MMO: Pierce Heaven Til’ It Breaks

“What? You’re not going to join our party?”

“Righty-o, I already have my own party, hahaha.”

The moment the party entered the Soul Dimension to wait for the rest of their party members, Jiaojiao quit the party and joined another one.

The number of players who were waiting for their teammates was gradually increasing, and within this dimension that was prepared for them, no players were allowed to PK. As such, even if the players encountered their sworn nemesis, the most they could do was to glare and curse at each other.

“Lil Jiaojiao!”

“Lil Cat!”

After their brief exchange, the leader of the party that Jiaojiao wanted to join had arrived. It was none other than, The Cat that Sings.

“Don’t you f*cking stare at me. Careful or I’ll stab you.”

The Cat that Sings pointed at the surroundings players while she walked towards Jiaojiao and added her into the party.

Li Yi was shocked. “Jiaojiao, you’re teaming up with her?”

Jiaojiao nodded. “Yeah, we had a blast last time, so this time, we’re going to continue working together.”

The Cat that Sings casually patted Jiaojiao’s shoulder. “Your boyfriend’s pretty proud. Let’s ignore him, don’t worry, I won’t seek revenge on him anymore, seeing that we’re friends and all. Now, let me introduce you to a friend.”

A tall, black-clothed Thief walked over. Jiaojiao did not show any particular reaction, but Li Yi was taken aback.

‘Isn’t this Fengxi? Why’s he here?’

“This is my brother, Lil…”

“Your Highness, my name’s Lil Fengxi.”

Before The Cat that Sings had even finished her introduction, Fengxi interjected and knelt before Jiaojiao with one hand to his chest.

Jiaojiao nodded. “Nice to meet you.”

Chen Yang trudged over and spoke hostilely at Fengxi. “Fengxi, aren’t you supposed to be killing newbies in Newbie Village? Why are you here now?”

Li Yi messaged Chen Yang. “Fatty, is this the punk that killed you?”

“It’s him alright. Even if he’s burned to ashes, I’ll still be able to recognize him!”

In response to Chen Yang’s questions, Fengxi gave no reactions. Instead, he placed both his hands behind his back and stared at the sky.

From the short distance between them, Li Yi was able to confirm that the Fengxi in front of him was not the Fengxi that killed the newbies in Newbie Village, as their body proportions were extremely different.

‘Weird, how can there be two Fengxis? This Fengxi has his name listed above him, so it must be his actual name. Or could it be an effect of a special equipment? If this is the real one, then what does that make of the Fengxi from Newbie Village? If this one’s a fake, then who’s the real one?’

Li Yi was starting to get confused.

“Cat, can we enter now? I don’t want to stay here for much longer. The atmosphere here is not to my liking. Sigh, when will the turning of seasons come to an end, as the past remains unknown? ¹ I’ve played my sorrows away with my Guqin…” ²

Before Fengxi had managed to complete his recital, The Cat that Sings was already burning with rage. She pointed a finger at his nose and thundered, “If you f*cking recite another verse, I’ll f*ck you up real good!”

Fengxi sighed in exasperation. “Tch, playing the Guqin to a cat is no different from burning it to roast a crane.”

“The gate hasn’t even opened yet, and there’s still a ways to go before it opens. Scram and recite your poems somewhere else, I’ll call you back when we can enter.”

“‘Scram’ sounds vulgar, you should use move instead.”

Fengxi strolled away at a leisurely pace.

“F*ck, this b*stard likes to do stuff like this.” The Cat That Sings gave him the middle finger.

It was at this point that Li Yi determined that this tall ‘Fengxi’ before him was the Arrogant Emperor.

The players who were teleporting in were slowly increasing, and after about half an hour, Brother Windcloud Nine and Sister Windcloud Nine had arrived.

The composition of Li Yi’s current party was almost the same as his previous attempt, with only a few substitutions to the members who were not present, such as Chen Yang replacing a Summoner, Wu Old Wolf replacing Little Elf from the Magical Realm. The only member who was outright booted out was — Sister Windcloud Nine.

Under Brother Windcloud Nine’s insistence, Sister Windcloud Nine was forbidden from joining Li Yi’s party. As for the reason… it needed no explaining, as her natural naivety was just that terrifying, and she contributed nothing to the team when it came to the crucial moments.

Sister Windcloud Nine pursed her lips, and it looked as if she was about to cry.

“Nine! Nine! C’mere and join my party.”

Jiaojiao could not bear to watch any longer and forcefully added Sister Windcloud Nine to The Cat that Sings’ party.

One thing to note is that the person who took Sister Windcloud Nine’s place was Fire Ice.

Fire Ice making her way in was no easy task. After all, Land of Choice was nothing like the Soul Dimension, where enemies could only glare daggers at one another. The scene over there was the usual chaotic bloodfest.

It was 6 a.m. sharp in the morning, and the dim Soul Gate had opened up. Everyone who was in the Soul Dimension had received a System Notification. Soul Gate was now open!

[Difficulty Selection: Hell Mode]

[Do you wish to apply buffs? (under Hell Mode, all buffs would become 0%)]

Woosh-woosh-woosh—

White flashes constantly flickered, and due to them being from different parties, the players who were in Soul Dimension were transported into different dungeon mirrors.

Since Soul Gate’s difficulty was too high, a support system was designed into the dungeon. It provided positive buffs to players, and it served to lower the dungeon’s overall difficulty.

The buffs would increase every 15 days, and it would increase by 5% each time. In other words, whether or not players were able to clear the dungeon mattered little, as the buffs would constantly increase. Furthermore, when the buffs were finally maxed, they could double the stats of the players.

Taking Brother Windcloud Nine as an example, he currently had 200,000 HP. Were he to receive the aid of the buffs, his HP would double to 400,000. Besides the increase in HP, all other stats of his would be doubled as well…

This was a compassionate part of the dungeon’s design, as once the buffs were finally maxed, any Tom, Dick, or Harry were able to easily clear Soul Gate.

However, in order to entertain the top-tier players, ‘Hell Mode’ was the only difficulty out of the five that did not provide any buffs.

The dark halls of the dungeon were even more terrifying than usual. While the players needed to face Spirit Monsterlings in Normal Mode, the Spirit Monsterlings could no longer be found in Hell Mode. Instead, they were replaced with a multitude of summon beasts, pets, and even mounts…

“That Dark Horned Horse over there is the same as mine.”

“Cerberus! I spotted Brother Nine’s Cerberus! Why’s it completely black though?”

“Holy Light Warhorse! Dark Wing’s Holy Light Warhorse! Ahhhh, it’s turning dark! It’s now Black Light Warhorse! Motherf*cker, what on earth is going on?”

There were 25 monsters in Soul Land, an equal number to the party’s 25 members.

“Guild Master, what’s the plan?”

Everyone fixed their gazes onto Li Yi.

“I’ll bug them and we’ll clear them one by one.”

Li Yi cast Mislead on Brother Windcloud Nine, located the weakest mount, Dark Horned Horse, and fired an arrow at it.

Thud!

[−300]

Crash! Li Yi Pseudocided onto the ground.

Dark Horned Horse neighed, and like a bolt of black lightning, it crashed into the ‘Misled’ and ‘aggro-ed’ Brother Windcloud Nine.

[−50,000]

The crimson damage counter popped out of Brother Windcloud Nine, shocking everyone on the scene.

“Holy sh*t! My mount’s a Blue Quality Mount and its stats are super trashy. So, how come it’s now a super boss?” gaped Mad Dragon. After all, the Dark Horned Horse had come from his mount.

The Dark Horned Horse raised its hind legs and launched a blow at Brother Windcloud Nine once again.

[−100,000]

“Holy Protection!”

Brother Windcloud Nine hastily cast Holy Protection, reducing his damage taken by 50%. The Healer classes had responded as well, and they waved their staffs and blew their flutes to replenish the HP he lost.

Dark Horned Horse’s attacks were extremely vicious, and they were fast as well. Brother Windcloud Nine had 200,000 HP, and his reinforced equipment had also provided him with up to 30% damage reduction. Even so, each kick from Dark Horned Horse would take out at least 30,000+ of his HP.

Brother Windcloud Nine’s HP was now below 20%. Had it not been for the effects of Holy Protection, he would have gone down a long time ago.

“Unmatched, your turn!” shouted Li Yi.

Unending Unmatched ‘Charged’ forward. Compared to Paladin main tanks, Warrior main tanks were much more mobile, due to the simple reason that they could close the gap between their targets by using Charge.

The two main tanks stood with one at the front, and another at the back, alternating their taunts to attract Dark Horned Horse’s aggro. With that, the healers finally managed to bring up their HP pool.

Now that the main tanks had finally stabilized, the DPS could finally attack. The party gathered their firepower and unleashed it all. After attacking for five whole minutes, Dark Horned Horse converted into a puff of black smoke and entered Mad Dragon’s inventory.

‘That’s one problem solved…’

Mad Dragon checked his backpack. “The stats of my Horned Horse have increased! Its SPD has increased by 20%, and also, it… it changed from a non-combat mount into a combat mount. However… erm, it seems like the stat boost is only temporary?”

Li Yi responded, stating, “There are a total of 25 monsters here, and each of them is created based on our strongest summon beasts or mounts. If we kill them, our own summon beasts or mounts would receive an upgrade. Although the boost gained from killing only one of them would only be temporary, if we manage to kill all 25 of them, the stats boost would become permanent!”

“Permanent upgrade!”

Brother Windcloud Nine could not help but glance at Dark Cerberus.

Who would not want their mounts or summon beasts to become stronger? Li Yi’s words had instantly lifted up everyone’s morale.

“Will my mount receive a boost as well? It’s a Tyrannosaurus King man!”

“Will mine receive upgrades as well? Hahaha, mine’s a Purple Quality Mount, so if it’s strengthened, would it become a Legendary mount?”

However, their excitement was short-lived. The moment they saw Dark Cerberus, wrinkles started to form above their brows.

“Brother Nine’s Cerberus is here as well. This gimmick is insane…”

“I know right, even the trashiest Horned Horse mount had become so powerful that it required two top main tanks to take turns in order to hold it back. So, how powerful would the Legendary Cerberus become?”

“I’m going to cry…”

Everyone focused their gaze at Dark Cerberus.

Without a doubt, the dog’s abilities would definitely be a league above Dark Horned Horse’s.

At that instant, Chen Yang angrily spat, “Cerberus is trash, take a look at mine, now that’s what they call overpowered.”

Everyone followed Fatty’s finger, and they noticed that Dark Ice Queen was standing alone in a corner. She did not budge at all, and she looked like an ice statue…

“A… Legendary… Summon beast…”

“Motherf*cker! This is crazy…”

“Dark Blizzard, f*ck this, I’m out…”

Everyone was dumbstruck…

“Brother Nine, Mad Dragon, Unmatched, prepare yourselves, we’re moving to our next target.”

Li Yi gave a low shout, cast Mislead onto Brother Windcloud Nine, and collapsed onto the ground after firing an arrow.

Everyone had forgotten something. Brother Windcloud Nine had Cerberus, and Chen Yang had a Legendary Summon Beast, so what about Li Yi?