MMO: Pierce Heaven Til’ It Breaks

In King of Pantheon, players could share their dungeon progress with their party members, and there was no limit to how many people they could share it with either. The only difference was that players who received a share had to pass the dungeon at least once before they could earn the right to enter the dungeon freely. Otherwise, they had to be carried into the dungeon every time.

Li Yi’s first party consisted of nine Thieves, but his second group was made of normal classes, including main tanks, healers, and damage dealers. It was a very standard set-up. With the third group, he switched it up again, choosing an entire party of main tanks.

Li Yi built several different parties, all different from each other. After all, he could replicate his progress countless times, and the Iron Alliance had a great many elites anyway. He could form 100 parties without breaking a sweat.

There was strength in numbers, and that was the irrefutable truth. After half a day of trials, he could clearly see which Alliance elites had the best reaction times.

Coordination was the most important requirement when it came to defeating the Hellscream Dungeon. If they could not coordinate perfectly, they would still get wiped out.

This was a party-level dungeon that required a high level of coordination but often placed less importance in equipment.

After half a day of trial and error, almost every party had some membership changes.

Take the first party for example. The Xu sisters had been eliminated, but The Cat that Sings was doing well. Although she could not do it as freely as Li Yi could, she could still weave through the monsters with relative ease.

For the first party, members could only be substituted with Thieves, but for the second, they had to find a replacement of the same class for any of the members who could not keep up. In other words, while the people kept changing, the number of classes and the number of players per class remained constant.

Three days passed, and each group settled on their members.

Each party coordinated perfectly, so there was no need to change members anymore.

Li Yi joined the first party and continued to attempt the dungeon with the nine Thieves.

Nine Thieves and an Archer– that was the strategy Milky Way Stars came up with in the past life. The plan utilized the classes’ high SPD to pick up as many Energy Crystals as possible in as short a period of time as possible, increasing their own strength.

“When we start attacking the monsters later, Silversword and Lil Canyon, you two take the left. Flying Feather and Braised Meat, take the right. Autumn Blade and I will take the front. Dark Wing will run all across the map with the Holy Water. The others, follow behind us and pick up any Energy Crystals we missed. Remember, never stay in one spot. Does everyone understand?”

Before the battle began, The Cat that Sings explained their battle plan.

In just three days, Sister Cat had gone from a member who knew nothing to a leader who controlled everything. On the other hand, Li Yi had long since been stripped of all authority and relegated from leader to member.

Of course, this was also because The Cat that Sings had some real skill. The plan she came up with was almost identical to the one Li Yi had set his sights on, and that was the true reason Li Yi silently acknowledged her as the leader.

Once they had planned out their strategy, The Cat that Sings waved her head and led the charge into the herd of orcs.

“Roar roar—”

“For the tribe!”

The Evil Orcs began to howl again.

The Cat that Sings moved at lightning speed, avoiding every Evil Orc and picking up the Energy Crystals quickly. Not to be outdone, the others each chose a direction to run in, picking any Energy Crystals they could find.

The ten of them coordinated perfectly, and not a single one was pulled into battle.

Li Yi was ecstatic. “You’re doing great, carry on!”

The Cat that Sings immediately roasted him heartlessly, “Stop yapping and keep an eye on the situation! Splash anyone who turns red, and if all of us turn red, it’ll all be your fault. Watch how we f*ck you up then.”

Sister Cat was bad*ss. She did not care who Li Yi; she just said whatever she thought.

19 seconds after the ten of them rushed into the fray, there was a clear “ding”, and all the Evil Orcs suddenly stopped mid-run, the Evil Energy level above their heads dropping by one.

Li Yi and the others had collected 100 Energy Crystals, so the Evil Orcs’ Evil Energy had dropped.

Although The Cat that Sings had a foul mouth, she was very skilled indeed. Other than Li Yi, she was the one who collected the most crystals. While the others had only gathered 7 or 8 crystals, she had picked up 15 or 16.

Li Yi’s body was the first to turn red, so he immediately took out the Holy Eternity Water and splashed himself with it.

Gathering too many Energy Crystals would cause one to lose their mind, and the Holy Eternity Water was the only cure. That was why, in the early stages of the battle, the player armed with the Holy Water was the decisive factor in determining their success or failure.

Tens of thousands of Evil Orcs ran across the plains, but while it looked like a mess, one could see upon closer inspection that there was a certain method to the madness. Players just had to remember the pattern and react fast enough, after which they could weave among the orcs freely.

“I’m red, I’m red! Dark Wing, quick, shoot at me!”

The Cat that Sings cried out suddenly and Li Yi immediately ran toward her.

The players were in the most danger when one of them entered Berserk mode. They would not be able to control their bodies, which meant that their characters would run in random. If they accidentally ran into an Evil Orc’s embrace, only one end awaited them.

Li Yi sprinkled the Holy Water over The Cat that Sings’ head, and Sister Cat’s red body instantly returned to normal.

Immediately after that, Li Yi began to grow busy. The party members turned red, one after the other, and he worked up a sweat just trying to save all of them. He did not even have the time to catch his breath.

The party advanced inward, and the distance between members began to increase gradually as well.

The pressure on Li Yi’s shoulders intensified.

In the early stages of the Hellscream Dungeon, one player getting pulled into a battle meant that the entire party was doomed, so no matter what, they could not be dragged into a battle. This applied for Archers as well, because Pseudocide was utterly useless in this dungeon.

Aspect of the Leopard was activated all the way, and the nine Thieves used Cyclone Step. The ten party members moved in unison, weaving through the dizzying throng that was the army of orcs.

“Come closer, don’t scatter like that! All of you, come closer ASAP!” roared Li Yi.

There was only one bottle of Holy Water, and running around had already worn him out. If the ten members scattered in all directions again, even Li Yi would reach his limit soon.

He could not even release his Territory barrier while amongst the orcs, or else he would immediately enter Battle Mode.

The Cat that Sings yelled out too, “Gather around Dark Wing, don’t go too far away!”

The party reconvened, and though that reduced their Energy Crystal harvesting speed, it made their situation a lot safer.

‘Hang in there. We’re almost there!’

Li Yi encouraged himself wordlessly.

After they wove through the orc crowd for a good half an hour, Li Yi and the others saw a large red treasure chest.

The Cat that Sings watched it for a while before she used Stealth to approach it alone. She then opened the large treasure chest and take out its contents.

There was only one thing in the large treasure chest, something called the Infinite Distance Shooter.

“That’s mine!”

Li Yi rushed forth and grabbed the Infinite Distance Shooter, stuffing the Holy Eternity Water into it.

With this contraption, his job became much easier. It did not matter how far away his party member was, he just had to tap their DP lightly and he would able to shoot the Holy Water on them in an instant.

The Cat that Sings saw the Shooter’s description too, and she asked Li Yi, “So we can scatter now?”

“It’s up to you now. As long as you don’t get pulled into a battle, you guys can pick Energy Crystals wherever you like!”

The Cat that Sings waved her arm. “Everyone split up and collect Energy Crystals immediately!”

Sister Cat had the makings of a commander. At the very least, she had the charisma of one.

When the ten members were all clumped together, it was much more difficult to collect more Energy Crystals. The only way was still to split up.

The ten of them scattered carefully, and as time passed, the distance between them grew. Eventually, they could not even see each other anymore.

With the Infinite Distance Shooter, Li Yi ended up having the easiest job. He no longer had to run around. As soon as he saw someone’s DP turn red, he just had to shoot the Holy Water at them and everything would be solved. It was just that easy.

The more Energy Crystals they collected, the further the Evil Orcs’ Evil Energy level fell.

When their Level 100 Evil Energy fell to below 60%, the rampaging Evil Orcs quieted down and stopped running around. Instead, they just stood there, looking around with dazed eyes.

As their Evil Energy decreased, the Evil Orcs would slowly regain their senses. However, this did not mean that players no longer had to fight them. In truth, even if players reduced their Evil Energy to Level 1, the players still had to kill all of them by the end anyway.

Even if these orcs regained their senses, they were still the players’ enemies.

“Roar roar— Lok’tar!

“For the tribe!”

With a loud roar, a green-skinned orc appeared on the plains, and the Evil Orcs who had regained some of their senses began to gather around the green-skinned orc. Eventually, they stood together like soldiers awaiting orders from their general.

The green-skinned orc was Bloodsnarl, the first boss of the Hellscream Instance Dungeon. Players had to defeat it before they could reach the gatekeeper boss, Hellhowl.

Li Yi and the others ignored them completely. Instead, they took advantage of this rare chance to desperately pick up the Energy Crystals on the plains, strengthening themselves.

When the Evil Orcs’ Evil Energy fell to 50% of their initial value, the players’ Evil Energy had also risen to 50%.

Li Yi messaged The Cat that Sings, “We can start now.”

“Gather up!” The Cat that Sings replied shortly and simply.

All the members gathered together, and Li Yi activated God Mode, taking his place in front of the party.

“True Overlord Arrow!”

A gigantic phoenix made of flames rose from the ground and crashed into the Orc Army that was in the midst of organizing themselves.

When it came to fighting Bloodsnarl, players with the ability to do so could choose to attack it head-on, while the weaker players had to continue searching for Energy Crystals until the Evil Orcs’ Evil Energy was completely dispelled.

However, Li Yi’s party did not need to reduce the enemy’s Evil Energy any further, because their ATK was already ridiculously high. It was more than enough to deal with Level 50 Evil Orcs.

After one True Overlord Arrow, every Evil Orc directly ahead of them fell to the ground, dead…

A damage figure of [−956678123] appeared above the green orc, Bloodsnarl’s head. That one hit alone was enough to nearly empty out its entire HP bar.

With just one move, Li Yi had killed every single Evil Orc, and only the boss Bloodsnarl was left…

“F*ck!”

“Swoosh swoosh swoosh…”

The Cat that Sings activated Cyclone Step to rush forth, and with one use of Garrotte, she killed the boss with barely any HP left.

Just like that, the first boss of the Hellscream Instance Dungeon kicked the bucket.

It was not that Bloodsnarl was too weak. It was just that Li Yi and the others were too OP…

…