Xiao Liang put away his hostility toward Zheng Yuan and the others and followed behind Lu Yang. Fierce Wine Clear Wind followed as well; he also felt that arguing with someone like Zheng Yuan just now was beneath him.
The group headed deeper into the cave. Walking beside Xia Yuwei, Lan Yu noticed the worry on Xia Yuwei's face. She quickened her pace to catch up with Lu Yang, bumped his chest with her elbow, and secretly sent him a message. "Expert, pretending to be weak all the way before revealing your strength—you're really shameless."
When Lu Yang saw Lan Yu bump him with her elbow, he did not understand at first. Only after seeing the message did he realize what she meant. He could not help smiling as he replied, "Not at all."
"Not at all? One of you is second on the entire game's Level Rankings, another is first on the Level Rankings, and now there's even a vice president of the number-one guild." Lan Yu puffed out her little cheeks "unhappily."
A faint smile curled across Lu Yang's lips as he replied, "All right, all right, this one's my fault. I promise that from now on, I'll tell you everything before we come."
He could not bear to see the little girl angry. In his previous life, after his parents died, Lu Yang had been forced to flee abroad. During those hardest days, Lan Yu had always stayed by his side in the game. If there was anyone besides Shen Mengyao whom Lu Yang cared about most, it was Lan Yu.
He remembered that it had been the third year after he went abroad. One day after logging in, he heard Lan Yu crying as she told him that her family had arranged for her to marry someone she did not like. Lu Yang had hated himself for being useless, but there had been nothing he could do. He did not have the ability to protect the little girl.
But this life was different. This time, Lu Yang believed that he had to be a good older brother and give Lan Yu the greatest protection.
"Smile. Don't be angry," Lu Yang coaxed Lan Yu.
Lan Yu had thought Lu Yang was truly angry. She had not expected him to turn around and comfort her instead. Unable to resist teasing him, she pretended to still be angry. "I'm not angry. As long as you aren't angry, that's enough."
Lu Yang raised his hands in surrender. "All right, all right, I was wrong. I'll give you a gift later."
"I don't want it." Lan Yu pouted and walked away...
Fierce Wine Clear Wind and Xiao Liang exchanged glances, both wearing expressions that said, "I get it." Fierce Wine Clear Wind secretly sent Xiao Liang a message. "No wonder your boss is willing to help them level up. Turns out he has his eye on that little girl."
Xiao Liang secretly nodded. "Mm-hmm, I get the same feeling."
The two became friends just like that, with perfect mutual understanding!
Lan Yu returned to Xia Yuwei's side and gave her a reassuring look. This time, Xia Yuwei said nothing more. She instinctively felt that Lu Yang's future achievements in this game would definitely be far beyond what she had seen so far.
Zhang Zibo and the others thought the same way. While secretly communicating through messages, they all decided that Lu Yang was anything but ordinary.
Only Zheng Yuan looked at Lu Yang with even greater hatred. When Lan Yu had tapped Lu Yang's chest with her elbow earlier, that intimate gesture had made Zheng Yuan so jealous he nearly went mad.
The twenty-man team continued exploring deeper into the tunnel. After passing a bend, Lu Yang saw two NPCs ahead wearing light leather armor. Both were named Rebel Soldier.
According to the official lore, the Death Cave instance told the story of the Rebel Army and St. Gall City.
Back then, St. Gall City had not been called by that name. It was known as the Imperial Capital of Fals. Later, King Garro led his army to breach it. Fals was killed, and the empire collapsed.
A small number of Fals Empire officers were unwilling to accept defeat. They secretly gathered followers and prepared to restore the empire. This Death Cave was a Rebel Army outpost. It had originally been a secret location, but when they saw St. Gall City's main forces transferred to the border to deal with tense fighting, they obtained approval from their superiors and began slaughtering passing merchants to create panic.
Fierce Wine Clear Wind looked at the monsters' health. They actually had 8,000 HP. Clicking his tongue, he said, "It really deserves to be called an epic instance. That's twice the health of monsters in normal instances."
Xia Yuwei, Zhang Zibo, and the others were alarmed. Level 3 mobs with 8,000 HP—their average damage was only around 50. Excluding the three warriors and five priests, they only had twelve damage dealers. Killing even one mob would be quite difficult.
Lu Yang said, "Don't worry about it. They're only minor mobs. Fierce Wine Clear Wind, take the one on the left. Black Armor, take the one on the right. Everyone wait three seconds for Fierce Wine Clear Wind to establish aggro, then attack the monster he's holding with me."
"Understood," everyone said together.
Lu Yang said, "Pull them."
Xiao Liang and Fierce Wine Clear Wind nodded. The two charged into the monsters, stunning the two Rebel Soldiers for one second.
"Keep the monsters facing away from us. Warriors, move behind them," Lu Yang said.
This was one of the simplest positioning methods from his previous life. It could prevent monsters from suddenly fleeing while also making it easier for players to deal damage. Yet in this game, no player had ever noticed it.
Fierce Wine Clear Wind did not understand Lu Yang's intention at first, but he soon figured it out and could not help giving Lu Yang an admiring look.
"Rogues, don't stand at the monsters' sides. Attack from behind. Hunters, apply Serpent Sting first, then use Arcane Shot," Lu Yang said.
When rogues attacked humanoid monsters from behind, their damage increased by 30%. There was only one hunter in the team, but Serpent Sting dealt poison damage over time. Applying Serpent Sting first would raise the hunter's damage output.
"Warlocks, apply Curse of Agony first, then use Shadow Arrow. Paladins, use your normal rotation. Mages, all use fire spells." As Lu Yang spoke, he cast Scorch on the monster.
**Scorch** Type: Fire Spell Cost: 12 Mana Cast Time: 1.5 Seconds Range: 30 Yards Effect: Releases a burst of flame at the target, surrounding its entire body in fire and making it more vulnerable to fire damage. Stacks up to five times. Each stack increases fire spell damage by 15 and deals 10 fire damage, lasting 30 seconds.
This was a god-tier skill for fire mages in early instances. After stacking five times, every fire attack the target received would inflict an additional 75 fire damage.
Including Zheng Yuan, Xia Yuwei's team had five mages. None of them had high-end spell equipment. Even with all their points invested in magic, their Fireball damage was only around 50. With Lu Yang's five stacks of Scorch, their damage rose by 2.5 times, reaching around 125 damage per attack.
Even though the monsters had 8,000 HP, the five of them could deal over 600 damage every three seconds. Including everyone else's damage, they killed a Rebel Soldier in under twenty seconds.
Lu Yang's plan was good, but while dealing damage, only four mages in Xia Yuwei's team were using Fireball. Lu Yang swept his gaze over the mages and saw Zheng Yuan using Arcane Impact.
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