The Last Experience Point-Chapter 174: Mare of the Primordial Void
To truly understand all the differences between Earth as he knew it and modern-day Galterra, Jimmy would need to live here a great deal longer and do a lot more research. Until that point, he couldn't tell you with any degree of certainty the current value of a second chance. But back home? On Earth? In a world where most people didn't get a first chance, let alone a second one? It was an opportunity you'd have to be a fool to squander. It would be a true test of his worth.
If I fuck this up, I really am quitting for good, Jimmy promised himself. The fact I get another shot at this after not even a full day…I just can't screw this up. I can't!
He knew he'd never be able to forgive himself if he blew it a second time. How could he? It wouldn't matter what anyone said to him, either. If he had to be bailed out on another raid—or worse, cost people their lives—then he was just done with this shit. Nothing would change his mind at that point. He didn't care what spawned around him or how perfect an opportunity arose. If he didn't redeem himself here and now, he was done with this. So…yeah, he couldn't fail. No matter what!
But Zach wasn't making this very easy for him.
Clearly, the kid wasn't happy, and he was definitely a little nervous despite trying to hide it. But really, Zach didn't need to be. He was getting himself all worked up over nothing. From the overly serious look in his eyes to the way he was staring at the T9 boss, his reaction was just so unnecessary. And the only reason he was even stressing like this was because he just didn't understand what Jimmy actually wanted from him; instead, he was drawing conclusions and getting way ahead of himself. The same was true of Kalana, who was also starting to freak out a bit.
At the moment, the Elvish girl was alternating between yelling at Jimmy and volunteering to "take Zach's place." This naturally led to Zach starting an argument with her, insisting that such an idea was flat-out not an option. Obviously, that only caused them to argue even more. But both of them were totally misunderstanding things, yet it was difficult for Jimmy to explain this to them while they were too busy yelling at one another. It also didn't help that the rest of the raid had begun demanding answers from him while he was busy trying to get Zach and Kalana's attention.
"Nah-uh," Kalana said to Zach, her tone adamant. She was responding to something Jimmy hadn't managed to overhear.
"This isn't an argument," Zach replied to her. "Enough, Kal!"
"It is an argument," she insisted. "Baby, you're not fighting that thing alone. I won't let you! Either you let me help, or umm, or I'll fight it all by myself."
"You're not going anywhere near that fucking thing. Look, Jimmy knows what he's doing. I don't know why he needs me, but I'm willing to trust him on this."
Kalana stood her ground. "Okay, well um, does Jimmy know that right now you can't even do your special power thingy and won't be able to do it again until tomorrow?"
Zach, whose index finger was lifted as though he were about to confidently say something in reply, lowered his hand and seemed to freeze for a few seconds before saying, "That's actually a good point. Maybe Jimmy doesn't realize that I can't use my Unleashed Phase."
"Even if he does, I still don't care. I'm not just gonna sit back and let you—"
"Kalana, Zach, please!" Jimmy shouted. "Will both of you just listen to me for fuck's sake!" They turned their heads his way. Having finally managed to draw their attention, Jimmy realized he might only be able to hold it for a fleeting moment, so he acted quickly. He made a waving-off gesture with both his hands and said, "I do not want Zach to fight the boss, so this whole conversation is a dumb waste of time."
There was silence from the two of them for about eight consecutive, uninterrupted seconds, and then Kalana squinted as though confused, and so too did Zach. "You don't?" she asked.
"No, Kalana. In fact, I don't even need him to go anywhere near that thing." Jimmy pointed at it. "I only need his war mount. That's the only thing he's got that I care about right now."
Zach looked puzzled, but also relieved. "Wait, really?" he asked. "My Kralzek's Beast is all you actually need from me?"
"Yes! But you two just keep on yelling and shit and I can't get a word in."
"Sorry," Zach whispered. Then, once again speaking at a normal volume, he asked, "But why do you need my war mount?"
"Because," Jimmy explained, "it's the highest level 'thing' we have that can't feel pain."
"And that matters because…?"
Jimmy grinned. Finally, a question he actually wanted to answer. But rather than reply directly to Zach, he spoke over the Comm, as this concerned the entire raid. "Summon your mount, Zach. I'll explain while we get things going."
Thankfully, Zach cooperated without a fuss, and he activated his ability. Now, standing beside him on all fours was a massive cat covered in orange and black stripes; two large teeth jutted out from its mouth, which seemed to release a constant drip of drool that ran down both of its cheeks. It was a vicious, dangerous-looking tiger, and it was also the highest-level entity here on the raid with them.
HP
225,000/225,000
Name
Kralzek's Beast
Level
"There we go," Jimmy said, smiling appreciatively at the creature. The sight of it lifted his spirits to such an extent he even reached out and pet it despite it being a non-sentient, mindless pet mob. Meeting Zach's eyes, he said, "This thing might be able to get us through the entire raid all on its own. I mean, probably not, but there's at least a chance."
"But how?" Zephyr asked—along with like twenty other adventurers. "Jimmy, I realize a level-85 NPC is a great asset to have on a raid, but what makes this thing so special?"
"Like I was just telling Zach: the fact it can't feel pain."
Jimmy could tell that his words were not alleviating any confusion, but they were going to understand soon enough. Interestingly, even Lord Oren didn't seem like he had figured out Jimmy's intentions yet. Jimmy half expected him to work it out just based on what had already been said. From the way his face was angled downwards as though deep in concentration, the man was probably trying to do just that. But Jimmy was planning on elaborating in any case.
"Everybody who has a DS, cast it on Zach's mount," Jimmy said. "As in, right now. I'm sure at least some of them must stack. For this to work, I think we need about five of them. If they don't stack, then we can forget this little plan, but I think a few will, and it's definitely worth trying. Oh, and don't worry about overriding anyone else's DS, either. I'm pretty sure the strongest ones always take priority. Okay, let's get to it. Start casting." Jimmy waited. And then he waited some more. But nobody was casting anything. "Well?"
"…uh, what's a DS?" Donovan grunted over the Comm.
"Yeah, what's that?" asked Lienne.
Jimmy exhaled slowly and reminded himself to be patient with them all. "It's just short for damage shield. Now, come on, let's cast 'em. Everybody, start dropping them on the Kralzek's Beast." Like before, Jimmy waited—and then he continued to wait. But ten seconds came and went, and still nobody had cast a single spell. "Come on, guys, what the hell? Cast them!"
"We're not sure what you want from us," Alixa said. "Or at least I'm not. Am I the only one who has no idea what he's talking about?"
"No, I don't either," Reni said.
"Same," agreed Frederick Britethorn as well as his wife.
"I don't either," Zach whispered to him off-Comm. He and Donovan had moved much closer to him now that Lord Oren had been assigned to a group on the other end of the street.
Jimmy looked around—first at Zach, and then at many of the other various adventurers. He felt himself abruptly entering into a state of total disbelief. "Okay, time out for a second," he said. "Time out. Are you telling me we got over a hundred got-dang adventurers here, and not one of you has a damage shield? Really? That can't be. There's just no way."
"Jimmy," Mr. Oren said, "is it possible whatever you're referring to is something you know by a different name than we do?"
Jimmy thought on the question, and his enthusiasm returned straight away. "Oh yeah! You're right. Maybe you guys call it something else here."
"Can you describe the type of ability it is?"
"Uh, yeah. In most simulations, it usually has the same kind of name, like, uh, I dunno, 'Shield of Thorns' or 'Ward of Bramble' or some kinda shit like that. It's basically a buff that makes the enemy get hurt whenever it hits you. So if you fail to evade or whatever and you get hurt, at least the mob also takes a few points of—"
"Oh, I've got something like that!" Alixa said excitedly. "I've never heard the term 'damage shield' before, but way back when I hit level 11, I got a buff called 'Embrace of Wind's Fury' that does damage to any target that lands an attack on whoever's buffed. I've maybe used it once or twice in my life."
"I have a spell like that too," Emala said. She began laughing. "It's called something very similar to what you said: Coat of Thorns. That's amazing how close you were, Jimmy!"
Jimmy spread his palms. "Eh, they always have names like that."
"I've also got one," Zephyr added. "I actually forgot all about it. No one ever uses those."
"Yeah, I bet," Jimmy said. "Because you all feel pain when you get hit, and the damage returned to the enemy is usually so minor that it probably isn't worth the exertion if the only way to really make use of it is to let yourself get hit on purpose. I'm sure you guys all probably think it's a useless spell—but it's not."
"So, um, what does this have to do with Zach's mount?" Kalana asked. "What is it you're planning?"
Before Jimmy could reply, Lord Oren snapped his fingers, and the sound of it came through over the Comm. "Of course! I can't believe I didn't see where you were going with this. That's brilliant, Jimmy. I never would've come up with that."
"Come up with what?" demanded Maric, Alixa, and a whole bunch of other adventurers.
"Jimmy's planning to send in Zach's level-85 mount and have it deliberately take hits from the boss in the hope that the reflected damage won't have a 'type' and therefore it cannot become immune to it. In that case, all we'd have to do is use heal-over-time buffs supported by rotating heals to keep it alive. Am I correct, Jimmy?"
"Yep. That's what I'm going for."
Zach looked over to his large, drooling war mount and then he again regarded Jimmy. "Mr. Oren's right," he said. "You really are brilliant when it comes to this stuff."
Jimmy laughed. "I'm not actually brilliant. Ya'll just think that 'cause you don't know what I know. Believe it or not, this is actually a really common cheese tactic. There used to be this uh…this 'simulation' called Dark Age of Camelot, right? And if you got ML9 and threw a DS on your pet, you could solo ML10 bosses and farm the rarest loot in the…in the simulation. That game wasn't for me, though. Too much PVP. But if you liked PVP, the RVR—realm vs. realm—was apparently the best of its kind. I can't tell you how many times people would be like, 'Damn, Jimmy. WOW PVP is trash since they nerfed DKs. You need to get into Dark Age.' And I'd just be like, 'Yeah, but that's for tryhards anyway.' I gotta be real with you guys: I can't stand PVP elitists. Those bitches always acting like they somehow superior or more skilled. Like, try taking down OG Yogg-Saron and then talk shit. Actually, a long time ago, my friend Marcus, uh…"
Jimmy trailed off and then felt awkward and a fair bit embarrassed as he realized everyone was giving him the craziest looks: like just the craziest looks. Even Zach. The fact nobody was saying anything somehow made it even worse. Jimmy licked his lips and then released a nervous laugh. "Yeah, forget all that, sorry. Anyways, damage shields. Yeah. They're good."
Zach stared at him a moment as if to ensure he was okay. But this expression quickly shifted to one that looked a great deal more devious. "So wait," he said over the Comm, "if my mount is doing a hundred percent of the work…"
"Zach," Kalana grumbled.
"…does that mean I get a hundred percent of the loot?"
Jimmy rolled his eyes. "You're forgetting it's also gonna be buffed and healed."
"Okay, so then it should be split just between me and the people who do that and nobody else, right?"
Jimmy shrugged. "If you want. I really don't care."
Having always had such a relaxed attitude regarding loot—both here and in the games on Earth—Jimmy tended to forget how crazy people could get over boss drops. This, he was now reminded of as almost every adventurer at once exploded in protest and outrage. Even Fiona Darkmae and her guild members were waving their arms around and making a bunch of noise. It got so bad that Donovan and Zephyr had to step in; it served as a warning to Jimmy that, if he screwed up at any point, they'd be quick to seize back control.
They say they've given me sole control of the raid, he thought, but I know now that I can't take them at their word. If they think I'm failing, they'll grab control.
For the time being, he decided to let them do their thing. After all, he should've been more careful about how he replied to Zach's greedy request, so it was his own fault that Donovan and Zephyr now had to calm the situation down. It was a reminder that he needed to stay on his game and be more careful about what he said.
"Everybody, pipe down!" Donovan shouted—and they obeyed. Then Donovan marched over to Zach, who was only a few feet away. "Kiddo, don't start your shit! Everybody who's here gets to roll."
"Sorry," Zach said.
Donovan's lips twitched, and for just an instant, the look on his face changed from stern to amused. He then spoke to Zach off-Comm. "You're a little prick sometimes, but I still prefer this version of you to the one Alex wants to mold. This is the real you." He then gave Zach a friendly pat on the shoulder—or at least Jimmy assumed it was friendly. It looked hard enough to leave a bruise, and it caused Zach to wince.
With that little moment of tension behind them, Jimmy asked them to begin buffing. Then he stood back and watched as spells came in from seemingly every direction. It began with a wave-shaped beam of dark green energy that popped up into the air about ten feet above the mount and then struck down at the Kralzek's Beast; immediately after contact, the beam turned into a silk-like substance that spread all over its body before changing yet again into a bunch of thorns that covered it all over. After a few seconds, these thorns vanished, and now, there was an up-arrow near its name, reminding Jimmy that NPCs, unlike biological beings, always had their list of buffs and debuffs visible for anyone to see.
Name
Coat of Thorns
Effect
Increases user's armor by 25; when struck, a small portion of damage is reflected back upon the attacker.
Duration
9:59
An instant after this buff came in, more were quick to follow. One looked like a nest of bees buzzing around, and then the one after that consisted of a bunch of hollow swords that floated above the mount and spun around and around before disappearing. This one actually overwrote the previous one, but both seemed to stack with Emala's "Coat of Thorns." This meant that at least two could be stacked at once.
Name
Protection of Blades
Effect
Any time user is struck by a melee attack, the attacker suffers damage that scales with the attacker's maximum HP.
Duration
19:59
The next buff to come in overwrote Emala's. Jimmy wasn't sure who cast it, but it looked pretty cool, visually speaking. It began with a rotating mirror that descended upon the Kralzek's Beast, stopping just above its head. Then it exploded into what looked like thousands of shards of glass, each one vanishing upon contact with the street or with the mount. As Jimmy read over the description, it made perfect sense to him why this buff in particular had overwritten Coat of Thorns but not Protection of Blades.
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Name
Armor of Fractured Glass
Effect
Increases user's armor by 35; when struck, a small portion of damage is reflected back upon the attacker.
Duration
14:59
More and more came in, with most coming from the support, healers, and mages, but a few even coming from the tanks and DPS. Finally, when all was said and done, the Kralzek's Beast had six DS buffs in total all stacked together. Jimmy was pleased with this result; it would definitely give them a leg up in the fight. Hopefully, a big one.
"Now what?" Zach asked over the Comm.
"Now do the same thing you guys just did, but this time with HOTs and every other buff you have. Just drop everything you have on it." He grinned. "This should look cool."
And it really did, though in a messy kind of way. Jimmy watched in awe as a storm of magic exploded, rained down, swirled around, or in some cases rose up from below, with all of it targeting the level-85 saber-toothed tiger. Within an instant, it became impossible to distinguish any one effect from another, as it created one giant circus of sounds and sights that looked to Jimmy like a drunken God creating a universe of chaos. Amid screens of smoke, mist, fire, and even some water, there were random things everywhere like ticking clocks, floating weapons, and showers of sparks. But eventually, all of it disappeared, and now the Kralzek's Beast had so many up-arrows that there were more than four rows of them stacked one on top of the other spanning the entire length of its name.
With that, Jimmy looked over his shoulder and at the T9 boss waiting behind him just one street down. It stood there motionless, waiting for someone to come along and challenge it. How many years had it taken for that thing to spawn? Some of the bosses here in Galterra redefined the very meaning of the term "rare spawn," as Jimmy had come to learn it wasn't unheard of for things to only pop every few-thousand years. This, he was willing to bet, was one of them.
HP
13,225,000/13,225,000
Name
(T9) Mare of the Primordial Void
Level
"Oh, I almost forgot," Kalana said over the Comm. "Jimmy, there's something everybody wanted me to give you."
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Before Jimmy could ask what she was talking about, Donovan said, "Let him earn it."
"He'd probably prefer it that way, actually," agreed Zephyr. "Besides, that'll just distract him right now."
Kalana pouted. "It's going to him no matter what. Everyone on the raid last night agreed."
Zach raised his eyebrow as though curious. "What's going to him?" the kid asked. "Is it…is it loot?"
"Yep. For Jimmy! Not you. You already have one!"
"I do? What is it?"
Jimmy immediately became intrigued, but he knew Donovan and Zephyr were right. This wasn't the right time for this. Also, he didn't deserve anything from the raid since he'd nearly died and had almost gotten others killed along with him. "Tell me about it after we beat this thing," he said. Excitement beginning to rush through him, he clapped his hands together. "All right, guys. It looks like we're all ready to go. But I gotta warn you: there's almost no chance this is going to work for very long. So everybody should be prepared to engage the boss. Okay? Good. Now, anybody got anything they wanna say or ask before we start? Last chance."
Looking around at the various groups of adventurers all over the street, it seemed that nobody had anything left to say—no one except Lord Oren, who gently stroked his chin as if deep in thought even while he spoke. "Jimmy," he began, "on this point, I'm fairly sure you're worrying over nothing."
"What do you mean?"
"Don't get me wrong: being cautious is always the correct decision, especially when facing a T9. But one thing that's absolutely certain is that bosses—or mobs—cannot ever be immune to their own reflected damage. Since these buffs are merely returning damage, I can confidently say you're wrong to think the Mare of the Primordial Void will gain immunity to the damage shields."
Jimmy tilted his head to the side. "Huh? When did I say it would?"
"Well…you didn't, but I assume that's what you're referring to when you say this won't last?"
"Huh? Uh, no, of course not. Obviously, I know that won't happen."
Now, it was Lord Oren who sounded confused. "Then what makes you think we can't utilize this strategy to take the boss all the way from full HP to zero?'
Jimmy chuckled. "Oh, anti-cheese mechanics, obviously."
"Anti-what?" barked out Donovan as though alarmed. "The fuck is that? And why are we only first hearing about this now?"
"What do you mean? I told you guys from the start not to expect Zach's pet to solo the entire raid—that it was possible but also unlikely yet still worth trying anyway."
"But you never mentioned any kind of 'anti-cheese' mechanic!" Ophelia Graven fired in, sounding aggrieved of all things.
"Whoah, chill, damn. It was implied. I clearly said from the start that this probably won't work for long. I'm not holding back important information from you guys, seriously."
Someone else began to speak, but Lord Oren interrupted them, albeit politely. "Excuse me one moment, but please let me ask Jimmy something." The adventurer who'd been speaking swore at Lord Oren but then quickly acquiesced. There seemed to be a newfound fear of him as a result of his earlier violence towards Donovan. "Jimmy," Lord Oren continued, "if you're agreeing with me that the boss can't become immune to its own damage, then how, exactly, will this initial plan fail? What I mean by that is what specific thing are you claiming might happen?"
Jimmy understood his confusion. In all honesty, he really needed to do better when it came to assuming that the adventurers knew almost nothing at all. Waiting for the few chattering voices to quiet over the Comm, he addressed Lord Oren directly. "Okay, so to start, I don't think it's gonna 'fail' exactly. In this context, 'success' means doing a fair chunk of damage to it. And as far as how it'll come to an end? That's simple. The Kralzek's Beast is just gonna die."
Lord Oren seemed taken aback, because he spoke half a word and then stopped speaking, pausing for a few seconds before trying again. "That's not very clear, Jimmy. Die to what?"
"To nothing. It'll just die."
"I'm afraid I still don't understand."
Jimmy sighed, trying not to become frustrated. "Look, at some point during the fight, if this thing really is like a 'real' raid boss and not the bullshit you guys have been fighting all your life—and hey, I got no idea if that's the case, I'm just over here guessing—but if this horse thing's the real deal, then after the Kralzek's Beast does a certain amount of damage, the anti-cheese mechanism is gonna kick in, and it's just gonna die. There might be an attack of some sort, maybe. I don't know how it'll go down exactly. But it's just gonna die."
"Meaning it'll be too difficult to keep the mount alive?"
"Nah, man, you're not listening. It's just gonna insta-die. Just…you just have to see it, okay? Everybody, please stop worrying so damn much. I'm on my game today. This ain't gonna be like last night. I'm staking everything on this."
"If you say so," Lord Oren relented, now sounding a touch nervous. This seemed unlike him, but since Jimmy didn't know him all that well, he actually couldn't really say that for certain. It was just a sense he got. It was also a quickly growing vibe, as everyone from Zach to Donovan now appeared to be a bit uneasy with the raid. Jimmy knew he needed to kick things off before anybody got cold feet and decided to back out.
"Okay," he said, turning his body around so that he faced the large T9 mare one street down. "Everybody follow me."
Without even looking behind to ensure they followed, Jimmy began strolling his way closer to the boss. Thankfully, after proceeding a few slow, calm steps in its direction, he heard the patter of more than a hundred pairs of feet hurrying after him. And so he continued on, leading them closer and closer to the raid boss.
As he ventured nearer, he quickly surveyed the scenery around him. The devastation the boss had caused thus far was impossible to ignore. Reaching the end of the street and the start of the next one, Jimmy stepped over a downed street light then maneuvered around an overturned, partially crushed DEHV. To his left was a shipping and postal outlet missing most of its roof, and to his right was the bar he'd been drinking in all night; though the structure itself remained standing, the window above the entrance door was shattered and the entire inside looked like someone had set off a stick of dynamite. Most likely, the T9's lasers had blown through the window and had detonated the inside of the bar.
I liked that place, Jimmy thought. I hope I'm not the reason it got destroyed.
Though he felt slightly guilty, Jimmy knew that, even if he'd called the adventurers over more quickly, it still likely wouldn't have made all that much of a difference, so he put the bar out of his mind and kept his focus on the boss up ahead. With the raid still following behind him in formation, he continued to amble towards the massive equine superboss until he was just outside of its aggro range, which the Explorer's Brigade had marked with red chalk that ran from one side of the sidewalk, all the way across the street, and then to the other.
"Zach," Jimmy said over the Comm, "you're up!"
"Got it. Uh, so do you just want me to go ahead and send it in?"
"Yeah. Have your pet attack the raid boss and then just leave it be. Everybody else: just chill for now. Nobody should be doing anything other than rebuffing or casting small heals on it with careful rotation to avoid picking up aggro. Actually, you know what? Don't heal it unless it falls below 50% HP. Otherwise, let the HOTs do their job."
"Got it," several of the healers in the back row sounded off.
To his right, Jimmy saw Zach appear beside him. The kid stopped just before the red chalk line that represented the point of aggro. Once there, he turned his head towards Jimmy and gave him a brief, but powerful nod. Jimmy returned it. And now, the feeling of excitement but also tension became so strong that Jimmy wondered if everyone else was feeling it as well, as it seemed to come from the very atmosphere.
"Okay," Zach said, "I'm ordering it to attack."
The moment Zach spoke those words, a total and complete silence filled the destroyed market square, one that was incredibly brief and lasted no longer than one or two seconds. Yet for just that short time, Jimmy felt as if his heart had given up beating as he held his breath and the muscles all over his body involuntarily tightened. And none of this was due to any kind of fear of the boss itself. No, what Jimmy feared was failure—shame.
I can't fuck this up!
Breaking this short moment of silence, Zach's Kralzek's Beast suddenly released a vicious, angry roar, and then it began to run forward at the boss. The moment its front paws crossed the red chalk line, the boss seemingly awakened, letting out a rival cry of its own, in this case being an angry neigh. Now, it too moved towards Zach's mount. The result was that both met somewhere in the middle, and with that, the battle at last began—and it was the saber-toothed cat that struck first.
Releasing another growl, the tremendously buffed cat lifted its front-right paw and took a mean swipe at the boss. Despite being such a large creature, it was still barely a rodent compared to the two-story-tall Mare of the Primordial Void, and so its razor-sharp claws came in just above the horse boss's front-left hoof. The boss released another, pained-sounding neigh as the Kralzek's Beast cut into is nightmarishly dark flesh.
3,119
For a T9 boss with a level equivalent to 310, that was actually a great deal of damage—far more than Jimmy would've expected, even from a level-85 pet. But it had so many buffs right now that, if Jimmy were to kneel down in front of the mount, they would actually block his vision of the world ahead. The Kralzek's Beast had so many damn buffs it was almost impossible to keep track of them all. Jimmy was therefore content to simply assume that every single one of its stats was now elevated along with its defenses and any manner of other capabilities.
But that's not what I care about, he told himself. Intensely, he watched as the Mare of the Primordial Void lifted up off its hind legs and prepared to stomp down. I care about what happens next.
Jimmy did not so much as blink as he watched the boss slam its front two hooves down upon Zach's war mount, causing a loud crunching bang to emanate and the level-85, saber-toothed cat to become slammed down into a newly formed crater several feet deep. It also suffered 92,155 damage—nearly half of its HP. But this, too, was also not what Jimmy was focused on. Crossing his fingers, he glanced above the T9 mare's head. And then he saw what he was looking for.
1,922
2,092
3,651
3,211
2,762
2,051
All at once, the various damage shields on the mount activated in response to the attack on the Kralzek's Beast, and each one nipped away at the massive T9 mare that had attacked it. Exactly as Jimmy had intended.
The Kralzek's Beast attacked a second time, cutting deeply into the same hoof and adding another 3,004 damage. In the same instant that its attack connected, the various HOTs cast on it ticked, healing back nearly half the HP it'd lost—all of which was soon ripped away from it and then some as it suffered an additional 101,422 damage as the boss stomped down on the war mount yet again—causing the boss to neigh in pain as the six DS buffs inflicted their retaliatory damage against it. But of concern was the mount, which was now badly injured despite being buffed to the max.
HP
77,500/225,000
Name
Kralzek's Beast
Level
"Dex, Florala, throw a small heal on it!" Jimmy shouted.
"On it!"
A moment later, dual splashes of mist, one colored blue and one colored green, caused the mount to turn from a bloodied, badly crushed mess into a banged up but functional-looking predator. Then another tick from the HOTs came in, and now it was back to around 80% of its max HP. It retaliated, swiping again at the T9 mare, and it scored its most powerful blow yet, dealing 4,100 damage.
"Put it on passive and have it stand in place, Zach."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"Why?"
"Because I don't want the boss to gain melee DPS immunity and power up just yet. Especially since your pet has already got aggro and it should be able to maintain it now with just the damage from the DS."
"Gotcha."
The Kralzek's Beast, which was actually mid-attack, having raised its paw as though winding up another slice, abruptly lowered it back down and remained perfectly still and inactive as the horse stomped on it again, dealing 97,211 damage and suffering another round of DS counter damage. And now, after an apprehensive start to things, Jimmy could feel a general sense of excitement beginning to fill the air as the boss's HP began to steadily drop lower and lower each time it struck the Kralzek's Beast.
HP
13,167,710/13,225,000
Name
(T9) Mare of the Primordial Void
Level
"I can't fuckin' believe what I'm seeing," Donovan said. "How did the kid come up with something like this?"
"I can't believe it either," Reni agreed. "Are we seriously watching a T9 raid boss kill its own self on a passive pet?"
A roar of cheers and applause erupted from the currently idle adventurers. "This is one of the most spectacular and unbelievable things I've ever seen in all my years raiding," Zephyr said. "My mind is blown."
"Same here," agreed Maric. "I can't believe this is actually happening!"
Jimmy laughed. "Just don't get too comfortable. I'm telling y'all, this ain't gonna last."
"It will," Lord Oren said confidently. "Don't be so pessimistic. You've somehow come up with a…a bypass to raiding. It's like a…a…"
For once, the guy seemed to be struggling to complete a thought, but Jimmy knew why. In this world, they didn't have words for it, so Jimmy decided to help him out a bit. "A cheat code," he finished.
"A what?"
"Or you can call it an exploit. But that's what we'd have called it on Earth."
"I see…well, either way, don't sell yourself short. This is incredible, Jimmy. It's losing HP at a steady clip, and the majority of us haven't had to lift a finger. Truly astounding."
HP
13,017,006/13,225,000
Name
(T9) Mare of the Primordial Void
Level
The adventurers released another round of cheering, and this one was even louder than the last. But rather than elevate Jimmy's mood, it actually had the opposite effect, causing him to worry. "You guys aren't listening to me," he said, feeling just a little bit nervous by their collective reaction. "How many times do I gotta tell you: don't expect this to last. I'm not just being dramatic. If this was any modern simulation from my time, this kind of shit wouldn't work on an end-game boss like this. It just wouldn't. The boss would detect what we were doing and kill every pet in the encounter."
"I only understood half of that," Rian said, "but I just don't see why we should expect anything to change."
"As of now, I don't think we should," Lord Oren said. "Of course, we should still take the possibility very seriously, but I've been raiding a long time, and I've never encountered the kind of behavior Jimmy is describing."
"Are you guys seriously doubting me?" Jimmy asked, becoming defensive.
"Not at all," Lord Oren replied. "I fully respect you and the simulations you've trained on. I'm not at all discounting the value of your experience. Let's not forget: it's the only reason we have any idea what elemental shifting is, after all."
"Then why do you think I'm wrong about this?"
"It's not that I think you're wrong or you're right. Either could be the case. I'm merely siding with one possibility being far more likely than the other. The behavior you described is counterintuitive and also antithetical to what I think any of us have experienced before."
"Because ya'll haven't seen shit," Jimmy grumbled. He shook his head. "Look, I hope it stays this simple. I really do. But just be ready to take this thing on properly."
"Of course," Donovan agreed with a grunt. "But what you said would happen—that the boss is just gonna fuckin' insta-kill the mount out of nowhere with no warning or whatever. That's real specific, Jimmy. In a way that makes it sound more like a wild guess."
Jimmy opened his mouth to defend himself, but then he closed it, as it turned out he didn't need to. Zach, it seemed, was willing to speak up on his behalf, which he appreciated.
"Jimmy's going to turn out right," he said. "When I first entered Trials of Nolak with him, he was saying things that were so specific and so exact I couldn't believe them at first. Like, he said that a boulder would roll down a wall and then we'd fall through the floor and enter another area—and that was exactly what happened. So if Jimmy says my pet's going to die out of nowhere, it probably will."
"Maybe you're right," Zephyr said, a hum following his words. "It's just that it's so exact that it sounds more like a man's attempt at telling a fortune or a prophecy than a realistic outlook of raid progress."
Jimmy turned over his palms. "Whatever, guys."
HP
12,992,121/13,225,000
Name
(T9) Mare of the Primordial Void
Level
"I'm not gonna sit here and keep trying to convince you of shit."
HP
12,881,772/13,225,000
Name
(T9) Mare of the Primordial Void
Level
"It's either gonna happen," he began as the horse boss continued to stomp on and pummel the level-85 war mount, suffering the consequences of doing so each time.
HP
12,573,200/13,225,000
Name
(T9) Mare of the Primordial Void
Level
"Or it's not gonna ha—"
Out of nowhere, while Jimmy was still speaking, and with a speed far faster than anything the boss had thus far shown itself capable of, the black horse leapt up into the air and then dove back down to the ground, landing with so much force on top of the Kralzek's Beast that it caused two nearby, still-standing buildings to crumble into a pile of bricks, stone, and wood just from their mere proximity to the resulting tremor.
999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999
HP
0/225,000
Name
Kralzek's Beast
Level
Three sounds filled the world at the same time: a multitude of horrified gasps from the raiding party, a bang as the boss smashed through the road and made dual, hoof-shaped indents into the ground nearly ten feet deep, and finally, a loud, defiant, but admittedly arrogant "hah!" as Jimmy pointed at Zach's deceased mount, which was crushed so terribly it looked more like some kind of massive, soggy rug than a tiger—at least until it disappeared a few seconds later. Now, Jimmy shook his finger wildly at the boss, and he shouted, "I fucking told your asses! I told you! Now who's not being realistic?"
Was it bad that he was actually glad this happened just so he could be proven right?
Probably, but I don't care!
Even as Jimmy looked over his shoulder and saw the terror and disbelief popping up on so many faces, with numerous adventurers pointing at the damage number in a state of petrified shock, Jimmy couldn't help but continue to gloat. "I told you!" He laughed like an evil villain. "Ha-ha-ha! Get fuuuuuuuucked! Okay, but for real, let's get on this thing now before it aggros on Zach."
Zach began to take several steps backwards. "Oh, shit! I think it already is. Yeah, I have aggro!"
"Zach!" Kalana cried out. She rushed to his side, and so too did Donovan, Zephyr, Rian, Seiley, and Trelvor as the T9 superboss began charging forward. In hindsight, Jimmy probably should have been applying his slow to it all this time in anticipation of this moment. He chided himself for not thinking of doing so. This thing moved fast without it. It entered into a full-on gallop and began rushing at Zach.
The situation becoming much more dangerous, Jimmy ceased his laughter and stood up straighter. He waved his hand at the raid boss. "Maric!" he called out. "Rush in with your whole group and taunt! It's time to get serious!"
"On it!" Maric cried out as he launched himself forward.
It looked like they were going to have to do things the hard way.
Jimmy warned them.
