Chapter 610: Thunder Drum Beast, Here We Come!
Frustrating.
The Millennium Thunder Beast Horn wasn’t just hard to get. It was absurdly difficult to get. Even with his high Luck, Marcus had spent five straight hours slaughtering Thunder Beasts, yet he’d only managed to collect two Millennium Thunder Beast Horns. Emily and Tyler had been leveling up like crazy during the grind, but Marcus’s progress on the quest was barely moving.
The quest required one hundred horns.
’Great.’
If he wanted to own Twin Wing Island, it looked like he was going to have to work really hard for it.
"Time to call for backup."
Marcus opened the Mercenary channel. "Boss Blaze, Millennium Thunder Beast Horns are almost impossible to find. Do you have anything that boosts Luck? I need it ASAP. As much as you can spare."
"Let me check."
Boss Blaze went through his inventory, taking Marcus’s equipment and current stats into account. After a moment, he replied, "Stone, Luck-boosting items are rare as hell. I found a few pieces, but they’ll only raise your Luck by eight points in total."
"I’ll take them."
At this point, Marcus wasn’t about to be picky. Eight points were eight points, and even a single extra point could make a difference when he was dealing with such a miserable drop rate.
He was about to call for Emily and Tyler, tell them to stay where they were while he made a quick trip back to Dragon’s Peak Citadel, when Tyler suddenly pointed toward the valley below.
"Marcus! Look! A glowing one just spawned where you were farming!"
"What?"
Marcus immediately spurred Blackie higher. About two hundred yards behind them, a cluster of Thunder Beasts had just respawned. In the middle of the group stood something much larger than the others, its body crackling with bright blue lightning.
It was at least three times the size of a normal Thunder Beast, with broad shoulders and a towering frame.
"Let’s check it out."
Marcus cut through the freshly respawned Thunder Beasts, his pets attacking alongside him as he forced his way toward the strange creature. The closer he got, the clearer its appearance became.
It looked like a giant squirrel standing upright, constantly hopping in place. Bands of blue lightning wrapped around its belly, forming what looked like a thunder drum, and every few seconds it slammed its heavy fists against its chest, each strike producing a deep, crackling boom that carried across the valley.
Marcus motioned for Emily and Tyler to stay about a hundred yards away. He moved forward alone. The creature’s detection range wasn’t particularly impressive. Even when Marcus got within fifty yards, it still hadn’t noticed him.
It was probably around Elder Eagle Morta’s level.
Marcus activated Insight.
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Thunder Drum Beast
Level 70 Golden Boss | HP: 330,000
A Thunder Beast that evolved by absorbing the roaring thunder of the skies. It resonates with the natural forces of heaven and earth, holding tremendous potential.
Abilities:
Lightning Evasion: Its hopping movement grants it a high dodge rate.
Lightning Reflection: Emits radiating rings of energy that can reflect a portion of incoming attacks.
Drum Morale: In times of crisis, it pounds its thunder-drum chest, increasing its own stats and restoring 20% to 40% of its HP.
Skills:
Basic high-tier lightning magic and all mid-tier lightning skills.
Drum Aura: Pounds its chest to release a ring of lightning with a strong knockback effect.
Thunder Roar: Pounds its chest to unleash a deafening blast, reducing the attack and defense of enemies within five yards and causing a strong stun effect.
Weakness: Magic-type attackers; weak against physical attacks.
---
Honestly, it wasn’t as tough as Elder Eagle Morta, but potential or not, Marcus wasn’t worried.
He cleared out every Thunder Beast within fifty yards of the boss, making sure nothing else could interfere with the fight, then turned his attention back to the Thunder Drum Beast.
"Hold here."
He left his pets behind. Marcus and Pebble both activated Wraith Shadow, turning invisible as they approached the boss. Halfway there, Marcus switched to the Twin-Winged Ice Owl Bow and equipped his Blazing Explosive Arrows.
Thirty yards, that was close enough.
"The Ascendant’s Domain!"
Marcus roared as he activated the skill. Golden light burst from his body and spread outward in a wave, reaching every monster within eighty yards, including the Thunder Drum Beast.
All of their stats dropped by 10%.
Red damage numbers appeared above their heads as their HP fell by another tenth.
At almost the exact same moment, the passive effect of his Face of Nameless Fear activated. Every enemy within thirty yards had its stats reduced by another 15%, followed by another cascade of red numbers.
Two abilities had taken away 25% of the monsters’ HP in an instant.
The Thunder Drum Beast suffered the biggest loss. It had just lost 82,500 HP, leaving it with a little over 240,000.
Then the Frost Aura from his Knight’s Frost Ring took effect, slowing everything within ten yards by 20%.
Before the Thunder Beasts could recover from the sudden assault, Marcus activated another skill from the Face of Nameless Fear.
"Roar of Fear!"
Death energy exploded outward, spreading across a fifty-yard radius. Sixty percent of the surrounding Thunder Beasts were immediately seized by terror. Their attack and defense dropped by another 10%, and instead of attacking Marcus, they began running around in panic for the next five seconds.
’Beautiful.’
The Face of Nameless Fear was ridiculous. No wonder it was a Demon-tier Artifact, an item that stood on the same level as Divine equipment. Every skill and passive effect it had was far beyond what Marcus had expected.
There was one catch, though.
The level difference between Marcus and these Thunder Beasts was still too large, which was why only 60% of them had been affected by Roar of Fear.
As for the Thunder Drum Beast itself, it was completely immune to the fear effect.
’Shame.’
"Drum Thunder!"
The magic-type boss slammed both fists against its thunder-drum chest, sending a bolt of lightning toward Marcus. Thanks to the debuffs already weighing it down, however, the attack only dealt 2,300 damage.
Marcus barely reacted.
"Five Arrows Simultaneous!"
He and Pebble fired at the same time.
Five Mythic-grade Blazing Explosive Arrows left each of their bows in perfect sync, cutting through the air toward the Thunder Drum Beast. Every arrow dealt quadruple damage, tearing away roughly 20,000 HP at a time.
The Thunder Drum Beast’s Lightning Evasion was still a problem. Its constant hopping made it difficult to hit cleanly, but Marcus’s high Luck and Agility kept their attacks from missing. Unfortunately, neither Marcus nor Pebble managed to land a critical hit.
Even so, their combined Five Arrows Simultaneous hammered the boss’s HP down to around 30,000.
The Thunder Drum Beast was still standing, but Marcus narrowed his eyes. He still had a little work to do.