MMORPG: Rise of the Primordial Godsmith

After agreeing on their roles for the upcoming fight, SeventhShield and Zack went ahead and took the lead as the group moved closer to the room where the mini-boss resided.

Whoosh!

Arriving there, the group was immediately greeted by the sight of a large space, promptly reminding everyone of the boss rooms they'd cleared thus far in the lower difficulties of the Cave of Beginnings.

Grr…

However, unlike the bosses they fought in the lower difficulties, the ogre that sat at the center of the room gave off a near-tyrannical aura, causing almost all of them think that their chances of winning were next to nothing from the very start.

Adding on the fact that the ogre eventually revealed its true stature to the group as it stood up, it was impossible for any outsider to muster up the courage to fight something as ferocious as the mini-boss in front of them.

"Stay calm!" Fortunately, even though most of them felt like their hopes had been quashed from the very start, SeventhShield kept his composure, gazing at the ogre with a look of defiance.

"We've already expected the bosses to pose a greater challenge to us the moment we decided to try out Insane!"

"Are you guys really telling me that you're backing out now? Even though we've already gotten this far?"

"It's not that, Seventh…" Zack replied, his voice somewhat shaky.

Pointing at the ogre staring at them, he continued, "Take… a look at its stats."

"With how high its stats are… do we really have a chance of winning here?"

"…" Frowning in response to his friend's words, SeventhShield gazed at the ogre for a bit.

Noticing that the ogre seemed to have no intentions of attacking them before they were prepared to fight it, the man inwardly let out a faint sigh of relief as he decided to confirm Zack's words for himself.

"[Analysis]."

Ding!

————

[Junior Ogre Spellblade (Uncommon Elite)] (Level 20 | Mini-boss)

HP: 1,750/1,750

MP: 1,130/1,130

Stats: 91 VIT, 99 STR, 102 AGI, 78 DEX, 62 INT, 60 WIS, 79 PER, 52 LUK

————

"…I already expected Insane to be our greatest challenge yet… but to think it would be this much?"

At first, when Zack informed him to look at the mini-boss' stats, SeventhShield thought that its stats would only be higher than theirs by a few points, possibly around 10 points at most.

After all, they were tackling the Cave of Beginnings at its Insane difficulty. The dungeon was intentionally made to be difficult to clear with its difficulty bearing such a name.

However, when he found out that the gap between their stats exceeded 20 points, it was only then did he understand why his friends reacted that way.

Then again, how would one even surmount a gap that large at their level?

Their equipment? The armor and the weapons they had could only be considered slightly above average. Though some of them offered a few extra stat points here and there, that wasn't enough to surmount the gap.

Their skills? None of them had any powerful passive skills that boosted their stats to that extent. Plus, there really wasn't any way for them to evolve their skills to the next rarity at their current class rank.

"Should we give up, then?" murmured the man to himself with a hint of slight indignance, finding it somewhat infuriating that all of their preparations thus far were still not enough to clear the Insane version of the dungeon in its entirety.

With the gears in his mind turning as he weighed the pros and cons of each choice, SeventhShield eventually looked at the other members of the group with conviction as he made up his mind.

Though, before he could even open his mouth…

"May the power of mana hear my plea."

"As the conductor—!"

"[Mana Bolt]!"

Bang!

'-348'

Seeing that almost everyone in the group seemed to have made up their minds to try the Insane dungeon at a future date, Valyr felt that it was a shame for them to give up just as it was getting better.

Though he knew that the gap in stats between them and the mini-boss wouldn't be surmounted that easily, there were still many ways available for the group to even out the playing field aside from relying on buffs.

"There's six of us and only one of them!" Slightly clicking his tongue at the amount of damage he dealt, Valyr began to move around the room as he had become the target of the ogre's anger.

"Are you seriously telling me we won't be able to take this mini-boss down even if the six of us together?"

"…" Hearing those words echo throughout the room, SeventhShield and the others began to slowly wake up from the pessimistic spiral of thoughts that consumed them after looking at the ogre's stats.

Then, after realizing that the first in their group to make a move was none other than the lowest-leveled member in their party, a flame of slight indignance began to burn deep within the group.

Thankfully, that indignance also awakened their motivation and ambition, reminding them the reason why they decided to attempt the dungeon's Insane difficulty in the first place.

"[Taunt]!" Inwardly thanking Valyr for giving all of them a wake-up call, SeventhShield went ahead and cast a skill as he charged towards the ogre.

"The light shall lead the way!"

"[Morale Boost]!" At the same time, Lycana went ahead and activated a skill that increased all of the party's stats, increasing their chances of turning the tides of battle to their favor.

"Haah!" With the ogre's attention forcefully shifted towards SeventhShield, Zack went ahead and followed it up with a set of dagger throws, all of which were aimed towards the ogre's weak spots.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Though the daggers would have inflicted a good chunk of damage to the ogre if it landed, the ogre knew not to let those daggers touch its body, skillfully deflecting each and every one of them with the longsword it wielded.

"May the flames listen to my will!"

"[Fire Bolt]!" Continue your story on empireNôv(el)B\\jnn

Bang!

However, with the daggers occupying most of the ogre's attention, it had left itself wide open to an attack by Uzume, her spell causing flames to run up along the ogre's side.

"Graaaahhhh!!!" Feeling waves of pain course throughout its body from the attacks, the ogre began to look at the group with rage-filled eyes.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Wanting nothing more than to kill those that dared to attack him first, the ogre began to infuse its sword with mana before slashing out with abandon, conjuring blades of energy that all headed towards SeventhShield and the group.

"May the power of mana hear my plea."

"As the conductor of mana, protect me from harm."

"[Mana Barrier]!"

Unfortunately, with SeventhShield attracting the ogre's aggro, Valyr was free to move about once more, allowing him to cast a spell that protected everyone from the blades of energy aiming to kill them.

"[Charged Shot]!" Using the opportunity Valyr had given to them, Darklight went ahead and let out an attack he'd been saving all this time.

Whoosh!

Bang!

Firing an arrow filled to the brim with copious amounts of mana, his attack soon struck the ogre directly at its head, causing it to tumble in the air a couple of times as it took a massive amount of damage.

"Haah!"

With the ogre now more vulnerable than ever before, SeventhShield decided to double down on the offensive, faintly nodding at Zack as the two charged at the ogre together.

"[Judgment Strike]!"

"[Dual Cross]!"

Bang! Bang!

"Grraaahhh!!!" Just as the ogre had recovered from its untimely fall, it was forced to stumble back onto the ground once more after receiving powerful strikes on both arms at the same time.

However, rather than distance themselves from it the moment their attacks landed on its body, the ogre instead watched as SeventhShield and Zack mustered up all the strength in their bodies as they aimed to cut both of its arms off.

"Raaaggghhhh!!!" Knowing that it'd become a lamb to the slaughter if that were to happen, the ogre immediately began to flail around as it released a great chunk of its mana into the surroundings, sending the two flying back in response.

Thud! Thud!

With it now regaining the freedom to move about, the ogre hastily got up and looked at the group with even further fury than before.

Tightening its grip on the longsword it wielded, it promised to itself that it would not show mercy to the group after going through all of the attacks it suffered.

But before it could even land another attack on the group…

"Gotcha."

"May the power of flames hear my p—!"

"[Fireball]!"

Bang!

'-1,293!!'

Seeing that the ogre had unintentionally left itself wide open, Valyr took the opportunity to land the final blow while it was distracted, aiming a fireball directly at its head.

To no surprise, the fireball acted as the catalyst for the remaining vestiges of vitality within its body to fade away. Because of that, the battered corpse of the ogre eventually fell to the ground with a thud, its longsword following suit not long after.

With everyone still focused on trying to whittle the ogre's health down as much as possible, such a massive shift in the situation caused SeventhShield and the others to be left at a loss for words as they wondered what happened at the end.

Fortunately, that silence was immediately broken not even a few seconds later by a familiar sound.

Ding!