The First Legendary Beast Master

Chapter 1255: There Are Other Settings

While Karl and his team fought their way through the level six difficulty dungeon, Dana had gotten a much more conservative group, and they had chosen to do level two.

The logic was that it was still harder than usual, and should give much better loot, though not as good as the highest option. But it might also be significantly easier to complete than the higher difficulties. If it was, then the risk to reward might work out exceptionally well for them.

So far, nobody in the previous groups had gotten an outstanding item, at least not in relation to the other rewards. So, the question was whether this route would give them a chance at an outstanding Mythic Rank item, or whether it would just scale in volume, and give them three or four Epic Grade Mythic Rank items spread between the group.

There was only one way to tell, and they were reasonably sure that none of the other groups who had gone today would take that route.

They would do the hardest difficulty that they could.

The logic was solid, as every other group really was doing either difficulty three or five, except Karl’s who had gone for level six again.

Dana had a suspicion that he had chosen that path, as she had just felt the surge of power as he had received a new constitution skill, and the Soul Bond had equalized their power level again.

She did hope that it wasn’t dragging him down, being tied to her when he was advancing at such an insane rate. But the fact that she had just gotten a noticeable bump in her mana level and spell damage in the middle of a dungeon said that the limitation shouldn’t be too extreme.

Or if it was, it might be for the best. Twice what she had gotten in one bonus might be too much for anyone to handle.

What sort of skill had he gotten anyhow? Being in a separate dungeon, she was cut off from the mind link to the rest of the team, like their thoughts were muffled through a closed door.

Her Golems were tanking for the group, and their assigned tank had taken on a full damage dealing role, but there was no lack of bodies, even without all the extras that Karl and Rae could summon.

At difficulty two, they only got ten Totem Rank extra apes, and two more Myths.

That was a small enough number that they could pull them to the main group and fight them all at once with area effects.

As far as efficiency, it was definitely the way to go.

They still had forty-five minutes on the timer, but with the reduced number of additional apes, they shouldn’t have any trouble making it in time.

Dana briefly wondered how Karl’s group was doing as her team started the first boss. They had started well before her team did, and they might be nearly done by now, given Rae’s Mythic advancement and damage output.

There wasn’t anyone in Dana’s team that could kill as efficiently as Rae. Perhaps not even Dana herself.

Karl sensed Dana’s confusion for a moment just before the team switched to the second boss, but didn’t have a chance to message her when he was locked in combat with the Immortal Rank ape. The death of the first boss had reactivated the enrage effect, and it was getting stronger by the minute.

“Definite mistake in tactics. They both need to die at the same time.” The War Cleric noted.

Karl laughed. “Aren’t you glad that I’m the one tanking this time?”

“I am glad that it’s anyone but me. That thing hit like a meteor even before it was enraged.” The War Cleric quipped as he joined the fight.

Fortunately, enrage only really increased healing and damage, not damage reduction, and now that everyone was on one boss, the combination of long duration effects was really starting to stack up.

“Just hold on a bit longer, we’ve got this.” One of the shamans assured Karl as a particularly solid blow sent him sliding dozens of metres backward, dragging his claws through the loose ground.

Karl charged forward again as the two Dark Elven Kings moved to prevent the boss from squishing anyone with a massive fist.

And, it would squish them.

With the extra damage from the enrage effect, the Eternal Lightning barrier might as well be glass, hardly slowing the strikes at all.

The War Cleric would surely be able to resurrect a fallen group member, but nobody really wanted to have a near-death experience in a dungeon. No matter how good the loot was.

Minute by minute, the boss weakened, until it finally fell, and the lighting in the dungeon brightened, marking the completion of the event.

{Bonus Rewards Calculating}

The System Message made everyone sigh in relief, and Karl stretched sore muscles as he shifted back into his usual form.

“Well, I’m not sure that I would recommend that version of the dungeon. However… The loot will make all the difference in whether it is worth doing.” He declared.

The four blue dragons nodded in unison, and took out their notepads, ready to record everything that had happened after they entered.

It took the System some time to pick rewards, presumably because it was randomizing them based on some sort of table based on the dungeon.

[How close is everyone else to the bottleneck? Fighting in tough dungeons like this should be a good boost for your skills.] Karl asked.

[Getting close.] Remi replied.

[Almost there. Something about the energy change is confusing me.] Hawk added.

Thor mentally shrugged. [I’ve got a ways to go, but I’m not stuck yet, I’m still growing.]

That was a good sign. He had to rely on a bit of luck to get past the bottleneck last time, and it might take another evolution to get him to Mythic.

But that was somewhat expected. Not every beast grew at the same rate, and even with Karl’s assistance, it wasn’t reasonable to expect them to.

[I am almost to the bottleneck. But my body is small, and it’s hard to get enough good energy in.] Tian complained.

It took a lot of energy to challenge a bottleneck, and in his juvenile state, he hadn’t fully developed his species’ innate capacities to the needed extent.

Opal flashed happy colours at Karl, which he took as meaning that she too was near the bottleneck. Her energy felt very close to the peak of Totem Rank, but only the butterfly would know if she was actually at the bottleneck.

{Rewards Calculated}