MMO: Pierce Heaven Til’ It Breaks

Babarossa cut an imposing figure as he stood at the entrance to the fortress, staring at the players in the distance.

Babarossa was a very unique boss, not only because it had two divine weapons, but also because its body would never move from where it stood, even through battle.

It would never move from that spot. Even when it died, it would not move even a step.

The sword in its hand was the Sunsword, and it ignored all DEF effects. The shield in its hand was the Shield of Kannon, and it could counter all offensive special effects. Even Jiaojiao’s Mirror of Amplification could not hurt it.

Jiaojiao tried to use the Mirror of Amplification to reflect Babarossa’s attacks once, but in the end the attack pierced through both her and the mirror, killing her on the spot.

Although the Mirror of Amplification was a piece of legendary equipment too, there was a difference between different types of legendary equipment. To put it simply, the Mirror of Amplification was not as powerful as the Shield of Kannon.

No one could take it on in melee combat, and all ranged attacks were bounced back at them. How were they to defeat a boss who was invincible to both close- and long-ranged attacks?

Li Yi chose to have them coordinate.

Firstly, he had the ranged fighters use slightly weaker attacks. When Babarossa raised its shield, two melee fighters would attack it from the sides.

If they were fast enough to attack and retreat immediately, Babarossa’s Sunsword would be rendered ineffective because it would never move, defending the fortress unto death.

The ranged fighters would then launch another attack, followed by the melee attackers’ assault. If they rinsed and repeated, they could slowly shave off Babarossa’s HP.

Of course, it was easier said than done. Babarossa’s attack speed was terrifying, and it raised its shield or thrust its sword in basically an instant. That was why they had to make use of that rare pause between its actions to attack it, even if that attack window was less than 0.2 seconds long.

If they were just half a step too slow, Babarossa would pierce them with its sword or counter them with its shield. Each of those attacks were enough to instantly kill anyone who was not a main tank.

This boss was quite the challenge to defeat.

This party, with Li Yi at the helm, had already spent two whole days getting wiped out by it…

Dying in the Ancient King Series Dungeons would not result in players dropping their equipment or losing levels. Otherwise, Li Yi and the others’ losing streak would have long since cost them over 30 levels.

The only punishment one suffered for getting wiped out in the dungeon was a 50% reduction in Equipment Durability.

However, that penalty was not to be underestimated. In truth, it was easily worse than losing equipment or levels.

As player levels increased lately, it was only natural that they wear better equipment nowadays. A routine maintenance now cost plate armor players several dozen Gold Coins and cloth armor players a couple of Gold Coins. If the Equipment Durability fell below 50%, however, the repair fee would increase exponentially, until it was perfectly normal to pay around a hundred Gold Coins for every repair.

This was tolerable once or twice; anyone could afford that sum. However, dying endlessly and getting wiped out again and again meant that they had accumulated quite a large sum in repairs.

The cost of the potions and scrolls they had used added up to a hefty amount too. Ever since they began attacking the Kannon’s Heart Dungeon, to this point in time, they had spent at least more than two million Gold Coins.

Thankfully, they had a wealthy sponsor in the party, Brother Windcloud Nine. As long as one was running a dungeon with him, he would sponsor the repair fees and potion costs, all by himself. All he wanted in return was the first pick of the equipment he needed.

Was that request unreasonable?

Nobody thought so, so be it members of the Iron Alliance or those from the Windcloud Clan, all of them were more than willing to run dungeons with Brother Windcloud Nine.

Soon enough, they gave it yet another try. The strategy had not changed — they were still using what Li Yi called the melee-range hybrid strat.

“Pfft!”

The Iron Alliance’s Ice Wizard, Wang Wang Dumplings cast a pathetic small fireball at Babarossa. Since Wang Wang Dumplings was an Ice Wizard, casting fire magic would reduce his damage output by 20% as a penalty.

They were not aiming for ATK; they just wanted to lure Babarossa into moving.

“The Kannon Empire will never die. You shameless traitors, I… never forgive you!”

Babarossa thrust out its shield, and Wang Wang Dumplings’ small fireball made an eerie U-turn in mid-air before it even hit the shield. Now, it was turning back toward the players instead.

The reflected small fireball moved even quicker and packed a heavier punch.

“Pfft!”

[−16778]

Wang Wang Dumplings used his Ice Shield to tank it, but he still took quite a bit of damage.

Just as Babarossa was swinging its shield, two Thieves activated Cyclone Step and dashed forth, one on the left and the other on the right. Using their strongest skills, both of them launched an attack on Babarossa.

“Split!”

Split!”

The damage figure [−54454] appeared above Babarossa’s head. When it raised its sword, the two Thieves immediately retreated at full speed.

“Pfft!”

The Sunsword shone, and one Thief was slightly slower when retreating. The Sunsword hit him straight in the back, and that one stab alone was enough to kill him on the spot.

While the battle was ongoing, no player could approach Babarossa for extended periods of time. The safest distance was 5 yards, and only by staying 5 yards away could the players guarantee their own safety.

This was because the Sunsword’s attack range was 5 yards exactly.

Li Yi barked loudly, “Vagabonds, use Battle Resurrect in a bit. Everyone else, just do your own thing and continue attacking!”

Babarossa had 500 million HP and the Shield of Kannon in hand. Its Kannon Commander Equipment Set gave it ridiculous DEF, so even Li Yi could only take a million HP from it, given that the attack was not countered.

It was just that Li Yi could not show off his true abilities right now, in the first segment. All he could do was command the party to coordinate as perfectly as possible. He had no chance to attack at all.

“Smack!”

A Warrior in the party drew a bow and unleashed an arrow. Warriors could use a bow and arrows, but they could only shoot normally, and they did not have any arrow-based skills at all. Hence, their damage output was unsurprisingly limited.

A normal bow and arrow had a 4.5 second channeling bar, and the arrow traveled sluggishly once it was loosed. In fact, it took 5 to 6 seconds just to reach the target. If a Warrior dared to use this skill in any other dungeon, their party members would instantly blast them sky-high.

Babarossa swung its shield to block and two Warriors found their chance. Following closely behind the arrow, both of them used Charge and crashed into Babarossa at the same time. They then immediately launched their attacks.

[−34656]

[−23566]

As soon as the two Warriors got their hits in, they immediately turned tail and ran, finally skedaddling 5 yards away before Babarossa could lift its sword.

No one died this time, and the Thief who died earlier had also been resurrected by the Vagabonds’ Battle Resurrect, escaping from Babarossa together with the two Warriors.

In the early stages of the battle, they just had to coordinate like so. It was only during the second segment that their strategy had to change.

Li Yi, Brother Windcloud Nine, Unending Unmatched, Jiaojiao and some others had been relegated to spectators. There was practically nothing they could do doing this first stage, because they would die as soon as they tried. That was why not trying would be the best strategy for them right now.

This stage where they whittled down its HP was very frustrating. If the melee fighters who went forth to attack the boss was even a little too slow, they would definitely die to the Sunsword.

It took them half an hour to reduce Babarossa’s HP by 5,000,000.

Just then, the party had seen 5 members die, 3 Thieves and 2 Warriors.

Babarossa suddenly threw its head back and roared angrily, “I shall defend the Empire’s glory! My name is Babarossa, but they call me — the Shield of Kannon!”

“Bam!”

Babarossa stuck the Shield of Kannon into the ground, and a green barrier of light spread rapidly across 100 square yards with the shield in the center. In an instant, every member of the party was enveloped in the Territory.

This was Babarossa’s Territory— Magnetic Barrier!

The shield emitted a powerful suction force, and the party members had to hold hands in order to resist that powerful force. If they did not, they would immediately be sucked to Babarossa’s side.

“Make sure to let go when necessary. We only have three seconds, so everyone, pay close attention!” Li Yi yelled amidst the powerful magnetic force.

The party members held hands and had to run constantly in the opposite direction in order to resist the suction force. Just then, Babarossa’s eyes gleamed with flames of rage and it raised its hand suddenly, pointing at the party.

“Sister Windcloud Nine, get over here!”

A green beam of light shot from Babarossa’s finger, wrapping around Sister Windcloud Nine in an instant and pulling her away…

“Let go of Sister Nine!”

The two players on either side of Sister Windcloud Nine immediately let go and just watched as Sister Windcloud Nine was pulled up to Babarossa. The Sunsword shone brightly, and Sister Windcloud Nine was mercilessly stabbed through, dying a tragic death.

“War, killing, glory, pity, loyalty… I hate killing, and I detest bullying the weak even more. Killing only causes me more pain.”

Babarossa held the Sunsword and looked at Sister Windcloud Nine’s corpse furiously. In its eyes, anyone who died by its hands qualified as weaklings.

The green light barrier wavered, weak at times and strong at others. Li Yi activated God Mode and ordered the party to attack with everything they had.

In this second stage, Babarossa would fall into deep regret every time it killed someone. If players attacked it then, it would not retaliate.

The party launched everything they had at it, all sorts of magic spells crashing straight at Babarossa. Its health plummeted rapidly, and within a mere minute, it had lost two hundred million HP…

“No… No, while killing causes me pain, I’m not doing it for myself. I’m doing it for the glory of the Kannon Empire! I cannot give up! Traitors, you’re the ones who forced my hand!”

Babarossa’s gaze cleared up, and when it raised its Sunsword high above its head, Li Yi gave the order to halt all attacks.

The last thing they should do was attack now, or the whole party would get hit by Babarossa’s counter.

The green light barrier steadied itself, and the suction force started up again. Li Yi and the others had no choice but to hold hands and resist the force together.

Babariss did not call another’s name and pull them to him. The loss of two hundred million HP at once meant that it had gone straight to the third stage. The part where it pulled and killed players one at a time was over now.

Babarossa picked up the Shield of Kannon again, and Li Yi and the others who were still standing in the green Territory saw another debuff appear their heads.

It was the Shield’s Retribution!

The third stage was similar to the first, but the presence of the green Territory meant that the powerful suction existed at all times. The players’ movement and attack SPD had also been reduced by 20%, so it became even more dangerous to approach Babarossa…

Li Yi and the others had tried countless times, but they already lost at this segment…

..