"Damn, who would've thought that we would be lagging behind?! I told you not to choose this dungeon. We don't have enough information about it! Why didn't you listen?!"
A tall man in heavy, red armour with imposing golden shoulder guards glared at his team member. His name was Henragon, and he was one of the rising stars belonging to GalanTen.
"We already discussed it. Don't forget what our job is. Hotpot chose this dungeon, so we naturally have to do so as well. Furthermore, we have all the advantages one could wish for. If we still can't match others, the problem lies with ourselves."
The one to answer calmly was a dwarven warrior. The black blades of his two one-handed axes gleamed dangerously under the orange light. Intricate patterns were carved into the handles. On one glance one could tell that these weapons were of highest quality. Level 63. Unique. Set. These three attributes made them almost unmatched among the current players. But they seemed perfectly fitting for the team captain of GalanTen, SpireX.
"You always talk nicely but wasn't it you who boasted the most over the last few days?", asked Gege, a female assassin clad in blue and black.
"I did so in order to increase the pressure on others."
"Well, now it backfired. The pressure on us increased even more. I hardly managed to get any rest yesterday.", complained Hero of Realms, a young-looking mage with deep, dark circles under his eyes.
"Can you stop blaming me for your addiction? Just this once? I always tell you not to game until deep into the night, but you never listen. You are playing Fate of Crunaboul the whole day. How can you still enjoy other games at night?", retorted SpireX with an annoyed voice.
"That's different, right? Fate of Crunaboul is our job."
"So? Don't tell me you would be doing anything else even if it weren't your job."
"Ok, ok. Stop arguing everyone. This doesn't do us any good. Focus on the dungeon. We don't even know how far Hotpot have made it. We can still overtake them!"
These words came from a slightly older wood-elven woman in tight leather clothing. She smacked the whip in her hands, producing a crisp noise which gave her words some extra strength. Everyone else flinched.
Although they were all professional players systematically trained since the beginning, they had all suffered under this whip. After all, CUwUty was the most outstanding PvP monster they knew. Idiots judging her based on her name would be quickly taught a lesson. SpireX, Hero of Realms, and the others even thought she might be able to beat the current number one player Bleary Mirage.
The team really held this belief. Calling themselves 'The New Number One' before was not solely provocation. Although they had a certain job to fulfil in Fate of Crunaboul, it didn't mean they didn't have ambitions.
Thanks to CUwUty's call everyone stopped arguing and focused back on the dungeon. Flames burned around them as the first dungeon boss Loro was kneeling in front of the team.
"Please, adventurers! My family still needs me! Let me go…"
"Pff. Since when do we have the habit of letting enemies go? Evil needs to be eliminated! Go to heaven!"
Before anyone else could say something Henragon stepped forward. He swung his sword, blood splashed, and the boss weakly fell to the ground.
The others frowned faintly. Not because they pitied the NPC but because they didn't know enough about the dungeon. What if killing the boss caused unfavourable consequences? Henragon should have at least discussed with them first. The man was too eager to move on. After all, they already suffered two wipes against this boss.
At this moment the dragon souls circling above let out mourning cries. They suddenly flew out of the temple, and the path was finally opened for the players.
"Let's go!"
***
As GalanTen moved on, other teams were still struggling. Although Phoenix Feather had reached level 65, she was the only one in her guild so far. It was not enough to attempt the dungeon on hell difficulty. And for lower difficulties she sent other teams belonging to Nest of Flames, led by her younger sister.
Phoenix Feather herself focused entirely on levelling for now. Although it was obvious that she would fall behind after others cleared the dungeon, she had to at least make sure that the gap wouldn't be too big.
Meanwhile the likes of Earthquake, Mountain Lord, Sevrance, and more also led their guilds to conquer dungeons on normal difficulty. Because of GalanTen's appearance a lot of attention was placed not only on hell difficulty but also on all the other instances. It had been a while since people cared so much about dungeons. Now people were discussing in forums, ranking the guilds, keeping track of everything. The established guilds felt the need to perform. They couldn't let these upstarts take the limelight.
Speaking about upstarts, after GalanTen's public appearance, more newcomers began their sudden rise. Teams which had been obscure until now suddenly made their names known. There were Might of the Punch, a team entirely consisting of warriors, SevenSeas, who had a rather balanced line-up, EnticingFlower, entirely made up of women, and more. Their sudden rise made the scene incredibly lively.
And all of this not only happened among the order faction. The chaos faction was facing a similar situation. A team called BurnBr1ght publicly challenged Graveyard of Heroes and people couldn't help but speculate if there was a connection.
***
Assuming that others were hot on their heels, Liam and his friends pushed themselves. But the enemies didn't go easy on them. Triple the bosses meant triple the damage and triple the stance cost. Silver Blade and Radiant Shield were running out fast despite the advantage brought by their flying mounts. And yet this wasn't even all that Bariohl and Renriohl could do.
"Brother!"
"Yes!"
The two cultists and their clones flashed and again stuck close to the wall. All three versions of Bariohl struck their weapons and three walls of blades formed, layered behind each other, about to form an unescapable prison.
The friends held their breaths. One wall already brought them a lot of pressure earlier. But now there were three? How were they supposed to survive? Would the number of immobilizing runes triple as well?
Fortunately, this was not the case. Instead Renriohl and his two additional staffs floating in the air formed a line, pointing towards the intruders. The tips of all three staffs began to gather fiercely burning, white flames. The three walls of blades began to move and simultaneously the intricate wooden staffs began to unleash a hail of tiny flames which assaulted the party.
"Damn, so many!"
"I can barely attack!"
"Can we do something?!"
The friends were instantly caught in a tricky situation. Occupied with dodging the white flames they barely found the chance to attack the walls which slowly closed in, leaving only about five meters of space between each other, little more than the size of a typical flying mount. Even if they could break through two walls. there would still be one more awaiting them.
Even Liam was surprised by the development. The version of this skill he knew only came with two walls. He stared at the three flame-shooting staffs in the distance. They trembled under their own power. This was a sign planted by the game to tell the players that the spell was unstable. At least this didn't change compared to what he knew. Thus, the usual strategy should still work.
"Fortune, Cyclone! We need to use flash step to approach the bosses! Balm, stay on guard. You will have to heal us quickly! The rest, we will create an opportunity for you to break those walls! Ok, let's move quickly! Fortune, Cyclone, copy my movements!"
"Yes!"
As Liam's solemn voice rang through the air, everyone focused on him. Cyclone and Fortune were rather nervous. It sounded like they had to pull off a difficult move. But Liam didn't inform them beforehand. Now, it was uncertain if they would be able to do it on first try.
Liam glanced over his shoulder and nodded at the two mages. He shot through the air, racing towards the wall of blades. Flames came for his body, but he weaved through them, nimbly avoiding the danger. After two seconds he appeared in front of the wall. He took a deep breath, concentrating fully on his own body. Even for him the next step wouldn't be easy.
Mana streamed through Liam's body, taking a familiar path. A force pulled on him. He disappeared in a shower of sparks and reappeared between the second and the third wall of blades, his back so close to the middle wall that he was almost touching it.
It was necessary for this move to be quite precise, or the next step would be even more difficult than it already was. Liam again gathered mana in his body. He faced obstructions, forced to calm the chaotic mana spreading through his cells. This was the game's way of telling players that two flash steps in quick succession were impossible. Even Liam couldn't reduce the delay to below two and a half seconds.