One had to admit, the Cryo Hypostasis was truly easy to deal with.
Aside from the fact that it couldn't be permanently eliminated and the prospect of fighting it all night was a bit torturous, everything else wasn't much of a problem!
At least, that was the case for Mo Shao.
In its normal state, the Cryo Hypostasis cycled through the same five patterns. For her, they were simply too easy to dodge.
The first was the Ice Wheel. It would transform into a spiked wheel and roll back and forth several times. As long as one timed it correctly, a simple sidestep was enough to dodge it.
The second was Falling Frost, where ice shards rained down from the sky.
One had to keep running during this move, or simply get close to the Cryo Hypostasis’s side, which was a complete safe zone.
Moreover, when it used this move, its core remained exposed for ten seconds, which was the perfect window for high output.
The third was the Frost Slap. The Cryo Hypostasis used its outer shell to form two palm-like shapes and clapped them together in a small area in front of it.
The telegraph for this move was ridiculously long; a quick dash backward was enough to avoid it.
In Mo Shao's eyes, these three moves were exceptionally easy to dodge. Relatively speaking, the remaining two were slightly more troublesome.
...
The first difficult move was the Frigid Bloom!
The Cryo Hypostasis would rise into the air and fire circles of ice spikes outward, three times in succession. With each wave, the attack range increased.
After the spikes pierced the ground, they created a temporary icy field that dealt Glacio DMG to anyone who stepped on it.
This move depended on one's distance from the Cryo Hypostasis.
If the boss was far away when it started this move, the best strategy was to maintain that distance and wait for the ice fields to dissipate.
If one was already close to the boss, they could charge directly beneath it, which served as another safe zone.
However, being caught in the middle made things difficult to manage; after all, reality didn't have invincibility frames for dodging.
But the hardest one to dodge was the Spiky Volley!
The Cryo Hypostasis would stand upright in the shape of a magic circle and fire eight consecutive homing ice spikes.
This wave of attacks was difficult to avoid. Since they were homing, one had to time their dodge perfectly at the very moment the spikes were about to make contact.
Still, it was somewhat simple. Any normal survivor reborn from the apocalypse would be able to toy with this thing at this point.
But that was only for a reborn individual. For other beginners, this Cryo Hypostasis wasn't quite so easy to handle.
Naturally, Mo Shao couldn't be the only one keeping the Cryo Hypostasis occupied. In fact, after killing it once, she immediately initiated a rotation.
After all, this fellow provided virtually no challenge to her.
She had used the window of its weakness to verify her own output, which meant she had achieved her goal.
Next, it was time for the others to use this relatively safe "Cryo Hypostasis Training Ground."
...
The others didn't refuse either. After all, practicing under these relatively safe conditions was a fantastic opportunity!
Moreover, watching Mo Shao’s relaxed and effortless maneuvers made them feel that it shouldn't be too difficult—though they soon realized how wrong they were.
“I knew there was a gap, but I didn't think it was this huge,” Fang Dongwei said with a bitter smile as he walked back from the arena.
Even with his Anemo powers providing him with a speed boost, he had still been turned into a pincushion by the homing spikes.
He wasn't the only one; some among the rest were even worse.
Wu Yingzhe was a pure punching bag. Once he transformed into the Rock-armored Bear, he just stood there and took the hits; he couldn't dodge anything.
Xu Huaan was Punching Bag No. 2. His bronze armor, modeled after Spearhead-bro, ended up completely frozen over, and the best he could manage was moving slightly faster.
As for Tu Sisheng, carrying her Lightning Staff, her performance could be summarized as: Tu Sisheng went in ↗, Tu Sisheng came back out ↘.
Her athletic coordination could only be described as abysmal.
Fang Dongwei’s performance was considered one of the better ones.
At his level were Yu Jie—whose high compatibility with the Gulpuff granted him exaggerated reflexes and movement—and Ying Yusheng, who also fell into this category due to having highly developed athletic nerves. After all, how else would he have become the leader of the sports students?
Little Ka, however, was much stronger than all of them, nearly reaching Mo Shao's level, despite having no prior combat experience.
One could only say that her talent as a "blonde athlete" was truly manifesting.
...
Aside from those five regular moves they were using to train their basic dodging and combat capabilities, the Cryo Hypostasis had one non-standard ability.
When near death, it triggered its Rime-Shield. It would form a Glacio shield and transform into a three-dimensional block to recover health.
During this phase, it would release Frostfruits and ice shards into its surroundings.
This move was quite annoying. The ice shards were similar to the Spiky Volley and possessed a certain homing effect.
Furthermore, that Glacio shield was incredibly thick. Given their current situation, they had to use a specific mechanic to break it quickly.
That mechanic involved using heavy strikes to launch the Frostfruits back at the Cryo Hypostasis. Three hits would break the shield and stop its recovery.
Incidentally, in the logic of Genshin Impact, a bow’s Aimed Shot was considered a heavy strike. Therefore, it was best to use bows to bypass the difficulty.
Otherwise, relying purely on one's own physical heavy strikes was far too exhausting.
Moreover, in reality, there was no clear visual indicator for the required force of a heavy strike. If one used too little power, they would have to hit the Frostfruit all over again.
So, as long as one disregarded its infinite resurrections, this thing was easy to deal with, as it lacked any adaptive intelligence.
By the time the team had finished slaughtering the approaching monsters, Mo Shao had already successfully soloed the Cryo Hypostasis once.
...
However, they couldn't be considered completely safe yet.
They had to wait until after four o'clock, when the Frostarm Lawachurls they had killed would win their comeback matches. That would be the situation requiring their full effort.
After all, Dragonspine held eleven Frostarm Lawachurls. If they all came at once, it would be far more terrifying than the Cryo Hypostasis.
Add to that several Abyss Mages, numerous Samachurls, and Fatui soldiers—one could only say the coming battle would be quite severe.
Fortunately, they had already neutralized the common enemies that lacked elemental powers; otherwise, they would have to deal with a mountain of fodder as well.
Furthermore, they had completely disabled the Ruin Graders and Ruin Guards. Those two machines were also quite disgusting to deal with.
While fighting them one-on-one was manageable—one just had to break their weak points and attack while they were paralyzed—there would be no such opportunity if these automatons came in a swarm alongside other monsters.
A few moments of being obstructed would allow them to recover from paralysis.
Not to mention, these machines could fire long-range missiles and lasers, posing an extreme threat to their defensive fortifications.
Thus, they were currently seizing every moment to select and train individuals who could stall the Cryo Hypostasis.
As for why Mo Shao didn't do it herself?
Well, a powerhouse like Mo Shao would naturally be deployed to the main monster tide to meet the enemy head-on.
Therefore, the candidate chosen to stall the Cryo Hypostasis should be as weak as possible while still being effective.
It was almost like applying Tian Ji’s Horse Racing strategy.
Rate on N.U.
