A fiery cone appeared around their weapons, and He Yi, Li Chengfeng, Chaos Moon, Xu Yang and High Fighting Spirits all landed their Barrier Break at the same time. The Wood Porcupine might be a Level 150 shadow-rank mob with 2200 Defense, but it was still a devastating amount of damage. Five damage numbers rose above its head in succession—
15648!
13209!
14927!
12248!
12632!
Xu Yang and Chaos Moon dealt slightly less damage than the rest, but it was still pretty good. The mob lost 70k HP in one go, but that wasn"t the end yet. The group immediately followed up with their signature skills such as Li Chengfeng"s Dragonbone Flurry, High Fighting Spirits" Xiezhi Howl and so on!
I launched my combo when the mob"s HP finally dropped to 50k or so. A cone of fiery, indigo energy wrapped around my sword, and the formation of the universe appeared beneath my feet. Then, I hit the Wood Porcupine"s head withUniverse Break and Burning Blade Slash without pause!
19828!
6572!
8724!
13002!
The quadruple hit later, the Wood Porcupine let out a scream and died, all the spikes on its body falling to the ground. At the same time, I noticed that I had lost almost 5000 HP. It looks like the spikes on its body give it 10% damage reflection!
By now, a hail of spikes was falling toward us again, so I barked out an order urgently, "Guard now!"
Everyone raised their weapons, arms and s.h.i.+elds and a.s.sumed a defensive stance immediately. It was as if we had transformed into ten steel fortresses. Thankfully, all of us were able to weather the Spike Rain without any trouble, and after the bombardment was over we escaped to the nearest blind spot.
Thud!
As I entered the blind spot, I was suddenly stopped by a soft, fragrant body. When I recovered myself and looked up, I noticed a beautiful priest standing right in front of me. She was none other than Murong Mingyue!
"WTF? Why are you here, sis?" I exclaimed in surprise.
Murong Mingyue replied with a smile, "After Beiming and I marked the blind spots you guys went to, we decided to come over to help you. It"s not just us either. Look, Gui Guzi and the others are right behind us."
Standing right next to Murong Mingyue, Beiming Xue raised her Blazing Shadow Bow and said, "I can help you shoot the Wood Porcupines from afar, big bro. They can"t hit me in the blind spot, so I"m in no danger of being killed."
I nodded. "Okay then, you guys showed up at just the right time anyway. Sis, feed us now…"
Murong Mingyue shot me an exasperated smile before ordering, "Group up!"
After we grouped up, Murong Mingyue stood on her toes and waved her scepter in an elegant manner. The next moment, the greenish magic of life swirled around her and manifested a formation of vitality right beneath our feet. To our surprise, everyone standing within the formation started regenerating health at an accelerated rate. At this rate, it would probably take 20 seconds at most for all of us to heal back to full health!
"Wow, what is this skill?" Xu Yang exclaimed in surprise.
Murong Mingyue giggled at his reaction before replying, "It"s awesome, isn"t it? This is a skill called "Pool of Life" that I got from a friend at Vanished G.o.d City. Everyone who stands within the formation will regenerate 5% HP per second. Its only flaw is that its range is 5x5 yards, which makes it impractical to use in open-field combat…"
I grinned. "If it was any bigger, the other priests might as well switch to another cla.s.s…"
We all laughed. Still, this Pool of Life was very timely. Most of our fighters needed at least 10 minutes to regenerate back to full health. After all, not everyone had a skill like Tenacity of the Dead or Regeneration of the Undead.
……
After we returned to full health, we set our eyes on the Wood Porcupine directly in front of us. Beiming Xue had been chipping away at its health while we were waiting for Pool of Life to heal us back to full health. All in all, our job was now much easier than before.
"Go!"
We charged toward the Wood Porcupine again. This time, I was the one who reached the mob first. After hitting the Wood Porcupine with a Dragon Slaying Slash, I followed up with Universe Break and Burning Blade Slash. After the others arrived and used their Barrier Break, the Wood Porcupine dropped dead just like that. This was definitely much easier with Beiming Xue and Murong Mingyue"s a.s.sistance.
Meanwhile, our mounted players such as Gui Guzi and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun were standing at another blind spot. Copying my tactic, Gui Guzi and dozens of magic knights charged the closest Wood Porcupine to them and tried to kill it as quickly as possible. Their group had Knight G.o.d and two Barrier Breaks, so they had just enough damage to burst down a Wood Porcupine. The Magic Knight cla.s.s naturally had high HP and Defense scaling, and Knight G.o.d turned it into a powerhouse no one could ignore.
And so, we orderly took down the Wood Porcupines one by one. The kill experience was a bit subpar because it was divided between a lot of people, but we weren"t killing them for the experience anyway. Our real goal was to open a path for our army to pa.s.s through, and to collect the innumerable amount of equipment occupying the center of the valley.
……
About half an hour later, we had reduced the Wood Porcupines to just a dozen or so. Their Spike Rains could no longer threaten us, and our fighters had been itching to give the Level 150 shadow-rank mobs a taste of their own medicine. Xu Yang, Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi and more rushed them and cut them into pieces in no time.
When the Wood Porcupines were finally cleared out, He Yi spoke inside the guild channel. Nearly two thousand low-level Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players flooded through the entrance and picked up the mountain of equipment to deliver back to our warehouse as planned. Before this, I had changed some settings in the guild system so that the carriers couldn"t claim owners.h.i.+p over any equipment that was Dark Gold–grade or above. This was to avoid greedy and selfish theft of shared a.s.sets while we weren"t looking.
……
"Finally, the entrance to the Wood Dragon Domain is clear…" Xu Yang let out a long sigh of relief before wiping the sweat on his forehead. His arm might be broken in real life, but it was perfectly functional inside the game.
I asked, "How is the situation at the other entrances?"
He Yi sucked in a deep breath before answering, "There are three cleared entrances right now, and they are ours, Candle Dragon"s and Snowy Cathaya"s. Well, the last entrance isn"t fully cleared yet, but Lin Yixin should be done very soon. Also, Warsky Alliance is clearing the fourth entrance, but instead of exploiting a blind spot they"re sending Farewell Song and a party of a.s.sa.s.sins to backstab the Wood Porcupines with Sneak Attack. They lost some a.s.sa.s.sins during the process, but the tactic is working for them. It"s also only a matter of time before they clear out an entrance of their own."
"In that case, let"s move out, find the boss and find the entrance to the next floor as soon as possible!"
"Okay!"
……
Several thousand Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players flooded into the Wood Dragon Domain, but our guild was hardly the only guild who cleared out an entrance and made it inside. It wouldn"t be long before this place was flooded with players as well.
I checked the minimap while walking in front of my party. The Wood Dragon Domain was ridiculously vast with many winding paths that seemed to stretch endlessly toward the horizon. No wonder it was praised as one of the biggest maps in all the servers!
"Hey, look! Is it just me, or is there something s.h.i.+ny over there?" Beiming Xue pointed to the distance suddenly.
When Gui Guzi and I looked at the direction she was pointing, our minds suddenly grinded to a halt. "That"s… the s.h.i.+ne of gold… Gold!"
We instantly threw all caution to the wind and ran toward the gold with everything we got.
Behind us, He Yi stomped her feet in anger. "Come back, you idiots! It"s most likely a trap!"
In fact, Gui Guzi and I weren"t the only ones who lost our minds when we saw the gold. Li Chengfeng, High Fighting Spirits and a couple others were just a few steps behind us. But what could we do except obey our desires? It was all poverty"s fault!
But when we finally entered the small valley, we quickly realized that the "gold" wasn"t gold at all. It was just a pile of golden-colored rocks!
Rustle rustle rustle…
The earth beneath our feet started rumbling, and small b.u.mps started poppin all around. Why do I feel like I"ve seen this before?
The next moment, all our faces turned as white as paper. They were Wood Porcupines!
Crack crack crack…
Hundreds of Wood Porcupines surrounded us in an instant, and grayish despair colored Chaos Moon"s complexion. "Oh s.h.i.+t, we"re all going to die…"
I nodded grimly. "Yep, it"s GG!"
However, Gui Guzi cried out, "Boss Broken Halberd, look! These Wood Porcupines don"t have Spike Rain! It"s a s.h.i.+ttier version that can"t use an AoE skill!"
I scanned a nearby Wood Porcupine immediately, and it was exactly as Gui Guzi said. Unlike the freaks that gave us one h.e.l.l of a time at the entrance earlier, these Wood Porcupines were close-range fighters without an AoE skill. They were still Level 150 shadow-rank mobs, but they were far, far easier to deal with. I immediately raised my sword and declared, "Alright, let"s grind here until someone finds the boss. Don"t worry, the news will spread automatically, no matter who finds the boss first!"
Our two-thousand-man party started grinding in this valley just like that. Without their ridiculously broken AoE skill, the Wood Porcupines weren"t nearly as threatening as before. At the very least, they weren"t able to give Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls too much trouble.
……
Chiang chiang chiang!
I slashed a Wood Porcupine in the head and used War Crush. Occasionally, Silver Dragon Storm would trigger and howl across the battlefield. With equipment like this, I could hold back and still become the MVP and the highest contributor in the guild. It wasn"t even a challenge...
Beep!
It was at this moment Lin Yixin sent me a message: "Did you locate the boss of the Wood Dragon Domain yet?"
"Nope. What about you guys?"
"Same."
"Well, let"s continue whatever we"re doing then."
"Mn!"
It looked like the boss of this floor was very well hidden. Oh well, the Wood Porcupines were worth a lot of experience and loot anyway. It wasn"t a waste of time as long as we were getting something out of this.
Thump thump thump...
When I climbed up a hill and stood at the top, I was shocked to find a giant basin jampacked with Level 150 Wood Porcupines in it. This was the perfect opportunity to gain some levels!
"Someone, come over here and guard the entrance! Gui Guzi, form a party and push into the basin…"
"Ohh!"
I was already running toward the Wood Porcupines while I gave the order. The moment I entered within range, I immediately used War Crush and Burning Blade Slash to reduce the health of all the mobs in front of me to half health. I had changed my stratagem to Martial G.o.d because it was the more useful skill in PvE.
While Gui Guzi and a bunch of fighters were fighting at the frontlines, our ranged players like Beiming Xue and Moonlight Stone were dis.h.i.+ng out Spiraling Arrow Blades and Galaxy Storms from the back as well. He Yi"s Firelight Mouse also dealt great DPS in this battle. Of course, my Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf was tearing into the mobs as well.
Everyone"s experience bar filled up fairly quickly as the Wood Porcupines kept falling one after another. Even better, the mobs dropped Level 125 equipment that almost all our high-level players could equip immediately. Plenty of them were of Outstanding quality as well.
A long time later, when I cut open the head of a Wood Porcupine, a magic scroll suddenly dropped on the ground. I was pleasantly surprised when I picked up the cyan-colored scroll and read its description—
Nine Lost Dragon Domains B2 Floor Teleportation Scroll: When used, teleports all players in the party to a random location on Nine Lost Dragon Domains B2 Floor.