308 Scaling the Waters
Beatrix and Scar felt troubled when they thought of their future. If they weren’t able to take home the World Boss’ loot, then they must prepare for the worst. They might be the ones who owned the guild, but investors were waiting for their return on investment. The board wouldn’t kindly tolerate their blunders today.
So when another World Boss appeared, they found their chance for redemption. But they were faced with a new problem — the new Boss was in the middle of the ocean. They also had to consider whether the system would allow them to distance themselves from Jibblinplip and engage with another World Boss.
The same predicament was upon Sleeping Dragon. Cang Lu was sure as hell that he would be demoted from the leader’s position if he couldn’t take home something worthy enough to make the investors happy. The only chance he had was with the new World Boss. But first, they must find a way to battle it in the waves.
If only they knew that this would happen, they would have bought that damn [Amulet of Ooze], even if the only present benefit at that time had been an increased chance of killing Jibblinplip. They all lamented in regret.
They weren’t the only guilds who thought that way. As they also failed to get inside Jibblinplip, they saw the Kraken as their chance at redemption.
But there were still other guilds who couldn’t resist taking their chance at the Kraken despite having made it into Jibblinplip’s interior. After all, if they managed to take home two World Bosses, how much loot would they get?!
A lot of players approached the second World Boss bit by bit, starting with a hundred meters first, to test the waters. When they strayed further from Jibblinplip without getting a system notification, they all rejoiced. They were now sure that the system wouldn’t prevent them from going after the Second World Boss.
This was only possible because Jibblinplip’s Tendrils were still considered part of it. Aside from that, the game mechanics didn’t prevent players from engaging with more than one Boss. But the general rule didn’t change. Once engaged, the battle wouldn’t stop until a party got wiped out or the enemy was killed. The only exception was Jibblinplip, who preferred to eat rather than fight.
The guilds that didn’t have amulets were plentiful, and they shifted their attention to the new World Boss. Even players whose guildmates were inside Jibblinplip instructed to go and kill the newly appeared Boss.
On the surface, there was nothing left to do but slay minions while they waited for their other members to claim victory inside Jibblinplip.
It was better to direct their energy elsewhere useful — somewhere with high rewards.
In a matter of minutes, the area around Jibblinplip was cleared, and all attention had shifted to the Kraken, who was still busy fighting Jibblinplip’s tendrils in the middle of the ocean.
“Let’s go to the nearest port town!” Scar hollered. “There might be boats there that we could use!”
The others thought of that as well, so the port town of Sails became crowded within minutes. All the guilds clamored to get a boat or at least a ship strong enough to withstand the Kraken.
However, as exciting as killing another World Boss might sound, how to kill it was another thing entirely. It was different if it were on land since the terrain was to their advantage. But when fighting the Kraken, they needed to multitask. Not only did they have to fight against it in its home ground, but they also had to navigate through the big waves — no one knew how to do it. No one knew how to fight in the waters.
If only there were some kind of item that lets players fly or walk on water.
Unfortunately, there was no such thing in the Port Towns. There was, however, an item that let them float and breathe underwater for an hour if that helped.
The disadvantage in terrain aside, all port towns near the ocean were evacuating because of the threat of the two World Bosses and the Ooze Colossus’ floating towards the towns like a giant mass of thick liquid. The players wanted to get into the water, but all the inhabitants were hurrying to get away from it. Pirates and sailors refused to take the players to the ocean.
“You goddamn crazy lunatics!” yelled a captain. “Not to mention those two monsters, but the waves created from their clashing force alone are enough to shred you to pieces!”
“No way in hell am I going to take you there,” another spat. “No ship is large or sturdy enough to withstand those titans. It’s more troublesome than it’s worth!”
Helpless and at a loss, the players were stumped. Could they construct their own ship? The answer was yes.
Some constructions like these were available in the Guild App. However, the major requirements to build one were; they should have a port or a hangar, hundred millions of gil, and wait for thirty days to build both the port and the ship. The construction options allowed them to either fly in the air or sail in the ocean, but they were both unattainable at this time.
If it was just a small boat, then the requirements were doable within a day and were also less expensive. But could boats withstand those tides, and the goliaths might?
Only time could tell.
Driven by desperation, Scar and Beatrix had no choice but to bet on those boats and the air balloons. They would attack it from both sky and water.
“Can’t we just kill it here on land?” a player asked, voice desperate.
“If you have rocket missiles or warplanes, then maybe we can reach that thing.”
“Can we have it made?”
“Apparently, this advanced technology game doesn’t use such primitive stuff. We either construct a flying warship or a naval warship. Mind the sarcasm.”
The others shook their heads and took a deep breath. Guess they had no choice but to stick to those boats and balloons. Neither looked exciting.
( . . . continuation are in NOTES)