Chapter5-First Boss Kill!

Nevertheless, staring at the remaining 800,000 HP of the Rock Titan, Jason felt a tinge of helplessness. 

The game Divine Age is known for its army-based combat and cooperative warfare, which is why even the low-level bosses have terrifyingly high HP.

Theoretically, world bosses are insurmountable foes at the start of the game, practically impossible to defeat.

Only a financial titan like House Vanderroth could afford to spend a vast amount of real-world money to forcibly assemble an army of tens of thousands of players and secure the world's first kill at the start of the server.

"Alternate using Soulform to attack, keep half the troops on Painful Scream to control the Rock Titan!" Jason issued commands rapidly.

At this moment, the biggest threat from the boss was its targeting of Jason himself, especially the long-range attack [Stonefall]. 

With Jason's current weak constitution, a mere graze would spell instant death, and the boss raid would be directly doomed.

What he needed to do was leverage the terrain and the superior speed of the rogue class in the early game to kite the boss.

The goal was to wear down the Rock Titan until his tier 4 unit, the Banshee, could finish it off.

Following the commander's orders, over a hundred wraiths floated out from the Rock Titan.

The banshees, previously of gentle appearance, now screamed ferociously. 

Their seemingly delicate lips split from the corners of their mouths to their cheeks, emitting sharp, piercing wails like a dance of demons unleashed.

Amidst these horrifying sonic waves, the Rock Titan, caught off guard, stood in agony, a dark grey spectral face of torment flashing above its head.

Fear!!

In a state of panic, the Rock Titan's attempts to mount an attack became disordered, reduced to merely pounding the ground around it aimlessly.

Boom! Boom!

The ground shook violently.

Yet Jason, standing at a distance, remained unscathed.

Meanwhile, streaks of bright red numbers flashed across the boss.

-588

-599

-601

...

The Rock Titan's magical resistance was extremely low, and Jason's Undead Plague, with its 100% attribute enhancement, made the Banshees' output efficiency remarkably high.

However, Jason also noticed a new buff under the Rock Titan boss's HP bar.

Fear Resilience.

In Divine Age, bosses accumulate resistance against control effects, eventually becoming immune. 

This mechanism prevents players from chaining control effects with a large number of units possessing such abilities, which could otherwise endlessly lock down a boss.

About ten seconds later, the Rock Titan roared back to normal, its stone-composed head now exhibiting a distinctly annoyed expression.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

A series of explosive sounds erupted.

The Rock Titan swung its palms, knocking down many luminous stones within the cavern, but its attacks hitting the Banshees were like striking at the air, utterly ineffective.

This wasted effort once again caused the boss's HP to plummet rapidly.

Soon, even the limited AI allowed the Rock Titan to realize the crux of the problem; it was simply unable to handle these translucent foes. 

The only tangible enemy — was Jason, not far away!

[Stonefall] — In an instant, several huge rocks hurtled towards him at high speed.

However, this sole long-range attack skill was effortlessly dodged by Jason.

[Featherfall], activated!

The principle of this spell is to reduce the caster's body weight, thereby diminishing fall damage. 

As a seasoned player with over two decades of experience, Jason naturally knew how to exploit this basic magic to its fullest potential.

For instance, by leveraging the effect of reduced body weight, a slight exertion allowed for greater movement and jumping distances, easily evading the incoming rocks.

The ensuing battle was devoid of suspense.

Although the Rock Titan became increasingly ferocious as its HP dwindled, Jason, who had already conquered it in a past life, was intimately familiar with every phase of its tactics.

Moreover, Jason didn't even need to counterattack; mere evasion was all that was required. How challenging could that be?

Soon, the lengthy HP bar of the boss was nearing depletion...

...

While Jason was intensely engaged in battle, simultaneously, outside the city of La Fini back home, a staggering scene unfolded.

A Minotaur towering over three meters tall was swinging its massive axe rapidly, surrounded merely by a group of militia wielding wooden spears or orcs with wooden axes.

Despite the soldiers' valiant efforts, each striving to inflict wounds on the Minotaur, the damage floating off the formidable boss was mostly just —

[-3] or [-5].

In contrast to its health pool floating overhead:

[114,000/500,000].

It was barely a scratch.

Yet, despite the Minotaur's formidable strength, it was simply overwhelmed by the sheer number of units surrounding it.

Tens of thousands of players, along with the five tier-1 units each had purchased with their initial five gold coins, amounted to a total force of sixty thousand units!

On Earth, even a concert attended by ten thousand people could be described as a sea of humanity. 

But now, outside the city of La Fini, the scene was even more exaggerated!

A boundless sea of warriors, as far as the eye could see!

This was the spectacle Jason knew all too well: House Vanderroth contending for the world's first boss kill.

The Minotaur they were engaged with was their carefully chosen target, a level 10 entity, the lowest level world boss, also conveniently located in a vast open field, ideal for deploying swarm tactics.

In fact, their strategy was proving highly successful.

Although each hit inflicted minimal damage, the Minotaur's HP had already been depleted by over three hundred thousand. 

It wouldn't be long before the world's first kill would be theirs.

At this moment, in the wilderness, atop a slightly elevated area with an open view, a blond man dressed in basic starter gear was barely able to contain his excitement.

If Jason were here, he would recognize this man as one of Earth's top ten powerhouses in his previous life, Easton Vanderroth, known by his exclusive title, "King of Frost."

The rise of this formidable player began with the forceful conquest of an early-game world boss, earning him the exclusive rewards for the first kill.

"According to the information obtained by our family, the rewards for the first kill of a world boss in Divine Age are much greater compared to other games..."

"And it seems that the Minotaur, a boss that can be overwhelmed with swarm tactics, is the only one like this in the early game maps of Divine Age."

"Indeed, it seems I am destined to rise!" Easton swallowed hard.

The various top-secret details leaked about Divine Age were in the hands of the world's top powers and governments, each vying to get ahead in this new era without sharing information with each other.

The existence of the Minotaur was one of the crucial pieces of early intel controlled by House Vanderroth.

What all the major powers knew was that the player who achieved the first kill of any boss would receive a substantial exclusive reward, which could quickly elevate that player's strength to the level where they could start creating [Divine Realms], participate in dungeons, and complete precious quests!

Moreover, being the first to create a [Divine Realm], the first to clear a dungeon, or the first to complete certain rare quests would yield even more exclusive rewards.

To say it was the beginning of a snowball effect was no exaggeration; securing the first kill of a boss signified a massive head start!

It meant that House Vanderroth would have the upper hand in Divine Age, potentially leveraging this to reach the zenith of power on Earth in the future.

And all this was led by him, Easton Vanderroth!

Even now, to gather tens of thousands of players, and because of the excessively stringent timing, House Vanderroth had already invested tens of millions of dollars.

But it was worth it!

The moment for me to step in is coming, Easton silently thought.

He held a scroll in his hand, obtained through another piece of game intel the family had secured early on by completing a quest.

[Special Magic: Earth Spike]

[Deals a fixed 500 points of damage]

To complete this quest within the first few hours after the game's launch, racing against time, the family had also invested millions of dollars.

This scroll was Easton's assurance to securely land the final blow on the Minotaur.

As the future titan of Earth indulged in his aspirations, time swiftly passed, and the Minotaur's HP finally dropped to four digits.

Easton hesitated no longer. 

With several players guarding him, he quickly approached the BOSS while fetching the [Earth Spike] scroll from his inventory.

However, before the Minotaur's HP dropped to the execute range.

Ding-dong—

Ding-dong—

A sudden system notification chime resounded!