Chapter 1 Seizing the Instance

Watching Lord Grim's group turn and enter the dungeon as if nothing had happened, Around the Beach was hopping mad. There was no time to stop them; this was the dungeon entrance, and they only needed to turn around and take a few steps to enter.

Blue River remained calm, watching Lord Grim's group enter the dungeon, and calmly said, "Let's begin as well."

"Okay," the three responded, but Around the Beach was clearly still out of it.

"Around the Beach, we're here to break the record. Focus. Don't forget why we came," Blue River reminded Around the Beach.

Afterwards, the five entered the dungeon, naturally progressing according to the rhythm they had practiced that day. However, Around the Beach was clearly burning with anger, and he began to vent it on the dungeon monsters. The team's rhythm was instantly thrown into chaos; this guy was clearly going overboard.

Blue River, who had reminded him before entering, remained silent. Pen Lance couldn't stand it any longer and was about to say something, but Blue River interrupted him just as he called out his name.

"Forget it," Blue River said. "Let him vent. He won't play well otherwise."

Pen Lance was taken aback. Considering Around the Beach's personality, he gave up. The others naturally said nothing more. During this dungeon run, Around the Beach was basically detached from the coordination, and the progress was noticeably unsatisfactory.

"Could that Lord Grim be deliberately provoking Around the Beach to affect our performance?" Pen Lance said.

"I don't think that's necessary," said Night Cold. "This kind of provocation will only make him angry for a moment. Dungeon competition isn't like arena battles where a few wins determine the outcome. If we can't clear it today, we'll come again tomorrow, or even create a new account and come later. Is he going to wait here every time and use provocation to affect us?"

"Then what's the point of him saying so much nonsense? Does he really think Blue Bridge is better than Around the Beach?" Pen Lance said.

"What do you guys think?" Night Cold asked the other three.

With Around the Beach present, they couldn't openly discuss the issue. Moreover, they were currently clearing the dungeon, and it wasn't likely that the four of them would gather in one spot. They were constantly exchanging information while weaving through monsters.

"I think... Blue Bridge is indeed very stable in dungeons, but I don't think Around the Beach is worse than Blue Bridge. We've been coordinating for a day, and I think everyone can see that! Around the Beach coordinates very well with us. Even Blue Bridge might not be able to do better," said Dawn Ice, who hadn't expressed much opinion.

"But at least in this situation, I don't think Blue Bridge would be affected by emotions like Around the Beach," Pen Lance said.

"Could it be..." Night Cold was startled and blurted out a guess, but he accidentally moved and separated from the others, ending up next to Around the Beach. He quickly swallowed his words.

"What were you going to say?" Pen Lance asked quickly when the four crossed paths again.

"Could it be that Lord Grim's intention in provoking Around the Beach was to show us this guy's shortcomings in this kind of situation?" Night Cold said.

"Are you guys overthinking this!" Blue River, who hadn't joined the discussion, finally found an opportunity to speak.

"It's not that complicated. I think Around the Beach provoked him first, and then he just retorted," Blue River said.

"Uh..." The three were taken aback. This explanation was also reasonable.

"Don't overthink it. Focus on the dungeon," Blue River said.

"Okay," the three responded.

The result of this dungeon run was naturally not good, taking 30 minutes, a far cry from the record they were aiming for.

After exiting the dungeon, Blue River didn't say much. Around the Beach wasn't an idiot; he should realize it himself.

"Second time," Blue River announced calmly. Around the Beach's initial emotional outburst was quietly glossed over. No one mentioned it, and in this second dungeon run, Around the Beach had clearly returned to normal.

However, this run still had some problems. A record, means 100% performance, and any flaw would prevent them from achieving it. Moreover, more than one person made a mistake this time. It wasn't easy for everyone to perform perfectly in a 30-minute dungeon.

"Third time! Focus, everyone." Although there were flaws last time, the group's tactics against To亜 (Tuo Ya) were well-honed, and their score was comparable to the tenth server's record. They were confident that as long as they overcame these mistakes, a record would definitely be achieved.

"Let's go!" The group shouted in unison, entering Luring Land for the third time.

A perfect run, without any flaws. This time, the team made no mistakes, all the way to the final boss, To亜 (Tuo Ya). This boss, originally the biggest challenge in Luring Land, was the focus of their eighteen daily Luring Land practice runs. The five had reached a point where they could coordinate perfectly with To亜 (Tuo Ya) almost instinctively. Even in the second run, where several of them had made mistakes, they didn't make any mistakes when facing To亜 (Tuo Ya).

The practice was the key, and they were simply too familiar with it.

24 minutes, 41 seconds, and 46 milliseconds!!

When the final score appeared, the five of them breathed a sigh of relief. This was exactly the record they had envisioned, the strongest score they could achieve by pushing their skills to the limit. To improve further, they would need to upgrade to stronger equipment.

Although Blue River didn't participate in this dungeon team, he did his job perfectly. As soon as the record was set, the people Blue Brook Guild had arranged immediately started discussions on the world chat, naturally to repair the damage to Blue Brook Guild's image. They had done this once before when the previous record was set, and now they were striking while the iron was hot, pressing their advantage.

"Lord Grim! The record is here, waiting for you to break it."

Among the many messages, there was this blatant taunt, sent by Around the Beach using his current character. However, there was no response from Lord Grim. Around the Beach relentlessly spammed the world chat, over and over again. Finally, Pen Lance and the others, who had learned from the "idiot go away" incident with Guild Leader Blue River, searched through the chaotic world messages and discovered that Lord Grim had responded. However, just like Blue River's "idiot go away," it was too short and had been missed.

Lord Grim's response was only three words: Free now.

Around the Beach spat out another mouthful of blood after seeing this reply and continued to challenge him on the world chat, demanding that he break the record and that they have a one-on-one duel.

This time, Around the Beach paid attention and carefully watched for replies. Lord Grim was quite considerate and responded quickly, but... the message content hadn't changed at all. It was still three words: Free now.

Around the Beach was so angry that he wanted to dive into the game world on the screen and personally drag Lord Grim out for a beatdown. But in reality, he could only glare at the screen and grind his teeth. He had said all the taunting words he could think of on the world chat, but Lord Grim's indifference to messages was on par with their Guild Leader Blue River. Aside from the two "Free now," there was no response at all.

Wouldn't it be embarrassing to actually ask "When are you free?" Around the Beach was in a dilemma!

"That guy is really persistent! He's been spamming for almost an hour." In Happy Internet Cafe, Tang Rou went to the front desk to add water and mentioned it to Ye Xiu. They had just finished three runs of Luring Land, and they had taken an hour longer than Blue Brook Guild's team. For the last two runs, Ye Xiu had commanded a completely new strategy.

However, this new strategy not only didn't improve efficiency significantly like it had in the Graveyard of Thorns dungeon, but it also made the four of them struggle even more. Tang Rou felt like she had the will but not the strength! She could sense the sharpness of this strategy, but because the four of them didn't have enough damage output, they couldn't achieve the desired effect.

That's right, four people! Today, they had been running the Luring Land dungeon with four people. Tang Rou vaguely had a feeling that this new strategy was designed with a fifth person in mind. If they had the firepower support of this fifth person, they might be able to achieve the intended effect of this strategy.

So, after the dungeon ended and the group disbanded, Tang Rou strolled over again and started talking about Around the Beach's tireless spamming on the world chat.

"Yeah, that guy is really working hard," Ye Xiu said.

"What are you doing?" Tang Rou leaned her head towards Ye Xiu's screen and saw the trading streets of Empty Accumulation City, filled with stalls.

"Shopping again? What do you want to buy?" Tang Rou asked.

"Your and Steamed Bun's sets are almost complete. Wind Following Taboo is still missing a few pieces, so I'm helping her take a look," Ye Xiu said.

"Oh? Do you have enough money? I still have some," Tang Rou said.

"Save your money for potions!" Ye Xiu laughed.

"Then what..."

"Hmm?"

"The Luring Land dungeon record, we're going to take it back, right!" Tang Rou asked. Right now, their names weren't even in the top three for the Luring Land dungeon record. And now that Around the Beach was challenging them on the world chat, Tang Rou hadn't said anything, but she was ready to explode.

"Of course," Ye Xiu said.

"When?" Tang Rou asked.

"We have to wait for the fifth member to arrive," Ye Xiu said.

"Fifth? Who is it this time?" Tang Rou asked.

"You've interacted with him before," Ye Xiu said.

"Who?" Tang Rou wondered.

"Gray Moon, remember him?" Ye Xiu asked.

"Oh? That person... I remember him. He seemed to be the weakest of that group, but at least he's stronger than me," Tang Rou said. Anyone from Tiny Herb would defeat her without a doubt, since they were all professional-level players.

"His name is Qiao Yifan. In a one-on-one fight, he's really not outstanding, but dungeons, which require teamwork, are his true stage," Ye Xiu said.

"When is he coming?" Tang Rou asked.

"Soon. If all goes well, we might see him tomorrow night." Ye Xiu looked at his friend list. One Inch Ash, the Ghostblade, had been online 24 hours a day these past few days, and his level had been rising like a rocket. He was now level 28.

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Ready to welcome the combos!!! (To be continued, please visit qidian.com for more chapters and support the author!)