Chapter 2 The No. 2 Boss, Village Protector Commander Sha Bao

Unlike Ji Lang, the No. 2 Boss, Village Protector Commander Sha Bao, didn’t hang three weapons on his body to create suspense. Sha Bao held a sword in one hand and a shield in the other, which was a typical knight’s armament in Glory.

This type of profession was one of the most annoying NPCs for players to deal with.

Firstly, knight professions generally had high defense and health, and their spirit attribute wasn’t weak either, giving them very comprehensive protective abilities. Secondly, taunt and roar-like skills in the knight system that forced aggro were a major interference on the field. Uncontrollable movement or attacks could lead to a loss of control in team cooperation. Furthermore, Bosses often had multi-class characteristics. And priests and guardian angels, also in the knight system, were healing professions. Once they had these types of skills, it was even more of a torment for the players.

Especially under the current circumstances, this was a newly opened dungeon, and clearing it while over-leveled was a major test of DPS. This kind of Boss naturally raised the requirements for DPS again.

Ye Xiu’s Lord Grim tentatively tested him and quickly discovered that Sha Bao was indeed a knight profession. Especially when he used the shield for cover, Lord Grim's attacks seemed to be nonexistent. This undoubtedly increased the difficulty of attacking. It was necessary to find a way to avoid the shield's cover to ensure output efficiency. Moreover, this situation was even more difficult for Lord Grim, who was pulling the monster from the front but didn’t have aggro.

“We need to take this slowly.” Although he was difficult to deal with, Ye Xiu, with his skill level, quickly found a solution. “Compared to the last one, we need to pay more attention to the quality and efficiency of our output, and we can’t relax at all.”

“Qiao Yifan’s One Inch Ash has a very important responsibility this time. The buffs must be applied appropriately to maximize benefits, without any waste,” Ye Xiu specifically instructed.

“Understood,” Qiao Yifan responded.

“Soft Mist and Steamed Bun also need to pay more attention to cooperating with the ghost array’s support.”

“This time, Su Mucheng’s Cleansing Mist also needs to be bolder. And Mo Fan, choose summoning beasts with strong combat power as much as possible, but also take into account mana consumption and attack efficiency. Keep the number under five, any more might be wasteful.”

“Slower is okay, efficiency, we must be efficient,” Ye Xiu emphasized at the end.

“What if he has healing skills? Then we need fast output to suppress him. If the rhythm is too slow, I'm afraid we still won't be able to hold out,” Wei Chen said.

“Let's see if we can interrupt him first! If not, we'll talk,” Ye Xiu obviously wasn't ignoring this point, he was just guessing at a possibility. If this possibility existed, then interrupting the healing spell was the priority.

“You interrupt him?” Wei Chen asked.

“I will,” Ye Xiu took over this important task.

After that, the battle entered the official stage. During the testing phase when Ye Xiu was controlling Lord Grim, Sha Bao only revealed his powerful defensive abilities. Aggro skills and healing skills probably weren't used because it was only a one-on-one situation and he hadn't suffered too much damage. Now that everyone had swarmed him, the situation was very likely to be different.

But aggro skills could only be defended against with spirit attributes or corresponding skills. There were no defensive means otherwise, and this type of skill was completely absent from Happy’s current team composition, so there was no need to say anything more. If he used a skill, they would see who it hit and then respond according to the specific situation!

As a result, the development of the situation was better than Ye Xiu had expected. Aggro skills never appeared, and healing spells were used, but they could be interrupted. Then, under Ye Xiu’s level of control, Sha Bao’s healing spells were basically non-existent. Ye Xiu’s biggest trouble was actually how to ensure effective output to stabilize aggro while facing Sha Bao’s shield head-on.

His way of pulling aggro with output put a lot of pressure on him if an OT (over-taunt) occurred. Because he didn't have professional aggro skills, to pull back the aggro, he could only create a new OT. But OT situations also had certain standards. It wasn't that if one character's aggro was greater than another's, an OT would immediately occur. If that were the case, everyone would use similar output to control the aggro on a level playing field, and then one would go higher and the other would go lower. If two ranged classes rhythmically exchanged attacks like that, wouldn’t they be able to play the Boss back and forth at will?

So, under normal circumstances, to create an OT, the aggro value had to exceed the current aggro target's aggro value by a certain percentage. So, to use an OT to pull back an OT, even if the OT target stopped attacking, it would take some time. Ye Xiu was extremely careful because he didn't want such a situation to occur. Who knew what accidents would happen during the rescue process?

Everyone performed their respective duties and attacked according to Ye Xiu’s arrangements. Ye Xiu also controlled it very well, firmly grasping the Boss’s aggro. Looking at Sha Bao's life dropping and everyone's mana consumption, Ye Xiu was also sweating in his heart. It really looked a little forced.

“Pay attention to the rhythm of the spell potions too,” Ye Xiu said. Compared to the arena, the biggest advantage of dungeons was that potion usage was only limited by the cooldown of the medicine. Mastering the rhythm of using potions could greatly extend the duration of the battle. Since they knew the difficulty of clearing a new dungeon while over-leveled, Ye Xiu and the others had naturally prepared for this. Everyone's potions were very sufficient. At this moment, it wasn't enough to use them without reservation, they also had to pay attention to the efficiency of their use.

Time passed second by second, and Sha Bao's life was slowly draining away. Attrition warfare especially tested players' stability and concentration. Everyone carefully executed the calm and efficient attack for about forty minutes without daring to relax. Sha Bao's health finally approached ten percent.

“As usual, everyone retreats when he's close, and Dawn Rifle will deliver the final blow.” The same unknown berserk when health is low, naturally required the same strategy to deal with it.

Seeing the blood-red final moment, everyone retreated. At the same time as Wu Chen's Dawn Rifle landed the final blow, Ye Xiu's Lord Grim also had to nimbly dodge.

The same Satellite Beam landed. Sha Bao raised his shield to meet it, but this protective measure was already expected. This Satellite Beam, even with the shield’s protection weakening the damage, was enough to injure Sha Bao's life to only ten percent remaining.

*Pa!*

A sound of shattering.

The Satellite Beam directly hit Sha Bao’s shield, actually blasting the shield into pieces. Everyone was stunned and also recalled that when the No. 1 Boss, Vanguard Ji Lang, was reduced to low health, the spear in his hand was also broken. This dungeon was probably using this signal to remind players that the Boss was about to go berserk, right?

What would Sha Bao’s berserk be like?

Everyone widened their eyes and saw Sha Bao roar. Without a shield in his left hand, he held the sword hilt alongside his right hand. Then, his eyes were bloodshot, his whole body was crimson, and his hair seemed to faintly emit a red glow.

“Berserker?” Wei Chen’s experience wasn’t fake. At the sight of this stance, he had already made a deduction. This state was especially like a Berserker under the assistance of the passive skill "Blood Awakening." When his health reached a low point, he opened the Berserk combat state.

“I'll try first.” Ye Xiu didn't rely on experience, and still used his previous cautious approach. After Lord Grim rushed up, he was greeted by Sha Bao, whose speed and attack were greatly enhanced. He hastily used several crazy slashes, and even Ye Xiu somewhat awkwardly controlled Lord Grim, rolling all over the ground, especially passively.

Ye Xiu remained calm, and persisted for a while like this. After seeing that Sha Bao really didn't have any more big moves, he immediately called out, “He's a Berserker, everyone be polite, attack with all your might!”

In this state, while a Berserker’s combat power was certainly greatly increased, his protection ability would be greatly weakened. This No. 2 Boss went to an extreme before and after. Before, his protective power was super strong, but after reaching low health, his attack ability exploded.

Don't look at how the whole process didn’t seem to encounter the danger like Ji Lang's final "Wind-swept Blade" before, but this No. 2 Boss was far more difficult than Ji Lang. But because too much of the difficulty was all directed at Lord Grim, everyone else seemed particularly at ease. If someone else were to be the MT, Sha Bao's difficulty would make everyone feel suffocated.

With a sharp drop in defense, Sha Bao's surging combat power only lasted for a very short time. Under everyone's rapid and frenzied attacks, his life was quickly reduced to the minimum.

“Be careful to hold back!” Ye Xiu hurriedly called out. Everyone stopped attacking in a particularly unified manner. As a result, at this time, Mo Fan's Deception didn't stop in time. At the same time as Ye Xiu called out to stop, two consecutive skills landed on Sha Bao, directly completing the final blow.

However, after seeing Sha Bao's life cleared to zero directly, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. This Boss didn't seem to have any cheap tricks to struggle with before dying. Even so, Mo Fan’s recklessness made everyone give him the side-eye. As for this guy, no one had any good feelings for him in the first place. Now that this situation had occurred, naturally there were fewer people sympathizing with him and more people despising him.

Mo Fan himself was also clear in his heart. When everyone looked down on him, he didn't look back, but he was obviously aware of it. His head involuntarily lowered slightly, and a trace of embarrassment flashed across his expression.

The system announcement was issued as usual. The No. 2 Boss, Village Protector Commander Sha Bao, was taken down again. The world channel was naturally in an uproar again. The club guilds' leaders gnashed their teeth again, cursed in various ways, but still couldn't do anything about it.

This time, Chen Guo called out and ran to loot the equipment particularly consciously. The equipment was still one purple and one blue, but this time they were all usable by the team's professions. However, after looking at the attributes, everyone felt that compared to the orange equipment their characters were using, they were a bit of a waste, dispensable.

“Sigh, why didn't any orange equipment drop!” Chen Guo sighed, obviously knowing that this equipment wouldn’t help improve their strength much.

“Orange equipment will come,” Ye Xiu smiled.

“Not so easy?” Chen Guo rolled her eyes.

“Two first kills! This kind of reward has a very high chance of getting orange equipment or rare materials,” Ye Xiu said with a smile.

Chen Guo immediately reacted. The drop rate of wild Bosses was a higher level than dungeon Bosses, and even dungeon hidden Bosses. But the rewards for dungeon records were on the same level as wild Bosses. And now, individual Bosses had first kill records. The truly gorgeous rewards were after exiting the dungeon!

Chen Guo was excited, but Ye Xiu didn't accompany her in this chatter. After another DPS statistic, he calmly said, "Let's take a look at the DPS statistics for the second stage."