MMO: Pierce Heaven Til' It Breaks
chapter-54

Chapter 54: Hard Mode

“Does Scasa really have no weaknesses whatsoever?”

“None…”

Chu Tiange and Hua Feiwu discussed it for a while, but their expressions were disappointed. Faced with the Summoner Scasa, Hua Feiwu could not think of any effective means to counter it.

“Dark Wing, do you have any ideas?” Chu Tiange asked Li Yi.

Li Yi shook his head.

Although he knew how to fight Scasa, that strategy required at least 10 DPS classes with a GS of 300 each. As of right now, they had no means of achieving that.

They could not deal enough damage, so they could not kill it immediately. The longer the battle dragged on, the more monsters there would be, and the faster they would die.

Chu Tiange sighed slightly. “Are we all stumped? Delicate, you go find out who’s the boss of Platinum Hand, and see if we can buy a guide.”

Delicately Cute said helplessly, “No can do. Forget the boss of Platinum Hand, even the identities of the members are still a mystery.”

That was a party in the height of glory, so how could the Dark Empire Guild not try to recruit them? In truth, as soon as Platinum Hand achieved the first kill of Heart of the Fire, Delicately Cute had already sent people out to investigate them.

Unfortunately, the Platinum Hand group was just too mysterious. The Dark Empire hires chased and investigated them for a few days, but obtained no information in the slightest.

“Don’t tell me we have to disband just like this?” Chu Tiange was slightly frustrated.

“I think it’s best if we continue trying to explore. If we die, the most we’ll lose is some EXP, but if we figure out a way to beat ’em, there’s a chance we can achieve the first kill of this dungeon.”

The dungeon’s first kill!

Chu Tiange’s eyes burned with passion.

Under Li Yi’s leadership, the party had accomplished the first kill of the Heroic-level Frost Labyrinth dungeon. As a result, more than two hundred people instantly joined Dark Empire, drastically boosting their membership. If they could grab the first kill of this 50-person Party-level Dungeon, how many more people will come flocking into their guild?

Chu Tiange nodded. “Alright, then let’s fight as we explore further.”

“Actually, I think…” Li Yu walked up to Chu Tiange and said, “We can try skipping Scasa and Scamu, and go straight to the Fire Beast instead.”

“Go straight to the Fire Beast?”

Chu Tiange, Delicately Cute, and Hua Feiwu all asked in unison.

“Let’s look at the map.”

Li Yi pointed a finger in mid-air and a map of the dungeon appeared there. There were four red dots on the map, marking the locations of the four bosses.

“Scasa’s on the left, Scamu on the right. Did you guys notice? On the left side of the map, there’s a straight line. If I’m not mistaken, this should be a pathway. We just have to take this pathway and we’ll able to circle around those two bosses, going straight to the Fire Beast instead.”

Once Li Yi explained it, the three of them instantly understood.

“Can this really work?” Hua Feiwu was doubtful.

“Won’t we know if we just sent someone out to try?” Chu Tiange gave it some thought and then yelled toward his guild members, “Does anyone want to try scouting?”

“I’ll do it!”

“Me too!”

“Guild Master, I’m a Warrior tank, I got plenty of HP.”

“I’m a Thief, meaning I can run fast. Guild Master, choose me!”

“Thieves die fast and Warriors run slow. Choose me, I’m a Vagabond.”

Everyone fell over themselves in their rush to be chosen, causing quite the scene. Li Yi shook his head at the sight.

Why was everyone fighting over it? It was a habit as a result of Chu Tiange’s style. No matter what he asked his subordinates to do, he would give them some money. Over time, this group of people came to understand that when their Guild Master gave an order, that meant he was going to hand out money.

Chu Tiange was indeed rich, but unfortunately he had underestimated the King of Pantheon game. This was also the reason why the Guild he had formed out of money ended up collapsing due to money.

He used money to buy their hearts, but how long would that last? If you always had the money, sure, that would work. However, the moment something got in the way of your funding, all the illusions would be shattered in an instant.

“There’s no need to ask anyone else, I’ll be the scout.”

Li Yi did not say anything more than that. Without even waiting for Chu Tiange’s approval, he set out.

He remembered the guide for the Fire Beast, but he had never come to this dungeon in the past, so he needed to scout out the way first.

There was an Elite-level Dwarf guarding the entrance to the passageway at the edge, so Li Yi released his Mutated Small Wild Boar to distract it, using that chance to slip into the passageway.

Li Yi went straight down the path and did not come against any obstacles, easily reaching the area under the control of the final boss. He saw the Fire Beast, as large as a small hill, with his very own eyes.

The guide from his past life was right, after all. This method could work!

Li Yi sent Chu Tiange a message and not long later, Chu Tiange brought the whole party to meet him, coming in like a parade.

“This method’s great!”

When he saw the Fire Beast boss ahead of them, Chu Tiange was so happy his eyes became slits.

“Don’t celebrate yet, just look at its HP.” Li Yi chuckled and pointed at the extremely long HP Bar above the Fire Beast’s hand.

The Fire Beast looked like a T-Rex, but it was much larger than a T-Rex. Most importantly, it was not a living creature but was instead a large-sized combat machine created by the Fire Dwarves.

The HP above the Fire Beast’s head clearly said 5,900,000.

Hua Feiwu was slightly stunned. “This… Didn’t the introduction on the official site say 2,300,000HP? Why is it more than twice that?”

Li Yi thought it over. “I think it might have something to do with us circling around two bosses.”

In truth, this was one of King of Pantheon’s special systems. Why did they put a direct pathway there? There was only one reason behind that, and that was they wanted players to choose how they were going to conquer the dungeon.

They had to defeat the first boss, but the two bosses after that could be skipped. However, the price to pay for skipping them was that the final boss would be even more difficult, and the dungeon would automatically enter Hard Mode.

If they killed the boss in Hard Mode, the rewards they get would be even better than the usual rewards. Out of the many dungeons of King of Pantheon, almost all of them had a Hard Mode.

To take the easiest demo dungeon, Frost Labyrinth, as an example, the condition required to entire Hard Mode was to pull the Frost Giant and Ordas together, killing them at the same time.

Hua Feiwu observed it for quite some time before saying, “Looks to me that it’s not just the HP, I think the ATK and DEF have increased as well.”

He was absolutely right. The ATK of the boss in Hard Mode was much more ridiculously OP than usual.

Delicately Cute said, “I think a lot of people must have found that pathway, but… they probably all failed in the end.”

Chu Tiange was getting slightly impatient, “Forget about all that for now. Get ready, everyone, we rush ’em two minutes from now!”

Li Yi was not very sure how to defeat the Fire Beast either, but the guide he had read before mentioned that when they fought the Fire Beast, every player would receive a relevant reminder.

“Go, go, go. MTs, charge, and don’t worry about dying. No matter what losses you incur, just claim them from me.”

Chu Tiange pointed his staff, and ten MTs rushed forward.

“Clack-clack-clack-creak!”

The Fire Beast moved. With a swipe of its tail, a sea of fire overwhelmed them.

[−120]

[−235]

[−321]

[−650 Critical Hit!]

[−760 Critical Hit!]

Out of the ten MTs, two were slightly unluckier and took Critical Hits, instantly collapsing to the ground…

“What are you standing around for? Charge, I say!”

Chu Tiange raised his staff and shot out a bolt of Light of Destruction. The numbers [−150] instantly floated out from the top of the Fire Beast’s head.