TSA Chapter 87

“Get ready. Report HP every 5% drop.”

They had encountered dual-BOSS fights with linked HP mechanics before. Even though Night Owl wasn’t certain if these two bosses would go berserk due to an HP difference, he still made the necessary preparations in advance.

“Understood!”

At Night Owl’s command, Four Seasons of Warmth and Gu Le immediately charged forward from opposite sides, each taking on one of the crab bosses.

The red crab, upon being attacked, trembled and released a five-meter-wide ring of fire. Anyone within the circle could feel the scorching heat, receiving a burn debuff that caused continuous HP loss for ten seconds.

However, just as Night Owl had arranged, everyone attacking the red crab was a ranged class, except for Four Seasons, who was tanking. The moment they saw the fire ring, they swiftly moved out of range, leaving only Four Seasons hit by the skill. Fortunately, warriors had high HP and defense. Ran Qi immediately cast a healing spell followed by purification, restoring his HP and removing the burn effect.

On the other side, the white crab cast a similarly sized ice ring. The extreme cold made it feel as if even their blood was freezing, numbing their fingers and slowing their movements. This side consisted of melee fighters, so they all got caught in the attack. Thankfully, melee attack skills were mostly instant-cast, so apart from being slowed, the debuff didn’t impact them too much.

Though the ice ring dealt some damage, it was nowhere near as lethal as the fire ring. The healers could easily top everyone off with group healing, but the severe cold debuff still affected the players. Moreover, purification skills were single-target with cooldowns, which caused the melee group’s damage output to lag behind.

“95%,” reported Four Seasons  as soon as the red crab’s HP dropped by 5%, following Night Owl’s instructions.

“98%,” Gu Le quickly called out the white crab’s HP.

“Ranged DPS, keep going until 90%, then hold back for a moment to let melee catch up,” Night Owl instructed before switching to help attack the white crab.

Night Owl had the highest attack power in the entire team, nearly twice that of an average player. With his added damage, the white crab’s HP started dropping at the same rate as the red crab. Moreover, his skillset was extensive, and as a ranged fighter, he wasn’t affected by the frost debuff at all, making him the primary DPS against the white crab.

Thanks to their excellent HP control, neither BOSS entered berserk mode. Aside from the healers experiencing some pressure, the fight was progressing smoothly.

[World] Summer Fireworks: Why does this BOSS fight look so easy? Do they only have the fire ring and ice ring as skills?

[World] A Few Words: It only looks easy because pros are fighting. Try it yourself, and you’ll see how hard it is!

[World] Returning to the Sea: There’s no way these two BOSSes are that simple. There’s probably some HP-based mechanic, but the pros are managing HP so well that the bosses haven’t even triggered their ultimate moves.

[World] Bear Hardship with Equanimity: Exactly! This is an Abyss-level BOSS. Look at how slowly their HP is going down even with such high team DPS. Their defense must be insane. If it were us, we’d probably be stuck here forever.

Just as everyone thought the crabs had no other tricks, they suddenly activated Fire Shield and Ice Shield. The red crab’s Fire Shield absorbed 50% of incoming damage and converted it into HP. Meanwhile, the white crab’s Ice Shield reflected all damage taken for ten seconds.

Both skills were a major problem. Fire Shield meant the red crab could heal itself, risking an HP difference that might trigger berserk mode. Ice Shield, on the other hand, reflected 100% of all attacks, making it impossible to damage.

Although the team had excellent raid awareness and immediately stopped attacking upon realizing the shield mechanics, the red crab still recovered 4% HP. Meanwhile, the melee group suffered heavy reflected damage, especially the high-burst assassin players, who were left with barely any HP. If the BOSSes followed up with another fire or ice ring, they’d be wiped out.

Fortunately, Ran Qi had anticipated this. Predicting the reflected damage, he had already begun casting [Holy Light]. As soon as the reflected damage hit, warm, radiant light enveloped the team, rapidly restoring their HP and narrowly preventing any deaths.

Of course, Night Owl wasn’t spared from the reflected damage either. Thankfully, he had only used a basic [Fireball] spell to control HP differences. But due to his absurdly high stats, even this weak attack reflected back over a thousand damage points.

While Ran Qi used [Holy Light] to heal the team, Feng Tian quickly cast a single-target healing spell to restore Night Owl’s HP to full.

“Everyone, control your damage. Hold off on using ultimates for now. Wait until the BOSS casts Fire Ring or Ice Ring before using them,” Night Owl reminded.

Since the BOSS couldn’t cast both skills at the same time, the safest time to deal damage was right after Fire Ring or Ice Ring appeared. At other times, they used only basic attacks to avoid dealing too much damage, which could either heal the BOSS significantly or get them killed by reflected damage.

Because they had to control their damage output, the fight dragged on for over 20 minutes before they finally took down the BOSS.

[System Announcement] Silent no more, a strike that stuns the world! Congratulations to players [Night Owl], [Soul Chaser], [Plume Ink], [Sword at Fleeting Time], [Coke], [Bai Ran], [Windstorm Jiangnan], [Feng Tian], [No Happiness], [Four Seasons], [Raphael], [Smoke], [Shura], [Blossoming], and [Thousand Mechanisms] for achieving the first kill of the Ice-Fire Crab, the third BOSS in the Sea Abyss Dungeon! Rewards: Title [Crab Slayer] and [Physical Exchange Coupon *1].

[System Announcement] Player [Night Owl] struck with precision, forcing the Ice-Fire Crab to flee in disgrace, leaving behind a [Crab Shell Shield]!

[Crab Shell Shield]

Restriction Level: 45 or above

Limited Profession: Swordsman

Grade: A

Durability: 200/200

Attributes: Basic Defense+200, Strength+72, Constitution+48, Fire Resistance+30

The BOSS dropped a red shield with impressive stats. Since it was restricted to the Swordsman class, only Four Seasons and Gu Le were eligible for it. Since the previous armor drop had gone to Four Season, the shield was naturally given to Gu Le.

The shield seemed to be made from the crab’s shell. Unlike metal shields, it wasn’t too heavy, but it was exceptionally sturdy. Its smooth surface had a refined texture, and its fiery red color made it surprisingly attractive. Gu Le immediately equipped the new shield, feeling overjoyed.

[World] Meteor Shower: This BOSS’s skills look simple, but they’re actually tricky. One mistake, and it’s a full team wipe.

[World] Shinian: Yeah, even the pros took this long to clear it. If it were us, who knows how long we’d take…

[World] Maple Leaf: Maybe level up to 45 first before worrying about how to clear this dungeon. →_→