Reincarnated in the game world ~ A gamer's beginning to [Dungeon job hunting recommendation]-Chapter 642Vol. 11 - - Playing Tank - Brave Style

"«Appeal»! «Aggro Slash»!"

Alright, aggro's management was progressing well, and I should be able to keep it on me for now.

I had wanted to play an evasive tank style, since it kept boss's aggro on me at a consistent rate. But despite its size, Mighty Kong was quite agile. Plus, its arm slam and punches were quite harder to dodge.

"Ugha! Ugha! Ugha!!"

With a war howl, the rare boss followed relentlessly with straight punch, downward smash, swipe, upper cut, double sledge-hammer, and even rock throw. Sometimes, it would go body slam. This was why tank must keep aggro on themselves, else it turned toward party members.

"! «Guard Rush»!"

I flowed through the combat relying on my «Intutition« and «Super Reflex» to dodge, and when it appeared impossible, defend against while going counterattacking whenever situations allowed, keeping aggro.

This was the Brave - Tank playstyle; mixing both the evasion and damage absorption style.

The synergy between «Intuition» and «Super Reflex»—to be able to detect danger beforehand, and automatically dodge with maximum efficiency—was just that good against physical attack, and long-ranged attack. After my training during summer vacation, I had quite a grasp over my «Super Reflex» skill, and was able to influence the dodge direction and reaction at will. Before that, it was like a roller coaster ride, with no ability to influence the actions.

Of course, I could never be as good as Sierra in the frontal tank role, however against monsters who had conventional moves, I think I could play the role pretty well.

"«Greater Heal Blessing»! «Greater Protection»! «Rain of Life»!"

And to make up for the missing role, our Her Highness was right there to support the party with recovery magic. It was my lifeline as I wasn't that good at tanking damage for long. With her present, I could be worryfree regarding this aspect atleast. And as backup, I also had my healing spell ready.

But, for now, I hadn't pushed that far. With the effect of «Brave Heart» active, my agility also received a boost. I was trying to become familiar with the opponent's rhythm before the buff expired. It also helped that I already knew its move from the game, and—oh, it's going to use that attack. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

"Uooo!"

"It's my chance—«Holy Sword»"

"Uoooaaa!?"

Mighty Kong brandished its fist, and attacked with a hook punch. I dodged via backstep while delivering my strongest attack in wake of counterattack.

Not to brag, but I must say I pulled this combo quite nicely, eh? And it looked cool too.

"I don't think Brave-kun's movement can even be categorised as a tank. It's like we've five attackers in a party. Still, will he be fine to take such aggressive style against top dungeon’s rare boss? I mean, seeing how nicely he's pulling it, not that I am here to complain, but..."

I heard Nico's voice from behind me as she spammed the regular attack «Pew, Pew, Nya~". She appeared quite astounded, at least from what I picked from her tone.

You're going to make me embarrassed, Nico. Well, there was a reason why I could pull all this so nicely.

Mighty Kong was a physical attacker, and that means it had no magic attack. It was much easier to fall against ranged attack when in melee distance, hence the recommendation was to keep a distance. And against Mighty Kong's agile attacks, the best strategy was to slam attacks from distance.

It wasn't easy to tank against it per se. It knew self buff skill, could chain its attack for relentless offense, and with that stats, even a damage sponger tank would be at risk of downing in just one attack. With its agility, the evasion tank had a similar sort of challenge. Quick, and mighty. The combination made Mighty Kong quite an adversary.

Thus, generally speaking, someone who could play as both a solid tank, and an evasion tank was much recommended. That is, the person should've enough endurance to stay on their feet if they were struck with any blow, and often could dodge.

An agile but damaged sponging tank. Yup, that's me, this was precisely where my Brave job had an advantage.

Well, then again, Sierra, who was more of a hardened tank, and Lacritta, a debuff tank, would've been just fine more than me. In contrast, Rika would've hard time because of the consecutive attacking pattern.

"I have to give my best too. «Long Thurst»! «Flash Stab»! «Triple Thurst»!"

Meanwhile, Sierra continued to unleash her barrage of attacks from the flank or the back while I kept Mighty Kong's attention on me.

She was playing the hit-and-run style. If she went too hard on it, the rare boss could target her instead, so it was a precaution. When besieged by many attackers in melee, Mighty Kong had the habit to switch to body slam, wide arm grab, or Mountain Charge attacks.

Mountain Charge was a skill where Mighty Kong would leap backward, and that would follow with a charged rush attack. The damage the said skills deals were unexpectedly massive. It was advised to not linger at fixed spots longer.

"Uooo!!"

"Argh! Lana, heal! Tsk. Damn gorilla is getting on my nerves!"

"Yes, keep asking for more! «Healing Prayer»!"

Three minutes had elapsed. The effect of «Brave Heart» wears off, and catching my lagging agility, Mighty Kong slammed its arm at me. I asked Lana for healing.

The punch was firm, with the entire weight used in throwing it. The attention to detail from developers was quite clear. I wonder if they're martial artists?

"Uoooo!"

"Agh, damn!"

Once again, a straight punch raced at me. In counterattack, I attacked with «Swift Strike», but the Mighty Kong was prepared. Without a delay, it unleashed a hammer knuckle. I couldn't avoid it.

As my agility bonus wore off, I was gradually falling into dodging attacks. Tsk, my normal agility wasn't enough! It was getting tougher to deliver any counterattack among the consecutive attacks. ...Maybe I should only focus on being an evasion tank, and damage sponger for the time being?

"Lana! Agility, and healing!"

"Get a grip, Zephyr! «Greater Healing Blessing»! «Blessing of Quickness»! «Greater Protection»!"

In the end, I just couldn't do it without buffs. ...So this was the rare boss of Int-high dungeon. In just a short exchange, I truly felt the challenge in conquering it. Just a simple attack scrapped off 20-30% of my HP. Knowledge alone wasn't enough to fill the gap in stats.

Hehe, but now that I have Lana's agility buff, It couldn't even touch my hair—

"Ack!?"

Ahem, excluding the area attacks. You know, I would love to have a peerless dodge skill!

"Sheesh, what're you doing now, Zephyr. Wait, I am casting heal!"

Lana uttered, showing her exasperation. Though her tone was laced with cheerness.

"Zephyr-san, please take care of the aggro! Your Highness, please hold on your attacks for a while!"

Oops. I went too deep into trying out my combos that the boss's attention was wearing out from me. Now wasn't the time to experiment. Well, I also couldn’t dodge some attacks, which also made me a lower threat in its eyes.

Consequently, Lana's repeated attack, as well buffs and healing made her main priority over me. Rina caught up to the changes, and cautioned immediately in concern. Nice assist, Rina!

"«Appeal»! «Aggro Slash»!"

I pierced through the opening, and earned its aggro toward me once again. I only had two taunt skill, beside «Charisma», but the «Cooldown Reduction» from «Messiah» helped overcome the downtime. Even then, the wait was almost over.

"And, «Charisma»!"

With «Cooldown Resistance», the CD of Charisma was somewhere around 5 seconds. The skill demanded a good chunk of MP, so it was best not to overuse it, lest I found myself out of it. Or well, that's the usual strategy. There was no more boss afterward, which meant we could go all out immediately.

I guess I had gathered enough aggro toward me as Rina allowed Lana to continue up with her offense. Once again, the glimmering giant swords rained down. Rina and Nico kept their focus on firing shots. Ester continued to stick to her hit-and-run tactic.

"Gruuuaahhh!!"

*Thud-Thud-Thud-Thud*

Suddenly, Mighty Kong started beating its chest furiously, filling the air with metallic clashing echoes.

"Uh-oh, it's a unique skill!"

It was the precursor to its unique skill. This was where the knockback effect from chest thumping would throw away the attackers, and then it would chain up with its strong skill immediately. It was an all-hit skill, and not even Sierra's «Induction Cover» would be able to stop a rare boss from targeting others.

"Everyone, take shelter in a corner now! Ester!"

"Understod! «Accel Drive»!"

Just as I had instructed beforehand, everyone immediately broke into running. There was only a very brief timeframe before the rare boss unleashed its unique skill.

Nico fetched «Thunder Javelin» out of her «Item Bag»—due to relative position, and everyone's role, she had been tasked to carry the carriage—and boarded almost immediately. Rina, Lana joined right after her.

Ester caught up soon, and switched her equipment back to «Thunder Javelin».

"Please hold on to something. «Overdrive»!"

Within a few moments, the carriage rushed off to a corner of the room. The only blind spot of the incoming unique skill.

"KOOOOOOOONG!!"

"What the hell, the shout is completely different!"

Mighty Kong leapt high into the air, its physique swelling. It was going through titan-ification. Then, like a wrestler diving from the ring's cable, it descended with all four limbs outstretched.

No one knows what would happen if they get crushed beneath. ...I mean, the blessing of HP would prevent it, but just the idea shudders me. As a matter of fact, there's a great chance that fall would easily crush any basic job party.

The tank, if they could negate some of the damage, could survive, but it's absolutely impossible for the attacker and healer to get out of it. And when that happened, coming back to battle would be nearly impossible.

Of course, the game wasn't all instant death mode. There were meant to survive, and that was the corners of the room. Sticking to the wall might work, but maybe the shockwave from the aftermath travelled in a circle, only the corner was the safe spot. So, the priority was to escape to the corner if the situation permits it.

The damage was considerably low when at corner, which means survival chance for even the healer and attackers.

The damage and range of that unique skill was just that perverse.

Then, after crashing into the floor, Mighty Kong returned back to its 4m tall physique. With a slightly delayed moment, it rose up to its feet once again. This would've been our cue to attack—bosses get easily downed right after unique skill activation—but alas, being at corner means the attack wouldn't be delivered immediately. The fact that it was intentional made it even more annoying. Oh, well.

"«Special Healing Miracle»!"

My HP bar immediately slid up to full as Lana casted her healing spell.

"But since I managed to tank it, it's my turn for counter-attack! «Brave Slash»!"

"Uooooo!?"

The other couldn't, but I was still here. I had to endure a good amount of damage, but I held on to it. But I must say, that definitely made my heart skip.

Anyway, I took my aim just as it was trying to get up, and slammed my unique skill. The boss was downed in one strike. Phew, I did it, somehow. I really survived though the body slam of that brawny gorilla. I wonder if it would be counted as 'an experience of a kind.'

Either way, all hail «Defense»! Status, Banzai! I might not have made it so far.

"You know the drill, everyone. It's an all-out buffet!"

"Then I shall begin! Unique Skill «All-Out Attack»!"

"«Full-Throttle Drive»!"

"«Sacred Shining Saber»! «Sanctious Sword Strike»! «Rise of the Divine Tree»!"

"Attack, attack attack! (Pew-Pew-Meow)!"

As soon as my signal went live, everyone jumped on their action. Rina acted quickly, and took the lead in using her unique skill. This was the concluding battle of the day! No one was holding back or trying to save off MP.

Ester swiftly changed back to «Azure Cogwheel», and activated her unique skill as she charged forward.

"The end is nigh. —«Knight Princess Awakening»!"

Heh, let's see how it escapes the fate of being thrashed left and right. It's a no-barred fight!

"«Lightning Banisher»! «Holy Sword»! «Quick Strike»! «Lightning Burst»! «Thunderbolt»!"

"«Long Thurst»! «Triple Thrust»!" «Long Thrust»! «Precise Thrust»! «Long Thrust»! «Triple Thrust»! «Legion Thrust»! (—Uoooo) «Long Thrust»! «Precise Thrust»! «Flash Stab»! «Raging Spear War Dance»!"

Midway, Mighty Kong came out of its downed state, but once the hell broke loose, no one stopped. The gorilla remained at everyone's mercy with no chance to counterattack, and gradually hit the point of no return. Gorilla’s HP hit rock bottom.

"Gaa-graaa......"

At the end, the gorilla did utter 'graa' facing my direction, but that was the end of its action and it sank into the sea of effect. ...Wait a minute. We were so engrossed I forgot to have Nico deliver the last attack for «Last Attack Bonus»......

Uh-huh. Fortunately, the sparkle of two gold chests immediately cleared away my regret.

And to my surprise, one of the chests dropped a big shield with resistance to holy attributes. —«Mithril Shield of Heaven».

It was an advanced piece of equipment, obviously made of mithril.

The second chest, again much to my surprise, dropped a «Advanced Job Ascension Ticket».

Tomorrow was Saturday. It was all day for guild members to get together. I think it dropped at just the perfect timing. It's about time to switch up for a second job upgrade for the guild members.

Not what we had wanted, but the result didn't disappoint at least. I would say—We did it! We cleared our first Intermediate-high dungeon!