[FLOTG] Chapter 10: Falls Abyss Dungeon

This time, the party had a warrior, a healer, a sniper, a mage, and an assassin. It finally looked like they had some reasonable damage output.

Shen Huai asked in the party chat: [ One Leaf Skiff, do you still have any friends who want to join? There's one spot left. ]

[ Party ][ One Leaf Skiff ]: Hehe, nope. We're both on our own. Let's call for another DPS.

Shen Huai called out on the world chat twice, but not only did no one apply to join their party, they instead drew insults from <Drunken Snow>'s clan members.

[ World ][ Mysterious Cloud ]: The scammers are recruiting for a mission now. Go ahead and join them if you're not afraid to die.

[ World ][ Ride the Wind ]: Hehe, I'm curious to see who would dare join them.

<One Leaf Skiff> really despised bullies like these. [ If we can't get anyone else, let's just go ahead with 5 people. ]

Song Xue-Yang sent a private message to <Endless Maple Moon>, the guild leader of the Maple Moon guild. [ Guild leader, care to join us for a mission if you aren't busy? ]

All of the alternate accounts of the Maple Moon pro players were maintained by the members of the affiliated guild, so <Endless Maple Moon> naturally knew that Song Xue-Yang had collected this particular account from them a few days ago. He had just been wondering whether he should reach out to Song Xue-Yang when the other contacted him.

<Endless Maple Moon> readily agreed. [ Ok, I'll join. ]

Song Xue-Yang cautioned him: [ The party's mage is Xing{i.e. Hai Xing). Don't reveal our identities. ]

<Endless Maple Moon> was suddenly very curious what Song Xue-Yang was up to. As soon as he joined the party and saw <MuWanGe>, who was right at the centre of all the chaos in these past two days, he felt enlightened.

Ah, Captain Song's springtime had arrived!

[ Party ][ Desert North ]: Guild Leader Maple Moon...

[ Party ][ One Leaf Skiff ]: You've really roped in a great Buddha!

Shen Huai eyed the rather familiar-looking ID of this newcomer, instantly realising who <Endless Maple Moon> after the other party members' reactions. As far as he knew, a guild leader of <Endless Maple Moon>'s level would definitely organise parties within his own guild to clear the dungeons, so there was no reason for him to join their party.

[ You aren't going to clear the dungeon missions with your guild members? ] asked Shen Huai.

<Endless Maple Moon> thought, 'Dare I not come when the big boss of the guild has ordered me to do so?', but he was outwardly calm. [ They're on their own this week. I'm testing the ability of my vice guild leaders to lead. ]

After <Endless Maple Moon> joined them, Shen Huai's profile info updated to indicate that his party now had 6 people. <Mysterious Cloud> and <Ride the Wind> immediately kicked up a fuss again.

[ World ][ Mysterious Cloud ]: Will the bro who just joined the scammer's party dare to reveal his name?

<One Leaf Skiff> was exasperated. [ All this over a high-level weapon? Really? What trouble seekers! ]

Shen Huai was surprised. [ You know why they are set on making trouble for me? ]

[ This is old news. There's hardly anyone left in the server who doesn't know about it, right? ]

[ Well, I don't know about it. I just bought this account. ]

<Desert North>: ......

[ ...... ] <One Leaf Skiff> was dumbfounded. [ This account has changed hands? Drunken Snow has been killing MuWanGe's clan members all this time, so MuWanGe hasn't come online for a long time. I thought she was just laying low for a while... I never expected her to just sell the account. ]

He paused briefly, then continued: [ No offense, but you should have checked out the Tiebas or forums or something before buying an account, you know. This account has been targeted for a long time... doesn't it suck now to be saddled with such a problem account? ]

Shen Huai instantly thought of Song Xue-Yang. If the feud between <MuWanGe> and <Drunken Snow> had already escalated so much that everyone knew about it, then what were Song Xue-Yang's motives in arranging for him to buy this account?

Song Xue-Yang mentally groused at <One Leaf Skiff> for being such a busybody. [ Me and my friends hang out in this region all the time, but we've never heard of this MuWanGe. And what is this high-level weapon you were talking about? ]

Considering his apprentice's input, Shen Huai then asked: [ Do you know about this, Guild Leader Maple Moon? ]

While the skills of the Maple Moon guild members may not be that impressive, all of them, from top to bottom, perfectly embodied Song Xue-Yang's strong point ― they were clever and alert!

Without even having to think about it, the guild leader replied: [ Nope. ]

<One Leaf Skiff>: [ ..... well, ok then. ]

Shen Huai silently entered the dungeon before typing once again in the party chat.

[ This level has 8 generals, each surrounded by guards. We must first kill the guards before attacking the generals, or else the generals will summon elite guards and inflict Chaos. So don't use AoE attacks. ]

<Endless Maple Moon> was just wondering who he was explaining all this for when he saw Song Xue-Yang type into the chat.

[ Party ][ Falling Sleet ]: Got it, Master!

<Endless Maple Moon>: ......

This plot is escalating a little too quickly... can anyone tell me which act you all are at now?

The map for this dungeon wasn't particularly large. It was just a circular cave with a stone statue in the middle as the boss. However, before all 8 generals were eliminated, the boss would not move. There were 8 firepits located along the walls of the cave, and beside each firepit were a general and 3 guards.

In the party, Shen Huai and <One Leaf Skiff> were melee characters, and they would draw the enmity of the generals if they went within range. <Falling Sleet> and <Horizon> were long-range characters, but Shen Huai didn't feel like he could rely on them, so he turned to <Endless Maple Moon> and said: [ Guild Leader, why don't you draw the guards over? ]

<Endless Maple Moon> was a fire mage with a short single-handed staff as his weapon. With a single Fireball, he attracted the attention of one of the guards and drew him over.

Shen Huai commanded: [ Attack! ]

The group immediately unleashed their single-target attacks onto the guard. Just as the guard was about to die, a bullet suddenly pierced through the guard and shot forwards at lightning speed towards the general, striking him with a loud bang! The alarmed general instantly chanted a spell to summon 10 elite guards, activating its Chaos skill at the same time.

Chaos was arguably one of the most annoying of all the crowd control skills. Under Chaos, players would lose control of their characters, and their characters would also spin around aimlessly releasing skills, attacking any surrounding targets indiscriminately.

Shen Huai swiftly leapt on top of the boss statue, but the rest of the party was not so lucky.

<One Leaf Skiff> chased after the healer, axe swinging, while <Desert North> ran circles around the boss. <Falling Sleet> was shooting at <Endless Maple Moon>, who was in turn throwing an endless stream of fireballs at <One Leaf Skiff>. And worst of all, <Horizon> had cast a wide-range AoE attack in his confused state!

In an instant, two more generals had been alarmed, summoning their own elite guards. All too soon, the entire map was packed with guards, and the Chaos skills of the 3 generals connected seamlessly.

<Desert North> wanted to throw his keyboard in rage. [ Sniper, what the heck was that?! ]

<Falling Sleet> said cluelessly: [ But I was using a single target attack. ]

[ You were using 'Pierce Shot'! The bullets go through enemies! ]

[ Ah! I didn't know! ]

<Horizon>: ......

<Endless Maple Moon>: ......

Watching their captain, so shrewd and brave on the professional stage, acting like a total noob here, the guild leader felt extremely conflicted.

<Endless Maple Moon> managed to keep himself calm, but Hai Xing was not so even-tempered. He started shouting in the training room, "Damn, damn, damn! Song Xue-Yang, what the hell?!"

Song Xue-Yang waved airily. "Isn't all this so my acting is more believable? With Ash Wing here, what are you worrying about?" 

Hai Xing was not appeased. "The Chaos status effect of the boss cannot be broken, so even Ash Wing won't be able to do anything!"

Song Xue-Yang gave a noncommittal hum, but his eyes were filled with trust.

In the game, the group was being endlessly tormented by the Chaos status effect. Chaos was horrible enough, but being hit by consecutive Chaos skills in a seamless chain by the generals was even worse!

Under these circumstances, the only option was to hope for a quick death of all party members so that the dungeon would reset for them to try again. However, the damage output of the elite guards was very low, and the confused player characters could only use basic skills. After a full 30 seconds, the members still had over half their HP left. They could only glare at their HP bars and grind their teeth in frustration, wishing desperately that they could charge into the screen and help the enemy mob kill themselves.

Shen Huai said nothing at all, carefully observing the order of skills being unleashed by the generals from atop his perch on the giant stone statue. Suddenly, he aimed and threw a shuriken.

This was a directional skill with a longer range but low damage, and it could also be blocked by enemy units. However, this was the only long-range attack skill assassins had.

Once, in the Arena, Xiao Zhang's assassin had used shurikens on him to stack his passive skills. Now, Shen Huai followed his example — his shurikens slipped past the guards with pinpoint accuracy to hit one of the generals!

After being attacked, the general's enmity shifted targets. Shen Huai turned and ran to another corner of the map, pulling the general away with him so the skill range of the 3 generals no longer overlapped.

Once he saw the general release its Chaos skill, he immediately rushed forwards and dealt a 4-hit combo under Reaper's Mark, cutting the general's HP by half. After that, he quickly jumped up onto the statue at the centre of the map again, dodging the next Chaos attack.

The interval between Chaos skills was only 2 seconds, but Shen Huai's hand speed was so fast that that was enough time for him to complete a full combo chain. He killed one of the generals by taking advantage of the 2-second intervals, and then returned to draw the enmity of another general.

Now, there was only one general remaining in the original spot. The party members finally had 2 seconds to breathe. Shen Huai finished off the second general with a rapid combo, and then he went back to pull the third. The three generals who had chained their Chaos skills seamlessly together were picked off one by one by Shen Huai just like that!

Without the generals' Chaos skills making a mess of things, the remaining elite guards were nothing more than ordinary mob creatures with a misleading high-level name.

Released from the status effect, the party immediately rallied and blasted all their skills in a cathartic rush! Being able to control their character with their own two hands was the best!

Hai Xing said emotionally: [ I thought I was done for! ]

<Endless Maple Moon> was extremely surprised. Who'd have expected this girl who had caught the captain's eye to be so strong? But then again, on second thought, he scoffed internally — Oh, right, an ordinary girl would never have caught the eye of Fox Song!

<Desert North> couldn't help but send over a row of 666s as well, while <One Leaf Skiff> put up a big thumbs-up in the party chat, and of course the brown-noser Song Xue-Yang would not be left out.

[ Party ][ Falling Sleet ]: Master's the best!

<Desert North> instantly cut in fiercely: [ Look who's talking! If you hadn't simply thrown skills around, this fight wouldn't have been so difficult! ]

Song Xue-Yang said pitifully: [ Master, I was wrong. It's all my fault... ]

But surprisingly, Shen Huai said: [ I was the one who didn't tell you not to use skills which can pass through enemies. ]

Song Xue-Yang knew that Ash Wing had a very good temper, otherwise he would never have dared to cause so much trouble. Later, when another opportunity arose, he happily continued flattering his master.

After that, the minor bosses were all resolved with no trouble at all. The 8 firepits were extinguished one by one, and then a loud rumble echoed through the cave — the stone statue in the middle had finally started to move. The difficulty of this level was actually the minor bosses; the main boss just had high explosive damage. Under Shen Huai's command, the party had no more mishaps while attacking the boss.

After the party was done, they left the dungeon to head towards the NPC for the third level.

<One Leaf Skiff> could not help but praise: [ Bro, your moves are really 6 to the max. ]

<Falling Sleet> was gleeful. [ Of course! Whose master do you think he is? ]

Both Hai Xing and <Endless Maple Moon> tsked internally at this.

<One Leaf Skiff> shared excitedly: [ I watched Ash Wing's live-stream yesterday. He's so strong, even God Xiao couldn't beat him. ]

<Endless Maple Moon> clearly hadn't heard the news yet. [ God Xiao? God Xiao of the pro team BattleGod? ]

[ Yep, but God Xiao was playing an assassin, not qigong master. ]

<Falling Sleet> instantly piped up: [ Even if Xiao Zhang was playing qigong master, he might not have beaten Ash Wing's assassin anyway. ]

The sheer faith in his little apprentice's words warmed Shen Huai's heart.

<One Leaf Skiff> burst out laughing. [ Hahaha, you have so much faith in Ash Wing? Xiao Zhang is a pro. There's no telling whether or not Ash Wing can beat him. ]

<Horizon>, who had been silent thus far, seemed disgruntled by this. [ Who said Ash Wing can't become a pro himself? There are plenty of teams who want him to join them! ]

<Falling Sleet> agreed. [ As long as God Ash Wing wants to, there must be many teams willing to accept him. ]

Hai Xing perceptively added: [ I hope he joins Maple Moon! ]

<Falling Sleet> nodded. [ Yes, yes, Maple Moon's pretty good. God Snow not only has great skills and is good at strategy, he's also handsome and is especially friendly and nice to other people. He's a young and promising good captain! ]

[ Party ][ Endless Maple Moon ]: .......

[ Party ][ Horizon ]: pukepukepuke

<Endless Maple Moon> looked at the words "especially friendly and nice to other people", and Song Xue-Yang's smiling fox eyes appeared in his mind's eye. He shuddered.

Shen Huai teased: [ Oh? You know Song Xue-Yang? ]

The gunner was instantly flustered. [ How could I know God Snow? That's just what I feel... ]

She paused briefly, then asked: [ Master, do you think Ash Wing will join Maple Moon? ]

Shen Huai's reply was resolute. [ No. ]

[ Why? ]

[ Because he's ugly. ]

Song Xue-Yang: "......"

Translator's comment: Hahahaha, poor Song Xue-Yang. But it serves you right for playing tricks with Shen Huai. So what are you going to do if Shen Huai really is ugly, hmm?

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Next: Chapter 11: Suspicion

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