After clearing a few groups of monsters, Maria and her party were having a pretty good time, especially since they were all enjoying the 200 percent increase to their EXP gain. A majority of the group had already leveled up at least once or twice and this was only just a few hours into farming the monsters in the island’s outer layer. It would definitely be more efficient once they moved deeper into the island, but Mikael suggested that they should play it safe for now and remain in the outer layer until the island's daily 'save point' occurred so they wouldn't lose all of their progress.
Also, he adamantly suggested this because it wasn’t like they could just continue relying on Maria to do everything for them. Despite being only at the island’s outer layer, things were already hard for them and this was despite already having Maria’s assistance.
Maria would sometimes let a few of the monsters slip through her attacking zone to see how Mikael’s friends would deal with them, but it was quite obvious that they struggled just to deal with one of the monsters on their own despite being in a full party with a rather good composition. It wasn’t that they had bad coordination or anything, it was just simply because their levels were far too low and the quality of their equipment wasn’t suitable for the current hunting grounds.
Without Maria’s help, they’d be hard pressed to even stay alive in the island’s outer layer let alone kill the monsters and farm EXP from them. Going to the inner layer would just increase her burden and neither Mikael nor his friends wanted this. They were already imposing on Maria since this was her island and they didn’t want to add any more to the burden, so their group continued to stay within the island's outer layer. The other two groups, however, didn’t.
After Lizzy and Gerald’s groups had their fun in the outer layer, they continued onwards to the island’s inner layer and stayed there to farm monsters and grind for EXP. With the quality of their groups' equipment, levels, and teamwork, they were able to safely kill the monsters there and farm EXP rather efficiently without too much trouble. There were a few times where they almost had close calls because of the monsters’ advanced battle AIs that didn’t follow the usual patterns that they were familiar with.
Usually, a monster had a set pattern of actions and movements that their battle AIs would follow through. When a player fought a monster for the first time, they would study this particular set of actions and movements, and after struggling to fight the monster for a while, they’d slowly get the hang of things once they have seen through all of the monster’s attack patterns.
Unfortunately, for everyone, the monsters on the island were a little bit different. They did have a particular set of actions and movements, but since they were from the Underworld, there was a little bit of a twist to it. The environment these monsters fought in were usually under the ground, so they still moved around as if they were underground.
The monsters would climb up the trees, bounce off of them to either attack or run away for a bit before coming back to ambush them using tactics unbefitting of the environment they were fighting in. Lizzy and Emily were used to these kinds of tactics, so they were able to quickly adapt to the movements, but the rest of the players in their group weren’t. They had to struggle for a bit and closely listen to the two’s instructions before eventually getting the hang of things.
However, even then, the erratic movements of the monsters still caught them off guard which inevitably placed a few of them in danger. If it wasn’t for their equipment quality and their levels, there would’ve been a few party members that would’ve already died at this point. It was even worse for Gerald’s party that had no one who was experienced in fighting these monsters. They struggled a lot more than the Fallen Angels party, but they did their best to remain in the inner layer.
The EXP buff of the island’s inner layer was just too lucrative for them to give up just because the monsters were a little bit more dangerous than the ones on the outer layer.
Once they leveled up a bit more, the monsters soon became a little more easier to deal with and seeing the speed that they were gaining EXP despite being in a rather large party that was ‘unfit’ to be called an EXP farming party, this made the two groups even more determined not to take the safer path and return to farming monsters in the island’s outer layer.
However, their attitudes changed a little when they encountered their first [Cursed] monster. Whether it was by sheer coincidence or not, Gerald and Lizzy’s group encountered their first [Cursed] monster together. They had entered the island’s inner area separately, but they eventually encountered each other as they moved closer and closer to the island’s core area.
This wasn’t a surprise since the deeper they progressed, it was inevitable that they’d meet up. If the two teams had entered the island from the complete opposite directions, then they might not have encountered each other until they arrived at the island’s core area. They bumped into each other just as a unique-looking monster was spotted not too far away from them.
“Sorry, Gerald, but that monster’s ours!” Lizzy yelled with a laugh as she charged towards the monster who she assumed to be a boss monster or a mini-boss monster with her group.
Elizabeth had reported earlier that those monsters usually moved around with a group, but this one was on its own, so it was definitely a rare opportunity for them to take on down and see what the fuss was all about in regards to these Cursed monsters.
Gerald chuckled before quickly rushing towards the monster with his group, not intending to give it up. Besides, it was a boss monster of the island’s unique monster species, it definitely wasn’t going to be easy to deal with, so it was better if their groups cooperated with each other rather than being stubborn and facing it alone which could cause unwanted casualties to happen to either group.
Even though Lizzy had said what she said earlier, she didn’t intend to bar Gerald’s group from participating in the boss raid because she had the same understanding as Gerald.
Besides, Elizabeth had specifically informed them that no matter the circumstances, the boss monsters weren’t to be taken lightly and it was better if all the groups worked together to defeat it if they were to unluckily–or luckily–encounter a boss.
Unfortunately for the two groups, the monster they encountered wasn’t a boss or a mini-boss. The reason why they thought it was a boss or mini-boss was because of the unique purple aura it was exuding which was quite frankly different from all the other monsters.
This monster still had a rather similar appearance to the other monsters, but it had weird deformations and extra appendages on its body that were reminiscent of spikes or tentacles. It had a distorted appearance and certainly looked disgusting. It caused a lot of the players from both parties to look at it with aversion and disgust. When they got close enough to use [Inspect], everyone quickly noticed that it wasn’t a boss monster at all.
Name: Dark Blaurog (Cursed) Level: 375 Rank: Elite HP: ???/???
MP: ???/??? ???
??? ???
The monster’s rank was only Elite, but its level was definitely much higher than what an elite monster of the inner layer was supposed to have and it was even higher from the reported level of elite monsters from the core area.
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“It’s almost level 400 and it’s not a boss monster?” Lizzy exclaimed in surprise.
Emily had a frown on her face before she spoke up and said, “Hey, isn’t this one of those [Cursed] monsters that Maria asked us to watch out for? It's there in the status screen...”
“This isn’t a boss monster, but one of the monsters we don’t have any information on. We should proceed with caution and still fight it together, is that fine with you two?” Gerald asked after catching up with them.
“Yeah, let’s do that. We don’t know what that monster is capable of, so it’s better to be safe than sorry,” Lizzy turned to him and replied with a nod.
She was experienced with fighting the island’s monsters that seemed to have come from the Underworld though she didn’t know how the Underworld’s monsters were able to appear on the surface world because Maria didn’t tell her about the Underworld’s Entrance that was on the island, but she already had her suspicions. This kind of monster was new to her, so she decided to tackle it together with Gerald’s group because the monster’s level was mind-bogglingly high for the area they were in.
“Alright, let’s do this then. Since it’s a completely new monster that we don’t have any data on, let’s probe its attack patterns with a few people first before letting the other engage,” Gerald suggested as he stepped forward with a few people.
Lizzy nodded before gesturing for Emily and a few other people to move with her. They approached the monster together and just before they thought they got into the monster’s range, the monster suddenly turned towards them and let out a piercing shriek.
*DING*
You have been hit with [Cry of the Cursed]! All stats will be reduced by 10%, movement speed will decrease by 20%, and you will be [Silenced] and unable to use items for 30 seconds!
When they saw this incredulous debuff, Lizzy and Gerald acted very quickly and ordered the party members they had left behind, particularly the priests and shamans, to quickly dispel their debuffs.
Unfortunately, however, the party members that they left behind seemed to have been affected by the debuffs as well. They couldn’t say anything and could only type it out in the party’s group chat.
‘What is with this ability’s range of effect? It’s crazy!’ Lizzy and everyone else in the group thought together.
Even from 100 meters away, the players that didn’t approach the monster were affected by the skill, [Cry of the Cursed]. Things wouldn’t have been a problem if the skill had only silenced them and decreased their attributes and movement speed, but it also prevented them from using items. This was very bad because it sealed a lot of the players’ actions and life-saving options. It was too late to retreat, however, because once the monster let loose that shriek, it immediately charged towards Lizzy, Gerald, and the rest.
Lizzy quickly gestured to everyone in the group to get into formation but the monster’s speed was incredibly fast. It arrived in front of the group before they could get into proper formation and smashed one of the vanguard players away. It was made apparent with this single feat that the monster’s STR stat was incredibly high. The player that was hit had a STR stat that was over 9,000, but he was easily knocked away like a ragdoll despite having that much STR.
Such a scene was quite shocking that it made a few other players stand still with incredulous looks on their faces. Unfortunately, Lizzy couldn’t say anything right now because of the [Silence] debuff, so she couldn’t verbally command her party members to snap out of their shock.
[Lizzy: Stop acting shocked and get into formation! Vanguards, stop the monster!]
Thankfully, one of the players who were part of the vanguard was Emily who hadn’t been shocked at all and rushed forward with her shield to block the monster from causing any more damage to their party. With Emily at the lead, the rest of the vanguard players, including the ones from Gerald’s group rushed forward and prevented the monster from pushing towards their backline players and causing even more havoc to their ranks.
Lizzy quickly ordered in the group chat to have everyone that was left behind who could use physical attacks to come forward and help the advanced party. The mage and priest class players were practically useless in the current situation since they relied heavily on skills for attack and support. Since they were sealed due to the monster’s [Cry of the Cursed] skill, they weren’t going to be useful right now.
Thankfully, her quick thinking helped everyone out. The players gathered right now were all elites and experts, so they didn’t just rely on the game’s help system and were all experts in handling their weapons and movements.
They fought against the monster without backing down, but the monster was quite cunning. It’s battle AI was extremely advanced and after calculating that its skill’s debuff duration was almost over, it quickly backed off and waited for a bit before casting it again and resuming its attack on the players. This was no longer on the level of advanced battle AI, it was practically on the same level as a player’s intelligence.
‘What kind of crazy monster is this?!’ Everyone thought in their heads as they couldn't voice it out.
The efficiency in the way it battled and the timing it used to apply its skills were insane. It was like they were fighting a high-leveled ranker and that in itself was crazy.
'This monster is probably stronger than a boss or mini-boss! How is it only an elite level monster?!'
While Lizzy, Gerald, and the rest of their party were having trouble fighting a [Cursed] monster, Maria and her group, on the other hand, had just finished dealing with a [Cursed] monster themselves. The monster had the same skill, [Cry of the Cursed], and although it was a little bit of a nuisance to fight without using abilities and spells, Maria quickly dealt with it because she was used to fighting monsters at a level disadvantage and she frequently challenged herself whenever she hunted monsters.
One of the challenges she did was to not use any skills, spells, or equipment abilities. Fighting with that kind of handicap was what made Maria's hunts fun and enjoyable to watch on stream. Since she was already used to fighting without her abilities and skills, it wasn't hard to deal with the [Cursed] monster.
Mikael and the rest of his party didn't interfere in the fight, so Maria dealt with it alone. It was better that way because it reduced the variables that could occur in the battle since the monster only had Maria as a target. It focused all of its attacks on her and Maria dealt with it accordingly and just hunted the monster like she would any other monster.
The spectacle was truly a sight to behold and Mikael and the rest were really impressed with her battle prowess though Mikael himself had a few scares because of the way his sister fought the monster. It seemed reckless at a glance because all she did was just rush at the monster, but not once was the [Cursed] monster able to land a proper hit on her and after some time, it died helplessly under her axe.
One could say that Lizzy and the others had tackled the [Cursed] monster with a wrong approach. With so many targets to attack, the [Cursed] monster's attacks and movements were definitely more troublesome to deal with. Of course, it wasn't like there was someone as reckless or as skillful as Maria in either of the 2 groups, so it was nigh impossible to pull off her hunting strategy. Plus, their mindset was still locked in 'party play', so no one brought up the idea of hunting the monster solo or even thought of it in the first place.