Based on its relentless pursuit, Izroth believed that the Insolum Beetle had no thoughts of letting him go without a fight.
Still, wasn’t this aggro a bit too high for having just stolen its prey?
Izroth understood it being angered; however, after realizing that chasing him was harder than simply finding another prey, the Insolum Beetle should have backed off. After all, as a world boss monster, it had to possess some form of basic intelligence or, at the very least, a high level of natural instinct.
‘I’ll be cutting it close, but I’ll have the 9th Division proceed without me.’
After Izroth made his decision to confront the Insolum Beetle, he switched over to voice chat to inform the others of his choice.
Izroth, “Niflheim, Menerva—when you arrive outside the Ferae Jungle, proceed as originally planned. I will catch up once I finish over here.”
Niflheim, “Understood, but… are you sure we shouldn’t circle back to help out?”
Izroth, “No, the mission takes priority. Besides, if it becomes too dangerous, I’m confident in my ability to escape if I’m alone.”
Niflheim, “I see. Then, stay safe. We’ll take care of things on this end, so don’t worry about us.”
Menerva, “You may leave the safety of the 9th Division in our hands. We will not disappoint you.”
Izroth, “I wouldn’t expect anything less from the two of you. Then, I’ll be silencing voice chat for a while. If there’s an emergency, send me a message, and I’ll come rushing over immediately.”
Niflheim, “Got it.”
Menerva, “Understood.”
Once he was finished, Izroth followed through and silenced his voice chat.
Seeing as how he was facing a level 60 world boss alone, it required his full concentration. After all, the slightest unnecessary distraction was enough to completely turn the tide of battle out of his favor.
‘I’ll have to take advantage of Dark Ambush while it’s still active.’
Izroth had not remained while he spoke to Niflheim and Menerva. His Flickering Steps was coming to an end; however, Izroth was using the boost to his agility to throw off the Insolum Beetle’s senses while simultaneously closing in on its position.
Bang!
The Insolum Beetle slammed its horn into the ground, sending out another shockwave in every direction. This shockwave was nowhere near as powerful as the one it used just moments ago to flatten the surrounding landscape, but it was still enough to cause tremors.
Crrrrck!
The next moment, the Insolum Beetle’s horn dug into the earth, causing cracks to form as a piece of the ground broke off.
Woosh!
The Insolum Beetle lifted its head and swung its horn upward in a mighty force, sending a fragment of earth roughly half its size soaring into the air.
When the fragment of earth was approximately ten meters in the air, it came to a sudden stop. At the same time, it released a faint light as it became coated in a powerful wave of mana.
The mana that encompassed the fragmented earth caused its rough shape to transform into that of a perform sphere.
On the sphere, one could see their own reflection off of the dark silver sheen that was not layered over it.
The sphere emitted a light humming sound as numerous spikes started to emerge from its bottom half. Then, in the blink of an eye, the spikes shot out of the sphere toward the ground at frightening speeds!
The thickness of each spike was around the same size as one’s finger; however, its length was close to thirty centimeters. It was also fired off in a spiral from the sphere, increasing its overall power and ability to puncture through its target.
BANG!
When the first spike hit the ground, it drilled into the earth to the point that no part of it was sticking out. If not for the perfectly smooth hole it left along the path it traveled, there would have been no trace of its existence!
However, it was not just this one spike that struck the ground as hundreds quickly trailed after it.
This rain of spikes from the sphere covered the surrounding thirty meters and left no place untouched besides the ground directly under the Insolum Beetle itself.
The attack lasted exactly five seconds before the sphere in the air crumbled apart and returned to normal earth.
Click! Click! Click!
The Insolum Beetle looked around to catch sight of its prey that should currently be run through with spikes. However, to its surprise, there was no body lying around within its vicinity.
Swoosh! Phtk! Phtk!
Out of nowhere, a sharp sword intent erupted from above the Insolum Beetle as it felt a slight stabbing pain pass through the surface of its exoskeleton.
Krieeewk!
The Insolum Beetle cried out in anger as a sword and dagger were currently dug into its exoskeleton.
As for Izroth, he was right on top of the Insolum Beetle!
‘I knew it would be tough to pierce through, but it’s even harder than I expected.’
When the Insolum Beetle conjured the sphere, at first, Izroth evaded the incoming spikes. But he quickly realized that it would be impossible to avoid them forever. Though after noticing that the area above the Insolum was completely unaffected by the sphere, Izroth used a charge of his Primed Instantaneous Movement to place himself directly on the Insolum Beetle’s back.
Then, in its brief state of confusion, Izroth took the chance to strike out.
Although his attack was successful, the damage was not too high due to the Insolum Beetle’s hard exoskeleton. However, Izroth still managed to just barely get through its external layer.
In addition, when his Obsconis Hunting Dagger struck the Insolum Beetle, Izroth received a stream of systems alerts.
〈Battle Alert: The effect of «Dark Ambush» has been triggered!〉
〈Battle Alert: The special effect of the dark element «Agony» has been triggered!〉
〈Battle Alert: For the next 30 seconds, «Ferae Adamantine Insolum Beetle» will have its senses and defenses reduced by 50%.〉
Izroth was pleasantly surprised by the emergence of the special effect from the dark element activating on his first strike.
In RML, when one inflicted elemental damage, there was a small chance for a special effect to activate that lasted 30 seconds.
For example, the fire element had a chance to inflict a target with the Burn status.
The dark element, on the other hand, caused affected targets to experience the Agony effect, which resulted in a significant reduction to one’s senses, as well as their defensive stat.
This paired well with a skill like Dark Ambush as it now made it more challenging for the Insolum Beetle to even keep track of Izroth’s rough location.
Izroth did not let this opportunity pass him by as he pulled his weapons out of the Insolum Beetle’s exoskeleton and carried out an onslaught of attacks.
There were still a few seconds remaining on his Flickering Steps, and he wanted to take full advantage of the boost to his attack speed.
Izroth also utilized the Linked effect from his Dual Wielding skill to rain down more than fifteen attacks instantaneously!
With the amount of attacks taking place, Izroth activated the passive effect of the Obsconis Hunting Dagger several times over, causing many of his strikes to go completely unnoticed by the Insolum Beetle.
Also, a wave of destruction that contained Izroth’s sword intent was sent out as a strong burst of the lightning element that passed right through the Insolum Beetle’s hard exoskeleton. This was due to one of the skills attached to Izroth’s Sword of the Storm, Destructive Aftermath.
The lightning from Destructive Aftermath momentarily paralyzed the Insolum Beetle, robbing it of its ability to respond to Izroth’s attacks.
Not long after, Izroth’s Flickering Steps came to an end. This greatly reduced his attack speed!
Woosh!
Suddenly, Izroth ceased his attacks and kicked off the Insolum Beetle’s back.
The instant he did so, the Insolum Beetle forcibly broke free of the paralyzing effects of Destructive Aftermath. Then, without delay, its wings began to flutter rapidly, generating a powerful gust of wind.
However, Izroth did not slow down on his assault. After creating some distance, he activated Tempest Strikes from his Sword of the Storm and swung outward from mid-air at the Insolum Beetle.
A blade of wind that carried with it an extraordinary and overbearing momentum rushed out from the edge of Izroth’s Sword of the Storm and crashed into the Insolum Beetle, who was about to leave the ground.
BANG! Phhhtk!
Izroth had been waiting for the Insolum Beetle to spread its wings. And, right as it did so, Izroth used Tempest Strikes to carry a certain skill—First Baneful Sword: Destruction Point.
Beneath the hardened and tough exterior of the Insolum Beetle’s exoskeleton was a soft interior. Aiming for that point, the Insolum Beetle was unable to withstand the force of Izroth’s First Baneful Sword: Destruction Point. And, as a result, Izroth was able to effortlessly clip one of its wings!
