The people Blue River was thinking of were naturally Ye Xiu and Happy. However, even though he knew that the other was very skilled at running dungeons, he had no way of causing any trouble for them. Blue River decided to not bring this up in fear of affecting their moods. The Blue Brook Guild expert party continued forth. The next two waves of monsters each had less than three. With seven people going against them, it wasn’t too difficult. However, while fighting the following wave, Flying Brushstroke was caught off guard by a Sealed Mountain thief and was sent flying, right into the aggro range if another wave of Sealed Mountain thieves.
One, two, three, four, five...
The new wave had five monsters. After Flying Brushstroke was sent flying, he never came back. The other six didn’t have time to come over and save him before he died and left the dungeon.
These five, in addition to the original four, made a total of nine Sealed Mountain Thieves, two more than the first wave. As for Blue Brook Guild? They only had six people left. After a furious life and death struggle, the six couldn’t hold protect their lives from these nine thieves. In the chaos, three of the nine thieves were killed and the six Blue Brook Guild experts were wiped out.
The creme de la creme of Blue Brook Guild’s experts managed to explore for a total of twelve minutes in the new dungeon. This record was much better than those parties who were swept upon entering. Next time, they knew that there would be seven Sealed Mountain Thieves in the first wave and would be prepared for it. The pioneering of a new dungeon was done through the stockpile of these attempts. Unfortunately, Glory’s rules were rather harsh. A character would be sent out of the dungeon upon dying, so they would be unable to experience the entire thing. In addition, there was an upper limit to the amount of times you could enter a dungeon per day. Each character only had one run at the ten person dungeon Sealed Mountain Thieves Hideout per day. These members of Blue Brook Guild had, of course, used this chance.
Just as the Blue Brook Guild’s party was wiped out, Ye Xiu had already lead Happy’s party to a victory against the sixth wave, far outpacing Blue Brook Guild. They hadn’t even had a single casualty yet. This was thanks to Ye Xiu’s leadership, of course.
For example, where the Blue Brook Guild had accidentally pulled nine Sealed Mountain Thieves, Ye Xiu had thought of the possibility of these hidden dangers and told everyone to pay close attention. They then managed to avoid such a fatal mistake.
The characteristics of Sealed Mountain Thieves was something Ye Xiu was observing continuously. Whenever he figured something out, he would naturally warn everyone. Their methods became more and more refined, so the battles naturally became smoother and faster.
After a while, they finally arrived at the first checkpoint of the Sealed Mountain Thieves Hideout, where there would definitely be a boss: Sealed Mountain Vanguard, Brother Wolf. They didn’t know if the name was the bosses actual name, or just some sort of title, and they weren’t interested in finding out either. The name wouldn’t affect the power of the boss, after all.
Against a boss they knew nothing about, they had to extremely cautious. The ten didn’t rush forwards, but instead got a good look at their surrounds from every possible angle to see if there was anything in the environment that might interrupt the flow of their battle. Then, they checked if there was anything special about the terrain and if they could use it to their advantage. Last but not least, they couldn’t forget to check out the boss itself. Though they couldn’t click into its profile and check its equipment it used like they could with a player, they could still figure out what sort of class it was from looking over its equipment and weapons.
In the end, Sealed Mountain Vanguard, Brother Wolf seemed extremely powerful from this point of view. A sword hung from his belt on the left, there was a gun in a holster on the right, and his right hand was clenched around a two meter long spear… Just from the weapons, this guy had crossed three major classes, continuing on with the shamelessness that were common among bosses.
"I doubt he can use magic attacks…" Wei Chen commented. Brother Wolf seemed to be a physical fighter. Casting spells while holding a spear was something only players did. NPCs were very loyal to their individual classes, proudly bearing the weapons of their classes.
"Hm, everyone keep your distance for now and let me test him out first. Ranged characters can provide the appropriate cover," Ye xiu began to order.
After looking over the terrain, Wu Chen had long since picked an appropriate point to attack from. For ranged fighters like Launchers, there wasn’t much of a need for movement in PvE. At most, they just needed a spot where they could get closer and back away when needed, ensuring maximum firepower coverage when the boss was pulled by the other players.
Chen Guo naturally knew this as well, but she wasn’t nearly as confident as Wu Chen. She was even worried about messing up when fighting normal monsters. Now that they were at a boss, she was even more nervous. Seeing Wu Chen pick a spot, Chen Guo wasn’t sure what to do. It was a good thing that Ye Xiu’s voice rang out, giving her a place to stand and helping her calm down.
For Wei Chen, there was no need for Ye Xiu to worry about him. Seeing everyone stand in their respective places, Ye Xiu had Lord Grim charge at the boss.
Brother Wolf had a wide aggro range, and his reactions were very fast. Just as Lord Grim stepped into range, Brother Wolf had already partly turned, lifting the spear in his right hand and swinging it despite the distance.
Ye Xiu saw this clearly and hurriedly rolled. Looking back, he didn’t see any hint of an attack. Brother Wolf had already straightened his spear and began to charge over.
So that action had been nothing but a feint, and not an attack. This small mistake didn’t affect his mood. They were pioneering, after all. This sort of mistake was better than getting killed outright for being reckless.
The spear held by Brother Wolf was a total of two meters in length. He held it by the base with one hand as he quickly rushed over. As soon as he was in range, the spear was swung down in an arc. This swing wasn’t a Battle Mage technique, and was probably just a normal attack. However, this was a boss’ attack, so Ye Xiu didn’t dare to assume anything. What Ye Xiu had Lord Grim do wasn’t the ingenious sidestep and counterattack that he would usually do when PKing, but a direct roll onto the ground, rolling three times and dodging by several body units.
This sort of dodge seemed extremely exaggerated, like he had been scared witless. However, as the spear hit the ground, everyone realized what a smart move Ye Xiu had made. When the boss’ spear hit the ground, there was a thunderous sound and an immense shockwave spread from the point of contact. The ground was instantly filled with cracks. If Lord Grim had just sidestepped it, who knew what would happen to him upon being struck by this shockwave?
However, being a punching bag wasn’t Ye Xiu’s style. As soon as the attack missed, he had already raised his Myriad Manifestation Umbrella and sent out three Anti-Tank Missiles with a resounding boom.
Bosses had better AIs than normal monsters, occasionally using some method of dodging. As the Anti-Tank Missiles approached, Brother Wolf didn’t dodge. Instead, he swung his spear and was immediately swallowed by the resulting explosion, having destroyed the missiles.
Yet, Lord Grim had already closed in with a Slide Kick at this time. Brother Wolf had swung his spear up, so his lower half was left open to attack, resulting in the Slide Kick meeting its target.
If one timed it right, a Slide Kick could knock down its target, but Brother Wolf wasn’t moved by the Slide Kick. Ye Xiu wasn’t too surprised. Lord Grim had already jumped up from the Slide Kick and separated his Myriad Manifestation Umbrella into two, setting it against his arms and throwing out a Back Throw.
Under level suppression, even grabs could easily be shrugged off. The current Lord Grim was unfortunately experiencing such a case. Luckily, Ye Xiu’s reaction speed was god-level. When the skill activated and had no effect on its target, he immediately realized it had been shrugged off and quickly cancelled the skill before retreating.
Brother Wolf reaction speed was boss level as well, sending his palm out with a step forward, in the style of a Battle Mage’s Falling Flower Palm. This Brother Wolf knew some Battle Mage skills, as expected.
Brother Wolf’s Falling Flower Palm had a wide range, and it seemed that Lord Grim wouldn’t be able to dodge it. In that moment, a streak of white light fell; it was a pre-prepared heal from An Wenyi’s Little Cold Hands.
Everyone silently praised this move from An Wenyi’s. Yet, who would’ve thought that this Falling Flower Palm never managed to strike Lord Grim. Upon contact, he had realized something was wrong and quickly retreated. This swift reaction of Ye Xiu’s allowed him to completely dodge Wolf of Season’s counterattack. An Wenyi’s seemingly perfectly timed heal was, strictly speaking, a misjudgement.
It was clear that in terms of judgement, An Wenyi was currently not at Ye Xiu’s level.
Having dodged, Lord Grim swerved to Brother Wolf’s side to attack. A level 70 character and a level 75 dungeon boss became entangled in a one on one fight just like that. If any normal player saw this, they would be surprised enough to eat their mouse. However, everyone in Happy was used to it. Even Chen Guo wasn’t worried.
After a few exchanges, everyone could tell that even Ye Xiu was struggling a little. Little Cold Hands’ healing had a few chances to shine soon enough.
Yet, Ye Xiu slowly figured out Brother Wolf through these exchanges and after observing for a while, Wei Chen and Wu Chen began to provide firepower as support. Qiao Yifan’s One Inch Ash was no longer where he had been before, but had instead gone to support with his Ghost Boundaries.
Steamed Bun’s Steamed Bun Invasion had also gotten into a Brawler’s range, holding a brick and moving around in an attempt to get behind Brother Wolf. Finally managing to hit his target, he didn’t even have the chance to celebrate before Brother Wolf recovered from his dizziness. Bosses originally had a powerful resistance against status effects. Now, with the addition of this level suppression, what status effects they could manage were far too short to take advantage of. At most, it could only interrupt the boss’ attacks.
"Ok, that’s about good, prepare for battle everyone. Listen carefully to my commands. When I tell you to scatter, retreat in your own directions, at least four body units, and be quick about it," Ye Xiu ordered.
"Understood," Everyone replied. Tang Rou was impatient to get in on the action, already commanding Soft Mist to charging, but it was Mo Fan’s Deception who was even faster. Streaking forwards, a combination of attacks instantly slammed into Brother Wolf.