Dimensional Codex System: I'm really not a cultist!

Chapter 905: Chapter 904: Something’s About to Go Wrong

”Black Snow Princess, Ang, pay attention. This BOSS might be a bit tricky.”

Looking at the lonely BOSS standing not far away, Fang Zheng didn’t hesitate to speak up and offer a reminder. Hearing Fang Zheng’s words, the two guild leaders were taken aback, but they had already stepped into the BOSS’s room. With a roar, the BOSS fight commenced.

”Vanguard, be careful!”

Black Snow Princess quickly added, then swiftly moved to Fang Zheng’s side and asked.

”Mr. Fang Zheng, did you notice something?”

”Do you know what game designers pay the most attention to when designing a BOSS level?”

But Fang Zheng did not immediately answer Black Snow Princess’s question. Instead, he posed a question that left her puzzled. However, before Black Snow Princess could speak, Fang Zheng explained.

”Balance.”

”...Balance...?”

”The balance of a level’s BOSS requires high standards. If the difficulty is too high, it will discourage players, especially in online games. We must consider the player’s endurance, ensuring that players wearing green gear can’t easily clear the level, but also not making it impossible for fully geared players to pass. In this situation, a BOSS with slightly higher overall attributes and a few minions is the simplest approach.”

At this point, Fang Zheng sighed. Designing BOSS levels for mobile games isn’t easy either. You can’t make it so difficult that top-up, five-star pros can’t clear, but also not so simple that even a trash team with three-star draws can clear it easily. The former discourages top-up pros, while the latter discourages non-paying players. Balance is always the hardest to master.

A BOSS with a few minions is the simplest difficulty design model because the focus is on the number of minions, and players get accustomed to adding or subtracting them.

But a single BOSS is different.

Based on Fang Zheng’s experience, most single BOSSes are designed by the game designers to stir things up.

Many times, the battle between players and the BOSS is actually a battle between players and game designers. If the BOSS is designed too easily, you can imagine players defeating the BOSS and mocking, ”Haha, what a stupid designer. I can beat your BOSS with my foot. There’s no challenge at all. Can you even make games?”

If players can’t defeat it no matter what, they’ll also curse, ”Damn it, what a stupid designer. What’s this insane difficulty? I’ve reached max level yet can’t beat it. Did you design the game’s balance with your foot?”

In these two situations, the designer is basically like a salted fish on a cutting board, helplessly subjected to mocking and angry curses.

Generally speaking, in a model where a BOSS comes with a group of minions, designers won’t make the BOSS too difficult. After all, players are humans, you can’t expect them to have the skills of a Martial Hero, observing everything and hearing everything around them. Usually, the strategy for such BOSSes is that as long as the player has high enough Attribute Level to quickly eliminate minions or withstand their attacks, defeating the BOSS is just a matter of time.

However, a single BOSS is different. Designers feel like, ”There’s such a big BOSS right in front of you, and you people can’t defeat even one. Are you the idiot or am I the idiot?”

Without minions to distract, designing a harder BOSS is completely normal, right? If you can’t defeat it... then who’s to blame?

Therefore, as a designer, when Fang Zheng saw that this floor’s Lord was a single BOSS, his hair almost stood on end.

He felt the intense malicious intent from the designer across and thought: ”Hahaha, stupid players. You enjoyed fighting minions on the previous floors, didn’t you? Now it’s time for daddy to teach you how to deal with a single BOSS!”

Fang Zheng could confirm that while this BOSS may not be very difficult, its attack pattern would certainly be ”unique,” leaving players with ”unforgettable” memories!

In a regular online game, at most, everyone would group-wipe a few times then laugh and move on, but in this Death Game, doing this might really cost lives!!

”In short, stay alert, specially assign a team to handle sudden situations. If any problems arise, follow my orders!”

Fang Zheng briefly introduced the designer’s design concept to the two, and they soon understood, nodding pale-faced. They were both experienced gamers, having beaten many games before. Listening to Fang Zheng and comparing it to their gaming memories verified that Fang Zheng wasn’t far off the mark.

Now they were more vigilant, glaring at the BOSS before them.

The fifth floor’s Lord BOSS was the Wolf Leader—at least from Fang Zheng’s current perspective, the first thirty floors seemed like a zoo anyway. They were all animals gaining intelligence. This was a BOSS inclined towards agility, wielding two large swords. Each attack’s momentum made Fang Zheng involuntarily want to sing, ”Big sword cuts towards the enemy’s head...”

Yes, judging from the scene, that’s essentially the case.

Anti-Japanese warrior Twin Blade Gray Wolf initially fought fiercely, but there were simply too many people on this side, and they strictly followed Fang Zheng’s strategy: wielding a sword in one hand and holding a shield in the other. Although holding a sword single-handedly looks cool, being cool is strictly reserved for heroes. In other words, if you don’t have a hero’s prowess, you’d better act like a city gate guard.

Although holding a shield with the left hand seems troublesome, it can effectively defend against attacks. Within Fang Zheng’s team, Aoba’s shield never dropped. On one hand, her skill wasn’t as advanced as the others, and on the other, Fang Zheng needed Aoba to occasionally serve as a temporary MT—having someone with a shield hold off enemies is certainly more reassuring than using someone without one.

No matter how fierce Gray Wolf’s attacks were, if they were blocked, they meant nothing. Plus, the cooperation between two guilds was smooth and they clearly defined roles. Shield bearers would tank the attacks, while the others seized the chance to unleash skills to block. If the BOSS was stunned, the rest could rush in and deal damage.

Although Gray Wolf swapped skills like ”Force Slash Mount Hua” and ”Sweep Across the World” several times, being outnumbered, it still cried out under attacks. Its HP drained steadily until it reached the final stage.

Something’s wrong, very wrong.

Observing the ongoing battle, Fang Zheng’s expression became more serious. Judging from the fight, Gray Wolf’s performance was only slightly stronger than previous leader BOSSes, but just slightly. The impression for players was like, ”Oh, this BOSS is a bit stronger, but still manageable.”

”Berserk! Berserk!!”

Amidst player cheers, Gray Wolf entered its final red HP berserk stage. Seeing this, Black Snow Princess and Ang felt slightly relieved. Based on their understanding, any BOSS entering red HP Berserk mode mostly required grinding down its health to clear the level, ensuring everything was fine.

However, Fang Zheng’s expression grew more serious. He watched the dying struggles of Gray Wolf, but seemed to see the sinister smile on the designer’s face from the opposite side.

”You think you can easily defeat the BOSS I designed? Hehehe, enjoying yourself now, aren’t you? You’ll be even happier soon, won’t you?”

”I won’t let you go! You will pay the price for your stupidity!!”

Ultimately, with a standard villainous final scream, Gray Wolf collapsed.

”We did it!!!”

Seeing the Lord finally fall, Black Snow Princess and Ang excitedly hugged each other tightly, while other players couldn’t help cheering. They’ve tackled numerous BOSSes, but this was a Lord BOSS!!

”Not right!!”

However, the joyous atmosphere was abruptly interrupted by Fang Zheng’s loud shout.

”Everyone, prepare immediately! Formation up and ready for defense!”

”What happened? What’s the matter?”

”...The BOSS hasn’t disappeared, and there’s no system prompt!!”

The others couldn’t react in time, but Yuna and Black Cat immediately sensed something was off. They’d fought alongside Fang Zheng through four layers of Lord BOSSes, so they were intimately familiar with what is supposed to happen when the BOSS is defeated!

”Howl——!!”

Yet, at this moment, with a wolf’s howl, they saw Gray Wolf stand up once more. This time, it didn’t transform into human form, but morphed into a giant two-headed wolf, glaring fiercely at the players.

”...”

Seeing this scene, all players were dumbfounded.

The two-headed wolf looked around at the players, revealing the sinister smile typical when designers created BOSSes.

”No matter how cunning you are, you still have to drink Laozi’s foot-wash water!”