Vampire Princess Guide in Progress - Volume 1 Chapter 26

Chapter 26: The Battle Against Minorius (Part 3)

***

Nolan quickly adjusted his posture, it was time to deal with the group mechanics.

The arena was divided into four large pillars, which could be marked as ABCD. During the beast’s charging period, it would perform jumps. When the BOSS jumped to point A, points A, B, and D would all suffer range AOE damage, requiring players to hide at point C to solve the mechanic.

In other words, when the giant ram beast jumped to a certain pillar, one had to immediately move to the diagonally opposite pillar to avoid damage.

During this time, one needed to be careful of the axe stuck in the ground in the middle of the field, which continuously emitted electricity. Being hit would cause paralysis, and in group battles, if one person was paralyzed, nearby people would also be affected by conduction, easily leading to a team wipe. This required everyone to handle it properly.

But this was also an advantage of Nolan soloing the BOSS, similar group mechanics could be tackled by a single person without those concerns.

“Roar!” The giant ram beast began to howl, a sign of impending jump.

It was point B! After seeing clearly where the giant ram beast was jumping, Nolan immediately ran toward the pillar at point D, quickly dodging the electricity on the ground, and with a roll, hid in the shadow of pillar D.

Subsequently, the giant ram beast began its war stomp, causing the ground in all areas except behind pillar D to collapse and deal area damage.

After this attack pattern repeated four times, the giant ram beast became exhausted, charging and crashing into a pillar, its horns getting stuck, falling into a 【Weakened】 state again. However, 【Falling Rocks】 began to appear throughout the arena, creating many small red circles that would cause damage if not avoided in time.

Dodge the continuous falling rocks and attack the BOSS in its weakened state!

“I can only get in one round of attacks, can’t be careless…” Nolan charged his blade once more, climbed onto the beast’s body, quickly rotated in the air to complete the second stage of charging, and with all his might, slashed downward!

And as he had planned, he didn’t get greedy with damage, immediately retreating as soon as the weakness period ended.

“Human, you actually… actually…” Finally, the horned beast was beaten back to its original form, staggering backward almost to the point of falling, and grabbing its long axe from the ground again. With this, all the BOSS’s mechanics, all of the second floor BOSS’s patterns, had been revealed. What followed would be a head-to-head confrontation.

This was the final phase, the BOSS’s health bar was now less than two bars remaining.

All potion buff times were also running low, and healing potions were almost depleted. Even blocking wouldn’t prevent all damage. The upcoming phase was the final recovery stage, and victory had to be decided here!

There was no room for error; any mistake from this point on would lead to failure.

At this moment, both sides had fought to exhaustion, both in a critical state with low health.

In this final moment of courage, only the brave warrior who faced battle head-on could win the final victory, and by now, life and death had been cast aside. Nolan had come with exactly this determination.

“Hyaaaaaaah!”

“Roar!!!”

Nolan drew his sword with a battle cry, while the horned beast also put forth its last strength. In an instant, the dazzling blade lights from both sides clashed in a chaotic fury! Each blocking sound reduced Nolan’s health bar, and each fierce slash continuously cut down the BOSS’s HP value.

It seemed like an intense race, with both sides desperately trying to defeat the other first. Their health bars decreased in sync, competing for final victory amidst the increasingly exhilarating orchestral music and drum beats.

To get out alive… to leave this place alive.

Having finally found a new self in this game world, how could he easily fall here?

He didn’t want to die.

He didn’t want to die here!

Faster, even faster.

“Aaaaaaaah!” Nolan let out his final cry with all his might. The Wind Walker effect of the Swift Wind Sword was maintained at 2 stacks due to the high-frequency attacks, allowing the sword’s speed to gradually surpass the original skill rotation cooldown.

【Starlight Seven Consecutive Thrusts】 — it was ready.

When this prompt appeared in the skill bar, watching as Minorius’s last HP bar dropped to less than one-fifth, Nolan tightly gripped his sword, which made a clear sound and emitted an enormous blue glow, instantly illuminating half of his face.

“Die—!!!”

The swift, rain-like sword technique rapidly pierced the horned beast’s body, reducing its health bar to just 2%, no, probably not even 1%. Just one last hit, just a tiny bit more damage would completely defeat it!!!

However, just as he raised his final sword, about to slash down…

“!!!” Nolan clearly saw the horned beast’s axe suddenly change direction at the last moment, shifting from the original vertical chop attack module to a horizontal sweep, meaning he would be unable to block and would be hit more quickly.

And his HP value at this moment was less than 10%.

Why… when all previous attacks hadn’t changed attack patterns, or rather this BOSS had almost only existed with that normal attack method, why did a change appear in this final blow, at this exact moment?

With a loud bang, Minorius’s axe shattered Nolan’s armor and was about to send him flying.

In that instant, time seemed to slow down.

Nolan opened his eyes wide in terror, feeling intense shock and pain while watching his remaining HP rapidly decrease, as if representing the final flow of his life—until everything reached zero.

“…!!!” His pupils trembled as he watched this final scene, his heartbeat almost stopping instantly.

HP value already… death… Am I going to die?

With a massive impact sound, Nolan’s body was instantly chopped into the air, the sword in his hand making a “clang” as it fell to the ground. His entire body curved helplessly in the air, fear instantly flooding his whole body like cold water, making him completely unable to move.

The horned beast standing on the ground below him, seemingly grinning at him as the victor, also had only an almost invisible amount of health left, perhaps just 0.2%, needing only one final hit — but he had been hit first.

His body gradually made breaking sounds, and Nolan could feel himself becoming transparent and extremely heavy. His arms began to disintegrate into crystal fragments, continuously floating upward… losing the ability for any final resistance.

He couldn’t move anymore…

Ah, so I’ve died, completely died in this game…

In the end, I still failed, even though I thought I could show off alone and return to celebrate with them… At this point, it’s just regrettable…

As his vision gradually fell into darkness, Nolan’s lips trembled violently. In this moment, he understood the feelings of those who had sacrificed themselves in battle before. At the moment of near-death, it truly was… terrifying.

But in that fear, Nolan felt even more… regret… he was so close.

I’m sorry… Cross.

……

Meanwhile, a group of people running through the forest on the second floor.

“Hurry! Faster!” Cross, holding her magic staff to her chest, was leading a group of people quickly through the forest. Accompanying her were not only Kilo and Karl but also other players from Morning Dew Town who had assembled a team after hearing Cross’s plea “please save Nolan.”

Nolan’s last whereabouts had been cut off in front of the BOSS room.

There, Nolan had disbanded the party, making Cross sense something was wrong. Previously, whether he went out alone at night to farm monsters or complete quests, he had never disbanded the party, always allowing others to clearly see his HP value and location.

He wouldn’t let others risk their lives, yet he went to challenge the BOSS alone.

How could this possibly be something one person could accomplish? Even the strongest Iris Knights, even with a 25-person team, had failed!

“Hurry! It’s this way!” Cross, looking at the map and directing the team’s direction while running through the forest, was almost crying while holding her staff. She didn’t understand why Nolan had gone to challenge the BOSS alone.

Or rather, if they were going to tackle it, couldn’t they have formed a team together?

A single person absolutely had no chance of winning!

Don’t die…

Nolan, please don’t die…

If you die, what will I do from now on? I’ve only been able to stand here because of your help all this time. Didn’t we agree to wait until the day this game was cleared to leave?

Why did you go alone, and why did you never mention it to me!

Cross looked at the giant door in the distance, closed tightly under the heavy black clouds, with crystal tears overflowing from the corners of her eyes, blurring her vision.

“Don’t leave me… Nolan!!!”

And at this instant, at the moment when Cross’s cry echoed through the sky.

The bright moon hanging high in the sky was infused with some mysterious power, gradually turning crimson, becoming a scarlet blood moon.

In the cloudy night sky, red lightning suddenly burst forth, as if foretelling something’s descent.

Then with a thunderous boom, before the bewildered crowd, an extremely large and dazzling crimson lightning beam descended from the sky, instantly illuminating the entire night, striking directly through the entire BOSS room.