Bab 27: Trio That Courted Their Own Death
Editor: Atlas Studios
After hearing Black Tiger's words, a hint of hesitation flashed across Flame Tiger's face.
Upon seeing this, Flame Tiger did not retort immediately. Instead, Black Tiger continued, "Floating Cloud is just on a higher level than us. Yet, he wants half the drops and the priority to pick three of the best items. Think about it. If we destroy this Magic Array and prove that we can complete this dungeon on our own, let's see if that Floating Cloud has the cheek to take so much from us."
After hesitating again for a short while, Flame Tiger finally nodded gently to express his approval of Black Tiger's suggestion. After all, Flame Tiger definitely resented the fact that Liu Ming wanted so many of their items in return for his help.
Black Tiger immediately raised his weapon happily and slashed the Magic Array after seeing Flame Tiger's nod of approval.
-1
-1
Magic Arrays were building units in God Domain. Before the Second Promotion at Level 30, any attacks launched by the players would only result in one point of forceful damage on building units.
However, the Magic Array fortunately only had 200 points of Durability. The two of them could settle the Magic Array by launching 100 strikes each.
It would be faster if the three of them acted together. However, Flame Tiger was a Mage—making it inappropriate for him to strike the Magic Array with a staff. Another person also had to guard the area alone to prevent any monsters from barging in.
However, this would only work if no changes occurred during the process.
The two of them were muddled up because of their anger and arrogance. Otherwise, they would've realized that monsters should've been guarding the Magic Array if they had thought about it.
Just as the two of them had knocked off 40 points of the Magic Array's Durability, the Magic Array—which initially emitted a faint black glow—suddenly began operating maniacally.
The change happened so quickly that Flame Tiger—who was standing at the back and guarding the area—could not even remind them in time.
A black pillar of light engulfed Black Tiger.
Immediately afterward, damage values in the hundreds floated out from the pillar of light.
-290
-312
-594 (Critical Hit)
...
Although Black Tiger and his companion were not considered elite players of God Domain, they were members of a first-tier elite guild. Their equipment was also better than that of World Battle Fanatic, that scoundrel.
However, they were not ready for an attack at all and were thrown off-guard. Without even knowing how they died, they were sent back to the city, where they resurrected.
There were only two system messages that informed the entire team's members that an accident had happened.
[System Alert: Team member Black Tiger has already been killed.]
[System Alert: Team member Steel Tiger has already been killed.]
...
Flying Tiger King became alert upon losing two teammates at one go.
[Flying Tiger King (Team): Flame Tiger, what happened over there? Why did Black Tiger and Steel Tiger die?]
However, just as Flame Tiger hesitated for a while and intended to tell the truth, new changes occurred in the Magic Array.
Awoo!
Woof!
The loud sounds of a dog bark and a wolf howl sounded almost simultaneously.
Immediately afterward, a figure—almost the size of a small truck—suddenly dashed out of the Magic Array and slammed into Flame Tiger.
Almost at the same time, Flame Tiger's body was knocked away before it landed more than ten meters away.
As a fragile Mage, Flame Tiger's fate was sealed as the Boss-level monster neared him.
Hence, the team members—including Flying Tiger King and Liu Ming—once again saw the notification of a member dying in a battle in less than 20 seconds.
[System Alert: Team Member Flame Tiger has died in action.]
At this moment, even a slow-witted person would understand that a huge problem had cropped up at Flame Tiger's side.
Hence, Flying Tiger King frantically sent a message to inform the other team members, excluding Liu Ming, to gather at the coordinates where Flame Tiger and the others had died.
There was nothing wrong with Flying Tiger King's decision. Even the players that were elite members reacted rather quickly after discovering how serious the situation was.
However, the mysterious Boss-level monster that emerged from the Magic Array did not act logically. Within a few minutes, another trio was killed.
But this time, the members of the trio had at least told the rest of the team about the Boss-level monster's appearance before they were annihilated.
[Giant Rock Tiger (Team): Captain, you must be careful of the Hellhound Boss. It will wander around.]
[System Alert: Team member Giant Rock Tiger has died in action.]
...
Before Giant Rock Tiger could send more information, he was sent back to the main city by the Hellhound Boss.
However, the entire team was finally not clueless about the Hellhound Boss. They now knew that the Hellhound Boss would take the initiative to attack at least. Hence, Flying Tiger King hurriedly sent a message.
[Flying Tiger King (Team): Everyone, focus on getting closer to your nearest teammate and leave the Boss alone for now.]
...
Flying Tiger King was well aware that the Hellhound Boss clearly appeared because Flame Tiger and the rest did not listen to his commands and ended up touching something they shouldn't have.
Otherwise, the Hellhound Boss should've appeared when they were attempting this dungeon previously.
Since his teammates were the ones that made a mistake and caused such a disadvantageous situation, Flying Tiger King did not have the cheek to ask Liu Ming to help him solve the problem. Instead, he planned to gather his remaining teammates and kill the Boss-level monster in a siege.
Of course, Flying Tiger King was the only one who knew if he had any selfish intentions.
Just as Flying Tiger King gathered his team members and prepared to kill the Hellhound Boss, Liu Ming saw some changes too.
All the Magic Arrays began to overload. Perhaps it was because too much energy was used to summon the Hellhound Boss. It could also be because Liu Ming had killed too many Skeleton Soldiers.
Maybe, it was a little bit of both.
In short, the number of Skeleton Soldiers that appeared in front of Liu Ming was gradually decreasing.
Not long after, Skeleton Soldiers no longer respawned in front of Liu Ming.
Although the Skeleton Soldiers were weak, had poor foundations, and did not drop any Copper Coins or items—other than some bone materials—they gave Liu Ming lots of EXP.
To prevent affluent players from hiring a team of elite players and creating another account, God Domain's official developers set the distribution of EXP to be proportional to the player's output.
In other words, the amount of EXP a player earned would depend on their output. If they did not have any output, they would basically not get any EXP.
Liu Ming basically killed all the Skeleton Soldiers alone. Hence, all the EXP naturally belonged to Liu Ming.
Of course, to prevent players in healing professions like [Priest] from cursing at the game planners, they would be able to gain plenty of EXP when healing other players.
In this aspect, God Domain did not set a rule where players would not be given EXP for healing other players with full HP bars.
Healing Skills would result in the consumption of Magic Points. If one wanted to bring a bunch of Magic Restoration Potions along and use healing Skills on oneself all day, God Domain would not stop them. However, that would be boring and tedious. It essentially would not be different from going out and fighting monsters.
-- Hadiah diterima