Re-Awakening: I Ascend with a Legendary class

Chapter 177 Sneak Peek At the 5th Floor’s Heroic Boss, Clear Warning

”Is that so?” one of the nameless characters spicily responded upon hearing Almondʼs words.

Lily stepped forward, her stance poised and her dagger glinting, ”Weʼre not interested in petty fights or dragging this out. Hand over the items.”

ʼDarling, do we want to present some benefits to them to make them give up the items, like your spirit items?ʼ

ʼYeah, itʼs a slight effort on my part anyway. If they give up easily, then fine. If not-ʼ Almondʼs smile turned chilling. ʼWe can grab the items from them forcefully.ʼ

A whisper ran through the gathered groups. Some members of the three parties seemed tense, as though ready to vanish into the woodlands at a momentʼs notice, while others looked curious or calculating.

”Donʼt think about escaping with the items out of spite,” Lily coldly said. ”Youʼll lose your limbs for nothing.”

”You all are onto something crazy here. You somehow have legendary and Epic items in bulk, so why donʼt we just fight the floor boss together?”

The three parties were feeling waves of shock as they could see the itemsʼ ranks, and that shock was naturally accompanied by a hint of greed.

”Not possible,” Almond flatly said. ”We are going to do something different called Heroic Challenge. Itʼs a significantly stronger version of Floor Boss, and a party must reach some qualification to trigger it.”

”How about we join you then?” Lyndia, the dark blue-haired woman who was the leader of the Azure Veil guild, asked, her eyes filled with doubt and caution.

”Do you see our items?” Natalia snorted. ”Even with that, the chance of dying in Heroic Challenge is higher than regular floor boss.”

”I wonʼt stop you from participating,” Almond calmly said, ”but our party will not support you, and know that thereʼs a 99% chance that most of you will die.”

”Bullshit.”

”Yeah, who are you fooling?”

Almond narrowed his eyes. ”Give us the special items, and Iʼll show you. Instead of the floor boss spawning here, a portal door will spawn, leading to the Heroic Challenge mode.”

The three parties seemed to converse with each other.

They were vastly outnumbered, so fighting against Almondʼs group was definitely not a wise move.

The leaders of the three parties reached a consensus quickly as all three special items flew toward Almond.

”Fine, do it. Letʼs see if a special portal really opens. If you spawn the regular floor boss, weʼll attack it because we want the rewards, and itʼll be based on contribution,” Brynjar said, the leader of the Proximax guildʼs party.

”And if you open the portal of the so-called Heroic Challenge…weʼll decide whether we enter or not at that time,” Yuxin Zhou said flatly, still feeling doubt.

Almond waved his hand as all four keys flew toward the floor boss summoning platform with eccentric ancient carvings.

[Your party is qualified for the Heroic Challenge Mode. All party members must agree to accept the challenge.]

”Did you all get any notification?” Noah asked as he looked at the three parties.

The leaders appeared confused.

”Notification just now? Nope.”

”We didnʼt get any notification.”

Almond told everyone to agree and said, ”Letʼs just show them the portal. We will enter later anyway.”

Everyone nodded and responded to the notification.

[All party members have accepted the challenge.]

The platform slightly shook before mystical stairs of ten steps appeared in its center with a magical fancy blue and pink door at the last step.

”Holy…itʼs true.”

”How come none of the people triggered something like this before?”

The three parties were shocked, while Almond and others got one more notification.

[From hereon, your party is prohibited from leaving this floor until the Heroic Challenge Boss is defeated. All the best.]

Almond directly shared the notification with the three parties. ”As you can see, this is how it works.”

”Now, you may try to enter that door and court death. I will not stop you. But itʼs my sincere suggestion that you donʼt do that,” he added.

The leaders of the three parties looked at each other.

Yuxin Zhou said, ”Brynjar, why donʼt you send one of your puppets inside and check it out for us?”

”Yeah, thatʼs a good idea, leader Brynjar.”

”Alright,” Brynjar nodded as his eyes glinted dark pink before a joker-like puppet manifested, holding two shivs in its hands—his physique reaching a bit over a meter, his face painting a full sad expression.

This was Brynjarʼs S-rank specialized class—Puppeteer Stringweaver.

The joker puppet climbed the stairs as per Brynjarʼs command and entered through the door-like portal.

Brynjar could see everything that his puppet saw as he found himself in a small meadow with a magical pond in the center.

”The whole area is barely 300 meters in diameter. Thereʼs a pond in the center, but I donʼt see the bo-”

Brynjar suddenly paused before his eyes flickered. ”I got a notification. A countdown of one minute before the boss appears.”

Almond raised his eyebrows, ʼA pond? The previous heroic challenge areas were relatively simple, but this one seems different.ʼ

”What kind of area is it?” Lily asked. She also knew it was better to get early information about the area.

”Itʼs an uneven meadow of short grass and some glowing plants, but despite being green, they have magical dark pink patterns and give off a dark pink glow,” Brynjar answered as he curiously looked around the area through his puppetʼs eyes.

”Geez, that already sounds troublesome,” Natalia wryly smiled.

”Yeah, the last boss was a pain in the ass, but we shouldnʼt expect less from this bastard,” Marcus nodded, his eyes fired up as he grinned, ”But no matter who he is, Iʼve got you all protected!”

”A meadow and magical flowers…” Kayla muttered. ”They could be a part of the bossʼs strength.”

”True,” Kira nodded thoughtfully. ”We should destroy them just in case.”

”Nah, we should observe first and then act accordingly. Who knows what kind of mechanism and role they play?” Xavier rubbed his chin.

Eliara didnʼt know whether to laugh or cry, ”This already sounds troublesome even though we havenʼt entered inside. Frankly, Iʼm a bit scared, given the previous experience.”

”We all are,” Talia weakly smiled but clenched her fist, ”But I want to fight.”

”It appeared. The Heroic Spirit boss…w-what the fuck with its stats?!” Brynjal exclaimed, shocked.

Brynjarʼs eyes suddenly flickered unevenly before he shut his eyes tightly, ”My puppet is dead.”

”What kind of boss was it? How strong?” Lyndia asked.

”How did it look?” Yuxin followed up with another question.

Brynjar opened his eyes, and they showed a clear dread. ”As you both know, my puppet of sadness is pretty sturdy and also takes 50% reduced damage of all kinds as long as he holds both of its shiv daggers…but I couldnʼt even see the bossʼ attack properly before it died.”

Taking a deep breath, Brynjarʼs expression was somber as he added, ”I inspected it and saw its status for a brief moment, but I remember the numbers. Its strength was at 2000, and other stats were also very high, its Mana was 7000. This boss is crazy!”

”And it was a humanoid boss that wasnʼt that tall, just a bit taller than a regular human!”

The members of three parties and the other two leaders were dumbfounded, even feeling disbelief.

”A humanoid boss of that size with those stats?!”

”Holy crap, whatʼs with this Heroic Boss?!”

”Nah, I am not fighting it, brother Yuxin. We should back out on this one.”

”Yeah, letʼs just do the floor advancement trial instead and go to the next floor.”

”Ahem,” Almond coughed as the sound drowned other voices, getting everyoneʼs attention, ”Now that you know what youʼre dealing with, the choice is yours.”

”I donʼt have a choice anymore,” Brynjar frowned. ”I just got a notification that I canʼt leave the floor before the Heroic Challenge Boss is defeated. I tried to activate the trial, but it was rejected. Do you all have the same condition?”

”Of course,” Jemma wryly smiled.

”Yeah, itʼs either we die or we kill the Heroic Boss. We canʼt exit,” Xavier nodded.

”Now that weʼve satisfied your curiosity, you must excuse us,” Almond calmly said. ”We have to do some sparring and practice before we enter that door after two hours. You all stay at the corner and make your decision.”

Pausing briefly, Almond added, ”Frankly, Itʼd leave a bad taste in my mouth if you all enter and die, but I donʼt mind if we have some meatshields that can attract the Heroic Bossʼ attention if you ignore the warning and still enter.”

Turning around, he swept his glance at others, ”Now, letʼs start our sparring session. Itʼs you all versus my spirit wraiths and I. Letʼs familiarize ourselves with itemsʼ effects and our usual strategy that emphasizes control and disability. Give your all.”

”Yes!”

”Aye, aye, captain!”

”Roger!”