Enemies Within
Enemies Within
Dave could only describe this boss as an overgrown Monster Flower. The kind that lives in Indonesia, which is often named as the Corpse Flower.
Only this one, was purple in color, about 5 times the size of the real-world equivalent… and it had literal limbs. The massive Corpse Flower moved around like an Ent, giant living tree monsters, with wide yellow glowing eyes, with its limbs made of thorny roots.
The players could barely reach up to the monster's knees. The latter on the other hand was swatting them around like small children.
Two Paladins led the front, hardly able to maintain their position. The massive head of the Monster Flower was relentless in its assaults. It slammed down with both hands at the Paladins. Forcing them to hold their shields up to block the damage, yet the moment they had blocked the chopping assault, more roots grew from beneath them, pulling their legs aside. The roots then swung the Paladins like rags and slammed them into nearby trees or pillars.
A Pyromancer was trying his best to keep the monster in place. He kept raining down fire upon the creature, only to find his flames having little to no effect on the boss. The fire would sear and burn its flesh, but more greenery would immediately sprout from next to the wound, repairing the damage and snuffing out the flames.
Dave kept his eyes peeled for the rest of the Devastator party. Warlord, Satan Slayer, and Valentine were the best of the guild's players, and if they came to aid in this fight, they could very well gain the Node of Life. Naturally, this was something Dave didn't wish to hand over to Warlord's party, especially since he had no intention for allowing them to stick around the Underworld.
Still, for now the main Devastator party was nowhere to be seen, so he decided to enjoy the show while waiting… only Singund had something else in mind.
"Lord, isn't staying here doing nothing a giant waste of time? I say we barge in on their fun, slay the monster and the soft skins. It should quench the fire in my blood!" Singund's voice threatened to reveal their position. Dave sighed before he put a finger to his mouth, indicating for his companion to quiet down.
"No, Singund! I have told you before, there are times to fight and there are times to watch. Right now it's a case for the latter. There's no need to spend our energy on the appetizers when the main course has yet to show up. Keep focused, we will have our fun soon enough."
"As the Lord commands." Singund 'whispered' in a normal volume and smashed his fist into his chest as a salute. Dave doubted that the strength behind the smash was necessary, or if it was even painful for Singund, but if it was the High-Orc's enthusiasm didn't show it.
The Tengu dove down like a bird and landed next to Dave. He was in mid-bow as he spoke_ "Lord, the rest of the humans are approaching this area fast. They have encountered the Drow warriors, but the human leader broke their ranks with complete ease. They should arrive here in no more than five minutes."
"Yeah, Warlord has the God of War legacy, he grows stronger the more numerous his enemies are. Don't worry about them. We'll handle them. Now sit back and enjoy the show," Dave ordered.
Their position was keenly hidden behind large bushes and the pillar formation shaded them from sight. Dave's party could see the players while the others had no idea that they were being watched like prey by a predator.
Dave inspected the Boss.
***
Guk-Drasiel
Level 550
Tier: Mythic
Base damage: 150,000-200,000
Danger Level: :skull_and_crossbones:
HP: 412,555,000/ 500,000,000
PD: 100,000
MD: 200,000
Skills:
[Life Sapling] (Passive): Guk-Drasiel is endowed with the vitality of the Tree of Life. Giving him a continuous regeneration of HP equal to 0.5% of his maximum HP every 4 seconds.
[Thorn Shower]: Guk-Drasiel shoots out a volley of thorns in a circle of 20 Meters. Each thorn deals 10% of his base damage in flat value ignoring armor.
[Death Scent] Guk-Drasiel releases poisonous spores, once inhaled one will suffer a 20% reduction in their damaging abilities and will receive 20% additional damage from all sources.
[Ruinous Invader] Upon the start of combat, Guk-Drasiel will have a parasite invading one of the attacker's bodies. Guk-Drasiel will trigger the parasite's awakening once his HP falls below 50%. The parasite will take control of the host and turn it into an ally of Guk-Drasiel. Killing the controlled player will cause the parasite to double in number and infect more attackers.
Lore: Guk-Drasiel used to be a fungus that grew under the roots of Yggdrasil. Due to the Tree of Life possessing infinite vitality, the fungus that was supposed to die only weeks after its birth managed to survive for centuries. Over the years it has mutated and grew to what it is right now.
The fungus had decided to part itself from the Tree of Life in an attempt to become a Tree of Life itself. Since that time it has been captured by the Drow Lord and made into a guardian of his kingdom.
Guk-Drasiel is the reason for the greenery and life that is a rare sight in the Underworld.
***
Dave read through the Boss's notification and frowned. He was not a fan of one of the Boss's Skills. Turning an ally into an enemy was dangerous, especially if by some awful luck, the parasite managed to invade Dave himself.
Dave thought for a few moments then came to a decision. If he were to fight the Boss, he needed to have all of his allies clean of the parasite. But that was impossible unless the Devastators willingly took in the parasites.
The tree monster swatted away the two Paladins the moment they tried to stand back up, never giving them the chance to regain their footing. The Pyromancer was failing miserably in keeping the creature occupied, as his damage was most likely not even registered by the boss. Then came Hunter's turn. He shot arrows at a speed that it made Lone Arrow's [Rapid Shots] look like they had been shot in slow motion.
Yet, even all of that damage combined failed to cause Guk-Drasiel to so much as flinch. The Priest of the party healed and buffed the unlucky Paladins as much as he could… so much so that his threat level rose actually managed to rise high enough for Guk-Drasiel to take note of him. A noob mistake that no player of such level should ever make.
Guk-Drasiel stopped toying with the Paladins and instead charged at the Priest. Fortunately, they were still a team of professionals, so thank to a well-timed [Anchor Call], the creature stopped his attack mid-way and turned back to rain havoc upon the Paladin who had used the Threat Increasing Skill.
The Paladin's [Block] was still on cooldown so he was forced to take the hit head-on. Downing him to less than half of his HP and stunning him for a few seconds to top it off.
The party was desperately trying to juggle the monster's aggressiveness, but unlike a party of ten or more, the five of them were ill-equipped and ill-matched to accomplish such a feat with success.
"GOD'S FIST!" roared the well-known voice of Warlord.
Immediately after, a golden gauntlet manifested itself from above the monster. The sheer size of the gauntlet dwarfed even the massive tree monster.
The creature looked at the gauntlet with fear in its golden eyes, nevertheless, it held its hands up in a defensive manner, contending against the literal fist of a War God. Holding the gauntlet away from crushing it.
The strength behind the fist was enough to break and splinter the monster's body and crater the ground underneath it. Yet the monster was not to be trifled with. Even if Warlord's Skill was the Fist of God. It was only a manifestation and not the real thing.
The creature's screech increased in loudness and pitch. More roots burst out from under the ground and coiled themselves against the fist halting its advance.
Warlord and company emerged from the other side of the foliage and walked into the clearing.
The monster was busy contending with the fist above his body by sheer will and the power of the growing roots. Eventually, the fist got completely covered with roots and its golden light dissipated under the roots.
"You're not bad," Warlord muttered, "But you're nothing but a harmful weed, DIE!"
Warlord raised his leg and slammed down on the ground under him. The God's Fist dissipated, causing the coiling roots to falter and slam into each other. Then a golden armored boot, twice as large as the gauntlet appeared above the creature.
Guk-Drasiel helplessly watched as the foot came down, crushing it into the ground.
An enormous numerical value appeared over the monster, downing him to half of his HP in one hit.
"Fuck," Dave cursed, "He never used that one before! Seems like you can teach an old dog some new tricks..."
It was not unusual for high rankers to hide their real Skills. If their enemies knew about all of their powers, they could prepare countermeasures. Warlord at least had this one ace up his sleeve. The question was, how many more did he have…
The tree monster groaned and screeched in pain. The boot disappeared and the monster looked nothing like it had before.It was crushed to mush, but it still moved and was far from death. The greenery came towards it, trying to restore it back to health.
Suddenly, the Pyromancer of the party shouted, "Shit! DUCK!" Just as he finished his words, he turned his staff and shot a torrent of fire at Warlord.
"It's about to start," Dave mentioned grinning. If only he'd have some popcorn.