“Is it over?”
“It’s over!”
Everyone went from hesitance to surprise and then to cheering with glee. If it was not for their characters being dead, they would all be hugging each other in celebration.
Especially for Crimson Fire. maybe normal players like Snowy Death could not fully grasp the actual difficulty of Hardcore Mode but he had full comprehension! Even super guilds like Sky High and The Dominators had died repeatedly in their attempts at the first boss. Under Zhang Yang’s lead though, they had actually cleared the first boss with just one try. If it was said to be sheer luck, Crimson Fire would disagree!
This man, Zhan Yu, he was certainly impressive!
“Revive and run back! We will distribute the loot!” Zhang Yang was the first to release his body and return to the start of the dungeon in his soul form.
Ever since his rebirth, this would be his first time experiencing the soul form. Looking at the monochrome surrounding, Zhang Yang felt a surge of dizziness and ran to resurrect himself at the dungeon entrance disarrayed. Within a flash, the colors returned and only then did he regain his train of thoughts.
The rest of the party had revived one by one and all ten of them stood before Black Claw’s massive corpse soon after. The crowd was still excited as ever. They would have believed they were in a dream if not for the corpse that laid in front of them! Fatty Han had even tried to hug Silky Snow but she had pushed Phantom Day into his embrace instead.
“Pro bro, loot the corpse!” Everyone turned their gaze to Zhang Yang. Before this, they could never have seen themselves defeating a Hardcore Mode boss! They were all grateful to Zhang Yang.
Zhang Yang patted Fatty Han’s shoulder and said, “Fat f*ck, go loot the corpse!”
Fatty Han let out a joyful laugh and touched the corpse with his plump hand.
[Fang] (Green-Copper, Dagger)
Weapon Attack: 24 – 32
Attack Interval: 1.4 seconds
Level Requirement: 10
Green-Copper equipment! This was by far the highest grade of equipment!
Both Thief and Warrior classes could use daggers but only a Thief specialized in Assassination could bring out the full potential of a dagger! The party had two Thieves but both of them were Bandits, that had only meant that no one in the party was suitable for this weapon.
“Warriors, Thieves, just roll for it if you want!” Zhang Yang nodded his head.
Being courteous, after Zhang Yang had passed, Phantom Day followed suit. Only Crimson Fire and Snowy Death rolled for the weapon.
This time round, Crimson Fire had rolled a 98, winning over Snowy Death.
“Such a pity. If only it were a one-handed sword, axe, or even hammer, it would have been the best!” Crimson Fire sighed disappointedly as he equipped the dagger to his offhand slot.
“It’s still not bad! Even though offhand weapon does not affect skill damage, just looking at DPS, this dagger’s DPS has reached 20, much better than Black-Steel equipment!” said Snowy Death enviously. To every profession in the game, weapons played the major role in dealing the most damage!
“Fatty Bro! Continue looting!” said Defiant Monk. Fatty Han was a social butterfly, he could bullshit and banter, and had been the best of friends with the party members.
Fatty Han looted with his fat hand again and another equipment popped out.
[Shiny Chest Plate] (Green-Copper, Leather Armor)
Defense: +4
Vitality: +10
Strength: +3
Dexterity: +7
Level Requirement: 10
“Great item!” Fatty Han was gleeful, “I do have ‘Red Hand’!”
The 3 Hunters and Snowy Death had rolled. Crimson Fire had consciously passed since he had already obtained a weapon. In the end, Hundred Shots had gotten the equipment with 85 points.
“Sigh, I do have ‘Red Hand’ but why is my roll so unlucky?” Fatty Han shook in head for show and looted the corpse again for the last equipment.
[Refined Metal Gauntlet] (Green-Copper, Heavy Armor)
Defense: +6
Vitality: +6
Strength: +3
Dexterity: +1
Level Requirement: 10
As all the players saw that the equipment was of use to Zhang Yang, they had passed without a sound from Zhang Yang.
Zhang Yang did not feigned courtesy as well, with a “thanks” he equipped the gauntlet at once, increasing his HP to 470 and attack damage from 82 to 90!
“Ding! You have received 5 silver coins and 20 copper coins after distribution!”
After collecting all the loots, the corpse began to disappear. The system was obviously very stingy as it had only awarded 52 silver coins even after defeating a Hardcore Mode boss.
“Next target, the second boss!”
The party went on their way to the second boss Babarerba in high spirits.
This first dungeon was indeed easy!
Zhang Yang could not help but think after clearing the last wave of minions. Minions from the second dungeon Marzerway’s Lair and onwards would have been much tougher to handle. They would either have tricky skills or they would know <Sneak>, lurking in the shadows until players were within their aggro affective range then jumping out to ambush!
Of course, the trickiest would still be the bosses. The bosses in Bangar Crypt were so much easier compared to the upcoming dungeons. This Hardcore Mode could only be considered as a trial version!
[Babarerba the Sleepyhead] (Black-Steel Boss)
Level: 13
HP: 78000
“Little Yang! Same old tactic?” asked Fatty Han quietly, fearing that he might wake the boss up.
“Same old!” Zhang Yang nodded. He then frowned and said, “But those cursed with <Curse of Water and Fire> will lose 140 damage per second. So not only do you need to react faster, move to position and take a red pot at once, healers must also be quick on healing!”
140 damage per second was enough to wipe out most of the party members under 3 to 4 seconds.
Zhang Yang took a second to think and said, “Let’s change the strategy up a bit for this round. Don’t bother to attack the summoned puppets, focus your attacks on the boss solely. I’ll hold onto the puppets’ aggro! The healers won’t be able to handle this massive amount of healing so we can’t afford to drag this on. Kill the boss quickly!”
“Understood!” the crowd nodded.
“Alright, once I start attacking the boss, all of you attack instantly, go all out!” Zhang Yang took a deep breath and walked towards Babarerba’s aggro range.
Babarerba woke up at once. It took its spear and dashed towards Zhang Yang yelling, “Foul mortal, you’ve awoken Babarerba! Babaerba will kill you!”
Zhang Yang stunned Babarerba with a <Charge>.
“-60!” Normal attack.
“-152!” <Horizontal Sweep>.
At the same time, the entire party launched their attacks.
Babarerba had recovered quickly and thrusted its spear towards Zhang Yang.
“<Block>!”
“-40!” <Block> reflected damage.
“-106!” <Shield Bash>.
This time, Zhang Yang did not hold back on using <Block>. Firstly, the boss did not have any debuffing skills, even if he had accidentally been attacked, he would not be instantly killed. Secondly, this boss’ DPS was too strong, Zhang Yang had to maximize his own attack power!
Babarerba was enraged, its eyes grew crimson and casted its skill.
“Ding! Player Phantom Day has been affected by <Curse of Water>, losing 140 HP per second. Effect will remain until player’s death!”
“Ding! Player Defiant Monk has been affected by <Curse of Fire>, losing 140 HP per second. Effect will remain until player’s death!”
“Don’t be adamant on attacking, run now!” Zhang Yang commanded lowly.
Phantom Day and Defiant Monk were team players, both of them ran towards each other promptly while the two healers did their work, doing everything they could to make sure the two cursed players survived.
Within 2 seconds, the curse was dispelled as the two of them quickly got together.
“Good job! Return to your position and attack!” Zhang Yang commanded while evading the boss’ attacks. “Healers drink your blue pots if you need to, don’t try to save on those!”
After 15 seconds, Babarerba had casted <Curse of Fire and Water> again. Thankfully the party had already formed a certain degree of tacit understanding after grinding together in Hard Mode. Adding Zhang Yang’s authoritative stance, once he had prompted, they ran to position without hesitating; plus the hard work from the healers, there was no sign of losing players.
Slowly and steadily, Babarerba’s HP had dropped to 75%!
“You despicable vermin! Babarerba is angry!” It then stabbed its spear into the ground and raised both its arms chanting a spell, “Come forth demon from the depth of the abyss, bring evil with you into this realm!”
A hexagram magic circle appeared beneath Babarerba’s feet and a red imp appeared by his side. This was the second time the party had met Tasair.
[Tasair, Babarerba’s Demon Puppet] (Elite)
Level: 13
HP: 6000
Without further delay, Zhang Yang used <Provoke> before Tasair could do anything.
“!#$#$% (demonic language)!” Tasair shrieked and waved its claw towards Zhang Yang.
“<Block>!”
“-46!”
“-40!” Two <Block> reflected damage text appeared together.
“-160!”
“-150!” <Horizontal Sweep>.
Zhang Yang jerked his hand, his sturdy shield bashed Babarerba’s face, “Ignore the imp! Focus on the boss!”
“-106!” <Shield Bash>.
Pained by Zhang Yang’s continuous attacks, Babarerba picked up the spear stabbed into the ground and thrusted it towards Zhang Yang. At the same time, it casted <Curse of Fire and Water>.
Both cursed ones moved instantly, dispelling the curse just as their HP bars were almost emptied.
“Zhan Yu, I only have half MP left!” said Silky Snow.
“I only have slightly more than half too!” Ocean Despair echoed.
“I got it!” Zhang Yang frowned. Hardcore Mode had required players to have decent equipment before raiding! According to the official guide: spend two days to raid Hard Mode then Hardcore Mode. A strong team may defeat the first boss then spend another two days raiding and collecting equipment before trying out the second boss. The final boss had always been the hardest. Without 4 to 5 days of dungeon exploring, it would be undefeatable!
If it had not been for Zhang Yang, this party would never have been able to clear Hard Mode, their basic equipment was pathetic as evident in raiding Hardcore Mode: insufficient DPS and healing ability!
Zhang Yang had left this issue in the hands of god now since he would not be able to do anything about it.
Since the party did not have to change their attack target, it was as if dealing damage on a wooden dummy, reducing the boss’ HP to 50% quickly!
“Foolish mortals, I will crush your bones to make my goblet!” Babarerba had so many programmed lines. He threw his spear aside once again and started to summon the second puppet.
A hexagram magic circle appeared and another imp joined the battle.
[Gluttony, Babarerba’s Demon Puppet] (Elite)
Level: 13
HP: 6000
Zhang Yang was ready with his <Horizontal Sweep>. After casting <Provoke>, he had quickly chained <Horizontal Sweep>.
The floating creature turned immediately and waved its plump limbs towards Zhang Yang.
“Hey Fatty! Looks like this guy is much fatter than you!” Zhang Yang joked, an attempt to humor the current stressful atmosphere.
“Oh f*ck off!”
Fatty Han puffed angrily and said, “I’m fatter than it!”
In his opinion, being fat was a sign of strength. He would never take second to anyone or anything!
The importance of a good leader to a team could be seen from Zhang Yang’s pub1 party!
Under Zhang Yang’s timely reminder, those afflicted with <Curse of Water and Fire> had instantly moved positions to dispel the curse. They had not lost anyone as of yet! If it had been another party, they would have been disoriented by the chaotic situation, and would have repeatedly wiped out for several times now!
“Despicable mortals! Babarerba has underestimated you, Babarerba will be serious now!” As its HP fell to 25%, Babarerba began its third summon, “Come forth demon from the depth of the abyss…”
The hexagram magic circle flashed again, and a sensual woman appeared beside Babarerba. It had two long horns on the top of its head and a long tail behind its back. It’s hand was holding a whip, and its legs were a pair of hoofs!
Its outfit was exceptionally skimpy, its upper body was only covered by a small leopard-skinned bra, revealing most of its skin while its lower body was cladded in a lace mini skirt. Truly a seductive feast for one’s eyes.
[Alice, Babarerba’s Demon Puppet] (Elite)
Level: 13
HP: 6,000
Succubus, a demon ranked higher than the imp and floating demon but considering the fact that it was brought in as a summoned puppet in this dungeon, it did not have any specific skill set.
“Slap!” Alice struck with its whip, its hips swaying as she posed lewdly, “Mm… My dear master, you’ve summoned Alice, do you wish to do something naughty?”
“F*ck me, is this for real?” Fatty Han wiped his saliva, “Little Yang, can I get her as a pet? Just seeing her beside me every day will definitely boost my mood a hundred fold!”
Zhang Yang laughed and said, “Change your class to Priest or Spellcaster and you might have a chance to get the Summoner Inheritance when the Inheritance Patch is launched. You’d then be able to summon a variety of demons, including this succubus!”
Fatty Han looked longingly at Alice with heart-shaped eyes and finally said unwillingly, “Fine! I’ll remain a Hunter, a class with a confirmed future!”
“Zhan Yu, my blue pot is out!” said Silky Snow.
Ocean Despair followed, “I can probably heal another 2 more times!”
Truthfully, it had been lucky that the 2 of them had held up till now! In a dungeon raid, a tank would usually receive most of the healing. However, since Zhang Yang had an exceptionally high damage evasion capability, he basically had not drained any of the healers’ MP. That was why these two could manage to hold on till now! Otherwise, if they were to heal another tank with their current equipment configuration, they would have depleted their MP much earlier.
“Healers ran out of blue pots. Everyone get ready with your own red pots, don’t be stingy on those! Move even faster if you’re cursed with <Curse of Water and Fire>, don’t wait for my reminder!” said Zhang Yang in the party channel.
“Roger!”
The players attacked with all their might since the healers had completely exhausted their blue pots. The boss would never stop casting <Curse of Water and Fire> just because they had no more blue pots. If the fight dragged on, they would all be annihilated!
22%, 19%, 16%!
‘Ding! Player Snowy Death has died!’
‘Ding! Player Defiant Monk has died!’
The boss had casted <Curse of Water and Fire> again. Since Snowy Death and Defiant Monk only had 200 HP left and their red pots were still on cooldown, they died from the curse after taking just 2 steps despite reacting in time.
“Keep up with the attacks!” Zhang Yang’s sword slashed. He was evading 4 monsters’ attacks while dealing significant damage at the same time, “Silky, Ocean! Come to the melee range!”
Silky Snow and Ocean Despair were confused yet they did not hesitate and immediately ran to the boss’ side. They had nothing to do anyway, so they took out their weapons and began attacking the boss, dealing a stream of ‘-1’ attacks.
14%, 11%, 9%!
‘Ding! Player Silky Snow has died!’
‘Ding! Player Flame Emperor has died!’
“Phantom Day and Crimson Fire are the main DPS. And they’re the only two players at melee position. If no one came to fill the space up, they will definitely be nuked!” Zhang Yang casually explained.
“Damn, Little Yang, how could you be so sly! You sacrificed our lovely Silky just like that?” Fatty Han complained in Silky Snow’s stead while checking out her body lying on the floor, cussing in his heart that her skirt could have been lifted higher so he could peek more clearly.
“I’m happy that I could at least be of use till the end!” Silky Snow sent a smiley face in the party channel.
Fatty Han teased immediately, “Lovely Silky! I’ve been in love with you all along! You’ve better not have a change of heart and fall for Little Yang! Let Fatty Bro tell you, that guy could go 3 months without showering even once. You can smell his foul odor even from 3 kilometers away!”
Silky Snow smiled bashfully and ignored Fatty Han.
7%, 6%, 4%!
‘Ding! Player Crimson Fire has died!’
‘Ding! Player Hundred Shots has died!’
“Come on, almost there!” the fallen players cried, thinking if it would be a close call just like the battle against Black Claw.
Zhang Yang thought and said, “Ocean, you move to the ranged position!” 3 of them were in melee position right now while Fatty Han was the only one in a ranged position. If there was no adjustment, Fatty Han would definitely die! Fatty Han was currently the second highest DPS output and Zhang Yang needed him to survive until the end. He could only depend on luck now to see who the boss would target!
3%! 2%!
‘Ding! Player Phantom Day has died!’
‘Ding! Player Ocean Despair has died!’
“Yeah!” Everyone cheered when the boss had targeted Ocean Despair instead of Fatty Han, making Ocean Despair feel miserable. “It’s not like I had offended any of you. Do you guys have to be so happy about this?”
1%!
0%!
With the last drop of HP drained, Babarerba fell with a shriek.
‘Ding! The party you are in has killed Babarerba! Obtained 39,050 EXP (50 points Party Bonus)!’
“We did it! We did it again!” the party applauded endlessly. Before this, who would have thought that a pub party like theirs could take out 2 bosses in a row as though it was a piece of cake!
“Wow, so much EXP!” Fatty Han exclaimed.
Zhang Yang brandished his sword to continue dealing damage to the 3 remaining demons and said indifferently, “If you had died, I would have gained more EXP!” He paused and said, “Everyone don’t release your bodies yet, there should be an achievement!”
Fatty Han ordered his pet to attack while drawing his bow and asked, “Little Yang, what achievement?”
“Some superficial shit, it’s just to show off what you have accomplished without actually rewarding anything!” Zhang Yang replied casually.
Even though all 3 demon puppets had 6,000 HP each, they still did not last long under the combined attacks of Zhang Yang and Fatty Han. Quickly, they died one by one.
‘Ding! You have obtained the achievement, I Can 1V4!’
“What is this stuff?” Fatty Han said.
Zhang Yang explained, “This Achievement System is usually available in Hardcore Mode dungeons and it’s usually used to encourage a more difficult killing method. For example, we’ve completely ignored the summoned puppets and only targeted the boss. The system has identified this as a harder method and rewarded us with this achievement title!”
Only then did everyone understand. However, what they knew better was the fact that they could not have gotten their hands on this achievement if it were not for Zhang Yang’s capabilities! Why couldn’t their equipment be better to allow them to kill the boss normally?
“Revive yourselves!”
8 of them released their bodies. While running back they asked, “Zhan Yu, are there any other achievements outside of the dungeons?”
“There are, and many more so. You probably couldn’t obtain all of them even after playing for 10 years!” Zhang Yang organized his thoughts and said, “For example, if you get killed by the same person for 100 times, you’ll get an achievement called ‘I Hate You’! If you get killed 1,000 times by the same person, you’ll get ‘I Hate You to the Core’!”
“…”
When everyone had returned from resurrection, Zhang Yang told Fatty Han, “Go loot the corpse!”
Fatty Han had been waiting impatiently, this was the moment he had been waiting for after such a long battle with the boss!
“Behold! Fatty Bro’s big Lucky Hand!” Fatty Han extended his fat hand towards the boss’ corpse.
“Brother Han, wash that hand first!” Snowy Death shouted.
[Lightning Spear] (Green-Copper, Two-handed Spear)
Weapon Attack: 85 – 113
Attack Interval: 3.8 seconds
DPS: 26
Level Requirement: 10
“G-good stuff!” Phantom Day began to drool, his eyes radiating desire.
Aside from him, the rest of the party had automatically passed. The equipment went straight into Phantom Day’s inventory.
“Thank you everyone, thank you!” Phantom Day equipped the spear at once, bowing in appreciation to everyone, “Especially Big Bro Zhan Yu!”
Fatty Han got angry and said, “Phantom Day, I was the one who’d looted the corpse! Why didn’t you thank me?”
“Thank you Fatty Bro!” Phantom Day was slaphappy with euphoria, quickly bowing to Fatty and causing everyone to laugh.
[Heavy Boots] (Green-Copper, Heavy Armor)
Defense: +6
Vitality: +5
Strength: +4
Dexterity: +1
Level Requirement: 10
‘Sha’, the moment the Roll-the-Dice window appeared, 9 of them passed, giving Zhang Yang an unconditional win on the equipment dropped.
“Thank you everyone!” Zhang Yang courteously thanked the party and equipped the boots. His character’s attributes increased immediately.
HP: 520, Strength: 70, Armor: 31, Attack Damage: 86 – 94.
[Babarerba’s Secretly Stashed Succubus Mini Skirt] (Green-Copper, Cloth Armor)
Armor: +2
Vitality: +10
Intelligent: +7
Spirit: +3
Level Requirement: 10
Once this equipment came up, everyone was dumbfounded. All of them had clearly remembered it to be the same mini skirt the succubus had been wearing just now. If a female player were to wear it… that would definitely cause nosebleeds!
“Damn, that boss was too depraved! Despicable!” Fatty Han claimed, full of righteousness. Despite saying that, his eyes went back and forth between the skirt and Silky Snow, not bothering to hide his own lustful intentions!
“Together. we request this equipment to be given to Silky babe!” Snowy Death yelled.
Only 2 players were able to equip cloth armor – Silky Snow and Flame Emperor. As long as Flame Emperor passed, the equipment would belong to Silky Snow.
Flame Emperor laughed and unhesitatingly chose to pass. Since they were both from the same guild, it would belong to the same stash no matter who had it. Moreover, he was a male character. Wearing a skirt would be too much for the eyes to take in. He would have never dared to wear something like that, unless it were Celestial equipment.
Silky Snow’s face flushed with embarrassment.
Translator Note
1 Pub party is a gaming community lingo for public party. These are parties formed by recruiting players in public, and their efficiency can be quite inconsistent, since more experienced players would normally choose to venture into dungeons or quests with pre-made parties with their guild members or own social circles. For achievement-related objectives like First Clear and Speedruns, players would generally choose to avoid pub parties due to their unreliability.
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