Love Bitstream: Chapter 14 - Are You People Fighting the Boss or Not?
Chapter 14: Are You People Fighting the Boss or Not?
Blue Sky Beyond's Buddhist Cultivator was already standing at the very front. With a cast of Diamond Body, he firmly secured the Mad Monk's aggro and absorbed most of the damage from the attack.
The instant the Mad Monk's staff came down, Misty Autumn Rain's heal landed on Blue Sky Beyond. A cast of Fragrance from the Orange Well would continuously restore health for twenty seconds. Twenty seconds was a long time. If the boss followed up with several more attacks during that period, Blue Sky Beyond's HP bar would be hanging by a thread.
The moment his words fell, Light Boat Has Passed had already cast Wind and Rain Halt. The skill struck the Mad Monk with perfect accuracy, successfully rooting him in place and buying precious recovery time for Blue Sky Beyond.
The troublesome part about the Mad Monk was his weapon. The martial staff of Mount Xumi could sweep across a huge area and had an exceptionally long attack range, making it extremely difficult for melee classes to dodge. Because of this, most groups running the Mount Xumi dungeon favored ranged classes. Some teams wouldn't even take melee DPS at all, aside from the tank.
But Endless Time's party was different. Besides himself, there were Blue Sky Beyond the Buddhist Cultivator, Thousand Feathers the Sword Cultivator, and Explosive Red the Demon Cultivator—three more melee fighters. Half the team was melee.
The more melee players a team had, the higher the demands on the group. The raid leader needed excellent awareness, capable of predicting the Mad Monk's next move and making the correct calls in advance. Team members needed fast reactions and strong mechanics to dodge attacks in time.
After watching carefully for a while, Chi Zhen realized that aside from Endless Time, only Blue Sky Beyond, Thousand Feathers, and Misty Autumn Rain could truly be considered highly skilled. The other three had average awareness and passable mechanics. They relied heavily on Endless Time's shot-calling. Fortunately, they listened well. None of them had a rebellious streak, so the run proceeded smoothly without major mistakes.
As for Blue Sky Beyond, the main tank— He was still wearing gear from half a year ago, old and battered. The only reason he could maintain aggro was because his personal mechanics were excellent and Endless Time's leadership was equally strong.
[Damn, Endless Time is insane.]
[That Blue Sky Beyond guy is wearing complete trash gear. I thought he was getting carried, but he's actually holding aggro pretty well.]
[What shocked me most is Misty Autumn Rain. Her mechanics are genuinely good. I thought she came here to sabotage Xiao Chi, but she's actually healing seriously?]
[Wait, what exactly did Misty Autumn Rain come here for?]
[To seriously play the game, apparently. #Funny]
[I've been paying attention this whole time expecting some soap-opera drama, but everyone is just... seriously playing the game? Huh?]
[Not gonna lie, Endless Time's shot-calling feels amazing. Calm, stable, no yelling. Listening to him makes an eight-man clear feel easy.]
[Holy shit, Endless Time is squeezing every bit of value out of the streamer. Look at the skill bar—every control skill gets used the instant its cooldown ends. I can't even figure out how this combo chain is connected.]
Chi Zhen glanced at the chat and couldn't help turning on his microphone. "Endless Time has basically integrated every crowd-control skill in the party into one giant combo chain. He's synchronized everyone's abilities so perfectly with the Spirit Cultivator's cooldowns that there's not even a one-second gap. The Mad Monk is either rooted, weakened, poisoned, bleeding, or stunned at all times. Incredible. Seriously incredible!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Blue Sky Beyond's voice rang out. "Xiao Chi, that's not fair. Why are you only praising Endless Time? What about my god-tier mechanics?"
Everyone kept playing, but couldn't resist chiming in.
Explosive Red said, "What? Where's the praise?"
Blue Sky Beyond, loud as ever, replied, "In the livestream! Since the stream started, all he's done is praise Endless Time. What's going on? Are we invisible or something?"
Thousand Feathers spoke up. He had a rather pleasant youthful voice. "Endless Time's shot-calling really is impressive."
"Do you stream twenty-four hours a day? You're streaming a dungeon run too? What's even interesting about that?" A sweet female voice entered the conversation. So sweet it sounded as though a million-dollar audio engineer had tuned it to perfection.
It was Misty Autumn Rain.
Blue Sky Beyond wasn't afraid of death. "That's Xiao Chi's job. He's got over a thousand viewers in his stream! Streamers have monthly hour quotas to meet. If they don't stream enough, they get their pay docked, right Xiao Chi?"
Chi Zhen suddenly didn't know how to answer. Discussing this topic in front of Misty Autumn Rain felt incredibly awkward. He could only brush it off. "Something like that..."
"Everyone be careful. The Mad Monk's about to enter Berserk mode." Endless Time interrupted.
The group immediately stopped chatting and focused on dealing damage.
"Spirit Cultivator, get ready. As soon as the Mad Monk enters Berserk mode, he'll use his final ultimate. Immediately interrupt it with Falling Shadows with the Wind." While issuing commands, Endless Time never stopped attacking.
"Got it."
Interrupting the Mad Monk sounded simple in theory, but was actually very difficult. Falling Shadows with the Wind had a two-second cast time. The Mad Monk's ultimate also had only a two-second cast time. To interrupt successfully, one had to precisely predict the exact moment the Mad Monk entered Berserk mode and begin casting immediately. If any step was even half a beat too slow, the attempt would fail.
There were very few abilities capable of interrupting boss casts. Falling Shadows with the Wind was one of them.
"Interrupt!" Endless Time called out.
Chi Zhen reacted instantly.
The Spirit Cultivator swung his Fusang Wood Branch and leapt into the air. The ultimate skill crashed straight down onto the Mad Monk.
The Mad Monk's cast was interrupted. Everyone unleashed their damage without restraint. Several dozen seconds later, the Mad Monk slowly collapsed.
[System] Ming Jing: Impossible... This is impossible. I cannot have been defeated by a group of nobodies! I was the most gifted inner disciple Mount Xumi has seen in a thousand years. The elders placed their hopes upon me. The sect supported me. I cannot lose to insignificant people like you! I... cannot...The road to the Great Dao is endless. How far have you even traveled? What do you know of the dangers that lie upon it? Do not celebrate too soon… Even cultivators are but ants upon this path… Hahaha… How hateful… How hateful that until my dying breath, I never comprehended Mount Xumi's true teachings...
The Mad Monk fell to the ground. Treasures scattered across the floor, sparkling brightly. The party stepped forward.
Then Blue Sky Beyond suddenly screamed at the top of his lungs: "EXPLOSIVE RED! DON'T LOOT THE BOSS!!! DON'T TOUCH IT!"
Everyone was startled by his shout, and several people immediately started cursing him out.
If A Dog Wants To LeaveI Dont Stop It said, "Explosive Red never loots bosses! She's very self-aware! Why the hell are you screaming like a banshee?!"
Explosive Red protested indignantly, "Why can't I loot the boss? My name literally has 'Red' in it! I'm destined to defy fate!"
Blue Sky Beyond shouted, "No!!! You're way too unlucky! You'll make my weapon disappear! Quick! Whoever has good luck, go loot the boss before Explosive Red jinxes it!"
The responsibility felt surprisingly heavy. Everyone hesitated and, for a moment, nobody dared step forward.
Finally, Endless Time spoke. "I think Light Boat Has Passed has pretty good luck. You do it."
Misty Autumn Rain sneered lightly. "You two seem pretty familiar."
The entire party held their breath.
Obediently, Chi Zhen stepped forward and clicked on the Mad Monk's corpse, posting the loot in party chat.
[Party] Light Boat Has Passed: [Soulbreaker Staff] x1, [Soulbreaker Bracers] x1, [Qi-Gathering Ring] x1, [Superior Treasure Chest] x3, [Fragmented Soul Bones] x10
Blue Sky Beyond lost his mind.
A Buddhist Cultivator weapon had dropped. And Buddhist Cultivator bracers.
"THE WEAPON!!! THE WEAPON!!! And it's a Superior Immortal Artifact tier weapon!! Oh my god! Xiao Chi, I love you! Your luck is insane! AHHHHH! I, Blue Sky Beyond, swear in the name of Mount Xumi that from this day forward, every single boss must be looted by our Xiao Chi!!!"
There was only one Buddhist Cultivator in the party, so naturally the weapon and bracers went to Blue Sky Beyond.
The treasure chests and materials would be held until the end and divided equally.
That left the Qi-Gathering Ring. A Superior Immortal Artifact-tier ring. The best ring in the current version of the game. Spirit Cultivators, Medical Cultivator, and Dao Cultivators could all use it.
The party only had one Spirit Cultivator and one Medical Cultivator.
Endless Time remained calm. "Both of you need it? Roll for it."
The game's built-in dice system generated numbers from 1 to 100. Large raid groups often had too many players for a normal six-sided die to be useful.
Everyone looked at Light Boat Has Passed, then at Misty Autumn Rain.
The two of them seemed to possess some kind of mystical bad luck together.
The kind of destined-enemies fate. Misty Autumn Rain clicked the dice icon.
[System] Congratulations! Player [Misty Autumn Rain] rolled 95.
Everyone exclaimed in admiration.
Misty Autumn Rain looked pleased.
[System] Congratulations! Player [Light Boat Has Passed] rolled 100.
Everyone stared in shock.
Misty Autumn Rain spoke coldly. "Your luck is really good. Just like Endless Time said."
Chi Zhen: "..."
"Hehe. Yesterday you just happened to do a quest together. Today you just happened to run a dungeon together." Her voice dripped with sarcasm. "And now you're close enough that he even knows whether your luck is good or bad."
The viewers in the stream instantly got excited.
[It's happening! Are they finally going to fight?!]
[But Misty Autumn Rain healed him seriously earlier. She didn't let Xiao Chi die at all.]
That was true. Even though Misty Autumn Rain was being sarcastic now, she had healed diligently during the dungeon run. Not a single heal had been withheld from Chi Zhen. Given Chi Zhen's personality, there was a good chance he would voluntarily give up the ring just because she was a girl.
However—
After being hunted down for days, even a clay figurine would develop some temper.
Silently, Chi Zhen equipped the ring he had won. Then, unusually for him, he actually defended himself. "That day at Guguan Mountain fighting the Zhēng beast was the first time Endless Time and I ever did a quest together. I've already explained that many times. Accidentally broadcasting your... situation on stream was my mistake, and I've already apologized and made amends. If you're still angry, you can add me to your kill-on-sight list. But this has nothing to do with Endless Time."
[Party] Explosive Red: ...
[Party] Blue Sky Beyond: ...
[Party] If A Dog Wants To LeaveI Dont Stop It: ...
[Party] Thousand Feathers: Are you people going to fight the second boss or not?
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