865 Tactician Snow Eagle

The DPS Chart could be viewed according to each specific sections. Usually when using this to estimate ability, it would be focused on the Boss fights, and disregard the damage dealt to normal mobs. If the normal monsters in the section were rather difficult to deal with and required some level of teamwork, then they might pull it out for a look as well.

The DPS Chart Ye Xiu had pulled up was in regards to the Boss fight against Defense Commander Sand Leopard. On the chart, Wu Chen’s Dawn Rifle held the lead with Tang Rou’s Soft Mist following and then Steamed Bun’s Steamed Bun Invasion. Ye Xiu’s Lord Grim who had been pulling aggro with DPS was, in the end, only ranked fourth on the chart.　　Under these circumstances, these three hadn’t caused an OT, clearly because despite their high DPS, their aggro wasn’t enough to cause an OT. As for Ye Xiu, if he could raise his DPS he would. However, since this boss hid behind a shield for a majority of the battle, he had met some problems facing the boss head on. Yet, these problems didn’t affect his aggro pulling at all, so he didn’t tell the others to hold back. With the chart in open view now, Wu Chen felt a moment of worry. His DPS was almost at the point of causing an OT. He hadn’t watched out for it and Ye Xiu hadn’t said anything either. Was it because he had carefully calculated that an OT wouldn’t happen? This god’s calculation and awareness was just too terrifying.

Ye Xiu didn’t care about this and didn’t say anything about it. After a glance, he said, "Ahem, what’s this? Deception, your DPS is even worse than last time!"

It was truly worse. This time, not counting the Cleric Little Cold Hands, Deception was ranked second to last, only above Chasing Haze by a little and somehow slightly worse than Luo Ji’s Concealed Light.

Everyone was clear on Luo Ji’s skill. No matter how bad Mo Fan was, it shouldn’t be this bad. With the chart out, everyone was shocked. Wei Chen, who was always willing to see the worst in Ye Xiu, even sent Ye Xiu a private message, "What did you do?"

"F*ck off!" Ye Xiu replied without hesitation.

"That’s not possible!" The ever silent Mo Fan actually yelled out with disbelief.

"You can take a look for yourself." Ye Xiu didn’t elaborate. The DPS Chart was something the game had built in and calculated by the system, so it wasn’t like Ye Xiu was the only one who could see it. Everyone opened the DPS chart and clicked on the section for the Boss battle against Defense Commander Sand Leopard, seeing how it was exactly the same as the one Ye Xiu sent. Deception was ranked second to last, not even above Concealed Light. Though the difference was minimal, he had been a league above Concealed Light and Chen Guo in the first Boss battle, despite all three of them seeming to be relying on others to carry them. This time, he had taken notice to improve, yet he hadn’t managed to improve at all, and had fallen to their level! No wonder he was so incredulous.　However, this was the system’s calculations and a harsh truth that they could only accept.　

"You can’t continue like this, loner! You gotta find a way to improve," Ye Xiu said with a hint of mockery. However, anyone with a brain could hear the hint given. Loner? Was this saying that Mo Fan’s Deception was unable to keep with the team?

Thinking of this, an experienced veteran like Wei Chen immediately understood what was happening. The reason he hadn’t noticed before was because he wasn’t paying attention to something like that. Now hearing Ye Xiu mention it, he immediately understood what had been happening.

"So that’s how it is," Wei Chen sent Ye Xiu another private message.　"That’s indeed how it is," Ye Xiu said, not bothering to clarify what they were saying.

Mo Fan wasn’t stupid. Hearing Ye Xiu insult him with the word "loner", he paused. Was that the reason? Was it because of this that no matter how hard he worked to deal damage, his output was still crap?

"Let’s continue." Ye Xiu didn’t say anymore, not willing to waste anymore time on him, and led them further into the Hideout.　They met nothing but normal monsters along the way and soon arrived at the third boss without much suspense. It was the Sealed Mountain Thieves Hideout’s Tactician Snow Eagle.　Snow Eagle’s long cloak fluttered, his hands empty and not giving a hint at his class. However, looking at his attire, it seemed more likely that he was some sort of Mage.

Everyone knew the routine by now. They didn’t need Ye Xiu to order them, standing their characters to the side and waiting for Ye Xiu’s Lord Grim to go up and feel out the boss.

Ye Xiu, of course, did as expected. As soon as Lord Grim entered the aggro range of the boss, Snow Eagle immediately welcomed him warmly. He flicked his sleeve, not even showing his hands, and a star appeared in midair, shooting forth with a streak of light.　A Witch skill, officially known as Magic Ray, that would create a star when fired, causing players to nickname it "Star Ray".

A mage, just as expected.

Ye Xiu was already on guard when Lord Grim stepped into aggro range. Though the Magic Ray was fast, it didn’t damage him. Lord Grim turned his body and the Magic Ray missed.　

Sprinting forwards, Lord Grim was already closing in on Snow Eagle. Yet, Snow Eagle’s next actions were shocking. He flicked his sleeves again without exposing his hands, seeming to grab something from under his cloak, but then his feet left the ground, having perched on a broom.

The broom sparkled, showing that this wasn’t any ordinary broom, but a Witch’s most important tool.

Leaving behind a trail of sparkles, the third Boss Snow Eagle, turned and left.

"What the hell?" Everyone gathered over, asking.

"It’s just as you see," Ye Xiu said.

"Are we still in combat?" Wei Chen asked.

"We are."　"Something’s fishy," Wei Chen commented.

"Of course," Ye Xiu responded.　　"What do we do?"　"This is the most shameless thing about dungeons. They’re bullying players by forcing them to walk into what they know to be an ambush so that they can clear the dungeon," Ye Xiu said.　"You go first, we’ll provide support," Wei Chen was blunt with his words.

Ye Xiu agreed to this blunt suggestion and had Lord Grim chase after Snow Eagle. The other nine kept their distance as they followed behind.

Not long after, Snow Eagle appeared once more. The area around him was filled with forestry, an obviously good place for an ambush. The system was using the fact that players had to advance, making these schemes so rough and inelegant. Snow Eagle turned his head and, seeing Lord Grim, flicked his sleeves once more, sending up magic fireworks. Hollering came from the forestry around him and a group of thieves ran out.

Ye Xiu hurriedly had Lord Grim back away. He didn’t want to fight all these thieves alone. As he used Aerial Gun to back away, he counted ten thieves! A total of ten Sealed Mountain Thieves was more than any wave they had previously encountered. The class lineup was very reasonable as well. There were close ranged and long ranged units, a leader with a shield. and even a devout looking Cleric, cross in hand.

A Cleric being a thief… It sounded absurd, but it was just a class in the game so no one argued over the logic.

A healer was always an important part of a team, no matter if it was PvP or PvE. Even without Ye Xiu issuing an order, the others had caught up immediately and set their sights on the Cleric.

For PvE, there was no need for Ye Xiu to waste brainpower on thinking up battle tactics. What was more important was giving commands to improve the cooperation and teamwork between team members. Though they hadn’t dealt with a wave of ten monsters before, the skill of Happy’s members was evident. Knowing their limitations, they wouldn’t take it on if they didn’t have the means to*, so the team worked in harmony. Mo Fan’s Deception might’ve been an outlier to this, but he was a Scavenger and staying safe in a chaotic battle was his forte, so no one had to worry about him.

"Soft Mist, go engage those two gunners; Steam Bun keep those two swordsmen busy; Old Wei give us a Death’s Door; Concealed Light summon two summons and keep that ranged unit occupied; One Inch Ash release an Ice Boundary; Launchers suppress them all from afar; I’ll go grab that Cleric," Ye Xiu organized rapidly, his Lord Grim already wheeling around and striking back. Against a ten monster team, pulling all the monsters alone was too tedious. So, Ye Xiu decided to utilize their party’s advantages to its fullest, that being that most of their members could take perfect care of themselves, so they didn’t need a specific MT to pull all the aggro. Anyone who had the ability could act as an MT and pull a few monsters. As for his Lord Grim, he would go directly after the Cleric.

After a few skills, the Cleric monster was thrown out from the formation, exposed and isolated from support.

In an instant, the Cleric was quickly killed under everyone’s focused fire. After that, the most troublesome one to deal with was the ranged Sealed Mountain Thief. Ye Xiu’s Lord Grim charged forward again, throwing the two ranged thieves back to his team. With these two gone, the other seven didn’t need to be killed in any particular order. Whichever was more convenient to fight was whichever they would land a few strikes on. After a while, the ten monster team had been wiped out. Seeing this, Snow Eagle once again mounted his broom and flew off with another whoosh. They hurriedly chased after the boss and Ye Xiu took a look at everyone’s statuses, reminding everyone, "Keep an eye on your endurance, don’t waste anything."

No one knew what would happen next in this battle against the third Boss Snow Eagle. If the ambushes continued like this, then their consumption in this battle might even be worse than the battle against Sand Leopard.　"Do you think this has something to do with the signal the first boss sent out before he died?" Wei Chen asked.

"Yeah, that’s logical, but it might also just be a set event," Ye Xiu said.

What they meant by a set event was that the signal sent by the first boss before his death was protected by the system, and it wasn’t something the players could stop to change the progression of the dungeon. This sort of event was there to make the dungeon fit in with the storyline.

Every dungeon had something to do with the quests and storylines in the world of Glory, and not just a bunch of monsters that were there for you to kill. However, many players were willing to see it that way, not bothering to take note of the underlying plot.

Ye Xiu and co were these kinds of players. The reason for their analysis wasn’t because they had any interest in the plot, but because they wanted to know if the dungeon progression and layout could be changed by preventing that signal. Logically speaking, preventing the signal from firing would lower the difficulty of the dungeon.