“A Blighted version of the boss monster?” I sighed. “That’s… uh, actually expected.” Given everything that had happened so far, of course, I couldn’t catch a break. The frigging boss had to be Blighted too! And it was eleven levels higher than what Kezo told me it was supposed to be.

Be it level twenty or a hundred, the strategy remained the same: Poison the quest boss and survive until it died. Just run like when I fought the Elite Blighted Hermit Crabore living in one of Bawu’s laboratories.

My enemy being Blighted was, in fact, a boon. In addition to the poison, it’d also suffer damage from its sickness. Hard to notice, but its health bar was diminishing each second by a minuscule amount. [Morabodry] would greatly hasten its death.

The Mud Golem sauntered toward me, leaving behind clumps of its legs stuck to the ground with each step. Without trying to walk on one, it was apparent that the puddles of mud laced with green chemicals were off-limits. They may be a sort of timer to the fight, with the Mud Golem eventually covering the entire area with its sludge, and I’d have nowhere to go.

Fortunately, this place was wide enough for me to run around.

“Okay, game time! How do we do this?” The preferable way to poison something was downing [Morabodry], suffering the poison effect myself with its maximum duration of fifteen minutes instead of a few seconds, and reflecting that to my enemy with [Cloak of the Plaguespreader.] Without the resistances of an actual boss, this guy was toast.

Morabodry | Item Level: 10

Rare | Consumable | No Requirement

A mild poison brewed from the extract of choice herbs and infused with toxic effects by arcane magic. It causes the poisoned unit to lose (1% of Max Health+24) per second. It also hinders the senses and induces sluggishness, reducing Accuracy and Attack Speed by (7%). (If applied to equipment, it has a 10% (5%) chance of poisoning the enemy per damage instance. Poisoned Status lasts for 4 (+4) seconds.)

Duration: 15 Minutes

Uses: 5/5

But getting pummeled by a Blighted quest boss twice my level was a recipe for making a pancake. Scratching out poisoning it with retribution too. That left me with two options.

Using [Poison Bottle Cast], I exploded [Morabodry] in the Mud Golem’s path so it’d bathe in the poisonous cloud as it passed through.

Then I coated [Mehubanarath’s Old Sling] with poison. Bonus points if I could also Burn this guy with the sling’s special effect or Freeze it with the [Pristine Frostore Amulet] from Healer Gula.

Mehubanarath’s Old Sling | Item Level: 1

Rare | Ranged | One-Handed

8-18 Attack Power (Neutral)

1.2 Attacks per Second

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+4-6 Attack Power (Fire)

15% Chance to Burn Targets for 5 seconds

Pristine Frostore Amulet | Item Level: 15

Epic | Amulet

86 Magic Resilience

20 - 34 Magic Power

Requires: 32 Spirit, 13 Sense

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+18% Water Resistance

- 10% Chance to Freeze and Freeze Duration

+5% Chance to Freeze the target for 2 seconds

I attacked the Blighted Mud Golem as it stomped after me. The ground shook, and my body trembled. But with a literal wall coming, I didn’t need an accurate shot.

Stone after stone flew toward the muddy giant. I had dozens of them in my inventory from my Mirdabon hunting days. If these weren’t enough, there were plenty of stones on the ground.

“Yes!” I cheered as purple bubbles emerged from the Mud Golem’s body, very noticeable against the glowing green. It might’ve been the poison cloud, not the slung stones that caused it. Tiny embers followed, looking like fireflies settling on this moving mud mountain. “Five hundred points to Herald Stone!”

The Blighted Mud Golem mindlessly followed as I shot at it, wildly swinging its disproportionately long arms that almost reached the ground as it tried to grab me. It moved so slowly that I didn’t bother to use [Withering Brand.] Occasionally, it’d Freeze, a humongous mud popsicle.

In contrast to its clumsy and sluggish legs, the arms were brown blurs, wrecking balls that would’ve sent me back to Kurhal Village the next time I opened my eyes.

A couple of times, I had a close brush with its hardened fists. Jagged rocks coated its hand, reminding me of brass knuckles sported by the gangs hanging out on the street I lived as a child before it became the posh neighborhood it is now. I quickly studied its range, using the puddles as markers to gauge its reach, and adjusted my movements.

As the seconds ticked, the Blight, poison, and sometimes Burn did their job. Mud Golem’s health bar became shorter and shorter.

“Cold here, is it?” Ice enveloped it as I said that. “One thousand points to Herald Stone for the double pun!” I knew this would be easy, but I didn’t expect it to be this easy. A quarter of its life was already gone. “Don’t worry. Soon enough, you’ll rejoin the earth and—hey, stop that!”

Green tendrils ending in hands as wide as the span of my horns spurted from its sides. Some came for me. I evaded. The rest went after the littered corpses, pulling them back into its body.

This asshole was absorbing them to heal!

“You’re still going to die!” I swerved left as it swung its log-like arms forward, digging furrows into the earth. This was going to take longer than expected.

Switching to my [Heavy Spear], I stabbed the ground and pivoted around it, turning sharply right. I leaped over the trenches and continued in a wide circle, careful to avoid the Mud Golem’s giant arms and smaller tentacle hands as I baited it to backtrack its way.

With its healing, the battle might last long enough to cover this whole area with toxic mud puddles—toxic muddles, tuddles. I’d force the boss to go back and forth here, not littering the rest of this place with tuddles. Better to also use [Withering Brand] to slow its movement speed, meaning fewer tuddles.

The corpses were numerous but limited. It’d eventually die.

I just had to survive until then.

[ Obtained: 9 Stones ]

“This feels like a shooter game.” I galloped away after I gathered stones. “Gathering ammo in random places.” The Mud Golem excavated where I stood moments before, its faceless head groaning because it missed me.

I kept kiting the Blighted Mud Golem as minutes passed, and the dead bodies dwindled. Eventually, it picked up the last corpse, healing for the last time.

No bullshit mechanic followed. The boss just continued dying.

I was so conditioned by the mechanics of monsters on this mountain, making asspulls to make my life harder, that it was a breath of fresh air to have something like this—one of those fights where the appearance of the boss didn’t reflect how easy it was to kill.

“Easy…” I grinned, watching the Mud Golem’s health drop below fifty percent. “As easy as giving candy to a baby. Wait, I shouldn’t be giving babies candies. That’s unhealthy!”

But I’d soon discover that my gloating was too early. The boss was about to make me very unhealthy.

The Blighted Mud Golem stopped moving and molded itself into a colossal ball streaked with glowing green veins. It’d snugly fit in a dugout bowl of a sizeable Mardukryon house. I readied myself to go to the side when it’d come rolling. It wasn’t done with whatever it was doing.

The mud ball got smaller and smaller, compacting and hardening itself. Half its size, a quarter, soon it was as big as me, its surface appearing craggy compared to its previously mushy and soft texture.

Tendrils shot out in every direction. I didn’t need to move; they weren’t aiming for me. I cast my buffs and warily observed the ball. It shot forward, not rolling but pulled by the tendrils.

“Fast!” I cried in surprise, moving out of the way a nanosecond before it collided with me. The wave of air in its wake slapped me so hard it caused my [Greater Pyro Shell] to explode. “Divine dung from—” I couldn’t finish my sentence as the ball came for me again.

It didn’t need to circle or turn; it just followed the tendrils it shot, almost like ‘bouncing’ wildly like a pinball hitting the machine’s bumpers. The tendrils limited my movement, like lasers that thieves in heist movies should avoid. The tuddles from earlier didn’t make things any easier.

“Withering Brand!” I shouted as if calling out the move would make it more powerful. “Huh? No effect—Woah!” It shot past me again, no sign of slowing down, apparently immune to the debuff. The thought of trying to Freeze it crossed my mind, but I couldn’t even hit it when it moved this fast.

The ball was unrelenting. Unfair, I’d even say. I gave up trying to poison it, focusing solely on surviving. And it seemed that was what a player was supposed to do—survive this insanity until the boss died from the Blight.

“This isn’t good,” I said as it whooshed past me. That was more to luck than my prowess in evasion. I was too slow to continue this for long. I tried erratically running, hoping that it’d miss me by chance.

It didn’t.

WHAM!

Lvl. 1 Horde Stampede: Lead a valiant charge, inspiring others to follow you to battle, increasing the movement speed of self and all nearby party members by (25%). The charge is unrelenting; affected units may not be slowed below 80% of the base speed. Passively grants self (5%) movement speed for every other Mardukryon in the party (maximum three stacks).

Cost: 35 Energy

Duration: 10 Seconds

Cooldown: 50 Seconds

Similar to my Aritu Form Ocadule, this Skill Shard could be used by all players but had a special bonus for Mardukryons because it was connected to our race. After buying this from the auction, I passed by the Chief’s Lodge and had the appropriate NPC remove my old [Rotting Ground] from the slot of [Worn Duelist Peytral] for twenty thousand Artas—I hadn’t been using it since I had [Gnawing Rot].

Into the free slot, the [Horde Stampede] Skill Shard went. My stat tables showed that the passive bonus per Mardukryon party member didn’t count me. A slight disappointment.

Despite the small Mardukryon market due to dwindling player numbers, there were many other movement skills available on auction, several giving higher bonuses than [Horde Stampede] and some even having special effects other than just increasing speed, like instantly surging a short distance forward.

I chose this skill over others because it affected my party as well, in contrast to those affecting only the caster. My prototype tanky debuffer build was performing well. With party buffs, I’d be more valuable to the team. Herald Stone, the Best Teammate Ever, always thinks of his teammates.

And if a tank was going to turn tail for whatever reason, the rest of the party should seriously consider doing the same. [Horde Stampede] could be a sort of panic button that helped everyone.

At two million Artas, the Skill Shard wasn’t particularly expensive, though it was half the Artas that Kezo donated to me. Might as well spend the money on something that benefitted the party while finding a movement skill to survive the Blighted Mud Golem.

Yet another two birds, one stone moment? I might get arrested for animal cruelty from stoning all these birds.

Unsure if that’d be enough to escape the mud ball form of the dratted quest boss, I also visited Clementropy28 to see if he had something for sale that could help.

“How about this, my good friend?” He gestured at a tall glass filled with bubbling pink liquid. What I assumed to be red seeds floated in it.

[Sour Litchi Juice: +25% Attack Speed, +25% Movement Speed for 20 Minutes] ★★☆☆☆

Curious of its taste because it looked like strawberry, I took a sip from the glass. My lips puckered as I shivered. “That’s sour, definitely sour. A very descriptive name,” I said, wiping my mouth with my arm.

Clement chuckled with a raised brow, half entertained but also baffled. Players typically consumed meal buffs with a system command instead of eating or drinking them. “How many are you buying?” he asked, switching back to his business persona. “Buy ten, and I’ll throw in one free.”

“Yes, I’ll take ten.” I’d need only one for the Blighted Mud Golem fight, but it wasn’t like I was frivolously spending money, enticed by a discount. I’d have plenty of use for this in the future. Didn’t hurt to stock them now.

“How about you add me as a friend?” Clement suggested after we completed the trade. “If you need specific meals, just message me. I’ll see what I can cook. My friends and I can also help if you have trouble with a quest or something.” He gestured to two players chatting nearby.

“Hmm… There’s something you can help me with. Not too much of a hassle. You don’t even need to leave your spot.”

“A difficult quest? Hang on… how can we help if we don’t go with you?”

“I’ll make a party, and you guys join in. That’s it.”