Chapter 400

“It went that way.” Z called out as his party rushed through the forest. They’d met back up with Med Ic after his death penalty and provided cover for him as they made their way back to the woods where the aliens had hatched. Just as Sergeant Jenkins had said, the creatures had fled from the bodies the moment they’d hatched, and he’d disappeared into the forest, claiming he would wait the full 10 minutes, before he began tracking his own prey. In the spirit of the hunt, according to him, it was no fun to follow them when they were still young.

Z had brought his pets back to life after they’d fallen as sacrifices, utilizing a cooldown to resurrect the extremely angry pets. Med Ic, on the other hand, had muttered something about potentially forgetting to heal Z the next time he was near death, but they all agreed, this was for the best. They’d also agreed that had Z initially tried to use his pets as the sacrifices, Sergeant Jenkins might not have accepted the offer. It was clear to them, the boss wanted one of the five party members as the sacrifice.

That being said, James could tell they were pretty happy with their current task. Apparently, they’d received an actual quest prompt when the alien had hatched. Just as the other bosses were able to offer up quests, Sergeant Jenkins had spawned a unique quest for the party. According to Rue, it was a similar mechanic that auto-populated quests on the Quest Board at the Adventurer’s Guild in the city. The game had a variety of different programs and AI running in the background to handle such things.

From what James had heard the party discussing, it seemed the quest was a timed one, lasting, obviously, until they either killed their prey, or they left the instance. Apparently, it was offering them each a random piece of quest unique gear, but also experience, a title, and the fact that they got to fight a special type of mini boss. Because that was what the Aliens were on this map. Mini bosses.

And, while their hatching had been somewhat disturbing to watch, James had been extremely pleased with the outcome. Because while Med Ic’s death really hadn’t granted him much experience, the fact he got to watch the party take on the Level 72 Mini-Boss was definitely a fair trade off. As was the views he was pulling in on his live stream of the event. Everyone, after all, enjoyed a good old fashioned secret boss event.

After running through the woods at crazy speeds, thanks to their racial features, as well as a few smaller skirmishes with mobs they passed, the party had finally tracked down the Alien they were hunting. The Alien itself was a somewhat humanoid creature, covered in inky black flesh, with an elongated head, sharp teeth, and a dangerous looking tail. It also had glowing red eyes, and what James could guess was acid dripping from its mouth.

He’d also been able to pull up its information, and watch it grow as it evolved through its various stages. Now, as the party chased it towards an open expanse in the trees, the creature, uncaring about the adventurers, hunting down a Pall Sheep on its own, James couldn’t help but feel his excitement grow. Not only was this going to be an awesome fight, but he was excited not only to watch the boss in action, but more so in the prospect that this was actually a fight they could win. Though not without some likely difficulty. Which was going to be much more amusing than watching them get straight up murdered by Sergeant Jenkins.

James and Rue cheered as the Alien leapt out of the woods and landed atop the Pall Sheep. It’s tail drove into the side of the creature, while its claws latched onto it, refusing to let it go. Then, the Alien’s mouth opened, and as it bit down on the sheep, which had been paralyzed by the creature’s strike, James saw the sheep’s health ticking away rapidly. Definitely acid.

He pulled up the Alien’s stats once more. Knowing once it finished its meal, Z and the Knights Who Go Ni will have reached the Alien, and the fight would truly begin.

Perfect Alien

Type: Alien

Lvl 72

HP: 30300

MP: 15400

Atk: 2040

Def: 2980

Special Traits:

Stunning Strike: The Alien lashes out with its tail, impaling a creature for .1*Atk and stunning them with a 25% chance.

Acidic Bite: The Alien secrets slightly caustic venom. This venom does 25 damage per second, doubling the amount of damage it does for every 2 seconds it remains on the target.

Punishing Body: Any attack made against the Alien by a foe within 15 feet of the Alien will cause a spray of acid to launch from the wound towards the attacker. This acid does 25 damage per second and will temporarily destroy gear after remaining for 10 seconds.*

*Destroyed Gear is broken for the duration of the instance, causing the wearer to lose all bonuses from the gear until they exit the instance.

Unique Traits

Parasitic Creation: The Alien gains additional stats according to the level of the host from which it emerged.

Adaptive Entity: The Alien will learn as it grows, gaining additional traits and skills based on the prey it hunts, and the environment in which it has been growing

Perfect Predator- The Alien can overcome any mob within the dungeon as it grows, in order to fulfill its task of becoming a worthy adversary for the Predator

Staged Growth: The Alien will undergo different stages as it grows. Each stage effects the stats of the creature.

Infant: Stats at 15%, 0 special skills*

Juvinille: Stats at 25%, 1 special skill*

Adolescent: Stats at 50%, 2 special skills*

Adult: Stats at 75%, 4 special skills*

Perfect: Stats at 100%, 5+ special skills*

*Special skills are not only learned, but can also be absorbed through prey consumed by the Alien

Special Skills

*Happy Feet (Painguin) - This creature gains 30% move speed and 15% increased dodge chance in the snow

*Solar Charged (Solar Bear) – While in Direct Sunlight, the Solar Bear will regain 1% of its mana every 5 seconds

*Increased Intellect (Painguin) - This creature can utilize advanced planning and tactics

*Force Filled (Darth-whal) - Upon entering combat, this creature will begin utilizing 25 mana per second to increase its mobility by 25%, and its Atk and Def by 10%.

*Bleat of Despair (Pall Sheep) - The Pall Sheep lets out an ominous sound, declaring the end is near. All creatures within 100+level feet of the creature has a 50%+ 0.2*Lvl chance of being aggro’d for 20+ 0.1*lvl seconds. Those who resist the taunt are applied with a slow debuff, that decreases their movement speed, as well as mana and health regain by 75% for 10 seconds.

James chuckled as the Alien finished off the Pall Sheep, just as the party came within visual sight of it. Last he’d checked, it hadn’t gained a skill from the Pall sheep. Its first prey had actually been a Painguin…that James may have sent to it out of curiosity. It had gained Happy Feet from that, giving it the increased move speed, which aided in its ability to find additional sources of food while growing. From there, it had killed a solar bear, then another painguin, a Darth-Whal, and then this Pall sheep. From what James could tell, it was gaining a special skill from each mob it consumed, though the skills seemed random.

This time around though, he figured it was going to be…a little more painful for the Knights as a result. Because the Alien not only had increased movement speed, but the Solar Charged skill from the Solar Bear, combined with the Force Filled trait of the Darth-Whal, was a powerful combo. Gaining the Bleat of Despair from the Pall Sheep was a metaphorical nail in a coffin. Though, he figured there was at least the chance that the very powerful taunt could, in theory at least, aggro additional mobs towards the Predator.

Which, may or may not help the party out, depending on what mobs, and how the fight was going. Either way, it was going to be an amazing fight, and while he wanted experience, he was hopeful that the Knights could pull this fight off. After all, he was really interested to see what they’d get from completing the quest.

Then again, now that they knew it was a quest they could trigger, by giving sacrifices to Sergeant Jenkins, then, worst case scenario, they’d just have to feed someone else to the boss, and hope for a better outcome. The randomness of the Alien’s skills definitely meant that each encounter with this particular Secret Mini Boss, would be a unique, and enjoyable, experience.