The Price of Victory

Despite safely weathering the Tiger King’s 50% burst, the pressure on the team remained. Lin Shenyue’s insufficient mana was the primary concern.

As the Tiger King’s health slowly dwindled, so too did Lin Shenyue’s mana. This indicated that Ye Jue and the others would soon face a situation where she could no longer heal them.

Ye Jue understood their predicament, yet he was helpless. He could only try his best to avoid damage, thereby reducing Lin Shenyue’s mana consumption rate.

Lin Shenyue was also contemplating a solution. Given the BOSS’s terrifying output, she had to heal Ye Jue the instant her skills came off cooldown. Otherwise, Ye Jue’s health would plummet rapidly, leaving Fissure insufficient time to recover, potentially failing to restore its own HP.

A possibility occurred to Lin Shenyue. “Could we temporarily have one person leave the party,” she asked, “then invite an outsider? We’d still have five members, but it would significantly ease the healing pressure.”

Ye Jue paused, absorbing a blow from the BOSS before quickly focusing and responding, “Yes.” In his previous life, this method had long been discovered, but because it exploited a loophole, game developers later patched it. All BOSSes would count party members attacking them, and if those attacking remained alive, adding new members would only increase the count, never decrease it. Thus, Ye Jue hadn’t initially considered this trick, primarily because he habitually assumed the loophole had been fixed.

Upon hearing their exchange, Iron Blood Plume instantly grasped what needed to be done. They immediately contacted Iron Blood Berserker, providing the location and instructing him to bring a team, with their healer temporarily replacing Divine Wind. This was because Divine Wind’s physical damage dealt negligible harm to the BOSS.

Divine Wind understood that being replaced was the most sensible option. He remained silent, especially since Ye Jue hadn’t explicitly told him to leave, implying he still belonged to the team.

After Ye Jue and his companions weathered another of the Tiger King’s skills, Lin Shenyue’s mana dipped to just over 10%. However, at that very moment, Iron Blood Berserker arrived with his group. Bringing an entire team was a necessary cover for the healer; otherwise, a single person wouldn’t have been able to enter.

The instant the reinforcements appeared, Divine Wind exited the party and retreated from the BOSS. Ye Jue immediately transferred leadership to Lin Shenyue, needing to concentrate fully on the BOSS without the distraction of inviting new players.

After Divine Wind left the party, a man emerged from Iron Blood Berserker’s team. He possessed a rugged appearance, which, contrasted with his full set of gear, seemed somewhat incongruous. Upon seeing him, Lin Shenyue promptly sent an invitation.

“Iron Blood Nanny has joined the party.” Lin Shenyue’s lips twitched involuntarily as she read the system message and connected it to the man’s rough appearance.

As if sensing Lin Shenyue’s thoughts, Iron Blood Nanny scratched his head sheepishly before focusing his attention on the BOSS.

Though Iron Blood Nanny was only Level 9 and lacked a third skill, his guild members had acquired a Healing Spell drop from a minor BOSS, which was an excellent healing ability for the early game. Combined with his luxurious equipment, including a weapon from the Redemption set—even if not the full ensemble—his healing output significantly increased. While not on par with Lin Shenyue, he could manage about three-quarters of her healing. This meant Lin Shenyue only needed to cast a healing spell occasionally to maintain Ye Jue’s health.

Nevertheless, with one less damage dealer, the BOSS’s health dwindled even slower. Iron Blood Berserker watched Lin Shenyue intently from the back of the formation, a sigh echoing in his heart. It seemed Yue’er truly loved this game, which inevitably meant she would suffer injuries, especially in future player-versus-player battles. Yet, he was helpless, only hoping things might change in the future.

Iron Blood Nanny’s total mana was considerably lower than Lin Shenyue’s, so by the time the BOSS’s health dropped to 30%, his mana had already fallen to 70%. Lin Shenyue, however, had managed to restore her mana to 20% through potions and natural regeneration.

“Ding, the Golden-tier BOSS Tiger King has activated its skill, Shred.” Ye Jue halted his attacks, a look of helplessness on his face. This was the third time he had encountered this situation. The Tiger King pounced, knocking Ye Jue to the ground, its gaping maw snapping at him.

“-450”

“-50”

Shred amplified the BOSS’s next attack and inflicted a bleeding effect, often making it the most stressful time for healers. However, with the Healing Spell, even Iron Blood Nanny could restore 400 health in one go, though the subsequent BOSS attacks would still be challenging. Iron Blood Nanny’s healing could barely counteract the BOSS’s bleeding effect; while there was a slight surplus, it wasn’t enough to fully keep up. Lin Shenyue cast a Healing Spell when Ye Jue’s health dropped to one-third, bringing him back to four-fifths.

With two healers, Ye Jue’s health remained secure, largely negating the need for Fissure to tank damage. Fissure, therefore, unleashed a furious assault.

When the BOSS’s health reached 20%, it summoned a new wave of minions. Fissure rushed forward to aggro them, while Lin Shenyue focused on healing Ye Jue, and Iron Blood Nanny balanced healing both. They successfully weathered this phase.

At 10% BOSS health, Lin Shenyue’s mana had recovered to 40%, while Iron Blood Nanny’s had plummeted to around 20%.

“Iron Blood Nanny, conserve your mana,” Ye Jue suddenly commanded. “Yue’er, start healing. The BOSS hasn’t used a skill at 10% health, so it might go berserk at 5%. At that point, Iron Blood Nanny will cast invincibility on me, then swap out. We’ll focus fire on the BOSS.”

The others remained silent, diligently performing their roles with grim determination.

Indeed, the BOSS went berserk when its health dropped to 5%, striking Ye Jue for 600 damage. Iron Blood Nanny hastily cast invincibility on Ye Jue, then exited the party. Lin Shenyue, instead of using a Healing Spell, cast a regular healing skill. Ye Jue consumed an instant recovery potion and intensified his assault on the BOSS. In its berserk state, the BOSS’s attack power increased to approximately 180%, while its defense dropped to 50%, significantly boosting the team’s damage output. Yet, even so, within the three seconds of invincibility, they only managed to deplete the BOSS’s health by 300 points.

The BOSS’s next strike cost Ye Jue 613 health. Simultaneously, Lin Shenyue, having saved her Healing Spell, quickly cast it, restoring Ye Jue’s health to 800, though it couldn’t fully negate the BOSS’s damage.

“-618”

With the BOSS’s health at 400, Lin Shenyue unleashed a group heal, restoring Ye Jue’s life by another 580 points.

“-607”

As the BOSS’s health fell to 300, Ye Jue knew his death was inevitable. He quickly shouted, “Everyone, focus your attacks!” Having maintained first aggro for the past ten minutes, his threat level was far higher than Fissure’s, preventing Fissure from snatching it away.

“-612”

Ye Jue died when the BOSS’s health reached 200. The BOSS then turned its attention to Fissure, striking for approximately 630 damage, instantly leaving Fissure with less than a fifth of their health.

After slaying Ye Jue and Fissure, the BOSS still had about 120 health remaining. Lin Shenyue pursed her lips. Iron Blood Plume held the third highest threat. If they died, only Divine Wind would be left to deal damage, likely leading to a party wipe. However, there was no time for a temporary swap, especially not for Lin Shenyue, who was currently the party leader.

Lin Shenyue bit her silver teeth, glaring at the Tiger King BOSS with a mix of anger and helplessness. The Tiger King BOSS charged towards Iron Blood Plume, but then, as if sensing something, its movement faltered slightly. This brief hesitation allowed Iron Blood Plume to land a blow, and together with Divine Wind, they shaved 90 health from the BOSS.

The Tiger King BOSS’s eyes showed a hint of panic, but in its moment of life-or-death crisis, it overcame the feeling and lunged forward, taking down Iron Blood Plume. However, due to that pause, Divine Wind managed to land the final blow.

“-38”

The Tiger King collapsed unwillingly, accompanied by a system announcement.

“Congratulations on successfully slaying the Golden-tier BOSS, Tiger King. Would you like to hide your name?”

“Yes.” “Yes.” “Yes.” “Yes.” “No.”

The only one who chose ‘No’ was Iron Blood Plume.

“Please name the party.”

Lin Shenyue typed in “Defying Fate.” Although Iron Blood Plume also desired the naming opportunity, it was clear Ye Jue would not relinquish such a chance.

“Naming successful.”

“System Announcement: Congratulations to the party ‘Defying Fate’ for successfully slaying the Golden-tier BOSS, Tiger King. Party members ‘**’ ‘**’ ‘**’ ‘**’ ‘Iron Blood Plume’ have gained 200 reputation and 10 gold coins.”

“System Announcement: Congratulations to the party ‘Defying Fate’ for successfully slaying the Golden-tier BOSS, Tiger King. Party members ‘**’ ‘**’ ‘**’ ‘**’ ‘Iron Blood Plume’ have gained 200 reputation and 10 gold coins.”

“System Announcement: Congratulations to the party ‘Defying Fate’ for successfully slaying the Golden-tier BOSS, Tiger King. Party members ‘**’ ‘**’ ‘**’ ‘**’ ‘Iron Blood Plume’ have gained 200 reputation and 10 gold coins.”

Lin Shenyue paid no attention to the system announcements; another system prompt had captured her attention.

“Ding, you have activated the hidden skill ‘Awe’.”

Lin Shenyue quickly checked the skill: [Awe: Can be used on non-player units. The unit is affected by Awe, stopping action for 3 seconds. The smaller the player’s level compared to the unit, the worse the effect. The effect on BOSSes is reduced, and the effect on the same unit decreases with repeated use.]

Lin Shenyue was momentarily stunned, then realized this skill likely originated from the Four Divine Beasts bloodline. For now, the skill was decent, but it seemed somewhat weak compared to the potential of a Four Divine Beasts bloodline.

While Lin Shenyue was lost in thought, the others waited for the three deceased members to run back to their corpses. Divine Wind, meanwhile, looked at Lin Shenyue with a puzzled expression. His intuition told him that the BOSS’s momentary pause might be connected to her, but it was merely a guess. Ultimately, he decided to disregard it; after all, it wasn’t his concern, was it?