Hell’s Judgment: A Devastating Wipe

Fissure lost over a third of their health from a single BOSS attack. Lin Shenyue, unable to spare a thought for Ye Jue, focused entirely on healing Fissure. Yet, Ye Jue, charging towards the small skeleton soldiers, instinctively understood his primary task was to keep the four skeletal monsters occupied. Once he had firmly established their aggro, he began to retreat, blocking attacks to minimize the damage he sustained. Concurrently, he consumed his first instant recovery potion, bolstering his physique. Observing the suddenly unfavorable situation on the field, Lin Shenyue silently calculated a way to alleviate the pressure. While Fissure was drinking a recovery potion, she directly cast a Healing spell on a skeleton warrior. This instantly dealt a terrifying 350+ damage, effectively snatching its aggro. Ye Jue’s expression soured, but realizing Lin Shenyue’s true intention, he didn’t blame her. Instead, he hoped she could endure long enough for them to eliminate the monsters. Divine Wind and Iron Blood Plume no longer bothered to conserve their mana, unleashing all their skills in a furious barrage. The archer’s triple shot could inflict a terrifying 240% total damage, yet the corresponding mana cost was an astonishing 50 points. At this critical moment, Divine Wind had no choice but to give his all. Lin Shenyue calmly watched the skeleton warrior charging towards her. ‘Contact in 2 seconds, speed difference -2m/s, optimal skill activation in 4 seconds, route planning…’ She glanced around, aware that if she couldn’t heal Fissure during this critical period, they would likely not hold out. Should Fissure fall, the consequences for the entire team would be devastating. After meticulously planning every step, Lin Shenyue began to move preemptively. A careful observer would notice that her movement trajectory formed a circle, with its center being Fissure, who was valiantly tanking the BOSS. Mages had relatively short skill cooldowns; Arcane Missile had only a 1-second cooldown, while Arcane Magic Arrow required 5 seconds. Thus, both Iron Blood Plume and Divine Wind could afford to divert some attention to Lin Shenyue. Upon witnessing Lin Shenyue’s actions, they were undeniably startled. Generally, while a priest’s burst damage could be high in this environment, their sustained damage wasn’t significantly higher than a mage’s. Priests typically stayed at the back of the party, focusing solely on healing. A priest attracting aggro often spelled a complete party wipe. Lin Shenyue’s sudden seizure of a minion’s aggro startled both Divine Wind and Iron Blood Plume. They couldn’t afford to worry about the aggro, and even if they could, they wouldn’t be able to snatch it back in such a short time. Yet, observing Lin Shenyue’s exquisite footwork and her ability to manage two fronts simultaneously, they were utterly astonished. While multitasking and managing two aspects concurrently was achievable for many in traditional mouse-and-keyboard setups, very few could execute such complex maneuvers right from the start in a virtual reality game. Divine Wind clicked his tongue. With an accelerated attack, he also snatched a minion’s aggro and began to kite it. At this point, he no longer held back, executing every movement with precision and firmly holding the minion’s aggro. With two minions drawn away, Ye Jue’s pressure significantly lessened. By relying on potions and blocking, he could now completely withstand the minions’ damage. Iron Blood Plume, however, felt a pang of unwillingness; his speed was too slow to dare attempt what Divine Wind was doing. Just as the skeletal minion was about to catch up, Lin Shenyue decisively activated her ring’s skill, and her speed instantly surged. Despite this, the distance between her and the skeleton warrior did not widen. ‘I overestimated my speed,’ Lin Shenyue thought silently, simultaneously casting a healing spell on Fissure. ‘The rest is up to you all now.’ Lin Shenyue felt a slight surge of anxiety, as her ring’s skill would only last for ten seconds. Under the focused fire of Ye Jue and Iron Blood Plume, the minion lasted less than ten seconds before falling. After all, they had already dealt at least 500 damage to it beforehand. Having eliminated the minion, Ye Jue didn’t bother pursuing the skeleton archer shooting from a distance. Instead, he rushed directly towards Lin Shenyue. Lin Shenyue, having observed the minion’s health drop to one-fifth, had already begun running towards Ye Jue, who successfully blocked the minion. However, due to Lin Shenyue’s high aggro, the minion still pursued her relentlessly. After blocking an archer’s shot, Ye Jue sidestepped and once again intercepted the minion. Lin Shenyue, seeing the situation stabilize, finally breathed a sigh of relief. Although Fissure’s health had plummeted dramatically, they managed to hold on, thanks to their own potion consumption and Lin Shenyue’s focused healing. Half a minute later, the three of them had eliminated all the small skeleton soldiers and began to focus fire on the BOSS.

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As the BOSS’s health dropped to 80%, it unleashed Dark Entanglement, precisely as Lin Shenyue had anticipated. Ye Jue, having prepared in advance, swiftly relinquished primary aggro, transferring it to Fissure. This phase passed with remarkable ease. The BOSS’s health dropped another 10%, yet it still didn’t cast any other skills. Instead, it continued to summon minions. With their previous experience, the group found eliminating them relatively easy this time. When the BOSS’s health fell to 60%, it did not unleash any skills. Seeing this, Ye Jue frowned. Typically, a Hell-difficulty BOSS would activate a skill every 10% health lost. If it didn’t, it usually meant the next skill it used would be equivalent to two skills combined. After warning everyone to be careful, Ye Jue began to prepare for the BOSS’s next skill. Lin Shenyue also grew tense as the BOSS’s health dropped to 50%. The damage the BOSS inflicted on her was excruciating, and if possible, she hoped to avoid taking any further hits. Kaira suddenly halted his movements when his health dropped to 50%. He sneered, “Annoying ants, let the gods judge you. Hell’s Judgment.” A six-pointed star array simultaneously appeared beneath the feet of all five individuals. Ye Jue’s expression subtly changed. “This is bad, Yue’er! Quickly use a skill on the magic array!” Lin Shenyue paused slightly after hearing this. She then cast a healing spell beneath her feet, as her Cure skill was on cooldown and unusable. A flash of white light, and the six-pointed star array beneath Lin Shenyue’s feet vanished. However, the arrays beneath the other four all activated, causing damage numbers ranging from 80 to 100 to pop up above their heads every 0.2 seconds. Immediately after the array activated, Ye Jue consumed a mutated instant recovery potion. It instantly restored 250 health, added 10 points to his physique, and temporarily granted him an additional 100 health. Coupled with his relatively high magic resistance, he successfully endured two seconds of damage. Even so, his remaining health was less than 100. If even Ye Jue, with the most health, was in such a state, it meant the other three had perished instantly. Ye Jue’s expression darkened. “Disengage, you! I’m dead for sure,” he commanded. At this moment, the BOSS’s aggro was on Ye Jue. With all healing spells and potions on cooldown, Ye Jue was, as expected, doomed. Lin Shenyue bit her red lip tightly. In the end, she activated her ring’s skill and retreated. Ye Jue also fell to the BOSS’s next attack. As everyone ran back to retrieve their bodies, the party channel fell silent. They hadn’t anticipated that a seemingly favorable situation could turn into an instant party wipe from a single BOSS skill. Ye Jue, while running back, recalled a forum post he had once seen. When they had previously run this Hell-difficulty dungeon, they hadn’t encountered the BOSS using such a skill, and consequently, he didn’t know how to counter it. He could only rely on a faint memory to piece together the dungeon guide he had once read. Lin Shenyue felt a deep unease. Having experienced the pain of death once, she now harbored a faint fear of dying in the game. Although Ye Jue and the others were players, and death in a dungeon would only result in a 10% loss of their current experience, Lin Shenyue still did not wish for them to die. ‘Even if my reaction had been normal in that situation, I wouldn’t have been able to turn the tide,’ Lin Shenyue thought, a trace of sadness in her heart. “Don’t overthink it. Death is inevitable when clearing a new dungeon,” Ye Jue suddenly messaged Lin Shenyue. Lin Shenyue jumped. “How did you know what I was thinking?” Ye Jue was momentarily bewildered. While running back to retrieve his body, he had suddenly thought that Lin Shenyue might be overthinking things, so he had sent her a message without much thought. Not being someone with low emotional intelligence, he quickly understood the reason. ‘To think that after experiencing betrayal once, I would develop feelings for someone again so quickly… I hope this time I can achieve the life I desire.’ Seeing that Ye Jue didn’t reply, Lin Shenyue felt a strange, inexplicable displeasure. Forcing down her peculiar emotions, she began to strategize for the dungeon.