【Frost Nest】
The party of 14 stopped simultaneously, gazing at the frozen waterfall and expansive ice field ahead.
“This BOSS arena is almost too standard,” the Brave Sniper complained.
“Is that a bad thing?” Sevenflower retorted. “Would you prefer a massive thing suddenly jumping out and scaring you half to death without any warning?”
“So, let’s go?” Dragon City Flying General said succinctly.
He bumped his fists together, the metallic fist cannons covering his entire forearm clanging crisply, wisps of white vapor venting from the exhaust ports.
The others were also itching for a fight, eager to get started.
After the repeated 'highlight reel' practice sessions yesterday afternoon, they had gained a deeper understanding of their weapons.
Especially after watching their own impressive combat montages, their confidence was maxed out.
Even Sevenflower, who had previously thought they were doomed without rehearsals, now had complete confidence in this hunt.
Wearing sturdy armor, carrying a thick shield and a long spear, she even felt like she could solo the BOSS without needing teammates!
“Gogogo!” Sevenflower shouted, leading the charge with her shield raised!
Little Dream, dragging her great hammer, followed closely behind!
One by one, everyone rushed into the Frost Nest with practiced ease.
Xu Meng didn't mention things like “This is a high-level area,” “The BOSS deals a lot of damage,” or “The Veteran physique is very strong.”
She simply played her flute, keeping pace with her teammates.
The instant everyone stepped into the battlefield, the expected BGM resonated through the rainforest turned to solid ice.
Above the frozen waterfall, a behemoth over 18 meters in length shattered the ice, looking down on the players on the ice field.
Dark red lightning flowed within its scales, dissipating into the air like swaying ribbons.
Amidst its furious roar, the same dark red text appeared beside it—
【Veteran Direwolf Dragon】
“Does it have an injury on its neck? It looks like a sword or blade wound?”
“So that's why it's a [Veteran]? Because it was injured in battle, so the difficulty is lower than normal?”
“Boss Xu, you're too kind.”
“Yeah, even though you’re harsh with your words, you actually show mercy!”
Everyone thanked Boss Xu for taking it easy on them.
Xu Meng blinked, unsure how to respond to the gratitude.
She simply didn't say anything, wordlessly playing a hunting tune to give them a defense buff.
The next second, the Direwolf Dragon shattered the ice waterfall beneath its feet, descending from the sky with a barrage of shattered ice and biting cold water!
The ice field beneath them trembled violently.
It was just too cold!
“It's freezing!”
“Boss Xu, can't you change this?!” Fallen Leaf Autumn pleaded on the spot.
Xu Meng replied with a flute melody:
Didi didi ~ didididi doodoo ~ ~
“Roar—”
The Veteran Direwolf Dragon slammed into the center of the battlefield, roaring as it lunged towards the most densely packed group of people, swiping down with a claw!
Too fast, the Switch Axe Hero was caught off guard and slammed into the ground by the claw.
A slender, crimson lightning bolt grazed Fallen Leaf Autumn.
He could almost feel the electric arc jumping back and forth between his armor and skin.
“Alright, I take it back.”
Fallen Leaf Autumn drew his greatsword, raised it—
And began to chant!
“The essence of the greatsword is charging!”
“Output lies in charging! Defense lies in charging! Life lies in charging!”
“Everything lies in… Ah!!!”
The Direwolf Dragon's claw on the Switch Axe Hero suddenly erupted with crimson lightning, the lightning sweeping across everyone within a three-meter radius.
The Switch Axe Hero under its paw, the Greatsword Hero chanting the essence at point-blank range, and the Dual Blades Hero who rushed up to start spinning as soon as the BOSS froze!
Unlike the Greatsword Hero who had to 'chant' while charging, the Dual Blades Hero was silent, simply spinning relentlessly.
As a result, all three were hit by the Direwolf Dragon's ground slam attack!
Fallen Leaf Autumn and Phantom Moon were instantly knocked away, still staggered from the lightning strike when they hit the ice.
The Switch Axe Hero was the worst off.
This猛男, who had roared “Slash!” “Slash!” “Elemental Discharge!” and violently beat the Boss in the previous 10-second highlight reel, ate a claw strike, then a lightning ground slam, and while staggered, was bitten by the Direwolf Dragon and slammed into the ground repeatedly, taking the full brunt of the Heaven and Earth Return!
Finally, when the BOSS flung him away, his health bar was already empty.
His “corpse” crashed onto the ice, skipping and bouncing several times like a flat stone.
Finally, two cat people suddenly darted out, caught him, threw him on a stretcher, and ran off with him.
He hadn't even scratched the boss, and he was already done for.
Xu Meng played a few notes on her flute towards his stretcher, sending off this brother.
The Switch Axe Hero's unexpected exit did not affect the others.
The knocked-back Dual Blades Hero and Greatsword Hero got up and continued to charge forward.
The others also rushed forward fearlessly.
But the viewers in the live stream had already sensed something was wrong—
“Is this boss's damage a little too high?”
“Killed in one combo! So fierce!”
“Does this boss have ADHD? This attack desire is outrageous!”
“What's the use of cool attack animations if you can't use them?”
“So weak! So tragic! Mommy, I'm not playing Switch Axe anymore!”
“Forget about Super Amped Elemental Discharge, you don't even have time to charge the greatsword before getting interrupted, okay?”
“Is the greatsword only good for fighting Mud Fish Dragons?”
… …
Fallen Leaf Autumn's charging was indeed not going smoothly.
The Veteran Direwolf Dragon's attack desire was too strong, attacking almost every second, leaving no window for players to output damage.
The Sword and Shield Hero rushed up and barely got in two strikes before the Direwolf Dragon smashed its head into him.
He was stunned for a moment.
But while he was stunned, the boss wasn't, immediately following up with a Crimson Lightning Iron Shoulder, slamming him into the ice waterfall.
The frozen waterfall shattered instantly!
In that instant, the Sword and Shield Hero felt like his soul had flown away.
Even though, according to the game mechanics, he could still counterattack or escape, he didn't do anything.
—His mentality had been shattered by the Direwolf Dragon.
It was somewhat similar to playing a traditional game, where you suddenly have a mental breakdown and take your hands off the keyboard.
As a result, he was given a further mauling by the BOSS and sent away on the spot.
Xu Meng didn't even have time to heal him.
The elusive cat people appeared immediately, threw him on a stretcher, and ran off with him!
Boss completed the kill, and, enduring the ranged attacks from the bow and heavy bowgun users, roared to the sky.
The red light on its back flickered, and crimson lightning detached from its body, turning into six light orbs that slammed towards the distant hunters.
At this moment, Xu Meng, who had been playing the flute as part of the atmosphere team, finally played a role.
—She announced the BOSS's skill name.
“Dragon Slayer Funnel!”
“??” The Brave Sniper looked at her in confusion, “And then what?”
“There's no 'and then'.” Xu Meng shook her head and put the flute back to her lips to play again.
Didi didi ~ didididi doodoo ~ ~
“I c…” The Brave Sniper barely managed to hold back a curse word.
After hastily dodging the lightning orbs, he found himself covered by a shadow.
Looking up, it was the Direwolf Dragon leaping into the air.
The red-glowing dragon tail smashed down on him!
“Somersault Tail Slam!” Xu Meng announced the BOSS skill again in a timely manner.
But the Brave Sniper had already been whipped away like a baseball, also knocking down a teammate who was drawing their bow to shoot.
The two rolled into a ball on the ground, unable to tell which direction was which, let alone perform a recovery.
So, unsurprisingly, they were caught up by the BOSS and sent away with two combos.
Four cat people rushed up, two per stretcher, carrying the two unlucky ones away together.
Xu Meng played the flute to see them off.
Everyone finally realized: This boss was not quite the same as the ones they fought when recording the promotional video yesterday.
—It was too strong!
The live stream once again flooded with the same comments:
“So weak! So tragic! Mommy, I'm not playing Gunlance anymore!”
“So weak! So tragic! Mommy, I'm not playing Bow anymore!”
… …
At the critical moment, Little Dream stood up!
Little Dream was different from Xu Meng, who was just part of the atmosphere team; she was completely reliable at critical moments!
Dragon City Flying General bent over and raised his arm, lowering his body.
Little Dream, dragging her hammer that was bigger than her, stepped on the springboard created by Dragon City Flying General's body and leaped up!
The hammer glowed red.
“Homerun!”
The red hammer spun 360 degrees, smashing heavily on the Direwolf Dragon's skull.
The ADHD BOSS was finally staggered—stopping in place and shaking its head, clearly stunned.
How could they miss such a good opportunity?
The Longsword Hero, Tour Melon, immediately followed up with a thrust into a leaping attack!
“Leaping Slash!”
The Dual Blades Hero, Phantom Moon, stepped on Dragon City Flying General's head, who was full of question marks, jumped high, and was about to start back-scratching as she spun!
In terms of aerial combat, the Insect Glaive Hero certainly refused to be outdone!
Without needing any external force, he directly planted his glaive, jumped, and dashed through the air to the top of the BOSS.
“Jump! Slash!”
The three simultaneously seized the opportunity, wanting to deal the most damage!
The only problem was: they were too coordinated, or rather, not coordinated enough.
Tour Melon's leaping slash from the sky struck the just-spinning Phantom Moon.
There was no damage between teammates.
But there was collision volume.
Phantom Moon was knocked askew by the slash, colliding with the Insect Glaive Hero who had already started shouting “Aerial Ballet”.
The three's movements were distorted, and they crashed simultaneously!
“I beep! Beep you beep! Beep!”
“Beep beep beep! Beep beep!”
“Beep! Beep ~ beep!”
A large number of censored sound effects erupted instantly!
Also erupting at the same time was the BOSS, who had ended its stun.
The Direwolf Dragon's wide-range charged lightning sent two unlucky ones away on the spot.
The cat people rushed up, carrying the two unlucky ones onto stretchers and carrying them away.
The live stream viewers burst into laughter:
“I'm meek and cautious when fighting the BOSS, but I unleash a flurry of attacks on my teammates!”
“Hurting teammates? Fun! I want to play!”
“Direwolf Dragon: What? The back-scratching masters are fighting?”
“Wait, isn't this game supposed to be a爽游?”
“Why does it feel completely different from the opening demo?”
“I think I've been tricked by Xu Meng!!”
“Oh god, is it still possible to get a refund??”
