Chapter 82 – Reasonable Tactics
This chapter was sponsored by Laura Lai Tong, Bakari Gaynor, Jason Chen, Vesa Kivisto and William Wang!
Whooshwhooshwhoosh…
In the glow of the three continuous [Heals], the monk’s HP is pulled back up. With tears, he raises his steel rod and aims for the boss, but it barely does anything with an attack damage of under 100.
Lime colored air swirls around General of the Everlasting Wind and suddenly his sword trembles with 4 golden hexagrams sweeping across his sword. Damn, it’s a [Combo] LV-6! 4 strikes!
“690!”
“674!”
“710!”
“704!”
Luckily, the monk’s total HP is at least 2000, and with a close heal, he withstood it. He holds his shield, slowly backs away, and yells loudly, “Quickly, use [Hemostasis] and [Heal], get my HP back to full!”
……
The battle continues ferociously while the Generals and I watch from a distance. I clench my fists and frown, “This isn’t too good. The boss’s attack is too high. Even if the monk has enough defense, he can’t dish out enough damage. Once he receives a large amount of damage, he can’t guarantee that the aggro will be on him.The aggro might switch to the higher priority healers.”
Li Mu nods and mutters, “Yeah, this isn’t going too well…”
……
Whoooooosh!
Under the ray of healing, his HP returns to full once again. But at the same time, the General gives up on attacking the monk. He raises his sword, spreads his arms, and bellows, “Die!”
With a whoosh, he uses [Biting Cold Blade], and the leaf-like skill lands in the middle of the 4 healers! It’s an AOE attack!
The healers let out multiple large cries as a chains of damage numbers fly up. The 4 healers receive over a thousand points of damage. They fall one after another and become the boss’s first victims.
I look at the battle and quietly say, “The General’s [Combo] is a Level 6 skill so it can strike 3-4 times. The healing has to be very tight, or else I won’t able to tank through it. Also, his [Biting Cold Blade] is an AOE attack, so if there are over 2 players standing together, they can very easily attract the aggro. We will need to be careful as well.”
Wang Jian clenches his teeth and asks, “Xiao Yao, is it possible that you can take on a boss like that?”
I smile, “Give me 10 healers that will continuously heal me non stop, then I can!”
“Mm, then that’s good….”
……
In the battlefield, the General already started to ignore Goodbye Tear’s aggro control and he was raising his sword and causing destruction everywhere. Each of his attacks are in the form of an arc and spread death everywhere. Mages, musketeers, and archers all fell under the attack range of the General. Our first attacking group is almost annihilated.
“Damn…”
Feng Han clenches his fists and teeth while looking at the boss’s direction. He yells, “The first group can’t take it anymore. Xiao Yao Zi Zai, Generals, you guys prepare to go, and continue attacking the boss!”
I nod, “Feng Han, I’ll be the leader. Give me 9 healers, and concentrate their healing on me. Bring your best healers, and they need to heal one after another, or else I won’t be able to take on the boss’s attack!”
Feng Han’s gaze lands on Simple, “Sister?”
Simple raises her staff and says, “Duck, take 8 healers and join Xiao Yao’s party, concentrate all of the healing on him. I’ll make two mage and archer teams and we will control the boss. This is the second battle, we need to kill the boss in one go. If we leave it to the third group, then we might not have a chance to win!”
Very quickly, a Level 40 healer stands up, ID: Darling Duck. She should be the best healer in [Vanguard]. I’d give her a 7!
Tick!
System Notification: Player Darling Duck wants to join your party!
……
I immediately accept and very soon, another 8 healers join in the party one after another. They are really some top class healers, the lowest leveled one is already at level 39. Duck is the only healer in my party that’s Level 40 with the second promotion. She has [Healer Advent], [Revive], and [Group Heal], the three second promotion skills. With her, the success rate should increase quite a bit.
“Duck?” I ask.
Duck widens her eyes, “Mm, what’s the matter, Xiao Yao?”
I say, “When the boss uses [Combo], after his first strike, use [Heal] and then use [Hemostasis] to keep me alive. If I ever get killed, then use [Revive] on me as fast as possible, or else I won’t be able to control his aggro.”
Duck smiles and nods, “Mm, I understand!”
On the side, the Vice-Guildmaster raises her staff, and organizes a 20-man group. She yells, “Do not stand together, everyone spread apart, or else [Biting Cold Blade] will land on you!”
I look to my right and see General Li Mu raising his longsword. He gathers a 10-man party together with 3 healers and yells, “Xiao Yao is the front line. If he ever gets too low, then we will immediately go take on the boss to buy him some time. Be sharp healers, I might need to tank some damage. Remember to do some tight healing or else I’m just going to meet the grim reaper…”
The healers look at each other, understanding that the pressure is on them. Tight healing. Easy to say but hard to do. To do Tight Healing, you need to anticipate the attacking time of the boss, because all healing spells have a bit of lag time. [Hemostasis] has 0.1 seconds of lag time, which is near instant, but [Heal] has a lag time of 0.5 seconds, which is quite a bit confusing.
……
We finish preparing and Goodbye Tears is already kneeling in front of the General. Feng Han gets agitated and says, “Xiao Yao Zi Zai. If you don’t go now, when will you go?!”
I bite my lip, grab my sword and run over there. I need to instantly grab the boss’s aggro!
A clear sharp sound comes from the sword and 3 golden hexagrams sweep along the blade. Without any hesitation, I attack the General. The sword cuts through the air and it strikes the General’s hip. With 3 clangs, 3 damage numbers also fly up——
“311!”
“287!”
“325!”
Of course, the boss’s level is too high, to the point where even with [Turmoil Sword], [Encourage], and other buffs, I can’t penetrate its defense by a large amount. However, dealing 900+ damage with a single [Combo] is pretty good.
Growl….
The General glares at 3 mages from afar with his blood-red eyes and seems to be planning to charge at them. My aggro isn’t high enough, this won’t do!
With a circle of white light, Baby Bobo’s [Combo] attacks 3 times. The boss hesitates for an second before his body tilts slightly. This is the chance that I was waiting for!
Whoosh!
A white-glow appears under my legs, it’s the activation of [Strength of a Thousand Men]!
“147!”
“172!”
“155!”
“74!”
With those attacks, it’s obvious that my attack damage and strength doesn’t match my opponent’s. My head became purple from the ramming. Nevertheless, my sword collects the wind and after 0.2 of preparation, I use my strongest attack——[Wind Blade]!
Bang!
The sword’s edge sparks blue as it slashes the boss’s heavy armor and a huge damage number pops up——
“1544!”
A Critical hit! Not bad!
But the thing that breaks my heart is that I still don’t have the boss’s aggro. The ranged attacks from behind are way too strong and I immediately chase after the boss who’s charging towards the back line. I check my skills’ cooldowns and my sword starts to emit a glow. Ice starts to swirl around my sword and I strike powerfully at the General’s back——[Fierce Ice Blade]!
“679!”
Indeed, the skills gained from the second promotion are strong. Frost starts to form on the boss’s armor and his speed is greatly decreased. The slowing effects from it are stronger than the ice spells from mages!
…….
Growl…
The General finally turns around and with blood-red eyes, he stares at me. The corners of his mouth rise and he says, “Brat, are you looking for death? I’ll bring you into the depths of Hell!”
He raises his sword, and a blood-like glow appears on it!
I instinctively step back but my body feels like it’s attracted to a magnet and it’s hard to move. I feel a wave of pain on my shoulder. The boss’s attack landed on me!
“987!”
Of course, I’m no monk. I haven’t put any points in endurance, so my defense is a bit weaker!
I had already cast a skill right when the boss was striking and with a flick of my wrist, I heal myself. [Heal] recovered 600 HP, and at the same time,
Ding!
LV+1.
[Heal] rose to level 5 in the middle of a battle! Last night, when I kept on using this skill. I had forgotten to look at the skill proficiency!
The boss’ killing intent instantly rose since my [Heal] gathered a large amount of aggro. The guy sweeps his blade and starts a Level 6 [Combo]! 4 strikes!
I see through it instantly and jump to the side to dodge it!
“MISS!”
I successfully dodge the first one, but I can’t do the same for the next 3!
“847!”
“+870!”
“821!”
“+614!”
“+434!”
“811!”
……
A chain of damage numbers and healing numbers blend together. Duck’s healing effect is quite good, she has a 750 base heal and with equipment and stat points, the heal effect rises to 870. She also healed me the instant I took damage. There aren’t many healers like this and in all of Ba Huang City’s healers, her skills are at least in the top 5!
Right when my skill cooldown ends, I immediately use [Wind Blade] and [Fierce Ice Blade]. The two skills provide explosive damage and with the slow from [Fierce Ice Blade], the General bellows in frustration. He tries to kill me but can’t. Even though he has a level 6 [Combo], he’s a bit slow when it comes to using it and I can usually dodge the first strike. With that, a lot of my pressure is reduced.
In the air, many high-leveled mages including Simple continuously cast freezing spells. On the tip of her staff, a curiously dangerous combination of fire and ice appear. In the next instant, the Level