568 This Is a Strong Tank

The ninth boss battle in Tomb in the Sky took place in water.

The majority of players were not accustomed to aquatic battles. Due to this reason alone, Tomb in the Sky’s ninth boss was considered even more difficult than the final boss.

Fighting a boss in water was different than fighting players in water.

For PvP, it was fair for both sides. The hindrances from water would affect them equally, but it was an entirely different matter for bosses. For shameless entities like bosses, who had the system’s backing, water would not affect them like conventional logic would entail.

In the water, the movements of players would become slower, but bosses could freely move around, as if they were dragons soaring through the skies. It would be strange if an opponent like this wasn’t difficult to deal with.

Ye Xiu wasn’t surprised Seven Blossom Leaves and the other Knights couldn’t fight aquatic battles well.

Tanking required precise actions. When an attack arrived, the Knight had to raise their shield to defend. It was the whole point of a shield after all. Half of the reason Knights were tanks was because of the damage reduction they would gain from equipping shields.

However, in an aquatic battle, there was a huge difference in speed between the boss and them. This difference in speed made it difficult for players to grasp the timing of the attacks. Even a simple move like raising their shields couldn’t be done easily. 

If the Knight couldn’t use his shield properly, the Knight wouldn’t fare much better than the squishies. The healing obviously wouldn’t be enough.

If they had better equipment and could tank without the shield, then they would be able to pass easily, but Seven Blossom Leaves and the other Knights were still trying to beat the dungeon! How could their equipment be at that sort of dominating level? It wouldn’t be quite correct to say that the ninth boss of Tomb in the Sky required exceptional equipment. There was no such dungeon that required vastly superior equipment to beat. In reality, the ninth boss just required skill in aquatic battles.

The skill required wasn’t anything too demanding. It would be enough if the Knight could raise his shield in time to receive the boss’s attack. 

But the problem was that players were unaccustomed to aquatic battles. In addition, the boss wasn’t affected by the water in the slightest. Because of these reasons, the majority of players had trouble executing even a simple move like raising their shields. 

Of course, for someone like Ye Xiu, this move was well within his capabilities despite only having “a bit” of knowledge in aquatic battles. Difficult and precise aquatic techniques didn’t need to be used. Since all he needed to do was raise his shield at the right time, Seven Blossom Leave’s equipment was more than enough to tank the boss.

If Ye Xiu tried with Unrivaled Super Hottie’s original equipment, Ye Xiu would also feel pressured. It would require him to rely more on dodging the boss’s attacks than to tank. His character’s movements would be restricted in the water, while the boss wouldn’t be hindered, which made dodging much more difficult.

Thus, for the ninth boss, Ye Xiu needed to borrow equipment.

Now, with better equipment, Ye Xiu didn’t feel pressured by the boss at all. The team could just use their normal strategy. He would tank, the DPSers would deal damage, and the healers would heal. Happy Sheep kept asking him how he planned on fighting the boss, but Ye Xiu didn’t know what else to say. Just fight with the basic bossing strategy.

This was also the place where Happy Sheep’s team often wiped out, but they couldn’t find any solutions because this boss didn’t require any specific strategy. The boss didn’t have any extremely powerful moves or anything either. The only difficulty lay in the speed disparity and the players’ inability to fight in the water. If they tried a few more times, the tanks would eventually grasp the timing and they would pass the boss with ease.

“Relax! Just follow along!” Ye Xiu said. He ignored Happy Sheep’s objection and headed straight over to touch the gear.

The gear moved and water poured out from their surroundings. After everyone became submerged in the water, the boss came out and went on stage. Happy Sheep’s team, which had wiped out here countless times, started sweating and nervously stared at the boss. Unrivaled Super Hottie was already heading for the boss though. Initiating with a Charge, he struck the boss.

The battle began.

The boss’s strength was the same as always. As for Happy Sheep’s team? Their tanks’ equipment hadn’t changed. The only thing that had changed was a single person. The bubbles and waves from the exchange between the boss and Unrivaled Super Hottie made it so they couldn’t even see Unrivaled Super Hottie’s name tag. The Clerics fixed their attention on his health bar by using the team list.

This guy sounded quite confident. He’d better not die after a few blows! It had happened before. The tank pulled the monster and before anyone had a clear understanding of the situation, the tank became a corpse.

But what about Unrivaled Super Hottie? The bubbles made it difficult for them to see the situation clearly, but they could tell that his health wasn’t dropping very fast. The waves turned over their heads and the muffled sounds of a shield being struck could be heard. The two sides were fighting and Unrivaled Super Hottie was blocking the boss’s attacks.

“He can tank it!!”

Seven Blossom Leaves immediately figured out the problem. He knew why the boss had been difficult for their team in the past. It was because their shields had turned into decorations. They were never able to block the boss’s attacks. It wasn’t a problem they could fix just by knowing about it. They had tried hard to learn, but today, it looked like someone could finally do it.

“Heal!” Unrivaled Super Hottie gave an order and the Clerics began healing.

“Damage!” Unrivaled Super Hottie gave another order and the DPSers began attacking.

“Done!” Unrivaled Super Hottie stated and the boss floated up as a corpse.

Done?

The team had been stuck here for several weeks, trying all sorts of strategies to tank the boss. Today, it died without any suspense.

No accident or danger even arose. The boss fight hadn’t even been as scary as when Unrivaled Super Hottie almost turned into Swiss cheese from the spear trap in the very beginning.

Happy Sheep’s team was completely silent.

The boss, which had made them ram their heads against the wall, keeled over in such a normal way. They had a hard time accepting it. The boss fight should have been frightening. There should have been constant cries of fear, and dangers all around, accompanied by countless tragedies. Later on, when they stumbled across the topic of this boss again, they should have been able to describe the boss battle for an entire day.

But none of that happened. There weren’t even any orders during the boss fight. Even the mobs had been more exciting.

The incomparably difficult boss died so pitifully.

The boss fell and the gear was destroyed. The water drained out and the entire Tomb in the Sky began to transform. Up until now, Happy Sheep’s team hadn’t ever heard the boss’s roar before. The ground shook like an earthquake, startling everyone awake.

“The final boss.” Unrivaled Super Hottie called out to them.

Everyone followed along numbly. After walking for two minutes, someone suddenly regained their composure: “Team captain, did you pick up the equipment?”

“Oh sh*t!” Happy Sheep immediately turned his head. He had been so lost in thought, he had forgotten to pick up the ninth boss’ drops. 

Happy Sheep’s team had never seen the final boss before. It was their first time. They were originally very nervous, but with the supposedly even more difficult ninth boss defeated just like that, wouldn’t the final boss be a stroll in the park?

No one had any expectations for the final boss. After following Unrivaled Super Hottie, they eventually reached the final boss.

“You guys have only gotten to the ninth boss, so that means you’ve never fought against this boss before, right?” Unrivaled Super Hottie asked.

“We’ve never fought it before.” Happy Sheep answered.

“Then have you read the guide for it?”

“Guide…” Happy Sheep was slightly startled. He had read the guide before, but he hadn’t studied this part in detail yet because they had been stuck on the ninth boss for weeks. He hadn’t considered the final boss yet!

“Then should I give a brief summary?” Unrivaled Super Hottie asked.

‘You tank. The DPSers deal damage. The healers heal? I understand.” Happy Sheep said.

“How can it be that simple?” Unrivaled Super Hottie commented in disdain. He described the boss’ problematic points.    

“It’s that complicated?” Everyone gasped. They had read the guide before, but they had never gotten this far before, so no one had studied it in detail. They had pretty much forgotten everything at this point.

“How come it sounds like it’s more difficult than the ninth boss?” Someone asked.

“Obviously! Of course the final boss is more difficult to handle than the ninth boss.” Unrivaled Super Hottie said.

“I thought the ninth boss was the hardest boss?” Someone else questioned.

“Those who don’t understand aquatic battles would say that.” Unrivaled Super Hottie said.

“Who knows anything about aquatic battles…” Everyone commented. 

“Me!”

“I thought you only understood a bit?”

“I was being modest. Do you know what that means?”

“A bit…” Everyone cried.   

“Did everyone remember what I said?” At this moment, Unrivaled Super Hottie asked if everyone understood what he had just taught them.

“Yes.” Everyone replied, but their answer sounded amiss. F*ck, they were one of Tyrannical Ambition’s branch guilds. Why were they being lectured like noobs?

But then again, for a boss they had never fought before, they really were noobs. The problem was that the person in front of them had just looked over the guide before running the dungeon. He didn’t even know about the spear traps in the beginning. When did he suddenly become an expert that could order them around?

“If no one has any questions, I’ll start the fight!”

Before anyone could give any objections, Unrivaled Super Hottie charged at the boss.

F*ck, so quick and decisive. Everyone could only follow behind. 

“Everyone spread out! There can’t be anyone within ninety degrees in front of the boss. Didn’t you guys say you remembered!!” Unrivaled Super Hottie had already begun instructing them. 

Everyone cried. They hadn’t even seen clearly what direction the boss was facing? Could you not be so strict!

“That Cleric over there. What’s wrong with you? Are you looking to die, standing behind me? Move outside of the ninety degrees area.”

Everyone looked and went silent. F*ck, that Cleric was Happy Sheep! Even the team captain was being taught like a dog, so this was a what a powerful tank was truly like! Speaking of tanks, the team was too used to Seven Blossom Leaves and his kind personality.

“Do you know what ninety degrees means? The boss and I make up the axis. Move to the areas away from the two o’clock directions on the left and right!”