Chapter 331: Blackfathom (Part 1)
With Thaelrid leading the way, they torturously journeyed through the underground world. Thaelrid
should have changed his profession from a Thief to a Scout; it seemed to better suit his role as a
Sentinel.
This guy had been here for a long time, so he was very familiar with the terrain and the monsters here.
They almost didn't have to do any fighting before reaching the entrance of the Instance Dungeon.
It was called the entrance, but there wasn't actually an entrance there at the moment. Lu Li unfurled the
Instance Dungeon scroll. A circle of magic appeared before them, from which came Murloc sounds and
the pained cries of some other unknown creatures.
"Why are the monsters in the in this Instance Dungeon even stronger than before?" Thaelrid's
expression turned dark.
Lu Li laughed without saying anything. He wasn't about to tell him that this was the Nightmare Difficulty;
he didn't want to scare away their free worker.
Although Thaelrid was frightened, he drew inspiration from the Moon G.o.ddess and stepped into the
Instance Dungeon without hesitation.
This was why everyone said that the craziest people were the fanatics.
The group immediately ran into two Blackfathom Tide Priests. They were holding Magic Staffs in one
hand and whips in the other. They were also whipping some human slaves that were howling in pain.
The Twillight Hammer sect believed that a sacrifice who was experiencing pain and resentment was
more sincere.
As such, captured prisoners would be looted and subjected to all kinds of torture before they were
offered to Aku'mai. The servant of the Ancient G.o.ds would then devour their flesh and blood.
Dawn's virtual reality was quite realistic and there was no way to lessen the experience. Upon seeing the
prisoners being tortured, everyone felt a little uneasy.
However, they felt even more anger.
The result of this anger was the instant death of both Priests.
Even as they died, the Tide Priests did not repent, but yelled out, "All things will perish and the Ancient
G.o.ds will rule the land once more."
"Psht, we'll just kill your Ancient G.o.ds."
Azure Sea Breeze kicked the body of the Tide Priest with disdain. They didn't care about some G.o.d in a
video game; all that the players thought of them was EXP and equipment!
The prisoner hadn't died yet. He struggled to get up and said, "They wanted to feed me to Aku'mai the
beast. There are more prisoners in the depths of this dungeon. I beg you, save them."
"We'll do it. Leave this place quickly," Lu Li promised as he nodded.
It wasn't a quest and it didn't have a particularly good reward, but there was no harm in doing it. They
needed to fight their way through this place anyway.
System: You have acquired favor from the residents of Stormwind City. Stormwind Prestige +1.
This came as surprise. Stormwind City was the capital of the Alliance and players of all races set up in
that city as their home. Lu Li had also planned to settle down there eventually.
Prestige was a very useful thing. Without it, you couldn't buy properties or mount, even if you had the
money.
"Look, more people who do not fear death."
Another two Tide Priests saw them and immediately cried out. They ordered the Murlocs to surround
them and "grab them and make them sacrifices."
You could already imagine the outcome. Killing these weaklings didn't even work up a sweat, even
though this was the Nightmare Difficulty.
These Twilight believers were truly fanatics, unafraid of death. Before they died, they cried out, "My
death will serve to nourish the Ancient G.o.ds."
The group cleared mobs the whole way and saved many prisoners. Most of them were humans, but
there were some Orcs and Trolls as well. Lu Li and the others stayed on guard the whole time, but there
was still a great deal of grat.i.tude expressed towards them for saving their lives.
Naturally, it would be unrealistic if Lu Li and the others didn't receive Aiglima's Prestige Award.
They reached an underground lake that had a stone tower in front of it. An Orc called Executioner Ghale
was standing on top of it. He commanded a few Murlocs to step into the water and laughed, "Come on
down; the water is safe. I promise. Hahaha"
"We're definitely gonna kill you," Azure Sea Breeze yelled out. He was arguing with an Instance Dungeon
monster; he had definitely gone insane.
After he had set up the obstacle, he quickly left the area.
"How do we get past?" March Rain asked.
The Murlocs in the water looked fierce; the sight of them was quite scary. The few girls' faces looked
uneasy.
"I'll go and pull them away so you guys will have the opportunity to pa.s.s. Don't delay – there are a
bunch of monsters in the water and I can't hold them for too long."
Lu Li volunteered himself because he wanted to protect the girls.
If they were all guys, he would have just gotten them to rush together with the Main Tank leading the
charge.
Although these Murlocs looked scary, they were just ordinary monsters that would take more than a
few bites to kill you.
Moreover, there were also Giant Mussels under the water which could be opened to acquire Pearls. If
they collected enough Pearls, a jeweler could make it into a pearl necklace. It didn't necessarily have
great attributes, but it did look very luxurious and elegant. As such, was very popular with the female
players.
Lu Li leaped and landed into the water before the Murlocs began to rush at him.
While they were all behind him, he transformed into Seal and started swimming quickly. These ordinary
mobs couldn't catch up to him; he just had to make sure that he didn't get flanked.
The others took advantage of the opening Lu Li created and quickly pa.s.sed through.
Occasionally, one or two Murlocs would come in their direction, but Lonesome Flower dragged them
towards him with his skills. He had also cast a s.h.i.+eld on himself so the Murlocs could barely do any
damage to him.
After everyone had safely reached the other side, Lu Li finally came out of the water.
The Murlocs were exceptionally brave in the water, but they were completely different on the sh.o.r.e.
They quickly somersaulted back into the water.
"Do we need to jump on these platforms?" With one look at the terrain, a seasoned player could
immediately work it out. There were platforms above the water that eventually reached an exit in the
cave wall, with each one being higher than the last.
In other words, the players had to jump onto these platforms one at a time to reach the exit.
"Let me try it."
Lu Li remembered hearing that at first, not all of the players needed to jump up the Blackfathom
platforms. However, in order to make it more fun, the game company later changed it so that every
player was required to do this.
When the others heard that they didn't need to partic.i.p.ate, they all let out a sigh of relief.
Falling from such a great height was already pretty bad. Although there was water below, there were
also hungry Murlocs waiting for their food.
However, Lu Li had the Child of the Forest transformation, so his jumping ability was superior to that of
a human.
The group watched in amazement as the small leopard leaped into the sky and landed on the platform.
The leopard then skillfully jumped from platform to platform.
They all invariably thought that Lu Li must have had some background in the circus.
Everyone was afraid of how high the platforms were, but Lu Li was freely jumping between them. Before
long, he was on the last platform, hopping into the exit of the cave.
A new way up was soon discovered – a rope was thrown down with Lu Li holding one end of it.
As long as you had the right equipment, climbing was a lot easier in the game. Each one of them
managed to smoothly get up to the exit, even Thaerid. Thaelrid also complimented Lu Li for his skill and
eagerly told him that if he ever wanted to be a Scout, he could introduce him to a Scout Master from
Tanasus.
Lu Li respectfully rejected the offer; he currently had no interest in being a scout.
Not long after, they saw an island that was surrounded by water. They had no idea why there was still
water here as they should have ascended quite a bit in alt.i.tude.
Chapter 332: Blackfathom (Part 2)
From afar, everyone could see what was happening on that island.
There were swirls of magic surrounding a Great White Turtle and entrapping it.
That was Ghamoo-Ra, guardian of the Temple of Elune. It had lived a long life, but ever since the arrival
of the Twilight Hammer, it had been imprisoned.
A madman was torturing Ghamoo-Ra, attempting to study what would happen when its soul was ripped
from its body.
The cruelty of this endeavor could only be imagined and the only reason Ghamoo-Ra why was still alive
was because of its tenacity. However, it was no longer its normal self – if it wasn't for the Twillight
Hammer's crowd-control, it would immediately go insane.
The Twillight Hammer had lost their a.s.set. They intended to use this turtle to defend them, but they had
made it go insane instead.
When he saw other people approaching, the Twillight Priest started to become anxious. He quickened
his hand movements and cried out at the turtle, "Resistance to my magic is futile, Ghamoo-Ra. Soon you
will yield to the power of the Ancient G.o.ds and then, I will use you to pour out our wrath onto these
people."
'These people' was obviously referring to Lu Li and the others.
Ghamoo-Ra looked up at these adventurers with a complex look on its face. It then let out a low growl
before retracting into its sh.e.l.l and spinning on the spot.
As it spun, a moonlight-like energy was generated all around it.
This was power from the Moon G.o.ddess. Ghamoo-Ra had used up the last up the last of his strength to
do this. The power around it was released and instantly killed the Twillight Priests that surrounded him.
"Get ready!" Lu Li shouted.
Their opponent was none other than the newly-freed Ghamoo-Ra.
Now Ghamoo-Ra had used up the last of its divine power, it had completely lost its mind. It would kill
anything in sight, even its son, Pahboo-Ra.
However, it still retained some of its primal instinct – it didn't rush straight for Pahboo-Ra, who was the
closest to it, but attacked Lu Li and the others first.
Ghamoo-Ra had high HP and high Defence. Its signature skill was Trample, which could be used to deal
significant damage to players around him. It also had Spit, which was a usually cast at Ranged
Professions. The magic that was holding Ghamoo-Ra was now also useless because it didn't have any
more divine power. Otherwise, the Priest would have used its power to oppress Lu Li and the others.
Thaelrid was extremely powerful and could deal more damage than Lu Li; the NPCs in this game were all
incredibly strong. Although he had been quite meek and depressed when they first met him, he was
now filled with vigor.
Ghamoo-Ra's HP steadily decreased until it eventually laid down and faced Pahboo-Ra ten minutes later.
This was its son.
Pahboo-Ra hadn't been subjected to the same cruelty, as the Twillight Hammer was using it as leverage
to prevent Ghamoo-Ra from acting rashly. However, it must have been terrible for it to watch its father
being tortured.
When its father fell, a continuous stream of tears rolled down Pahboo-Ra's pale face.
For countless days, Pahboo-Ra had painfully wished for its father to be free, but now that its father had
been freed, its heart was filled with excruciating sadness.
It could no longer see its father anymore.
Today, the father and son had bid farewell.
"Don't just stand there," Lu Li snapped at Remnant Dream while pointed at Pahboo-Ra. "Quickly use
Tame Beast before it breaks out."
Once Pahboo-Ra broke free, it would also go insane like its father.
It was likely a specific to its species, but Pahboo-Ra looked really young, even though it had grown for
many years. Its head was not much bigger than the palm of a hand.
Once she heard the words 'Tame Beast', Remnant Dream immediately cast it.
She was very familiar with this skill as she had practiced it thousands of times. As for how she managed
to get so much practice, Hachi Chan had something to do with that.
Pahboo-Ra quietened down the moment the Tame Beast skill was cast on it. After a few seconds, the
system prompted Remnant Dream that she had acquired Pahboo-Ra as a pet.
The pet form of Pahboo-Ra was even smaller; it was now only as big as the palm of a hand.
However, it was really cute. The girls crowded together and were taking turns playing with it.
Lu Li got Remnant Dream to send him its stats. These girls were obsessed with its appearance, but he
was more interested in the little guy's skills and attributes.
Remnant Dream shared its stats.
Just like its father, it had high HP and Defence. It also had decent Attack, so it was definitely above
average. However, if you just compared the Attack attribute, it couldn't compare to the rare Shadow
Claw pet.
Like Shadow Claw, Pahboo-Ra had four skills, which made it an exquisite pet.
There was a standard attack which had an area of effect.
Crustacean Carapace. Rebounds 20% of the damage. When HP is less than 40%, Defence is increased by
100% for 10 seconds.
This was a very strong pet skill. Ordinary turtles had a small chance of activating Crustacean s.h.i.+eld, but
this didn't have the Rebound effect. On the other hand, Crustacean Carapace had the Rebound effect
and was guaranteed to activate this when the user's HP was less than half.
With this skill alone, Pahboo-Ra was already worthy as the heir of the guardian.
The third skill was Trample, a crowd-control skill. They had already seen it in action with Ghamoo-Ra and
its strength was obvious.
The fourth skill was called Revolving Feast, which was the same skill that Ghamoo-Ra had used to kill the
Twillight Priests. Of course, Pahboo-Ra couldn't draw on divine power like its father, but it was still very
good as an area of effect skill. Lu Li was very satisfied with these skills.
This pet definitely wasn't worse than Shadow Claw.
However, Remnant Dream probably wasn't going to become more powerful, even after acquiring this
pet.
Pahboo-Ra had a fatal flaw – it had a very slow movement speed. This meant that it was useless in a PVP
battles and could only be used against mobs in Instance Dungeons.
Even so, Remnant Dream was still very satisfied with her new pet. It looked good and could be held in
her arms due to its small size.
Shadow Claw was still smaller than its original size, but it had grown as its level increased. Remnant
Dream was finding it more difficult to hold it in her arms.
After catching the pet, everyone realized that that they hadn't checked what Ghamoo-Ra had dropped.
Lu Li knew that Ghamoo-Ra wouldn't really drop anything good, because Pahboo-Ra was considered to
be one of the rewards.
As long as there was a Hunter in the party, pets could easily be caught. However, the attributes of the
pet varied from person to person.
The First Clear and the Nightmare Difficulty both made the rewards better. As such, the turtle pet that
now belonged to Remnant Dream was quite exquisite.
Ghamoo-Ra only dropped one item – Ghamoo-Ra's rope, a cloth belt.
It was a level 25 Silver equipment and had attributes that were higher than normal. However, Lu Li and
his party had no need for this item, so it was thrown into the guild warehouse where players could
redeem it for three points.
They now set off to face the second boss – Domina.
Chapter 333: Blackfathom (Part 3)
On the sh.o.r.es of the island where Ghamoo-Ra was located, two Murlocs were torturing a prisoner.
After the Murlocs had been slain, the prisoner begged the heroes to rescue the other survivors at the next
stop. For the sake of his reputation, Lu Li couldn't find any excuse to turn down the prisoner's request.
Seeing that Lu Li had accepted quest, the prisoner guided him to the pa.s.sageway that led to the next stop.
The pa.s.sageway was very obscure indeed – it was located in an underwater cave; even Thaelrid was unable
to detect it.
They arrived at a brand-new location after they swam through the cave.
This was Domina's territory.
Domina was a Naga, or rather, a high-level caster among the Nagas.
She was familiar with summoning magic, defensive spells and also studied the ancient arts of immolation.
The Twilight Hammer reserved a small fjord for her in the Blackfathom while they continued to offer her
living sacrifices. With her ceremonies and protection magic, the followers hoped to protect themselves
from the monster with many heads when they wors.h.i.+pped it.
However, as Aku'Mai grew more and more vicious, Domina was no longer a match for him.
Gradually, more and more believers were devoured by Aku'Mai during wors.h.i.+p ceremonies. As such,
Domina had no choice but to research a new kind of protection magic. She was also hoping to provide
Stealth with this magic for the further protection of her believers.
She placed so much effort into her research because she understood that once she failed to protect the
believers, she would become useless in Blackfathom. The crazy believers wouldn't mind handing her over
to Aku'Mai once she failed to prove her value.
When Lu Li and the others saw Domina, she was deeply focused on her magic studies.
"We're lucky, let's go."
Lu Li didn't say much, but he led the charge.
Why was the decision made so soon?
Because Domina had just used all of her mana and didn't have any time to recover.
Even if Domina had mana, she wouldn't be a tough opponent either.
Without her mana, Domina was unable to cast any of her spells, such as Forked Lightning and Frost Nova.
As such, she had no way to effectively apply crowd-control; she was only able to deal damage to Lu Li and
the others by shooting them.
Perhaps it was the inheritance from the Night Elves that flowed in her blood, but Domina wasn't just a
simple caster. She was also familiar with bows and arrows.
Her archery was surprisingly good; she rarely missed an arrow.
However, because her attributes tended towards being a caster, there was only so much damage she could
deal with her archery skills.
With the help of Thaelrid, Lu Li and the others only spent a few minutes to defeat Domina. The lucky girl
this time was March Rain, who received a skill point.
As characters gained more and more skills, skills points only grew in value.
Compared to other celebrity players who weren't interested in dungeons, the First Clears that Lu Li and his
team had obtained were an invisible advantage that built up slowly over time. After all, there was a larger
chance to receive extra skills points from First Clears.
Other than this, Domina also dropped an equip and a rare material.
The rare material was a "Purple Murloc Scale". These were a fairly common rare material that could be
found in the Blackfathom, and could be used by Tailors to give extra armor to cloth and leather gear.
Blacksmiths could also use this when forging chain mail.
The dropped equipment was a Silver-grade Mold for her bow – Naga Heartpiercer.
This weapon came with an Armor Penetration effect, which with the help of some luck, would cause attacks
to deal 3-5 times their original damage.
Although this bow was extremely good, Remnant Dream wasn't smart enough to use it effectively, so it
wasn't a.s.signed to her in the end.
There was a magic circle where Domina had been researching her magic. Lu Li requested Lonesome Flower
and Sesame Rice Ball to activate it.
Although these magic circles belonged to the system, players could still activate them by casting magic on
them. After the two of them investigated the magic circle, a dim blue light radiated from it and all those
who stood near it received a special buff: +10% to all attributes.
This effect only lasted for half an hour, but it was still a welcome surprise.
The team treaded back on their original path and followed a different fork at the intersection as they
headed towards the next territory.
Lu Li led the way in front and purposely walked against the walls.
Suddenly, a giant tentacle stretched out from the walls. It grabbed onto Lu Li as black energy began to boil
– it was as if the energy wanted to devour him.
A damage value of -30 popped up over Lu Li's head. The damage wasn't significant, but the rate at which it
was applied was incredibly fast. Within the blink of an eye, he had lost around six hundred points of health.
"Heal!"
March Rain was caught by surprise; it took her a while to react before she began healing Lu Li.
Under the focus-fire from everyone, the tentacle was quickly destroyed.
The tentacle had 10,000 health, which was equivalent to an elite monster in a dungeon. Moreover, they
also appeared randomly and dealt high damage. The feeling of being caught and tossed into a mouth was
also not pleasant at al. If it was someone else that had been caught, they would have most likely been
terribly frightened.
Lu Li couldn't act like he knew everything, so the least he could do was to "experience" everything. By
telling the others through his actions, he would be able to notify them of the possible dangers that they
would be facing. He wouldn't be frightened by these tentacles as he already knew about them beforehand.
After this incident, Lu Li and Azure Sea Breeze walked on either side of the walls. If a tentacle popped out,
they would quickly destroy it.
Soon, they reached an intersection, and Lu Li randomly picked one to continue their journey.
He already knew that this was a dead end.
The reason why he had chosen this dead end was because there was a special monster at the end of it.
It was a golden Murloc – the Blindlight Rotter. According to the records, this monster was a binge eater.
However, it had been born in Blackfathom where there was nothing much for it to eat. As such, it began to
feed on corpses.
The monster wasn't ugly, in fact, it looked rather fancy. Hunters had a small chance to tame it, but
Remnant Dream wasn't interested in it at all. The girl dug her head into Hachi Chan's lap and refused to use
her taming skills.
She saw with her own eyes the way this monster ate the limb of an unknown creature.
The sound effects of bone crunching were too horrible.
Only a guy would want a pet like this and most people probably wouldn't be able to accept it. In this case,
Lu Li and the others killed the monster.
Blindlight Rotter was a rare monster, so it dropped a level 25 Silver-grade equip – a defensive ring. Azure
Sea Breeze didn't fight for it and willingly gave it to Wandering. Clearly, their relations.h.i.+p wasn't as bad as it
appeared on the surface.
The third boss, Gelihast, was a Murloc.
He waved around his dual swords like a sword master.
According to the legends, Gelihast had come to Blackfathom heeding the call of the Old G.o.ds. On his way,
he had killed a dozen shocked Twilight Hammer believers with his two swords. The believers admired his
great strength and violence, and allowed him to build his own shrine in Blackfathom.
Through wors.h.i.+p ceremonies, Gelihast received hidden, but evil blessings from ruined shrines.
He was a visitor, but this visitor was violent indeed – he knocked out half of Azure Sea Breeze's health bar
in their first engagement and forced him to use his damage reduction skills.
Chapter 334: Blackfathom (Part 4)
Generally, high attack means low defense, and Gelihast's defense was poor indeed. Lu Li's Backstab dealt
around 200 points of damage to him.
His total health pool was only around 50,000, which was rather unfitting for his level 25 character.
"Everyone stay on guard. Apart from the main tank, no matter what you do, make sure you don't get
attacked twice by him." It was very rare to find a boss in Dawn that would focus on the tank for the entire
battle. They would always switch their targets every now and then.
His first choice was Lu Li; Gelihast's first strike dealt around 800 points of damage.
Another blow from his sword followed...
Galesteps!
Lu Li was caught by surprise – how was Gelihast's able to deal so much damage?
During the beginning of the game, many players did not have friends to play with them and they protested
about this Boss. Since the game company wanted to make Dawn a game for everyone, the strength of
Gelihast was later adjusted to make the game more balanced.
However, Gelihast was still at the peak of his strength during this time.
He made a huge leap and casted a Whirlwind as he landed on the ground.
Moonlight's Whirlwind was nothing compared to this one – it was so weak that he should have just quietly
dropped it from his skill list. Gelihast's Whirlwind range was much greater; it hit almost everyone.
Ma.s.sive damage values began to float up from everyone. Hachi Chan and March Rain both had to quickly
cast their heals, and those who had damage reductions skills used them. The others who didn't began to
focus on dealing damage instead; they wanted to deal as much damage as they could before they died.
Sesame Rice Ball died first. He didn't have a s.h.i.+eld like Lonesome Flower and he hadn't learned
Metamorphosis either.
Soon, Lonesome Flower died as well. Although he had a s.h.i.+eld, it couldn't protect him forever. His damage
was too high, so the Boss ended up focusing him and attacked him multiple times.
"Don't panic; we still have a chance. The boss only has 30% health left," Lu Li said calmly.
In Dawn's instance dungeons, team members dying or an entire team being wiped out was a very common
occurrence. Everyone had already been trained to maintain a good att.i.tude, but some people would still
lose faith if too many team members died in front of them.
However, that would never happen to Lu Li. As long as there was the slightest sliver of hope, he would
never give up.
He had a persistent soul that always persisted.
After the two magic-damage- dealers died, Lu Li and Sakura Memories became the main sources of damage
output. As for Moonlight, his gear was more suited for PVP, so he wasn't as powerful as Sakura Memories
in dungeon battles.
After two hits, Lu Li's health bar was nearly emptied.
He activated the special effect on his shoes and instantly teleported away, with only a dozen health points
remaining.
However, he would be good to fight again after his health bar was topped up.
His survival was also thanks to his quick reaction. The few attacks before were clearly one of Gelihast's
combo skills – the gap in between his strikes was almost too short to be noticed. Only gaming masters like
Lu Li would be able to escape in time.
20% health, 10% health...
Hachi Chan died next. She had good gear, but her technique was quite average. Acting cute wasn't enough
for her to survive when facing a Boss like this.
Gelihast casted a skill – Leviathan's Grip – which grabbed a player to sacrifice to Aku'Mai.
Theoretically, there was no doubt that the person being hit by this skill would die, since it lasted for a long
time and also dealt a lot of damage...
However, it was because of this skill, especially when Wandering was the targeted, that Lu Li and the others
saw their chance to grasp victory. During the cast time of Leviathan's Grip, the boss wouldn't be able to do
anything else, so everyone was free to deal damage. Even if Wandering died, this wouldn't affect the
overall outcome of the battle.
Wandering died when Gelihast had 2% health remaining.
His next target was Remnant Dream, but his health dropped too rapidly and he died before he completed
his second sacrifice.
There were no skill point rewards this time, but everyone received a great amount of experience. Since
quite a few of them had died during the battle, a generous bounty of gear was also dropped by the Boss.
Remnant Dream picked up four items this time.
Soul Blades.
Judging from the name, this item sounded like a weapon, but it actually wasn't – it was a rare material that
could be used to forge level 30 Gold-grade swords for Paladins. The drop rate for this item was quite low
and it could only be found in Blackfathom, so it was worth at least 200 gold.
A skill book was also dropped – Whirlwind.
This was the signature skill of high-leveled Warriors. Moonlight had it as well.
Lu Li tossed the skill book to Azure Sea Breeze – he had earned it. However, whether he wanted to learn
the skill was entirely up to him.
The other two items were level 25 Silver-grade molds, one of which was for a Thief weapon. Lu Li planned
to forge this Mold to see its attributes first before making a decision on what to do with it. The other Mold
was a bracer for plated cla.s.ses. The recipient of this item would depend on the attributes after it was
forged, so both items were left with Lu Li.
The boss after Gelihast was Serra'kis.
Serra'kis was a Thresher that the Twilight Hammer believers had kept here because of its specialty – laying
eggs.
That's right, the ground was covered in eggs that had been laid by the monster.
Even when Lu Li and the others saw it, it was still laying eggs.
Serra'kis came from the ruins. It followed the instructions from the Guardian of the Deep and continued to
lay eggs which hatched and spread through the groundwater of Azeroth.
This was an ambition that left many speechless.
There wasn't much to say about the Boss – it had a lot of health, great defense and decent attack, but it
barely had any skills.
The only troublesome part was the eggs that it laid.
Each time the boss lost around 10% of its health, a pack of Threshers would break through the eggs and
charge towards them.
Average teams would be easily wiped at this point, but Lu Li and his team members were definitely not
average.
Each time this happened, Azure Sea Breeze would pa.s.s the tanking job over to Wandering. He would then
activate his damage reduction skill and cast a Trample on all of the monsters to stun them, allowing
Lonesome Flower and Sesame Rice Ball to easily take care of them.
One group stun obviously wasn't enough, so Moonlight would approach for a follow up.
Remnant Dream's new pet was also useful – it stunned any monsters that were missed.
Serra'kis was very broke – it barely dropped anything noteworthy, but there was one item that it would
definitely drop – the Rod of Serra'kis.
This was a level 25 Silver-grade weapon that focused on agility as its main attribute and strength as its
secondary attribute. Wild Druids would use an item like this, but what really made it valuable was its
special effect.
Fis.h.i.+ng success rate +20%.
This was a top-tier equip for players who learned fis.h.i.+ng. There was no equal for this Rod among the other
sub-level 30 equips with regards to the fis.h.i.+ng profession.
After Serra'kis had been slain, they found an underground palace that contained three treasure chests
hidden within. Lu Li had the others on standby while he went around and brought back three level 20
Silver-grade equips and two skill books.
The equips weren't useful to them, after all, level 25 gear was the norm.
One of the skill book was Slit Throat and the other was Circle of Healing.
Lu Li had already learnt Slit Throat, so this was a skill that could be placed in storage. One the other hand,
the Circle of Healing was a surprise.
There were quite a few skills out there in terms of group healing, but most of them had their own
weakness, whether it be the long cast time, or the low amount of healing. There were only a few group-
healing skills that were particularly strong. Circle of Healing was one of the best healing spells for the Priest
cla.s.s because it was powerful and an instant cast.
Without a doubt, this skill was a.s.signed to March Rain.
After they received the book, everyone was happy, perhaps even happier than March Rain herself. The
stronger the healer, the safer they all felt.
Poor Executioner Ghale thought he had run into a bunch of madman. He was crushed and left behind a
Cloak and a Mold for a Robe.
The Cloak provided a decent amount of agility and had two special effects. The first special effect was
Critical Strike and the second was Lifesteal, so it was very suitable for Thieves. Unfortunately, there was no
way Lu Li would change Cloaks; there were no Cloaks that could replace his Shadow Cloak at this point, but
he still held on to the one he had obtained.
Generally, there was no chance for the Shadow Cloak's special effect to be used during dungeons,
especially when he had another special effect on his boots to escape. In times like these, he would be able
to swap out his Cloak.
After the Supreme Ring lost its Lifesteal effect, his Lifesteal abilities had become very weak. He had to drink
potions when he fought monsters alone in order to sustain himself.
There were only two bosses left – the Twilight Lord and Aku'mai, who were both level 30.
They were the main focus of the Blackfathom dungeon, which also meant that they were the most
challenging Bosses. Lu Li estimated that although they would most likely be able to complete the dungeon,
the team would also have to wipe a few times first.
Chapter 335: A Very Weak Boss
The Executioner dropped to the floor; there were no easter eggs this time. [TLN: 'Easter eggs' is a Chinese
slang that refers to a hidden surprise].
The easter eggs in this dungeon were hidden bosses. The Executioner had another hidden ident.i.ty; he could
be found throughout the entire dungeon.
If the hidden boss showed up, Ghale would step out and reveal his true form.
Lu Li had never seen Ghale in his true form, but based off some word descriptions, Ghale's real powers
were incredibly strong. He was harder to defeat than Aku'mai, and if a team of level 30 players ran into the
hidden boss in Heroic mode, there was an 80% chance that the team would wipe.
In Dawn, you could challenge the usual bosses as many times as you liked. No matter how many times your
team was wiped, this didn't affect the Boss at all.
However, there was a different case for hidden bosses. Once a team wiped, the hidden boss would
disappear the next time they entered the dungeon. Even if Lu Li and the others ran into the hidden boss,
they wouldn't have been able to defeat it anyway, so it was better if they didn't encounter it.
The hardest part about the Blackfathom dungeon wasn't the boss – it was the terrain.
At this point of the dungeon, they had already travelled past the most complex terrain. It didn't take them
much effort to arrive in the room where Twilight Lord Bathiel, the ruler of the dark, was located. As for
Aku'mai, he was just an evil spirit without any reasoning or intellect.
Bathiel was living quite a lavish life. Not only were there numerous slaves in the room, but there were also
four Warlock beauties, who were either Elvish or Human.
Although the Twilight Hammer wasn't the strongest, its structure was definitely one of the most complex.
Elves and Humans were also mixed within the believers.
Not only did the Twilight Hammer cross between factions, but it also crossed between races. Many neutral
powers were also a part of it.
Bathiel was an Orc. He held a giant staff in his hand that had an orange-yellow gem embedded into its tip.
Bathiel's Staff was of the two possible Gold-grade items that could drop in Blackfathom, but the drop rate
was extremely low.
However, since Lu Li and his team planned to take the First Clear in Nightmare mode no less, the drop rate
would be slightly higher.
Perhaps the drop rate would increase from 0.001% to 1%.
"Breeze, start the fight. Make sure the boss has its back facing towards the team. This is how most boss
fights should be started in the future."
After they cleared the other monsters, Lu Li saw that everyone had recovered and gave the announcement
to begin the battle with Bathiel.
There was no way he would just give them the cheat guide straight away before the battle even started.
That would be pure stupidity.
It was normal to have the boss facing the tank and its back facing against the team during boss fights. Azure
Sea Breeze understood this too; Lu Li only emphasized it.
To the surprise of Azure Sea Breeze, Bathiel was quite weak.
"Is this what a level 30 boss is like?" he exclaimed, unable to believe what he was experiencing. If all level
30 bosses were so weak, the game had probably reached the end.
Balancing a game was no easy task – it couldn't be too hard, or else the average players wouldn't have an
enjoyable time. However, it couldn't be too easy either – that would kill the fun.
Players would only enjoy the game when they were constantly challenging themselves.
Azure Sea Breeze only lost a hundred points of health when Bathiel hit him; this was less damage than the
easiest boss of this dungeon.
When Azure Sea Breeze landed a hit on the Boss, it received around 100 points of damage as well. A main
tank dealing this much damage was like a bug.
The health bar of the boss dropped even faster when the other players dealt damage. For a high-damage
like Lu Li's, each hit dealt around 200-300 points of damage, while a critical strike could even go up to 500
points.
The boss only had 90,000 points of health.
"Haha, we'll finish him off in a few minutes. Take a look at my strongest, most invincible, demon-destroying
slash..." the crazy patient who was clearly out of his head, laughed to himself proudly.
Lu Li didn't want to laugh at all. He could imagine how hard the rest of their days were going to be with
such a silly main tank. Hopefully, Azure Sea Breeze would still be able to laugh later on in the fight.
It only took about a minute for the health of the boss to drop below 50%.
At this point, Bathiel raised his giant staff and recited a long spell with an incredible long cast time. The cast
time was around a dozen seconds and couldn't be interrupted.
After the cast time was finished, a circle of small, white b.a.l.l.s formed around him and began to expand
outwards.
After they expanded out to eight yards, these small b.a.l.l.s became Water Elementals.
Sixteen of them – Lu Li knew the number without even counting.
"Hurry and kill these Water Elementals. Don't worry about the boss; don't you guys realize that the boss
isn't taking any damage now?" he quickly yelled.
Everyone quickly reacted and focused their attention to the Water Elementals. They had no clue why the
Water Elementals were closing in on the boss and neither did they know what was going to happen, but
their senses told them that they weren't going to be happy with the outcome.
-46.
One strike from Lu Li's dagger only dealt a little damage.
"Focus on the one in front of me; don't worry about the others."
Lu Li forced himself to calm down, constantly telling himself, "I have the guide, I have the guide. There's
hope as long as I have the guide."
His directions were well-timed; they managed to kill one Water Elemental before it reached the boss.
There were still another 15 left!
These fifteen Water Elementals became shrouds of mists besides Bathiel and quickly evaporated into his
body.
Bathiel's health bar, which was at 40%, suddenly began to rise.
Forty thousand, fifty thousand, sixty thousand, seventy thousand, eighty thousand, ninety thousand...
max health...
It rose until it finally stopped rising at a hundred and ten thousand.
Ding!
Azure Sea Breeze dropped his s.h.i.+eld and axe on the floor.
"My goodness..."
The main tank's crying voice echoed everyone's thoughts.
The fact that the boss had returned to full health was already a bug. Why was there another extra twenty
thousand HP on top?
This was definitely cheating! It had to be reported; there was no way around this.
"Why are you all standing there? Keep hitting the boss."
Fortunately, Lu Li was more rational; he continued in a casual tone, "We haven't even lost a single member,
so why are you all looking depressed? If the developers made a boss like this, there's got to be a way to kill
it."
Everyone agreed – the worst that could happen was a team wipe.
In all honesty, Lu Li was actually worried. If the team wiped, would Thaelrid die as well? Players could
revive, but there was no guarantee that NPCs could also revive.
All along the way, Thaelrid had helped them a lot.
"The boss... seems to have gotten stronger."
After a few engagments, Azure Sea Breeze drew a conclusion that frightened everyone.
In all honesty, it wasn't a lot stronger. It was only had a little more attack, a little more defense...
"Does the boss get stronger each time after it summons and absorbs the Water Elementals?" Wandering
made a judgement that pretty much summed up the truth; there was no need for Lu Li to explain further.
"I suspect these Water Elementals are the key."
Sesame Rice Ball was a timid boy who didn't like to talk much, but every time he made a comment, it was
straight to the point.
After the boss' health dropped to half, the Water Elementals were summoned again.