The King Manticore opened its maw and breathed out a black poisonous mist which enveloped Violent Waves.
“Remove Blind and Dispel on the double!” Just as Nie Yan spoke, the light from a Remove Blind spell enveloped Violent Waves. The Priests followed up on this with Dispel to clear the noxious gas, but only after the spell was cast three times did it finally disperse.
These Priests only possessed a lesser version of the Dispel spell, which was why the effects weren’t as powerful, and why it took three casts to fully expel the King Manticore’s poison. Even so, this was already considered quite good at this point in the game.
Although a small incident had occurred, the entire team was able to quickly adapt to whatever was thrown at them instead of falling into chaos thanks to Nie Yan’s leadership.
“Be careful of the stinger on the tip of the King Manticore’s tail. Violent Waves, drink an Anti-Paralysis Potion!”
Nie Yan's orders were both effective and timely.
His ability at commanding the team was so great that Sleepy Fox estimated that, if they were able to defeat the King Manticore, Nie Yan’s contribution for the quest would be, at the very minimum, seventy percent or higher.
The only player who was no longer affected by the poisonous mist was Violent Waves. The surrounding five or six frontliners had all been debuffed with the blind status. Unfortunately, the Priests didn’t have the leisure to cure them, so they had no choice but to hastily retreat and patiently wait for the debuff to expire on the sidelines.
“Do any of you Paladins have Purify? If you do, use it on the King Manticore!” Nie Yan’s eyes swept over the Paladins, but none of them replied.
So be it… I can’t expect them to have all the rare skills.
As the battle progressed, the King Manticore’s health gradually fell below five percent, whereupon its fur transformed into a shade of bright red. Though this was expected, all of the team members felt their hearts sink. The Elite Manticores were already frightening enough when they became berserk. Just how terrifying would the Lord-class King Manticore become when it entered a berserk state?
The King Manticore’s power was rapidly rising as its eyes became bloodshot and filled with murderous intent.
“Shadow Priest, cast Immobilize now!” Nie Yan yelled. Thanks to the prior experiences with the three Elite Manticores, the Shadow Priest already began channeling the spell as soon as he saw the King Manticore’s fur turn red, so once Nie Yan gave the order, he was able to cast Immobilize on it right away.
The King Manticore suddenly halted as if it had been forcibly bound by an invisible energy.
“Throw everything you have at it!” Nie Yan yelled. He also circled behind and unleashed every skill in his arsenal on the King Manticore. Assassinate! Lacerate! Vital Strike!
Once all the Mages heard Nie Yan, they unloaded their most powerful, highest mana consuming spells on the boss such as Scorching Flame Explosion, Radiant Judgement, and so on.
The King Manticore was only momentarily paralyzed and recovered almost immediately.「Poof!」However, a pouch of Flash Powder subsequently struck it in the eye and deprived it of its vision. Thus, it could only randomly attack its surroundings in the hope of striking a few players.
Yet this crude tactic seemed effective as the King Manticore’s sharp claws streaked across three unlucky players who happened to be too close, instantly killing them. They promptly turned into streaks of light and disappeared from the map.
A berserk attack that dealt three hundred percent damage, no player would be able to survive if they were struck by such.
The King Manticore was akin to a headless fly as it chaotically thrashed around its surroundings. Once the effects of the Flash Powder wore off, however, another perfectly timed pouch exploded in front of its eyes, blinding it yet again.
During such a crucial moment, Nie Yan definitely wouldn’t be stingy with items.
“Frontliners, quickly retreat!” Nie Yan yelled. He evaded the blindly attacking King Manticore. After being deprived of its sight by the Flash Powder, it let out a rage filled roar, but sadly had no targets to attack.
Just as it began regaining its sight, Nie Yan robbed it of its vision once more by lobbing another pouch of Flash Powder at its eyes.
During this time, the King Manticore’s health had fallen to two percent. It angrily roared as a constant barrage of magic rained down on its body.
Despite being blinded, none of the team members dared to approach the boss. Its violent rage and frenzied attacks were incredibly terrifying. Occasionally, several unlucky players would end up cornered by the King Manticore and killed in an instant without any suspense.
However, Nie Yan remained the only player who hadn’t retreated. He had to carefully maintain the distance between himself and the King Manticore in order to be in range to throw another pouch of Flash Powder once the previous one wore off. He needed to stay close to the King Manticore, but not so close that he’d end up swatted to death.
After having thrown three pouches of Flash Powder, Nie Yan quickly retreated and retrieved a Sheep Transformation Scroll from his bag.
The Flash Powder would no longer be effective on the King Manticore after being used three times in a row.
“Mages, stop attacking. Anyone who needs to restore their mana, drink your Mana Potions now!” As soon as Nie Yan spoke, all of the Mages immediately stopped firing their spells. None of them doubted his orders. Even those who were in the middle of chanting their spells stopped.
「Poof!」The giant King Manticore transformed into a sheep!
The transformation could buy the Mages some much needed time to replenish their mana and allow their spells to come off cooldown.
As soon as those two seconds passed, the King Manticore promptly returned to its original form, and the Mages resumed firing their spells.
The transformation spell lost its effect. The King Manticore would become immune to Sheep Transformation and Web just like how Flash Powder had lost its effectiveness when it was used too often.
Nie Yan no longer had any cards up his sleeves to restrict the boss’ movements. Although the King Manticore only had one percent of its health remaining, its attacks were too powerful. In this berserk state, even Violent Waves wouldn’t be able to withstand a single strike, let alone any other members in the team.
“Mages, spread out quickly. Don’t stop firing your spells. How many of you survive will solely depend on luck,” Nie Yan said. At this point in time, the low health boss would instantly kill any player unlucky enough to cross its path. Whoever it aggroed onto would be in immediate peril as well. Fortunately, it only had less than one percent health remaining. Under the constant barrage of magic, the King Manticore would fall in fifteen seconds at most.
No matter what occurred, Nie Yan believed they could drag this battle out for at least fifteen seconds. During which, the King Manticore would only be able to kill three players in the worst case scenario.
The King Manticore locked onto a nearby Paladin who immediately panicked upon noticing he had taken aggro. He turned tail and began fleeing for his life but how could he possibly outrun the berserk boss? The King Manticore instantly overtook him and killed him with a single swipe of its paw. Then it turned its head to the next target which of course was Nie Yan.
God dammit! Why is it me, you stupid overgrown cat!
Without a moment’s hesitation, Nie Yan crushed a Basic Haste Scroll and began sprinting towards an area that was full of shrubbery, hoping to use the terrain to elude the boss.
Despite the speed boost from the scroll, the King Manticore still managed to quickly close the distance and pounce at him. As soon as Nie Yan saw the King Manticore mid-pounce, he activated his Silk Spinner Ring and shot out a web line towards a nearby tree, instantly pulling himself in another direction.
By the time the King Manticore slammed into the ground and changed directions to continue its pursuit, Nie Yan had already run quite a far distance away.
However, the berserk King Manticore quickly caught up to him once again. Once it neared his back, it raised its gigantic paws and swiped down. It seemed this was going to be the final moment before Nie Yan was killed.
Nie Yan dodged to the side as the King Manticore’s claws streaked down, barely missing his chest.
As the claws almost grazed him, Nie Yan shifted to the King Manticore’s flank and struck it with a Concussive Blow.
The attack momentarily stunned the King Manticore, leaving it unable to retaliate. Of course, during this period, the Mages had never stopped casting their spells. Magic had been constantly bombarding the King Manticore’s body throughout this entire course of events.
Using this opportunity he had created with Concussive Blow, Nie Yan jumped back and hastily retreated.
「Bang! Bang! Bang!」A final round of spells struck the King Manticore and shaved away its last bit of remaining health. At long last, it collapsed to the ground, having been drained of all of its health.
Nie Yan sighed a breath of deep relief. He had almost been turned into mincemeat by the King Manticore’s final attack. Fortunately, he had good reaction speed and managed to dodge in time.
In accordance with the King Manticore’s death, a bright radiance enveloped Nie Yan. The kill had given him enough experience to not only reach Level 7 but also filled his experience bar by thirty-six percent.
The King Manticore dropped four items: a single scroll, a Level 0 Dark Gold chestplate, and two Fortune Gems. Making sure to leave nothing behind, Nie Yan also stripped the King Manticore’s body for materials.
「System: You’ve obtained King Manticore’s Eyes. Gatherer +35 Experience」
“It’s finally done. Now let’s return and hand in the quest. Also, according to our agreement, this will go to me,” Nie Yan said. The reason he was willing to run Agmota Muddy Wetlands was mostly for this scroll. The only needed two seconds to channel. Once activated, it would instantly teleport the user to a random location two hundred to a thousand meters away from their original position. With this, he would be able to retrieve his second chapter from the Book of Order.
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