Chapter 400: Boss Room Battle [Part 1]

'We are now inside the room of the dungeon core.'

Erchitu's telepathic message echoed inside William's consciousness as he made his report.

'Understood,' William replied. 'Stay there for the time being, we just finished beating the boss on the twentieth floor.'

After finishing his short chat with Erchitu, William urged his team to step up the pace. After the continuous battles they faced in the Goblin Crypt, William's Quick Shot Shepherd Job Class had increased its level and was now at level sixteen. 

They didn't focus on killing monsters, and prioritized going to the lower floors as fast as they could. Finally, when they reached the 30th Floor, William felt that something was off. 

They didn't meet any goblins along the way as they headed towards the boss room. He was expecting staunch opposition from the monsters once they arrived on the last floor, but so far, nothing blocked their way, which made William, and the rest of his team confused.

"Stay alert," William reminded everyone as they delved deeper on the last floor of the Goblin Crypt. 

In time, they finally arrived at their destination. A four-meter tall golden gate barred their path. This was the Boss Room and the final hurdle in clearing the Dungeon. William glanced at everyone in his group and they all nodded their heads in unison.

Ian and Wendy held their weapons firmly and Psoglav had already summoned its clone. The Angorian Ibexes and the Cercopes Monkeys had also prepared themselves for the last battle inside the Goblin Crypt.

William pushed open the gates and what greeted them was pitch black darkness. Even with his Dark Vision, William couldn't see past two meters in front of him. He summoned his wooden staff and took a step forward.

His party followed him inside with bated breaths. When the last Cercopes Monkey had entered the Boss Room, the two golden gates immediately closed. Darkness descended upon the party for a brief moment before the torches hanging on the walls flared up one by one.

William drew a deep breath when he saw the final challenge that he was about to face. 

Thousands of Hobgoblins--composed of Warriors, Hunters, Shamans, Berserkers, Hobgoblin Leaders, and a Hobgoblin Chieftain--appeared before their very eyes. 

William raised his head to look at what seemed to be an elevated platform at the very back of the arena and saw a Hobgoblin that was two and a half meters tall. 

It held a jeweled bronze staff in its hand and its light-green eyes glowed with power. William had fought a similar Hobgoblin in the Heavenly Domain, but this creature in front of him was vastly different from the one he faced.

It was as if it was more intelligent compared to other Hobgoblins, which made William very wary. Immediately, he activated his Appraisal Skill to check the Final Boss that he needed to defeat in order to conquer the Goblin Crypt.

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< Hobgoblin Witch Doctor >

-- Contracted Monster

-- Humanoid

-- Threat Level: S (Centennial Low)

-- Centennial Monster

-- Hobgoblin Witch Doctors are considered as one of the most powerful mages in the Hobgoblin World. They are Dual Element Casters which would be very hard to defeat unless you had protective gear that could resist curses and other mind-affecting spells.

-- They are highly intelligent creatures that will use anything to their advantage. It is advisable to fight them with strong and experienced warriors who have fought against them in the past. This will increase the chances of your party beating this monster with minimal casualties.

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'A contracted beast,' William frowned. 

This was the first time he had seen a Contracted Monster acting as a leader of a Monster Army inside a Dungeon. William was very curious to know how this happened, but he wasn't in the right environment to find answers. 

Right now, there was only one thing he needed to do and that was to… fight!

"Ian, Wendy, eat the Chocolate Lollipops I gave you earlier," William ordered. 

The two girls didn't question William's order and immediately took out and ate the lollipops that they had stored inside their storage rings earlier. 

William summoned Stormcaller and firmly gripped it in his hands. 

"Gate Open!" William shouted.

Several portals appeared behind his back and Fenrir, the Trollhounds, the Rainbow Birds, the Blood Eagle Scadrez, the Centaurs, the Crimson Cavern Wolf Spiders, five Black-Winged Panthers, and the Supreme Killer Koalas appeared inside the Dungeon. 

William summoned all the members of his King's Legion that were above Rank C in this fight against the thousands of Goblins that ranked from the peak of Rank D up to the Centennial Rank.

William's Quick-Shot Shepherd Job Class had 16 levels. Because of Gavin's blessing, each time the level of his Job Class increased, he would receive three skill points instead of two. This gave the Half-Elf a total of 48 Skill Points which he used to max out some of the skills in his Skill Tree.

Among the skills that were at their max level were…

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< Quick Shot War Art >

(Requires 10 Skill Points to Unlock)

(Active Skill)

-- Allow the Quick Shot Shepherd to Employ his own War Arts

-- The maximum number of War Arts that can be created is thirteen. 

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< Heroism >

(Requires 10 Skill Points to Unlock)

(Passive Skill)

-- When members of the Herd are fighting against opponents that are a Rank or several Ranks higher than them, all of their stats will increase by 50%

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< Shepherd's Blessing >

(Requires 10 Skill Points to Unlock)

(Active Skill)

-- The Shepherd may choose one blessing to bestow upon the entire Herd. Each spell gives a corresponding +20 Enhancement to their respective stats.

-- Only one blessing can be active at a time. 

-- Ox's Strength

-- Feline's Grace

-- Hawk's Splendor

-- Wolf's Cunning

-- Turtle's Wisdom

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< Beacon of Hope >

(Requires 10 Skill Points to Unlock)

(Passive Skill)

-- Every member of the Shepherd's Legion receives +50 Enhancement to all stats. 

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< Herd Immunity >

(Requires 5 Skill Points to Unlock)

(Passive Skill)

-- All members of the King's Legion gain all of the Shepherd's natural resistances. 

-- If the Shepherd has an immunity to status ailments or diseases, all members of the Herd would share this immunity.

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The three remaining skill points were added to his Beast Taming Skill.

< Beast Taming >

( Skill Level: 3 / 5 )

(Active Skill)

-- Throw an orb of light to any Beasts that can be tamed.

-- The chances of Taming will increase if the Beast is weaker than the Shepherd.

-- The chances of Taming will increase if the Beast has a good impression of the Shepherd

-- The chances of Taming will increase if the Beast is in a weakened state. 

-- Only applicable to Herd Type Beasts

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"Ox's Strength." William chanted and the members of his King's Legion suddenly had their Strength Stat increased by 20 points. 

This skill was only supposed to work for Herd type creatures. However, David and Issei worked together to upgrade the skill in order to allow William to buff his entire King's Legion, instead of limiting it to the members of his Herd.

The collaboration of the two Gods allowed William to make all the empowering spells in his skill tree to work with the members of his King's Legion as well. 

Another skill that had received an upgrade from the two Gods, was the Beacon of Hope that increases all the stats of William's Legion by an additional 50 points.

The Herd immunity was also another skill that made William's King's Legion very impressive. Since the Half-Elf had powerful resistances against Dark Magic and Mind Affecting Spells, the members of his Legion also benefited from this. 

Last, but not the least, was the Heroism Skill. This passive ability was probably one of the most amazing skills in William's Quick-Shot Shepherd Job Class.

This skill boosted all the stats of the members of his King's Legion by 50%. What did that mean? It meant that his already strong army would receive an additional boost if they were facing an enemy that was stronger than them. 

In this case, the Centennial Ranked Monster they were facing counted as a monster stronger than them. But, aside from this 50% boost, there was also an additional boost that came from his Basic Shepherd Job Class.

His first skill, Wolf in Sheep's Clothing, gives an additional +10 to all stats to the member of his Legion. 

His other stat boosting skill, Way of the Shepherd, gave a 20% increase to the stats of the members of his King's Legion as well. 

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(A/N: To give an example, the stats of Chronos, who is one of the team leaders of William's Herd, would have these stats once all the buffs are applied.)

Name: Chronos

Race: Angorian War Ibex

Level: 40

Health Points: 47,600 / 47,600

Mana Points: 9,350 / 9,350

< Strength: 101 (+207)  > 

< Agility: 158 (+213) > 

< Vitality: 80 (+158) > 

< Intelligence: 50 (+137) > 

< Dexterity: 40 (+130) > 

Due to the additional buffs, Chronos had jumped from a Class C Beast to the initial stages of a Class A Beast. This incredible skill lineup would make any member of Wiliam's King's Legion Wolves in Sheep's Clothing.

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The stronger members of William's Legion also received these buffs, which made them more formidable. Psoglav had entered the Pseudo-Centennial Rank Category due to the massive boost in its own stats. 

The Demonic Dog laughed out loud as he faced the thousands of Hobgoblins as if they were five-year old kids waiting to get spanked.

William and the Hobgoblin Witch Doctor glared at each other before giving the order to attack. The two sides collided and the blood of friends and foes alike stained the floor of the Boss Room in a dark-red hue.