TuxedoTranslations

Chapter 22

“Sorry, sorry!” stammered the wild-card shooter they’d roped in, panicking. “I accidentally touched the skull of that dead guy—”

“Ugh, your hands are just too itchy!” Zhou Yan-jun snapped.

At that moment, the scattered white bones on the ground suddenly sprang to life, each piece moving and leaping toward the skull that had been touched. They combined, layer upon layer, merging into a massive and eerie creature.

“Oh my god, how can a person have that many legs!” The hunter, who was clearly unprepared for the horrors of the Snow Palace dungeon, took a stunned step back.

“Who’s calling this thing a person? Snap out of it!” The cat-eared girl already had her wings open, gracefully lifting off the ground to avoid the falling icicles.

A red warning flashed at the edges of everyone’s screens, signaling combat mode. The eerie music hadn’t been turned off, and now the monster emitted a high-pitched, eerie cackle that ramped up the horror.

Xia Tong shrieked and turned to flee.

“Come back, Xia Tong! You can’t escape once combat starts!” Zhou Yan-jun yelled, watching the little mage run like his life depended on it, only to be bounced back by an invisible wall and land hard on his backside.

Xia Tong started crying even harder.

The scene was pure chaos. Zhou Yan-jun sighed in frustration. “Bo! You get the aggro first!”

“Got it!” The warrior charged fearlessly at the skeletal giant, swinging his axe with full force. The creature lost two limbs instantly and let out an ear-splitting roar.

“Clang!” Bo Yu took a massive swipe from the giant skeleton’s claw, sliding back a few meters and losing a third of his health bar.

“Oh my god!” The healer’s voice trembled as she quickly flew over to cast a shield around him. “Why are you so fragile—” She suddenly realized something was wrong; the aggro list in the corner had shifted, with her name now above Bo Yu’s.

In the next moment, the skeletal giant turned around and lunged at her.

“Help, I pulled aggro!” The previously elegant elf was now flapping away like a panicked moth, her screams echoing through the palace.

Typically, the tank would pull the boss’s aggro at the start and hold it, using gear and skills to stabilize it so the boss only attacked them. But if the tank couldn’t hold aggro, the healer would often become the next target.

Realizing the problem, Bo Yu slapped his forehead. “I haven’t switched my gear or skills! Healer, don’t heal me yet! Let me get the aggro back! Everyone, move back!”

“Can you handle it on your own?” the hunter asked nervously.

“Oh please, this is Bo we’re talking about—the top axe-wielding warrior in the nation,” Zhou Yan-jun scoffed. “Do what he says; he won’t die.”

Following instructions, the team backed off, leaving Bo Yu alone to face the creature. He became more cautious with his attacks, timing each strike to allow for quick movements. While he didn’t move as swiftly as an elf, he was able to dodge the boss’s key attacks by rolling and running. In no time, he’d managed to draw the boss back to its original position, facing away from the rest of the team with a safe backside exposed for them to attack. His health bar remained steady above half.

The random shooter, wide-eyed, could only manage a stunned “Wow.” Meanwhile, Bo Yu was pinned against the wall, unable to retreat any further.

“Healer, just keep me under HOT. Everyone else, get to DPSing!”

The cat-eared girl replied affirmatively, casting a soft mist of healing light over Bo Yu, restoring his health bit by bit while positioning herself safely at a distance.

Zhou Yan-jun mounted his white wolf, charging into the fray. The knight’s weapon struck the giant’s joints repeatedly, ringing out in the burial chamber like metal clashing with stone, occasionally punctuated by the dull sound of gunfire.

Hovering above, the elf glanced at the damage and aggro stats, then sighed. “Hey, are you shooting with a water gun? If you can’t aim, just move in and do basic attacks already! Come on, at this rate, it’ll take us till the next life to finish this dungeon!”

“Miss, can you be a little fair? Why are you only picking on me?” The Wild Hunter protested, feeling wronged. “Look at the wizard over there! He didn’t deal any damage at all! Why don’t you call him out?”

“Aww, look at my poor little brother, he’s so scared, poor thing!” The cat-eared girl glanced over at the dazed little wizard still standing there in shock, blatantly showing her favoritism. “Hurry up and fight, so I can comfort my brother when it’s over!”

“…???”

Zhou Yanjun sighed, “Women!”

Just then, the boss unexpectedly entered the next stage, and suddenly a swarm of smaller skeleton minions split off from the ugly giant skeleton monster. They wobbled about like puppets with loose joints, cackling in eerie voices as they scattered in every direction.

Zhou Yanjun shouted, “These things only go after ranged damage dealers! We can’t reach them; it’s up to you ranged folks to clear them! Once they’re gone, we can move to the next stage!”

“These things hit hard!” the cat-eared girl warned. “Be careful!”

A little skeleton grabbed the Wild Hunter’s pant leg and took a bite, making him grimace in pain. He had to jump back, dodging. He climbed onto a nearby sarcophagus lid, unsteadily firing off several shots, but they all missed, hitting the stone floor instead. The little skeletons joyfully darted past him.

“Oh my gosh!” The cat-eared girl cringed as she watched. “You’re terrible—you should just rename yourself ‘Edge Shot Master’!”

The Wild Hunter broke out in a cold sweat and could only watch helplessly as the swarm of skeletons rushed toward Xia Tong.

The little wizard, not very tall himself, was almost eye-to-eye with the skeletons as they charged at him in a mass, practically about to drown him out. Even the Wild Hunter felt a pang of worry for Xia Tong.

“Run, run, hurry up!”

“Xia Xiaotong! Run!”

Xia Tong was terrified to the extreme; his face was pale, and big tears were streaming down his cheeks.

“Stay away from me!!!” He suddenly shut his eyes, screamed, and slammed his staff into the ground. In an instant, crackling blue lightning burst through the skeleton horde. The blue light was followed by purple, then blue again, then green—a seamless series of spells that left everyone’s eyes dazed.

Zhou Yanjun stared in shock. “How many skills did he just use in one go? Does he not have any cooldowns?”

The cat-eared girl glanced at the stats; Xia Xiaotong’s DPS had suddenly skyrocketed, even surpassing Polaris_Fire, and his threat level had spiked as well.

Bo Yu yelled, “Fire, have your summoned creature take the second threat! I can’t hold aggro!”

“It’s OT! Xia, stop! Stop! Tank, hold aggro!” the cat-eared girl shrieked.

Xia Tong was oblivious to everything around him, still crying as he spammed his skills. The little skeletons’ limbs flew off in all directions, and before long, they were all cleared out. At the tip of his staff, an enormous glowing orb of explosive magical energy was growing larger and larger.

“Oh, my!” Zhou Yanjun, having seen his share of battles, was stunned. “Is that an Infinite Chain combo?”

“A what?” The Wild Hunter looked confused.

“A wizard’s hidden ultimate skill. If you cast twenty-five spells within thirty seconds, it triggers an Infinite Chain,” Zhou Yanjun murmured.

“I always thought that was a bug! Does it actually exist?” The cat-eared girl was shocked. Just as she spoke, a massive “BOOM” echoed as the enormous boss was struck, causing the ceiling of the crypt above to collapse, blocking the boss’s movement path.

The boss got stuck.

This created the perfect environment to keep attacking, and they quickly defeated the first boss. An eerie silence fell over the room for a few seconds, with only Xia Tong still sobbing loudly, nearly passing out from crying.

“So scary, waaah! I want to go home!”

The cat-eared girl checked the DPS stats with a complicated expression. “He…he’s really an Omega?”

Zhou Yanjun looked blankly at her. “What did you expect? You still want to date him?”

The cat-eared girl swallowed. “…I’m having second thoughts.”

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