHAHAHA!”
She did want to keep [Nightmare] as her trump card, but she was just too excited to test it out in a real battle, so she didn’t even care if anyone saw her in this form. It wasn’t like they were going to be able to figure out her identity while she was in this form anyway. What was there for her to worry about? If anything, the players nearby were the ones that had to worry because the moment Maria finished her transformation and landed on the ground, a [Fear] debuff check started for all of the players nearby.
Maria's [Charm] debuff check was altered to a [Fear] debuff check while she was in her Nightmare form. The players that were caught within the effective radius of her ability were either sent running away because of the debuff, or they stood immobilized from having barely resisting it. Only a few players completely resisted the check, but every 30 seconds they were prompted by the system again and again.
With the annoying system message constantly popping up, no one would be able to properly concentrate on the boss fight. Maria wasn't even paying attention to them, she had long since tossed her worries aside and was completely focused on the battle while her puppet, the Black Orc, was not participating in the battle. Instead, it was silently guarding the area after Maria ordered it to. If anyone tried to attack or move past it, she ordered the orc to let out a loud cry to notify her.
Maria was still taking the necessary precautions in order to complete her quest. If the players nearby tried interfering in her fight, she would mercilessly cut them down or turn them into her life and mana batteries. For now, her puppet's job was to be her spotter. Such a task was definitely easy for it, but the real question was if Maria would even pay attention to its warning since she was deeply engrossed in her fight against the mutated cockatrice?