At their leader's word, everyone immediately began attacking. On Sister Cat's reminder, Wang Qianduo deliberately waited a little before joining in.
His damage far outstripped everyone else's. If he wasn't careful, just a few attacks could throw the Dire Wolf King's aggro into chaos.
That didn't mean the Dire Wolf King would stop attacking Sword of Miracles and turn on him. It meant the boss would stop following the system's target order and start attacking everyone at random.
This usually happened the instant a monster's aggro shifted, and it wasn't all that uncommon.
Wang Qianduo wasn't afraid of the wolf turning on him, of course. With his defense and health, he could withstand its attacks for quite a while.
Besides, he had healing potions...
Sword of Miracles was still as formidable as ever. Using footwork and attack techniques Wang Qianduo couldn't begin to understand, he parried the Dire Wolf King without taking a scratch.
The Dire Wolf King's pounces and bites couldn't hurt him in the slightest. He even seemed to have plenty of room to spare.
Everyone followed Sword of Miracles' rhythm and attacked steadily. Before long, they had brought the Dire Wolf King's health down to two-thirds.
As soon as its health reached two-thirds, the Dire Wolf King broke away from Sword of Miracles and leaped back, gathering magical energy. This was the prelude to its skill, Wolf King's Roar.
Wolf King's Roar was the Dire Wolf King's ultimate skill. It summoned a pack of twelve Forest Dire Wolves.
Wang Qianduo had watched videos of other people clearing this dungeon. The moment the Forest Dire Wolves were summoned, those groups had their off-tank hold the adds while everyone switched targets to kill them. The main tank then kited the Dire Wolf King until the others could help.
That was why the dungeon required two tanks. Without two tanks, almost no one had enough protection early on to withstand the pack of dire wolves.
But Sword of Miracles and the others used a different strategy. While the Dire Wolf King was charging its skill, they hit it with their own abilities.
-81, -81
Weak Point Hit -67, Stunned for 0.1s
Weak Point Hit -33, -33, Staggered for 0.1s
The five players' skills hit the Dire Wolf King one after another. Apart from Wang Qianduo, the other four all landed weak point hits. Sword of Miracles and Call Me Martial God even managed to stun it.
Wang Qianduo felt as if he and the others weren't even playing the same game. How could their beginner skills come with crowd control? Were those really beginner skills?
"Don't be confused. This game looks like an ordinary online game where everything is determined by stats, but it actually gives you a lot of freedom.
"Hit different parts of a monster with your skills, and there's a good chance you'll trigger different effects.
"It's not that hard. Just practice, and make note of where the weak points are!"
Song in the Clouds noticed Wang Qianduo's confusion from the way Unit Zero had slowed down, so he explained.
"Thanks!" Wang Qianduo said sincerely.
No one in this world was obligated to teach you anything. You didn't have to accept someone's kind offer to teach you, but you should at least be grateful.
"Haha, don't mention it!"
They exchanged only a few words. They were fighting a boss, after all, and the least they could do was show it some respect.
But with the Dire Wolf King's skill interrupted, it posed little threat to Sword of Miracles anyway.
After dodging another pounce, everyone brought its health down to one-third, and the Dire Wolf King began charging its second skill.
The four of them immediately used their skills to interrupt it, but something unexpected happened: all four attacks hit weak points, yet none triggered a control effect.
"We're screwed. Song in the Clouds, get ready to kite the adds. We—"
Call Me Martial God hadn't finished speaking when a streak of silver energy struck the Dire Wolf King.
-850, Stunned for 0.2s
A huge damage number appeared above the Dire Wolf King. The attack not only interrupted its skill, but brought it straight to the brink of death.
Its aggro shifted immediately, and it charged at Wang Qianduo.
The other four were still stunned by the damage they'd just seen. The Dire Wolf King charged right up to Wang Qianduo before they could react.
-140
-141
The first number was the damage the Dire Wolf King dealt to Wang Qianduo. The second was the damage he dealt in return with a single slash.
That slash took the Dire Wolf King's last bit of health and sent it crashing to the ground.
"Holy crap, Brother Wang! What was that skill? Eight hundred and fifty damage? That's insane!"
The four of them paid no attention to the fallen Dire Wolf King. Song in the Clouds immediately asked the question on all their minds.
"Don't call me Brother Wang. My surname's Wang. Just call me Old Wang.
"I got that from a quest, along with the sword. They came with skills too."
Wang Qianduo kept making things up. He couldn't exactly tell them it was a bonus for spending money. They'd have him dissected!
"More than six times your attack. Is that a Perfect-grade skill?" Bright Moon over the Blue Sea asked.
"Are you stupid? If a skill you can learn at this level is Perfect-grade, then it's not Perfect-grade, is it? It's at least Legendary-grade!" Call Me Martial God said.
Song in the Clouds said, "That's true. And it has a control effect, but its mana cost isn't very high. Since it isn't instant, it's probably an area-of-effect skill."
These people really were impressive. With just that little bit of information, they'd analyzed most of Chain Lightning's stats in only a few sentences.
They clearly knew the game inside and out, and Wang Qianduo couldn't help admiring them.
"Chain Lightning."
Seeing how curious they were, Wang Qianduo sent the skill's details to the party channel.
"Powerful. I'm jealous!"
"Looks like we can pull more monsters later. This skill's cooldown is only ten seconds."
"It's the first Legendary-grade skill I've seen in the game. It really lives up to the word 'legendary'!"
"Alright, enough being jealous. Your curiosity's been satisfied. Now let's get back to the dungeon. Cat, go loot the boss!"
"On it!" Call Me Martial God replied.
Sword of Miracles seemed to have a lot of authority among them. As soon as he spoke, everyone stopped discussing the skill.
The Dire Wolf boss dropped three items for the group: a blueprint for a Fine-grade claw weapon, a Fine-grade material, and a Common-grade material.
In other games, if a boss dropped loot like that, the game might as well be on the verge of bankruptcy.
But this game had one attitude: play if you wanted to.
After everyone confirmed that Wang Qianduo didn't want the blueprint, it was given to Sister Cat.
Apparently, fist weapons and claws had always been her favorites. Getting one on the first try was a stroke of luck.
"Brother Wang, what are your attack, defense, and health stats?"
After everyone had recovered, Call Me Martial God—that was Sister Cat—asked Wang Qianduo as they headed deeper into the dungeon.
They had to make use of his equipment advantage; otherwise, they wouldn't be doing their jobs as professional players. But first, they needed to know what he was working with.
"Attack: 167. Defense: 28. Health: 1,300."
Wang Qianduo thought it over, then decided to answer honestly. He hadn't told them his attack and defense before, but they'd probably already worked out a rough estimate.
Still, having a rough estimate was one thing. Hearing how absurd his stats were left everyone shaken.
"Damn!"
Song in the Clouds couldn't help swearing.
"Those stats are ridiculous. Still, they'll make this dungeon a lot easier. Follow my instructions, and we'll clear this Normal-difficulty dungeon quickly.
"With you helping us, we might even be able to try Abyss difficulty. By the way, are you going to run the Abyss dungeon?" Sister Cat asked, turning to Wang Qianduo.
"Yeah. I was just about to ask you about that. I've got a quest we should discuss in a bit.
"I'll share it with you. Take a look and see how we can get the best reward!"
Wang Qianduo shared General Huang's quest with them. There was no way he could complete it by himself.
Rather than look for other teammates he couldn't trust, he might as well share it with these experts. That would also make them less suspicious of how he'd gotten his equipment.
And though he hadn't known them for long, they'd made a good impression on him.
Their skills were good enough to tell that Wang Qianduo was a beginner, yet none of them had shown any contempt. That was rare.
The mecha blocked their faces from view, but he could still read their feelings from the way they spoke.
"A unique hidden quest. No wonder your equipment is so good!"
"This is clearly a long-term quest. Looks like your rise is unstoppable!"
After looking over the quest, they tried to act calm, but couldn't quite manage it.
At the same time, everyone on both sides had just one thought: they had to recruit Wang Qianduo into their guild.
So what if he was clumsy? He could improve his skills. But a unique quest like this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
And the quest could be shared, too. Whichever guild recruited him would gain a significant lead over the others, making it much easier to establish an early advantage.
They had to recruit him!
Before you continue