Chapter 24: Disgust
In the middle of the broken formation, with all tanks and their disbelieving eyes set on her, Venomous glared at Red Stigma and threatened to kill him with her sword up. Of course, it would take her a while to take down this man, so her voice went towards his tanks first.
"The poison I gave you is nothing dangerous. On its own, that is… Look at this man's limbs and lips." Her sword shifted its tip towards the first fallen tank's limbs. Those had been shivering even since the poison kicked in.
It didn't take a genius to realize that the poison aimed to subdue the man's speaking and moving ability. In the process, Venomous also took every offense and defense from the player.
In low levels, this poison was especially dangerous.
The tank she had met the second looked at the fallen's inert limbs and turned his eyes to Venomous, "I see where you are coming from. You want us to give up on Red Stigma and ally with you." There was also a chance the snake wanted to increase the teeming fear within their hearts.
But it was unlikely as Venomous' smile deepened. "Correct. Give up on Red Stigma, continuously taunt him so I can kill him without losing even one point of my HP and I will let you leave this dungeon."
Luck was on her side.
The one who spoke was the second tank, so he had seen how strong she and Michu were. Lazy Bum and Sandra's abilities were also great, but the monkey and snake had eclipsed their achievements nonetheless.
Those also reached to the tank's head and he agreed on the spot, "I will… But…" But there was a guild behind them. This guild was kinda popular, but the player's worry was something else.
He was just new to the world like everyone else here.
He didn't understand the importance of the guild but could tell how important it was to be loyal to one. In the upper rankings, players rarely changed guilds and if that happened, then the whole events were set up on the TV from the hunts and other war-like events.
This popular guild was also beneficial and losing its support over one dungeon wouldn't be worth it.
Nonetheless, the tank didn't want to die yet and so he was willing to survive. Just like in the previous era, he should be able to leave the guild and just enter another one… It was naive thinking, but Venomous also didn't plan to become enemies with other players.
She also didn't plan to let others control her dungeon's raids and leverage her without paying an appropriate price. Her green eyes swept through the tanks, then she stated, "This man has to die. I am not going to let him go… That's the price he would sooner or later pay anyway. For your guild, though… I will allow you to take any item he drops.``
Red Stigma howled, "Are you going to listen to her?!" His eyes went from side to side, clearly threatening the tanks, "Is that how we, the members of Evil Akuma Guild, play and live in this world?!"
To his howls, the tank said, "For our guild, it's better if we just accept her offer. You can pass all your items to us, so nothing gets lost. More consumables also should help us in this plight…" The monsters were already close, so any more second wasted would be critical to their future!
"I refuse! I fucking refuse it! Remember! You are on the guild quest to help me! If you fail it-" Red Stigma stopped as the tanks shook their heads. They all reached an agreement through chat, then the second tank began.
"Lesser Taunt," He said and pointed his shield at the red swordsman. The red aura became like a red flag that worked too well on Red Stigma. Not only his eyes became redder, but his face also lit up in a red hue from the anger he felt within.
He grasped his sword and by supporting himself with another hand, he aimed to just jump at this tank!
But before any move could be done by him, another tank called from behind, "Lesser Taunt." A new red flag blinded Red Stigma's eyes and he became pulled by this skill! He arched his head and looked behind with reversed vision.
"Lesser Taunt." "Lesser Taunt." "Lesser Taunt."
A wave of lesser taunts swept through Red Stigma and his body completely froze from all those skills applied. His body didn't know how to react and his mind also didn't know how to feel about this whole situation.
Shame? Grief? Hate? Anger?
All of those exploded within and his mind became blank… "S-stop it…" But the fear of dying overcame everything he had felt so far. The fear that all newbie players had within themselves unfolded within him.
Red Stigma asked, but with his neck being displayed so nicely to the snake, how could she even stop herself from biting it? Alas, Venomous had enough reserve within herself and the arousing scene didn't conjure in the dungeon.
Rather than her mouth, Venomous used her sword to bite this neck.
Slash!
"STOP!" Red Stigma screamed after Venomous took a step forward. She sent a sharp slash that tore through Red Stigma's neck with ease, bringing a deep cut to his pale skin. This cut oozed out so much blood it could be only a critical strike!
This sent shivers down Red Stigma's spine. He didn't feel much pain due to the settings he'd chosen before, but this woman's steps and her decisive slashes scared the hell out of him.
He whispered, "You are… cutting me… The player… A human… You don't feel… anything?"
Yumi just took another step forward. Her foot stomped on Red Stigma's stomach, then she thurst her sword straight into the opened wound, inflicting another critical strike in the process.
Her weapon descended onto Red Stigma decisively in a succession of critical strikes.
With Red Stigma's screams and his question, everyone around him bit their lips; some even closed their eyes as they couldn't take too much of this brutal scene.
If it were monsters… then it would be different… It would be fantasy-like or so they thought… Nonetheless, Yumi's sword stopped just before Red Stigma's HP fell to zero. She glanced at him with narrowed eyes, then said, "I feel disgusted. But this disgust amounts to nothing I had felt in real life. And I wanted to kill you ever since you overheated my cute monkey."
"Huh? What the-" Red Stigma's speech stopped the moment Yumi's sword slashed through his neck. Just like she declared before, his head fell off his neck and rolled on the ground until his whole body turned into a thousand particles.
[You have killed a player.]
[Your nickname becomes red-flagged.]
[Red Flag - Upon dying, you lose two times more experience than usual. You also have a 100% chance to drop one of the equipped or unique items from inventory.]
[You have killed a player in the dungeon. Red Flag stays for an hour or until you leave the dungeon.]
"Pointless threats…" Yumi waved her sword, then glanced at the tanks. She extended her hand, spread it, and potions with antidotes began to appear one by one on it.
The tanks snatched those as fast as possible, then gulped down before any effects of her poison could possibly kick in.
While the last drop of this potion went down their throat, Yumi had long since returned to her party.
"Welcome back, Yumi!" Michu greeted Venomous the moment she took a side next to him. He had been fighting some monsters already, so her sword slithered its way to help him as well.
She replied, "I am back."
"It went differently than you predicted," Michu stated, then bonked the monster to the death.
Of course, Venomous didn't believe it would go that smoothly, "I was just lucky…" But it was lucky that the second tank spoke and sowed enough fear to other tanks! She let out a rare, content smile and Michu commented on it quietly.
"You wouldn't need luck if you could smile this way!" His genuine thoughts piqued Yumi's interest.
"Are you sure? Next time, try to catch that smile. I would love to learn it."
"You don't have to learn it. Just smile whenever you feel like, even if there are enemies around you."
Thanks for reading! Have a nice day!
Chapter 25: The First Dungeon Boss!
"It will be my first boss!" Michu's anticipation rose within him.
The words he spoke weren't said during the dungeon monster cleaning, but on his way toward the boss.
As per Venomous' deal, the tanks lined up near the boss' entrance and protected themselves against the monsters whose numbers were greatly lowered. Though the teamwork of Michu and other players did wonders, the amount was so high because of Red Stigma.
Yumi didn't want to waste resources because of that bastard, so she came up with the plan.
First, she told everyone to use all their mana to kill as many monsters as possible. In the meantime, she did clear a path toward the boss alone.
This path was narrow and not many monsters could slip their way, so by putting a line of tanks here, Venomous saved a lot of time and consumable items for the boss.
The tanks had been shifting their positions in an orderly manner and each also could naturally regenerate their stamina and health.
Far away from that line, Michu and others already could see the doors leading to the boss. Upon defeating him, the dungeon would be cleared and everyone could leave through his grave.
Thus, the tanks had their way outside and Michu and his party would get the most out of the boss.
Why? Because Venomous had used her new status as the leader to set up the party's settings. The experience and loot became based on the contribution to damage and CC. Knowing that Michu would be the one to deal the most damage, Yumi had been all smiles as she stepped forward.
"Hehe, your smile is scary, you know?" Michu teased, thinking that Yumi was trying to smile because of him. Of course, she smiled because of him, but the reason greatly differed.
She turned her green eyes at him and replied, "Isn't that great?"
"Why would that be so great?" Michu asked back, but all he got was just a little deeper smile and some white streaks slapping his face as Yumi no longer debated with him. As those fell, Michu shrugged and followed his friend.
Sandra used the chance to explain about the dungeon boss, "The bosses have stages to make things interesting."
Lazy Bum chimed in, "Interesting? They are just annoying pricks."
She threw an elbow strike at him, then continued, "The first stage is the usual boss. He has from three to five abilities and we will learn those by engaging in confrontation. The second stage begins when he loses half of his HP. In our first dungeon raid, the boss got passive skills that increased his toughness and defense." Lazy Bum's complaining was now understandable!
Michu giggled, "So the third stage makes the monster enraged!"
"Yes!" Sandra laughed as well, "It enters the frenzy state and usually chases after the targets who are the most annoying or deal the most damage. In its frenzy, the monster's abilities get an additional effect. In our first run, the boss' steps shook the ground with each spell and it even threatened the tanks, so it was hard to aim."
The valuable information entered the monke's brain!
He knew how important it was to gather the information already and Sandra who smoothly passed it to him became an angel in his eyes, "Thank you! I will take care of the boss!" Sending a thumbs up, Michu promised.
Sandra covered her lips, raised thumbs too, and followed the majority. As the mage, she had to say goodbye to Michu as he was one of the close combat classes.
-
[The Protector - Grizzly Bear HP: 10 000 MP: 7500 Lv. 20 Grade: Unique]
"So much HP!" Michu exclaimed after looking at four zeros! His eyes stretched to a dangerous limit and he seemed rather too shocked. In his mind, Michu tried to count how many bonks he would need to take down this monster.
But math was not his forte, so Michu went with the feeling, and his head steamed.
The monster that took the shape of a wooden bear was called The Protector - Grizzly Bear. It was a wooden bear that stood on its two. Its height broke four meters and his claws seemed to be half this size.
Those threatened to touch the ground at any moment!
Closing his mouth, Michu turned his eyes to Venomous whose lips already mumbled out something. She spoke to the friendly tanks, then after confirming her stuff, Venomous said, "Let's take this down boss quickly. Priests, if you could." There were also priests!
The priests formed a prayer sign with their staves in between their hands, then every player got appropriate buff for their class.
The monkey exclaimed, "Oh, thank you! Here's a banana for you." He threw them bananas, but since the blessings had yet to end, those bananas just slapped the priests' cheeks. They all glared at Michu with narrowed eyes, "Sorry, sorry! Hehe, I will pick them up…"
[The Blessing Of God Of War's Listener.]
[Your stamina has increased by 20% for 3 minutes!]
Ding!
[Your stamina gets an additional 10% stamina as per Monkey God's Heaven Rising Cultivation.]
[Your attack has increased by 20% for 3 minutes!]
Ding!
[Your attack gets an additional 10% attack as per Monkey God's Red Gate Staff.]
The stats continued to increase. Though 20% was great, it lasted just for three minutes and it only worked on the players around the priests' level, so they had their limitations as well.
By giving this blessing, the priests exhausted their mana and they recoiled a few steps back. A mana potion each landed in their lips.
"We can't waste time, can we?" Venomous took a step forward, then tanks marched from both sides. Her voice soon rang out solely in Michu's ears, "Focus on the highest damage output. Don't try to save those people just because they were nice. The same goes for the priests. If the boss turns at them or throws something, then ignore and continue to deal damage. We will manage."
"Oh… Well…" Michu didn't want to be that egotistical. He believed that his bonk would be able to smash any long-distance skill from the boss, but Yumi then used one exclusive to her charms.
She said faintly, "Pretty please." Doubt instantly vanished from Michu's face as Venomous requested it so earnestly. The monkey rarely heard her speak like that and it seemed like she relied on him wholly.
With his face cleared of any doubt, confidence and willingness to deal as high damage as possible replaced it. He clenched his wooden staff, positioned himself before the boss, then plunged himself at him with one of his skills.
[The Monkey God's Inheritor's Cloud Seeking Jump.]
Thanks for reading! Have a nice day!
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