Chapter 184 – The Battle for Dignity (Part 1)

The fully rested Perfect Storm set sail once more, this time with their dignity on the line.

ice Iceborn: “Since we’ve decided to fight together, we absolutely must lock down aggro. No more fighting separately.”

War-Snow Wolf: “If it’s true, as Don’t Stop the Meds said, that the boss enrages at the 27-minute mark, then we need to stabilize aggro 100% within the first five minutes. That way, the DPS classes can go all out during the burn phase.”

Don’t Stop the Meds: “What do you mean ‘if’? If it enrages even a second earlier or later, I’ll let you kick my head like a soccer ball.”

King of the Gods: “Then it’s settled. Assassins, Spirit Masters, and Demon Refiners should all switch to DPS gear—don’t worry about defense. Blesscallers and healers should all switch to healing gear. Blood Warriors should switch to high-defense gear—ignore DPS and just spam Taunt and Provoke to hold aggro. Berserkers should wear balanced gear, dealing damage while also pulling a bit of aggro. That way, even if aggro gets messy, it’ll only shift to you guys and won’t drag down the squishy DPS.”

X: “What about the zombies?”

King of the Gods: “Huh?”

X: “Did you forget about us?”

King of the Gods: “Oh, right, the zombies…”

He really did forget! =_=

King of the Gods: “Just wear whatever you feel like.”

Oh, you want me to go naked in front of you?! (╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻

March: “I suggest Blood Warriors form a ring around the boss, Berserkers form a second ring around them, Blesscallers in the third ring, and Demon Refiners and Spirit Masters on the outermost ring. All healers should stand directly behind the boss.”

White Dragon Horse: “No objections to March’s formation. By the way, how many Blood Warriors do we have?”

Milk is Mom: “Five—Fist of the Gods from Outer Flame, Silent Hill and Insidious from Silence, Liaodong Iron Cavalry from Iceborn, and Mocha from Dutch Chamber of Commerce. Sigh, the Blood Warrior class really isn’t what it used to be.”

Don’t Stop the Meds: “But Silence alone takes up two spots, and they’re the Legion Commander and Deputy Commander. What were you guys thinking?”

Silent Hill: “I refuse to comment on this =_=”

Grave Sweeping Scroll: “What I really want to know is how Milk is Mom can list every Blood Warrior off the top of his head when the chat room doesn’t even show classes. Are you Perfect Storm’s HR or something? =_=”

X: “What I really, really want to know is what that ‘what it used to be’ comment was supposed to mean!”

Carved in Bone: “Brothers, can we not get sidetracked? Aren’t we supposed to be discussing tactics?!”

Scholar Lu: “Haven’t we pretty much covered it? For Spirit Masters, it’s just—full DPS. I like that.”

Fang Zheng: “Raise hand. One last question.”

Don’t Stop the Meds: “Go ahead.”

Polly: “Why aren’t we forming a unified team? I can answer that. Because it wouldn’t be fair to the legions with higher DPS. Outer Flame, Dutch Chamber of Commerce, Silence, and Iceborn all think their DPS is the highest, so their confidence makes them unwilling to compromise.”

Don’t Stop the Meds: “…”

Polly: “Any other questions?”

Fang Zheng: “Then…”

Polly: “Oh, about our team’s win rate? Our team has nine members—two healers, and the rest are DPS. Only Silence comes close in numbers, but they’re still one short. So, we have a numbers advantage over every other team, but not necessarily in DPS. Dutch Chamber of Commerce has Purple Set gear, Outer Flame and Iceborn’s strength is still unclear, and Silence has the same number of DPS classes as us but their individual DPS isn’t as strong. So, everyone has a chance.”

Fang Zheng: “No more questions.”

White Dragon Horse: “I have a question! Didn’t we agree that team composition was a secret? You told everyone else, fine, but did you have to analyze our combat power in such detail?!”

Silent Hill: “I also have a question! What do you mean our individual DPS isn’t as strong?! Come over here and explain—I promise I won’t kill you!!”

Don’t Stop the Meds: “All of you, step aside. My question is the most important! Zombie, can you read minds or something?!!”

The barrage of questions went unanswered, as a group of uninvited guests quietly boarded, shattering the “harmonious” atmosphere—the Water Ghosts had arrived.

Grave Sweeping Scroll: “Outer Flame, you guys handle this. You have experience, after all.”

Ghost of the Gods: “Piss off.”

Whether by coincidence or design, no team was positioned where the Water Ghosts landed this time. Outer Flame’s position was, in fact, the farthest from them among all players. ╮(╯_╰)╭

Finding no players within their attack range, the Water Ghost squad was disheartened and could only wander aimlessly in their little corner.

Big H: “I can’t stand to watch this! Are we really going to drag this ship full of Water Ghosts into the boss fight? Whoever’s closest, just kill them already!”

King of the Gods: “OK.”

Don’t Stop the Meds: “I like this suggestion.”

ice Iceborn: “32 thumbs up.”

Silent Hill: “Then Summit Server’s team should step up.”

Big H: “Us? Open your cow eyes and look properly—our team is all the way on the other side.”

Despite his words, Big H wasn’t entirely confident. He zoomed in for a closer look—Water Ghosts on the right, his team on the left. Yep, all accounted for—White Dragon Horse, Mount Tai, March, Snow Wolf, Black Gold, Carved in Bone, Polly, himself, the healer… Wait, where the hell is Milk is Mom?!

Big H closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and slowly opened them again. Phew, good—he finally spotted Milk is Mom… except the bastard had somehow positioned himself at the very front of the entire group! What the hell was he planning? Ready to heal the monsters at any moment?!

“Alright, give me one reason. If you can convince me, I won’t let everyone beat you up.” Big H wanted to pat himself on the back for his patience.

“I thought they looked cute and wanted to take a screenshot for the forums…”

White Dragon Horse: “I can’t take this anymore!”

“This is important to me! It’s about my gaming career!!”

Big H: “Whitey, hold on. Let him finish.”

“Two more original high-quality posts, and I’ll be a senior forum member with access to the player screenshot section…”

Big H: “Whitey, kill him!”

The entire Huaxia Summit team rushed forward—not that they actually intended to kill Milk is Mom (at least not until after the Water Ghosts were dealt with; Mount Tai’s healing alone probably wouldn’t be enough =_=).

The Water Ghosts finally had opponents and immediately perked up, unleashing a barrage of brutal skills.

Snow Wolf, Big H, and Carved in Bone were all Spirit Masters. Together, they crowd-controlled six of the monsters and helped take down the remaining four.

Having observed the first encounter, the Summit Server team knew they could handle these monsters—but—

Big H: “Didn’t we agree to help each other? Would it kill you to lend a hand?”

Don’t Stop the Meds: “We were going to help at first, but then someone shouted, ‘The closest team should fight~~~~'”

Big H: “Just state the facts. No need to recreate the tone and inflection =_=”

Though the others were still spectating, the atmosphere was different from the first round’s pure schadenfreude. This time, they knew the Summit Server team could handle it. Teasing aside, they were spiritually united with Summit—but since Big H had started it, he deserved to learn a lesson. Call it karma.

Amid the banter, the last monster fell and vanished. Just as everyone thought they could relax and wait for the boss to appear, the system message suddenly chimed—

[System] Congratulations to the Nicknamed White Dragon Horse team for eliminating the Water Ghosts!

Anyone could tell this was the system’s standard reward format—but nothing had happened in the first round! Which raised the question: which bathroom had the Outer Flame Legion cried themselves unconscious in?

Angel of the Gods: “Unfair! Why do you guys get a reward for killing them?!”

Big H: “Unfair! Why is it called the Nicknamed White Dragon Horse team?!”

Nicknamed White Dragon Horse: “It’s a looks-based world. What can I say~”

Carved in Bone: “Were you answering her or Big H?”

White Dragon Horse: “H, of course~ For the girl’s question, my answer is: you didn’t hit their G-spot.”

Carved in Bone: “Why did I even ask…”

Ever Bright: “If I’d known, I would’ve taken a few swings earlier. 55555”

Polly: “It’s probably automatically determined by the system. As long as a single team clears the Water Ghosts alone, they get a reward. Outer Flame had March and the others helping last time, so it didn’t trigger.”

Don’t Stop the Meds: “Hearing you explain it, it makes sense. But… are you sure you don’t want to join our legion?”

Polly: “But I think what we really should do is thank our Legion Commander. If he hadn’t shamelessly gone for that group photo, we wouldn’t have gotten this reward.”

Fang Zheng: “You don’t need adverbs before ‘group photo’!”

Don’t Stop the Meds: “Haha, then, oh great Ghost Server Legion Leader, hero of the battle, what are your thoughts?”

Finally, a question Fang Zheng had been dying to answer—

“What exactly is the reward?”

…

Five minutes later.

Fang Zheng: “System, are you lagging? What’s the reward? Spit it out already! TAT”

System: “…”

Don’t Stop the Meds: “The answer’s obvious—verbal praise~~”

System, forget the reward—can you just recall all of Don’t Stop the Meds’ pets instead? =_=

When the dragon boss reappeared, the Summit Server team finally accepted that they weren’t even getting a participation sticker. But by then, those Water Ghosts were ancient history.

Unlike its slow entrance the first time, this time the boss hovered mid-air in the same vicious pose it had used to wipe the team earlier, wings flapping menacingly—but it didn’t attack immediately, kindly giving players time to arrange themselves.

The fifty players quickly switched to their assigned gear and took positions as March had suggested: Blood Warriors in the innermost ring, followed by Berserkers, then Blesscallers, with Demon Refiners and Spirit Masters on the outermost ring. All healers stood directly behind the boss.

Liaodong Iron Cavalry: “Everyone ready?”

Fist of the Gods: “If we’re ready, we’re going in.”

All: “OK, go for it~~”

Five Blood Warriors attacked simultaneously. Five streaks of emerald-green “Provoke” light shot out from all directions like a musical fountain.

The boss took all five hits and instantly flew into a rage. A massive dragon fire erupted from its maw, shooting straight at Liaodong Iron Cavalry!

Clearly, he was the highest DPS among the Blood Warriors, which was why the boss had aggroed him first!

All healers braced themselves, ready to top up their comrades’ HP!

The fire dragon exploded against Liaodong Iron Cavalry, instantly reducing his HP bar to one-fifth!

The closest healer, Rain Ceases—as per the prearranged strategy, to avoid wasted heals and prevent multiple healers spamming the same target, the healer nearest to the injured player would handle their HP, regardless of team—had already begun casting Revival of the Withered. The spell finished just in time, seamlessly restoring the Blood Warrior’s HP to two-thirds.

The tense players exhaled in relief. A good start was half the battle. If they could just maintain aggro for three more rounds of Provoke and Taunt, the boss’s aggro would stabilize…

Wait!

Before the Blood Warriors could launch their second attack, the boss’s second strike came like lightning—again targeting Liaodong Iron Cavalry!

Though the boss’s attack came faster than expected, Rain Ceases, Dutch Chamber of Commerce’s top healer, had already cast Trickling Stream on Liaodong Iron Cavalry. Though the heal was small, it was a HoT (heal over time). Rain Ceases was also confident he could seamlessly follow up with Ten Thousand Blossoms the moment Liaodong Iron Cavalry took the second hit.

And he succeeded. The instant AoE heal of Ten Thousand Blossoms landed at the perfect moment, its dazzling light clashing spectacularly with the boss’s flames, enveloping Liaodong Iron Cavalry—and the entire Perfect Storm.

Ghost of the Gods: “Dammit, why is the boss using AoE too?!”

Little Willow: “Thank god Rain Ceases used an AoE heal! Otherwise, it would’ve been another wipe!”

Rain Ceases: “My ST (single target) insta-heal was on cooldown. I really just wanted to heal Liaodong…”

Silent Hill: “That’s not the point! The point is, do you think we’re not going to wipe this time?!!”

Lantern Granny: “My pets are all dying!!”

Rock N Roll Will Never Die: “Damn, the AoE spam is endless!! Why did it enrage right from the start?! That’s not how it’s supposed to work!!”

One Night Resurrection: “You’d lose your shit too if five people Provoked you at once!”

[System] Nicknamed White Dragon Horse used Bloody Sandstorm on ice Iceborn.

[System] Congratulations to Nicknamed White Dragon Horse for earning 1 point on the Perfect Storm.

ice Iceborn: “…”

White Dragon Horse: “I swear on my girlfriend’s name, it was an accident!”

By the boss’s fifth AoE, every player’s HP had dropped to less than one-fifth.

“Healers, heal us already!”

“Sorry, we’re barely alive ourselves TAT”

The light faded—

[System] Perfect Storm No. 1 has sunk!

Blue Skeleton: “I knew it…”

Ice on Fire: “At least it wasn’t broadcasted on World Chat this time. The devs still have some conscience.”

Dragon Wonton: “Huh, looks like we didn’t lose points either!”

Carved in Bone: “So, just like when our team killed the Water Ghosts earlier, this was just a verbal warning?”

[System] Rise again, spirits of the Water Ghosts!

Lantern Granny: “What’s this?”

Grave Sweeping Scroll: “I have a bad feeling about this…”

[System] Polly has been resurrected.

[System] Big H has been resurrected.

[System] Carved in Bone has been resurrected.

[System] Nicknamed White Dragon Horse has been resurrected.

[System] March to Liangzhou has been resurrected.

[System] Summit of Mount Tai has been resurrected.

[System] Milk is Mom has been resurrected.

[System] War-Black Gold has been resurrected.

[System] War-Snow Wolf has been resurrected.

[System] Perfect Storm No. 1 has been reborn!

Summoned by the spirits of the Water Ghosts, the entire Summit Server team revived on the deck. Meanwhile, the enraged boss extinguished its flames, retracted its claws, and reverted to its earlier docile form. Slowly, it lowered itself until only its head remained above water, blinking at the Perfect Storm as if granting the crew time to recover for Round Three.

No one was permanently dead, and the sunken ship had respawned in place, sparing them the long voyage back. By all accounts, this was a good outcome—

ice Iceborn: “Grave Sweeping Scroll, your bad feeling was off the mark.”

Fang Zheng: “Who said we didn’t get a reward? Our reward is immortality! You foolish humans, ahahahaha~~~~~~”

Grave Sweeping Scroll: “…”

ice Iceborn: “Sorry, Commander. I misjudged you.”

Don’t Stop the Meds: “Enough chit-chat~ Summit Server, hurry up and revive your teammates~~”

Silent Hill: “No rush. I recall someone saying the boss would only enrage at the 27-minute mark, not a second earlier or later…”

War-Snow Wolf: “Stop wasting time on nonsense. Can’t you see what’s important right now?”

Don’t Stop the Meds: “Snow Wolf, I knew you had a heart…”

War-Snow Wolf: “When are we scheduling the soccer match? We’ve got the ball now—just need a field…”