Shi Feng’s words confused the other members.
Wasn’t it just a roar? What was there to pay attention to?
When Shi Feng looked at everyone’s contemptuous expressions, he couldn’t help but gravely say “Listen well you all. Hell’s Roar is not as simple as what you think it is. In a moment, follow my demands while advancing. If anyone makes a mistake, don’t blame me for immediately kicking you out of the party.”
Being lectured by Shi Feng in such a way, the other members all became serious. Nobody wished to leave the party.
“In a moment, Cola and I will walk in front. Lonely Snow, you walk in the middle and protect the Oracle. Blackie, you and the Summoner will walk at the back. Remember, you must not break formation regardless of any activities. Without my command, nobody is allowed to be the first to attack, do you all understand?” Shi Feng explained the basics of formations once to the party.
The reason Shi Feng had allowed the Guardian Knight, Cola, to walk in front was that he let Cola add all of his Free Ability Points into Endurance. His HP now reached 310 points. With this much HP, Cola could resist a little longer, sharing some of Shi Feng’s burden.
The Dungeons in God’s domain were unlike the Dungeons in other virtual reality games. The degree of freedom within the Dungeon was high, and the Dungeons, themselves, were very large. There were even quite a few player parties who had wandered around in the Dungeon for hours without even meeting a single Boss. Although the Deathly Forest was not as large, it was still possible to become lost within the dark and gloomy forest.
If someone were to become lost…
Shi Feng only wished to say ‘hehe’.
The scary part of the Deathly Forest was that players could become lost once they entered the forest. Eventually, the players would mysteriously die one after another. In Shi Feng’s previous life, there were countless players who had entered the forest and died over and over again in such a way without even meeting the shadow of a monster. If they had good luck and met a monster, then the result was a party-wipe. Only after many experts of Guilds had done it, did everyone finally understand the dreadfulness of the Deathly Forest. They had acknowledged that it was a terrifying Dungeon that was impossible to clear without reaching Level 5.
When Shadow Guild reached Level 5, they had organized hundreds of players to scout out the paths in the Deathly Forest. They had paid over hundreds of lives to finally have a clear understanding of the Deathly Forest’s map.
The entire Deathly Forest had thirty-six paths. However, only three of them led to the first Boss, Willie. These three paths were paved with the lives of many players. Two of these three paths were extremely dangerous. Without sufficient strength, death would be the only result. There was only one path that had very few monsters.
Under Shi Feng’s lead, everyone walked into the forest.
The moment they entered the forest, everyone discovered that there were too many pathways through the forest. They did not know which one was the right path. However, Shi Feng had chosen one without hesitation. Everyone else closely followed him while being cautious of their surroundings.
After walking for about five minutes, they met their first monster. Suddenly, everybody started to become tense.
“Don’t act on impulse. Listen to my commands.” Shi Feng loudly shouted.
In front of them was only a Level 2 Elite monster, a Night Rabbit. However, due to the Dungeon’s strengthening, its Attack, Defense, and HP were all greatly increased. Its HP was a whopping 700 points.
“Cola, you lure the monster over. Oracle, pay attention to healing. Everyone else, don’t start the attack without my command,” Shi Feng quickly gave out orders.
The Guardian Knight, Cola gulped down a mouthful of saliva. He carefully walked towards the Night Rabbit’s attack range. Everyone else was nervous to the extreme. Although this was only a Level 2 Elite, they were currently in the Hell Mode of a Dungeon.
However, everyone’s nervousness was for naught. The moment the Night Rabbit with a person’s height saw Cola, it immediately dashed over.
Cola had very successfully lured the Night Rabbit over. Moreover, he did not panic when he lured it. He retreated while using his shield to block the Night Rabbit’s attacks. However, even though every attack landed on the shield, the damage was still terrifying; just a single hit dealt 42 damage. By the time Cola returned to the front of the party, his HP had already dropped by a third.
The Oracle, whose name was Drowsy Sloth, had good awareness. He had given out healing the moment Cola entered his casting range. However, every heal could only add 24 HP to Cola; it was completely not enough to stop Cola’s HP from falling.
“Brother Feng, are we still not attacking?” Blackie was slightly nervous. At this moment, Cola’s remaining HP did not even reach one-third of its total.
Bringing an Oracle into a Dungeon was just a complete mistake. Amongst the Healer Jobs, Oracles had the weakest healing abilities. However, since Shi Feng had chosen so, Blackie could only acknowledge it. Now that their MT was close to death, it would be unacceptable if they still did not attack.
“Hold on.” Shi Feng resolutely said.
Time passed bit by bit. Cola continuously used his shield to block the claw attacks of the Night Rabbit, whereas his HP continuously decreased. Cola only had 20% HP remaining, yet Shi Feng had yet to give out the command to attack.
Just when everyone thought that Shi Feng wanted to give up on Cola, a flying arrow pierced through the forest, shooting directly for the party’s Oracle, Drowsy Sloth. Lonely Snow had not reacted at all as Drowsy Sloth was struck directly on his chest. A very great damage of -123 points appeared.
At this moment, Shi Feng shouted, “Sloth, use Life Payment. Use the damage you received to heal Cola. Blackie, hold back the Night Rabbit to let Cola recover. Lonely, come with me. Everyone else attacks the Night Rabbit.”
Oracles were indeed the weakest regarding healing. However, Oracles had high HP; they would not be easily one-shotted. Also, Oracles had two skills when they first start out. One was Life Prayer, while the other was Life Payment. Life Payment could turn the damage received by the user into a heal to be used on other players. In the early periods of the game, healers did not possess many skills or equipment. In regards to such a situation, Oracles had a greater advantage over other healers when entering the Deathly Forest. It was the reason why Shi Feng had given up on choosing a Priest over an Oracle.
After finishing his piece, Shi Feng rushed into the forest.
“Do you think I will let you run away?” Shi Feng coldly said as he looked at the dark shadow running through the forest.
Wind Blade!
Shi Feng turned into a phantom, chasing directly forward.
The reason why Shi Feng did not let anyone attack the Night Rabbit was to use Cola as bait. Shi Feng wanted to lure out the dark hand hiding behind the scenes.
Although the Night Rabbit looked terrifying, an Elite party could face up to two or three of them at once without any problems. However, in Shi Feng’s previous life, the reason why even a Level 5 Elite party could be party-wiped was that of the dark shadow in front of Shi Feng. This dark shadow used the Night Rabbit as bait, luring players into attacking it. The dark shadow, on the other hand, would ambush the healers from behind. As the Night Rabbit was occupying everyone else, there was no way to save the healer. In the end, everyone died.
Inside the Deathly Forest, if players did not deal with this fellow, the result would be a party-wipe.
With the increased Movement Speed from Wind Blade, Shi Feng quickly caught up to the dark shadow. Shi Feng waved out three sword slashes, sealing the dark shadow’s path of advance.
The black shadow knew that it could not escape. It immediately turned around, unsheathing a pair of knives to block Shi Feng’s attack.
Dang! Dang! Dang!
With the Abyssal Blade, Shi Feng’s Strength was frighteningly high. His attacks caused the dark shadow to take three steps back, and each step it retreated would be followed by the damage that was over -10. In the end, the dark shadow revealed its figure under the moonlight.
[Night Ranger] (Special Elite)
Level 2
HP 1458/1500
Seeing the Night Ranger being repelled, Shi Feng immediately used Abyssal bind without giving him a chance. Nine pitch-black chains appeared to bind the Night Ranger, preventing him from moving for 3 seconds, and his Defense reduced by 100%.
Thundering Flash!
Chop!
Damages of -81, -98, -119, -124 appeared. When the two skills landed, a frightening amount of damage appeared, taking away a quarter of the Night Ranger’s HP.
No matter how capable the Night Ranger was, it could not break free from the binding of the nine chains. He could only silently take a beating for 3 whole seconds.
Shi Feng was unrestrained as he sent out sword slash after sword slash, piercing through the vital point on the Night Ranger’s chest. By the time the Night Ranger broke free from the bindings, his remaining HP did not exceed 700 points.
“Wretched human!” The Night Ranger was enraged. He brandished his twin blades like a gale, engulfing Shi Feng.
At this moment, Lonely Snow finally caught up. A Charge from him had caused the Night Ranger to enter a fainted state, at the same time breaking the Night Ranger’s gale-like blade.
Shi Feng took the chance to slash at the Night Ranger’s neck.
Lonely Snow also brandished his large ax at the Night Ranger.
By the time the Night Ranger had awoken, he only had a remnant of his HP left. The Night Ranger abruptly hacked his twin blades towards Lonely Snow, sending him flying backward and dealing 64 damage. The Night Ranger turned his head to stare at Shi Feng, once more brandishing his twin blades and slashing horizontally towards Shi Feng’s neck.
Dang! Shi Feng used Parry with his sword. Without giving the Night Ranger any chances to retaliate, Shi Feng lifted up the ranger and tossed him back. Then, Shi Feng followed up with a couple of sword strikes, finishing off the Night Ranger.
Shi Feng conveniently picked up the two items that dropped, then immediately ran towards Cola’s location to provide help.
Laying by the side, Lonely Snow became dumbfounded after seeing Shi Feng’s agile skills. His heart filled with shock, Lonely Snow had even forgotten to follow Shi Feng to support.
There was such a way even to kill monsters?
By the time Shi Feng returned to the party, the Elite Night Rabbit only had one-third of its HP remaining.
Everyone had coordinated properly; Cola tanked in the front alone, while the others vigorously dealt damage. However, to control aggro, Blackie did not madly deal damage. Instead, he used Evil Whip to pin down the Night Rabbit, giving Cola some breathing space. Cola’s performance was also very good. He steadily tanked the monster, and he also had good control over aggro. Cola was not at the level of a novice, but there was still a long road ahead before he became an expert.
“Cola, don’t always try to block with your shield. It isn’t a must to block an attack like the other virtual reality games. You can also dodge to avoid an attack. That way, you could reduce the stress on the healer. For everyone else, focus your attacks on the target. Don’t just randomly attack, aim your attacks at the wild rabbit’s claws or other weak points. That way, you can reduce a lot of burden on the MT.” Shi Feng did not directly go up to help Cola, but instead, he taught everyone how to battle against monsters.
If everyone battled while regarding God’s Domain as a traditional game, the results would be disastrous. This was because the healing given out was usually far from being able to keep up with the damage received. Some parties would bring an extra healer. However, this would result in the damage being insufficient; the result was still a party-wipe. Players only slowly got used to the combat style in God’s Domain several months after the game opened. The players then would no longer be as cute and simple as they were now.
Shi Feng wanted to cultivate everyone to build a foundation for his future Workshop. So naturally, he needed to let these people learn the combat styles of God’s Domain earlier.
Everyone thought Shi Feng was also a noob, so they held slight dissatisfaction within their hearts. The expert did not say anything, so why was a noob like him giving out commands? However, Shi Feng’s words made sense, so they still consciously did as Shi Feng said.
Cola had also started to change his battle style. He was no longer using his shield to block the attacks rigidly. Instead, he retreated a step back when the wild rabbit launched its attack, taking the chance to avoid it. Although Cola still needed to use his shield to block most of the time, it had still greatly reduced the burden on the healer.
Such a change allowed killing the Night Rabbit to become even easier.
The few Level 1 noobs were also slightly surprised. There was some change in their opinions towards Shi Feng. Shi Feng was not as unbearable as they had imagined him to be.
Shi Feng only smiled at this situation. He did not mind their thoughts at all. Shi Feng only felt that Cola was quite good after seeing his performance.
Although Cola was a first-rate expert ten years later, he currently was still far from that point. If it were an expert MT, they would not retreat, but choose to dodge the attack without even moving. Such a decision was because if the MT moved, the monster would move as well. This situation would cause trouble for long-ranged damage dealers, which would result in the loss of a lot of damage. However, such a technique required a bounty of experience in battle and a body with dexterous reactions. Cola still needed a lot of training.
The Elite Night Rabbit fell within a moment. It dropped a skill book for Berserkers, [Whirlwind Slash]. It also dropped three Coppers.
Everyone could not help but be amazed by the drop rate of Hell Mode. A skill book dropped just after they killed an Elite monster. If they killed over ten Elite monsters, then wouldn’t they be able to obtain over ten skill books? It should be known that skill books were extremely rare, and even a Common skill could sell for 1 Silver.
Shi Feng naturally knew of their thoughts. However, not even Hell Mode had that high of a drop rate. It was only three to four times that of Hard Mode. Afterward, Shi Feng passed Whirlwind Slash to the stupefied Lonely Snow; then he passed a Level 1 Bronze Defensive Plate Armor to Cola; the Night Ranger dropped the armor. With these items, the party’s strength slightly increased.
Cola’s mouth could not close after receiving the Defensive Plate Armor. He hurriedly thanked Shi Feng for it. With this Bronze Plate Armor, not only had Cola’s Defense increased by 14 points, but his HP had also become 350 points.
Aside from Shi Feng and Blackie, everyone else on the scene was filled with envy. Bronze Equipment was the identification of an expert. Outside the Dungeon, it was impossible to obtain a piece of Bronze Equipment, even if you begged for it. And this piece of equipment was obtained by Shi Feng, alone. Yet, Shi Feng gave it to Cola without hesitation. Everyone’s opinion towards Shi Feng changed quite a bit. They felt such a party leader was not bad at all. Shi Feng was unlike the other party leaders who would prioritize themselves when equipment dropped. As for Bronze Equipment, forget giving it away to a temporary party member; they would definitely keep it for themselves.
Afterward, everyone followed Shi Feng as they advanced.
Although the dark and gloomy forest was scary, everyone was no longer as nervous as they were before going through a stimulating fight.
From time to time, one or two patrolling Elite Night Rabbits would appear in front of them, and they would also respond to it quickly. When there were two Night Rabbits, Cola would tank one of them, while Shi Feng and Lonely Snow would rush over and kill the other. As for the ranged players, they would prioritize attacking the Night Rabbit in front of Shi Feng.
The Night Rabbit’s 700 HP would be gone quickly under the fierce bombardment.
Afterward, the party supported Cola and finished off the other Night Rabbit. Within moments, two Night Rabbits were no more. With this process, a skill book, [Restore], meant for healers also dropped. The skill had a 2 second cast time. When learned by Oracles, the skill could instantly restore 37 HP. It was far better than Life Prayer. It did not share the same Cooldown as Life Prayer, so the two could be used in coordination to negate the damage caused by the Elite Night Rabbits completely.
Drowsy Sloth continuously thanked Shi Feng and the other party members for letting him learn the skill book. Restore was an extremely important skill for conquering Dungeons. If it were to be sold outside, it could go for at least 2 or 3 Silver coins.
“Don’t mind it. Skill books are meant to be used. Let’s continue onward.” Shi Feng smiled as he answered.
Aside from AoE attack skill books, healer-class skill books were the most expensive and rare. However, the Deathly Forest was a Dungeon meant to let players build up their foundation in God’s Domain. In Hell Mode, the drop rate for basic healing skills was very high. In Shi Feng’s previous life, he had obtained four healing skill books just after entering Hell Mode of the Deathly Forest once. It was not considered valuable.
After more than an hour, Shi Feng’s party arrived at a flat grassland. They had finally met the first Boss of the Dungeon.
[Willie] (Chieftain-rank)
Level 3
HP 6000
Willie was a ferocious Night Rabbit. Its height was as tall as two people, and sharp steel claws decorated its paws. These claws loved creating a feast of fresh blood, and those caught by it would be ripped to shreds, turned into a river of blood. It was unknown how many players had died a gruesome death under these claws.
A short distance away from Willie, there were seven Elite Night Rabbits on guard. These seven rabbits were very close to each other. As long as one of them was attacked, the other wild rabbits would rush over as well. There was also a great possibility of attracting the Boss.
Even if it were Shi Feng, he would not be able to face off against seven Night Rabbits, not to mention including a Boss.
However, if they did not finish off the seven Night Rabbits, there was no way for them to attack the Boss.
“Brother Feng, what should we do now? This place has too many Night Rabbits. The game isn’t giving us any chances.” Blackie was very anxious. Although the Boss was in front of them, the System had dealt them such a hand. This difficulty was just too great. No wonder it was a Hell Mode dungeon. It was impossible to pass through without absolute strength.
The System's setting also angered everyone. Who could fend off seven Elite Night Rabbits? Even a Level 5 Guardian Knight would not be able to do it.
“You all wait for me behind that rock. Cola, get ready to receive the monster. Everyone else is not allowed to attack without my command,” Shi Feng pointed towards a large rock nearby; Shi Feng naturally knew that there were seven Elite Night Rabbits here.
Everyone abided by Shi Feng’s command without question. All the monsters they had killed on the way here relied on Shi Feng’s commands for success. They killed quite a lot of Night Rabbits, and everyone had obtained one or two pieces of Bronze Equipment. Blackie even had five pieces of Bronze Equipment. Their party’s strength has definitely surpassed the other elite parties. The credit for such an achievement belonged to Shi Feng’s commands.
As for Shi Feng, he had run to a location that was 40 yards away from the seven Night Rabbits. He quietly hid within the bushes, observing the Night Rabbits’ every movement.
Everyone understood that Shi Feng was trying to lure monsters. However, the seven Night Rabbits were too close to each other. Shi Feng was a Swordsman. He did not possess any long-ranged attacking capabilities, so how could he lure monsters?
Time passed bit by bit. Everyone was extremely anxious. If Shi Feng accidentally failed, then it would be a party-wipe. However, Shi Feng was calm. He moved not an inch as he watched the faraway Night Rabbits.
At this moment, a cool breeze blew past. A dead leaf on the trees was sent flying over.
Seeing the dead leaf hovering down towards the Night Rabbit, Shi Feng picked up a small stone beside him. Gently, he tossed the stone over.
The direction the stone flew to was towards the Night Rabbit closest to the Boss.
“We’re finished.”
Everyone understood what kind of outcome this would be. It would definitely be a combination of one Boss and seven Night Rabbits rushing towards them, turning them into blood sacrifices.
The moment the stone was about to hit the Night Rabbit, the dead leaf just happened to have blocked between the stone and the Night Rabbit.
The stone struck the dead leaf, smashing it onto the Night Rabbit.
The Night Rabbit abruptly turned to look at its surroundings, only discovering a leaf. However, how could a leaf hitting it be so painful? Subsequently, the Night Rabbit left its unit to observe the surroundings. It looked around aimlessly, not knowing what it was trying to find. It had unknowingly moved over 20 yards away from its unit, and it was still moving further and further away.
“Too godly!” Lonely Snow could not help but exclaim; his eyes had nearly popped out of their sockets.
Everyone else had dumbly nodded as well.
What kind of accurate judgment and aim was required to hit the dead leaf while hitting the Night Rabbit, and thereby confusing the Night Rabbit’s hatred, causing it to look for its target blindly?
Even calling it as an ultimate skill was not excessive.
Was Shi Feng really a noob? He couldn’t be some gaming god here to make a fool of them, right?
“Summoner, the rest is up to you.” Shi Feng walked to the rock’s location. He looked at the Summoner, clapping the person’s shoulders as he spoke, smiling.