Chapter 18: Hell Difficulty

​​​​​​​Scaredyface tensed up and asked, ‘Um, may I ask what your level is? Because I can’t inspect it.’

Drako Yau frowned. ‘What does my level have to do with you?’

His words were cold, even more so when displayed in a speech bubble.

Scaredyface almost started crying, her voice trembling as she said, ‘Our… our party… is planning to… fight the Blazing Cave in Hell difficulty…’

Drako Yau finally realised it. Only full parties could enter Hell difficulty of Blazing Cave. Also, Hell difficulty only allowed players who were Level 10 or above and had cleared Hard before to enter. Let alone Hard, plenty of players were stuck just at Normal.

He gave it some thought, then nodded. He wanted to try out Blazing Cave in Hell difficulty anyways. 

‘Alright.’

Scaredyface clasped her palms with a smile and said, ‘Then let’s go.’

‘Player ??? has joined the party.’

‘Eh? What’s this?’ Everyone in the party asked. They were particularly concerned about the three question marks. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

Scaredyface quickly replied, ‘He’s the one who’ll help us out. He has cleared Hard before too. As to why his name is hidden, I’m not sure either.’

Drako Yau found the right moment to chime in with his text message.

‘???: What you guys really care about is whether or not someone’s going to help out with clearing the dungeon, not who that person is, no?’

Everyone turned silent. It was Scaredyface who wrapped things up. ‘Let’s enter the dungeon then.’

Along with sparking noises, five rays of light shone at the cave entrance. Drako Yau had a good look at the team and nodded in his mind. 

So that was why they had the confidence to challenge the Hell difficulty.

A Level 13 hunter.

A Level 14 cleric, but with how he was holding a shield and single-handed sword, he was probably going the route of a paladin.

Scaredyface, a Level 14 mage.

The strongest among them was the Level 15 warrior called Angryface. While he had a menacing look, Drako Yau could tell with his keen eyesight that his face features were very similar to Scaredyface.

They’re siblings, right...

At the same time, the party members were also sizing him up, but under the protection of the Mask of Hidden Dragon, they of course couldn’t learn anything about him.

Still, they knew he was completely equipped with uncommon items. Only pro gamers or rich kids could achieve such a thing, and both were forces to be reckoned with.

‘Hey bro, what’s your preferred role? I’m not trying to probe into your stuff, it’s just easier to cooperate that way.’ It appeared that the warrior called Angryface was the leader.

Drako Yau still didn’t speak and replied with a text message. ‘Tank, damage dealer, both are fine.’

‘Cheh…’ The Level 13 hunter was scornful of his response. ‘Both are fine? Oh man you must be strong! Looks like you’re a real pro!’

Drako Yau turned to glare at the hunter, directing the emotionless and cold mask at him. ‘You don’t like it? I can always quit.’

‘You!’ The hunter flared up.

At that moment, Angryface also yelled, ‘Enough!’

He then quickly sent the hunter a private message. ‘We’re just looking for someone to fill the slot! It’s fine even if he’s useless in fighting! What are you even upset about!’

After soothing and calming down the hunter, the party immediately headed out.

Loud bangs resounded throughout the cave. Fire crystal giants, two of them, leapt down from above, their size noticeably larger than their counterparts in Hard difficulty.

The Level 14 cleric took a step forward, his body shrouded in a holy aura.

Drako Yau, who stood behind, thought, It should be the cleric skill Holy Blessing… Increases defence by one per cent… right?

He was more knowledgeable about the skill trees of the four major classes. Unlike his hidden class, they were usually divided into two major branches. However, clerics were a bit different in the way that they could only choose one of the two branches. For instance, if a cleric chose the Holy Blessing branch, they couldn’t choose skills that belong to the other branch that had skills like Healing Mastery, which passively increased their healing capabilities.

When the cleric took the initiative to approach the fire crystal giants and successfully drew their aggro, everyone started dishing out damage. Angryface held himself back so he could have a good look at the masked warrior, but all the man did was strolling around and poking here and there with his spear, which was infuriating to look at.

This guy’s really just here to steal experience!

He also sent his sister a private message, saying, ‘Look at the guy you found! He’s a professional leecher!’ (Leecher was a term in gaming which referred to players who simply sat back and let others handle the fighting while gaining experience.)

Scaredyface blushed in shame and didn’t utter a word. Their party was by no means weak. They barely wore any common equipment, and their levels were much higher than typical players. Among tens of millions of players, over 70 per cent of them were below Level 10.

As the first dungeon, Blazing Cave was not terribly difficult to clear. Players only had to clear monsters along the way, and there weren’t any traps throughout the dungeon. It wasn’t too hard as long as they had the proper knowledge and fairly decent equipment.

Angryface and his party weren’t typical players in the first place, just that they weren’t strong enough to challenge the record held by the powerful guilds.

Soon, they reached the boss of the Blazing Cave, the fire crystal giant elder.

‘Humans who dare invade the lands of fire crystals! Die!’

The elder jumped out with burning fists and charged at the party.

The cleric yelled, ‘It’s here!’

A deafening boom resounded throughout the cave as two fist-shaped fireballs clashed onto his shield, reducing a fair amount of his health. Stunned, the cleric quickly cast a basic Heal onto himself and shouted, ‘Now!’

Angryface rushed in with his two-handed greatsword.

Charging Fist! Basic attack! Crescent Slash! Basic attack!

It was a basic yet smooth combination of skills. The combo count was going higher and higher with every strike.

‘Rah!’ Angryface shouted and stabbed his sword into the ground, sending a small shockwave from his sword. It was the Level 15 warrior skill, Shockwave Slash!

Scaredyface puffed her red cheeks as she casted Icebolt and Fireball in rotation. The hunter also fired off arrow after arrow to deal damage to the elder.

Drako Yau praised their perfect teamwork in his mind. It seemed like the cleric was the only one tanking the boss, but in fact, Angryface would sometimes draw the boss’ aggro. It gave the cleric time to cast Heal on himself before drawing its aggro again.

The four cooperated and fought smoothly as a team. It was apparent that they had developed such chemistry after fighting together many times. Drako Yau observed them in detail, and he decided he was not going to integrate himself into their smooth teamwork. Instead, he roamed around and struck his spear at the elder from time to time, the priority being not to disrupt their coordination.

‘Urgh! You will regret it! You definitely will!’ (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

Looking at the howling elder, Angryface said in surprise, ‘It’s at critical health already? So soon? Watch out! Ultimate incoming!’

Having critical health meant the boss had only 10 per cent health left. The fire crystal giant elder took a deep breath, then mustered strength into his pillar-like legs and jumped high up into the air.

Everyone looked up to find the elder glaring at them. The next moment, fists came out of nowhere and rained down upon them.

The cave was bombarded with a series of ear-shattering booms.

Drako Yau was beyond stunned. Isn’t this Meteor Fist from the famous manga series Saint S*iya!