Chapter 20 Dungeon Crawl

The dungeon run continued.

Goblin Patrol, the first Boss, was truly mindless DPS, having no skills whatsoever besides extremely strong physical attacks. Normal players would be very afraid of such a high-attack opponent, but in the hands of an expert, it was just a toy. Right now, Goblin Patrol’s aggro was entirely on Lord Grim, who was leading it around by the nose. The five of them opened fire, and it didn’t take long to bring down the first Boss.

No one stopped. They headed straight for the next area, not even bothering to look at the Boss’s drops. This was something Ye Xiu had instructed beforehand: to break the record, every second counted, and they shouldn’t waste time on this. Just walking over to pick up the drops, squatting down, and picking them up would take a second or two.

The path behind the first Boss wasn’t that different from the beginning. The five continued the same tactics, with Steamed Bun Invasion still the focus of Ye Xiu's attention; eight out of ten commands were directed at Steamed Bun Invasion.

"God, you're so naggy! What's your star sign?" Steamed Bun Invasion nearly made Ye Xiu choke on his own laughter with that sentence. It took him a long while to recover before saying, "Steamed Bun, you're our team's secret weapon. We're all counting on you to perform!"

"Oh? A secret weapon? Not bad!" Steamed Bun Invasion was overjoyed.

"Do your best, and remember to use Neck Snap well," Ye Xiu said.

"Roger!" Steamed Bun Invasion's eyebrows danced with excitement.

Calling Steamed Bun Invasion a secret weapon wasn't just Ye Xiu spouting nonsense. The Rogue's level 15 skill, Neck Snap, didn't do much damage itself, but the 50% reduction in physical defense of the target was an extremely powerful buff. Although the duration was only 2 seconds, in a team that was enough for a round of all-out bombardment. Moreover, Steamed Bun Invasion was currently level 25, and skills could be upgraded every 5 levels. Neck Snap was now level 3, and with the +1 Neck Snap level from the Brave Man’s Claw, it was level 4, with a duration of 3.5 seconds.

The highest-level Boss in Frost Forest was only level 25, so there was no level suppression. This 3.5-second effect could be fully utilized, essentially giving the entire team a 3.5-second buff that increased attack power by 50%.

The first Boss, Goblin Patrol, was hit with Neck Snap three times by Steamed Bun Invasion, effectively giving the entire team a 10-second burst, saving a lot of time.

In the small mobs along the way, Steamed Bun Invasion's Neck Snap was used as soon as it cooled down, and the snapped target immediately became the focus of the entire team's attacks.

Steamed Bun Invasion suffered quite a bit for this, because he wasn't invincible while using Neck Snap, and the target wasn't in a completely rigid state where they couldn't move. The snapped target could still struggle and attack with its hands, although the attack power was also reduced by 50%, similar to the defense reduction. Otherwise, Steamed Bun Invasion would have been knocked over by the wolf-fang club when he snapped Goblin Patrol earlier.

"Second Boss!" Su Mucheng reminded the team, then stepped forward to pull the boss, doing it honestly without using any Grenade Launch. The Boss charged out, and the four had just finished off a bunch of little goblins. They rushed up to surround and beat up the second Boss, with Steamed Bun Invasion continuing his Neck Snap support. The second Boss was also quickly taken down.

After that, everything went smoothly, and they finally arrived at the final Boss of the Frost Forest dungeon, Frost Saen.

Without much talk, they had already discussed how to fight it these past few days. Tang Rou's Soft Mist was the first to charge up. Frost Saen had long sensed them and quickly stepped forward with his sword. Soft Mist ran diagonally to Frost Saen's side, and before Frost Saen could turn around, she used a Rising Dragon Slash, sending Frost Saen into the air. Soft Mist followed up with continued attacks, and the combos she weaved, plus the launched magical orbs, were more than even Lord Grim had done before.

Frost Saen, being juggled in the air, naturally couldn't stand it and instantly teleported away. Ye Xiu had been waiting for this, always paying attention to where it would teleport to. At this moment, he used a Shadow Clone Technique. Frost Saen had just teleported into position when it was met with Lord Grim's Rising Dragon Slash, sending it flying again.

"Steamed Bun!!" Ye Xiu shouted. Steamed Bun Invasion rushed up, raised his hand, and grabbed. The level 4 Neck Snap accurately clamped onto Frost Saen's throat.

"Nice!" Ye Xiu praised. He turned around and unleashed three consecutive skill attacks. Soft Mist's spear, Cleansing Mist's cannonballs, and Loving Breezes's spells also arrived together. Even Steamed Bun Invasion slammed a brick directly onto Frost Saen's head, causing Frost Saen to scream repeatedly.

Frost Saen was small and light. Once his throat was grabbed, he had no resistance. It was a full 3.5 seconds, not a tenth of a second less. Lord Grim's level 25 Myriad Manifestations Umbrella in spear form had a DPS a full ten levels higher than everyone else's level 25 purple weapons. The white tip of the spear looked like snowflakes when it was unfurled.

3. 5 seconds passed in a flash. In the process, Steamed Bun Invasion took two hits from Frost Saen's blade.

This NPC couldn't be too stupid. After being grabbed by such a skill, it wouldn't stubbornly try to find the aggro target behind it. Usually, it would attack whoever grabbed it in that moment. From this perspective, Neck Snap could be considered a taunt skill that forcefully transferred the target's aggro. However, if you really wanted to use this skill to save the day, you had to calculate it carefully. Rogues didn't have the high plate armor defense of Knights. Even if the target's attack was reduced by 50% in the Neck Snap state, there was no suspense that a fierce Boss would still be able to one-shot you.

Poor Frost Saen didn't have such abilities. After being Neck Snapped, it really seemed to be struggling. 3.5 seconds passed in a flash, and Steamed Bun Invasion hurriedly ate a health potion. This wasn't the most basic potion from the newbie village; it was a mid-grade potion provided by the Tyrannical Ambition guild, made by their potion masters, perfect for level 20 players.

Frost Saen was released and immediately went to find his current aggro target: Soft Mist.

But Lord Grim's weapon was too powerful. In a few hits, the aggro was snatched back. These problems weren't pressing. Everyone present was an expert with excellent skills who could take on the role of MT. Frost Saen moved quickly, but under the siege of these few people, it was already covered in wounds and barely dodged any attacks.

Steamed Bun Invasion's Neck Snap was temporarily on cooldown, so he transformed into a normal DPS, going up to punch and kick, acting like a standard Rogue. He had also applied poison, a level 25 skill he had just learned, to his claws and scratched Frost Saen's body.

Frost Saen screamed repeatedly. Trapped, he wanted to use Instant Movement again as soon as it cooled down. As a result, he teleported, but Lord Grim was already waiting for him there. With a flick of his spear, he was pulled back again.

With a shout of "Steamed Bun," Steamed Bun Invasion rushed up. Frost Saen was grabbed by the neck like a chicken again.

It didn't take long for Frost Saen's health to drop to the red zone. But the team had practiced eight times how to deal with the red-blooded state. Now that they had purple weapons, there were some differences from the practice runs when clearing mobs, but they still fought the Boss as they should. Moreover, they were a bunch of experts, unlike ordinary players who would worry about making mistakes when facing the fast Frost Saen. So in the end, Frost Saen's red-blooded ultimate move, Quick Blade Whirlwind, didn't even get a chance to be used once. It was beaten from beginning to end by the five, and in the end, Steamed Bun Invasion grabbed its throat again, reluctantly strangling it to death in Steamed Bun Invasion's hands.

Dungeon clear!

The system message appeared at the same time: Congratulations to Tyrannical Ambition players Loving Breezes, Lord Grim, Cleansing Mist, Steamed Bun Invasion, and Soft Mist for breaking the Frost Forest dungeon record with a time of 13 minutes, 05 seconds, and 47 milliseconds.

Success!!

The five had their own reactions.

Steamed Bun Invasion laughed loudly while looking at the system message: "Hahahaha, on TV! Secret weapon!"

Tang Rou opened the dungeon record list and felt extremely satisfied with the results she had helped create.

As for Su Mucheng… she just sat quietly in front of the screen, smiling silently.

As for Ye Xiu… The noob Steamed Bun actually performed perfectly throughout the entire run without messing up. This made him extremely excited.

In comparison, Loving Breezes's reaction was more normal. After all, the person using this account was the dignified guild leader of Tyrannical Ambition. A Frost Forest dungeon record, although amazing, wasn't enough to make him dance with excitement.

The Tyrannical Ambition guild channel was naturally lively, with everyone actively praising the five-man team's awesomeness. It seemed that they really hadn't seen the message that Loving Breezes had sent them earlier, telling them that no one was watching the channel...

Ye Xiu was just about to make a few remarks when a window suddenly popped up on the computer: Machine C-84 was calling for two bottles of cola. Helpless, he got up, took the cola, and headed over there.

When he returned, he saw Tang Rou wandering around the front desk. After seeing him, she asked, "Is this record close to the limit?"

"The limit… not yet."

"Not the limit yet? Why?" Tang Rou asked.

"Because our team isn't the optimal class composition," Ye Xiu said.

Although everyone could run every dungeon, to pursue efficiency, there was ultimately an optimal class composition. Ye Xiu's team wasn't it, but their competitors, the Excellent Dynasty team, also weren't the optimal composition. They were just running Frost Forest; how could professional players like Liu Hao be so demanding? Moreover, every professional player had a class they were most skilled and proficient in. Temporarily switching to another class was like a soccer defender suddenly playing forward. The physical attributes were still there, but the performance was different.

Speaking of which, Liu Hao's class composition wasn't optimal, but it was slightly better than Ye Xiu's five. However, it was a pity that Liu Hao didn't give it his all, because he didn't expect that there would be a professional-level expert competing with him on this dungeon. For him, it was just brushing the records of ordinary players, an easy task that he could do with a casual effort.

He didn't put in 100% effort, but Ye Xiu was watching their results and then purposefully maximizing his performance to easily break their record.

Liu Hao pitifully ate a sap for this dungeon record, simply because he was in the open while Ye Xiu was in the dark.

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The record has been broken, rewards are plentiful, monthly tickets are plentiful, everyone agrees, right? (To be continued. Please log in to see what happens next. More chapters will support the author and support genuine reading!)