Collapse (Third Update)
A boss that transforms into a physical type will have its Life Value and resistances increased dramatically, which is obviously the most disadvantageous situation when it comes to finishing off low-health enemies.
Transforming into a power-type BOSS greatly increases the difficulty of Bai Xiaowen's melee attack combos, significantly reducing the likelihood of inflicting additional status effects such as imbalance, knockback, or floating.
Transforming into an agile boss isn't easy either. Agile bosses are incredibly fast, greatly reducing Bai Xiaowen's attack accuracy. With the boss's movement speed drastically increased, how can Bai Xiaowen possibly chase after it while enduring a barrage of Frost Potion slowing effects?
In summary, the current state of Mental Specialty is most advantageous to Bai Xiaowen's tactical plan.
After a brief moment of stunned silence following the Lightning Strike, the BOSS raised its hand again, preparing to administer the transformation potion. At this moment, the Bone Warlock raised its hand a second time, unleashing its Ghost Path skill.
Ghost Path is a single-target control skill, but it only takes effect if the target's Willpower Check. Norton has extremely high spirit and willpower attributes, so he won't be controlled by Ghost Path. However, a momentary pause is unavoidable.
In those two brief pauses, Bai Xiaowen, in her Gliding state, swooped down like a large bird and landed in front of Norton.
Just as Norton was about to raise his hand to administer the potion for the third time, Bai Xiaowen had already steadied himself in a horse stance, twisted his waist and swung his arm, unleashing a powerful punch that burned with flames.
From the moment that punch was thrown, Norton was no longer able to drink the potion to transform.
Although [Potion Mutation] is a skill that doesn't require casting time, its description suggests that it requires a "drinking" action. Under Bai Xiaowen's beating, Norton couldn't perform this simple action and therefore couldn't transform.
Bai Xiaowen's strength was not much higher than Norton's, but his Melee Combat Specialty Suppression and increasingly proficient mastery of the Bai Xiaowen -Kusanagi-Style Ancient Martial Arts allowed him to easily execute a combo, keeping Norton constantly unbalanced, knocked back, and airborne.
As Bai Xiaowen Gliding over and began to beat Norton, Li Shuyi and her summoned creatures carefully bypassed the area covered by the Frost Potion and ran to Norton's side.
With Li Shuyi and the summoned creatures joining the fray, the continuous attacks on Norton became much easier. Just as Norton made a move, a Skeleton Sword-and-Shield Soldier's Shield Bash struck, ensuring he staggered and was rendered unable to do anything.
This is the tragedy of bosses with Mental Specialty Mental Specialty: once they get close, they may be continuously controlled and unable to use any skills.
Of course, many high-level bosses with Mental Specialty have a trump card, such as silently casting control spells or spells like "Flash" to create distance. Once the distance is created, the high-damage spells of Mental Specialty bosses will definitely make the enemy pay a heavy price.
The key issue is that Norton's profession is "Voodoo Alchemist," and apart from using potions, he doesn't have any silent spells to escape being ganged up on.
Norton's last hope was that the three Mutated Giant Corpse were slowly approaching to protect their master.
Unfortunately, the slowing field created by Norton's Frost Potion is still there. This type of field cannot distinguish between friend and foe. Although the Mutated Giant Corpse have some intelligence, it is impossible for them to safely avoid all slowing fields like Li Shuyi and Bai Xiaowen's summoned creatures. Their Bloated Body make it difficult for them to do so.
A series of screams rang out from Norton as his Life Value plummeted rapidly.
As the three Mutated Giant Corpse traversed numerous deceleration fields and arrived at a distance of only about ten meters from Norton, another tall and bulky figure blocked their way.
The Voodoo Stitched Monster Fatty has been waiting for a long time.
Behind Fatty, there were two Skeleton Sword-and-Shield Soldier. The Skeleton Sword-and-Shield Soldier drew their swords and, one on the left and one on the right, slashed at Fatty's bulky buttocks in perfect unison.
Of course, under Bai Xiaowen's control, these were just two light strikes, causing only single-digit amounts of forced damage. The purpose of these two strikes was simple: to activate Fatty's "Corrupting Blood" skill!
Under the influence of the Corrupting Blood skill, the movement speed of the three Mutated Giant Corpse was reduced again, now moving at a snail's pace. They advanced by roaring or whispering, clashing head-on with Fatty and the Skeleton Sword-and-Shield Soldier.
The Mutated Giant Corpse has a very high physique and an exceptionally long Life Value, but its attack power is a major weakness. It mainly relies on the Toxic Miasma skill to harass enemies within melee range, like three large pieces of chewing gum.
In a sense, Fatty's tactical role is similar to that of the Mutated Giant Corpse.
With the two Skeleton Sword-and-Shield Soldier providing cover, it was virtually impossible for the Mutated Giant Corpse to bypass Fatty. Their only option was to launch an attack, unleashing a series of slow, feeble punches.
The damage from this attack was negligible for Fatty, allowing Fatty to continue stacking the Corrupting Blood layers. The two Skeleton Sword-and-Shield Soldier, when attacked, Block Block possible, and if not, simply hide behind Fatty.
One of the Mutated Giant Corpse growled softly, then suddenly took a step to the side, grabbed a warhammer from the weapon rack by the wall, and swung it forcefully.
The Fatty took this blow, and a chunk of skin and flesh was swept away, which was significantly more damaging than when he was empty-handed.
The other two Mutated Giant Corpse also rushed to the weapon rack by the wall, one grabbing a giant sword and the other a giant axe, and began hacking and slashing wildly at Fatty.
"This old guy wasn't exaggerating... The Mutated Giant Corpse does indeed possess some combat intelligence; it can even temporarily grab weapons and equipment for its own use!" Bai Xiaowen muttered as they ganged up on Norton. "Fatty shouldn't be able to hold out for long; let's finish this quickly."
Li Shuyi nodded. She was already in full-power attack mode. The Thunder Mark she had accumulated for a long time suddenly erupted, causing an additional seventy points of damage, resulting in a high value of 114 points of damage in the final attack.
Norton screamed in agony as Li Shuyi's sword strike unleashed Thunder Mark, tearing away a large chunk of his flesh, leaving him covered in blood. His Life Value had plummeted to the dangerous red line.
"Damn bastards... I'll make you all pay with your lives!"
A rumbling, trembling sound arose, and wisps of dust began to fall from the dome of the entire Underground Research Lab. Gradually, small pieces of rubble began to fall.
This was a mechanism Norton had set up when he built the Underground Research Lab. To prevent his research findings from falling into the wrong hands, he included a self-destruct device in the Underground Research Lab. This is underground; if the dome were to collapse, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Bai Xiaowen unleashed his final punch, depleting Norton's Life Value. A Large Golden Treasure Chest materialized, which Bai Xiaowen scooped up.
"Withdraw!"