Hu Die Lan
Chapter 8: Fish Dies, Net Breaks
"Ah, sorry!" Yangguan was a newbie, and there was no way he could avoid such a swift attack. He even hurriedly apologized, all because Yue Zhongmian had been lecturing the three newbies along the way, instilling in them the team discipline that an OT (over-taunt) was definitely the fault of the damage dealer, and could never be the fault of the tank.
"Stop, don't attack." Yue Zhongmian quickly stopped Yangguan's plan to fight back, rushing up to try to regain aggro. Who knew that in just a moment, after the Dark Night Cat Demon scratched Yangguan a few times, it pounced towards another team member.
"Damn it, chain OT! Are you guys messing with me?" Yue Zhongmian roared furiously. The attacked team member was also flustered. Moreover, he was a mage player wearing cloth armor. Being scratched by the enraged Dark Night Cat Demon was no joke; his health dropped drastically. Ye Xiu reacted extremely quickly, immediately having Jun Mo Xiao start healing him. But unfortunately, some things couldn't be solved with skill alone. A cloth-armored mage tanking an enraged hidden boss, even with healing, could only last for a few seconds?
The answer came quickly: seven seconds. Jun Mo Xiao's healing spells still had cooldowns, while the enraged Dark Night Cat Demon's scratches, claws, and bites were all in one go. Yue Zhongmian rushed to rescue him, but didn't manage to regain aggro in time. The mage team member died.
In Glory, dying during a dungeon run meant leaving the dungeon. There was no such thing as corpse running to revive. In other words, the original five-person team became a four-person team with one death.
"Damn, OTing in a queue, you guys are trying to kill me!!" Yue Zhongmian was on the verge of collapse. After the mage died, the cat demon's aggro didn't return to him, but instead, it sharply clawed at the third person.
The third person was also a cloth-armored mage. This time, Ye Xiu simply didn't have Jun Mo Xiao heal him. He had Jun Mo Xiao's healing spells return to Yangguan instead.
Using healing spells on the mage could only buy him seven seconds against the Dark Night Cat Demon, but within those seven seconds, Yangguan would die. Because the enraged Dark Night Cat Demon not only had increased attack speed and damage, but also had a status effect: Bleeding.
Yangguan was unlucky enough to be scratched and inflicted with Bleeding by the Dark Night Cat Demon. Ye Xiu had been paying attention to his health decrease. Healing the mage at this point would only buy him seven seconds, but Yangguan would definitely die within those seven seconds, and the mage would also die after seven seconds. Unless Yue Zhongmian could regain aggro within those seven seconds.
Ye Xiu seemed to have lost faith in Yue Zhongmian, directly giving up on healing the mage and healing Yangguan instead. This decisive action infuriated Yue Zhongmian, who roared at him, "What are you healing for?"
Ye Xiu didn't answer. The mage instantly fell to the ground without support. Amidst Yue Zhongmian's cursing, the Dark Night Cat Demon unhesitatingly pounced towards Yangguan.
Yangguan was terrified and asked, "Should I attack?"
"Attack my ass, you're just messing around!" Yue Zhongmian was full of resentment, not knowing what he was resenting. He cursed as he came to chase the cat demon and snatch aggro.
Thirteen seconds.
Ye Xiu calculated a time in his mind. This Yangguan seemed to be cursed by bad luck. The previous Bleeding status had just stopped, and the Dark Night Cat Demon gave him Bleeding again with a scratch. These status effect attacks were all probability-based, but Yangguan seemed to have been blessed with a 100% probability aura. Curse, Bleeding, he had all the status effects that the Dark Night Cat Demon could give him. He had no other desire than to die.
Thirteen seconds was the amount of time Ye Xiu could help him hold on. He could only be saved if Yue Zhongmian regained aggro within that time. So, what about Yue Zhongmian?
Yue Zhongmian, who had been so sharp when pulling the boss, was now constantly fumbling, slashing his sword into the air again and again. Amidst constant curses and angry roars, Yangguan finally fell.
The Dark Night Cat Demon finally deigned to attack Yue Zhongmian. Jun Mo Xiao's aggro was last because Ye Xiu's technique was too good. Without any unnecessary actions, the aggro was naturally controlled to the smallest range possible.
"Bro, hang in there! Do you still have mana?" Yue Zhongmian cheered Ye Xiu on as he met the cat demon.
"You're the one who needs to hang in there," Ye Xiu typed a sentence.
"Don't worry, if we coordinate well, we can take it down no problem," Yue Zhongmian shouted heroically. As a result, he fumbled again, slashing his sword into the air, and was scratched right in the face by the cat demon.
"Heal heal heal heal heal!!!" Yue Zhongmian screamed.
There was no response. Jun Mo Xiao, whose control had always been good and timely, didn't cast a healing spell on him at this moment.
"Can't heal, will OT," Yue Zhongmian saw Jun Mo Xiao type a sentence.
"You..." Yue Zhongmian suddenly turned his head and saw Jun Mo Xiao standing leisurely under a large tree outside the forest, watching him coldly. Yue Zhongmian realized something was wrong. This Jun Mo Xiao wasn't a noob. It was clearly too early to OT, so how could he misjudge?
"Won't OT, heal quickly," Yue Zhongmian could only shout. But there was still no response.
The Dark Night Cat Demon scratched again. Yue Zhongmian's reaction suddenly sped up. He blocked the scratch with his sword, and after his character slid back, he immediately performed an upward thrust, the same skillful set of attacks he had used when pulling the boss. Yue Zhongmian's hand suddenly wasn't fumbling anymore.
But this time, his combo wasn't as smooth, because this was the enraged cat demon. The increased speed of movement and attack made Yue Zhongmian's movements a little too slow. The follow-up thrust after the upward slash missed, and he was bitten by the cat demon instead.
"Heal quickly!!!" Yue Zhongmian was anxious. Although he could withstand more damage than the cloth-armored mage and Yangguan, he wasn't invincible.
"Heal what?"
"Heal health!"
"Heal health? All I see is you bleeding."
"You..." Yue Zhongmian was stunned.
"What a pity. If you could solo the hidden boss, you could have changed the loot distribution mode to 'leader only' before pulling it. That way, even if team members were dissatisfied and left, the hidden boss would still be yours."
"But unfortunately, your skill isn't good enough, so you still have to rely on team members to kill the boss. So, you deliberately controlled the aggro, released the Dark Night Cat Demon to OT at the right time, cleared out all the team members, and were left to solve the boss with a sliver of health alone. The loot would naturally be safely in your pocket. As for whether the dungeon could be cleared, that's not important compared to the hidden boss."
Jun Mo Xiao's two sentences made Yue Zhongmian break out in a cold sweat. He hadn't expected this guy, who had only said one sentence along the way, to see through his entire plan. That's right, Yangguan and the other three were deliberately killed by him by controlling the aggro and letting the Dark Night Cat Demon OT. Originally, he had planned for the healer to take over the aggro during the continuous and frantic healing of the three, but he hadn't expected Jun Mo Xiao to give up on healing one of the mages. Could it be that this guy had already seen through his plan from that moment on? He knew there was no way to save the others, so he deliberately controlled the aggro, allowing his own aggro to rise in the rankings, but then didn't heal himself, allowing himself to die under the Dark Night Cat Demon's claws?
"Bro..." Yue Zhongmian saw that this person wasn't easy to deal with, and hurriedly began to persuade him: "At this time, let's not worry about this. Anyway, we don't know those three people. Now, if we work together to take down the cat demon, we each have a 50% chance to get the loot. Isn't that good?"
"Fifty percent? I prefer one hundred percent!"
"Alright..." Yue Zhongmian gritted his teeth secretly. "Materials generally won't only drop one item. When the time comes, you can choose the item you need first, and I'll give it up. We'll roll for the remaining items, and you can have all the equipment too." Without the support of a healer, Yue Zhongmian knew that he definitely wouldn't be able to hold on, so he had to make concessions.
"That's hard to believe!"
"What do you want then?" Yue Zhongmian even sped up his speech. His health had already been scratched off by the cat demon by more than half. He couldn't handle the enraged cat demon at all, and he had to distract himself to negotiate with Ye Xiu, which was a complete mess. He had already secretly remembered the name Jun Mo Xiao. He vowed to make this guy pay.
"Don't worry about what I want. Just die in peace!"
"You... you're crazy. If I die, you won't be able to live either. Then no one will get the loot." Only a quarter of his health remained.
"Bro, there's no need to go for mutually assured destruction!!" Only one-fifth of his health remained.
"Are you an idiot!" One-seventh.
"Jun Mo Xiao, do you not want to survive anymore? Do you know how powerful our Moon Guild is?" One-ninth.
"You're finished!" The last sliver.
"Your sister..." The Dark Night Cat Demon struck with its claws, and the world became quiet.
Jun Mo Xiao hadn't made a move all along, but he also hadn't disengaged from combat. After the Dark Night Cat Demon finished off Yue Zhongmian, it immediately pounced towards him.
Ye Xiu smiled slightly. His left fingers quickly jumped across a few keys on the keyboard, and his right hand slid the mouse. At the same time that Jun Mo Xiao's Myriad Manifestations Umbrella was swung, the umbrella surface was suddenly opened, and it was opened very exaggeratedly. The umbrella surface and ribs were actually reversed, converging and closing at the tip of the umbrella. At this moment, the Myriad Manifestations Umbrella looked exactly like a spear.
The converged umbrella ribs accurately pierced the Dark Night Cat Demon's body.
Battle Mage skill: Dragon Tooth.
Hu Die Lan