MMO: Pierce Heaven Til’ It Breaks

It had only 30 thousand HP left, and at the same time, the party only had 30 seconds left. Whether they would be able to make it through or not was something that no one was confident in.

Li Yi bellowed, “We’re making a last-ditch effort! Everyone! Go all out! Don’t bother about the lights!”

“Meteor Arrow!”

“Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!”

Li Yi backpedaled as he fired, depleting his entire mana reserve in one fell swoop. The idea behind his plan was simple; he intended to take the boss down along with himself. After all, the boss only had 30,000 HP left, and even if it could reflect his first shot, would it be able to reflect both shots? If he shot nine arrows in total, there should be at least two arrows that successfully landed, right?

Others had joined the fray as well. All the DPS were now united in their attempt to take down Obsidian Giant.

“Urgg urghh urgghh…”

The final 30 thousand HP of Obsidian Giant was wiped away in mere moments. Li Yi was fortunate. He had his arrows reflected, but he did not die, as Obsidian Giant had fallen slightly earlier than the arrows reaching Li Yi…

It was over. They had completed the final phase with only 3 DPS’ deaths. Everyone else had survived.

“This gimmick is pretty wild…”

“I’m flabbergasted as well. If Normal Mode’s already this insane, what do you think Hell Mode would be like?”

Half of the party’s members were lying on the ground. Their fatigue had finally gotten a hold of them. Starting from the beginning of the battle, they had taken 4 or more hours in total. They were exhausted in both body and mind. Now that the boss was finally taken down, they could relax their tense nerves and unwind. Should they push themselves any further, the consequences would be deadly.

Someone suggested, “Sister Windcloud Nine, why don’t you go and loot the corpse for us? Since you’re the only one here that’s not plagued with fatigue.”

“My corpse…” Sister Windcloud Nine was still lying on the ground.

Brother Windcloud Nine chided, “Don’t you even know how to click resurrect?”

“Okay…”

Sister Windcloud Nine stood back up. Since she had resurrected once, she only had two revives left.

Li Yi flashed her a smile, “Just go and loot, who knows, you might get INT equipment again.”

Curse Priests were like Wizards, they did not require WIL, only INT.

Ding!

A loud ring resounded, and an Item Panel popped up before their eyes. As usual, there was only one equipment listed within it.

[Obsidian Giant’s Cursed Breastplate, cloth armor, WIL +250, INT+250]

It was the perfect mixed equipment for Curse Priests.

“An INT blouse!”

“Unbelievable…”

“It really does spit out whatever she lacks.”

“No need to roll, we don’t need it. You can take it.”

Everyone in the party expressed their opinions. No one wanted the item.

“Thank you, guys! Thank you…”

Sister Windcloud Nine was ecstatic, but she had learned her lesson. This time, she made sure to bring out her inventory panel and click twice to equip both her blouse and shorts before taking off her black robes.

She was still wearing the same old green shorts as last time, its length did not exceed her kneecaps, revealing her pair of white slender legs. On the other hand, the appearance of the Obsidian Breastplate was beyond everyone’s expectations.

What Breastplate? It was obviously a black bra, and it was a sadomasochistic one at that. It had quills like a porcupine’s protruding from the breastplate.

“Wooww~ Now this is what I call a queen.”

“Brother Nine… Brother Nine, why is your face green?”

Sister Windcloud Nine had taken off the garment before 20 seconds had even gone by. However, the image of her donning the equipment was already leaked by an unknown individual to the official forum, and it caused an immediate uproar. The image was hastily downloaded by numerous shut-ins, reaching a total download count of 12,000,000. It was said that, on that day, all stocks of toilet paper had been sold out…

…

Unending Unmatched glanced at the clock. “Guild Master, are we still going to continue? It’s almost 12 o’clock.”

Li Yi checked the dungeon’s current progress. Every party that attempted stages beyond the Normal Mode were all stuck, and they had yet to even beat the first boss. However, both the other teams that attempted the Normal Mode had already passed the first boss and were currently fighting the second one, Obsidian Giant.

As for Li Yi’s party, they were undoubtedly in the lead.

Without even a moment’s hesitation, Li Yi ordered, “Take a short break and we’ll continue!”

“We’re still continuing? Damn, are we going to play through the night?”

“It’s been a long time since I’ve been this hyped. Let me log off to brew a cup of joe first.”

“I’m going to get some food.”

“I’m going to get some alcohol to get myself riled up…”

There were 25 players in the party, but not a single one of them left. Though most of them were already tired beyond measure, they endured.

“We can’t just rely on skill alone to take the lead. We need grit as well.”

Li Yi beamed, “Any lady want to sing a song to boost our morale?”

It was a dungeon-crawling experience in the dead of the night, and for the shut-ins, the most memorable experience was not the insane boss and its top-tier equipment. Instead, it was the mesmerizing voices of the chicks in the party. Everyone who felt the same way had raised their hands.

Everyone went into discussion, and after much discourse, the Dwarf General, Shangguan Bailu was selected to be the performer.

Sister Windcloud Nine was too shy to sing, and so was Little Elf from the Magical Realm. Only the mighty general with big dreams was brave enough to do so.

Shangguan Bailu started singing, and though her voice was a far cry from the superstar, Xu Man, everyone was still enthralled by her melody. Her voice mattered little, as the most important aspect was the atmosphere it instilled.

After their break, the party continued to push forward…

The Obsidian Monsterlings had vanished from the pitch-black room, and in their place, a large number of small-statured robotic kobolds had appeared.

They were fast, had little HP, had low DEF, and had explosive damage, which coincidentally, was their specialty.

The Robotic Kobolds were different from the Obsidian Monsterlings. Unlike the Obsidian Monsterlings that were large-sized and like to wander aimlessly, the Robotic Kobolds never appeared alone, and they appeared in large packs. The moment they spotted an enemy, they would immediately alert their nearby companions for support. Additionally, due to their sky-high damage, even main tanks were unable to withstand continuous attacks from three or more Robotic Kobolds.

Li Yi’s method to overcome this predicament was simple, and almost every party had used that method one way or another.

He was going to Mislead and Pseudocide one monster at a time.

Li Yi cast Mislead on Brother Windcloud Nine, shot an arrow at a Robotic Kobold, and collapsed a moment later. Following that, the Robotic Kobold skipped and pounced its way to Brother Windcloud Nine without startling any of the nearby Kobolds.

“Kill it!”

After a few rays of lights were emitted, the Robotic Kobold that rushed over was instantly killed.

The party needed to kill it quickly, as any delays might result in the Robotic Kobold requesting aid from its accomplices. Should that happen, the party would be in deep trouble.

“Nice, this is how it’s meant to be done. Keep it up!”

Fang Jie used Mislead on Unending Unmatched, and Pseudocided immediately after shooting an arrow…

“Woof…Woof…”

Another Robotic Kobold came lunging forward.

…

This dog-slaughtering festival had lasted from twelve in the midnight right until 9 o’clock in the next morning…

Within a dilapidated ruin, Li Yi and his party spotted the Robotic Kobold’s leader, and the third boss of Soul Gate, the Robotic Kobold King.

All three main tanks lunged forward, and the party unleashed their firepower. After 5 whole minutes, they successfully took down the Robotic Kobold King.

Ding! Ding! Ding!

A golden glow radiated from the party members’ bodies, and the system’s notification ringtone sounded off. The resurrection counts of every party member had been reset.

Within Soul Gate, for every 3 bosses that the parties took down, each member’s resurrection amounts would be reset back to 3, regardless of whether they had used it up or not.

Li Yi checked the dungeon’s progress and realized that among the two other parties attempting the Normal Mode, only one was still pushing on, whereas the other one had already logged off a while back.

As for the party that was still pushing on, they had already brought down Obsidian Giant, and they were currently catching up to Li Yi’s party.

“Guild Master, are we still going to continue?” Unending Unmatched widened his bloodshot eyes, and he stood with the same old vigor.

Li Yi shook his head. “We’ve already regained all three of our resurrections, which means that our goal has been achieved. Now, listen closely, the party will be dismissed for now, and we will gather back at 8 o’clock tonight.”

“Time to log off.”

“Woohoo, logging off now. Good night everyone…”

“I’m going to log off too. Bye bye, everybody…”

One after another, the party members logged off. Ouyang Qian wanted to log out as well, but she was stopped by Li Yi’s grip.

“They’re allowed to log off, but not you. You need to accompany me in my sleep.”

“You brute!”

Ouyang Qian’s figure slowly faded away. She had logged out. However, a moment before she did so, she mischievously spat her tongue at Li Yi and jabbed, “I’m a woman, not a man, so even if I lose, I can still go against my words.”

“…”

Li Yi logged off as well. However, he did not immediately head to bed. Instead, he headed over to another bedroom to check on Jiaojiao. Once he was sure that she was fast asleep, he returned to his room while yawning.

Li Yi logged back into the game at 8 sharp in the evening. When he appeared in the dungeon, half of his party members were already waiting for him.

One after another, the other party members logged back in. By 8.30 pm, the 25 members of the party were fully assembled.

“Let’s go!”

Following Li Yi’s shout, the party members stirred up their enthusiasm and spurred into the next map.

Soul Gate was the hardest dungeon among all dungeons within Light and Darkness. Each boss was painstakingly designed, and those who wanted to brute force their way past them were delusional.

Fortunately for Li Yi and his party, they had chosen to play Normal Mode. Regardless of the monsters they faced, be it monsterling or boss, their strength was set at the lowest possible threshold. Throughout their journey, they had encountered a few risky situations, but nothing major enough that would cause their annihilation. After 5 hours, the team had taken down 3 other bosses and had refreshed their resurrection counts.

There were a great many bosses in Soul Gate, and even if they ignored the hidden bosses, there were still around 30 of them left.

On the second day of Soul Gate’s opening, many players had gone to the official page to protest the dungeon’s difficulty and requested for a patch. However, the forum stuck with their decision. They even stated, [Soul Gate’s difficulty has been perfectly adjusted. As long as you are dedicated enough, we believe that you would be able to clear this dungeon.]

Since there was no possibility of the dungeon being nerfed, those who had selected the higher difficulties were now in despair. Even without the bosses, it was a common sight to be annihilated by the hands of monsterlings. These landmine-like monsterlings that were capable of annihilating parties were located all over Soul Gate…

As for Li Yi’s party, they were steadily progressing day by day. They set their sights on only defeating 3 bosses each day, and by the tenth day, they had finally arrived at the dungeon’s final boss, ‘Weakened Soul King’.

Compared to the Soul King that soared the skies of Dragonbone Waste every day, the one before them was incomplete. It only had half of its spiritual body left, as the rest had been sealed by Pope Shirui and Lord Moigne into a crystal ball, and it only had a single arm protruding from the ball.

In Soul Gate’s Normal Mode, the players would only need to deal with the arm that the Soul King revealed.

Mad Dragon shook his head as he complained, “This feels so empty. After all we’ve been through, it feels shameful to kill him in this form.”

“Stop yapping! It’s time for the main tanks to go forth!”

“Fine!”

The three main tanks rushed at King of Souls’ arm together.

“Thud!”

The Soul King’ swiped its hand across the field, and like a cane, it whipped onto the three main tanks, instantly turning them red.

System Notification: [Unending Unmatched, Brother Windcloud Nine, and Mad Dragon’s minds have been controlled by the Soul King. They are now your enemies.]

…