The event continued as the next participants entered, selected their difficulty level, and either got trashed for being too overconfident or successfully hunted the boss monsters after playing it smartly and choosing a difficulty that best suited their skill level. Just like in the test run, there were 3 difficulty levels, Normal, Hard, and Hell which were previously still in development during the test run phase that Maria and the others had partaken in just before the start of the IGC.
However, the difficulty compared to then, had drastically increased. Before those non-player participants had a chance to win but now, if they were to be brought onto the stage, they’d be completely wrecked in an instant, just like the first guy. The battles continued and although a few participants had lost miserably, the hype in the stadium didn’t go down at all because the battles were just so exciting. Each monster the players faced were randomly generated so no player would face the same boss monster as a previous player.
The players would go in using their character and the monster that was generated would always be around 15 to 30 levels above them, depending on the difficulty they chose. This tested the players’ analytic level, on-the-spot decision-making, and skill level when in combat. They were given a few minutes to prepare before the battle started so mages and the like could prepare their traps and magic formations.
Maria clapped whenever a player or the monster did something that was out of her expectations and this didn’t go unnoticed to Yun Chi who immediately went over to her and began asking her why she was so excited.
“Hello there, Maria!”
“Oh, hi!”
Maria said to her before turning her attention back to the battle between the boss monster and player that was being displayed through a hologram on the battle stage ahead.
“You’ve been a little energetic since the battles started! Do you find it interesting now?”
“Hm? Oh, yes, it is interesting!”
Maria began clapping her hands when she saw something fun happen in the battle while she replied to Yun Chi’s question. It was then that she began mumbling something and it didn’t escape Yun Chi’s ears.
“What was that? Do you have something to say about the battle?”
“Huh? Well, a little bit...but do you see how━”
Maria continued to chatter on and on while she made her own play-by-play analysis of the battle everyone was watching. Yun Chi didn’t forget to move the microphone in her hand closer to Maria so everyone in the stadium was able to hear her comments and thoughts of the battle. The current player fighting in the Boss Hunting event was a pretty famous streamer from one of the Dark Faction’s top 5 guilds so they had quite a bit of skill behind their movement, techniques, and the way they changed their attacks. Maria was so invested in her commentating that she had pretty much shed her usual shyness and just continued to blabber on with Yun Chi who was next to her with her mic.
“Ah, is that so, it seems you have quite a lot of game knowledge and practical skill. Can you tell me, but are you perhaps an expert practitioner in real life?”
“Hm? Uhm, no...I wouldn't call myself an expert. I only knew a little bit of these things. What I’m mostly saying comes from experience inside the game.”
“What do you have to say about the battle techniques of the boss monster’s AI then?”
“The devs previously informed us who were participating in the test runs that the AI’s skills were taken from the various battle styles of the top-ranking players so like you can see, they know how to chain skills, use feints, and practically anything else a ranker would be able to do inside the game.”
“Yes, we did receive prior information about this, but what are your thoughts?”
“Well, I think it’s great and I think they should apply it to some random boss monsters inside of the game or create challenge dungeons that feature these kinds of player AI-driven bosses,” Maria said as she expressed her honest opinion. “The game’s normal bosses are very powerful already but it’s only because of the stat-scaling feature that makes them tenacious but once their fighting patterns are figured out, the raid is pretty much monotonous after that. Dodge this skill, wait for the next, heal up, defend, and so on.”
“So in a way, it gets boring?”
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
“I wouldn’t say boring, but I think having bosses like the ones in the event would give many of the game’s veterans something to look forward to in the game other than just questing, raiding, and grinding.”
“Haha, that is true! We’ll have to see how the devs respond to the feedback once all of the events are over!”
Up until it was finally Maria’s turn which was almost an hour later, only one person had chosen the Hell difficulty and nearly succeeded in hunting the monster until it went into red HP and went berserk. It was quite a thrilling match as both Maria and Yun Chi had overshadowed the regular casters with their own casting of the match. The two had basically taken over the casters’ job during this segment of the event and finally, it was Maria’s turn to go on the stage and fight the boss.
“Oh, it’s finally your turn, Maria! I wish you the best of luck!”
“Thanks.”
Maria stood up from her seat and began walking towards the booth confidently unlike before when she was nonchalant because she was hiding her nervousness.
“Finally everyone, it’s time for the last battle of the day! Things had taken so long to get here due to many of you enjoying all of the events held today! All of this wouldn’t have been made possible without all of your support!”
“It’s finally time for what most people say is the highlight battle for today! Player, Fallen Angel Maria, against the surprise boss monster that the devs have created especially for her!”
“As many of you who know her from her streams, Maria is a frontline player that’s likely also a hidden ranker. Her videos showing her feats of soloing boss monsters that are supposedly numerous levels higher than her is a testament to her strength!”
With their jobs finally given back to them after Maria and Yun Chi finally ended their commentating, one of the casters immediately spoke up and asked, “Does anyone know of Fallen Angel Maria’s actual level? She keeps her level private to my knowledge.”
Yun Chi followed it up and exclaimed, “Today, we’ve been permitted to disclose only her level which can be seen later once she’s logged into the game!”
“Oh, now this will be something! I bet she’s pretty high-level, yeah?”
Maria had given the devs permission to display her level later but only her level. They had created an event difficulty just for her and the boss was supposed to be 50 levels higher than her. They wanted to display her level to show the people watching that her opponent would be a monster 50 levels higher than her so that if she lost, it would be understandable but if she won, it would showcase how dreadful her power was as a player. She had received this information just before she entered the game to fight the monster but instead of being intimidated, Maria smiled in excitement.
“Nice, at least it’s better than being only 10 or 20 levels above me!”
Without any further delay, Maria arrived on the field where she would be fighting the monster and noticed that the stage was quite familiar, it was the arena where she fought against Odin in the Void Sea Realm back in the game.
“Hm?”
When the people saw her level and noticed that it was only 101, everyone was quite surprised.
“What? She’s only level 101? I thought she’d be higher!” one of the casters exclaimed and gave voice to all of the confusion within most of the high-ranked players’ heads.
“She’s below the average level of the entire player base…”
Yun Chi quickly answered everyone’s confusion and by divulging a little bit of the information that the game’s devs had provided for her to say after they had received consent from Maria who allowed them to give the people a little bit of information regarding her situation.
“Don’t be too shocked about her low level because apparently, after her race change into the ‘Fallen’ category, player Maria experienced an increase in EXP requirement for leveling up as a result of a certain racial penalty! To compensate for that, she’s received around twice as many FSPs compared to normal players, however!”
It was a simple explanation that shed light on the confusion regarding her level but it still didn’t change the fact that she would be fighting against a boss monster that was 50 levels higher than her. Maria stretched her body and wings as preparation before the boss appeared. She had a hybrid class but it wasn’t one of those classes that needed to have any pre-battle preparations.
“Hm?”
She noticed something approaching the stage from the skies and looked up to see a person flying towards her wearing a golden cape. The person slammed into the Valhalla arena’s floor with a crash of thunder and lightning. Once the dust settled, Maria’s opponent showed himself to anyone. Holding a large hammer in one hand and an ax in the other while also being accompanied by thunder and lightning, Maria immediately knew who this person was.
“...The Primal of Thunder and Lightning, Thor...is it really you?”
“...”
The Primal didn’t answer Maria’s question as the look in its eyes was ‘dead’. She understood that although the body was likely the Primal Allfather’s descendent, Thor Odinson, the inside wasn’t him at all. Instead, it was the player-driven AI that was piloting the Primal. Maria deduced that the devs had likely looked into her recent gameplay and selected the Primal of Thunder and Lightning as her opponent on purpose.
She had heard about Thor from Odin himself back when she was still training under him in the Void Sea. The Allfather ranted on about his wastrel of a son who was too proud for his own good though he had a few redeeming qualities of his own. Despite his constant complaining, Odin was still very proud that his son, Thor, was a high-ranking Primal that was just below the strongest of Primals like himself, Bahamut, and Ultima.
Odin had kept his son away from Maria because most of the disciples he had taken in would always be challenged by the Primal of Thunder and Lightning who seemed to have a feud with anyone who held the moniker of Odin’s Disciple.
Maria was itching for a battle and wasn’t going to shirk away from this one. Fighting a Primal? That was something she looked forward to again after her spars with Odin. Obviously, this version of the Primal of Thunder and Lightning was a vastly weakened one compared to the original because it was only level 150. If she were to fight the original Thor from the game and not this ‘copy’, there was no way she could win. However, with the playing field being leveled, Maria was confident that she’d now be able to fight him at least.
“Heh...this’ll be fun…”
*DING*
Primal Thor has acknowledged you as one of the Allfather’s Disciples. Enemy Battle Skill: Vigilance, has been applied. Primal Thor’s stats have been increased by 50%
A timer appeared above the ring and it began counting down from 10. Maria pulled out her Calamity and readied herself.
“3...2...1…”
Once the timer hit 0, Maria immediately took the initiative and rushed forward, commencing the battle.