Chapter 267
This challenge in the boss rush dungeon is to verify the drop rate and range of cash shop items that appeared recently.
Specifically, whether only Color Changers drop or if different items come from different species, and whether future dragon species' rainbow chests will exclusively contain cash shop items.
In this regard, Nell's Fortune's Summoning skill is perfectly suited.
The number of treasure chests is fixed at the maximum, with a 50% chance for rainbow chests and a guaranteed gold chest.
With Nell, I can trust that rainbow chests will definitely appear.
"Next boss appears in 5 minutes! Quickly check the chest contents!"
Activating Fortune's Summoning just before defeating the boss alters the Thunder Dragon's chest drop rates, successfully producing a rainbow chest.
"Nell, your turn.""Leave it to me!"
It's better for Nell to open it rather than me doing it carelessly.
She eagerly reaches for the rainbow chest.
"Huh?""What's wrong?""It contained a scroll and a key.""Well, getting the highest rarity item so easily would be something to question."
Inside were the Thunder Dragon dungeon key and a scroll I wanted for Lady Esmeralda's enhancement.
"One verification done. Store the items in the Magic Bag. Lady Esmeralda, focus on mana recovery! I'll handle the next Steel Dragon."
This means rainbow chests aren't fixed to cash shop items; they might contain either regular or cash shop items, or possibly a mix.
Narrowing it down to 2 or 3 patterns is progress enough. This is the second rainbow chest from a Thunder Dragon in four months, including the previous one.
We couldn't verify earlier because Fortune's Summoning was used on regular Wind Dragons for efficient material farming.
"Looks tough.""It is tough. Worst matchup for Claudia or Nell."
As we finish collecting items and assume battle positions, a magic circle forms in the arena, and a wingless dragon, three times larger than the Thunder Dragon, emerges.
Its scales are steel-colored, its body stout, resembling a dragon-bear hybrid. Its jaw is square, like a shovel bucket.
"But this is exactly my kind of opponent!!"
Fortune's Summoning lasts only an hour. We want to efficiently defeat them and verify all dragon chests within that time.
Hence, we hunt efficiently.
"Now, Steel Dragon! Leave your head behind!!"
The Steel Dragon's traits are its hardness, almost physical-specific, and toughness. Even magic can't easily reduce its HP, forcing resource drain and struggles against later dragons.
But if asked if it's weak, the answer is NO. It's genuinely strong.
It employs a brute force tactic leveraging its toughness. It doesn't heal but uses its bulk and weight to charge, disrupting party coordination and crushing from the rear.
Vanguards can hardly stop it; even specialized tanks need skill to halt it.
Drawn by Amina's song, it scrapes the ground with its front feet like a boar, ready to charge.
Even the Angler can't stop the Steel Dragon. So, let's add a little trick.
Of course, I don't expect to halt the charge—this is just necessary prep.
Taking a bottle from my pouch, I throw it at its neck. It shatters, splashing contents that sizzle and emit white smoke on contact.
Minor skin burns won't stop the Steel Dragon. It leans forward, about to charge in seconds.
But faster than that, I dash to its feet and use Air Step to leap onto its neck.
"Mirage Phenomenon."
Naturally, I activate my maximum firepower skill.
This is the guillotine for giant creatures.
Mirrors appear encircling the Steel Dragon's thick neck, with my clones emerging.
I target below the neck, near the reverse scale, assuming an uppercut stance. The mirror clones mimic me.
The Steel Dragon's movement—or reaction speed—once started, it charges fast, but before gaining momentum, it's not that quick.
Before it can react to the neck-encircling me, I activate the skill.
"Neck Hunt."
A lethal decapitation strike unleashed from all sides.
The Steel Dragon is indeed toughness-specific, but inversely, its status resistance stats are below average for dragon species.
For a Class 7 dragon, it has high resistance, but with anti-dragon weapons, Amina's buffs, and four simultaneous neck strikes ignoring defense—
And the bottle I threw earlier. It's a debuff item that reduces all resistances by about 3%. It cost high-tier materials to make, but the effect is minimal.
"Alright, one hit."
But perhaps that minimal effect worked.
The Steel Dragon's neck slides off.
I strike a victory pose mid-air and evade the falling object.
Turning to black ash, the Steel Dragon exits mere seconds after appearing.
"Oh! My luck isn't so bad after all."
Honestly, since I defeated it, I didn't expect much, but upon landing, the chest results: one gold, one rainbow, and the rest wooden—typical for me.
"Nell! Your turn!"
But I won't get cocky and open it myself.
"Okay!!"
As decided in the pre-meeting, Nell opens all rainbow chests. This is what happens when you use Fortune's Summoning in a boss rush—the second one today.
"Ah!"
Without hesitation, Nell opens it, her eyes widening.
"Liberta, this!!"
She reaches in and pulls out a cylindrical object with a lightning mark surrounded by flame-like motion.
"It finally appeared!!"
It looks like a cheap energy drink can. But I couldn't possibly mistake that design.
An EXP boost item—the lowest tier, but confirming it drops is significant.
"How many?""One. And this.""The Steel Dragon's reverse scale? So, it's the third pattern including mixed drops."
But only one dropped, along with monster materials. The drop patterns are becoming clear, almost blatantly.
Ideally, we'd repeat this more to study patterns, but having this info is good enough.
"What other info do we need?""Verifying if EXP boost items drop fixedly from Steel Dragons and the drop pattern ratios... I want to check these two."
The remaining verifications require more repetitions. Even if cash shop items drop in future battles, we can't gain more certainty than this.
But since this is all based on Nell's luck, we need a note: "Only when Nell is present."
We're using Fortune's Summoning because we're rushed. Normally, we'd verify without it through repetition, but for time's sake, it's unavoidable.
"Next is the Ice Dragon? My turn, right?"
There's a possibility that specific battle conditions might固定 (fix) rainbow chests to contain cash shop items. I'd like to verify that too.
"Yes, it's coming soon."
Looking up, I notice the weather changing.
The next dragon will appear shortly. The temperature drops, and snow begins to fall.
Unlike dark clouds, grayish clouds release chilling air.
"Activating Thermo Control, followed by Air Clean."
The momentary cold and worsening visibility are all handled by Ingrid.
As signaled, Claudia claps her fists together.
The Ice Dragon—a dragon that alters the environment, inflicting frostbite and slip damage.
It knows debuff ice magic skills that hinder actions, plus a wide range of attacks from single-target to area-of-effect.
Without cold protection, it forces slip damage. Snow keeps falling, accumulating in the arena and reducing movement speed.
Ingrid's two spells create a warm, snow-free area.
As the bluish-white scaled Western dragon appears, looking down—
"Heavenly Fist activation."
Continuously used against Wind Dragons for finishing blows, maxing skill level, and adapting my body, I activate this terrifying physical boost after much practice.
Spotting the enemy, Claudia dashes like lightning, leaving afterimages as she ascends.
"Eagle Drop."
Seizing the high ground above the Ice Dragon, she delivers a heel drop to its face, bending its neck comically fast and driving its head toward the ground.
"Hawk Hunt."
But she doesn't let it crash.
Crashing it would deal damage, but perhaps thinking it might recover, Claudia catches up and sends its face flying sideways with a follow-up.
Physically, Claudia shouldn't be able to send a massive Ice Dragon flying, but with anti-dragon equipment and Heavenly Fint boosting her stats beyond the Ice Dragon's, she can.
"Flying Swallow!!"
At this point, the Ice Dragon is helpless.
Its face relentlessly targeted, tossed around by aerial combos, it can't even activate skills under the fierce assault.
"Bee Chain Bird!!"
This isn't a fight; it's aerial combo practice.
Newly learned consecutive kicks prevent the Ice Dragon from touching the ground.
"Hawk Hunt! Flying Swallow! Eagle Drop!!"
Impact sounds echo incessantly, each heavy and transcending human capability, denting the Ice Dragon's body.
This combo doesn't stop until Heavenly Fist's duration ends. If HP bars were visible, the Ice Dragon's would be draining alarmingly fast.
"Ripple Twin Palm Strike!! Dragon Slayer Palm!"
Adding hand strikes to kicks, there's no gap in the chain.
Fully utilizing Air Step and aerial skills, Claudia has mastered aerial combat.
The sky sovereign—the Ice Dragon couldn't have foreseen this end.
But this is reality, this is truth.
For the finish, the Ice Dragon is slammed to the ground, allowing Claudia to land on its back.
"Hmm, quite good training."
It turns to black ash as she declares this.
Am I the only one who imagined a "WIN!" fighting game victory screen behind her?