52. Wolf Clan The Pyramids were the most suitable training ground for most players currently. So it"s not hard to find a party to grind with. However, XiaoYu"s level was rather low. It was very hard for him to find any party he could share an equal EXP with.
Last night, I_Am_A_Poor_Man asked the she-devil of the Healers Alliance if there were any healers-only grinding parties in the group. This way, XiaoYu didn"t have to look at other players" buffs and debuffs. He can just gain EXP with the rest of the party by killing monsters.
Chrysanthemum immediately replied it was not a problem with a fist to the chest. She will find a group for the wee lamb. Sweat rolled down I_Am_A_Poor_Man"s forehead at that. Was he sending XiaoYu to the wolves" den?
"Xiao-Yu, you can go grind in the Pyramids from now on," messaged the fully-rested I_Am_A_Poor_Man who"d just logged on. The days without meetings and overtime were just the best.
"Why?"
"The ranged attacks of those Jiangshi are so annoying. Head over early."
"But my level…" Mummies were at least Level 70. Was there really no problem with such a large level difference?
"The devil would find you a healer party. You just need to kill monsters at your own pace then."
"Oh."
"XiaoYu? XiaoYu?" HereticKing called out.
"Ah? Ah. I had a message," XiaoYu replied.
"Notifying you about the team training?"
"No. Big Brother Poor told me to go grind in the Pyramids from now on."
"That"s good too. You level faster when you fight above your level range." Back then, HereticKing dragged quite a few along with him doing so. Fighting monsters way above their levels, bosses way above their levels. Those bunch of brats only got their reflexes and skill from that. How else would they be the elite pillars supporting the guild?
"Mn. True." He"s not brave enough to attack monsters that were of too high a level when he"s alone. His reserved personality and the tiny cat"s uniqueness also stop him from actively seeking parties. Of course he wouldn"t miss out on a chance like this. He needed to work hard on making himself stronger. Only then would he not be bullied all the time.
"I"ll take you to the Pyramids to record down the map now." (Maps would only show all markings and areas when the area had been explored once. If not, it"ll just show an empty s.p.a.ce. The only exceptions were special maps like the Maze Forest.)
Rather than having the two humans and one cat sat on the large bed and stared at each other, why not do something meaningful before the afternoon team training starts.
HereticKing and I_Am_A_Poor_Man did bring XiaoYu along to grind in the Pyramids, but they ran straight for the nest for the underground Berserk Mummies. The sp.a.w.n zones for normal Mummies were up from the entrance.
With consideration for HereticKing"s level, the two charged straight for the high-level Mummies at the top floor to grind after exploring the low-level Mummies sp.a.w.n paints. As the monsters here were within 20 levels of HereticKing, he could earn some experience too. Of course, the mobs on this level had ranged attacks. However, their attacks were rather special. The Mummy will let out large amounts of white bandages in the area. When the players go all dizzy, it"ll wrap them up and petrify them. Then, it"ll walk over to beat them up in close-quarters combat.
Naturally, no matter how fast those bandages go, they"ll never be faster than an Agility-build Knight, especially any players after the Third Job Change. The game would dramatically increase all stats at that point. Thus, all they heard were bandages whooshing around then they"ll turn into a pile of ragged cloth on the floor. Then, the Mummy that"s nearly been stripped bare would be slowly tortured to death by XiaoYu"s healing spells.
The advantage of this floor was that the high-level Mummies weren"t as tanky as the underground Berserk Mummies (Elites). So each battle won"t be dragged out. It allowed HereticKing to protect XiaoYu at all times without I_Am_A_Poor_Man. The only downside was this was where the final boss of the Pyramids sp.a.w.ned - the Mummy King Osiris.
It was an unspoken truth acknowledged by everyone that XiaoYu"s luck for finding treasures skyrocket the moment he"s in a party. Due to his party members during boss fights being different every time, no one realised his luck at finding bosses were amazingly strong too.
Speak of the devil. They encountered the boss introduced just now, Osiris.
No need to worry though. This boss was rather popular. There just so happened to be a group of players beating it up right then. One of the mutually agreed upon rules of MMOs: Don"t just stand there and watch as people are fighting a boss. Leave or be suspected of trying to steal loot. You"d deserve it if you get killed by the boss-fighters.
Hence, when HereticKing noticed what was going on, he led XiaoYu away. Before leaving, XiaoYu took a close look at the purple Mummy in the middle of the crowd. So that"s Osiris.
They thought they"d be safe if they just stayed far away from the group of players fighting Osiris. They couldn"t have imagined that in just a few minutes, those players would be rapidly retreating towards HereticKing and XiaoYu. "Osiris is going berserk. Run!" they shouted.
When a boss monster at Level 70 or above had its health whittled down to 10%, there"s a chance they"ll go into a berserk rage. XiaoYu was lucky the few times before. He never encountered a berserk boss. It"s obvious this group of Osiris-fighters weren"t that lucky. Osiris was mad.
The purple shadow of Osiris rapidly expanded to triple its original size. Its bandages went from purple to red. Blood red. A berserk boss had double speed and attack power. Their health would be healed back to half-health and they"ll summon a bunch of the strongest minions in their species. For Osiris, it summoned dozens of Berserk Mummies.
The formation of this group of players quickly turned into a mess. The close-ranged combatants withdrew to re-strategize while reminding nearby players to be careful.
HereticKing pulled XiaoYu back behind him and swiftly moved aside. The two keeping a close eye on the Mummies never noticed how there was a gleaming gaze among the crowd of players who"d rushed over. (These players had been grinding on the other side. Their sight just so happened to be blocked by the boss and the close-ranged combatants. Because of that, they never saw HereticKing and XiaoYu being near them before.)
In the chaos, a few Berserk Mummies changed their targets to HereticKing and XiaoYu. Naturally, HereticKing threw out several Taunts to attract all the mobs" attention. XiaoYu was behind him trying his best to attack the monsters with his healing spells.
Then, a pink glow enveloped HereticKing and a buff XiaoYu didn"t have yet showed up on his status effects list - a.s.sumptio. This buffs all were renewed and were dramatically improved.
HereticKing paused. Soon, he knew why. The she-devil I_Am_A_Poor_Man kept mentioning was grinning and waving at him. He took another look at the familiar faces near her. Ah, the Wolf Clan was boss hunting.
The Heretic Demons and the Wolf Clan didn"t interact much, but they had a much better relationship than with the Wings. WolfKing, the guild leader of the Wolf Clan was a good and honest healer. Compared to HereticKing and GloryOfTheWorld, he lacked some of the tyrannical and dominating aura the other guild leaders had. The huge number of strong female players within the Wolf Clan was an undeniable part of their ability to be one of the big three guilds. Sometimes, WolfKing himself was confused as to why there were more female players in his guild than male players, and every one of them were tougher than he was.
Of course, as the guild leader, he joined in on the boss hunt this time too. When he saw HereticKing, he merely nodded in greeting. At the sight of his guild"s tiny Chrysanthemum buffing the other player, he felt so dejected. Fine. He"s a healer too. He"ll just feed himself.
The Wolf Clan members looked rather experienced with Osiris. While it went berserk, their formation only broke slightly. No one died. Soon, they were organised and back. Once the minions were vanquished, they kept beating up the pitiful Osiris.
Osiris had greatly increased attack power and attack speed, but the Wolf Clan was rich in healers. The Knight it just hit was healed back up already. It took a big bite out of the a.s.sa.s.sin who snuck up on it. That person was quickly healed too. As long as it can"t kill someone in one hit, all its attacks were useless. It"d even have to suffer being crushed by all sorts of Holy damage and healing spells.
If it didn"t go into a rage in silence, but it"d die in silence. Osiris had already gone berserk once. Unfortunately, these high-levelled players didn"t care. Thus, it can only die.
The tiny cat"s eyes were red from staring at the mountain of loot on the ground. Unfortunately, they were still being protected. It can"t touch them. It spun round and round XiaoYu and HereticKing. It wants to pick them up!
"Hi. Are you two here to grind?" As soon as Osiris collapsed, Chrysanthemum came strutting over to chat with HereticKing and XiaoYu.
"Yes. Hi, Chrysanthemum."
"What a polite and good kid. I really want to kidnap you."
"Thanks for just now." Even if Chrysanthemum hadn"t buffed HereticKing, a few puny elite mobs wouldn"t have killed him. At most, he"d lose more health. However, his excellent upbringing still made HereticKing thank Chrysanthemum.
"You"re welcome. It"s our fault in the first place. If we made you lose a level, we"ll have to die in apology."
"Hi, guys." WolfKing who finally was free from work walked over to say h.e.l.lo too. "Sorry about just now. We missed a few."
"It"s fine," HereticKing replied.
"Grinding for a healer? Do you need help?" offered WolfKing. When he saw the little healer who didn"t look that high-levelled standing behind HereticKing, he thought of a way he could pay for the mistake his guild made just now, and also out of kindness to another fellow healer.
"There"s no need. Thank you. We"ll be off soon."
"Alright, Wolfie. The couple"s out grinding. Why are you disrupting them? Let"s go split the loot." Chrysanthemum dragged WolfKing by the back of his shirt away from the two. "Bye, LuckyCat. Train hard," she said.
As to the occasional unexpected and rather astonishing terms that Chrysanthemum would spout, one just had to get used to it. XiaoYu didn"t want to debate with her about the issue with using "the couple" back there. He had no way of dealing with her.
When Chrysanthemum pulled WolfKing back to the guild party, the other girls who"d been watching the whole time started gathering around her. Secret whispers were had on some mysterious issue. Sometimes, they"d throw a strange look at HereticKing and XiaoYu.
"Chrysanthemum, is that Heretic"s lover?"
"Ahem. Unconfirmed yet. Observing."
"Even you don"t know? But they look so perfect together. I"m drooling."
"Ah, I thought Wolfie and Heretic was the perfect couple."
"No way. When compared, Wolfie is clearly the inferior. That little healer is cuter and fresher."
"Yes. I love cats."
…
WolfKing who"d been stuck listening felt like howling at the sky. Everyone envied his guild for how many female players there were. Who"d know that he was always being discussed by a bunch of women on how to marry him off? O how can one endure this torment!
Translator"s Notes:
1. Osiris: Osiris is an actual boss (MVP) monster in the Ragnarok Online. I don"t have any fun facts for you guys, so have his card from the original game:
Osiris Card 2. a.s.sumptio: A High Priest skill from RO where damage received is halved in PvE maps. In the new mobile RO game, it"s an Acolyte skill.