MMORPG: Rebirth of the Legendary Guardian

After all of the equipment was distributed, all was left to give out were random ETC items including [Skill Point Crystal], [Advance Aura Stone], a few [Level 8 Gemstone], and a few skill books.

Zhang Yang did not participate in the roll for the [Skill Point Crystals] and the [Aura Stone] for he already had more than enough.

”Hue..? What’s this [Aura Skill Book]?” said Wei Yan Er as she picked up a red leather-bound book.

[Skill Book: Burning Aura]

Use: Teaches you the skill {Burning Aura}.

Class Requirement: NIL

Level Requirement: 200

”It’s an aura book. Dimwit!” Zhang Yang pinched Wei Yan Er’s cheek and said, ”Alright, those with their aura skills maxed out are forbidden from rolling for this. Please allow your juniors to have a chance.”

Everyone else rolled for the skill book and it was won over by Lost Dream. Even though he was part of the main party, he had not invested a single skill point in his aura skill, even though it would not stack with Sun Xin Yu’s.

[Burning Aura] (Level 1): Unleashes an aura 30 meters around the user to deal 10,500 Fire damage every 10 seconds. (Damage will increase with both Skill Level and Player’s Level). Player can only have one Aura skill active.

There were more than enough Aura Stones of all tiers for Lost Dream to use. Plus, the few [Advanced Aura Stone] that were dropped by the boss were all given to Lost Dream to pump his Aura skill up. Lost Dream went back to town and had his skill maxed out before posting the skill to the party channel.

[Burning Aura] (Level 10): Unleashes an aura 30 meters around the user to deal 105,000 Fire damage every 10 seconds. (Damage will increase with both Skill Level and Player’s Level). Player can only have one Aura skill active.

Unlike {Vitality Aura} or {Strength Aura}, Lost Dream’s {Burning Aura} was not a party boosting aura effect. It was an offensive aura which could increase his overall DPS by 10,000. Naturally, the intensity of the skill will be enhanced if Lost Dream is in the middle of a swarm of monsters. That being said, he will also be the first target to be eliminated in a GvG war.

”Wuuuhuuu…I want that aura as well!” said Wei Yan Er after knowing its prowess in a fight with multiple targets.

Zhang Yang came over to her and made a pinching hand gesture to scare her. ”Rather than standing in the middle and doing nothing, you’d be better off using your stronger {Strength Aura}!”

Wei Yan Er’s {Strength Aura} increases all allies’ Strength attribute by 20%. For Physical attack class, that was a boost of 10% DPS or more, even. The more allies she has around her, the stronger the effect would be, in terms of overall DPS. {Burning Aura} was different, rather than surrounding yourself with allies, {Burning Aura}’s effect will only stand out if Lost Dream surrounds himself with enemies. Both auras were strong and their own way and in different circumstances.

After Zhang Yang collected the quest item [Fire Essence Pearl], he led everyone to the next objective. There were no breaks in-between. The entire party rode down the volcanic mountain and headed next to the neighbor snowy mountain. They had only taken less than an hour to reach their destination, for they were lucky enough to not encounter any monsters during the journey.

‘Ding! You have received the effect of {Frostbite Aura}!’

Once they left the foothill of the fiery mountain and stepped onto the first pile of snow, the {Burning Aura} on them disappeared and was replaced with another DoT effect.

[Frostbite Aura]: Receive 50,000 Frost damage every 3 seconds.

At that point, the prowess of the two Phoenixes had dropped exponentially. Due to the elemental conflict, they received additional damage. Zhang Yang and Fatty Han hopped onto the mounts to help reduce the load on the healers. After advancing for a bit, they encountered the first of the snowy monsters.

As expected, it was a snowman. Or rather, a huge monkey-like monster with thick white fur that stood on its hind legs like a gorilla. It looked rather cute when it moved around, exposing its belly whilst scratching its head with a massive hand. However, when it picked up a long spear of ice on the ground, its cuteness was immediately shattered.

[Guardian Snowman] (Elite, Elemental Being)

Level: 230

HP: 115,000,000

Defense: 14,270

Magic Attack: 66,112 – 86,112

Skills:

[Frost Arrow]: Launches a long arrow made of pure ice and deals 200% Magic Frost damage to a target. Slows targets for 50% movement speed. Last for 5 seconds. Casting: 2 seconds.

Note: The Guardian Snowmen are the creation of the Ice Lord Antoine. They were created to patrol and to secure his domains.

Similar to the previous fire monsters, the Guardian Snowman were all walking in a group of 8. However, since they were all magic type monsters, they would start chanting their spells from a great distance and launch 8 long ice arrows, or rather spears towards the party.

Luckily, monster count was only 8 at a time. If the number were to increase to 12, one single wave of attack would immediately kill players with lower tier equipment like Cheng Xue Yao.

Zhang Yang, Endless Starlight, and Ten Dusk took the lead, each taking on a few monsters to their limit. Zhang Yang went ahead and kited four to allow the other two tanks to have a better time at tanking. With his current Defensive ability, each attack will deal around 80,000, 4 of them would be 320,000 damage. Although the DPS of the monster attacking Zhang Yang was around 160,000, it was a number which Han Ying Xue could heal easily.

As per the rules of gaming, magic type monsters or players will naturally have lower defense and HP as to compensate their powerful destructive attack. Unfortunately, the monsters were all Elite tier, hence, both their attack and defense were high enough to create a problem! They were as tanky as a physical attack monster!

Still, Zhang Yang’s party was the anomaly among all parties in the world. In a few seconds, the entire group of 8 Guardian Snowman were all reduced to a pile of lifeless snow.

”Aww Yis! There are set equipment!” cried Wei Yan Er as she picked up a long, translucent, one-piece dress.

[Ice Weaver Long Dress] (Ethereal, Cloth Armor)

Defense: +64

Vitality +10224

Intelligence: +3360

Spirit: +1490

{Level 8 Socket 1}

{Level 8 Socket 2}

Equip: Increases maximum MP by 6,720.

Equip: Increases damage dealt and healing rate by 8%.

Equip: Reduces 10% Frost type damage.

Level Requirement: 230

Special: Level Requirement reduced by 30 Levels.

Ice Weaver Set Equipment (1/3): Ice Weaver Long Dress, {Ice Weaver Gloves}, {Ice Weaver Sandals}.

Three Set Effect: Reduces 20% Frost damage.

”Hmm. If each of the set equipment has a 10% Frost attack reduction, the total Frost Reduction gained from equipping all three sets will be 50%.” Said Daffodil Daydream.

”Since the boss will undoubtedly use Frost Attacks, we should gather a few more sets to reduce the attack of the boss,” said Hundred Shots.

”It’s a wise move. Even though they are only Ethereal tier equipment, three of them would not reduce our overall attack by much.”

Zhang Yang nodded and ”dumped” the dress to Han Ying Xue. All Cloth Armor will be handed to her in the future while Leather Armor will be taken care by Hundred Shots. All Heavy Armor will be in his hands. If the boss does have too high of a damage, they might actually need the set equipment to survive.

The party continued through the thick snow mountain. They managed to haul more of those sets after a few encounters with many groups of Snowmen. Although the drop rate was not too good, they would not have trouble farming more of them, since the snowy mountain was just too huge. There are bound to be more Snowman groups patrolling around. The problem was that the monsters used magic attacks. Zhang Yang nor the other tanks dared to kite too many at a time. At most, Zhang Yang would take 5 while Endless Starlight took 3, and Ten Dusk took 2.

As such, the hiking speed was extremely slow. The party had taken more than 20 days to find their way to the peak of the snowy mountain and find the boss, the Frost Lord, Antoine.

Despite being a boss, it was only a 30 meter tall, larger Snowman. Somehow, due to is nature as a Snowman, its massive building-like size was a little cute. The boss was wielding a long white magic staff instead of the snow spears.

[Antoine, the Frost Lord] (Ascended, Elemental Being)

Level: 240

HP: 12,000,000,000

Defense: 37,330

Magic Attack: 210,392 – 270,392

Skills:

[Cold to the Bone]: Deals 300,000 Frost Damage every 3 seconds to a target. Inflicts 100% bonus damage to targets that is frozen. Reduces 10% movement speed every second. When a target’s movement speed reaches 0, the target will be frozen in place, and cannot engage in any action.

[Fire Beacon]: Randomly inflicts 100,000 Fire damage every 3 seconds to a random target. Lasts for 15 seconds. [Fire Beacon] will dispel the effect of [Cold of the Bone] Frozen effect. Targets that are released from Frozen effect by this skill will gain an effect of [Beacon’s Radiance], dispelling all targets that are Frozen within 20 meters.

[Frost Arrow]: Deals 200% Magic Frost damage to a target. Gains 100% Critical strike rate whenever used against Frozen targets. Casting: 2 seconds.

Note: The King of Ice, Snow, and Frost. Birth from the Ice Essence Pearl after absorbing all the essence from the Water Elementals on the mountain.

”Huh. That’s surprising. The boss does not have any recovery skill! We can kill it easily!”

”Don’t be too happy just yet. Pay attention to the skill {Cold to the Bone}. Damage aside, the slow effect and the Frozen effect will kill us all!”

”True. The only way of dispelling the frozen effect is the {Fire Beacon}. That would put a lot of pressure on the healers and the DPS of the entire party! If the boss does have any recovery skill. We’re be popsicles for the Snowman!”

”Don’t forget that after Frozen, the boss will deal more damage to us! I don’t think players can be healed during a Frozen effect. Unless the boss decides to use {Fire Beacon} we will be ice cubes instead of popsicles!”

”Correct. The main point of this fight is to rely on the player that receives the {Fire Beacon} to rescue the rest of the teammates that are Frozen. Accessories, skills and status removal skills, will not be enough to save our butt!”

Zhang Yang nodded at the party’s serious discussion and praised them for the effort. He then formulated a plan and a formation to allow for maximum coverage of the {Fire Beacon}.

Since the boss did not have any recovery skills, there was no need to prioritize on DPS. Instead, this match called for survivability instead. Frozen effect will only allow the boss to kill the party faster and easier. Although it cannot instantly kill a player in a Transformed state, it will still be a massive pain in the butt in terms of attacking. Everyone in the vicinity will be frozen after 10 seconds! In fact, after being freed again, they will only have a 10-second attacking window before they will be frozen again. In terms of defeating the boss, they might not stand a chance if something goes horribly wrong.