Chapter 337 Dominoes
The appearance of the canyon, and the collapsing of the wall happened so suddenly that the party and even Ye Ci were caught off guard. She was expecting a boss to appear after the chess match was concluded, and the party would have to defeat the boss to obtain a quest item that would allow them to continue exploring the dungeon.
She did not expect things to be straightforward, and that the path to the next stage of the dungeon would just show itself so abruptly.
The party looked down, and could feel wind blowing upwards from the bottom of the canyon. It was not entirely dark. And from the dim lighting down below, the party could see a square shaped structure at the bottom at the canyon.
"Are we going down there?" the Cleric visibly gulped.
"I think we are." the Berserker beside him chuckled.
"You've gotta be kidding me..." the Cleric wailed in anguish.
"What/s wrong?" asked Ye Ci.
The Priest chuckled at Ye Ci, "Gongzi, he's afraid of height. Looking down from such a high place will make him dizzy."
Ye Ci was baffled. Am I hearing this right? He's scared of heights? Aren't we in the game? His fear of heights translated into the game as well? "Is it bad?" she asked when she noticed the Cleric's pale face.
"It is. Whenever the second squadron explores a dungeon with some form of gorge, ravine or gulch, he would ask someone to either cast Featherfall on him or to carry him down." the Warrior sighed.
Ye Ci felt sympathy for the Cleric. It's not easy to have such a serious condition of acrophobia.
"The ravine is too deep... How am I supposed to get down there?" cried the Cleric again.
"I'll carry you." the Warrior smiled, and pulled a rope out of his inventory. He tied one end of the rope to a firm spot, and threw the other end down the ravine. "Why are you not a beautiful young lady... Why must I carry a man like you on my back?" he waved his hand at the Cleric.
And the Cleric immediately shot him a glare, "I'll remember this."
They were from the same squadron, and had a friendly relationship for a long time. Despite the Cleric's apparent anger, the entire party laughed.
This is how a party should be like. Thought Ye Ci as she observed their interaction. Just then, a system notification rang out in their ears, announcing the imminent collapse of the Central Control Room. The party had only two minutes to escape the Central Control Room to the bottom of the ravine.
The party was then prompted to finish their preparations. It was apparent that a countdown would be initiated once someone descended the ravine.
"F*ck! Not again! I've never hated countdowns so much in my life." the Berserker cursed under his breath.
"Two minutes?" the Warrior's eyebrows furrowed. Anxiety was stricken all over his face.
"What is it?" asked Ye Ci.
"I don't think I can reach the bottom of the ravine in two minutes if I have to carry the Cleric. This is the first time I have to carry him to a place that deep. It might affect my speed by a lot..."
It was a problem that was very hard to address, especially under the constant pestering from the system for the players to descend as soon as possible.
Ye Ci looked down the ravine and was able to have a rough estimation of its height. She did a mental calculation of her own Strength and Agility, and said to the party, "Go on ahead. I'll carry him with me. See you at the bottom."
"But leader..." the party blurted out almost at the same time.
She raised her hand and cut them off sentence, "We're exploring a dungeon right now. Teamwork is essential. Nothing else matters." she turned around and smiled at the Cleric, "If you're worried because I'm a girl, you have nothing to worry about. Gender does not matter in the game. The only thing that matters is our character class. Remember this." she then walked up to the Cleric and tied him to her.
The members were already done by the time Ye Ci's preparations were complete.
They stood at the edge of the ravine, and with a nod from Ye Ci's head, the party immediately began rappelling downwards.
Instead of the controlled fall of her party members, Ye Ci allowed herself to fall freely after she took a leap. Wind brushed past her face, filling her ears with the wheezing of the wind, as well as the cries of the Cleric.
The Cleric's grip tightened on Ye Ci as they fell.
Ye Ci could feel her eardrums being pushed to their limits. The scream from the Cleric was not something she would expect out of a man. And just before the duo hit the ground, Ye Ci tossed her Cat Claw at the face of the cliff.
Once her fall was stopped 10 centimeters off the ground, Ye Ci released her Cat Claw and landed gently on the ground. The Cleric was still screaming as she untied him from her.
"We've landed." she said to the Cleric.
The Cleric's screams continued for a few more seconds before sudden realization washed over him. He opened his eyes and said in a voice full of disbelief, "I'm alive!"
Ye Ci chuckled as she sat on the floor for a short rest, and waited for the rest of the party.
The party was able to descend the ravine quickly before the countdown was finished. They have seen Ye Ci on her way down, and have also heard the screams of their Cleric friend.
They expressed their admiration for Ye Ci, and their sympathy for the poor Cleric.
There was a boss in the middle of the ravine, Bob the Traitor Builder.
It did not take the party long to locate Bob the Traitor Builder, who was sitting on a very flat terrain. The boss was drawing something on his blueprint. His hair was long and messy, and his clothes were in tatters. Bob had the appearance of a mad wanderer. But the most eye-catching feature of bob was the thick five yards long chain around his neck that was attached to the ground.
This meant that the boss's movements were limited within a five yards radius. As long as the boss was not a mage and tank was available to attract its aggro, it could be defeated easily.
There was but a small problem. The developers would naturally never place such an easy boss fight in the game. The boss was indeed a physical attack monster, but when 20% of its HP was finally chipped away by the party, the boss started using his skills, "Haul" and "Rage".
Haul allowed Bob to pull a random player to him and slam the player onto the ground, dealing huge amount of damage to the player while releasing a large AOE damage, while "Rage" amplifies the AOE damage of "Haul" to five times the amount of the player who was affected by "Haul".
This meant that when a player with 5,000 HP was pulled in by "Haul", "Rage" would amplify the AOE damage to a whopping 25,000 damage. Even the toughest tank character at the current stage of the game could not withstand a single attack from "Rage".
Bob's AOE attack had a diameter of 25 yards.
This meant that a single AOE attack from Bob could cover all the open ground around the boss. None of the party members would survive if they took an attack from Bob.
But the developers would not design a boss that could not be defeated. Ye Ci was the only surviving party member after Bob's attack.
Ye Ci was saved not by her stats, but by her reflex. She immediately jumped towards a rectangular structure nearby when a rage bar appeared under the BOSS, which released its skill the moment she landed safely.
As "Rage" only deals damage on a single plane, Ye Ci was not within attacking range of the skill due to her elevation. This was why she was able to survive.
When she looked back behind her, only the corpses of her party members remained.
"Let's revive." said the Cleric. With almost the entire party dead, there was no way the dungeon could be cleared.
"No, don't do that." said Ye Ci, "They way here is shut. We won't be able to get in even if we revive. Let me think of a way to kill him. I won't allow our efforts to be in vain."
"Are you going to take it on solo?" the party members were shocked.
"I'm not a GM." Ye Ci grimaced, "There's no way I can do that. I'm just thinking of a way."
This was because Ye Ci had realized something as she stood on the rectangular structure. There were five such structures around Bob with varying lengths, and she was standing on one of them. These rectangles felt familiar to Ye Ci.
They reminded her of dominoes.
It was common knowledge that when a single piece fall, the other will fall as well in a chain reaction until all the pieces fall.
Ye Ci continued studying her surroundings. She was certain that the rectangular objects surrounding the empty space were dominoes. Everything that could be found in Fate's dungeon serves a purpose. The dominoes were certainly not placed there. They're meant to be used on the boss! Thought Ye Ci as she stared at the five rectangular objects behind Bob.
The objects were 15 to 20 yards tall, and if all of them fell, they would eventually fall on Bob.
"Hold on, don't revive yet, I'll be back quickly." Ye Ci did not care if she left combat by leaving the flat arena as she sprinted towards the edge of the ravine.
The members of the party could only watch on as Ye Ci headed off. Just as they started a conversation of their own, the ground began to rumble.
And before they knew what was happening, a rectangular object fell, and it landed on Bob.
The fallen object kicked up a lot of dust, and it took away 19% of Bob's HP.
Chapter 338 Ingenuity
Players who were "dead" could still see what was happening around them, but their visions were not clear as they could only see things in black and white. To them, the thrill of the games were gone, and was replaced with a scene from a black and white film.
But this did not affect the ability of the nine party members to continue observing their surroundings. They have grown used to being wiped out as a party, and their deaths did not affect their morale by one bit. The dead members were even starting to discuss the situation among themselves.
The ground began to rumble as they were still deep in their discussion about the boss's possible weaknesses and the best method to kill the boss. Of course, it was already something they had grown used to after spending time with the dungeon.
A large rectangular object fell... And right on top of Bob.
What's going on? Why did that rectangular object fall down?
As the members of the party were still dwelling in their shock, a silhouette appeared in their vision. She stood on yet another rectangular object, strung her bow, and fired off skills after skills at Bob.
The "corpses" on the ground were gaping in awe at that point. Where did Gongzi You appear from? What's with that falling object earlier? But the answers to their questions would not come very soon. The only thing they could do was to continue playing their roles as audiences to Gongzi You's solo performance.
It was a performance showcasing the capabilities of the Hunter class, and the skill of Gongzi You as a person.
Each of Gongzi You's movements were precise and elegant. She was graceful as she bounded around Bob, and each of her jumps, and every move she made were stunning. It was as if she was starring in a blockbuster movie.
Ye Ci's level was slightly higher than Bob, which was why she could easily break his Defense without suffering from level penalties. But as the final boss, Bob was still a very tough opponent. Even if Bob had 1% of his HP left, it would take Ye Ci a full minute to defeat the boss.
"Ah! He has 20% of his HP left!" exclaimed the Cleric when he noticed Bob's HP bar. He was not the only one who was in awe. "Gongzi, be careful!" came a string of messages from the rest of the party.
Bob let out a low growl, and lifted his right arm. He swung the chains that had been holding him down at Ye Ci.
While the target of "Haul" was picked at random, Ye Ci was the only player left alive, which made her the only viable target for the skill.
The party members let out a collective sigh as the chains flew straight towards Ye Ci. It's finished, our party will get wiped out.
But things did not happen as expected. Just when the chain was about to make a connection with Ye Ci, she rolled to her left and successfully evaded the attack.
It all happened in the blink of an eye, when not a single person was expecting her to be able to escape from the boss's attack.
The Berserker of the party had a very good view from his position. He was able to have a front row seat on the action, and he saw clearly how Ye Ci was able to dodge the boss's attack. "Nice one!" he shouted. Even as a less agile character, and as someone who barely watched videos of Gongzi You in action, he had heard about the Huntress.
This was his first time witnessing the skill of Gongzi You in person, and he held nothing but respect and awe for the Huntress. This came not from her precise movements and timing, and not from her well practiced mechanical skills, but from her ability to remain calm despite the tense situation.
The Berserker himself would not be able to dodge the attack under such circumstances, and even if he did, he knew very well that he would not be able to remain calm like Gongzi You. "Boss, Gongzi You is good!" He sent a message to Purity Essence.
Purity Essence chuckled at the message, "Sometimes, a picture is more than a thousand words."
"So this is why you used to tell us that you came to Upwards Ho! for Gongzi You. I have a lot to learn from her." the Berserker said from the bottom of his hard.
The battle between Ye Ci and the boss was still raging on.
When Bob's attack missed, "Fury" was triggered even earlier than before. He slammed onto the ground, and sent out a ripple of energy that Ye Ci was able to evade with ease.
This happened in a mere 15 seconds, but Ye Ci was able to react quickly to his attacks, and dish out damage of her own. It might look easy in a video, but only players who were there in person could truly feel the thrill of the moment.
A system notification rang out in Ye Ci's ears after she evaded the attacks, "The tremors are causing a second set of dominoes to collapse. Please be careful."
It's the dominoes again.
Ye Ci had discovered after some scouting that they were the key to defeating the boss. She risked leaving combat to have a good look in the area, and a few rectangular blocks with names that were different from the others "Loose Domino Block.". That was what told Ye Ci that the dominoes were the key to defeat Bob. She pushed on one of the blocks, and it caused a chain reaction that eventually led to one of the rectangular objects falling right onto Bob.
One hit was able to take away 19% of the boss's health.
A player who was no longer within the attack range of a boss for a full minute would automatically leave his or her combat state, but there were only a limited set of domino blocks in the arena. A single mistake would cost her dearly.
With the buff she gained from the Central Control Room, Ye Ci was able to deal some significant damage to Bob. But due to the sheer amount of the boss's HP, it took Ye Ci a long while to chip away even 1% of his HP.
Ye Ci was worried that she would have to once again manually trigger the collapse of the domino sets when Bob's HP approached its 20% mark, but the system notification was a welcoming sight to her.
It was apparent that the domino blocks were set to automatically fall once it was triggered, and would fall on the boss whenever it lost 20% of its HP. The players would have to deal with the 1% remaining HP to trigger the next set.
But after her first attempt, Ye Ci was able to get used to the movements of the boss, and she was able to slowly but surely defeat Bob.
As the boss finally collapsed in the midst of the dominoes, he raised his hands and roared, "I refuse to die like this! Galeoli! I will not allow your plans to come to fruition!" and he collapsed onto the ground with a prompt from the system notifying Ye Ci that her party had successfully cleared the dungeon.
But the Builder's Guild Basement was a mission dungeon, which meant that a successful exploration would not be announced in the World Chat. There was also no First Blood to be rewarded to the players.
But the players were still overjoyed by the fact that they have cleared a whole new type of dungeon.
There were no respawn points in the dungeon, and no way back. With the Cleric dead, there was no way for the nine other members of the party to be revived even with the dungeon finally cleared. They were, however, fortunate enough to receive experience points for defeating the boss.
"We'll revive now. Go get the loot." said the Warrior.
"Hold on, I'll see what he drops. If they can be of use to you, you can have it." responded Ye Ci.
"It's alright, we did nothing in the boss fight..."
"This is a level 60 boss, and my level is way higher than that. I have no use for any equipment that he might drop. But you guys will be able to put it to good use." and she walked up to the corpse of Bob, "But you have to mentally prepare yourselves. I've not have much luck when it comes to loot drops."
But Ye Ci's luck was not completely horrible. She was able to obtain three weapons from the boss. While none of them were of use to her, they were able to benefit the members of the guild. A blueprint was also dropped by the boss, along with Ye Ci's quest item, the "Builder's Encyclopedia".
The quest item was immediately placed into Ye Ci's inventory by the system. And after distributing the equipment, Ye Ci left the dungeon along with her party.
The members of the party were embarrassed to receive the items from Ye Ci as they did nothing in the final boss fight. But Ye Ci was quick to reassure them that they were a party, and she would not be able to clear the dungeon without their aid. The party then reluctantly accepted the items and returned to rejoin their squadron.
Ye Ci returned to the guild encampment and retrieved Yolan's blueprint. She took stock of the gold in her inventory, and headed to the Builder's Guild.
She saw a large crew of NPCs repairing the entrance to her dungeon when she arrived on the second floor. According to Wyatt, tremors from the basement earlier on had caused a lot of damage to the building and the basement itself.
Ye Ci pursed her lips. So what happened in the dungeon affected the building above as well. She was quickly reminded of the name, Galeoli. According to Wyatt, Galeoli was none other than the Guildmaster of the Builder's Guild, and the NPC who sent her to complete the quest.
What's the relationship between Bob and Galeoli? Why did Galeoli have him imprisoned in the basement? Ye Ci had a lot of questions in her mind, but these were questions without answers, and hence were not her concern. She handed the quest item to Galeoli and was able to obtain a permit to build fortifications in the Lesser Demon Sanctum.
Ye Ci let out a long sigh when she placed the permit into her inventory. I've finally obtained this thing.
And as she organized her inventory, Ye Ci was shocked to find a new item. It was a tattered hardcover book. What is this? She did not remember obtaining the book before.
She took the book out from her inventory to have a good look. The words "Bob's Diary" were written on the cover of the book.