Chapter 570: The Iceflame Black Serpent Man Strikes Back
Ding!
[Congratulations, player Stonehaven, for successfully ambushing an Iceflame Black Serpent Man while it was in the middle of training. Your attack has been boosted, and the caught-off-guard serpent has suffered Energy Deviation. It will be Stunned for three seconds, and its defense will be reduced by 10%.]
The ambush had worked perfectly, even triggering an unexpected debuff.
Still, when Marcus saw the damage dealt by his ten Blazing Explosive Arrows, he couldn’t help feeling a little bitter. Level 80 monsters really were on another level. Even with the ambush bonus and the increased damage, each arrow had only dealt around 30,000 damage to the Iceflame Black Serpent Man.
It wasn’t that Marcus was being greedy. The numbers were simply too discouraging. If eight times his normal damage amounted to roughly 30,000 per arrow, then his ordinary attacks were barely breaking 4,000 damage. Without the ambush bonus, he would probably struggle to deal even 2,000 damage with a single shot.
Even so, the opening attack had done its job.
Between the Five Arrows Simultaneous effect of his Blazing Explosive Arrows and The Ascendant’s Domain, which dealt another 60,000 damage, Marcus had taken a full 360,000 HP from the serpent in a single opening assault.
The creature had started with 600,000 HP, which was an absurd amount for a Level 80 Silver-tier boss. Now, after the ambush and the resulting debuffs, only 240,000 HP remained, and its overall stats had been weakened as well.
’Not bad at all.’
"Mountain Fang Shot!"
Marcus nocked three diamond arrows in rapid succession and drew the Twin-Winged Ice Owl Bow. Beside him, Pebble followed his lead, and the two of them released their shots together. The arrows tore through the air toward the stunned serpent, while Marcus already reached for another set.
"Come on, just give me a Critical Hit..."
Stunned monsters had a higher chance of suffering critical hits, and Marcus intended to make the most of those three seconds. He was already preparing another volley, ready to chain one Mountain Fang Shot after another while the serpent remained helpless.
Behind him, the two Sea Demon Souls and five Royal Sorcerers were rapidly closing the distance as well. Three seconds of stun should have been more than enough time to land another solid burst of damage.
At least, that was what Marcus had thought.
The six diamond arrows fired by him and Pebble slammed into the serpent’s body one after another.
Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.
The damage numbers that appeared above the creature made Marcus stare in disbelief: 800. Then another 800, and another. Every single arrow was dealing only 800 damage, and not one of them had even landed a critical hit.
’Did I just see that right?’
His second volley was already in the air, and at nearly the same moment, the five Royal Sorcerers unleashed their magic. More damage numbers floated above the serpent, and they were just as pathetic: 800, 800, 800. Six arrows and five spells had struck the monster, yet between all of them, only two critical hits had appeared.
Marcus was completely blindsided. He had expected his damage to fall sharply after the ambush bonus wore off. That much was obvious. The initial burst had been so high precisely because he had caught the creature off guard and benefited from multiple bonuses at once. But he hadn’t expected the drop to be this severe.
Eight hundred damage, against a boss that still had 240,000 HP.
And as if that weren’t bad enough, the serpent was regenerating 2,000 HP every second. His normal attacks weren’t even strong enough to overcome its natural regeneration, let alone actually reduce its health.
Level 80 really was no joke.
The Iceflame Black Serpent Man finally recovered from the stun. A thick blue aura suddenly erupted from its body, flowing around it like liquid fire. The water in the pool churned violently, splashing against the surrounding rocks as the creature rose higher from the depths.
What Marcus had initially mistaken for the lower half of a humanoid body was nothing of the sort. A massive serpentine body coiled upward from beneath the blue water, supporting its humanoid torso as it rose.
For the first time, Marcus got a proper look at the monster.
Just as the village chief had described, it was a terrifying combination of man and serpent. Its enormous snake body was thicker than a bull, and once it fully emerged from the pool, the creature towered at least three times Marcus’s height. The blue aura surrounding it burned with an eerie intensity, flickering and crackling around its body like frozen flames.
"Hissssss..."
The Iceflame Black Serpent Man was furious. Its forked tongue flicked between its fangs as its enormous body surged forward with startling speed. One hand tightened around its blue trident, and the weapon gleamed ominously as it swept toward Marcus and his companions.
"Ice Venom World!"
The serpent spun its trident, and a ring of frost-covered arrows exploded outward in every direction. Marcus, Pebble, and all of their summoned creatures were caught within the attack’s area of effect. Blue shards of ice tore through their armor, burrowing into flesh and spreading a layer of freezing energy across their bodies.
Frost accumulated almost instantly, bringing with it the effects of freezing, slowing, and bleeding as the debuffs rapidly stacked.
Fortunately, the Millennium Fire-Apricot Wine lived up to its name. The crimson glow surrounding Marcus’s body flared, and the heat from the buff burned away the invading frost before it could fully take hold. Marcus, Pebble, and the two Sea Demon Souls managed to shake off the freezing effects, allowing them to remain mobile.
The damage, however, was another matter entirely: -5,000, -10,800. Damage numbers cascaded through the air above them.
’Are you kidding me?’
Marcus and Pebble had each taken roughly 5,000 damage from the attack. The Royal Sorcerers, whose defenses were only about half as strong as his, had been hit for more than 10,000 each. Worse still, without the protection provided by the Millennium Fire-Apricot Wine, the attack would have left them suffering a 20% movement slow on top of everything else.
Marcus quickly glanced at his status screen.
Even with all his attributes and equipment pushed to their current limits, he had only 22,845 HP. That was a respectable amount under normal circumstances, but against a monster like this, it suddenly seemed frighteningly small. Five or six attacks like that would be enough to put him in the ground.
And the serpent still had 240,000 HP. Judging by what it had just done, that wasn’t even close to the full extent of its abilities.
’Yeah, Level 80 is absolutely insane. And this is only a Silver-tier monster.’
Marcus didn’t even want to imagine what a Gold-tier monster of the same level would be capable of.
He silently made a note to himself. Until he reached at least Level 70 or 80, he had better stay far away from monsters like this unless he had a very good reason to fight them.
But there was no time to dwell on it now.
Marcus immediately swallowed a Blood-Root Pill. A warm current of energy spread through his body as its effect took hold, granting him 2,450 HP regeneration per second while simultaneously cutting the serpent’s damage output in half. With his health constantly recovering, his chances of surviving the battle improved considerably.
He tightened his grip on the Twin-Winged Ice Owl Bow, fixed his eyes on the enraged serpent, and launched his counterattack.