Rivalry: Infinite Buff

Chapter 40: Kill the Boss- Part 2

Facing Skullshatterer, Ivan felt more stress than when he faced Mirage. He started to miss Fiona and ToughBlazer’s cooperation. If they were there with him, he believed that they could kill the boss in a blink of an eye. However, he didn’t have ToughBlazer or Fiona to depend on, what he had was just Level 10 rookies. He had no choice but to work with them or be killed. 

"Remember how we killed Captain Centaur? Let’s keep the same tactic!" Left-handed love yelled at Leo, Ivan, and FallenAngel.

“Got it!” The three answered and separated into different areas. 

Leo and Left-handed love attacked the boss from the front, Fallen Angel hid behind the boss and waited for the best time to attack, while Ivan squatted in the corner to mass heal team members. Leo had the attention of the boss so Ivan alternated between throwing poison at Skullshatterer and sending Mass Heal to his team. He couldn’t stop or else they would be in danger. 

-39

-28

Facing such a powerful mob, Leo and Left-handed love kept attacking but they didn’t seem to be making progress. The damage Leo was inflicting was only around forty points, while Left-handed love could do anything without Critical Strike. 

"Are you done yet? It’s my turn! Skullshatterer Break!” Skullshatterer said angrily.

Unexpectedly, his first target was not Leo but FallenAngel, who was hiding behind him. 

Critical Strike -300

FallenAngel lost her half HP after the attack by Skullshatterer, while Ivan who saw her injuries threw Mass Heal. 

"Thank God!" FallenAngel was relieved to see her HP recover in an instant.

"Come on, we still have a chance!" Left-handed love encouraged.

The war continued on. Left-handed love was killed during his last encounter with the boss because he didn’t have a team or powerful equipment. The three players entrapped the big boss as Ivan continued to heal them. 

Left-handed love was filled with the hope of killing the boss but things weren’t going as he expected. After about a minute of intense fighting, the sound of horses trampling toward the tent could be heard in the distance. 

On the team’s chat channel, Claire’s voice whimpered, “I am dead and back at the bind.”

"What?" The team was shocked to hear she had died.

"It's over. Be prepared to meet the Lord of Death. Skullshatterer s***h!” Echoed through the tent as Skullshatterer raised his sickle high in the air and then smashed it to the ground. 

Suddenly, none of the team members could move. Ivan was confident and yelled, “Just two seconds, there is still a chance!”

Woosh! The relentless sound of arrows slicing through the air broke his self-confidence.

-20

-30

Dozens of injury figures floated over the team’s heads, and Ivan was unable to use the heal spell because he was still frozen by Skullshatterer s***h. The moment he fell, Ivan could see the regret in everyone’s eyes.

System: You're dead with XP dropping 50%.

With dazzling light, Ivan appeared in Leaf Town’s bind, quickly following behind him was Leo, FallenAngel, and Left-handedLove. Claire was still in the bind and was shocked to see them. 

"What happened?" "Leo looked confused.

"We failed," Left-handedLove and FallenAngel said at the same time.

"Sorry, it's all my fault," Ivan felt very guilty that he wasn’t able to heal his team at the last minute.

"Come on, Bishop, you don't have to blame yourself! We were all dizzy, and it’s natural you couldn't use your skill," Left-handed love said, patting Ivan on the shoulder.

"Claire, what happened?" Leo asked Claire, who was standing in the corner.

Claire almost cried out, “One of those mobs I attracted was at Super Level.”

Ivan nodded, "It’s okay, Claire. We’re just newbies. Now that we have more information about this boss, we can have a better plan of attack for next time."

Left-handed love also tried to comfort the team, "It's okay, let's take a break. How about I see you here after lunch?”

"Sounds good," Ivan rubbed his stomach and answered.

After exiting the game, Ivan took off his helmet and called his mom. He was disappointed to hear that his dad was still in a coma. However, the doctors said that he had a good chance of recovering as long as he was able to continue treatment. Ivan’s older cousin was also at the hospital with his mother so that gave him a sense of comfort, he didn’t like her being there all alone. He promised his mom that he would take care of the money and not worry. 

When he hung up, Ivan turned around and was startled to see Claire carrying a plate with dark food on it. She said with a strange smile, "Ivan, you must be hungry now. Come and try my fried eggs."

"Nope! I am not!” Ivan jumped up and quickly rushed out of the room.

......

After finding something to eat, Ivan put his helmet back on and rejoined the game. The fire-red maple leaf was everywhere in the Leaf Town, guiding Ivan to the right place. He checked his bag and was happy to find enough poison powder and food there. Since his teammates weren’t logged back in yet, he decided to go explore his town. 

As he walked about he remembered that he had a guard. When he went to visit his dad he adjusted the guard system to Free mode, but it was such an important thing. Ivan immediately changed the guard system to War mode and in less than two minutes, his guard, Iron Man, was by his side. 

Even before Iron Man reached him, Ivan could see leaves and dust covering his body. Curious about where he was, Ivan questioned, “Where did you go?”

Iron Man answered like a young embarrassed girl, "Mr. Baron, you just disappeared and didn’t leave any message. I didn’t know what to do, so I joined other villagers to cut wood! Here are twenty silver coins. Please take it, my Baron.”

"What? Twenty silver coins?" Ivan had no idea what was happening. He turned on the guard system, hoping he could find some useful information. 

"Really?" He said to himself. It appeared that guards also had their own backpacks and equipment that the master could access. In return, the master could dispatch equipment to the guard, making it more aggressive. 

Ivan hurried to open Iron Man's backpack and found the twenty silver coins he mentioned. Besides that, there was some wood, bread, and other stuff but Ivan didn’t take everything since most of the items weren’t really helpful anyway. There were many other ways Ivan could use the guard to his advantage. A huge smile appeared on Ivan’s face when he thought that his guard could kill mobs and do missions for him even if he was offline.  

As all five team members came back online they decided it was time to leave the bind. They had to pass through Explorer Foothills to reach Hyde park and were once again on their way to conquer the Silver boss.