Dungeon Core Online

Chapter 78

Z's arrow was the first to smash against the Terminus, followed almost instantly by a glowing arrow from Elm, a barrage of arrows from Troll'd, and a single lightning bolt from Faust. The attacks smashed against the Terminus's armor plating, and for a second the flash of light fully illuminated the monstrous boss within his lair. In that second, as the beast opened its mouth, James and Rue could see the honey badger, pissed off beyond belief, leap not away from the boss, but back onto it, clinging tightly to the monster's maw, trying to bite at its armor plating near its throat.

"That badger really doesn't give a damn." Rue's comment made James chuckle, as he watched the little animal go to town on the Terminus. Curious, James pulled up the boss's information.

Tier 2 Boss Mob

Steampunk Dino King – Terminus Rex

Lvl 29

HP- 2417

MP-1400

ATK- 350

DEF- 280

King of All- Emits a roar every time it loses 20% of its HP. This roar has the chance to stun adventurers for 10 seconds, and cause a debuff that decreases adventurer stats by 15%

Big Head - Utilizes its large mouth to completely consume an adventurer, trapping the adventurer in its mouth for 20 seconds, and dealing 25% of their health in damage. 1min CD

Little Arms - Utilizes cannons on its arms to launch small grenades in bursts of three. Grenades will detonate on contact with adventurers, or after 10 seconds. Grenades will deal 150 damage in a 5-yard radius, and 50 damage in a 15-yard radius. Damage from explosions penetrates 20% of armor. 30 second CD per arm after three grenades have been fired

Unique Traits

Armor Plating- The Terminus Rex takes 20% less damage from physical attacks. (After Def is applied.)

Leather Insulation- The Terminus Rex gains leather insulation throughout, decreasing incoming magic damage by 10%.

Terminal Fire- The Terminus Rex upgrades its inner core, creating a passive aura of intense heat that damages enemies within 3 yards for .5% current hp per second. Additionally, the inner core will detonate five seconds after defeat, dealing 2x Damage as fire damage in a 5 yard radius, and afflicting all players within a 25 yard radius with dino-aids.

Like a Sir- Someone has given the Terminus a Top Hat, with a brain: While the Terminus is wearing this top hat, it's intelligence is greatly increased, enabling more complex attack patterns, as well as advanced features during boss fights. It also looks quite proper.

*Unlocks philoso-dino skill tree for dinosaur related mobs on the same floor as the Terminus.

James was impressed, actually, as he checked the Terminus's health. From what he could tell, the group had managed to do almost 400 damage to the boss in that single opening attack. The biggest reason, of course, was the fact that the Terminus still didn't have much magic resistance. As much as James wanted to give his boss even great magic resist, he had chosen not to. It was, after all, only the second floor. However, as he eyed Faust's lightning bolt ability, James had to admit, the mage was a tad over powered against his boss.

Lighting Bolt- 10 x overall level + 3 x Lightning Mage level damage- channel time, 5 seconds. Cost, 20mp. Cooldown, 5 seconds. Magic users in DCO, James had found, didn't have flat damage applied based on their attack stats. Instead, all of the spells seemed to scale off of the users level. That meant, while a physical class such as a ranger would see constant increases by upgrading their gear, mages would not. At least, not yet. James was certain there would be items that would increase spell damage by percentages, as there always were in games. It also evened things out, in James's mind. The mages needed new gear to increase their survivability but grew in magic strength mainly by leveling up. This mean their high damage output couldn't jump as astronomically, as say, a ranger who was wearing gear that completely increased his attack power by 50%. Of course, against a boss with a high physical defense, that increase in attack power did little to help.

"Right, it seems I may have underestimated the lot of you." The Terminus's metallic voice pulled James away from his musings, and back to the fight. As the boss spoke, it took a step out of its lair, revealing its entire form to the party assembled in the coliseum, and of course, revealing its many new upgrades.

The most obvious change was the top hat sitting atop its metallic head. Of course, the hat was made of metal as well, but it was a rich, dark metallic color, making it seem very much like a classic top hat from an old era movie. The other changes included thicker plating around its body, which helped cover the previously available critical gear points that Z and his group had discovered. The least obvious, was the layer of leather that was now underneath the metal plating, which provided the 10% magic resist to his boss. It wasn't much, but it was all he could really justify adding at this time.

Oh, and there was the fact that Terminus was now glowing slightly, a deep orange seeming to radiate from within its very core. That was, of course, the radioactive core that James had upgraded his boss with. That passive burn was too nice of a bonus not to pass up, and James couldn't wait to watch the second part of that ability go off. Of course, the group would need to defeat the boss first.

"Stick to the plan." Z called out, breaking his tanks out of their stupor as they looked at the boss. It was Skar's groups first time ever seeing the Terminus, and it was definitely a sight to behold. However, even Oak had been frozen in place, his eyes going over the boss once again, and James was sure the tank was remembering his last unfortunate encounter with the Terminus. Getting eaten was one thing, but what the Perfect Cognivore did to him was just downright dirty.

"Oh ho ho, you know what they say about plans of mice and men." The boss chuckled deeply as it turned its head towards Z, its eyes narrowing dangerously. It leveled one of its arms towards the archer, and James watched a grenade chamber itself in the weapon.

Z was moving even as the boss spoke, ducking behind a car, preparing for the attack.

"They often go awry." As the Terminus finished his saying, a monocle dropped over his left eye from his top hat, and his left arm lifted almost instantly, launching a trio of grenades flying directly into Faust. The mage, mid channel for his magic missile barrage, didn't even get a chance to dodge. The sudden attack, so completely unexpected, so outside the realm of what should have been a scripted boss mechanic fight, left everyone completely speechless. Faust's body burst into an orb of light before anyone could even call out.

"Alright guys." Z called out, peeking around his cover at the boss, who was definitely grinning. "New plan."

The Terminus let out a chuckled and turned his eyes back down to the group of tanks, who were approaching warily.

"And what would that be Z?" Skar's voice held a tinge of doubt in it as the Terminus's red eyes seemed to glow with amusement. Sure they had done almost 20% of its life in their opening attack. But the Terminus had just eliminated their highest damage dealer in a split second.

"Survive."