Black Online-Chapter 170: Arrival of the King - Part 3
The bubble popped.
Frostmaw Beast dropped back to the ground and cracked the ground around it with its massive weight.
[HP: 48%]
"This is not that difficult!"
Luke said with a laugh.
It also made most of them smile, as this was indeed easier than they expected—even though Frostmaw Beast looked scary.
They were easily able to handle it!
’Easy so far...’
Fang Raon gulped down a healing potion and then started preparing for the second phase.
With the Frostmaw Beast’s health being below 50%, it was now going to enter its second phase.
"Whoo..."
Frostmaw Beast only breathed.
It was enough to freeze everything around it, and at that moment, it turned its gaze towards the Rangers.
With a wide-open mouth, cold smoke began to billow out, and then icy breath shot out of Frostmaw Beast’s mouth!
"Jump down!"
Joanne and Ira leaped off the Earth Wall and landed back on the ground—the fall distance was greater than they expected.
Their legs got slightly injured at the landing, and they both lost a little bit of health each.
"Tank’s—"
"Don’t!"
Fang Raon shouted.
Ocon was about to use Tank’s Taunt to attract Frostmaw Beast’s aggro back at him, but Fang Raon immediately stopped him.
"Huh?"
Ocon looked over with a raised eyebrow.
"Head over to the backlines—keep Rangers and Helpers safe—this icy breath attack is a bad match-up with you!"
Fang Raon said.
"Okay!"
Ocon ran over to the backlines.
While running, he thought about Fang Raon’s words and thought that he was correct in making him retreat.
He had no way of defending against icy breath, and he would just be frozen into a block of ice.
"Niall, come over!"
Fang Raon shouted.
Since the start, Niall had just been protecting the Helpers, but the Frostmaw Beast hadn’t attacked them, so he hadn’t been doing anything.
’Finally!’
Niall ran over to Fang Raon and Machary.
"Luke, keep the beast occupied!"
Fang Raon shouted.
The grimoire started glowing crimson-red, and Luke started running circles around the massive beast.
"Flamethrower!"
The fire spat out of the pages of the grimoire and engulfed the beast in flames—but it immediately responded with the icy breath.
The fire and ice clashed.
"Rangers! Empty your quivers!"
Fang Raon shouted.
There were still plenty of arrows left, so Joanne and Ira started shooting at the beast—repeatedly.
The arrows went through the steam caused by the clash of ice and fire—they kept hitting the beast constantly.
"ROAR!"
Frostmaw Beast was in a rage.
It wanted to stop the Rangers from hurting it any further, but Luke’s flames were making it impossible for the beast to retaliate.
[HP: 33%...]
[HP: 32%...]
The health kept dropping drastically.
"I can’t keep this going!"
Luke shouted.
Eventually, even he reached the end of his mana, as just firing the Flamethrower constantly without stopping was very exhausting.
His head started pounding with a headache, and in his mana tank, there were only a couple of droplets left.
"Go to the back. Rejuvenate your mana with potions. We’ll keep him occupied for now!" 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦
Fang Raon ordered.
With Luke gone, the three Warriors—Fang Raon, Machary, and Niall—surrounded the beast and started striking him.
"ROAR!"
Frostmaw Beast slashed its claws and swung its paws—some of its attacks landed—injuries began to pile on.
Machary was the only one that was able to dodge the beast’s attacks effectively.
Meanwhile, Fang Raon and Niall were bleeding quite drastically, and their health wasn’t looking all that good.
"Heal!"
At that moment.
Rae and Sam raised their healing staffs and engulfed the Warriors in a warm, golden light that began to restore their vitality.
"Strength!"
Rae buffed Fang Raon with the Strength Buff skill, and Sam increased the speed of Niall and Machary.
"Keep pushing!"
Fang Raon shouted.
They kept attacking—the swords pierced the flesh—it felt like they were trying to cut down a tree with a dull axe.
Frostmaw Beast’s skin was just so hard, but slowly, its health kept dropping and dropping.
[HP: 11%...]
[HP: 10%...]
’The last phase...’
Fang Raon waved his hand, and everyone backed away from the Frostmaw Beast, as they didn’t know what to expect.
Doom~ Doom~ Doom~
Frostmaw Beast started... Making a noise... As if it were pulsing like a beating heart, echoing throughout the massive cavern.
The hair of its fur turned into ice. Ice pikes began to form along its spine. Its flesh broke as shards of ice burst out.
Doom~ Doom~ Doom~
With the third pulse, dozens of blue circles appeared in the ground. Those circles were glowing with blue.
’...Circles?’
Fang Raon frowned.
"Those are attack patterns! Avoid the blue circles at all costs!"
Ira shouted.
They all listened and dodged the circles.
In that moment, blue ice spikes shot up from the circles, and they looked really sharp, as if they could easily pierce through steel.
If any of them had been standing on those circles, they could’ve died immediately without Helpers being able to do anything.
"Attack patterns... They are really rare this low in the tower. They usually show up to display Area of Effect attacks during boss battles or against very strong opponents."
Machary said with a frown.
At that moment, the blue circles disappeared, and the Frostmaw Beast stopped pulsating for now at least.
It looked exhausting, as if it was trying to gather more strength to use that attack again.
"Let’s attack before it attacks again!"
Fang Raon shouted.
With the fight being in its last stages, everyone stopped saving their strength and mana—they all rained attacks on the Frostmaw Beast.
"ROOAAAAAAAAR!"
Frostmaw Beast suffered under the onslaught.
[HP: 8%...]
[HP: 7%...]
In that moment.
Doom~ Doom~ Doom~
Frostmaw Beast started pulsating again.
Everyone stopped their attacks and turned to look at the ground—but none of the blue circles had appeared in the ground.
Doom~ Doom~ Doom~
This time around, the blue circles appeared on the ground, and everyone avoided them immediately.
Burst!
The ice spikes jumped out of the blue circles, and everyone felt the chill of the temperature decreasing.
"It looks like the temperature is dropping every time it uses this Area of Effect attack. We need to end this fight!"
Joanne shouted.
"ATTACK!"
Fang Raon shouted.
He wasn’t attacking, but everyone else was, and the Frostmaw Beast staggered under the constant attacks.
"It pulsates six times before the blue circles appear in the ground. The ice spikes jump out of those blue circles three seconds later!"
Fang Raon shouted, informing everyone.
’When everyone else was just focusing on staying alive, he investigated that attack pattern even while being in that high-tense situation?’
Machary thought in surprise.
[HP: 2%]
The health was almost depleted!
Doom~ Doom~ Doom~
Everyone heard the pulsing, but since they now knew when the blue circles would appear, they kept attacking!
HP: 1%]
Doom~ Doom~ Doo—
Before it finished pulsating to the end, Machary roared loudly and drove his sword into the eyeball of the Frostmaw Beast.
[HP: 0%]
Frostmaw Beast dropped to the ground, its massive body quivering in its final moments—wounds everywhere—it looked like a ripped-apart toy dog.
In that moment.
It stopped moving altogether.
"W-We did it!"
Rae shouted excitedly.
Everyone screamed happily.
"Whoo... Whoo..."
Fang Raon breathed heavily.
He kept the celebrations for a later time, as he didn’t want to drop his guard unless they were safely back at the mansion.
’It’s time to roll the dice...’
He thought and waited for the Frostmaw Beast to disappear and turn into the treasure chest—but it was taking its sweet time.
It usually wouldn’t take long.
And the stairs that led to the 16th floor hadn’t appeared either just yet, as if it all was delayed for some reason.
"Hmm?"
He frowned.
It was strange that nothing seemed to be happening.
Everyone else was in the middle of celebrating, so they didn’t notice the oddness of the situation.
’Maybe the treasure chest dropped elsewhere?’
Fang Raon looked around the Frostmaw Beast. Found nothing. He kept looking over at the corpse mountain.
’Nothing... Huh?’
At that moment, he walked behind the corpse monster, and his eyes widened in shock at the unexpected sight.
"Zzzz~ Zzzz~ Zzzz~"
There was a man sleeping behind the corpse mountain. A strange crown rested atop his head. He was also built different.
He was as thick as a castle wall with broad shoulders, brick-sized fists, and the pectoral muscles of a bear.
’He has been here all along? We missed him because he was sleeping behind this monster corpse mountain. Could it be... Is he the real boss of this floor?
’That can’t be. Frostmaw Beast had all three phases, and it acted like a boss of the floor. And there can’t be two bosses at the same time!’
Fang Raon’s eyes shook.
He had a very bad feeling about this.
At that moment...
"Zzz—"
The man stopped snoring, and slowly, his eyes opened, and they were a deep orange color like that of a dragon.
[Beast King]
[HP: 100%]
"And... who the hell are you?"
Beast King looked at Fang Raon, and then he slowly stood up with a cold look in his eyes and a terrifying face.
"Where is my pet..."
He asked.
’An intelligent boss!’
Fang Raon’s eyes shook in fear.
