[Mission: Hunt the Ancient Vine Beetle!]
The pro was that such a mission would not rely on luck to be completed at all, thus lowering the impact of bad luck.
The con was that it could be dangerous for someone that couldn't kill the Boss.
The entire area seemed to be some kind of ruins, a stone floor with vines growing between the tiles. It exuded an ancient yet peaceful feel, well besides the blood-red sky haha.
As Josh started walking, he soon realized that this place was similar to the Forest on Floor 3. Focusing, he could sense the vitality in the plants. They would slowly sway rhythmically, but only when he wasn't looking their way.
Eventually, he came across some building that was still relatively intact. On the walls were green beetle drawings and human bones. Whether it was a warning or an intimidation tactic Josh wasn't sure.
As soon as Josh stepped inside, the entrance sealed itself with a BANG! There were corridors on the sides, that seemed to follow the walls. Josh simply headed further in. That is when he stumbled upon a big square room. In each corner there were braziers but none were lit up. In the center was a statue, one of a beetle. This was obviously the Boss.
Somehow it seemed as if years of remaining unmoving had made the dust on its body harden and gave it a stone look. Josh simply charged at it swinging, trying to test the monster's resistance.
*Clang!*
It was extremely hard! Then it started moving, not only its body but also countless tentacles that started coming out of the creature, green vines with thorns.
<Ancient Vine Beetle Lv 16☠️ >
It charged at Josh who easily evaded the body, but then he had to deal with the plant onslaught. One cannot parry a dozen of attacks alone. Josh simply rolled backward, leaving their attack range.
Now, most people would use a party to deal with that. But, was it really necessary? Of course not! Josh could think of a few ideas.
First of all, he was indoor. It would perhaps be possible to cause the old building to collapse. Of course, the hard part would be not to get himself killed in the process.
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Second, Josh could go for a war of attrition. He could simply cut one vine at a time until there were none. Then the Boss would be fully open.
The third option was to find its weakness and annihilate the creature directly.
Approaching, Josh started destroying Vine after Vine. He couldn't help but laugh when he could see his experience points going up. These were creatures and not just appendages of the Boss!
However, with every he defeated, another made its way out of small cracks to come and nestle itself on the Boss. It seemed like they had some sort of symbiotic relationship. This reminded Josh of the Imp Quartermaster.
Josh headed to the Brazier in the corners, wanting to observe them more closely. As soon as he came nearby he realized something, there were vines here too. But the difference was they weren't trying to kill Josh in the least. Like the ones before they were only gently swaying. Why was that?!
Were they the same as the vines on Floor 3 that only attacked when one's guard was down? How were they even able to know something like that? How mysterious! Was it some kind of special ability specific to it?
Josh wondered something. If it could sense one's guard being down would it sense killing intent too? Sending some killing intent their way the peaceful vines instantly sprung toward him violently, trying to impale his body!
By now, the Boss had come closer so Josh ran toward another corner of the room. He then tried hiding behind one brazier. It was a huge wooden-like pile that would probably be extremely hard to ignite.
As the Boss came closer it simply scaled it. It had the capability to easily maneuver around terrain, so Josh wouldn't be able to get on the high ground to take advantage of it, not that he had a bow anyway.
Was the only solution a war of attrition? That's when Josh noticed something! With the current slightly elevated Beetle's position, Josh could finally see its underbelly. There was a green sphere embedded in its carapace. Every time a vine would attack it would glow softly.
There was its weakness! Now, this one would be challenging. Josh did a few laps around, trying to get the creature to be in the best position possible. Now, the creature was clearly heavy given its size.
Josh had an insane plan in mind. It would give the creature an opportunity to easily kill him, but he was convinced it wouldn't react in time. The vines attacked fast because of how numerous they were, but other than that the creature didn't appear to be that smart.
Josh prepared himself and then he slid on the stone floor, his armor making a grating sound. He passed right under the Boss, quickly striking the sphere with all his might! With a *Kacha!* sound it broke into countless fragments.
Josh tried slashing a vine but the others all tried to attack him nonetheless. Was that thing not how the Boss controlled them?! Ah, wait. What if it truly couldn't anymore? What if….
Josh lowered all the animosity he had toward the vines. That is when they stopped moving entirely. HAHAHAHA! With that discovery, the rest of the fight became increasingly easy. A few minutes later the Giant Beetle was already crashing down!
Then came the sweet rewards!
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[Mission completed! Feat Completed, Solo the Boss! Rewards Increased!]
<Stone of Promise>
Lets one know the status of a friendly creature. Register a target with blood!
<Inventory Expansion Ticket +1>
Add one Joker inventory slow that can be used to store any one thing below a certain size.
<F-Rank Material Bag>
Contains a sub-space that can store 1-type of material in great quantity. (At a time)
<E-Rank Blacksmithing Anvil>
Used for Crafting. Activation makes it grow bigger.
<E-Rank Alchemical Cauldron>
Used for crafting. Activation makes it grow bigger.
<Necklace of the Vine Beetle>
Gives the user control over 4 vines that sprout out of it, destroyed vines take an hour to regenerate.
Funny enough the anvil and cauldron were very small, small enough to fit in his pocket in fact. Josh tried using the blacksmith anvil. It went from fist size to desk size in an instant! Wow! There was just an issue…there was no option to make it smaller again…
Josh then used the inventory expansion. "Inventory!" It now showed a grid panel with 1 slot on it. Josh willed the anvil to go in there and it disappeared instantly. He couldn't help but marvel at the sight.
Josh then quickly swapped for the new necklace to try it. Four vines sprouted giving Josh a very weird feeling. He could somehow perceive their existence, but moving them was hard.
Still, before long he had managed to train while waiting for the Boss to spawn. Josh figured that it would be extremely inefficient to fight with it, but that perhaps he could use it to enhance his movement capabilities.
Josh had to exit and enter the building again for the Boss to spawn. He simply kept killing it, his goal to level up. Now it was extremely easy. He kept repeating the same clear method. He did manage to level up but didn't get any other loot for some reason.
Oh well, it didn't matter.
"Teleport out!"
Josh quickly checked the forums. Yep, it was as he expected. People knew about the sphere, but there was also a line saying that it was useless to focus on it.
It allowed the Boss to control the vines, but even without his control, they would still protect the creature either way.
JustBuyingSoySauce: "Once you destroy the sphere, simply stop attacking the vines altogether. They are peaceful."
Unsurprisingly, Josh got banned once more. There were countless forum threads out there. Why would Josh persist in doing such a thing? Well, that was his way to test the waters. The ones banning him were obviously worthless information sources. No expert would share new information if that was how it was received!
That's when Josh heard a clamor. "Hey, you! Aren't you the one that went inside the Disaster Zone?!" A man quickly checked his UW while having Josh's picture showing. It had apparently been taken right before he had left the area with Kasha back then.
"It's really you! Is it true that you are Classless? They say the <Draconic> guild sent you as a sacrifice to test the waters, is this true?! Do you have any comment about the area?! What is your stance about…."
That's when Josh simply turned and entered the Tower once more. No way he was going to deal with that shit!
[Mission: Kill The 7 Rat Elites!]
When Josh saw this new Floor he couldn't help but think it was going to be a pain ….