Glory supported voice chat directly, and it was remarkably realistic. There was just one channel: "current." The distance between characters directly affected how loud or faint voices sounded, as the system had its own set of algorithms for sound propagation. There was no background music in the game—only all sorts of realistic sound effects like the wind blowing and grass rustling. Putting on headphones gave one a powerful sense of immersion.
Ye Xiu guessed the person shouting was Yue Zhongmian. He had also already seen the system notification about the hidden boss, Dark Night Cat Demon, appearing. After Ye Xiu typed "heh heh" and sent it, he heard Yue Zhongmian's voice: "Talk! Why are you typing?"
"Someone's sleeping. It's not convenient," Ye Xiu typed. Then he pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, skillfully flicked one out, put it between his lips, tilted his head, and lit it.
"Oh." Yue Zhongmian showed understanding, then asked, "What about everyone else?"
After the other three spoke up one after another, Yue Zhongmian was the first to express his disappointment: "No girls, huh!"
Amid a burst of laughter, the party set off.
Green Forest was a small dungeon meant to help new players become more familiar with the game—how difficult could it possibly be? Besides, Yue Zhongmian was clearly no newcomer. He directed the whole way, and the fighting went very smoothly. After Ye Xiu had Jun Moxiao cast two Priest healing spells at the start, Yue Zhongmian immediately began treating him as a Priest, making him pure support. In a low-level dungeon like this, there was really no need to use the iron-triangle formation of tank, DPS, and healer, but Yue Zhongmian had clearly grown accustomed to this approach for dungeons and directed everything strictly according to that pattern. He took on the role of main tank drawing aggro, the other three were damage dealers, and Jun Moxiao was appointed the general logistics manager.
Amid the sounds of combat and the shouts of teammates, the five-man squad advanced at a brisk pace. Ye Xiu's technique was experienced and his footwork flashy, earning him lavish praise from the team leader. But Ye Xiu's mind was drifting at this moment. When was the last time he had run a dungeon with his companions? How long had it been since he'd felt this way?
Watching the small monsters fall one by one, Ye Xiu's thoughts were restless. There was simply so much he could recall—the adventures in Green Forest brought him all the way back to ten years ago.
That friend who had known him since Glory first opened, that friend who would stay up all night with him discussing the game's innovations and its future. He had seen everything clearly, predicted everything correctly, planned everything out—and then, all because of one unexpected update setting, his dreams and hopes turned to nothing, leaving behind only this unfinished Thousand Chance Umbrella.
"You should have been Glory's most talented, most accomplished person..." His fingers brushed lightly across the keyboard, and with a flick of the mouse, Jun Moxiao's Heal landed accurately on Yue Zhongmian. While Yue Zhongmian was loudly praising the timely heal, Ye Xiu's mind was entirely elsewhere.
"Alright, next up is the Dark Night Cat Demon." Yue Zhongmian said this after cutting down the last small monster before them. At the words "Dark Night Cat Demon," Ye Xiu's thoughts snapped back. Hidden bosses didn't necessarily appear only after clearing the entire dungeon; according to the system's guidance, sometimes one could be encountered at a scene midway through. And this time, for Ye Xiu's group, the Dark Night Cat Demon was indeed about to appear right here.
"The Dark Night Cat Demon's attacks have a chance of inflicting the curse state. But it's just a curse—nothing to be afraid of. However, this thing is fast. Holding aggro on it might take me some time, so everyone hold on for a while at the start. Don't panic, don't scatter." Yue Zhongmian laid out the tactics.
Everyone nodded. Ye Xiu didn't say much either—there was nothing wrong with what Yue Zhongmian had said.
"There's no system announcement yet, comrades. We might very well get the first kill of a dungeon hidden boss in District Ten!" Yue Zhongmian said excitedly, rallying everyone.
"Forward!" At Yue Zhongmian's command, the five continued on. The already gloomy Green Forest grew even darker as a dark cloud covered the sun overhead, and the sound of their footsteps in the woods was especially distinct. No one spoke; everyone stayed fully focused on their surroundings.
"Yangguan, stop staring at the sky. The Dark Night Cat Demon isn't going to fall from up there." Yue Zhongmian suddenly threw out this remark. Glory was a first-person perspective game, so the screen basically showed a realistic human viewpoint. The details were excellent—when you moved your view to look at the sky, the character would definitely raise his head. Yue Zhongmian saw that his teammate Yangguan kept looking up and couldn't help criticizing him.
"Hahaha!" Amid everyone's laughter, Ye Xiu suddenly heard a rapid rustling from the edge of the woods. That sound wasn't footsteps—it was the friction of a body against branches and leaves.
"It's here." Ye Xiu, realizing that typing might be too slow, quickly shouted out in a muffled voice—he still had a cigarette clenched between his teeth, after all! At the same time, his fingers flicked lightly twice, and Jun Moxiao backstepped and turned in one fluid motion, already facing the direction from which the Dark Night Cat Demon was attacking.
Seeing Jun Moxiao's movement, everyone understood that this brother, who had not said a single word until now, had given a crucial warning at the key moment.
"Everyone fall back!" Yue Zhongmian shouted, but he didn't retreat—instead he advanced, intending to make himself the Dark Night Cat Demon's first target.
The other three also backed into position, lining up beside Jun Moxiao, keeping several body-lengths' distance from Yue Zhongmian. Everyone held their breath and stared intently—but at this very moment, the rustling of the Dark Night Cat Demon weaving through the forest abruptly stopped too.
"What the—" Teammate Yangguan had only gotten two words out when whoosh—a black shadow shot out from the forest. Accompanied by a shrill cat's cry, its first strike really did pounce toward Yue Zhongmian, who stood at the very front.
"Come on, then!" Yue Zhongmian showed no fear whatsoever, swinging his sword to meet it. The Dark Night Cat Demon was small and fast; this kind of monster really tested a player's precision. Ye Xiu had long since taken stock of these four players' skill levels and estimated that it might take Yue Zhongmian a bit of time to firmly secure the Dark Night Cat Demon's aggro. He even suspected that in the end, he might pull aggro away from him while casting heals. But that wouldn't matter much either—Ye Xiu alone was more than enough to handle a Dark Night Cat Demon.
As it turned out, Yue Zhongmian hit a lucky streak. His sword strike was timed with considerable accuracy, landing squarely on the Dark Night Cat Demon mid-pounce. Then, with a sideways roll, he dodged the cat demon's lunge, sparing Jun Moxiao a healing spell he had already prepared.
Having been struck by the sword and missed its pounce, the Dark Night Cat Demon reacted with extreme speed, flipping around to swipe another claw at him. Yue Zhongmian raised his sword to his side to block. With a clang, the blade met the cat's claw, and Yue Zhongmian slid back half a step—then immediately raised his sword in an Uppercut.
Beautiful! Ye Xiu couldn't help admiring inwardly. Yue Zhongmian's timing on this Blade Master skill, Block, had been perfect, and the countering Uppercut was executed without the slightest bit of clumsiness—his technique was clearly extremely polished. Had he misjudged him, then? This Yue Zhongmian's skill was above what he had estimated!
After Yue Zhongmian's Uppercut knocked the cat demon into the air, he followed with a Chain Thrust, then Earth Fissure Strike, and finally a Ghost Slash that drew a dark purple arc of blade light, hacking the Dark Night Cat Demon flying away. This string of combos drew loud cheers from everyone. But Yue Zhongmian didn't dare relax in the slightest. He chased after it and landed two more consecutive sword strikes, then shouted loudly: "Go for the kill!"
The three damage-dealing teammates had long since prepared, and they immediately swung their weapons, unleashing the skills they had learned. Yue Zhongmian also stopped dodging back and forth and fencing with the Dark Night Cat Demon, instead tanking it with Jun Moxiao's healing spells to hold the Dark Night Cat Demon in a stable position.
The situation was well maintained. The Dark Night Cat Demon's shrieks of being pummeled came wave after wave through the forest, and everyone was thoroughly excited. The three true newcomers had already learned from Yue Zhongmian along the way just how valuable a hidden boss was. Everyone hammered away at the Dark Night Cat Demon full of anticipation—yet at this moment, an odd feeling stirred in Ye Xiu's heart.
"It's in red health, healers keep up." The Dark Night Cat Demon's health was quickly cut below ten percent—a state players habitually called "red blood." Many bosses would pull out some new tricks in the red-blood phase. Green Forest was only a newbie dungeon, and its bosses had no such special abilities, but the Dark Night Cat Demon was different. It was a hidden boss; it would be unworthy of that title without such an ability.
The Dark Night Cat Demon's change, however, was fairly simple: it went berserk, raising its attack speed and damage somewhat, so the pressure on the healer would be greater during this phase.
By Ye Xiu's estimate, with Yue Zhongmian's skill level, he shouldn't stubbornly tank through it at this point—a bit of dodging here and there, and killing the last ten percent wouldn't be difficult. But who knew this guy would keep stubbornly slugging it out with the Dark Night Cat Demon single-mindedly, and on top of that, his counterattacks seemed to be getting soft.
"Out of mana?" Ye Xiu glanced at the party panel—clearly that wasn't the issue. So this Yue Zhongmian suddenly becoming unreliable rather confirmed his earlier suspicion. Just as Ye Xiu was about to speak up and remind him, he heard Yue Zhongmian shout: "Shit, OT!!"
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