Chapter 70: Momentary Thoughts Part 17 Part 1

Now, here’s the question: what is it that you should absolutely NOT DO when creating and adjusting the Boss-type enemy?

Unreasonably high attack? Forty points here, that thing can almost always be mitigated in some way, either by some special event or use of certain items, so there’s room for creativity here.

Avoiding any kind of bugs or glitches? Welp, that’s a given. Zero points here.

The correct answer is: do not make the boss unbeatable.

Whether it is a turn-based strategy or an action game, certain events in the story can only be cleared after you beat the bosses of those events. And even considering the level differences, one should never make those battles “one-sided”.

The boss that constantly attacks. The boss whose evasion is so great that no attack can reach it. The boss with armor so ridiculously thick that no attack could ever hope to penetrate it…… In games, both sides must be taken into consideration, to avoid making one side stronger than the other. Otherwise the game just turns into a simple sh*tty game. And I don’t want to repeat my experience from “Sh*t Chronicles Online”.

But if so, then what could you possibly do to make the boss challenging without breaking the game while you’re at it? Easy: just set some limitations. Just like you would do with stock when it was coming out too thick.

For example: you can force the boss to stop doing certain attacks by hitting a specific part of his body, or use a specific event gimmick or item, or even set a time limit.

Looking at things this way, one can say that Gravekeeper Wezaemon had indeed a predefined special condition to win: survive for long enough.

The problem was, now, he gained a new skill. A skill that allows him to cast all of his other skills and techniques with no cost or recast time for the duration of thirty seconds.

「Tachikaze!」

「Uwah!?」

「Thunder Cloud!」

「Ooouh!?」

「Maelstrom!」

「Daah!」

Immediately after avoiding a super feast Iai strike I had to start running to avoid the amassing thunderclouds, while also avoiding missiles and lasers. I don’t think I’ve ever performed this much acrobatics in such a short amount of time.

「No way……」

「Gah! Good thing you at least announce all of your attacks before actually performing them!」

「Spider.」

This barrage of constant attacks was making it hard for me to regen my stamina. And even with Climax Boost and Hungry Wolf active, I just couldn’t find an opening to attack properly.

「Tachikaze! Tachikaze! Tachikaze!」

「W, what!?」

One aimed straight at my face. One aimed at my heart. One aimed at my shoulder.

It all happened in an instant, before my mind was able to comprehend what was going on. I managed to avoid the triple ultra-fast attack purely out of reflex. Damn, so he can also use the same type of attack in a row without any delay!? What the hell!? Who came up with a concept like that!?

「Flame……」

There were no techniques known to us from his repertoire that started with “Flame”. Meaning, it was a completely new technique. I could only hope we were ready for it.

(Down!? Up!? Aaaagh, geez! Just hurry it up and do it already!)

「……Eruption.」

He then holds his sword upside down and pushes it into the ground like a wizard would do with his staff. From the point where the sword penetrates the ground, you could see a tremendous amount of heat being generated. It then starts to crawl its way towards me under the ground like some kind of worm or a snake, scorching everything in its path.

「Watch out!」

「Dragon!」

Then, the red-glowing ground swells and erodes as the pillar of crimson-red fire erupts right from under it.

Judging by the technique’s name it was supposed to resemble a Dragon flying off into the sky, but I could only see an obstacle here, one that was blocking the Gravekeeper from my gaze and which forced me to go around it to reach my target again.

When the Gravekeeper entered my field of view again, he took the sword from the ground and this time around he raised it high into the air…… There, right around the tip of his sword, strange dark clouds began to gather in the sky.

「So he was going to combine those two attacks from the start, huh……!?」

「High Blizzard!」

With those words, the dark clouds descend from the skies and rush towards me. I knew it, the techniques name was yet again the trigger. Sensing the incoming insta-kill attack I somehow manage to force my body to move, doing my best to not let any of the dark clouds hit me.

Remembering that my physical strength would only continue to dwindle, I somehow managed to get out of the cloudy assault. Just as I was about to let out a sigh of relief I could see the Gravekeeper reaching out his hand, trying to grab me again. I managed to deflect his hand to the side. This attack wasn’t scary in the slightest if you knew you could avoid it in such a way.