Chapter 390

“You know this is going to get nerfed.” Z said from his ship. James was floating next to him, riding atop a massive ghost ship. He’d thought about summoning his siege snake with his enhanced summon, and then remembered, he had something even better now. With Enhanced Summon, he was able to spend 30 mob points, to summon a level 40 Ghost Ship. And given the size increase because it was an Avatar summon…well, his ghost ship happened to be the size of a Dreadnaught. Which was perfect for his 35-foot frame.

“Perhaps.” James chuckled as he watched the situation unfold. He’d been summoned, his Warmonger had been summoned, and his players had begun thinking about what to spend their remaining essence on. There had been debates about summoning the M.I.N.E. Craft, but that had been tabled. They didn’t know what the Dragon Dungeon was going to send at them, and the consensus was the M.I.N.E. Craft’s biggest assistance in a battle such as this, were the anti-air guns. As such, they held off on summoning it, saving it in case the Dragon Dungeon sent something scary and flying towards them.

From there, it was a toss up about working with the Perfect Cognivore, saving essence, or summoning mobs. It was at this time, James had come up with a crazy, brilliant, impossible that it would work plan. And he’d voiced it, to no one in particular, which meant everyone around him heard it.

The moment it was out in the air, his players started putting the plan into effect. The brilliant, broken, stupid part of the plan, was they could actually control it. After all, the effects of this particular skill, were easy to predict, if you had a way to control the spawn and numbers.

“But we should not question the gods. Merely abuse what’s been given to us, and seize the moment for ourselves.” James chuckled even more, trying his best to stay in Mad Mage character. “And, if the enemy can try to summon a Dragon God, I don’t see why we cannot summon an undead Shark God of our own.”

“Can the Megalodonie even leave the water?” Elm asked, standing atop Boaty, keeping his eyes peeled in the distance. While James’s forces were getting themselves best prepared for the battle, everyone knew the Dragon Dungeon’s players were doing the same. It was imperative then, that they be on the lookout for whatever might come their way.

“Who knows.” James shrugged. He didn’t really care. At the very least, it was going to be ridiculously awesome. And, it wasn’t even the best thing he had planned yet. Sure, this trick was probably only going to work once, before it got nerfed, but he was about to try and exploit as much as he could before then. After all, it’s exactly what the Mad Mage would do. Plus, he may have been a little salty about BLANK incorporating the skirmishes the freaking night of his abduction and such. So, if they had to do a little extra work to patch some possible broken mechanics areas, so be it.

Plus, he wasn’t sure they would. Sure, the Megalodonie was fearsome, but as with all things, numbers could overwhelm might. He’d seen the undead shark god brought down by his own players, so the Dragon Dungeon’s players would be able to as well. That being said, he knew it would bring more than a few players and mobs down with it in the process, which was the goal.

That wasn’t why this would be nerfed. And James knew that. What would nerf this mechanic…was how dirt cheap it was. They could summon a Sharkie for a cost of 18 essence. Two sharkies cost 36. Then, they just killed one of the ones they summoned, which would force the Sharkegeddon skill to ‘randomly’ evolve another sharkie. Since there was only one additional one alive, it would automatically be forced to get the upgrade. Rinse, lather, repeat…and they had a broken, massively overpowered World Boss leveled creature, for less than it cost to summon their first-floor boss. Totally not broken at all…

Speaking of broken, he was still trying to figure out if they could force Z Kraken’s unique summon in the same way. It was a little more difficult, since the skills needed to ‘unleash the powers of the Great Old One’, required the death of enemy players. If they sent that boss out into the waters, he wasn’t certain it would be able to meet the requirements before it was killed. So he figured he would need to sit back on that one, and figure out a different time to see it in action.

For now though, he was happy to note they were nearing the creation of the Megalodnie. He’d not been counting, so caught up in his own musings had he been with trying to break some game mechanics, but the sharkie that was evolving, currently tied to the side of Boaty, so they could keep track of it and ensure it wasn’t killed, had evolved to the final form before it activated Sharkegeddon.

Just then, Elm gave a startled cry, and pointed off into the distance. It was far away, and yet, so massive that they could make it out from the ship. It was just a silhouette, but still, they could tell it was an extremely large, powerful beast. James squinted hard to try and look at it, knowing it was too far from his range to get stats on, but what he was really doing, was counting heads. Tiamat, he knew, had five. Looking at what was flying towards him, he counted…three? So, not Tiamat, but still, a multiheaded Dragon.

“Oh shit, there’s another one.” Elm said, his voice holding a little more panic as another form appeared. This one, had two heads. Was it a power play? Was it a secret joke? Had the Dragon Dungeon’s bosses or World Bosses been scaled in power based on how many heads they had? James didn’t have time to think about it, as the two forms grew a bit larger in their few. Judging from where they were, he was guessing they were staying out of range of the water, high enough to avoid any cannon fire. They were being commanded, smartly, and were taking measure of the battlefield before them, before anything else happened.

“Well,” James cracked his neck, pulling out his bow as he did. “It’s about time for us to begin anyways.” The sharkie was glowing, its final evolution about to begin. That, had already been the decided upon signal for James’s side anyways. The players had split into two forces. One, was the force with James and his massive Ghost Ship. A large group of high-level ranged players with their ships, who would summon the Megalodonie and head out on the water towards the Dragon Dungeon’s side.

The other force, the force that had Vinnie with it, was taking a different route. They were heading through the snowy mountains, with two other special treats for the Dragon Dungeon. Instead of playing it safe, the players had blown through the rest of their essence. Along with a third of James’s players, Vinnie the Warmonger, Sergeant Jenkins, the fifth-floor boss, and the Perfect Cognivore, were advancing on foot. The Dragon Dungeon was about to get hit with a pincer attack.