Chapter 50 – Wheel of Battle

Drink Till You Drop’s mercenary run theory wasn’t just idle talk.

Typically, the drop rate for dungeon gear is extremely low. For their combined team to get drops from two consecutive bosses was absolutely a stroke of luck. But if you looked at the two teams separately, you’d have to say the Ghost Server Legion was the lucky one. And if luck followed the law of conservation like energy, then congratulations—Five Peaks Pavilion was the side that got infinitely dragged down.

Could it be that luck was directly proportional to sleaziness, an unspoken rule in Huaxia Online?

For the first time, the Legion Commander of Five Peaks Pavilion began to question the value orientation of the game developers.

Polly had already changed into a new top. The original ferocious leather armor was gone, replaced by a light pink suit—tailored to fit, with exquisite details, and even the unconventional pink color for a suit somehow looked refined. Obviously, the system wouldn’t let female characters wear suits, so if a female character had obtained this piece of gear, it would probably have been a princess dress or something similar.

But that wasn’t the main point. The real issue was that Birdy-kun had barely escaped the white suit pants phase before now stumbling across this pink suit jacket, resurrecting his old fashion disaster. The dark armor set he’d obtained after the PvP Tournament was now completely overshadowed by the glow of the pink suit jacket. The problem was, the rest of his outfit was still in full-on dark zombie aesthetic. To give an analogy, imagine a polar bear with all four paws stuffed into black stockings…

White Dragon Horse: “Ah, my eyes—”

Summit of Mount Tai: “Is it really that bad? …Though yeah, it’s brutal.”

Suave Not Sleazy: “Zombie, did you even raise this account yourself?”

The Ghost Server comrades resolutely defended their Deputy Commander’s dignity with silence—that was already their limit. There was no way they could bring themselves to lie and say something like, “Actually, if you look closely, the Deputy’s outfit isn’t that…”

Lord, we only thought it, we didn’t say it out loud. Please forgive us. Amen.

The World chat was much calmer about the new gear compared to the first time. A couple of people popped up to marvel at the insane drop rate of this dungeon, but that was it. Clearly, everyone knew the Ghost Server Legion had entered the dungeon—though no one was discussing which dungeon in World chat, as they were all busy forming their own teams to explore. Or, more likely, other teams had already entered this dungeon too.

Not long after leaving the Ancient Castle, the squad entered the lakeside forest. They fought mobs as they advanced, moving cautiously since no one knew what awaited them at the end of the woods.

“Blesscaller, are you a Rally build?! You’re about to blow me into the sky with all this Rallying!”

The team had just finished off a mob, and White Dragon Horse finally snapped after enduring the relentless Rally buffs.

Crossplayer didn’t respond, feeling a little guilty about his lack of skill, but being called out like this was still awkward. Fang Zheng wanted to retort on his behalf, but Five Peaks Pavilion were allies now, not enemies. Light teasing was one thing, but shamelessly defending Crossplayer’s constant Rallying would be too much—after all, it was slowing the whole team down.

Then, Birdy said nonchalantly, “Everyone was a rookie once. Luckily, skill isn’t like Luck Stat—it can always be improved later.”

Five Peaks Pavilion was struck by this arrow of truth. Silence. Blood loss.

Fang Zheng mourned for them for two seconds before grinning and typing to Birdy while healing—

[Whisper] Milk is Mom: Holy shit, that reply was so SO handsome!

Birdy was still furiously attacking mobs without pause, yet the whisper reply came instantly—

[Whisper] Polly: Daddy’s pretty handsome too.

If he sent one more whisper to Birdy, he’d chop his own hands off!!!

Perhaps because they’d gotten a feel for the mobs, Drink became more aggressive, often pulling two at once. As a result, Fang Zheng’s hands—which might soon leave his body—became even more nimble. The mobs predictably fell under the barrage of attacks, and Drink looted some Huaxia Coins, nothing else.

Just as Drink stood up from looting, 2B Fighter Jet suddenly exclaimed, “Huh?”

“What’s up?” Fang Zheng reacted fastest.

The whole team tensed instantly, but no matter how they adjusted their cameras, they couldn’t spot anything suspicious around them…

“What if we didn’t throw the gold coins and the girl didn’t let her hair down—how would we fight that boss then?”

The YY channel fell silent as the dead of night.

Drink was the first to step forward, and the other ten followed resolutely, leaving only 2B standing there mulling over prehistoric questions.

Crossplayer was still Rallying, but White Dragon Horse had already protested once and suffered “damage reflect” from Birdy, so he didn’t dare push it further. Instead, he turned his frustration toward another persistent gatherer—

“Hey, 715, can you please stand up straight? You’ve picked all the grass along the way!”

438 hadn’t gotten used to his new name yet, so he remained immersed in the anticipation of gathering progress bars. This dungeon was a paradise for rare herbs—he wanted to touch and pluck everything, only lamenting his limited inventory space >_<

“715!” White Dragon Horse, ignored, was furious.

438 jolted, his mouse slipped, and the gathering failed. His frustration leaked into his words: “What?!”

White Dragon Horse thought, You’ve got some nerve. “We’re here to explore, not to play Shennong tasting herbs, okay?”

438’s frustration was the size of a grain of rice—one “what” was enough to vent it. So now, he was entirely lacking in confidence: “Uh, what’s your problem? Even our Commander never yells at me like this…”

He yells at you plenty, okay? =_=

Fang Zheng sighed, picked up his teacup, and gulped down several mouthfuls while wondering who this kid had learned to lie from.

“Whitey,” Drink suddenly spoke up, “are you thirsty?”

Did he hear me drinking water? =_=

Fang Zheng was confused. White Dragon Horse was even more baffled: “No?”

Drink said lightly, “Then drink some water anyway.”

The entire combined team: “…”

[Legion] Summit of Mount Tai: The Commander thinks you talk too much.

[Legion] Nicknamed White Dragon Horse: Did you have to explain?!

[Legion] Nicknamed White Dragon Horse: I feel like ever since we entered this dungeon, my status in the legion has been plummeting. Now I’m not even allowed to talk too much [sobbing loudly]

[Legion] Drink Till You Drop: [hug]

[Legion] Nicknamed White Dragon Horse: And now you’re taking advantage of Laozi =_=

The Hanging Gardens dungeon was vast, with a long journey ahead, but the bosses weren’t hidden. At the end of the forest, a giant willow tree blocked their path. Clearly, this was the second boss. Though it was called a willow tree, its branches didn’t droop—instead, they resembled the Whomping Willow from Harry Potter.

The only difference was that this one could move.

Fang Zheng: “Looks like a tough fight.”

Drink: “If it attacks with its branches, the range must be huge.”

2B: “Then what do we do?”

Blood Bull: “Just go. Staring won’t kill the boss.”

Before the words even finished, Blood Bulls Don’t Graze was already charging forward, swinging her greatsword at the Willow Tree Monster!

The group of men collectively broke into a sweat and hurried to follow. Before they could get close, the Willow Tree Monster’s branches lashed out at Blood Bull!

Fang Zheng watched the status bar, ready to heal Blood Bull after she got hit. But soon, he noticed her HP bar hadn’t changed—instead, 2B’s HP was plummeting. He looked up and saw Blood Bull hacking away at the Fighter Jet.

“Big sis, please don’t…” The little plane was wounded in body and soul.

Only then did Fang Zheng notice the new status icon on Blood Bull’s HP and MP bars—Frenzy.

Just like turning into a ghost in the City of the Dead, players in Frenzy Status attacked indiscriminately, friend or foe. However, in the City of the Dead, players were enhanced after turning into ghosts, whereas Blood Bull’s attack power hadn’t noticeably increased. Also, Frenzy in the City of Dead lasted until the player’s HP was depleted—meaning teammates had to beat them down to zero to clear the stage. Here, though, it was clearly just a short debuff, evidenced by the Frenzy Status icon flashing on her HP and MP bars (in Huaxia, status icons only flashed in the last ten seconds before disappearing).

The little plane couldn’t bring himself to fight back, so he just ran circles around the tree—which, as it turned out, was the right move.

Soon, Blood Bull’s Frenzy Status wore off, and without a word, she charged back at the tree. But the Willow Tree Monster seemed to time it perfectly—after a brief cast, its branches struck Crossplayer’s Blessing. The Blesscaller hesitated for a moment before sprinting toward 438, who was controlling his pet.

“Don’t come at me!” 438 had figured it out too—he didn’t attack, just ran.

After Crossplayer came 2B, then White Dragon Horse… The Willow Tree Monster released Frenzy roughly once a minute, alternating with physical ST Attacks or AoE Attacks.

Compared to the harmless but annoying Frenzy, these physical attacks were deadly.

Precise. Relentless.

The two healers had to spam heals nonstop just to keep up.

Since this was their first run, no one knew when the boss would use single-target or AoE attacks, or even how much HP it had. There was no strategy—just trial and error. Fortunately, the Willow Tree Monster didn’t pull any surprises. As time passed, Fang Zheng figured the boss was about to go Berserk—but then 438 suddenly shouted, “Box!”

Fang Zheng didn’t dare stop casting, so he could only talk: “Is that the new name you gave your pet?”

“No,” 438 sounded urgent, “a box just walked past my feet! It was really weird!”

Who even looks at their feet at a time like this?!

“Commander, it’s running away! Should I chase it?!”

“Chase, chase…”

“Got it!” 438 took off almost instantly, leaving the fight—and his pet followed.

The YY channel erupted in unison: “Fuck—”

Hard to tell if they were cursing the chase or the one who approved it.

Fang Zheng was actually wronged—what he’d meant to say was, Chase, chase, chase your sister! Was it wrong to use repetition for emphasis? TAT

Before Fang Zheng could collect his thoughts, the Willow Tree Monster suddenly convulsed violently. The next second, its branches snapped off like rain, lashing out at them—so fast and wide that dodging was impossible!

Watching the entire team’s HP bars drop by half in an instant, Fang Zheng understood—this was Berserk!

“Mount Tai!” Drink’s usually steady voice carried a hint of urgency.

But there was no need to say it—Summit of Mount Tai had already cast Ten Thousand Blossoms, an AoE Heal.

Fang Zheng seized the moment to top off Drink Till You Drop’s still-not-half-full HP bar.

The Willow Tree Monster had gone mad, unleashing AoE after AoE, each more lethal than the last!

Not just Fang Zheng and Summit of Mount Tai—the entire combined team was giving it their all, keyboard smashing providing the soundtrack in YY. But Crossplayer’s Blessing still fell after one AoE sweep. Fang Zheng quickly cast Resurrection Skill, but in those few seconds, as Crossplayer stood up, Drink Till You Drop went down!

“Don’t rez him!” Fang Zheng stopped Summit of Mount Tai mid-cast.

Mount Tai canceled the skill, realizing—if he’d finished casting, Drink would’ve been resurrected, but aggro would still be on him. And a freshly rezzed character only had 15% HP, meaning they’d die instantly to the boss’s next hit!

Seconds flew by. 2B Fighter Jet successfully took aggro, Mount Tai rezzed Drink, and Fang Zheng rushed to heal him.

Crossplayer wasn’t completely useless—Blessing of Healing was his forte. So while Fang Zheng and Mount Tai focused on Drink, he became Fighter Jet’s main healer.

But deaths—especially tank deaths—were the worst in team battles, as they disrupted the entire team’s DPS rhythm, especially the healers’. Most teams would wipe one after another after the tank fell.

The combined team had two healers and two tanks, which helped, but the rhythm was still thrown off—most obviously, the whole team’s HP was dropping fast while the boss’s attacks grew even more frenzied!

White Dragon Horse: “Holy shit, are we really gonna wipe?! Why won’t this thing just die already?!”

Drink: “Hold on a little longer, just a little longer.”

[System] Djinn of the Box: I held on for three hundred years.

2B Fighter Jet: “What the fuck?! At a time like this, you stop fighting to type?!”

White Dragon Horse: “…”

2B Fighter Jet: “And you switched accounts?!”

White Dragon Horse: “…”

2B Fighter Jet: “Why is your message in the system channel?!”

Everyone: “Shut the fuck up!”

The combined team’s unprecedented unity surged into the sky. The Willow Tree Monster let out a death wail and collapsed.

But no one had the energy to loot it.

[System] Djinn of the Box: For the first hundred years, I swore to give the one who opened the box and freed me endless riches—but no one came.

[System] Djinn of the Box: For the second hundred years, I swore to grant any wish of the one who opened the box—but no one came.

[System] Djinn of the Box: For the third hundred years, I swore to eat whoever opened the box.

[Local] Refined Into a Demon 715: I don’t taste good…

[Local] Refined Into a Demon 715: Commander~~~~~ [crying]

Forget the team—before the comrades, still battered from the Willow Tree Monster, could regroup, the Demon Refiner’s new friend, who had followed him back to the team, swept them all up in a gust of wind, scattering them like Celestial Maidens Scattering Blossoms.

Thus, the Djinn of the Box and the Willow Tree Monster, under the influence of Refined Into a Demon 715’s childlike curiosity and thirst for knowledge, achieved a seamless, glorious handoff.