LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 42
The calculation formula for the falling attack’s damage was simple.
It inflicted damage in proportion to the distance fallen, dealing a certain amount of damage based on the enemy’s maximum health, and that damage was then supplemented by the damage of the weapon being held.
In other words, the higher the character falls from, and the greater the weapon’s damage, the more damage can be dealt with the falling attack.
Furthermore, if killing an enemy with a falling attack was possible, one could completely nullify the damage taken.
If the enemy was not killed, the character would attack upon landing, causing damage to themselves, and there were often situations where they could even die from it.
However, if the target died, the character would perform a special motion according to the weapon type, killing the enemy and safely landing on the ground.
It didn’t matter how high they fell from. In fact, the higher the fall, the greater the health proportional damage, making it advantageous.
The situation I was in now was no different.
Below this pit, dozens of mobs were swarming, allowing the player to kill enemies and land without any damage from a fall, regardless of where they fell from.
Thanks to that, I had to witness the sight of dozens of centipedes, comparable in size to humans, writhing among themselves.
“Alright. It’s right below.”
After confirming that a mid-boss was positioned where I was about to fall, I adjusted my grip on my weapon so that the blade pointed downward.
A creature that appeared to be a monster, several times larger than its peers and resembling a mass of centipedes, lifted its head in response to the rumbling sound coming from above.
Immediately after, I plummeted onto it.
“—!!!!!!”
I crushed its shoulders underfoot and stabbed my sword deep into what I presumed was its head.
As expected, the impact upon landing was nonexistent. Instead, the shoulder armor bore the force, sinking down. My foot burrowed into the carapace.
The blade of the blood-stained sword penetrated deep into its face. I gripped the hilt from the sides and beneath, pushing with all my strength. Only the crossguard of the sword remained visible, the upper part entirely buried.
—Kwak! Kwak!
While I was dealing with the mid-boss using a falling attack, a rock fragment that fell late smashed into the centipedes wriggling in a puddle without mercy. Sounds of shells cracking echoed everywhere.
The mobs that were not in the area of my fall were handled by the falling rocks. Thanks to this, I didn’t have to bother taking them down one by one.
“……”
The mid-boss met the same fate. It violently shook its many legs before curling up tightly. This was the signal that its life had ended.
Its body swayed dramatically. I pulled my sword from its head, performed a spin in mid-air, and landed smoothly. Despite having never done that before, it felt extremely natural.
It collapsed into the puddle, sending up a splash of water. A disgusting color of liquid began to spread around it. I grimaced and turned my head away.
‘It’s over here.’
I glanced around. Every single centipede that had been wriggling nearby was now flattened by the rocks that fell from the ceiling.
Originally, I would have to use a falling attack on one of the nearby mobs, land, and simultaneously deal with the mid-boss and several mobs, making this segment extremely tedious.
However, players discovered a slim possibility here and zealously searched for positions to execute falling attacks on the mid-boss. This aspect remained unchanged even in the Darkest Light Mod.
The height of the fall was enormous, enough for a mid-boss with many times the health of an ordinary enemy to be taken down in one hit, while all the other mobs were crushed by falling rocks.
There was no reason not to use this method.
‘I wonder if it dropped any items.’
I peered around the flattened corpses of the centipedes, hoping for a possible treasure. But aside from the pool of blood and filthy chunks of flesh, nothing was visible.
Whether to consider this regrettable or fortunate was honestly questionable. After all, I had no inventory or status window, so even if items dropped, I had no means of carrying them.
In a game, you’d simply press E to collect items, and they’d stack neatly in your inventory without any specific limit.
But not here.
If this were a game, I could have casually collected that headless armored cavalier’s spear and simply strapped it to my saddle.
Even while being a part of the knights, I tried handling items regarded as loot, but nothing happened.
‘At this rate, I won’t know how to farm for enhancement materials later.’
Since I had discarded realism, it wouldn’t have hurt to include an inventory too.
—Grrrrr!
In the distance, I heard the cave vibrating. As the tremors grew, instinctively, annoyance surged within me. It was a signal that the time to face the boss of this dungeon was approaching.
‘Damn rock centipede.’
Just thinking about it sent chills down my spine. If it weren’t for the necessity of defeating it to obtain the rune, I’d have found some way to skip it.
Summing up the boss of this dungeon, “rock centipede,” in one sentence: it was incredibly disgusting.
Aside from complete newbies who had just started Brightest Darkness 4 and made it this far, there was no division in opinions whatsoever. There was not a single fan; only haters abounded.
It was structured in a way that prevented any complaints from not arising with even the slightest inconvenience. The majority of the community overwhelmingly agreed that the boss was a poorly designed one.
If a remake of Brightest Darkness 4 were to be released thirty years down the line, tales would likely circulate to delete the rock centipede.
The reasons were varied, but the three biggest issues were:
Lack of fun.
It took a long time.
Disgusting patterns.
‘In fact, the first reason is the most overwhelming.’
Even if it took a long time to defeat, if it was fun, people would generally accept it. One could see this from the acclaim the final boss of Brightest Darkness 4 received, which shared the same four phases as the rock centipede.
But it was impossible not to fight it. I steeled myself and entered the path that was clearly broken through one side of the puddle.
The path was incredibly wide. I would say it could accommodate six to seven people standing side by side, and vertically, it was almost twice my height.
However, the walls and the floor were extremely uneven. A misstep could easily lead to skin being torn. I even had the foolish thought: Could I die from that?
‘Here it is.’
After quite a walk, I stopped in front of a place where unnatural holes were visible in the walls, floor, and ceiling. This was the spot.
Approaching that hole would begin the first phase. I took a deep breath to quell the irritation bubbling up inside me and slowly walked forward.
Just as I was almost at the front, the cave trembled violently, and I heard the sound of rocks scraping away from all directions.
The sound grew louder, and with it, the trembling intensified. Scratches echoed from the walls, floor, and ceiling.
‘Stay calm.’
If I moved recklessly in this situation, I could be struck dead by the rock centipede that might burst forth from the hole. Staying still and not moving around nearby was the best option.
—Kwang!
Before long, from the closest hole, a massive monster emerged, shattering the nearby terrain.
Its overall form was no different from a normal centipede, but its entire body was made of stone. This didn’t mean that its armor and exoskeleton were hard like rock; it meant its body was literally rock.
An exemplary fit for the name “rock centipede.”
And it was immensely huge.
With hundreds of legs, each matching my height, and part of its front still inside the hole, it was roughly the height of a multi-story building.
If I were to include the remaining parts not yet revealed from the hole, the entire length of its body would be no different from that of an apartment.
‘Seeing it in person, it’s even more ridiculous.’
With a body made of rock, a centipede-like appearance, and a size bigger than a building looking down at me, the intimidation factor was surprisingly immense. This was why newbies would panic upon meeting it for the first time.
But that was where the intimidation ended. As I thought about the struggle I would soon have to face, annoyance overtook any semblance of fear or anxiety.
—Kwuung!
The rock centipede lowered its body to the ground. The entire cave rumbled. It clicked its lower jaw together and began to creep toward me slowly.
The hundreds of legs made entirely of stone scraped against the ground, making an endlessly unpleasant sound. Even those mere actions were irritating.
I began to step back towards the wall. The rock centipede also slowly turned to follow me. Then, it gradually increased its speed.
The enormous centipede, constructed of rock, flailed its hundreds of legs and twisted its joints, charging at full speed. It meant to slam me against the wall.
The problem was that its “full speed” was merely slightly faster than the player’s basic walking speed. There was no chance of missing my timing, and being caught and killed was even less of a possibility.
‘……Now.’
Waiting for the distance to close, just as its head was about to charge into me, I rolled to the side, dodging it diagonally. The rock centipede, unable to halt despite having lost sight of me, continued forward.
—Kwuung!
And thus, unable to control its speed, it slammed itself hard into the wall. The entire cave trembled, and debris began falling from the ceiling.
The rock centipede twisted its body and began rampaging. I quickly retreated to avoid the chaos.
Even being hit by one of the scattered rocks could kill me. If anyone questioned why newbies were dying from that distance, it would most likely be because they were crushed by falling debris.
The rock centipede, twisting and thrashing as it created chaos, snapped its lower jaw together several times before burrowing back into the rocks. Due to its enormous size, it took quite some time to completely disappear.
‘Now I have to wait a while again.’
I flopped down to the ground. It would take nearly a minute for it to come back out. According to the developers, it was due to its massive size that it couldn’t quickly change direction or whatnot.
Now I only needed to repeat this whole thing 59 more times to reach phase four. In vanilla, it would have been 29 times, but the Darkest Light Mod doubled that.
The creators of the Darkest Light Mod received a lot of flak for this as well. Instead of reducing the number of gimmick repetitions, why increase it so much?
During those 59 repetitions, I’d need to wait roughly a minute each time, all while evading flying debris amidst the rampant chaos created by the hundreds of legs.
Seated still, I began to wait aimlessly for the rock centipede to reemerge once more.