Zenith Online: Rebirth of the Strongest Player

Because of the Colossal Scarlet Wolf's increased attributes, Bastion was forced to use a skill he had been saving for moments like these.

"Knight's Valor!"

Soon, a valiant presence embraced Bastion, which became denser with each passing second. Though, as it was a skill accessible to a basic class, it could only accomplish so much.

Nevertheless, as a class focused on the defensive, Knight's Valor reduced the amount of damage Bastion received. At its current level, it could persist through 4 attacks, with the damage received being reduced by 30%.

At the end of the skill, 2.5% of the total damage Bastion received would be added to his DEF, making him a stronger tank. Unfortunately, that effect only lasted for 15 seconds.

Bang! Bang!

Despite activating this skill, Bastion felt like his body was being assaulted by a battering ram.

Fortunately, he was in the presence of a competent healer like Sera and adaptive players like Cygnus and Sithik, who followed instructions well. Because of this, however, Bastion's Health was like a constant rollercoaster.

Sera, Cygnus, and Sithik had to work together to heal Bastion enough so that he wouldn't die from one of the boss's attacks.

Though the Colossal Scarlet Wolf was down to a mere 15% of its Health, when looking at it from another perspective, close to 20,000 points separated this party from victory.

Kieran intercepted the incoming attacks whenever he could, veering them away from their intended target. This happened numerous times until Kieran gave out an order.

"Bastion, unleash your strongest Shield Tremor, now!" Kieran roared across the battlefield.

Bastion didn't understand why Kieran wanted him to use this strike, but he obliged nonetheless.

Less than a second later, Bastion slammed his shield into the ground, creating a disorienting tremor. This action exposed his back, but he left this vulnerability for his Team Leader to resolve.

After all, Kieran had displayed insanely high mechanical skill and grasp of the battlefield until now.

With that in mind, just when Bastion felt a presence near his back, it quickly veered off track. At the same time, a large soundwave came from the opposite direction.

Disoriented by the tremor and further assaulted by the soundwave, the Colossal Scarlet Wolf fell.

In addition to being put in a Dazed state by Kieran's action, the boss had also exposed a weakness.

"Everyone, attack that right now!"

As soon as the beast's underbelly was exposed, Kieran reacted instantly, a savage aura encompassing his blade.

"Savage Break!"

At most, the Field Boss' abnormal state would last for 3 seconds, but those three seconds were precious in Kieran's eyes. With Savage Break increasing the damage threshold, Kieran noted a drastic increase in the party's overall DPS.

Within that three-second window, Kieran unleashed his entire skill arsenal.

Unfortunately, despite his efforts, it wasn't enough to defeat the beast.

Everyone's skills had fallen into cooldown but slightly under 2% of the Boss' Health still remained.

Once the beast stumbled back to its feet, it became a hellish back-and-forth struggle, with Bastion narrowly avoiding death.

Roughly thirty seconds later, Kieran leapt above Bastion with his greatsword enveloped in an incredibly savage aura. The energy around it grew quite berserk but it was nothing unprecedented.

Still, it was quite a sight to see Kieran cleave downward, smashing his greatsword into the Field Boss' skull.

"Savage Break!"

-2,142! «Critical Hit»

Thud!

With that, the giant Field Boss fell lifelessly before everyone, making everyone sigh in relief.

Consequently, the death of the Colossal Scarlet Wolf resulted in an achievement message amidst a number of other customary notifications.

〈System: You have gained 50,000 EXP.〉

〈System: You have leveled up! [Lv.18→Lv.19] 〉

〈System: You have received 5 Unassigned Stat Points and 2 Skill Points.〉

Aside from Bastion, who required additional EXP to reach Lv.20, everyone else leveled up at least once. Based on their level, killing the Colossal Scarlet Wolf rewarded as much as 36,000 EXP!

In Kieran's case, it was 25,000. Though, that was naturally doubled by the Medallion of Growth.

Setting aside the matter of the EXP and team-wide level-ups, Kieran's attention was vested in another matter.

〈System: Would you like to announce your feat as the first Team to kill a Field Boss? [ Y | N ]〉

'To think the Field Boss achievement would be obtained this quickly. I'm not aware of the exact timeline in the past, but it surely wasn't within the first three days of the launch. Simply clearing the Beginner Dungeon's hardest difficulty would take days of trial and error,' Kieran thought.

Though fast-tracked by his actions of selling the Dungeon Manual, which would greatly reduce the difficulty in clearing the Beginner Dungeons, many people were just becoming comfortable with clearing them.

Sadly, as Kieran had claimed the achievement of this zone, which guaranteed the appearance of a Field Boss, additional bonuses couldn't appear. Only the countless other independent Beginner Zones could possibly earn another Field Boss appearance.

But even that would be somewhat affected by Kieran's actions.

Before announcing their feat as the Team Leader, Kieran looked toward Bastion. After experiencing the ramifications of broadcasting one's accomplishments to the world, Kieran understood it was akin to painting a target on the backs of everyone present.

After all, killing a Field Boss within a Beginner Zone was a considerable feat, seeing as it was designed to become a menace for players of this level.

"Hah! If you want to announce it, then do it! I ain't a chicken. Well… not that big of a chicken, but that's beside the point. Let those rewards shower us," Bastion answered, crossing his arms in a fit of boisterous laughter.

Despite their brief interactions, Kieran found Bastion's skill and attitude quite pleasing. From what he could see, Bastion was the type to speak his mind without restraint, but this similarly meant he could be prone to a severe case of verbal diarrhea.

In other words, every intrusive thought he had could possibly be voiced.

Of course, Kieran could neither confirm nor deny this speculation.

"Good. What's understood needn't be said," Kieran nodded faintly.

Afterward, he swiped his finger, dispelling the unrelated system notifications before accepting the most important one.

「 «Northern Region Announcement» -

Congratulations to the Nameless Team consisting of 8 people, Aatrox, Altair, Bastion… who earned the First Kill of a Field Boss in the Northern Region. Their feat, which has earned handsome rewards, will forever be held with glory! 」

「 «Xenith World Announcement» -

Congratulations to the Team consisting of 8 people, Aatrox, Altair, Bastion… who earned the First Kill of an inferior Field Boss of a Beginner Zone. Their feat, which has earned handsome rewards, will forever be held with glory! 」

The team's name remained nameless as a part of Kieran's doing.

It was a way to perhaps circumvent any eyes and attention that may fall upon Bastion and his teammates. Giving a team a name was a sign of alliance and deep ties, thus Kieran opted to not do such a thing.

For now, Kieran needed to be able to move freely to accomplish the tasks he was given.

Aside from that, Kieran also wanted to shed some light upon their ability to prevail without a prior cohesive relationship. The ability to triumph with a makeshift team was a testament to one's individual value.

Since he was starting from scratch, if Kieran wanted to attract the attention of big fish, he needed immense bait. Currently, the bait was tiny, but Kieran had plans in wait to gradually increase the size of the bait.

Following the announcement, a stream of announcements appeared before them.

〈System: You have received 3 Gold.〉

〈System: You have gained 40,000 EXP.〉

〈System: You have received a Rare Grade Treasure Chest.〉

〈System: You have received 150 World Fame.〉

Once the rewards were distributed, everyone in the party was enveloped by a golden radiance. Since the rewards followed the same format, they were consolidated.

Coupled with the EXP from the Field Boss, Kieran had fulfilled the prerequisites to attempt his Class Promotion. But in his case, Kieran couldn't do that until he met with the original wielder.

Still, Kieran glanced over his stats for the time being.

「Name: Aatrox

Lv.20 (Experience: 27,600/80,000)

Class: Warrior

Title(s): None

----------------------------

[«Stats»]-

Health: 535/535 (0.2 HP regen/sec)

Mana: 155/155 (0.16 MP regen/sec)

Stamina: 150 (0.15 Stamina regen/sec)

Attack Power: 212

Defense: 127

-----------------------------

[«Attributes»]-

»Strength: 90 (56 + 34 + 0)

»Intelligence: 25 (25 + 0 + 0)

»Agility: 60 (52 + 8 + 0)

»Endurance: 40 (20 + 20 + 0)

»Control: 40 (40 + 0 + 0)

»Vitality: 45 (30 + 15 + 0)

»Perception: 50 (50 + 0 + 0)

[Unassigned Stat Point: 10]

[Skill Points: 4] 」

After checking his Character Panel, the first thing that stuck out to Kieran was the new EXP requirement—80,000.

Compared to the previous levels, this was an insane jump. Nevertheless, it was also understandable since the jump from Lv.20 to Lv.21 generally signified a change in an individual's State of Being.

After glossing over the matter of the EXP requirement, Kieran gazed at his special reward from the World Announcement—the Rare Grade Treasure Chest.

In this case, it was only Rare Grade, but it wasn't something Kieran could ignore.

「 Rare Grade Treasure Chest (Special Item)

Item Usage: Upon opening this item, it has a chance of bestowing up to Rare Items. Special Items are also included in the probability.

Description: A treasure chest with unusual markings that exudes an unnatural presence. The inside, while not spacious, may possess bizarre traits. The origin of the items inside may have ties to places outside of natural areas.

Restriction: One-time usage. 」

Since it was a probability-based item, Kieran chose to leave it aside for the time being. While there was a chance of it awarding an item of significant use, it could also reward something completely worthless.

Therefore, he wouldn't bother with it until he could ensure that its worth would be maximized. As for how he'd accomplish that, Kieran knew a couple of ways.

Regardless of his decision to refrain from opening the chest, there was still an abundance of loot for the team to sift through.

After it was killed, the Colossal Scarlet Wolf dropped roughly fifteen pieces of equipment and other odd items. Inside the pile, approximately four of them shimmered with a light purple radiance.

While others may not be familiar with the grading of items based on the light they radiated, Kieran was.

The color of this glow meant at least four items inside the loot pile were Rare Items.

Upon realizing this, Kieran prayed that there'd be something incredibly useful in there. Though his skill was high, Kieran had to admit his equipment was somewhat lacking.

Due to the heated battle against the Field Boss, Kieran's Novice Greatsword was on the verge of shattering. Sure, it could be repaired, but that required the Forging skill and Kieran simply didn't have access to one.

Not to mention, repairing an Uncommon Item simply wasn't worth the hassle.

Before addressing the loot, Kieran looked at everyone else. "How do you all want to distribute the loot?"