[Do you wish to challenge the 5th Floor of the Main Dungeon?]
[Yes (selected)/ No]
[Which party will you deploy?]
['Party 1' -(selected)-]
[Opening the rift of space and time!]
There was nothing else I could do to prepare my main party even more.
They all had reached the limit of their development at this state of the climb.
I could always summon more advanced heroes and replaced my 1-stars with them to boost the party's strength.
But that was not my intention for the start of my playthrough.
Loki said a good Pick Me Up player knew how to uncover, cultivate, and utilize the potential of 1-star heroes.
He was the only player in Korea that managed to overcome the eightieth floor of the Main Dungeon, or the Wailing Wall as the official forum called.
I certainly would try following his advice no matter how hard it was.
['Jonah (★)' has equipped the 'Throwing Spear (C)' x4.]
['Jonah (★)' has equipped the 'Reinforced Leather Armor (C+)'.]
['Shanny (★)' has equipped the 'Reinforced Leather Armor (C+)'.]
['Gerson (★)' has equipped the 'Reinforced Leather Armor (C+)'.]
['Cecily (★★)' has equipped the 'Reinforced Leather Armor (C+)'.]
Due to Jonah's new skill, the crafters had made throwing spears for him.
They also had crafted improved armor for the combatant. And everyone had been equipped with the best quality weapons the lobby could craft.
The new equipment was another thing that made me became more certain to challenge the fifth floor with my main party.
I would feel safer if they had health potions going into the boss stage.
But my heroes just had to make do.
[Main Dungeon, the current challenge floor is the 5th Floor.]
[The doors will open after ten seconds. Get ready!]
[Mission is being recorded.]
[The recording will be saved.]
It was a huge gamble. Leaving the execution of a major mission entirely to my heroes that was.
Simply deploying units to the battlefield and let the game played out in Warmonger was unthinkable for a pro player like me.
But I was not playing Warmonger.
This game was Pick Me Up.
Relying on autonomous AI units was the core gameplay.
The fifth floor would be the opportunity to test out the extent of the heroes' AI. My 4-star Serafina, the main party leader, especially.
How would she lead my heroes to victory?
Would she be able to clear this difficult boss stage and get us higher in the tower?
We shall see.
My party soon emerged on the large open plain I saw earlier when I deployed the scout.
I shifted the view to the northern region of the map.
[Ogre Lv.15 x5679]
The number of monsters did not change.
It was not a bug.
Damn!
['Gerson (★)' has fallen into the state of fear. All stats decreased by 30%!]
['Cecily (★★)' has fallen into the state of fear. All stats decreased by 30%!]
I had never seen these two got debuffed before.
The challenge on the fifth floor seemed to be enough to finally frighten them.
This was not an encouraging start.
But hopefully my heroes would know what to do.
[Floor 5]
[Mission Type – Escape]
[Objective – Get out of the designated area!]
The 4-star Serafina suddenly started spinning around in place.
I just noticed a small magic circle was hovering over her eye.
She was scanning the battlefield!
Was it a skill of hers? A detection spell perhaps?
Eventually the mage stopped to look toward the east.
A portion of the map covered by the fog of war was suddenly cleared, revealing a new view.
There was an abandoned garrison located a long distance east of my party.
Serafina and her comrades immediately rushed themselves toward the discovered landmark.
Nice!
4-star heroes were definitely reliable.
Unlike the scout, my main units were heading toward the right direction.
But could they outrun the ogres?
[Ogre Lv.15 x5679]
My heroes were running as fast as they could toward the garrison.
Even so, the ogres kept closing in on them from the north.
The monsters would get to my heroes soon at this rate.
['Serafina (★★★★)' is casting temporary enchantment.]
Oh?
I was aware that she had the enchantment skill, but my mage had never done this before.
Perhaps there was never a need for it previously.
[Enchantment casted!]
[Party 1's agility has increased by 15% for the next 20 minutes.]
Upon Serafina's enchantment, my main party started moving with increased speed.
Great!
The guides said heroes chose when to use their skills.
Serafina definitely picked the right moment for it.
Her AI did well in reading the developing situation. It practically read my mind.
I became more and more impressed by the heroes' programming in this game.
Hopefully it would continue to impress me till the end of the boss stage.
Kroah!
Despite Serafina's enchantment, some of the ogres still managed to get close to my party.
One ogre started to sprint toward my heroes.
Using telekinesis, Serafina immediately formed a mound on the ground in front of the ogre to trip the monster.
Crash!
The ogre faceplanted to the ground, allowing my party to safely enter the abandoned garrison they were heading.
Serafina managed to close the large gates using her magic before the hordes of ogres reached the entrance.
She then piled up building wreckages from inside the garrison onto the entrance to reinforce the gates further.
[Enchantment over.]
[Party 1's agility has returned to normal.]
20 minutes had gone by already.
Boss stages sure took a while.
But I actually did not feel the time passing.
The situation in the mission was so intense that I could not do anything else but worry for my heroes.
Crash!
Suddenly the gates at the other side of the garrison burst open.
Another ogre soon walked into the structure.
[Ogre Lv.13]
Shit!
I did not expect there was another ogre waiting for us here.
If only I had a more reliable scout, then I would've known about this ambush.
['Gerson (★)' has fallen into the state of panic. All stats decreased by 50%!]
['Cecily (★★)' has fallen into the state of panic. All stats decreased by 50%!]
Two of my units got debuffed further.
Thankfully my 4-star and the remaining 1-stars kept their composure.
Jonah, Shanny, and Cecily suddenly moved to intercept the intruding ogre.
My heroes had never fought against this type of enemy before. And the 2-star archer would not be able to support the 1-stars properly due to her debuff.
So I hoped they would be able to tackle this confrontation with minimum damage.
Kekeke!
Another monster sound came from one part of the garrison.
[Goblin Lv.2 x8]
Scrawny goblins emerged from the ruined buildings beyond my party.
Gerson set out to intercept them as Serafina was still busy keeping the entrance sealed while the others were fighting against the ogre.
Despite the critical situation, my main party managed to come up with a solid mitigating strategy.
Jonah and Shanny stood their ground pretty well against the large opponent.
They would take turns distracting the monster and charged toward its blind side.
When the ogre noticed the both of them at the same time, Cecily would distract it with her arrows.
She could not damage the giant very much. Distraction was all she could do to it.
The three of them seemed to be trying to immobilize the ogre by damaging its legs.
They would accomplish it eventually.
But would they have the time?
Due to his debuff, Gerson could not immediately wipe out the level 2 goblins. Though he was holding on fairly well.
It was Serafina I was worried about.
By using her magic, she tried very hard keeping the hordes of ogres from breaching the garrison's entrance.
But she was running out of debris to pile on the gates.
And I was not sure she could create a shield strong enough to hold all those ogres off.
Crash!
I was right.
The blockade Serafina was reinforcing started to fall apart.
I could see the ogres breaking through from the other side.
['Cecily (★★)' has fallen into the state of despair. All stats decreased by 80%!]
Darn!
2-star heroes were certainly more talented and had better stats than 1-star heroes.
But their mental resilience was basically the same.
This was not what I was expecting from my higher-ranked hero. I must take note of this discovery.
With the amount of debuffs Cecily already had, she was practically worse than newly summoned 1-star.
Thwack!
The ogre managed to strike the frightened 2-star and propelled her to the other side of the garrison.
['Cecily (★★)' has returned to the Goddesses' embrace! Her fighting spirit will be remembered forever.]
Our first casualty. And so early in the boss stage too.
['Gerson (★)' has fallen into the state of despair. All stats decreased by 80%!]
The 1-star hero suddenly got another debuff after the 2-star's death.
Since he was a basic 1-star hero, the debuff reduced his performance drastically. Even the weak level 2 goblins managed to overpower him now.
['Gerson (★)' has been inflicted with bleeding. His stamina will be reduced for a period of time.]
Mentality was truly an important factor of a hero.
Gerson would usually be able to kill this type of enemies easily. Any combatant hero in the lobby, actually.
Level 2 goblins were weaker than even the first floor enemies, after all.
['Gerson (★)' is on the brink of death. His life is in danger!]
The 1-star kept being harmed by the weak goblins.
But his comrades were too occupied with other matters.
Jonah and Shanny were still engaging the ogre while Serafina kept reinforcing the blockade on the entrance.
His fate was sealed.
['Gerson (★)' has returned to the Goddesses' embrace! His fighting spirit will be remembered forever.]