By the time they had mostly finished these preparations, it was already getting close to nightfall.
While there was still time to head down the mountain, continuing forward at this hour would mean entering the city occupied by the zombies.
Those weren’t slow, shuffling zombies. These ones had high-speed movement from Crystal Cores, various mutations, abilities, and there were even things like Zombie Kings.
Naturally, it was better to wait until morning to pass through that area.
Ultimately, after some discussion, they chose the location of the Cryo Hypostasis as their spot for the night. This site was in a hollow valley with plenty of flat ground suitable for operations; it was sheltered from the wind and easy to defend.
Trying to hold a position on the summit would have been far too agonizing.
Since most of the standard monsters had their limbs broken and were left in a paralyzed state, this was an excellent defensive point. The only thing they had to deal with was the Cryo Hypostasis.
...
Actually, dealing with it wasn’t that difficult because its intelligence was… how should I put it? Extremely NPC-like.
In fact, this was explicitly stated in its setting:
[A high-level Cryo elemental lifeform, code-named ‘Daleth’.]
[According to research, there are subtle differences in the material composition between Hypostases and regular elemental creatures.]
[These slight compositional differences may be the origin of their highly stable forms and mechanical behavior patterns.]
Thus, the Hypostasis series were all quite NPC-like. They only had a few recurring moves; once Mo Shao familiarized herself with the patterns, she could dodge every single attack.
—The main issue was that fighting them early on was quite annoying.
After all, it was a Boss-tier monster for the early game. Its damage was high, it was extremely tanky, and there was the nauseating Sheer Cold environment to contend with. Furthermore, not long after you killed it, it would immediately win its resurrection match and fight you again in peak condition.
—The Trounce Blossom that appeared after killing the Cryo Hypostasis would disappear if not claimed within a few minutes, after which the entity would respawn.
This meant they would have to fight the Cryo Hypostasis all night long.
...
Even if they didn't hold their ground right here, moving a short distance away from the respawn point wouldn't help much, as the thing could fly. At most, they’d gain a few extra minutes of peace.
Moving to an unsuitable battlefield risked having their structures destroyed, which would be a net loss. It was better to do as they were now: carve out internal rooms along the surrounding mountain walls and keep the campfires blazing.
Then, in areas where the Cryo Hypostasis couldn't reach, they used fortification walls to seal off the entrance to the valley basin.
—One could only say that Minecraft items were far too useful. Without them, who would ever want to venture out!?
This level of logistical prowess and the ability to rapidly construct front lines were truly essential for large groups surviving the night in the wilderness!
With everything set up this way, as long as they cleared out the approaching monsters early in the night, the team members could turn around and help with the boss.
The Cryo Hypostasis had many output windows. With roughly four hundred people attacking with bows at the same time, it would be crushed in just a few rounds.
But the prerequisite for all this was that someone had to suppress the Cryo Hypostasis until the team finished clearing the external monsters.
—And they would have to suppress it again at four o'clock.
...
Fortunately, since the number of sieging monsters had decreased significantly, tonight should be simple as long as no accidents occurred. They could even take the opportunity to farm the Cryo Hypostasis; given the Loot Drop Enhancement for Boss monsters, it was worth the effort.
In the game, one used Resin to claim rewards from the Trounce Blossom; in reality, one could naturally use Stamina to do so.
There were four types of drops from this creature: Mora, Crystalline Bloom, Shivada Jade, and high-tier Artifacts.
Mora went without saying—the more, the better. No one ever complained about having too much money.
As for the Crystalline Bloom and Shivada Jade, they were somewhat mysterious, high-quality Cryo-attribute items with extremely abundant energy. They were quite good even if used simply as an extra source of energy, though only Ice-elemental Dead-binders could absorb them comfortably.
Others weren't incapable of absorbing the energy within—after all, it was very pure—it just required a conversion process.
—Most people currently couldn't manage that.
And high-tier Artifacts provided simple, unadorned stat boosts. If one managed to roll good stats, they were very much worth Live-binding.
For example, a stat like CRIT Rate essentially meant there was a probability of doubling one's own damage in reality. This was a stat that affected output efficiency, the armor-piercing threshold, and various other factors, making it well worth a Live-binding slot.
...
As time passed, night finally fell. Cool moonlight spilled down, and monsters began to charge toward the team’s position.
“I’ll go first,” Mo Shao said proactively as she watched the Cryo Hypostasis begin to stir. Her reason?
She needed a stronger opponent to verify what level her combat power had reached after obtaining the Jewel of Life.
The monsters she had encountered earlier were a bit too weak and hadn't made her feel any pressure, so she could only turn to the Cryo Hypostasis.
“Alright, swap out if you can’t hold it,” Wu Yingzhe nodded, having no intention of competing with Mo Shao.
“Do you want me to join you?” Little Ka asked with a hint of worry.
“It’s fine, trust me,” Mo Shao waved her hand, and before Little Ka could respond, she had already stepped into the arena.
The already restless Cryo Hypostasis instantly sensed Mo Shao as a target and launched an attack!
It immediately transformed into a spiked ice wheel and charged straight toward Mo Shao!
However… it was truly far too straightforward. With a simple tap of her toes, Mo Shao sidestepped to dodge the strike.
As she dodged, the Cryo Hypostasis temporarily lost its inert shell, revealing its elemental core.
This was the output window. Without the slightest hesitation, Mo Shao raised her hand and unleashed a blast of golden lightning!
To verify her damage, this blast was already at the limit of the output she could achieve within this brief window!
Among her five attributes, Dendro and Hydro had no special effects against Cryo, Dragon was completely unknown, and Geo could only create a shield through Crystallize.
Only the Electro element could trigger Superconduct, but Superconduct dealt Cryo damage, which the Cryo Hypostasis was immune to. However, it could still reduce Physical RES by 40%, which at least increased her physical output by that much.
...
As for the effect of this attack…
It shaved off about 10% of the Cryo Hypostasis's health, which was honestly not a very pretty number. She would need ten windows of output to finish it.
—But in reality, this was already very high.
After all, the output window was too short; this window had only lasted five seconds. Even though she had pushed her output to its limit, there was only so much she could do.
—After all, she didn't possess any actual skills; this golden lightning was purely a raw energy release.
There were many drawbacks to this; the damage was low while the consumption was high. With the kind of attack she just used, in a continuous battle…
—She could probably fire it about thirty times consecutively. In other words, she could only deal with three Cryo Hypostases in a row.
Although this was already an exaggerated level compared to anyone else, Mo Shao herself wasn't satisfied.
She still had to find a way to learn some actual skills…
Rate on N.U.
