MMO: Pierce Heaven Til’ It Breaks

“Psst! Psst! Psst! Psst! Buzz!”

Powered-Up Arrows flew from every direction, taking down multiple rows of players at a time.

Meanwhile, Li Yi was quickly flying about. The combination of Camouflage and Invisibility Potion enabled him to dart into every nook and cranny like a wandering spirit.

“Split up, everyone. Don’t stand together!”

Not Gray Wolf finally realized the issue. With over three hundred of them running about, Li Yi could not make his move.

Apart from setting the various traps, the only AoE skill he had was Powered-Up Arrow. Now that they were scattered, he could not take down multiple targets in one shot. Of course, his movements also similarly restricted by their chaotic fleeing. Invisibility Potion did not have the same effect as Camouflage, if the opposing party were to initiate Sensory, then he would immediately be exposed.

After spotting the change of strategy, Li Yi did not hesitate and instantly consumed an Invisibility Potion before heading straight into the Instance Dungeon.

He would let them wait outside. If he had not initially seen them coming over, then Li Yi would have already been happily farming monsters in the dungeon by now.

The number of Ice Cores in his backpack dropped by 200. This was the price to enter the Instance Dungeon.

System Notification: [You have entered Ice Crystal Crown Instance Dungeon…]

The scenery changed before his eyes. Li Yi now stood in the midst of a snowy world. In his character’s status pane, it showed that there was a 12-hour limit in this dungeon.

Ice Crystal Crown was a time-restricted dungeon. Once the 12 hours were up, it wouldn’t matter where you were, you would be forcefully teleported out.

The monsters in the dungeon were the same as on the outside, they were all ice elemental beings. The only difference was that these monsters were all of Elite-level.

There was no normal mode for the Level 40, 10-man Ice Crystal Crown dungeon, only Heroic mode.

Ten Moderate Ice Elves stood in a row in front of him. Li Yi smiled and summoned Violent Bear King to Mislead. Then, he fired a shot before dropping to the ground in Pseudocide.

An Ice Elf ran towards Violent Bear King while the other nine remained in place, not moving a muscle.

Pseudocide was a mandatory skill for any Archer wishing to go solo in a dungeon.

It was a breeze for Violent Bear King to take on one Moderate Ice Elf at a time, but to go against ten? It would not be able to hold out for more than a few seconds.

Violent Bear King was solid at pulling aggro as Li Yi calmly fired off shots from behind. Thus, a Level-40 Moderate Ice Elf with 100,000 HP collapsed to the ground in no time at all.

After this, Li Yi walked out and extended his arm. Seconds later, he looted two pieces of Frost Fragments.

However, Frost Fragments could not be preserved, so Li Yi immediately crafted a Beginner-Level Frost Arrow.

He continued on to Mislead and use Pseudocide while farming monsters solo. With this, it was not long before Li Yi managed to take down all ten of the Moderate Ice Elves.

Ice Cores were guaranteed drops whilst a total of 5 Frost Fragments were looted. Additionally, he also got a piece of blue-colored equipment.

What a huge gain!

Li Yi looked at the time and saw that it had only been a little over ten minutes. He could still stay in the dungeon for some time.

He cleared a path as he went deeper into the dungeon. Once the kill count read 30 Moderate Ice Elves, Li Yi watched as a large Superior Ice Elf appeared before his eyes. Towering above him at five meters tall, its body was angular in shape, making it look remarkably different from the regular Ice Elves.

This was the first mini-boss of Ice Crystal Crown dungeon, known as Iceladia. It was a living being created by the hands of Frost Goddess and was held in very high regard.

Ice Crystal Crown dungeon had an interesting background story. An upright Paladin was engaged in some archeological studies when he dug up a crown carved from ice crystals. When his teacher ordered him to discard the evil crown, the upright Paladin was upset and decided not to heed his teacher’s advice. Although he agreed to do it, he secretly kept the Ice Crystal Crown.

Nobody else knew about the Paladin’s act. But it just so happened his fiancé inadvertently discovered the crown while tidying up the room. Out of curiosity, she put it on. It was then that tragedy struck. She became possessed by the evil powers that came from within the Ice Crystal Crown. She killed the upright Paladin and later escaped to this canyon in order to avoid the pursuit of the Paladin’s teacher.

And so, Blade Frost Canyon that originally had a favorable climate all-year round became a snowy and desolate tundra due to the evil powers of the Ice Crystal Crown.

Superior Ice Elf, Iceladia, actually bore no relations with the Ice Crystal Crown. It kept watch here merely because it coveted the powerful energy released by the Ice Crystal Crown. It wanted to take it for itself but obviously was unable to. Thus, Iceladia shamelessly loitered around the area, with no clear purpose in mind.

Iceladia was a Level 42 Chief Elite with HP of 2,000,000. It remained to be seen whether or not Li Yi could take it down.

When he previously played as a Thief in his past life, he had once come to this dungeon when he was Level 90. He had easily squished the boss then. However, to challenge this dungeon when he was at a similar level as the boss was quite nerve-wracking.

Violent Bear King rushed ahead with an Enhanced Charge. Iceladia furiously howled and unleashed a torrent of Cold Breeze from its mouth at Violent Bear King.

After getting hit by Cold Breeze, Violent Bear King immediately turned into a popsicle. Iceladia then moved closer and smashed it with its large fists. With this, Violent Bear King was crushed to the sound of shattering ice.

It was over in the blink of an eye.

“Crap!”

Seeing Iceladia moving toward him, Li Yi immediately activated Camouflage and managed to break away from the battle before Iceladia closed the distance between them.

This thing was simply too savage. It did not matter how high your HP was, once you were frozen, it would crush you with its bare knuckles, spelling instant death. Li Yi’s Thief had only been able to take her down in the past life due to his Death Cape and other accessories that could dispel all abnormal states.

Ah, he felt a migraine coming…

Iceladia was Ice Crystal Crown dungeon’s main boss. It was impossible to move forward without defeating it.

To battle or to retreat and re-enter later?

The creases on Li Yi’s forehead deepened as he fell deep into thought.

After resurrecting Violent Bear King, Li Yi ordered it to charge ahead once more.

Immediately after, Iceladia blew another mouthful of Cold Breeze, quickly turning Violent Bear King into another frozen popsicle.

This time, Li Yi changed his strategy. He did not try to shoot at Iceladia. Instead, he turned slightly and started shooting at Violent Bear King.

“Pfft! Pfft!”

The burning Flame Arrow that had been fired at Violent Bear King began to melt the ice that coated its surface.

It worked!

Li Yi was overjoyed.

Under normal circumstance, the party would need to have two Fire Wizards tag along. They would be positioned on opposite sides of the party so that they could counter Iceladia’s Cold Breeze once it was used.

The only difference in the way they played would be that the target of their flames would not be a player in an abnormal state but rather, the ice surface on their party members.

Iceladia clenched its fists to crush Violent Bear King, but without the ice buff, its fists were no threat to Violent Bear King. Dealing only 300 HP, Violent Bear King who stood proudly with 5,000 HP took the damage like a champ.

Once Archers reached Level 45, more skills became available. Apart from an enhanced version of Freezing Trap, there was also a practical pet archery skill called Sharing the Love.

[Sharing the Love: When the master and pet coexist, both master and pet can enjoy HP and mana recovery in battle. This is a passive skill.]

Although the HP recovery was very slight, with a rate of less than 10 HP every 5 seconds, as the players level increased, so would its effect.

With this, Li Yi healed Violent Bear King while simultaneously firing shots. For safety purposes, He stood a bit far away, such that he always remained at least 40 yards away except when he approached Violent Bear King to heal him.

Iceladia’s Cold Breeze had no aggro. It hit anyone in its range. This meant that survival could be guaranteed as long as one were to stay out of its range.

Apart from its troublesome Cold Breeze, Iceladia was basically a dummy boss. Killing it only took a matter of time.

Finally, after twenty minutes, Li Yi successfully took out Iceladia and obtained 40,000 EXP.

However, the first kill was not in the picture. Windcloud Clan had already cleared this dungeon and earned first kill half a month ago.

This obviously did not matter as Li Yi did not come here for the first kill. He was quite content with leaving with just the Frost Fragments.

Extending his arm out, Li Yi’s face darkened, and he became glum.

His Trash Hand had shown itself again as he looted a piece of white-colored equipment…

F*ck me! This Level 40 boss in striking gold font could have at least drop some blue-colored equipment!

Li Yi helplessly sighed and continued to march ahead.

All the Moderate Ice Elves he met on the way were wiped out. After taking out three batches of 30 Moderate Ice Elves, he only looted one Frost Fragment.

Another boss appeared before him, but it was different from Iceladia. This boss did not even have a name. The name displayed on top of its head read Superior Mutated Ice Elf whilst its HP was a disgusting 3,000,000.

“Go, Violent Bear King!”

This time, Li Yi did not hesitate to summon Violent Bear King as this boss was only a dummy. With enough DEF, anyone could solo it.

[-600]

[-554]

[-321]

[-210]

Superior Mutated Ice Elf’s attacks posed no threat to Violent Bear King, especially with the effects of multiple Earth-wards on it. Violent Bear King’s HP was barely scratched as it pounded away at its foe.

Indeed, the best time to practice techniques was when battling with dummy bosses. He had Violent Bear King to tank, as it was a meat bag of a boss that would not pursue him, Li Yi was left with sufficient time to test out his skills.

“Crippling Shot!”

[-1789]

Critical Hit!

“Chain Arrow Skill!”

[-2101]

[-2135]

Yet another two Critical Hits, earning him a Skill Activation Point. Activate! Crippling Shot…

“Wham! Wham! Wham!”

A chain of exaggerated figures appeared above Mutated Ice Elf. Normally, damage dealt would be shown in small white fonts, while combos of impressive hits would be displayed in large golden fonts. However, the way Li Yi was going at, his hits were shown in bright red.

White fonts were bland and boring, but explosive red fonts were quite the motivator!

He leaped and rotated his body to fire a Chain Arrow Skill before flipping forward and firing another shot. He then somersaulted to the side before shooting at his opponent’s head. Li Yi was excited and began to perform many moves that he had previously thought about but had never put into practice.

Now, with his blood pumping, every action was attempted with full confidence.

Once he defeated the Superior Mutated Ice Elf, he stood there in a daze. Then, he shook his head and sighed, lamenting about how the death of the boss came too quickly…

“Trash Hand or God Hand, it all comes down to this.”

Li Yi rubbed his hands together and walked toward the Superior Mutated Ice Elf.

“This is a blessing from Little Elf of the Magical Realm…”

Li Yi received a shock when he bent over to look at the loot…

…