NOVEL NEXT Mantle of the Gods - Book 7 - The Six - Chapter 16
The Rat King appeared in between us.
"Blue Team said to Bind it and have the Shooter try to cripple it while the Hitter goes for the heart." Trent looked over at Aelin, "Green Team thought to try the same thing." He snapped his fingers and the Rat King exploded into six Giant Rats. "The unique thing about the Rat King is that once you kill it, it spawns six Giant Rats, not too dangerous, but it can be if you push yourself. The Tank needs to be ready to taunt multiple targets before you finish the boss."
I saw Zel shiver a little and Ren made a disgusted face. On the other team, Shelly looked worried, but none of the others looked concerned.
"You need to be prepared for the swarm, but if your Tanks can taunt multiple things, you'll be fine." Trent switched to the next monster. "Both teams picked up on using Freeze on the Giant Python to slow it down, though the Blue Team didn't pick up on the poison spit from the floor monster. Also, once this boss dies, it spawns six Spitting Snakes, which you need to be mindful of."
Ether raised her hand.
"Yes, Ether?" Trent gestured at the snake and it vanished.
"Is it safe to assume that all of the Floor Bosses in the Dispatcher Dungeon spawn six of the floor monsters when they die?" The ivory woman didn't sound very pleased.
Trent smiled. "That is correct, which is a mechanic that you haven't encountered before, so it's not something I'm counting against your evaluation, but it is something that you'll need to plan for."
Ether leaned against me and closed her eyes. That meant a shopping trip with Gesai, unless we gave a list of what we needed to Aelin again.
"It is also worth noting that the chained spikes that the Green Team proposed to use against the Rock Wurm would be very effective here." Trent began gesturing with his hand. "The Blue Team thought about trying to freeze it in place, but the amount of magic required to do that…" He looked at me. "Isn't practical."
What I got from his look was that I could do it, but it would give away my stats, which meant that even though I could, that didn't mean that I should.
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"Last was the King Sucker." Trent motioned and the monster appeared in between everyone. "Blue Team said that earth element skills were the way to go and to take off the tentacles first. Rix had the suspicion that it was fast and she was correct." He snapped his fingers and a display appeared above the monster.
Floor Boss King Sucker - Level 4
12 Power 10 Defense 16 Speed
1 Magic 15 Recovery 6 Aura
Skill: Leech, Tentacle Attack,
Charge: Sharp Tongue
Passive: Regrow Tentacles, Poison Immunity
On Death: Summon Leech Heads
"That's got more Speed than any of us!" Aelin stood up, then looked at our two trial members, "Unless they're that fast."
"That brings us to another topic that we'll have to discuss, but we can save that for after we're done here." Trent motioned at Aelin's seat.
The blonde crossed her arms and sat down.
"The Green Team assumed that due to its tentacles, it would be slow, relying on them to close the distance." Trent tilted his head a little, "Though they were correct about it being able to regrow its tentacles so their strategy was to rely on ranged attacks."
"So what is the strategy?" I rubbed Ether's shoulder with my left hand. It was only around seven, but I could tell that she was getting tired. It would be over an hour for the shopping trips and I wasn't sure how many places would even still be open that late at night.
Trent motioned at the image and it spat out its tongue. He let it wrap around his arm and then braced as it tried to pull him in.
Gesai pulled a metal spike out of her CB and stabbed it through the tongue, but barely rested the tip on the floor. The image vanished and she replaced the item back into her CB.
"Obviously, you would drive the stake into the ground, but…" Trent looked from Zel to Astrid. "I'd rather not have to repair the floor." He smiled and looked at the rest of the class. "Once you've secured it, you can box it in since it won't be able to use its tongue or teeth to attack you. Also…" The King Sucker appeared in front of us again. "The core is right here." A spot in between the two tentacles lit up. "The tentacles will drain your energy, so if you let one latch on to you for too long, you'll be taking yourself out of the fight." He dismissed the image.
"Out of the three bosses in the Dispatcher's Dungeon, you both had the same strategy for the Rat King, the Blue Team failed to account for the poison spit, and you were each right about a different aspect of the King Sucker. Which means that the Green Team did a better job of evaluating the Dispatcher's Dungeon." Trent waved his hand. "Last is the Authority Dungeon."