Chapter 358 - Reckless and Wingless
—Let's start with the conclusion: [Epel, Great Ice Spirit Guardian] is not the kind of boss enemy you can somehow beat on a solo first attempt.
Furthermore, it's doubtful it's even intended to be fought by a normal party. This thing is probably a piece of major content recommended for a raid.
Actually, it's not probably, it's almost certain. The evidence? The mechanics it employs are clearly beyond what a small group can handle!
First, there are the countless 'clones' it has deployed constantly since the start of the fight. The rain of ice pillars is impossible for even a hyper-evasion build like me to dodge completely without [Fatal Leak (Eye of Foreknowledge)], of course.
But as the battle progresses, their attack patterns—or rather, the types of magic they use—increase to three, and at that point, they become truly impossible to deal with.
The ice pillars had some merciful aspects, like the fact that the damage per hit wasn't as high as it looked, but when you have to handle everything alone, it's a different story.
There are fast-moving, player-targeting ice pillars; beams that fire with a slight delay; and a small area-of-effect freezing debuff—they can do whatever they want.
No, it's impossible. I'm already at my limit just dealing with them. And they get replenished instantly after I thin them out? This is a blatant 'solo players not welcome' design. I don't have enough hands for this!
And putting that bonus aside, the biggest problem, one that makes even those troublesome minions pale in comparison, is the big boss himself, Epel.
First off, this thing comes standard with a ridiculously cheap ability where any attack that lands a clean hit once becomes ineffective.
I was being hounded by the minions' barrage all by myself, so I haven't been able to test it thoroughly. Right now, it's just a guess, an assumption, but it's a fact that after that first strike, my attacks with [Samidorizuki] stopped doing any real damage.
I was able to confirm that the [Bullets] I threw afterward did do damage, so the one saving grace is that it doesn't seem to acquire resistance to broad categories like 'Swords' or 'Slashes'.
However, for a solo player like me whose variety of attacks is only slightly better than the average player's, it's a fatal flaw. It only gains resistance, so a tiny bit of damage still gets through, making it possible to chip away at its health, but…
Well, it's not realistic. I'd rather die than get into a battle of attrition against this thing while being constantly targeted by inexhaustible floating cannons.
It's similar to the [Gemlant Quintesta] I fought before. If it were a boss that mainly sat back and summoned minions, I might have had a chance, but…
—it seems this Great Spirit is the type that likes to get its own hands dirty.
"Tch—I messed up…!"
With no room to breathe, I somehow managed to keep a count running in the back of my mind. Realizing I'd miscalculated, I let out a loud curse.
I dodged a synchronized volley from the minions' beams, and as my body hung in the air, I used [Hare Real] to touch the void and forcibly slam myself back down onto the ice—then, [Construction].
I managed to deploy [Twaibolt Mirari] just in time, successfully hiding my cowering form beneath the two greatshields I held up.
And an instant later—
"Gah… that was close!?!"
Heeding the high-pitched warning sound my ears picked up just before, Epel's periodic ultimate attack—a 'player-targeting, scatter-shot, indiscriminate, wide-area, giant-freaking-laser-beam'—was unleashed.
Number of beams: a lot.
Power: probably instant death if it grazes you.
It's a mandatory-response gimmick skill. A warning sound starts five seconds before it fires, and it recharges ninety seconds after it ends.
Perhaps they share the same energy source, because when Epel fires that thing, its minions stop moving. So if you handle it properly—probably by taking cover behind the great ice tree, which I assume is the intended strategy—it can even become a short break time, but…
"Ngh… ugh, ghh, gh…!"
If you neglect your timing or screw up, this is what happens. The beam pins both me and the shields I used to block it to the ground, its aftershocks relentlessly chipping away at my HP.
Recovery is possible, but Arcadia's self-healing items, potions, are the modest type: they heal over time and restore a limited amount in total.
To top it off, they have a cooldown before you can use another one, and you can't stack or use multiple at once. If you rely on them too much, you get hit with a nasty, atmosphere-focused debuff called 'Potion Sickness', which renders you completely unable to use them and lowers your stats. What a delightful system.
In short, they're trash. Help me, Sora-sama!
"Ggh…! —Hah, survived!"
The moment the light and pressure of the massive lasers that filled my vision vanished, I sent the twin shields away and immediately kicked off the ground to get out of there.
Instantly, a barrage of ice projectiles from the reactivated minions, the Liepis-Aisia, rained down—followed by a mass projectile from the great spirit who had just finished its grand spectacle.
In other words, a direct attack from the big guy himself.
Seriously, every single monster…! Can you please stop using your 'bigness' as a simple, direct, and highly effective form of attack!?
"Gwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! This is impossible! I can't win!"
No, this is just plain impossible. This isn't a scale one person can handle! I've been messing with this thing for nearly thirty minutes and I've only managed to get through a single health bar!
I scrambled desperately to escape the combination of its massive body charging at low altitude and the unending barrage of ice projectiles. I searched my brain for strategies and tactics, but the search came up empty.
Right now, I feel like I'm being slammed with the reality of solo play.
Our usual pair-based approach is already pretty unconventional by Arcadia's standards, but that only works because of the immense power of my partner, who embodies versatility.
People might call me a Ranker or an Acrobat, but in the end, I'm just one player. It's only natural that there are limits to what a specialized build can achieve on its own…!
Okay, I get it. I admit it.
This is just like the [Dusty Worm] from back then. At least, as I am now, I don't see any way I can handle Epel solo—so it's time to change my objective!
Come to think of it, I've never tried this with other monsters, but a 'certain example' has already proven that it is possible within the game's system.
Yes, even if I can't defeat it, if I just forcibly steal the material I'm after—
"You bastard… at the very least, I'm taking one of your feathers home with me…!"
Just like with the [Ruby Bullet Rabbits], where you can get their material by breaking their horns without killing them, it shouldn't be a waste to bet on this slim hope.
In that case, I no longer need weapons that can't deal damage.
What I need are legs to weave through the barrage and the boss's rampage to get close to those massive wings. And two hands to grab a feather, rip it out, and make it mine!
"Alright, you bastard, give me those feathers!"
And so, with a hundred-percent-desperate war cry.
The curtain rose on a frenzied second round between me and the great spirit.