Chapter 185: Leash of the Stead from Hell
For this wave, the guild that got the boss was a guild called Place of Glory, a medium-sized guild that had the maximum member capacity of a level 1 guild, with all 10,000 members present on the battlefield. However, even with that many members, none of them were of decent caliber. The average player's level was only around level 25. The best equipped player only had a full set of level 30 Gray-Silver equipment. It simply wasn't enough for to take on the boss!
Narxus had the same penetrating skill as the smaller monsters. The long spear thrust out and skewered through the players like a series of caramel apple on one long stick. The longitudinal skill damaged the unfortunate players with 5000+ damage, enough to kill of at least 7 to 8 players.
Although that skill was quite formidable, the boss had another skill that was even stronger -- a "sweeping" ulti. One clean sweep with the spear would cause 5000 damage to every player within 10 meters around him. Death would be certain to anyone who was unable to escape that radius.
Within a minute, Palace of Glory had only managed to reduce 12% of the boss' HP, while having their own main attacking force completely wiped out. The remaining lower leveled players had a hard time attacking the high leveled boss. Most of their attacks were nullified since their attacks were unable to exceed the boss' defense. If the battle continued on, the guild would be completely routed before the boss is defeated.
The guild master of Palace of Glory was in hysterics. When the guild first saw the boss was heading towards them, they were ecstatic. But as soon as the boss laid down the first strike and followed up with a "sweeping" skill, all that euphoria was completely replaced with complete despair. The drops from a Gray-Silver boss was great and all, but the at least one must have the capability to defeat it first!
"Palace of Glory has given up on the boss! The boss is now free for all!" The guild master cried out as he led the remaining survivors to retreat to safety.
Zhang Yang slammed the axe into the ground and call out to Hundred Shots. "Snowy b*tch! Follow me! Hundred Shots! Bring a team of ranged attackers and follow me!"
The monsters around Zhang Yang's area had already been defeated. Most of the players here were already resting -- sitting on the ground munching on recovery snacks. Hundred Shots went around the crowd and recruited a few strong Hunters and Spellcasters. One by one, the recruited players summoned their mounts and followed Zhang Yang to the boss.
"Hey! Noob tank! Remember to bring back the horsie for me!" Wei Yan Er yelled.
To defeat the boss was not just the intention of Lone Desert Smoke alone. Crimson Rage, The Dominators, and Sky High had already dispatched their own elite group of attackers. Others who had the capability to kill the boss, like the big four, lesser known ones like Lost Paradise and Miracle Garden, had also joined in the fray.
In a short time, close to 10 groups of players had rushed towards the boss. All of the incoming party were consisted of 2 tanks and a bunch of ranged attackers, followed by a few healers! They had already learned their lesson when the first and third boss were wiping out their melee classes like they were snapping a twig.
Zhang Yang stopped his horse 50 meters before the boss and shouted, "Everyone! The enemy is at hand, I suggest that we do not fight amongst ourselves but instead join hands to defeat this tough boss! Let go for the first come first serve basis! Whoever gets their hands on any of the equipment shall have full claim to it without contest!"
If everyone wanted to have their city to be the best in the world, everyone have to be united! They would have to suppress their greed for loots and instead quench the thirst for honor instead! Everyone had same thoughts as Zhang Yang and were in line with his thoughts! After all, those who were sent to defeat this boss were elite members of their respective guilds. As of now, no one could bear to suffer any losses!
Zhang Yang saw that everyone had someone come to terms with his suggestion and was pleased. Zhang Yang rushed to the boss and started to fight. In his mind, he was rather happy, not because of the unity, but because he knew that he was going to be the one getting all the good stuff! His athletic speed and reaction is not something he had just obtained. No one could be as fast as he! Still, it's bad taste to haul everything in sight. Instead, he could at least grab all the really good ones first!
Narxus was still chasing after members of Palace of Glory, and in the ongoing pursuit, they lost another 1,000 players. The situation was already bad for them, yet the boss had to rub additional salt on their wounds. They were no longer just running back to the hill like children crying for their mothers! They had already dropped their swords and were fleeing with their tails between their legs!
While Zhang Yang was already within the boss' aggro zone, the boss had ignored the threat as the boss was still locked onto Palace of Glory members. Zhang Yang immediately unsummoned his mount and slid across the battlefield with <Charge>!
<Provoke!>
Immune!
<Blood Rage>
Rage +30!
<Horizontal Sweep>!
Normal attack!
"-1,423!"
"-2,983!"
The <Cripple Defense> effect on the boss had long since expired. Only Zhang Yang was able to strike 3000+ damage while the boss still had 600 Defense. Only Zhang Yang, the player with a Yellow-Gold weapon and a 50% ignore defense passive <Eagle Eye> could do that! Once other players witnessed the prowess of Zhang Yang, every one of them instinctively jumped at the sight of the ridiculously high damage.
After two instances of attacks, Narxus finally turned his attention to Zhang Yang. The boss raised its spear high in the air, ready to strike Zhang Yang. It cannot be helped; the main attacking force of Palace of Glory had been killed off earlier. The remaining players around could only deal nullified damage as their own attack power was unable to surpass the boss' defense. The aggro that any of them generate was so low that 1 minutes' worth of attack was easily overtaken by Zhang Yang's two instances of attacks.
<Block>!
Zhang Yang raised his shield and blocked the attack. Once the attack was stopped, the piercing effect was not implemented and the protected players behind Zhang Yang continued to lay down their attack.
"Attention! Do no stand in line with me! Please attack from 30 meters away! That's the furthest distance possible! Dear friends from other guild, please do not forget to set your attacking mode to "City Raid" mode."
In 'God's Miracle', there were many types of attacking mode to match different situation. For example, in the Eight server-wide world war, if you switched to "Server Raid" mode, your AoE attack will only cause damage to players from other servers instead! Another example is the current war that involves the players from an entire city. "City Raid" mode would cause their attack to hit only the enemy instead of each another. This was to prevent any unwanted conflict.
There are also other attacking modes such as "Guild Raid", "Party Attack", and "Attack All"1.
Just as Zhang Yang had finished his words, he glanced towards Humbly Gentleman.
Humbly Gentleman changed his expression suddenly and cried. "What are you looking at me for, Zhan Yu? Do I look like man who casts aside the greater good?"
Sky Shaman huffed lightly and made eye contact with Zhang Yang. Both of them exchanged a look and nodded together, instantly agreeing to do one thing: Form an alliance after the war and kill The Dominators!
More than 10 guilds had started to send out their tanks to attack the boss. It was not because they feared Zhang Yang might not be able to handle the boss alone and would die after. On the contrary, it was because their range attackers and other non-tank classed players were just too weak to endure any of the boss' attack. If they did not send anyone up to the boss, how could any of them loot any equipment when the boss dies?
Initially, none of the guilds knew about Zhang Yang's potential or capabilities; no one dared to let their guard down! But when they took a quick look at the damage list, their eyes went wide open, unsure if they were reading it wrong, or if they had suddenly seen a naked woman dancing across the street. Is this Guardian on turbo, nitro or whatever else that made a car super-fast?! What the heck! His damage was so high that he was ranked at the top! He had even left a massive gap between him and the second rank!
<Eagle Eye> effect grows stronger as the Defense of the boss was higher. Furthermore, the weapon in his hand was a Yellow-Gold tier!
Even though it looked like Zhang Yang was focusing on the boss, he was actually paying attention to his surroundings. He wanted to prevent anyone from attacking his back, especially The Dominators. To let them guard you rear was like depending on a monkey to guard your bananas!
For Zhang Yang to bravely fight in the front lines; he obviously had a trump card against those cheating bastards, the <Shadow of the Void>! After activating the skill, his character will immediately leave the battle and enter another dimension where no one can attack him and vice-versa. However, it was his trump card, and if possible, he did not want to expose his skill!
With Han Ying Xue's massive support power and Zhang Yang's high defense, attack immunity skills, as long as they had enough time, both of them were enough to slowly kill the boss! However, the surrounding players were rather greedy and fierce! Everyone was attacking with their might, causing the boss HP drop like a boy going down a water slide.
70%...50%...30%...the boss' HP was about to be emptied out!
Many attacking players and smaller guilds were standing at the outer circle and all they could only look on in envy. However, there were many strong guilds attacking the boss together! No one else dared to attack since they risked offending several guilds at the same time!
10%, 5%, 0%!
The boss fell off its horse and slammed against the ground hard, sending a minor tremor in every direction. In that instance, close to 20 items popped out and drops onto the ground!
LOOOTS!
The tanks that were closer to the loots had bent over and picked up any items they could get their hands on. This time, everyone was smarter. They had switched their looting mode to All-Pick
Zhang Yang eyes were faster, and with one quick sweep, he picked up 3 items!
All 20 items that were on the ground didn't last for more than a second, quickly finding themselves in player inventories instead! The atmosphere of the field was rather mixed, those who got their hands on Gray-Silver items were elated while the ones who got Green-Copper were filled with disappointment. However, they were others that were even devastated as they had not been able to pick up anything at all. If they were guild master themselves, it would be alright, but if they were regular guild members, they would surely be scolded by their guild masters when they return empty handed.
Zhang Yang summoned the [Skeletal War Horse] and hopped onto it's back. "Everyone! Return to your original positions immediately! The fourth wave of monsters will spawn in just 2 more minutes!"
After the third wave of monsters, everyone had gotten an idea of how the war system worked. Monster wave will spawn continuously for 50 minutes and will stop after that. There will be a 10 minute window for the players to kill the boss! After one hour, the next wave will spawn.
Snow Seeker came to Zhang Yang and asked. "Zhan Yu Guild master, did you get anything good?"
Zhang Yang laughed. "How about you?"
Both of them exchanged looks and kept their lips sealed. Even when both guilds were allies, they were not in the same guild, it would only cause each other grievance if they shared their results.
Back to where his guild waited, Wei Yan Er cried out when she saw Zhang Yang returning. "So? Where is my horsie! Horsie! HORSIE WHERE ART THOU!"
"Keep quiet, you annoying little brat!" said Han Ying Xue.
Just when Wei Yan Er was about to throw a tantrum, Zhang Yang laughed. "I was rather lucky! Look! I got a [Leash of the Hell's Stead]!"
"Really?!" said Wei Yan Er with her eyes wide open.
Zhang Yang posted the item's description and shared it with everyone.
A small party had a maximum of 10 players, and every 5 small parties will form a group, every 20 groups will form an expedition! Those who were in the same small party as Zhang Yang were those that were really close to him, with two more extra players, Defiant Monk and Ironhills. The rest of the party was just there to filled in the gap.
[Leash of the Hell's Stead] (Ground Mount)
Use: Summon or unsummon a Hell's Stead for a player to ride.
Summon Time: 2 seconds.
Level Requirement: 30
Bound upon first-time usage.
"MINE! GIMME! MINE! MY PRECIOUS!" Wei Yan Er cried.
Zhang Yang shook his head and said, "This item will be placed in the guild auction. Buy it with your contribution points!"
Wei Yan Er snorted as she approached Zhang Yang looked at him with a rather cute and pitiful puppy face.
"Pretty please..."
Zhang Yang laughed. "Don't look at me like that! This item has to be bought with guild contribution points. What if there are others with higher guild contribution points? If I just gave this horse to you, I would be treating the rest of the guild rather unfairly!"
"But! My points is higher than yours! I'm higher than my cousin and sister Sun!"
Zhang Yang shooked his head. "I have the [Skeletal War Horse], so I'm not going to compete with you! All that's left is your cousin and that ice cube! Hurry up and persuade them! I'm going to sell the item already!"
Wei Yan Er quickly ran to Sun Xin Yu and Hang Ying Xue to persuaded them with all she had. By the looks of Han Ying Xue's twitching lips, it would seem that she had made a different sort of deal.
Zhang Yang then posted the [Leash of the Hell's Stead] in the guild channel and said, "Attention members of Lone Desert Smoke! This item was only looted in the boss fight less than 5 minutes ago! Now, based on the rules, everyone can participate and bid. You may use your accumulated guild contribution points to buy this item! Please, remember! Only guild contribution points are acceptable! I do not want to hear gold coins or cash! This is a guild, not a free-market to flaunt your wealth! The guild will only acknowledge your contribution points! Nothing more! Nothing less!"
"Right! Everyone can now start bidding for the item! If the same amount of bids are issued, the faster one will be selected! One more thing, besides bidding, no one is allowed to use the guild channel! 200 guild contribution points will be deducted for that offense."
Everyone in Lone Desert Smoke was startled. Based on the regular standard operating procedure, super rare items would automatically be shared among the guild officers and not the regular member.
Suffice to say, the Black-Steel equipment and Green-Copper equipment, along with a luxurious amount of experience points, all dropped by the monsters were already enough to satisfy everyone in the guild. Now, they had the qualifications granted to them to participate in the rare item auction! Zhang Yang had clearly won over the hearts of the member just by sharing the loot.
Guild contribution points...crap!
Everyone started to wail and cry. If they had known earlier that the points could be used for events like this, they would had already done it as a daily routine!
100! 2001 300! 500!
Everyone cried out the contribution points to bid for the horse.
"1,200!" Wei Yan Er cried out the number that anyone else could hope to have.
Zhang Yang went with the flow. "1,200! Any higher? 1,200 going once! Going twice! 1,200! Anyone?"
The guild channel remain silent.
"Sold! Congratulation to Player Drizzler for obtaining the mount! Hundred Shots, deduct 1,200 contribution points from Drizzler's character."
Even though they could not get their hands on the mount, they were still filled with spirit and excitement! None of them were displeased about the result! They knew that someday, they too, could get their hands on rare item! All that they needed were guild contribution points!
By using this method of distribution, all were equal. No guild officer could have special treatment! They would have to depend on guild quests and dungeon raids to collect their points. All in all, it was rather fair to everyone.
Zhang Yang took two more Gray-Silver equipment dropped by Narxus and auctioned them in the guild channel. Before he began, Zhang Yang advised Han Ying Xue and the rest of his own party to not participate in the auction. This way of sharing their wealth, was a good way to bring everyone closer!
1Attack All mode - In previous chapters, I used the term "Friendly Fire" instead of "Attack All".