MMO: Pierce Heaven Til’ It Breaks

The second boss battle of Light Conference was no longer situated within the dark Earth Palace. Instead, it was held in an open field. Resplendent sun-rays greeted the party as they were now outdoors.

It had already been two months since its release, but the second boss of Light Conference remained undefeated.

The party could hear roars it the sky periodically above them. A company of gryphon-riding Paladins was hovering in the air and there were a hundred of them in total. Those paladins were the second bosses!

You heard that right. This time, Li Yi and the others would have to face a grand total of a hundred boss-level monsters!

Although each Gryphon Paladin only possessed 500,000 HP, taking them down was no easy task as the Paladins employed ‘Sudden Impact’ to assault their opponents.

The boss fight was particularly hard as each Gryphon Paladin had a Holy Shield buff on them. As such, regular attacks were useless. Only combo attacks with more than five hits were able to overcome their Holy Shield buff to damage them.

Had there only been a single Gryphon Paladin, any Tom, Dick, and Harry of thieves and warriors would be able to break through its shield. However, when presented with a hundred of these Gryphon Paladins that launched Sudden Impacts ceaselessly, the reality of a team-wipe was very probable if anyone were to mistime their combo attack.

[Sudden Impact: A strengthened version of Charge. Numerous strikes on the same target would result in higher damage.]

In other words, the boss battle existed solely to test the players’ skills. Even if the Gryphon Paladins had been afflicted with Forbidden Curses, they would not lose any HP if the players were unable to launch any combo attacks. Thus, the outcome of the battle would depend on the party’s ability to combo attack.

“This boss battle is very annoying, but it’s also one of a kind. If you died here, you’re able to corpse run back to resume the battle. So, show some enthusiasm and corpse run if you die. Quitting is not permitted under my watch!”

Pretty Good Mood made his speech, but there was no confidence in his words.

This boss battle was completely reliant on the players’ skills. If every one of them were able to chain their attacks, they would be able to make short work of the bosses. However, if anyone were to blunder…

Pretty Good Mood asked Li Yi, “Guild Master, any pro tips?”

Li Yi shook his head. He had no problems in chaining his attacks, but there was nothing he could do for his teammates.

Li Yi said, “All of you had already practiced for a month or so. Those who are able to land five or more combos stand to my left, and those who can’t, stand to my right.”

The party split up, with most players standing at the right.

Li Yi counted their numbers carefully. There were a total of 87 players on the left, including himself.

There was a total of 100 Gryphon Paladins. If they came barreling down together, the party would have a hard time fending them off as each player could only intercept one Paladin at a time…

Li Yi shook his head, “No good, too little players.”

“Damage doesn’t matter, right? I can volunteer myself if you’re not against it.” Jiaojiao raised her hand.

“Sure, as long as you know how to combo, your damage doesn’t matter.”

Even with Jiaojiao in their ranks, they were still 12 members short.

Li Yi furrowed his eyebrows, “Can we replace some members?”

Pretty Good Mood smiled wryly, “All of the Iron Alliance’s elites are already gathered here. You’ll need to enlist some external assistance if you intend on doing so.”

Li Yi sighed, “Fine, let’s just test the waters first. We should be able to make it if the Gryphon Paladins decide not to launch any coordinated Sudden Impacts.”

“Alright.”

Pretty Good Mood set off to tag the Gryphon Paladins. Each capable member had been assigned a Paladin, and their role was to intercept every Gryphon Paladin that came swooping down.

Li Yi grinned, “All of the unmarked ones belong to me! I’ll deal with them as long as they don’t swoop down together.”

“I’m going in!”

Unending Unmatched charged headfirst with his shield, signifying the start of the battle.

A Gryphon Paladin dived down with his spear extended, towards Unending Unmatched.

Thunder Strike! Muscle Rupture! Shield Strike! Double Retaliation! Double Retaliation! Double Retaliation!

A beautiful text of 6 combos appeared above the Gryphon Paladin. Its health had been deducted by 2,654 and with a grunt, it retreated back into the air.

Two new Gryphon Paladins came crashing down towards the masses.

Li Yi and Confused Fox selected their prey and dashed forward to intercept them.

Powered-up Arrow! Repelling Arrow Skill! Crippling Shot! Piercing Arrow! Eliminate! Eliminate! Eliminate!

Li Yi dished out a chain of burst skills and had stacked Elimination Arrow thrice. The barrage had taken out 300,000+ HP, which garnered the praise of the spectators.

Confused Fox was no slouch either. His combo of Frost Rising Star, Arcane Rush, Arcane Burst, Arcane Assault, and Blizzard Spell had dealt 15,000 damage to the Gryphon Paladin.

The Gryphon Paladins usually retreated after taking damage. However, failing to repel them was another matter altogether.

This time, fifteen Gryphon Paladins rained down at the same time. With the quickest movement possible, Pretty Good Mood assigned 15 DPS-class characters to intercept the charge.

Unfortunately, three of them had blundered and ended their combo at the third strike.

‘Cr*p!’

The body of three Gryphon Paladins turned golden and the spears within their hands glowed faintly. Then, they launched Sudden Impact onto the party.

“TchTch—”

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The Gryphon Paladins’ spears ran through player after player, dealing 10,000 damage every time they hit.

After the trio’s onslaught, not a single player remained standing and had all perished…

Team-wiped!

The Priests corpse-run-ed and set off to resurrect their teammates. After half a day’s worth of grueling work, everyone within the party had been resurrected and were currently recovering on the ground.

In a blink of an eye, a dozen or so minutes had passed.

Pretty Good Mood chastised the three DPS that blundered, “I thought all of you were able to combo? How on earth could this have happened?”

“I made a mistake, my bad.”

“I got too agitated.”

“Me—Me too.”

“You three will be receiving half pay when we split the bounty later,” stated Pretty Good Mood indifferently. He then added, “Don’t even think of comparing yourself to me, as I’ve never received any gold ever since I started the boosting services!”

As the Commander that issued his commands while dead, he spoke the truth with his words.

Li Yi shook his head. With a disappointed look, he said, “No need for further testing, this party won’t cut it.”

Li Yi had already told Pretty Good Mood early on to bring the elites to Blade Peak Arena for hardcore training. However, the results today made it evident that they had failed to achieve their goal.

“Should we dismiss the party, then?” asked the frustrated Pretty Good Mood.

Li Yi groaned, “If you don’t want to break up the party, the only option left would be to request external reinforcements.”

King of Pantheon had already recorded more than a hundred million players. As such, searching for a hundred players that knew how to combo attack was an easy task. However, even if they had a hundred players who were able to combo attack, victory was still not certain. The reason for this was simple, as there was still a matter of teamwork.

Progress had halted at the second boss battle of Light Conference for two months. If a random selection of a hundred capable players were enough to conquer it, then there was no logical reason that nobody had managed to snag the First Kill.

Pretty Good Mood moaned, “I’ll leave it to you to decide. I’ve already spent the entire month conceiving ideas for this battle, but nothing worked.”

Li Yi surveyed the team, and with a clear voice, he proclaimed, “Whoever that is confident in their abilities to land five combos, please step to the left. Those who aren’t, please step to the right. I’ll only say this once, if you fail to deliver, you’ll bear the repercussions on your own!”

The team split up once again. This time, the numbers on the left decreased, and only 61 of them remained.

What surprised Li Yi the most was the sight of Jiaojiao among the 61 of them.

“You’re able to combo?” Li Yi privately messaged her.

“Why not?”

“I beg of you, please stand to the right if you’re not confident. Aren’t you afraid of humiliating yourself, now that you’re the queen?”

“Hmmph, don’t you mean that you’re afraid that I’ll embarrass you? Rest easy, Toucher God. No one can come close to my level. Five combos? Ten combos? Heh, that’s a measly number to what I can do.”

Most of the 61 players had come from Little Drunk Cat, and out of the players from Little Drunk Cat, the majority of them were originally members of Platinum Hand…

Pretty Good Mood announced, “Those of you who cannot use combo attacks, please leave the party.”

In a blink of an eye, the party had lost a huge number of DPS players and even a core member of Little Drunk Cat Guild, Chen Yang had left.

Although the Summoner Classes were capable of combo attacks, the difficulty of doing so was very high and second only to the Violent Warrior’s Frantic Combo 7. Currently, Chen Yang could only unleash three combo attacks, and at times, five. Since he doubted his abilities, he voluntarily left the party.

Li Yi posted a dungeon boosting service invitation letter within the National Channel!

The invitation letter was similar to a challenge letter, in the sense that anyone could sign up for it. However, it clearly stated a prerequisite of landing at least a 5-combo attack. If not, the 50,000 Gold Coin caution money for joining the party was as good as gone.

Since it was Li Yi who sent out the invitation, the response it garnered was overwhelming. He had already received over a thousand applications within a minute.

Li Yi carefully went through the list of applications and he took his time to do so. He made sure to select the prominent figures from his past life first to fill up the party.

However, his party was a mess, as it included members from the Three Major Guild Alliance as well. Chaos ensued and there was already infighting before they even attacked the boss.

“Please calm down! If you want to claim the First Kill, then for f*cks sake, please stop fighting!” reprimanded Pretty Good Mood.

After a while, the chaos had finally subsided, and the rag-tag bunch of players had finally calmed down. However, the incident had left a sour taste in Li Yi’s mouth.

Using the leader-mode chat option, Li Yi shouted, “Everyone, quiet down. It’s not that I doubt your abilities, but the difficulty of the boss battle requires me to do this. Those who had just joined the party, please move to the right and demonstrate your 5-combo attack on an opponent of your choosing.”

The effects of the invitation had yet to take place, and since Li Yi wasn’t planning on earning any money, he allowed them to demonstrate their abilities beforehand. If they passed, then they would sign the contract officially, otherwise, he would kick them out, and no party would suffer any losses.

The new members were now fighting against one another. Some of them had displayed that they were capable and launched 5 combos without breaking a sweat. Whereas some had struggled for a long time and still failed to launch 2-combo attacks.

One of the weakest members was a Cyclone Thief. He flailed his dagger desperately but still failed to launch a 2-combo attack. Nevertheless, his mouth continued to yap, “1 combo, 2 combos, 3 combos, 18 combos…”

“Lonely Perfume? The h*ck, aren’t you from the Huashan Guild? You shouldn’t be higher than Level 40 right and do you even know how to use combo-attacks?” Someone had discerned the identity of the thief and instantly berated him.

Lonely Perfume glared at the person who called him out, exclaiming, “Are you deaf? Didn’t you hear that I’ve already reached 109 combos?”

“110 combos!” Lonely Perfumed wrapped around his opponent and stabbed his dagger into his adversary’s rectum.

Lonely Perfume swayed his hair stylishly, saying, “Brother Fengxi once said, that when there is a will, there is a way. I’ve come here to increase my IQ, don’t you guys think that my IQ is much higher now?”

Noticing the lack of response, he scratched his head and pointed his finger at Li Yi, exclaiming, “Dark Wing, I challenge you to a duel! Do you dare to accept? Cause I’m going to pulverize you!”

[System notification: Party Leader Dark Wing has kicked Lonely Perfume out of the party]…