Villainous Warlock Veronica

After Iver recalled the "Villainous Bartender's" identity, he completely remembered the details of this dungeon:

The first elite enemy, the "Villainous Bartender," is a level 15 Fiend. The main mechanic is that after charging up, he launches a powerful attack that can be dodged but not parried, and will knock players back. This attack doesn't fully adhere to the threat system and occurs roughly every fifteen seconds. If knocked back, players are likely to collide with tables, chairs, walls, and other players, causing secondary damage and stunning them.

Furthermore, if a player is close enough to him—within one meter—they will be attacked regardless of whether they have threat or not. Therefore, if the front row is knocked back, it's easy to expose the back row.

When his health is first reduced below 30%, he enters a demonized state, doubling his attack speed, movement speed, and the frequency of his first ability.

Other than that, there are no other mechanics. The mechanic can be tanked with skills that prevent knockback, or it can be dodged. Alternatively, melee DPS classes can approach him from behind when he's about to use the mechanic, take the hit, and then have the tank regain threat. This turns him into a pure stationary boss.

The second boss in this dungeon is a demonic hound created by a high-level Demon Scholar, called "Evil Hound" Shell. Its characteristics are high-frequency attacks with burning, armor penetration, and poison effects. Additionally, it clears its threat every time its health drops by 10%. With a little attention, it's generally not too difficult.

Of course, in reality, bosses wouldn't come out one by one like the Calabash Brothers saving their grandpa. If the bartender and the evil hound appeared at the same time, it would become much harder.

...But now, the evil hound has disappeared.

The moment Iver saw the bald woman's face, he immediately realized what was going on.

The one who created this "Evil Hound" must have been the bald man he killed that night!—Because this woman was the "apprentice" who met with Iver that night! Many fragments immediately reorganized in his mind, forming new clues:

According to the original history, players should have suddenly appeared, startling the two and saving Iver, who was already on the altar, thus preventing the Shadow Demon's descent. Afterward, the man left and created the "Evil Hound" to guard this secret stronghold.

And the "Pelican Bar" should be related to the "Noble Red" society.

Or rather, this was originally an outpost of their organization in Avalon.

The reason it's called an outpost...

Is because even Iver, who doesn't remember the plot very well, knows that the mysterious society "Noble Red" is actually a front for spies from the Stibium Kingdom! The higher-ups of this society are all secret agents of the Stibium Kingdom—they support the suppressed Demon Scholars within the Avalon Kingdom by distributing demonology books and forbidden ritual materials.

Of course, the two people who came to find Iver probably weren't qualified to know such secrets.

He also immediately remembered why this incident could involve a certain minister of Avalon.

Now, because he killed that man back then, the evil hound is no longer at the bar.

—Although it's meaningless, he has indeed changed a very small part of history!

And the apprentice who escaped that day is Villainous Warlock Veronica. A level 19 Demon Scholar, just one step away from reaching the third energy level.

Players affectionately call her Big Purple or Bald Woman.

Because she's the lowest-level boss that can drop red robes, Big Purple is farmed quite a bit. Although the red robes aren't pretty and don't have any stats, they can unlock the "Noble Red" society's event line.

That event line allows you to obtain four books and a decent staff. The four books give a lot of skill experience, so players who are Demon Scholars have to do it sooner or later.

Compared to the first two bosses that Iver forgot, Veronica's mechanics are much harder to deal with.

—Just like now, she's appearing while already conjuring a ball.

Fifteen seconds after the start of the fight, she will directly target the player with the highest threat, releasing a high-speed, weakly homing "Curse Infant." If you can't dodge this skill, you die instantly.

This high damage is impossible to withstand at this level without damage reduction or invincibility skills. It probably requires a level 30+ tank class to use a limit break to survive this move. So you can only dodge.

And players killed by her during the battle will be immediately sacrificed to summon small Fiends. The small Fiends aren't hard to deal with; it's just a matter of focusing fire for three rounds. But having a corpse sacrificed means that you can't combat-resurrect to replenish the team.

This dungeon is for four people. If you fail to dodge the mechanic at the start, you immediately lose a quarter of your combatants—and most likely the tank.

The rest isn't difficult; it's just a continuous, periodic release of an increasingly painful group damage. The higher the stacks, the slower the movement speed and attack speed, until one player dies and the other players' stacks reset to zero.

As long as no one dies in the first round of mechanics, basically focusing fire can steal enough health; otherwise, the healer has to sacrifice themselves when they really can't raise the health bar, clearing the stacks for other teammates. If we can't pass this time, then it's impossible.

Unlike the previous two BOSSes, which you could clear without looking at a guide, just improvising based on the situation, Veronica will likely wipe you once on the first encounter if you go in blind.

You could say this BOSS knows how to play.

Before even appearing, she secretly uses a ritual to charge up a big move, aiming to take out one person at the start. Unlike other game BOSSes that save their big moves until they're about to die—this output mode is very similar to players, who also unleash a burst at the start.

As a healing class, Iver definitely needs to read the guide.

If the tank or DPS doesn't handle the mechanics well at the beginning, he has to sacrifice himself. After playing for a long time, he becomes exceptionally skilled.

But after all, it's the BOSS of the initial dungeon, so players will definitely become lazier the more they play.

Therefore, players have also developed a strategy to skip Veronica's mechanics.

And to put it bluntly, it's very simple.

Iver's previous preparations were precisely for this moment—

He slightly opened his left hand, hidden beneath his cloak, and the power of shadow silently gathered in his fingers. The "Enchantment Card: Shadow Blade" he created last night emerged from the distorted void, held between his index and middle fingers.

To divert Veronica's attention, Iver calmly said, "You've left far too many flaws—or rather, countless.

"I was even a little slow to realize the truth. I believe that if it were the famous Sherlock, he would have guessed it immediately."

As he spoke, the pistol in his right hand slightly approached the "Moon" Tarot card in his left hand.

The moment the gun touched the Tarot card that had been rewritten into "Enchantment Card: Shadow Blade,"

Iver's mind flickered, and the enchantment card held in his left hand suddenly transformed into a mass of shadow, seeping into the lady's pistol held in his right hand.

Then, he openly raised the pistol, aiming at the Villainous Warlock Veronica.

The red-robed woman recognized Iver's identity at this moment.

She originally wanted to ask Iver how he survived that night—the moment she saw the Shadow Demon lose control and kill her mentor that day, she turned around and fled without hesitation. She didn't know that Iver had controlled the Shadow Demon, only assuming that the mentor's contract had failed.

But seeing Iver's ridiculous actions, the doubts and wariness in her heart were replaced by contempt.

She couldn't help but sneer, not even bothering to dodge, "You don't think something like that will work on me, do you? Elven Made, Lady's Grip, five-round capacity—am I right? You think it will work on me? I don't even bother to dodge. Why don't I just stand here and let you shoot me?"