Chapter 51

Cheonma glanced at the respawned Elder Treant and spoke.

"Hey, that's an elite monster."

"Elite? There's such a rank?"

"Elite isn't a rank... well, just think of it as an enhanced version. Remember the item with a plus sign from yesterday?"

"Yeah, the Rare+ material item."

"Exactly. It's the same concept. It's the same monster, just a bit more enhanced. Can you see the faint golden glow around its body? That's the sign of an elite monster."

Karppe nodded at Cheonma's explanation and activated the 'Dragon's Eye.'

Ding.

[Boss: Elder Treant]

[HP: 100% MP: 100%]

[Skills]

-7th Tier Earth Power (Boss-exclusive skill)

-6th Tier Healing Field (Boss-exclusive skill)

-5th Tier Harden (Boss-exclusive skill)

-4th Tier Vine Whip

[Equipped Items]

-None

"Hmm. It seems to be a tank-specialized monster."

Just looking at the skill names gave a strong sense of defense.

And as if confirming Karppe's guess, Cheonma nodded beside him.

"The Treant focuses on defense... well, it was a one-hit kill for you, but since it's a defense-themed monster, the leader Treant is naturally a defense-specialized monster."

Not only did it have high basic defense, but it also possessed skills to further increase its defense and self-healing.

While it didn't have any particularly tricky or instant-kill patterns, its skill composition forced players into a war of attrition, making it a notorious monster among beginners.

"Attack power is strong, but both attack speed and movement speed are slow, so if you focus, you won't get hit directly."

However, humans have their limits when it comes to concentration.

Given the monster's characteristic of forcing a war of attrition and a prolonged battle, players' concentration would inevitably drop over time, and as they struggled to endure the attacks, the monster would lash out with its whip when they got tired or let their guard down.

That's why it earned the nickname 'Endurance Boss,' the king of endurance.

"That's right."

Of course, all this only applied if the battle went into a prolonged fight.

"Striking. Haste."

[Physical attack power increased.]

[Attack speed and movement speed increased.]

Roar!

As Karppe charged in at full speed, the Elder Treant swung its arm angrily.

"Too slow!"

But as Cheonma said, the speed wasn't that fast, so he easily dodged by bending his waist.

And he leaped powerfully toward the exposed chest of the monster.

"Haah!"

With a loud thud, Karppe's fist hit the mark.

It was a powerful blow that made the massive body stagger.

Roar?

The Elder Treant seemed to be confused by its own staggering from just one punch and let out a strange sound.

"Feels great."

Yeah, this is it. The minions all melted with one hit, making it uninteresting, but the boss was different.

[Boss: Elder Treant]

[HP: 95% MP: 100%]

Checking the HP, it had dropped by exactly 5%.

"Okay. Just 20 more hits."

-For a defensive field boss, especially an elite boss, to lose 5% HP from a single normal attack... Who would believe that if I told them?

"Here I go again!"

Roar!!!

As Karppe charged in again, the enraged Treant stepped back and slammed both hands into the ground.

Crack!

Then, five sharp roots burst out of the ground behind Karppe.

The roots immediately flew toward Karppe's back at high speed.

"Predictable! Wind Cutter!"

Karppe cast Wind Cutter at the roots, and the wind blades sliced through them all.

Thud! Thud!

Not stopping there, Karppe delivered two more punches to the monster's legs.

[The magic designated to 'Fist Demon' has been activated.]

Finally, the long-awaited additional option activated.

A magic circle appeared beside Karppe's head, and fire arrows shot out, hitting the Treant directly.

Boom!

Roar!!!

[The magic activated by this ability ignores 50% of the target's defense and attribute defense.]

[No MP consumption. No cooldown.]

The HP dropped by 20% from the combo. After just one minute of combat, the Elder Treant had already lost 25% of its HP.

Roar! Roar!

The confused Treant let out a strange sound, and a large magic circle appeared on the ground centered around it.

As the faint light rose, the Treant's HP began to recover.

[HP: 75%... 76%... 77%]

"Is that all you've got?"

The healing field was laid out, and the Treant's HP started to rise, but unfortunately, it couldn't keep up with Karppe's damage.

Thud! Thud!

Dodging the slow attacks of the Treant, Karppe swung his fists as much as possible.

The Treant's HP dropped rapidly, plummeting toward 50%.

That's when it happened.

"Ah. We're late. Another party is already fighting it."

"The ground tremor was unusual... Tsk. Do we just have to wait? How does it look? Will they succeed?"

"Let's see... Huh? He's alone?"

While Karppe was diligently hitting the Treant, a new party appeared.

It was a party of four men, and they began to murmur among themselves when they saw Karppe fighting alone.

"Hey, it's a solo raid. It looks like it might be our turn soon."

"Bold, but impressive."

"Looks like a martial artist from the gauntlets. Oh! Did you hear that thud just now? The impact was insane."

"...But why is the boss monster staggering from what seems like a normal attack?"

They sat down and entered spectator mode.

They didn't seem to have any intention of intervening.

-That's normal. When another party is raiding, it's polite to wait until they finish. If they fail, it's your turn, and if they succeed, you congratulate them.

"The world isn't that harsh after all."

Of course, Karppe had the skill to handle it even if they intervened.

"Then I'll keep hitting it."

Thud! Thud!

As Karppe increased his pace, the Treant's HP dropped rapidly.

And when the remaining HP was exactly 40%.

Roar!!!

Suddenly, the Elder Treant's bark turned a deep black, and it began to crouch.

The healing field was laid out again, and all its roots penetrated the ground.

Then, the surrounding grass and flowers began to wither.

"Huh? Is that the 2-phase pattern?"

"Wow. He took out 60% HP alone? He must be a hardcore pro."

"Is he a pro gamer?"

"But the 2-phase pattern is tough without a stun... right?"

The 2-phase pattern of the Elder Treant is very simple.

It uses the 'Harden' skill to increase its defense by 50% for one minute, then lays out a healing field.

It then plunges all its roots into the ground and uses the 'Earth Power' skill.

-The 'Earth Power' skill, as the name suggests, is a skill that draws the power of the earth through its roots.

When the 'Earth Power' skill is activated, the Elder Treant absorbs all the vitality of the earth for two minutes.

During this time, its HP recovery speed and amount double, and its resistance to status effects increases by 30%.

-However, during the two minutes the 'Earth Power' skill is active, it can't do anything. The problem is what happens after the 'Earth Power' ends.

After absorbing the earth's nutrients for two minutes, the Treant enters the 3-phase.

Its attack speed and movement speed increase dramatically, new attack patterns are added, and its attack power doubles.

When it enters the 3-phase 'Rage' state, most parties can't last more than five minutes and are wiped out.

Therefore, the strategy for the Elder Treant focuses on the 2-phase.

The method is surprisingly simple.

If you can inflict a 'stun' or 'paralysis' status effect on the Elder Treant while it's absorbing 'Earth Power,' the 'Earth Power' will be canceled, and the 3-phase won't occur.

"Status effect, huh."

Unfortunately, Karppe currently had no status effect skills.

Well, the 'Wind Cutter' had a 'bleed' effect, but bleed didn't work on monsters like the Treant that don't have blood.

"Hey, mister. Why did you suddenly stop?"

"Could he not know the pattern? Does he not have a stun skill?"

"Hey! If you leave it like that, it'll hurt! Can I stun it for you?"

While Karppe remained calm, the kind-hearted spectators began to fidget.

Karppe smiled and shook his head to refuse.

[HP: 50%... 53%... 56%]

Despite the healing effect doubling, the Treant's HP steadily increased, but Karppe remained relaxed.

"Maybe I should just fight it."

50% increased defense from 'Harden'?

Double healing effect? Status effect resistance?

It's a tough pattern, true. Without a stun, he would inevitably face the 3-phase.

But that was only if the opponent wasn't Karppe.

"Two minutes is too long."

To Karppe, it was just a slightly tougher 2-minute punching bag, nothing more, nothing less.

"10 points to strength, 10 points to magic."

[Strength increased by 10.]

[Magic increased by 10.]

"Huuu."

After taking a deep breath,

"Haah!"

He began a relentless barrage of punches with a short battle cry.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

[HP: 60%... 55%... 56%... 52%]

The punches, delivered without pause, made the Treant's HP fluctuate wildly, rising and falling.

[The magic designated to 'Fist Demon' has been activated.]

[The magic has been activated.]

[The magic has been...]

That wasn't all.

As the number of hits increased, the options of the 'Fist Demon' began to activate in succession.

Swoosh.

Three magic circles appeared in the air, and elemental arrows of random attributes struck the Treant.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Boom!

[HP: 38%... 34%... 35%... 28%]

Under the barrage of physical and magical attacks, the Elder Treant's HP plummeted again.

"...What is this?"

"Wow... He's a martial mage. But why is the missile series on such a short cooldown?"

"It's not short; it seems to have no cooldown at all. How can three of them activate in a row...? Is this triple casting?"

"The damage seems abnormal too."

"Michel, you're a mage. What's going on? Explain it!"

"I'm not sure... Something... Something is happening."

It was a scene they couldn't understand, but one thing was certain.

"I should get his autograph when this is over."

"Can we add him as a friend?"

The martial mage in front of them was undoubtedly destined to reach a high position that they couldn't even dare to look at.

[HP: 14%... 7%... 3%... 1%]

Ding.

[You have defeated the field boss Elder Treant.]

[Level up! Bonus points have been provided.]

[You have obtained the bark of an ancient tree that contains the sea!]

Boom.

In the end, there was no 3-phase.

It was exactly 47 seconds after the Elder Treant used the 'Earth Power' skill.

A 10-tier player who had become stronger through luck.