Vampire Princess Guide in Progress - Volume 1 Chapter 25

Chapter 25: The Battle Against Minorius (Part 2)

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Nolan supported himself with his sword, the BOSS’s jump back also giving him a moment to catch his breath.

“Heh, heh heh heh heh heh…”

The ram-horned giant, back on his throne, let out a chilling laugh and for the first time spoke in human language; “Human, you dare to challenge me alone, then how will you respond to this!!!”

“What?” Hearing these words, Nolan opened his eyes wide in shock.

This guy… can actually speak?

This situation had never occurred during the closed beta period, what’s going on?

And it didn’t seem to be fixed dialogue set by script, but rather words judged according to the situation? Does the BOSS have its own AI? Wait, is this content newly added in the public test version?

But obviously, now was not the time to dwell on this matter.

BOSS Minorius had entered phase two, returned to his throne, stuck his long axe in the ground, and a transparent shield began to surround him. A red casting bar also appeared below the BOSS’s health bar, an uninterruptible skill — 【Shield of Hundred War Machines】.

And Nolan also roughly understood why the ram-horned giant would say such things.

This red skill would last for nearly 1 minute, during which the BOSS would neither move nor attack, and players must break its shield during this period, otherwise it would give itself a 【Heightened】 BUFF, greatly increasing its attack and speed.

And this 【Shield of Hundred War Machines】 required damage from at least 7 types of weapons to break the shield.

“Heh, then you’ve underestimated me, Minorius.”

Or rather, underestimated closed beta players!

The moment the red skill began casting, Nolan had already charged out. When the “spear” icon appeared on the shield, he immediately switched his weapon to a spear, fiercely striking the shield! With a bang, the outermost layer of the shield made a shattering sound.

Then, the shield icon switched to “whip.” Nolan clicked his tongue; he hadn’t prepared a whip weapon and could only wait 5 seconds.

Once again, the shield icon switched to “sword.” A sword technique with flowing light was instantly released, and the shield shattered another layer. Immediately after, it switched to “staff,” and Nolan correspondingly switched to a staff, breaking through layer after layer of the shield.

Before the one-minute casting ended, all 7 layers of the shield were broken through.

However, Nolan didn’t relax his vigilance at all, because next came the “variable” in the Iris Knights’ intelligence, a change in mechanics, which was one of the unknown mechanics that had caused the death of 6 members.

With only five seconds left on the red casting bar.

Suddenly, Nolan saw that all the shields had actually completely restored and healed!

“What does this mean!?” Nolan saw a row of icons appear on the shield, meaning all weapon types could now break the shield, but there were less than five seconds left, or rather, now only four seconds remained!

This is bad, there’s no time! Even if he immediately switched weapons…

Nolan’s face suddenly turned pale.

If he couldn’t break the shield, the BOSS would gain Heightened in three seconds, and the greatly increased attributes would be enough to wipe out the team. Was this the unknown mechanism the Iris Knights mentioned? Perhaps they hadn’t figured out what this new mechanism was at that moment.

In reality, it was just that in the last five seconds, team members with seven different weapon types needed to attack again simultaneously.

But this was a new team mechanism that wasn’t present during the closed beta. Originally, he could handle the one-minute time limit as a solo player, but now with only a few seconds left, how could he switch weapons and attack in such a short time!?

At that moment, Nolan’s gaze shifted left to his skill bar.

A notification for a newly learned skill had popped up at that moment — 【Hundred Weapon Flurry】

【Hundred Weapon Flurry】: Instantaneously use all weapons in main weapon slot and standby weapon slots, dealing damage of different weapon types. (This is a hidden skill, acquired by completing the “Shield of Hundred War Machines” mechanism alone in the second floor BOSS stage, Minorius battle)

Ah… he remembered, when fighting as Tilia in this game during the closed beta.

Although he knew the BOSS had this mechanism, due to overwhelming stats, he didn’t bother dealing with it. Even if the BOSS gained the Heightened BUFF, he still powered through it, so he never truly completed the shield-breaking mechanism as a solo player.

But! This also meant it wasn’t over yet!

Nolan gripped the spear in his hand, and in the instant of throwing it, without needing to manually switch weapons, the next weapon appeared in his hand, and his movements seamlessly continued the throwing motion without any interval, so fast that Nolan’s movements almost left afterimages.

—【Hundred Weapon Flurry】!

In just two seconds, seven weapons consecutively struck the BOSS’s shield.

With a loud bang, the BOSS’s shield cracked like glass, then completely shattered!

“Roar——!!!” The ram-horned giant let out a roar, falling into a long period of kneeling weakness, “How is this possible… human, why do you know, how could you break my shield…”

Nolan’s forehead gradually lowered, as he gripped the Swift Wind Sword again.

“Perhaps because of the Iris Knights members who died at your hands, they exchanged their lives for information about you. Regardless, I must defeat you again today, Minorius…”

“Again? Heh, heh heh, no one has ever defeated me yet, human, what makes you say ‘again’?”

“Is that so, you don’t have memories from the closed beta period… or perhaps, that wasn’t the real you?”

But it didn’t matter. Whether it was the real Minorius or the false Minorius, he must fall before him once more.

After the phase two weakened state appeared (200% damage dealt during this period), Nolan used healing potions to fully restore his HP value, then once again used Starlight Seven Consecutive Thrusts, doing his utmost to output all damage during the weakened time!

— 【Multi-Strike Combo】!

— 【Linear Thrust】!

— 【Gravity Slash】!

“Guuuaaaahhhh——!”

Suddenly, Minorius’s entire body burst with forced super armor golden light.

The tremendous impact force instantly knocked Nolan away. He adjusted his posture while flying through the air, stabbing his sword into the ground. A sword mark instantly streaked across the ground until he retreated dozens of meters away, his feet finally gaining purchase on the ground.

From within the swirling smoke, an axe suddenly smashed into the ground.

The huge AOE damage instantly shattered the hall’s floor, and Nolan staggered, nearly unable to keep his footing. Then, caught off guard, the ram-horned giant’s figure suddenly charged forward, instantly transforming from its half-human form into a giant ram beast!

“This is bad!” Nolan’s reaction was half a beat too slow, by the time his brain registered what was happening, his body could no longer avoid it.

Under the giant ram beast’s charge, his body was violently slammed into a stone pillar. As he slid down from the pillar, his HP instantly turned red.

Nolan leaned unsteadily against the stone pillar, glancing at his rapidly decreasing health value, his pupils contracting. The Intermediate Healing Potions, which he didn’t have many of to begin with, were almost used up, with only one bottle left, and the Basic Healing Potions’ recovery effect was far from enough.

Moreover, in combat state, potion effects would be halved. Even if he used them all, it would take several minutes to fully recover.

To think he would take this hit head-on…

During the closed beta, he had the vampire flight ability to dodge, so his wariness of this move had decreased quite a bit. Previous experience couldn’t always be applied, and there was no room for another mistake.

Damn it, there’s no margin for error from now on.