Chapter 18. Golden Skeleton Knight (1)

Sanghyuk could smile happily the moment he arrived on floor 8.

Golden light filled the entirety of floor 8.

He could only smile after looking at that.

‘It’s here! It’s actually here!’

There was usually one skeleton-type field boss monster that emitted such a glow.

“Golden Skeleton Knight!”

Also referred to as the ‘Golden Skeleton Lottery’, this was the guy that Sanghyuk wanted.

‘Although I did want for one to show up, to think it actually did…….’

There were two reasons why Sanghyuk was so overjoyed. First was that the Golden Skeleton Knight had an element of ‘jackpot’ that nicknamed it the ‘Golden Skeleton Lottery’, Second, this guy was the easiest to face out of all the skeleton-type field-boss monsters.

Even Sanghyuk would have a hard time challenging field boss monsters at this point in time. However, his confidence would increase if he was facing off against the Golden Skeleton Knight.

Originally, Sanghyuk was planning to just check what the field boss monster was without fighting and prepare accordingly later.

However, if the opponent was the Golden Skeleton Knight, there was nothing much to prepare. Actually, his achievement of killing a field boss monster ‘for the first time’ may be stolen if he did so.

Of course, he had not heard of a witness of a field boss monster much less the killing of one, but the world was a mysterious place. What was a pity was that he only had 34 Flame stone cards left, but he didn’t think that would cause an issue. He might have to reconsider if it was another field boss, but if it was the Golden Skeleton Knight…… this was really like Sun Wukong on top of the Buddha’s palm.

‘But even so, the opponent is a boss monster that has to be fought in parties. I must not forget that I’m alone right now. Let’s first go through the Golden Skeleton Knight walkthrough in my head.’

Before approaching the center of the golden light, Sanghyuk went over his things one last time.

‘Its main skills are ‘Golden Aura’ and ‘Golden Bolt’, right?’

Once, the ‘workshop’ also hunted down these Golden Skeleton Knights countless times in pursuit of this jackpot. Even the lowest tier was hard to find since they were bosses after all, but the scale of the workshop that Sanghyuk was in topped the majority of large-scale guilds, so the number of Golden Skeleton Knights Sanghyuk had faced off against also numbered in the hundreds.

Since this guy had one of the lowest levels among field bosses, he could fight against it more than the others. Thanks to that experience, Sanghyuk knew about Golden Skeleton Knights quite well.

‘Golden Aura is just like a personal buff for this guy, so there’s nothing for me to do about here. The problem is the Golden Bolt…… In the past, I could dodge them with my eyes closed thanks to experience, but can I do it now too?’

Golden Bolt, like its name, was a skill that dropped golden-colored lightning against the enemy. Of course, there was a pre-skill motion, so it wasn’t impossible to dodge, but since the bolt fell down fast, he would get hit even if he was late in judgement by 1 or 2 seconds.

No matter how easy this guy was, the Golden Skeleton Knight was a monster that was made for party hunting so he might get killed instantly if he was hit squarely.

‘Especially since I not only have a low level but a low defense and health as well, so I won’t be able to survive even one of the Golden Bolts.

The core of the plan was to not get hit by those Golden Bolts.

‘And I’m not sure about other things, but that guy should have high health since it’s a field boss monster, so I might need to fight for quite a long time.’

Having put together the guides he remembered, he summed it up to one line.

‘Dodge all the Golden Bolts perfectly and stack damage for quite a long time.’

It didn’t sound that hard, but making it a reality was something entirely different.

“I guess it’s like poking an elephant to death with a needle? No, wait, a needle is taking it too far, so I guess it’s around an awl? Anyway, I guess the important thing is to maintain my concentration for a long time.”

With that, he was finished organizing his thoughts. What was left was to challenge.

*Tap tap!*

Sanghyuk tapped his two cheeks with his hands to cheer himself up.

“Let’s do this!”

With a short shout, he proceeded forward.

The Golden Skeleton hunt began like that.

***

The Golden Bolt fell once every 10~20 seconds randomly. So it was impossible to measure the time between each bolt to dodge.

It could only be dodged by the seeing the Golden Skeleton’s pre-skill motion; when the two holes in its head moved towards above. Its size was around two times that of Sanghyuk, and it was not that big considering it was a boss, so the pre-skill motion wasn’t that noticeable either.

Furthermore, the bolts struck too fast so it was not easy to dodge them. If he followed the walkthrough and went with a 5-man party, there was an easier way to dodge by switching between their positions, but that was simply impossible for Sanghyuk to do since he was just one man.

In the end, he could only avoid the Golden Bolts head on. And for 2 hours, too…….

‘It’s here!’

When the skeleton’s head raised up again, Sanghyuk threw his body sideways immediately.

*Flash, crrrrrrrackle!*

Exactly one second after Sanghyuk moved away, a golden bolt of lightning fell onto where he stood before.

An uncountable number of bolts had fallen until now, and Sanghyuk had dodged them all.

He wasn’t just dodging them either. He rolled around the ground and put his hand towards the Golden Skeleton Knight.

*Flash, thud!*

Then, the Flame stone struck the Golden Skeleton Knight’s body as it showed an opening after using the Golden Bolt.

Sanghyuk was endlessly dealing damage to the Golden Skeleton Knight like this. He really felt like stabbing an elephant with an awl, but the fact was that the piled damage was affecting that elephant.

It was tremendously difficult to concentrate for 2 hours to dodge the Golden Bolts, but Sanghyuk, fortunately, regained his senses of fighting the Golden Skeleton Knights in his previous life and could avoid all the Golden Bolts without error.

‘I can see an end.’

Sanghyuk lightly nodded his head after seeing that the Golden Skeleton Knight was swaying more than before.

Although he hadn’t acquired a skill that allowed him to see how much HP the Golden Skeleton Knight had, but going by the experiences in his past life, the Golden Skeleton Knight should be nearing its limits.

Of course, Sanghyuk’s own stage, after rolling around the ground so many times while concentrating for the past two hours, was not that good either, but it was at least slightly better than the Golden Skeleton Knight.

‘It’s about time for its final struggle…….’

Sanghyuk bit his lips after checking the Golden Skeleton Knight’s position. For a while now, he was giving attention to the position of the Golden Skeleton Knight.

Although this was obvious, all boss monsters did not fight with just one pattern until its death. They had at least 2 patterns of fighting.

So, even the lowest-tier boss monster, the Golden Skeleton Knight, didn’t just possess a single pattern. It possessed two patterns…… and the second of them was the final struggle-type pattern that occurred just before it collapsed.

*Clack clack clack clack clack.*

As though it had read Sanghyuk’s mind, the Golden Skeleton Knight suddenly moved its loose jawbones up and down. This made the golden aura about it start to dissipate.

‘The second phase!’

Sanghyuk knew that this was the start of the Golden Skeleton Knight’s second phase, so he immediately prepared inwardly for the 2nd pattern.

‘One, two, here!’

*Flash, pzzzzzzzzzzzt!*

*Bbbbbbbbbboooooom!*

A strong storm of electricity poured out with the Golden Skeleton Knight as the center. That storm of electricity swiped to all directions clean.

This was the Golden Skeleton Knight’s second pattern. Actually, this second pattern was simple, in a certain sense.

To put it simply, it was just the Golden Skeleton Knight’s final struggle before its death.

It did not do any basic attacks and did not use the Golden Bolts nor the Golden Aura. It didn’t even move and stood still in its place.

It only did one thing – emitting a strong storm of electricity towards all sides at a 3-second interval. However, sometimes, simplicity was the scariest.

The golden electric storm that was released into the surroundings every 3 seconds wiped everything in its path. Even the strongest tankers of EL right now would be instantly annihilated in the face of this storm.

And this appeared every 3 seconds, so it was practically impossible to avoid.

Then would the users have to run or die out when the Golden Skeleton Knight turns to its second phase? Of course not.

Although he was unknown right now, the ‘Ironman’ Diffrom, later known as the greatest raid ranker, once said this.

‘There does not exist a monster in EL that we cannot conquer. There are only those we have not found a solution to.’

Like what he said, the second phase of the Golden Skeleton Knight may seem impossible to conquer, but it was actually ridiculously easy once the walkthrough was known.

Since Sanghyuk had faced this thing hundreds of times in his previous life, he knew exactly what he had to do for this second phase.

So, he easily dodged the first round of golden electric storm. To be exact, he lay down on a pit on the ground and the electric storm brushed above him.

The important thing here was the pit that Sanghyuk was lying on. This pit was the most important point in hunting the Golden Skeleton Knight.

Strictly speaking, the one who created this pit, was not Sanghyuk but the Golden Skeleton Knight itself. To be exact, it was the Golden Bolts it threw out.

‘Again, one, two…….’

*Ta-ta-tap!*

After the first round of the electric storm brushed past him, Sanghyuk immediately stood up from his pit and ran to the closest pit near him.

He had to move as soon as possible. Since the Golden Skeleton Knight released the electric storms every 3 seconds, Sanghyuk was only allowed 2 seconds to move.

‘It’s coming!’

*Flash, pzzzzzzzzzzzzt!*

*Bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbooooooooom!*

An electric storm once again wiped across.

However, Sanghyuk was still completely intact. These pits that he was currently hiding in…… were actually tightly knit together and lead to the Golden Skeleton Knight.

If he used these pits well, he would be able to safely move towards the Golden Skeleton Knight.

Needless to say, these pits weren’t created like that out of pure coincidence.