A Level 40 leader?
Was this one of Lobranch’s mechanical puppets? But why hadn’t that forum post mentioned anything about this situation? No matter how you looked at it, this monster wasn’t something an ordinary player team could handle.
It didn’t give me any time to think. The mechanical puppet launched another attack—this time a physical one. Its massive mechanical arm transformed into a cannonball, rocketing toward us at high speed.
Kai rushed to the front first, raising her enormous shield to form the first line of defense. Daisy wasn’t far behind.
Dazzling blessings enveloped the two of them, instantly boosting their defenses considerably.
By then, the attack had arrived.
The mechanical arm slammed fiercely into Kai’s shield. But instead of tanking it head-on, Kai cleverly angled her shield to deflect it while calling out behind her. “Daisy!”
“Got it.”
Daisy responded, using her own shield to catch the redirected blow and fully absorb it.
The mechanical arm’s momentum finally dissipated, retracting back into the puppet’s grasp.
I watched from behind in some surprise.
The defensive strategy from my past life’s guides had mentioned this technique: the main tank with high defense absorbs most of the damage, then passes the remainder to another tank to keep health bars safe.
But it only worked on impact-based attacks like this.
I hadn’t expected Kai and the others to know it too—or rather, maybe this technique had been learned from NPCs in the first place?
As existences capable of making even command-level bosses suffer, the team’s coordination was impeccable. The moment the two took damage, Him’s heals landed instantly. At the same time, Biri’s staff lit up with brilliant light.
Seizing the opening after the attack, Kai and Daisy swiftly closed in on the mechanical puppet.
The close-range puppet swung its arm and slammed it down with a boom.
The strike shaved off a full fifth of Kai’s health in one go. Meanwhile, the other arm’s attack came at the same time—not just the damage, but the frequency was no joke either.
Having eaten two hits the instant they engaged, Kai didn’t dare get careless. She immediately had Daisy behind her cover for a moment.
Such overwhelming power and assault tempo was pushing even these elite-level NPCs to their limits. Fortunately, Bemira recovered and joined the fray, allowing them to barely hold on.
My own damage was negligible compared to Kai and the others, but I still did what I could from the side. Soon, however, I noticed something off.
The mechanical puppet’s integrity dropped extremely slowly. Sure, it was a Level 40 leader, but this wasn’t normal. After all, we had Level 30 elite NPCs here, and their attack power was more than sufficient.
By my estimates, Kai and the team’s fierce onslaught over this time should have shaved off at least 20% integrity. Yet now, it was barely half that.
I frowned and observed closely. I saw that most of the damage landing on the puppet was swallowed by a burst of blue light the moment it touched the surface shell. Its integrity didn’t drop at all.
This included magic damage from Biri, Him, and me, as well as physical damage from Kai and the trainee knights. It couldn’t be a simple immunity to one damage type. What was going on?
As I puzzled over it, Bemira and Daisy seized an opening during Kai’s defense to summon their Hammers of Judgment simultaneously. But only the first strike actually dealt damage.
The next moment, Biri’s Holy Light Verdict landed on the puppet—and it actually chipped away a bit of integrity.
Two consecutive hits landing properly? That couldn’t be coincidence compared to before.
Could it be…
I had a rough idea in my mind. After observing a bit longer, I confirmed it fully. “Kai, while defending, sneak in attacks when you can. No need for skills—just swing your weapons.”
“Biri, Him—cast your magic right after Kai and the others attack.”
The puppet’s shell must sense damage types. After taking a hit, it automatically switches to defense mode, absorbing and immuning subsequent damage of the same type. That blue light was the absorption trigger.
With the puppet’s high attack power and frequency, Kai and the others focused on defense as much as possible, only attacking occasionally during rotations. So most of the time, it was Biri and Him outputting with magic.
This trait wasted most of their DPS, leading to the situation we’d seen.
After my brief explanation, Kai and the others got it. They took turns slashing white marks into the puppet’s shell with their knight swords, allowing Biri and Him’s magic to land true damage afterward.
Under this rapid assault, the puppet’s integrity plummeted like running water. In less than ten minutes, we’d knocked off a whopping 70%.
The instant integrity dropped below 30%, the red gems serving as its eyes dimmed like extinguished flames.
At the same time, the massive body shattered into several chunks, signaling its death. Shiny loot gleamed beneath it.
After signing the contract with me, Kai’s group counted as player collaborators. Even though they were the main damage dealers and it was an NPC kill, the monster still dropped gear and items.
A Level 40 leader’s drops had to be pretty good, right?
My eyes lit up. I hurried forward and shoved aside the scattered mechanical debris. But unexpectedly, only a few items appeared.
One was a ring. Another was a crystal like an energy stone. And three shattered gems.
“Is it my bad luck, or is this boss just too stingy…”
I couldn’t help feeling speechless. After a moment’s thought, I blamed it on the bunch behind me who definitely hadn’t washed their hands before heading out.
But after using the All-Knowing Eye from the Eternal Library to appraise the ring’s stats, most of my resentment vanished.
Energy Fluid Ring (Dark Gold)
Level Requirement: 30
Type: Ring
Attributes: All Attributes +30, Luck +1, Charm +1, Constant 5% reduction to all damage taken
Attached Skill – Energy Fluid
Energy Fluid: Choose one—Magic Immunity or Physical Immunity. Duration: 1 minute.
Cooldown: 2 hours.
Dark Gold-grade gear with all-attribute bonuses was one thing, but it even boosted the ultra-rare hidden stats of Luck and Charm. In my past life, even trash gear with just one of those sold for top dollar. And this piece’s base stats were solid too.
The attached skill was an absolute lifesaver. With it, I figured I could easily counter-kill even a bunch of thieves.
The only downside? The level requirement. Even with gems to lower it, you’d need mid-twenties at least.
I stowed the ring in my inventory and picked up that energy-crystal-like item. But one glance made me blurt out.
“Huh?”