Vol. 13 - Chapter 721 - Let’s Pray for the Rare Boss!

We continued our journey, collecting everything we could from floors 46 to 49. Upon reaching the lowest level, I pulled out the «Flute», the beckon for a rare boss.

"I'm blowing it this time! Let me do it!"

"I guess, you're right! You has good luck, so you might even hit the jackpot on the first

try!"

With no argument, I handed the «Flute» to Lana this time.

It was Friday, so among classes and my lectures, we didn't have much time after school. We'd spent a good chunk of it gathering items and even fought a wandering boss on the way to the lowest level. In short, time was running out. The sun was already setting, so it didn't seem like we would’ve enough time for more than one boss round.

The probability of summoning a rare boss was 70%. That's a bit low if we're aiming for a one-shot jackpot. So, I left it to the lucky Lana to try and summon a rare boss!

"Here I go! Haa—!!"

Lana took a deep breath and blew the whistle with all her might. A loud sound echoed, still like a whistle.

"You don't have to put so much force into it; it'll work anyway."

I couldn't help but caution Lana because of the noise, and she gave me an

unexpected reply.

"You're naive, Zephyr! The «Flute»'s appraisal says, 'A Flute to awaken rare bosses.' So, I think if I blow it loud enough, it may actually wake up properly!"

"Wh-what did you say?!"

Lana's words completely stunned me.

No way. But she had a point. A louder sound would definitely make it jump up. In the game, you couldn't control the volume of the flute. You only had the option to blow it or not. S-So, maybe I had been completely stuck in my preconceived notions?!

"That was a blind spot! That possibility exists!"

"Right?!"

The means to increase probability of «Flute»? It was the fervent wish of any «Dungeon Activity» player. It didn't matter who, every single player had at least once thought of "Please make rare boss appearances guaranteed!" or "Please give «Flute» unlimited usage!".

—What if... it could be made possible in the real-life «Dungeon Activity»?

This must be investigated! This takes priority over everything!

"We can't just stand here! We're getting into the boss room! Follow me!"

"Rare Boss, «Tree King Aster», prepare yourself!"

"Wait, I should be getting into the room first, Zephyr! Stop for a moment!"

Sierra's objection came, but there was no way we're going to stop. I burst through the iron door as if to smash it open, and there it...was. The regular boss, the «Elder Applewood».

"It's not the rare boss?!"

"Fuuuummm—"

"That's not the boss sound I wanted!!"

It failed! The Flute's activation fumbled!? (for Bosses) failed?! How in the world!?

I turned to Lana, the latter looked away, sweating profusely. Tch, that attempt to steal eyes was kind of cute.

"Goodness gracious, Zephyr, step back! «Aura Point»! I am taking the front."

Sierra took the front, drawing all the aggro. Grrr, I need to switch gears too.

"It can't be helped. Regular boss, haa... I have already explained how to deal with it. In essence, it's just a stronger, upgraded version of 10th floor boss «Applewood». It also can use magic! Just keep your distance from each other to avoid being lumped together and get simultaneous hit!"

"Understood"

My talk with Lana could wait. Now, I need to focus on the boss battle.

The Elder Applewood was the older version of Applewood. Its trunk was thick and grand, so massive that ten adults holding hands couldn't encircle it. Like other Applewood-type monsters, it featured haniwa-like eyes and hollow cavity for a mouth, from which sprout beard-like suckers.

However, its stats were quite high. It boasted usage of both physical attack and spells. A traditional, well-balanced tank was the need of hour against it.

"Here it comes! Sierra, set your shields and then cover! Lana, magic

resistance and protection!"

"'«Art of War: Quad Aegis of Virtue»! «Shield Cover»!"

"'«Anti-Magic Greater Blessing» «Greater Protection»!'"

"Fuuummm—!!"

"Huh?! What the heck is that, Fireball?!"

"—! Too big for a fireball."

"Karua, we're dashing through. Keep your guards up!"

"Ya!"

Right off the bat, the boss greeted us with an AoE attack—it hurled seven giant balls of fire, «Seven Flare Burst».

Just like «Applewood», the boss had access to several of the fire element spells, but of wider magnitude.

Ester and Karua dashed through the center of the area attack, while Sierra covered me and Lana. And she protected herself with her autonomous shield, so the damage wasn't significant.

"It seems doable. «Shield Force»! «Guard Stance»!"

Getting the hang of opponent's strength after tanking the attack, she started generating aggro while maintaining distance. The «Elder Applewood» swung its branches, this time showering us with embers. However, the size of each ember was about the same as Hannah's "Fireball."

"It's an area attack!"

"It's only average in attack, Sierra, save your «Induction Cover». «Shine Lightning»!"

"Noted! «Fire Guard»!"

"Got it! 'Fire Guard!'"

While advising Sierra, I attacked the «Elder Applewood», sweeping away the embers with the lightning area attack. But as could be expected, lightning elements pale to deal any significant damage against tree monsters.

"'«Element Shift - Fire»! «Sonic Sword»! «Brave Slash»!"

I changed my affixed element, and swooped in with slashing skill.

"I am coming! —«Spear Charge»!"

"«Force Sonic»!"

Following me, Karua and Ester also jumped into the fray.

Then, seemingly taking it as a sign of besieging, «Elder Applewood» switched from its area wide attacks to a different set of attacks.

"Garrooooo!!"

All of a sudden, its trunk started to spin.

It was such a bizarre attack anyone witnessing it the first time would always end up retorting with "Was it sane to spin like that?!" or "Is it truck not going to snap with that?!"

«Branch-Wheel». It was a sweeping area-of-effect physical attack where tree branches fall and spin with it. In essence, it's a spinning slash.

Ah, wait, there was a change... huh, it's shifting to that?!

We dodged the swiping branches by backstepping. But, seemingly to chase after us, it "laid" its truck. Then, it controlled its roots and used them as leverage to move the fallen, thick trunk in a circle like the hands of a watch to crush, no, sending us flying. It was named «Batter Wood».

A direct hit would guarantee a home run. It was a super knockback, blow-away attack. A tree over 10 meters tall falling and swinging around was practically an area-of-effect attack. Of course, Lana had anticipated this and was far enough back to avoid the attack.

But, opportunity lurks in danger.

"Sierra! Time to use the divine!"

"Now? —«Divine Shield»!"

It was her best defense skill.

Sierra manoeuvred his four floating shields to merge together in cross patter and blocked, no, deflected the Elder Applewood's gigantic trunk. It was a perfect parry.

Watching it unfolding in reality was... mind blowing! Could you imagine watching a huge tree trunk being tossed back by some shields?!

The Elder Applewood was knocked back by the impact, its trunk bending back immensely. That trunk must be surprisingly flexible!

"Nice one, Sierra! «Quick Strike»! «Holy Sword»!"

"«64 Force»!"

"«Raging Spear War Dance»!"

"«Shining Sacred Saber»!"

"Fooooooo—!?"

Taking heavy damage while knocked back pushed it into down status. Its branches hung limply as if it had lost all strength. It was our cue!

"All-out attack! This is the last battle, so don't worry about MP! Attack with everything you've got! «Brave Heart»!"

"Copy that! Then there's no need to hold back— «Princess Knight Awakening»!"

We spare nothing. As if taking out our massive disappointment of getting a regular boss instead of the anticipated rare boss, we unleashed a barrage of powerful skills, not caring about our MP reserves.

"Foooooo—!!"

The Elder Applewood let out a cry as if it had seen something unbelievable, taking massive damage.

It's not over yet!

Afterward, it continued to use other tricks such as using «Summon Applewood Minion», a skill that call forth its subordinate, sharing the same feature except a very much smaller version of «Applewood», or trying to flatten us with its Applewood-style body press skill «Applewood Log Crash», and scattering thicks leaves everywhere to set them on fire with called «Explosive Leaves».

Capable of dealing serious damage to the party, all of them were attacks we couldn't afford to be careless about. However, Ester's relentless assault kept chipping it out, while Lana kept our HP always in full.

Amidst the struggle, it also attacked us with skills like «Illusive Dance» or «Poison Apple Bomb», each capable of inflicting stats ailment, though it didn't succeed with either of them. Never managing to gain ground after being knocked down, we rained down our assault, and eventually it was brought to its knees by Lana's huge shining swords as they plunged into boss’s eye-like cavity, reaping away the remaining silver of its HP. It sank into a sea of effects, disappearing.

And what remained on the spot was—a wooden chest.

"Nooooo—!!"

"This is too much—!!"

And thus, the conquest of the «Mellow Apple Dungeon» was completed.

T/N - Just a heads up, I read about the illustration page error—though it's been couple weeks since then—and have fixed it. All the illustration, coloured and b&w should be now properly in their places.