The Tiger King’s Roar and a Healer’s Ingenuity

The Tiger King’s abilities were undeniably formidable. Even for an elite squad like theirs, two tanks had to constantly rotate to barely withstand its onslaught. This was only possible thanks to Lin Shenyue’s exceptionally high healing output.

Ye Jue took a deep breath. “DPS, take your potions now,” he commanded. “This battle will undoubtedly be protracted, and we might face the risk of running out of mana later on.”

The damage dealt to the Tiger King was meager, only a few tens of points per hit. Iron Blood Plume’s attacks inflicted the most, yet even they only managed 50-60 damage.

The boss’s high physical defense meant Ye Jue and the other two melee players could only manage around 30 damage each. This wasn’t even damage per second; Iron Blood Plume had to periodically pause his attacks to avoid drawing too much aggro, despite his higher damage output.

Meanwhile, the three melee players had to constantly evade the boss’s intermittent small-scale AOE skills. In this arduous boss battle, Lin Shenyue could only focus on healing; she dealt no damage, as the Tiger King was not a dark-attribute boss.

After a grueling five minutes of combat, the boss’s health finally dropped to 90%.

Ye Jue’s voice cut through the tension. “Be careful! Golden-tier bosses unleash a skill every time their health drops by 10%.”

Lin Shenyue immediately sharpened her focus. Her current equipment offered only one active skill, ‘Light of Healing’. If the Tiger King’s next ability proved to be an area-of-effect attack, this skill would be perfectly suited to counter it.

Concentrating intently, Lin Shenyue watched as the Tiger King roared towards the sky. Suddenly, two elite monsters materialized beside it.

Ye Jue quickly barked orders. “They’re standard summoned elites. Fissure, pull them! Yue’er, prepare your area-of-effect healing skill!”

Normally, these elite monsters would be easily dispatched by the team. However, with the added pressure of the boss’s relentless attacks, their presence significantly amplified the team’s burden.

Fortunately, Lin Shenyue’s group healing capabilities proved invaluable. Fissure’s technique had also improved considerably through repeated dungeon runs with Ye Jue, allowing him to skillfully utilize every advantage to hold the two elite monsters at bay.

For instance, he retreated in a curving path, effectively blocking one elite with the other, ensuring only one could attack him at a time. By judiciously consuming potions and timing his blocks, his health depletion slowed dramatically, freeing Lin Shenyue to focus her healing entirely on Ye Jue.

Lin Shenyue closely monitored both their health bars. When both dropped to a third of their maximum after thirty seconds, she activated ‘Light of Healing’. A dazzling flash of light erupted, and a “+489” instantly appeared above everyone’s heads.

Both Ye Jue and Fissure successfully recovered to four-fifths of their health. As the elite monsters were systematically eliminated, the team quickly returned to their intense combat rhythm.

However, Lin Shenyue felt a growing concern. Her mana was depleting rather quickly; after only reducing the boss’s health by 10%, she had already consumed a fifth of her mana. The primary drain had been the ‘Light of Healing’ skill, which instantly consumed 100 mana.

Ye Jue also noticed Lin Shenyue’s mana dropping faster than anticipated. Yet, the team simply couldn’t function without her healing. He could only concentrate on his own movements, attempting to block as much of the boss’s damage as possible.

Lin Shenyue began rapidly calculating how to conserve mana. Suddenly, her eyes lit up. “Fissure,” she commanded, “reduce the number of times you tank the boss. I won’t be healing you for now.”

Under this new strategy, Ye Jue would have to tank the boss for longer periods. However, Lin Shenyue only needed to heal Ye Jue while Fissure managed his own health. Since Ye Jue possessed higher defense and skill than Fissure, this adjustment would allow her to significantly reduce her mana consumption.

Upon hearing the instructions, Fissure complied without question, even though he didn’t fully understand the reasoning. Ye Jue’s silence was enough.

Divine Wind, hearing Lin Shenyue’s directive, checked her status and immediately understood her rationale. He was astonished by her ability to adapt on the fly.

Typically, in the later stages of online games, a twenty-person team might feature several tanks and healers. While there would be a main and off-tank, the distinction was minimal; tanks would swap only when one could no longer hold aggro.

However, traditional online game strategies were entirely unsuited to their current predicament. Ye Jue’s skill and equipment surpassed Fissure’s, and with only one healer, mana conservation naturally prioritized healing the tank with higher defense, effectively reducing mana expenditure.

Iron Blood Plume initially didn’t react. As an elite of the Iron Blood Guild and even a vice-commander in his own team, he had also noticed Lin Shenyue’s high mana consumption from the start, but he hadn’t conceived a solution.

Witnessing Lin Shenyue devise a solution in such a short time, he was quite surprised and felt an even stronger desire to recruit her into his guild.

After the team adjusted their damage-soaking strategy, Lin Shenyue’s mana depletion slowed. However, the two tanks at the front now had to be meticulously careful. Because Lin Shenyue wasn’t healing Fissure, he needed to quickly drop aggro after taking a few hits.

Due to the uneven distribution of their tanking time, Ye Jue had to slow his attacks to prevent his aggro from soaring too high.

With the issue of rapid mana consumption addressed, the team more confidently weathered several of the Tiger King’s skills. The boss’s health dwindled to 50%, and Lin Shenyue’s mana reserves still held at just over 40%.

As the Tiger King’s health neared 50%, Ye Jue observed the beast open its mouth wide, as if preparing to unleash something. A possibility struck him, and he urgently cried out, “All ranged players, retreat beyond 15 meters!”

In the early stages of the game, ranged attack distances were typically around 10 meters. For safety, ranged players usually positioned themselves about 9 meters away. This distance prevented them from being caught in the boss’s area attacks while also ensuring their skills wouldn’t miss if the boss retreated slightly.

Upon hearing Ye Jue’s shout, Divine Wind and Iron Blood Plume immediately fell back. Lin Shenyue paused for a moment before realizing the urgency and retreating as well. However, since Lin Shenyue’s healing targets were allies, she was already positioned further back than the other two, allowing her to safely clear the 15-meter range along with them.

Ye Jue and Fissure also moved backward. They knew they couldn’t escape the large radius of the attack, but retreating would shorten the distance to Lin Shenyue, making it easier for her to heal them. Simultaneously, Ye Jue consumed a mutated instant-recovery health potion.

After channeling for three seconds, the Tiger King suddenly let out a massive roar. Instantly, a visible shockwave expanded outwards.

[Ding! Golden-tier Boss Tiger King has activated skill ‘Tiger King’s Roar’, dealing 300 fixed damage to players within 15 meters and inflicting a 5-second stun effect.]

Lin Shenyue quickly cast a healing spell on Ye Jue, followed by a healing technique the moment he was struck, barely stabilizing his health at four-fifths.

Under the Tiger King’s repeated assaults, Ye Jue’s health quickly plummeted to critical levels. Lin Shenyue was forced to activate another skill to prevent Ye Jue from being instantly killed, but her mana consequently dropped to less than 30%.

Once Ye Jue and Fissure regained consciousness, Fissure immediately stepped forward to draw the Tiger King’s aggro. Ye Jue retreated, waiting for Lin Shenyue’s healing spell to restore his health before re-engaging to reclaim aggro.

After enduring two attacks, Fissure’s health dropped to 200 points. He quickly retreated, allowing Ye Jue to take over tanking the boss. However, Ye Jue’s health was not abundant either, and under the boss’s relentless pressure, he once again entered his ‘domain’ mode.

Lin Shenyue observed Ye Jue’s movements suddenly becoming much more agile, instantly realizing he had likely entered that special mode again. Her concern, however, was that such a mode was incredibly taxing on the mind. Last time, Ye Jue had only sustained it for a dozen seconds, and afterward, his state had visibly deteriorated.

In the ‘domain’ mode, not a single one of the Tiger King’s attacks managed to land; Ye Jue dodged every one. Lin Shenyue seized the opportunity to fully restore Ye Jue’s health, then calmly focused on regenerating her mana.

This time, Ye Jue only maintained the mode for ten seconds. Due to his early exit, while his complexion was somewhat pale, his overall condition remained quite good.

These ten seconds of evasion left everyone spellbound, especially Divine Wind and Iron Blood Plume. As top-tier players, they naturally understood the implications of such flawless execution. Although they weren’t aware that Ye Jue had entered a ‘domain’ mode—a term that wouldn’t emerge for several years—it didn’t prevent them from grasping the immense difficulty of such an operation.

As each member pondered with their own thoughts, the Tiger King’s health continued its slow descent.