Chapter 46 -46-Mission Accomplished

Chapter 46: Chapter46-Mission AccomplishedIt had to be said— Now that Daniel had switched out of [Offensive Mode], the damage he dealt had clearly taken a significant hit. But that wasn’t to say [Defensive Mode] didn’t have its advantages. Its biggest perk? Daniel didn’t even need to dodge anymore. He simply stood his ground and focused on dishing out attacks. And because his attack frequency had increased so drastically, the HP of [The Fallen Idol] was still dropping at a rapid pace. As for Daniel himself? Well, let’s just put it this way— The damage that [The Fallen Idol] managed to inflict didn’t even outpace the speed at which Daniel’s Shield Points were regenerating. Even a World Rank boss couldn’t cast five skills in a single second. If they could, how would anyone play this game? The two found themselves locked in a stalemate atop the floating island. The boss’s HP wasn’t plummeting by any means, but it was on a steady decline. Meanwhile, Daniel’s only real fluctuation came from the state of his Shield Points—his actual HP hadn’t dropped a single point. At this moment, had there been any other adventurers present, they would’ve been utterly floored. Wait a second—who’s the real boss here? . . . Time ticked away second by second. And the HP bar of [The Fallen Idol] was now nearing the 50% threshold. Daniel suddenly became alert. He knew very well what this meant—the boss was about to enter its tier-2 phase. And right at the moment when [The Fallen Idol]’s HP hit 50%, a low, guttural voice rumbled out from its stony lips: "You pitiful worm... You’ve managed to anger me." "Now, I shall show you the terror of the divine!" As the thunderous voice echoed through the floating expanse, something peculiar happened— The idol’s massive body began pulling the surrounding stone blocks toward it like a magnet. Cracks ripped through the floating island’s surface as stone after stone gathered and fused into the idol’s form. In the blink of an eye, [The Fallen Idol] had doubled in size! Whoa. That’s something, Daniel thought, a trace of surprise flickering in his eyes. Just as he was about to resume his attack, [The Fallen Idol] hurled a massive chunk of stone his way. Boom! Though Daniel successfully dodged the projectile, his shield vanished instantly. ...What? My million-point shield... wiped out by a single rock? But the thing hadn’t even hit me! Was this some kind of shield-piercing attack? Daniel furrowed his brow. This boss was starting to get annoying. But only for about a second— Because in the very next instant, his shield regenerated once more. Shield break? Pfft. No big deal. As long as Daniel remained in [Defensive Mode], his Shield Points would recover every second. So, go ahead, break my shield all you want. Let’s see who outlasts whom. And thus, the tide of battle shifted again. While [The Fallen Idol] frantically tried to shatter Daniel’s shields, Daniel stood like an immovable statue, relentlessly attacking in return. It became a bizarre spectacle. Until Daniel suddenly paused. Not because he’d run out of MP or anything. But because [The Fallen Idol] had entered a locked HP state—its health bar had turned gray. In this mode, no matter how much damage Daniel dealt, it had no effect. It made him wonder— Would true damage be able to bypass the lock? Sadly, Daniel didn’t have any true damage skills at his disposal right now, so he had no way to test the theory. He could only stand in place and quietly wait out the boss’s invulnerability. Waves upon waves of attacks slammed down on him, but none even scratched his shield. The battle entered a strange loop: Break shield! Regenerate shield! Take skill damage! Break shield! . . . And repeat. No matter what the boss did, Daniel’s HP remained untouched. At this point, [The Fallen Idol] unleashed a storm of divine wrath—but in Daniel’s eyes, it was laughable. Finally, after thirty seconds, the locked HP phase ended. The boss’s HP bar regained its normal color. Daniel immediately resumed his assault. However, this time, the damage numbers that popped up were shockingly low—less than 10,000 per strike. At the same time, a message flashed before his eyes: [The Fallen Idol has entered Fortification State. All resistances tripled. Damage taken reduced by 60%. Restores 100,000 HP per second.] Oh come on, are you a turtle or something? Daniel gritted his teeth and instantly switched back to [Offensive Mode]. There was nothing more annoying than bosses that relied on sheer thickness of hide to outlast their opponents. Fighting them meant chipping away at HP bit by bit—almost no chance to land a clean, fatal blow. Worse yet, this one regenerated health like a monster. If a challenger’s output wasn’t high enough, the entire fight could end in failure simply because they couldn’t keep up with the regen. To make matters worse, once [The Fallen Idol] entered Fortification State, it stopped launching attacks altogether. But even that didn’t help if your damage output wasn’t up to par. Honestly, it was one of the most infuriating mechanics ever designed. Fortunately, Daniel wasn’t fazed in the slightest. He instantly activated every buff at his disposal. When you had powerful penetration attributes, all the resistances in the world were no better than wet paper. Without taking a single break, Daniel went into full-blown assault mode. And in just ten seconds, [The Fallen Idol]’s HP fell below 30%! At this point, the boss in Fortification State was basically a punching bag. Daniel decided to spice things up. He prepared to unleash a barrage of dual-element attacks—lightning and fire—to amplify his explosive output. Finally— Under a relentless onslaught of devastating skills, [The Fallen Idol]’s HP hit zero! Even in its final moments, the boss didn’t launch a single attack. . . . [World Rank Boss: The Fallen Idol – Defeated] [Level: 60] [Slain by: Daniel] [Clear Time: 0 hours 8 minutes 29 seconds] . . . Interestingly, the public’s reaction to yet another World Rank boss kill by Daniel was... rather calm this time. When the message popped up on the [Gnome Communicator], most people just let out a sigh of relief. S~eaʀᴄh the ηovёlFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. As expected, Daniel pulled it off again. Using nothing but his own strength, he had now cleared every single World Rank boss in the Whitewild Expanse. This was a feat no one in history had accomplished. And likely, no one ever would again. Of course, to the average human citizen, Daniel’s World Rank boss hunting didn’t mean much beyond confirming his prodigious talent. But for the noble heirs? The impact was massive. Many of their families had carefully arranged World Rank boss kills for them—hoping to secure rare loot and rewards. But now, thanks to Daniel’s dominance, all that loot belonged to him alone. It wasn’t even an exaggeration to say that anyone who awakened in the same generation as Daniel was having the unluckiest year imaginable. Still, there was nothing anyone could do about it. Most of the human race, at this point, had shifted focus from resentment to curiosity. What they truly wanted to know was— How far would this genius go? Where, exactly, was his limit?