Chapter 534: Feral Pounce
Of course, while Marcus was going all-out with the Twin-Winged Ice Owl Bow and the Blazing Explosive Arrows, he had to give up using the Adamant Shield, and his defense took a noticeable hit, but in exchange his damage output became downright terrifying.
He only had five Blazing Explosive Arrows, but with Pebble mirroring every attack, that effectively doubled his ammunition.
Twang, twang, twang.
Five arrows from Marcus, five more from Pebble. Ten blazing projectiles streaked through the air before exploding one after another across the platform.
Under all of his active buffs, seven of those ten arrows landed critical hits, each striking the Sea Lion King for roughly twenty-five thousand damage. ’Damn... going all out really was is another level.’
By the time the last Blazing Explosive Arrow was gone, the Sea Lion King had already lost well over two hundred thousand HP. Two hundred thousand. Marcus looked up at the massive beast; it was still standing tall, still full of fighting spirit, and barely looked slowed down.
’Just how much HP does this thing have?’ High level bosses really were monsters. A level seventy Golden Boss was in a completely different league. Three level sixty-five Goldens working together probably wouldn’t be enough to bring one down.
He couldn’t help comparing it to the Twin-Winged Thunder Wyrm from the Storm Seal, which had possessed around 1.4 million HP. At first, that comparison made no sense.
Then he realized the flaw wasn’t with the Sea Lion King; it was with his assumptions. Maybe he’d underestimated how unusual that Thunder Wyrm’s condition had been.
What Marcus didn’t know was that the Twin-Winged Thunder Wyrm had actually been a high-tier level eighty Mythic Beast. It had only seemed weaker because it had recently given birth, leaving its overall strength severely diminished. Under normal circumstances, its HP would have exceeded three million.
Mythic Beasts and Divine Beasts were the pinnacle of existence. None of them were enemies that could be defeated casually.
Just look at Liam Windrunner. Even someone of his caliber had spent years preparing before finally slaying the Venomous Horned Serpent, one of the weakest Divine Beasts. That alone spoke volumes.
With the Blazing Explosive Arrows exhausted, Marcus switched to the most expensive standard ammunition sold by the system: Diamond Arrows. Each one granted +300 Attack, +1 Attack Speed, and 10% Armor Penetration. They cost eight hundred gold apiece, but they could be recovered after battle, making them worth every coin.
"Mountain Fang Shot." Marcus drew the Twin-Winged Ice Owl Bow and unleashed one of Liam Windrunner’s signature skills toward the Sea Lion King. Finally, time to see what the Mountain Roarer class could really do.
Three arrows flew from the bow in the time it normally took to fire one. Swish. Swish. Swish. The streaking projectiles carved through the air like the claws of a hunting wolf.
Now that looked good. The motion was fluid, clean, and incredibly fast. Every shot flowed naturally into the next, making him look like a seasoned master archer.
Then the damage numbers appeared: 2,500, 2,500, 2,500.
’...What?’
Without the Blazing Explosive Arrows, his damage had plummeted. Even with the Twin-Winged Ice Owl Bow boosting his attacks, each arrow barely scratched the boss. If he had been using the one-handed Corpse Demon Dark Soul Sword instead, the damage would have been even more pitiful.
Level seventy Golden Bosses really were in a class of their own.
Fortunately, Pebble continued copying every attack. Six arrows rained down with every Mountain Fang Shot, and thanks to the occasional critical hit, each volley still shaved roughly twenty thousand HP off the Sea Lion King.
The only downside was that his critical hit rate had dropped dramatically without the special arrows. Equipment really did make all the difference.
Marcus continued firing Mountain Fang Shot after Mountain Fang Shot while steadily retreating, carefully maintaining the thirty meter distance that had kept him safe throughout the battle.
Then his heel hit solid stone: the edge of the platform. There was nowhere left to retreat.
Behind him stood the girls. They weren’t attacking the Sea Lion King, but because they belonged to his Mercenary Group, the system still considered them participants in the battle. If the boss suddenly switched targets...
Marcus didn’t even want to imagine it.
The two Sea Demon Souls continued spamming Taunting Light with everything they had, but against a level seventy Golden Boss, the skill might as well not have existed. The Sea Lion King’s eyes never left Marcus for a single moment.
If he backed away any farther, there was a real chance the boss would simply run past him. One Sea Tsunami dealt around 2,500 damage to Marcus, and the girls wouldn’t survive even one. He had to stop here.
Based on everything he’d seen so far, Marcus estimated the Sea Lion King had roughly 290,000 HP in total. After all the damage he’d already dealt, it shouldn’t have much left. He still had over 14,500 HP remaining, more than enough to survive several more attacks.
A few lucky critical hits, and the battle would be over before the boss ever reached him. That had been the plan.
Then the freezing effect wore off. The Sea Lion King’s speed immediately surged, while Marcus’s Diamond Arrows failed to trigger another freeze. A Sea Tsunami crashed into him, knocking away another 2,500 HP. The very next second, the enormous beast charged forward at full speed, and the gap shrank to twenty meters in an instant.
"Mountain Fang Shot!" Another volley slammed into the Sea Lion King, stripping away roughly another twenty thousand HP.
Marcus immediately stowed the bow and reached for the Ice-Fire Twin Dragon Hoe. At this distance, Quadruple Surge would outperform Mountain Fang Shot by a wide margin. The boss had to be close to death; it was time to finish this.
Just as his hand reached the weapon... "Feral Pounce!"
The Sea Lion King exploded off the ground. Eighteen meters. Ordinary sea lions could only use the skill within ten meters, but this was their king; it crossed nearly twice that distance in a heartbeat.
’Shit!’
Marcus hadn’t even managed to draw the Ice-Fire Twin Dragon Hoe before a massive black shadow filled his vision. Bang! Bang! Two crushing impacts landed almost simultaneously, the second one crit. -2,000, -4,000. Six thousand HP disappeared instantly. Even after his regeneration ticked, he only had 6,230 HP left.
Then the knockback hit, and Marcus and Blackie were thrown backward together, tumbling across the Pebble floor before finally skidding to a stop several meters away.
’...I seriously underestimated this thing.’ A level seventy Golden Boss wasn’t just tougher than the ones he’d fought before. This Sea Lion King was clearly built for close combat, and letting it close the distance had been a costly mistake.
If he made another one, his Ring of Resurrection might be getting its first real test of the day.
Marcus quickly pushed himself back onto Blackie and cast Insight at the Sea Lion King. At last, a system notification immediately appeared.
Ding!
[Congratulations, player Stonehaven. Your skill Insight has reached Level 3. Its effects have increased]
’...Really? Now of all times?’
He ignored the notification and focused on the boss’s information.
—
Blue-Eyed Sea Lion King
Level: 70 Golden Boss
HP: 266,400 / 290,000
Origin: Once the leader of a wild pride, it evolved after consuming the Blue-Eyed Fish King when its pride devoured an entire school of Blue-Eyed Fish.
More than two thousand years ago, it was tamed by a naval captain who adored lions. After the captain died, the Sea Lion King remained behind as the eternal guardian of his master’s tomb, the Sea Lion’s Tomb.
Skills: Flowing Fur, Sea Tsunami, Feral Pounce.
Feral Pounce: Leaps up to twenty meters, dealing heavy damage with a high chance of knockback and critical hits...
—
There were two more skills listed beneath them. Water Blue Light: Passive. A blue aura increases resistance to debuffs by 20%. So that explained why freezing had only worked once.
Then Marcus reached the final entry. Feral Pack Pounce: Ultimate Skill. After a short charging period, creates three identical clones that attack together with the original. Every clone deals double damage. Can only be activated within ten meters. Cooldown: Five minutes.
’So that’s what he’s charging’.
The Sea Lion King hadn’t paused because it was stunned; it was preparing its ultimate. The blue aura surrounding its body and the strange blur Marcus had noticed were simply the charging animation. The realization made perfect sense.
For almost the entire fight, Marcus had kept the boss pinned at around thirty meters. The Sea Lion King had been forced to rely on Sea Tsunami while helplessly watching its HP disappear.
It had probably been furious. Now, after finally forcing its way into melee range, it wasn’t about to waste the opportunity.
Marcus glanced at the HP bar again. 266,400... He had already removed more than eighty percent of its health. Just one clean Desperate Strike with the Ice-Fire Twin Dragon Hoe, boosted by its five times damage multiplier, would almost certainly finish the fight, even without a critical hit.
Without hesitation, Marcus abandoned any thought of switching back to the Adamant Shield and committed fully to offense.
’This one’s on me.’
He silently admitted his mistake. He should have used Insight much earlier. He’d gotten overconfident after everything had gone so smoothly, assuming he already understood the boss. If he’d checked its skills from the start, the Sea Lion King would probably already be dead.
Lesson learned: confidence was fine; carelessness wasn’t.
To be fair, most of his attention had been on protecting the girls behind him. If they hadn’t been there, he could have continued kiting indefinitely without ever allowing the Sea Lion King to get close. Unfortunately, reality didn’t leave him that option; the Sea Lion King’s charge had simply been too fast.
Before Marcus could fully regain his footing, before he could even pull out the Ice-Fire Twin Dragon Hoe, the charging aura reached its peak. "Feral Pack Pounce!" The blurred figure split apart: one became two, two became four.
Three identical clones appeared beside the real Sea Lion King, and all four massive beasts launched themselves at Marcus at the same time with overwhelming killing intent.
’They’re really trying to tear me to pieces.’