MMO: Pierce Heaven Til’ It Breaks

Ten days went by in the blink of an eye. Fluttering Snow Alliance was still in the lead in the fight for the dungeon’s first kill, being the first to defeat 30 regular bosses and challenge Hell-mode King of Souls.

Fame would follow a show of talent in the game. Fluttering Snow Alliance was a good example of this, not only did they brought talent to the table, they displayed great willpower!

Legendary Tribe fell behind ages ago while Iron Alliance was on a wild pursuit, challenging their boss No. 30 now. As long as they passed this stage, their progress would be on par with Fluttering Snow Alliance.

The current party member’s death ratio was 30% with Iron Alliance and 25% with Fluttering Snow Alliance.

Iron Alliance was established by Li Yi not long ago but Fluttering Snow Alliance was a super guild with ten years of history on the web, resulting in their fluid and instinctive teamwork among their members. A simple hand or eye gesture alone was understood enough between members.

In terms of team cooperation, Fluttering Snow Alliance has the upper hand over Iron Alliance.

However, it was not to say that Iron Alliance was at a disadvantage against Fluttering Snow Alliance.

Fluttering Snow Alliance’s flaw lay on a fixed mindset due to their long relationship. It was not an easy challenge. Improving their reaction with no room for false moves proved impossible. Iron Alliance, in comparison, has the ability to accept change, which could be the game-changer. Chen Yang and Ouyang Qian were the ambassadors of change. The more the two parties battled on, the more vicious they became. In the ten days, Ouyang Qian managed to up her DPS to the same level as Li Yi.

Forever brimming with vigor, the more they battled the more fired up they were, those words best described Iron Alliance party.

Li Yi and Tyrant Sword King the Fifth’s bet was now in effect but the former never told anyone about this because it was a personal matter between him and King Fifth and did not involve the party.

The opening of the Soul Gate dungeon greatly stimulated the development of the gambling industry. With legal and illegal bets mushrooming everywhere, there were at least a million dealers available for players to choose from and empty their pockets.

The most active shady dealer in Invincible Continent was Autumn Love.

This lass has the brain and eye for the market to match. Her reputation may be in ruins but her alias has yet to be discovered. Relying on her forum alias, she deposited over 5 million Gold Coins into her account in a span of ten days. This was net profit which she has pocketed no matter whether she won or lost.

With the boom of shady dealers, so were the variety of bets. Nevertheless, the bet with most wagers was Fluttering Snow Alliance versus Iron Alliance.

Win or lose, pick one!

Having better credibility than Fluttering Snow Alliance, the odds were low for Iron Alliance at 1:1.3 while Fluttering Snow Alliance was at 1:3.5. In other words, if one placed 1 buck on Fluttering Snow Alliance to win and the said guild did indeed win, that 1 buck would turn into 3.50 bucks. It was definitely a high return.

It was Black Autumn who started this bet and rumor has it that she was most in favor of a match plagued with uncertainty.

…

After a day and night, Li Yi’s party successfully defeated boss No. 30, earning the rights to challenge Hell-mode King of Souls.

Fluttering Snow Alliance was stuck, after a full day and night of attempting, they only manage to take off 3% of King of Souls’ HP before suffering TPK…

Different from dungeon resurrection in Normal mode, an additional whole party resurrection was granted at each win over a boss. Killing 30 bosses would grant all party members the right to revive 30 times, a stark contrast against the maximum three-times resurrection in Normal mode.

In fact, the 30 regular bosses in Soul Gate were not difficult to defeat. With teamwork, defeating them was just a matter of time. The most difficult boss in the dungeon was King of Souls in complete evolution, hands down.

In Hell mode, Cursing Sect Pope, Shirui and Great Lord Moigne joined forces to seal King of Souls. Alas, King of Souls managed to break free, killing and absorbing their souls in the process. Hence, its ability skyrocketed to Demigod realm.

Walking into Soul Abyss, there was no scenery whatsoever as the strengthening of King of Souls’s power had ripped the place apart, turning it into nothing but a contorting dark space.

Suspended in midair, King of Souls in black with bloody soulful eyes was swaying back and forth.

Its body build was not too large, about the size of a regular man but the energy emitted from it was palpable. At every furious bellow, the contorted space would quaver tremendously, as though about to tear apart.

Iron Alliance has 11 attempts left out of the 33 chances to revive. Most of them were used up in challenging the 30 bosses but it was still quite outstanding to have this much left.

When Li Yi wiped out boss No. 30, Tyrant Sword King the Fifth sent him a message to tell him that Fluttering Snow Alliance still has 13 chances to resurrect in their battle against King of Souls.

Two chances more than what Iron Alliance had…

“It’s still too early to tell who’ll be the winner!”

Brimming with confidence, Li Yi ordered the party to initiate their first attempt.

Three main tanks ran towards King of Souls from three different directions. At Brother Windcloud Nine’s Taunt, King of Souls growled and flew down from the sky.

With arms in a different state, King of Souls in complete evolution was comparable to a True God, unpredictable in its attacks.

King of Souls extended its arm to grab Brother Windcloud Nine’s head, forcefully pulling him up by the head. Brother Windcloud Nine sprung back with Holy Shield Spell but Ineffective quickly popped on his head. Fire Ice unleashed Hand of Salvation but Ineffective emerged above Brother Windcloud Nine’s head all the same.

All mortal efforts before a god were futile.

“Ah — Torrington!”

King of Souls let out a howl, stirring a gale on Brother Windcloud Nine. Its range of attack spread out so quickly, Unending Unmatched and Mad Dragon were sucked into it. The three of them were gushing out blood and once the gale faded away, the durability of their armors turned to zilch, leaving them in only their Newbie Undies…

The trio’s HP were reduced by half…

Torrington was a skill unique to King of Souls. The players may not understand what it was shouting but Li Yi knew Torrington was the name of one of the gods of Mount Pantheon.

King of Souls gestured towards the trio, causing them to feel as though someone grabbed them by the neck and flopped them in the air. The HP bar on their heads were plummeting down…

“Priests, heal the tanks. Dark Paladin Rain take the tank’s place. Those with DPS, fire!” Shangguan Bailu shouted at the top of her lungs.

“Bp!”

Overlord Arrow!

Li Yi fired his most powerful arrow.

A bull’s eye, Skill Interruption popped up on King of Souls’ head but the emergence of the word Punishment soon had Li Yi face-planting the ground with a dull grunt.