Divine Hunter - Chapter 35
Chapter 35: Competitors Appear
Translator: Exodus Tales
Editor: Exodus Tales
Translated by XephiZ
Edited by SnowPeaches
“Someone has already killed this Rookies Village’s Slime King?”
Chen Mo had killed the Mutated Slime King nine times. However, he was quite surprised when he did not see the Slime King at the usual spot on the tenth time.
The Slime King normally took three days to respawn. If he did kill the Slime King within two days ago, it would make sense that the Slime King had not respawned yet, but he was quite sure that he did not kill the Slime King in this instance.
Every instance of Aiur Town had a unique identifier. The instance ID of the Aiur Town his character was currently assigned to was 3014. Chen Mo did not recall being in this instance before.
Chen Mo walked around the area to confirm that the Slime King was not lured away by other Players, which meant someone did kill the Slime King in this instance.
The Slime King was not necessarily a tough Boss Monster since its moves were quite predictable. A party could easily slay the Boss Monster with the right equipment and plan. The Nouveau Riches Club had to use the human wave tactic because they were trying to kill the Slime King with brute force. Meanwhile, with the right plan, Chen Mo could defeat the Slime King by himself.
Chen Mo knew it was only a matter of time that the other Players would find a way to kill the Slime King. It had already been more than ten days since the game was launched. Chen Mo would not be surprised if some Players managed to collect enough equipment and find a way to gather members of the same guild in the same instance of Rookies Village.
Chen Mo did not think someone was able to take on the Slime King alone just like him. It was common for Players to pass by the Slime King’s location, thus it was almost impossible for anyone to dig up a pit nearby and kill the Slime King without being noticed. As for fighting the Slime King head-on alone, even Chen Mo would not stand a chance against the Slime King with his current equipment. He would not be able to dodge the Boss Monster’s attacks since there were no obstacles around.
Only a party with a balanced offense, defense, and healing could take on the Slime King.
Chen Mo purposely visited the forum. He confirmed his speculation after briefly looking around.
The situation was worse than what Chen Mo had imagined. It turned out that two different groups of Players were hunting a Slime King every day just like him. Someone had posted on the forum about it two days ago, but Chen Mo believed the two groups might be doing it a day earlier.
Some Players had recorded one of the groups killing the Slime King.
“A weapon with the Silence debuff, no wonder.”
The Slime King had an AoE skill too, but it was not as deadly as the Mutated Slime King’s attack. However, a critical hit would still kill a Player that was not at full health. Even if the Players were still alive, everyone would lose a significant amount of health too, placing the group in a disadvantageous position.
The Priest in the party was able to cast Silence on the Slime King. It would interrupt the Slime King’s ultimate move. Therefore, the Slime King was no longer a threat to them. It was only a matter of time until it was slain.
New competitors had shown up, and there was more than one.
Chen Mo did not really care. It was completely normal to have competitors in an MMORPG. Thinking too much about it would not help at all.
There were quite a lot of instances of the Rookies Village and only a few competitors. It was unlikely for them to stumble into one another. He was almost done collecting a full set of equipment too. He just needed to spend a few more days on it if his luck was not too bad.
Chen Mo returned to the game and decisively killed his character to be reborn again.
He found himself in a different instance of the Rookies Village. This time, he did not grind his level after leaving the Goblin Valley. He went to the Slime Valley to make sure the Slime King was alive first.
“It’s still there,” Chen Mo let out a relieved sigh. The Slime King of this instance was still alive.
Chen Mo suddenly halted in his track when he was about to leave to level up his character.
He noticed that the Slime King’s color was slightly different than the ones he had seen so far. It also seemed to have a gentler demeanor too.
Did he imagine it?
No way! Chen Mo was very confident in his observation skills. The Slime King was different from the ones he had encountered so far.
Chen Mo took out a bottle of Slime’s Poison and drank it.
Roar!
The Slime King let out a furious roar. It slightly enlarged and its color darkened. It approached Chen Mo with a fierce look.
“Its aggro radius and size are bigger, its attributes have increased significantly too, but…it didn’t mutate!”
Chen Mo was shocked. He was just giving it a try, yet it was exactly what he thought!
The Slime King of this instance must have been killed once…this Slime King must have just respawned not long ago!
It did not kill many Players yet, thus its color was not as deep as the other Slime Kings. It was not as savage either.
Chen Mo could only think of two possibilities why the Slime King did not mutate.
First, the Boss Monster would only mutate within a certain period of time even when the conditions were met. It would only mutate again after a certain time. The mutation was similar to Player’s skills; it had a cooldown.
Second, not all the conditions to trigger the Boss Monster’s mutation had been met. The Slime’s Poison was only one of the conditions. If this new Slime King did not meet the requirement, but the other Slime Kings he had encountered so far did, it was very likely that a Boss Monster would only mutate after killing a certain number of Players, as he had first speculated.
Either one of them could explain why the Boss Monster did not mutate. It might even be both of them.
Either way, if the Slime King could not mutate, Chen Mo had no reason to kill it.
Luckily, he had come to take a look first. If he waited until he was Level 10, he would have wasted another day. He had only wasted around an hour in the Goblin Valley now.
Chen Mo proceeded to kill his character again. If he hurried, he could still reach Level 10 before it was night.
Similarly, Chen Mo went to confirm if the Boss Monster was still alive after leaving the Goblin Valley.
The Slime King of the new instance was still alive. Its color was quite dark too, indicating that it had yet to be killed by Players.
Chen Mo immediately went to grind his levels.
Unlike him, the two groups of Players did not have to wait until night time to kill the Slime King. Therefore, he had to pick up his pace.
However, Chen Mo was not in a rush either. He still had to wait until it was night regardless of quickly he managed to level up his character. Otherwise, if the trick he was abusing to kill the Mutated Slime King was exposed, he would be facing more than two groups of competitors. It would be even more difficult to find a Slime King.
Chen Mo’s luck was not that bad. The two groups of Players did not suddenly appear and kill the Slime King while he was leveling up his character. After reaching Level 10, he hired some Players to dig up a pit. It did not take him long to kill the Mutated Slime King.
“A Scroll of Skill Mutation again…HAHA, a piece of Purple Equipment too!”
Chen Mo had wasted an extra day after the competitors showed up. However, he noticed that his luck was back. Not only did he obtain another Scroll of Skill Mutation from killing the Mutated Slime King, but he also found the third piece of Purple Equipment!
Mercury Bracer
Description: A metal bracer made of mercury, it has special resistance to poison
Quality: Purple
Requirement: Level 10 and above
Attributes:
Base Physical Damage +12
Base Magic Damage +15
Physical Defense +20
Magic Defense +25
Strength +15
Intelligence +15
Additional Effect(s): Poison Protection
Poison Protection: A passive ability. Player equipping the Mercury Bracer would receive 10% less poison damage and has a 10% chance to be immune to a poison attack.
-It was a purple bracer!-
The bracers were quite special among the five defensive equipment. It was the only defensive equipment that would increase a Player’s base physical damage and base magic damage. However, the defensive attributes of a bracer were significantly lower than other defensive equipment.
However, most Players were more fond of having high damage compared to defense. As a result, the bracers were just as popular as boots and were usually sold at a higher price.
Chen Mo was in a good mood after acquiring another piece of Purple Equipment. He put the equipment away and killed his character again.
Around half an hour after Chen Mo killed himself, a group of Players with impressive equipment showed up at the Slime King’s spawning point.
