Chapter 99: The Three-Headed Boss Must Be Killed All at Once! A Unique Academy Blueprint Obtained!

Chapter 99: Chapter 99: The Three-Headed Boss Must Be Killed All at Once! A Unique Academy Blueprint Obtained!

The difference was enormous.

But that was mainly because, although all three heads belonged to the same body, the frontal head naturally took the most damage. On top of that, the types of units attacking each head were different.

Over time, the damage gap had inevitably widened.

John watched as the Steamforged Three-Headed Colossus switched control back to its head with the lowest HP—the boiler head—and immediately gave an order to finish it off first.

"Let’s take one head out first!"

[Radiant Judgment!]

[Dragon Fang Rend!]

[Lethal Backstab!]

Bladeborne, Vira, and Arno unleashed their skills simultaneously.

The boiler head’s HP was instantly depleted.

With a loud clang, the brass head fell to the ground.

Before anyone could celebrate, John’s pupils suddenly contracted.

"Something’s wrong!"

The pressure-gauge head and exhaust-pipe head simultaneously released high-pressure steam. Two streams of white vapor poured into the severed neck of the boiler head.

Gears began clicking and turning.

The brass head was forcibly lifted back into place.

[Three-Furnace Rotation activated! Boiler Head revived! HP restored!]

"How is that possible?!"

Vira and Arno, who were the closest, immediately retreated.

"It can actually revive?!"

John stared at the newly displayed ability description, reading it word by word.

[Three-Furnace Rotation — When the HP of any one head reaches zero, the remaining heads immediately inject steam energy into it. After 10 seconds, the destroyed head revives with full HP. All heads share the highest HP value. The main body can only be killed when all three heads reach zero HP simultaneously.]

Boiler Head: 24,127 → 512,024

Pressure-Gauge Head: 512,024 → 512,024

Exhaust-Pipe Head: 308,463 → 512,024

Not only had the head revived, but its HP had also been restored to match the highest HP value among the three.

"So... you’re telling me we have to destroy all three heads at once?"

Ophelia transformed back into human form and landed beside them, her brows tightly furrowed.

"Correct."

John immediately understood.

"We can’t take them out one by one. All three have to reach zero simultaneously."

Raistlin approached with his staff.

"My lord, my Hexagram Formation has a sufficiently large coverage area. One cast should be enough to hit all three heads simultaneously."

"But there’s a condition."

He paused before continuing.

"The HP of all three heads must be brought down to roughly the same level, and all three must be exposed within the formation at the same time."

"There’s one more thing."

John looked at the Colossus as it began reorganizing itself.

"Whenever it switches which head is in control, the other two heads retract into the body. We won’t be able to hit them even if we want to."

"Then what do we do?"

Vira descended from the sky, folding her water-blue dragon wings as she approached to listen.

John’s gaze fell upon the formation of Corpse Exploders. The corners of his mouth slowly curled upward.

"Simple. We just have to make sure it can’t retract its heads."

He turned toward the Corpse Exploder formation and grinned.

"How many corpses do you still have stored in your bellies?"

The two thousand Corpse Exploders simultaneously patted their bulging stomachs. A few even produced several muffled thumps, as if telling him they had plenty.

"Take everything out! Throw the corpses onto the ground between its three heads. Build me an entire mountain of corpses!"

John raised his hand to indicate the desired height.

"You don’t need to attack for now. Once we’ve lowered its HP enough, pile the corpses all the way up to the base of its neck. Let’s see how it’s supposed to retract its heads then!"

His goal was to ensure that Raistlin could eliminate all three heads with a single skill.

"Understood!"

The Corpse Exploders answered in unison, their muffled voices sounding as though they were coming from inside their bellies.

Everyone then resumed their previous attack strategy.

"Don’t worry about maximizing damage. The moment one head’s HP gets too low, stop attacking it and switch to another!"

Standing behind the battlefield, John kept his eyes fixed on the three HP bars.

At first, things went much as before. Each head was attacked independently, and their HP decreased at different rates.

The boiler head, which took the most frontal attacks, was the first to lose HP rapidly.

John waved his hand.

"Stop attacking the boiler head! Dragon Knights, pull back!"

As soon as the Dragon Knights withdrew, the pressure on the boiler head eased, and it immediately unleashed another blast of steam.

The Undead Sentinels in the front raised their shields and held the line. Whenever they were destroyed, John revived them, forcing them to absorb the damage without allowing the boss to redirect its aggression elsewhere.

Meanwhile, the pressure-gauge head was being focused down by the Sharpshooters and Dragon Knights. Its HP began dropping rapidly.

John watched the numbers. The moment its HP fell to roughly the same level as the exhaust-pipe head’s, he immediately called out:

"Stop attacking the pressure-gauge head! Switch to the exhaust-pipe head!"

By repeatedly shifting their attacks between the three targets, they gradually brought their HP down to the same level.

After nearly another twenty minutes of fighting, the three HP bars were finally almost perfectly aligned, all hovering just above ten thousand.

Boiler Head: 12,446

Pressure-Gauge Head: 11,800

Exhaust-Pipe Head: 12,112

"Corpse Exploders!"

At the next moment, the Corpse Exploders began pulling corpse after corpse out of their bellies, swinging their arms and hurling them toward the Colossus’s feet.

"BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!"

A succession of deep, rumbling impacts echoed across the battlefield.

The remains of giant eagles, centaurs, heavy infantry, mages... all kinds of corpses were thrown into the pile.

The mound grew higher and higher.

The Colossus was forced to raise all three heads, which were now fully exposed within attack range.

"All right."

John looked up and shouted toward the sky.

"Raistlin, start charging!"

"Understood!"

Raistlin raised his staff above his head. Six streams of colorful elemental light shot out from its tip.

They intertwined in midair, forming a gigantic hexagram formation that slowly rotated, covering the entire mound of corpses and all three heads.

"Ophelia, Vira, Bladeborne, Arno!"

John called out all four names in one breath.

"Each of you lead a squad of Dragon Knights. Keep your eyes on the three heads. The moment Raistlin’s attack lands, finish off whichever head still has any HP left. All three must reach zero simultaneously!"

"Understood!"

With the mound of corpses propping them up, the three heads could no longer retract.

They could only thrash about wildly, unleashing their skills in every direction.

Steam, electrical arcs, and movement-speed debuffs came one after another, but John had already prepared for this.

His troops stood in front of the heroes, shielding them from the damage.

At worst, they would die.

They could always be revived.

Ten, nine, eight, seven...

When the countdown reached one, John looked up.

"That’s about right."

Raistlin’s six-colored sphere of light had finished condensing. He raised his staff and pointed it directly at the Steamforged Three-Headed Colossus below.

Then he roared:

"Detonate!"

"Hexagram Formation — Elemental Burst!"

Six beams of elemental light descended from the sky, striking all three heads with pinpoint accuracy.

BOOOOM!!!

-28,294! (Elemental Burst · Critical Hit)

-27,923! (Elemental Burst · Critical Hit)

-28,165! (Elemental Burst · Critical Hit)

All three heads exploded simultaneously.

Brass fragments, gear components, and broken sections of exhaust pipe scattered in every direction.

[Ding!]

[Your army has slain the Steamforged Three-Headed Colossus (Lv.35 · Lord-Class)!]

[Obtained: gold coin ×180,000, tech points ×20,000!]

[Obtained: 7-Star Unit Training License ×1, 7-Star Unit Altar Stone ×1.]

[Obtained: Special Building Blueprint — Academy!]

John’s eyes lit up. He immediately opened the description of the final reward.

[Building Blueprint: Academy (Unique Special Building)]

[Description: An exclusive building for Sky Island. Increases the efficiency of technological research within your territory.]

[Effect 1: For every 1,000 tech points invested, one random technology node can be unlocked.]

[Effect 2: The Academy’s level increases alongside the Lord’s level.]

[Construction Requirements: 500,000 units of each basic resource and 10,000 tech points.]

"Tech points..."

John looked at the newly added numerical stat on his interface, deep in thought.

This was a resource that hadn’t existed during the Newbie Period. It was only available on the main continent.

Essentially, every boss they defeated would reward them with some.