Shadow Prophet Magik (2-in-1)
This Lobsterfolk village is located behind a vast mudflat. The houses are low and dilapidated, built from rotting giant mushrooms, with a few seashells occasionally visible as decorations.
Bai Xiaowen and his group were in the open, and the other side had already discovered them; otherwise, they wouldn't have sent a large group of Lobsterfolk warriors to intercept them.
Therefore, this attack on the Lobsterfolk village was not a surprise Ambush; both sides were prepared for a direct confrontation.
Groups of Lobsterfolk emerged from all around the houses and roads, wielding their massive claws and charging towards the Awakened Ones. It's worth noting that there was still no Boss Tier among the Lobsterfolk; only a group of ordinary monsters and a small number of Elite Tier monsters.
As usual, after Han Xu and the other awakened ones held off a few Elite Tier monsters, the rest were left to Bai Xiaowen and Li Shuyi to deal with.
After clearing out two waves of Lobsterfolk, Bai Xiaowen and his group reached the central area of Lobsterfolk's village. Here, they finally encountered fierce resistance.
Ten Elite Tier Lobsterfolk, leading hundreds of ordinary Lobsterfolk, joined the battle, completely surrounding the awakened team of less than ten people.
Under Bai Xiaowen's command, melee Awakened Ones held the outer circle, while ranged Awakened Ones were in the inner circle, holding off the Lobsterfolk monster horde's attacks. Then, relying on the Awakened Ones' skills and Battle Specialty, they continuously reduced the number of Lobsterfolk to zero.
Bai Xiaowen and Li Shuyi worked together to eliminate the Elite Tier Lobsterfolk leader, reducing the enemy's main threat target.
They were having a great time when suddenly an old roar rang out, and a Lobsterfolk appeared, having lost a lot of its shell and even one of its claws.
This Lobsterfolk was even larger than the Elite Tier creature, clearly Leader Tier being. In its remaining right claw, it held a tattered staff, the tip of which was inlaid with a crystal. It uttered obscure syllables, and with a flick of its staff, a beam of black light was projected into the Lobsterfolk monster horde.
The Lobsterfolk illuminated by the black light roared in unison and swung their pincers much faster.
Normal Lobsterfolk don't have vocal cords and can't make sounds, but these Lobsterfolk, as Human Species beings, are different—take the Snakefolk as an example, they have an extra pair of hands (some even have more than one pair) compared to real snakes.
Bai Xiaowen received a hint:
"Based on your talent: Insight, you have obtained the following information."
"Shadow Prophet Magik's skill: Inspire activates, allies within a 100-meter radius will enter Frenzy State, increasing their attack speed by 40%. This buff decays over time, reaching 0% within 1 minute, and only applies to Lobsterfolk."
The Boss Tier monster is truly extraordinary; this skill, compared to the Howl skill of Rageclaw, is arguably just as good. Bai Xiaowen casually cast Insight over it.
[Majik (Level 7 Boss Tier)]
[Race: Human Species / Lobsterman Tribe]
[Class: Shadow Prophet]
[Attributes: Strength 25, Agility 19, Constitution 33, Spirit 74]
[Skill 1: Shadow Ripple: Majik unleashes a spreading Shadow Ripple, cursing surrounding enemies. Enemies affected by the Shadow Ripple have their maximum Life Value reduced by 10%. This effect can stack, up to 5 times. The curse effect of the Shadow Ripple will only dissipate 10 seconds after leaving combat.]
[Skill 2: Inspire: Omitted.]
[Skill 3: Prophecy of Suffering: Majik reveals the tragic fate of an enemy, dealing 5 instances of Shadow damage (spell damage) to the target over 10 seconds, with the damage increasing progressively.]
[Skill 4: Gospel Prophecy: Majik reveals the gospel destiny of an allied unit, healing the target 5 times over 10 seconds, with the healing amount increasing progressively.]
[Skill 5: Lobsterman Leader LV1: Increases Life Value by 300 points, reduces the duration of all control effects by 30%.]
This Insight revealed all five skills, which is quite rare for a Advanced Boss. Generally, when Bai Xiaowen's Insight level is Boss Tier than his own, one or two skills will be in a "???" state, especially for level 7 Boss Tier.
In any case, it's a good thing to be able to Insight through all the skills.
"A spell that reduces the maximum Life Value of an entire group, a spell that buffs an entire group, plus a single-target damage spell and a single-target healing spell... This boss is not easy to fight, it's very strong!" Bai Xiaowen quickly made a judgment, especially since the spirit of this Lobsterfolk Shadow Prophet was terrifyingly high, a whopping 74 points!
The [Prophecy of Suffering] spell, conservatively estimated, will accumulate over 200 damage over five hits. If [Shadow Ripple] stacks 5 times, reducing maximum Life Value by 50%, no one except Bai Xiaowen can withstand the BOSS's single-target spell.
The only good news is that the BOSS's strength is relatively low, so the success rate of interrupting the Skeleton Sword-and-Shield Soldier's Shield Bash is still quite high.
However, Bai Xiaowen wasn't sure if a high-level magic-based Boss Tier could be completely trapped and killed by a few Skeleton Sword-and-Shield Soldier.
"Han Xu! Move the Elite Tier Lobsterfolk further away, spread out the battlefield, and stay away from the BOSS!" Bai Xiaowen shouted. "The BOSS's main skill can reduce the maximum Life Value of nearby enemies by up to half! Everyone, except for me and Shu Yi, stay away!"
The awakened ones felt a chill run down their spines and quickly distanced themselves.
Bai Xiaowen commanded four Skeleton Sword-and-Shield Soldier to advance and attack the Shadow Prophet Magik, thus officially beginning the BOSS battle.
The Lobsterfolk Majik's bulging eyes were cloudy, and he opened his mouth, letting out a low roar, uttering a phrase in Old Latin: "Greedy outsiders, you will be buried in this swamp!"
Swish!
A black ripple spread rapidly, expanding to nearly forty meters! Within this forty-meter radius, the maximum Life Value of all Awakened Ones and Bai Xiaowen's summoned creatures all decreased by 10%.
"The skill range is so large... Well, with the BOSS's Spirit stat at 74, this isn't an exaggeration. However, this Shadow Ripple doesn't require any casting animation; it's cast silently! This is troublesome..."
Without any casting animation, it means there's no warning, making it very difficult for Bai Xiaowen to control the Skeleton Sword-and-Shield Soldier to anticipate and interrupt the BOSS's skill.
"Keep pulling apart!" Bai Xiaowen shouted.
Han Xu shook his head. "There's no way to pull it apart any further..."
Chen Guowei explained, "After Old Han moved away from the BOSS, the Elite Tier Lobsterfolk stopped chasing him. They seemed unwilling to stray too far from their Boss Tier Lobsterfolk."
Bai Xiaowen shook his head helplessly. "Then you guys go all out, use all your trump cards. Leave the BOSS to me and Shu Yi. Old Chen, I remember you have a C-Tier Silver Tier item? Use it on the BOSS, we'll see how many abnormal statuses it inflicts."
"Sigh, I was thinking of using it to ambush people in the league, but I probably won't get a chance to play..."
Chen Guowei chuckled and took out an unassuming, shriveled poison sac from his Storage Space, then used it to poison his bow.
By poisoning the bow, each arrow fired within a certain number of shots will be inflicted with poison. Chen Guowei used a C-Tier Silver Tier item he obtained from the Broken-Spine Mountain Grand Rift: Desiccated Poison Sac. Using this item would randomly inflict negative status effects on the next five attacks.
If it only had the aforementioned effects, this Desiccated Poison Sac would at most be rated as a B+ or A-Tier ordinary item, not even reaching the level of a C-Tier Silver Tier item. However, this poison sac can be reused, recovering one use every 24 hours! That's pretty amazing.
Even with an Standard Template level 3 Awakener like Chen Guowei, attacking a level 7 Boss Tier wouldn't significantly impact the Battle Rating. However, if a crucial negative status effect occurs during the five attacks, it would be much more advantageous.
Chen Guowei drew his bow and released an arrow with a whoosh.
Dodge!
Although the Shadow Prophet Magik looked old and slow, he was very experienced in combat and easily dodged the arrow with a twist of his body.
Chen Guowei blushed and silently fired.
The second and third arrows, although they hit their targets, only caused single-digit damage, and Chen Guowei also received a notification:
"Shadow Prophet Magik resisted the poison effect of your ' Desiccated Poison Sac ', the negative status effect has not taken effect."
With a bitter expression, Chen Guowei shared the battle tips with Bai Xiaowen.
"Shoot again."
Bai Xiaowen remained unmoved, steadily firing shot after shot. His ranged attack power was far superior to Chen Guowei's, and his Shooting Specialty, enhanced by the Ultimate Academic Ace, had reached level 4. His accuracy was also much higher, with each shot drawing a sliver of blood and reducing the BOSS's Life Value by about thirty points. An occasional Piercing bullet could deal over fifty points of damage!
Bai Xiaowen also saw Chen Guowei's combat intelligence. The Lobsterfolk Boss Tier, Majik, showed "resistance" rather than "immunity" to Chen Guowei's poisoned arrow attack! This means that Majik could still be successfully poisoned, although the probability was relatively low.
Chen Guowei fired two more arrows.
The fourth arrow went astray and missed completely. The fifth arrow finally struck, and a notification message appeared:
"Shadow Prophet Magik has been hit by a poisoned arrow and will be in a weakened state for 10 seconds: Strength reduced by 20%."
Bai Xiaowen's eyes lit up. Now that Majik's strength had been further reduced by 5 points, he was almost on par with the Skeleton Sword-and-Shield Soldier.
Swish!
Two more Skeleton Sword-and-Shield Soldier were summoned. At this moment, Bai Xiaowen could no longer just think about hiding his trump cards. The two additional Skeleton Sword-and-Shield Soldier slots from the Black Soul Stone were quickly revealed. The six Skeleton Sword-and-Shield Soldier surrounded the Shadow Prophet Magik and took turns launching heavy attacks!
Clang! Clang!
With Majik's strength reduced, the success rate of his Shield Bash increased significantly, causing him to sway unsteadily and constantly lose his balance.
Chen Guowei poisoned the arrows again and began a new round of shooting. All five shots hit their mark, mainly because Majik was thrown off balance by the Shield Bash and couldn't dodge, essentially making him a sitting duck.
Chen Guowei was lucky this time, causing the Lobsterfolk Boss Tier to suffer two adverse conditions.
[Hallucination: The target experiences auditory hallucinations, reducing their evasion rate against ranged attacks.]
[Bleeding: Omitted.]
After Majik was thrown off balance by the Skeleton Sword-and-Shield Soldier's repeated Shield Bash, Rageclaw roared and charged forward, pinning him to the ground and tearing at him frantically.
The Suppression lasted a full 2.4 seconds! This was only because the BOSS's passive skill "Lobsterman Leader" granted a 30% immunity to the duration; otherwise, the control time would have been over 3.5 seconds.
During this time, Bai Xiaowen and Li Shuyi worked hard to deal damage, even summoning the Bone Warlock and the Vampire Kitz to attack the BOSS.
Li Shuyi ranks first in damage output again. When she activates the Demonfire Dance, the attack speed of her dual swords is astonishingly fast, like a windmill.
Once the control period ended, the BOSS unleashed a powerful strike, lifting its Rageclaw and unleashing a second Shadow Ripple, also silently cast, which rapidly spread, hitting everyone simultaneously. Their maximum Life Value has now been reduced by 20%.
"Shu Yi, use weapon skills." Bai Xiaowen's voice rang out through the team channel.
Li Shuyi flicked her blood-red longsword with her right hand, and a stream of blood shot out from the body of the Shadow Prophet Magik, turning into a blood mist that bathed Li Shuyi's longsword.
This is the active skill of the Redleaf Lord's Glory Sword: Blood Drain. It directly dealt 5*8=40 points of theoretical magic damage to the Shadow Prophet Magik and healed himself for the same amount of Life Value! Moreover, this golden weapon has been enhanced to +7 and has the "Power Siphon" effect. While casting it, it also drained 10 points of Majik's power and added them to Li Shuyi. Lasting for 30 seconds!
These 30 seconds can be considered Li Shuyi's golden time for output. Her single-hit damage is linked to her strength. Originally, she only had 20 points of strength, but under the effect of the Power Siphon effect, it reached 30 points of strength, which is comparable to the value of a high-damage warrior of the same level.
Li Shuyi's attack speed, however, is something that those strength-based warriors can only dream of.
Bai Xiaowen's left hand quickly formed Spell Talisman, and a yellow Spell Talisman hit the Shadow Prophet Magik, turning into a stun effect and successfully stunning him for nearly 2 seconds.
Along with this Spell Talisman, a value of "-63" appeared. From a perspective visible only to Bai Xiaowen, a savage Orcs phantom roared and pounced, colliding with Majik before dissipating.
This is the special effect of Absolon's Blood Essence Stone's third skill: Killing Thirst when it is triggered. Fortunately, only Bai Xiaowen can see it; otherwise, such a cool effect would definitely cause a lot of speculation if others saw it.
The Shadow Prophet Magik was continuously attacked, and his Life Value quickly dropped to half. He let out a series of angry roars.
The third Shadow Ripple was unleashed silently without warning, reducing everyone's maximum Life Value by 30%.
"After dealing another wave of damage, everyone except me must retreat at least 40 meters away from the BOSS!"
Bai Xiaowen put away his pistol, activated the Sprint effect on his shoes, increasing his movement speed by 30%, and charged towards the Shadow Prophet Magik. His flaming punch slammed into Majik's abdomen, followed by a rapid series of Flame Combat Arts. He finished with an elbow strike, knocking the BOSS to his knees.