Everything Was Ready

The words "[I dare not participate]" and "[Ordinary people cannot do it]" deeply affected the female mage, and she paid particular attention to the last sentence.

Esmehalda (Dalaran Mystic): "You have other contractors?"

"Of course," Xiao Yu said without changing his expression, "You're not the only one who's summoned me, are you?"

Esmehalda (Mystic of Dalaran): "No, wait, I mean, I think I can do it, I just need some time to prepare."

She spoke as if she had made up her mind, "That's right, I'm going to get involved in this, Kirin Tor Councilor, I'm going to take this title."

Azathoth (Water Elemental Prince): "Alright, it's settled then. But we need to hurry, because who knows when Amalarui might run away or be killed by someone else? Of course, I don't plan for you to challenge Amalarui immediately. Your level isn't high enough yet; you need to reach at least level 30. Also, although the storyline involves you and me challenging Amalarui, the main force will essentially be the adventurers. So we need to recruit some powerful adventurers as cannon fodder. By the way, do you think three days is enough?"

"Three days?" Esmehalda thought for a moment. "That should be enough. Three days it is then. After three days, I will assemble an adventure team to join you. By the way, where is his dungeon?"

Azathoth (Water Elemental Prince): "The dungeon is called Tower of Amalarui, and it's located in Western Plaguelands. So it's settled then. But have you ever done a raid before?"

"This—" Esmehalda shook her head, "No, but I've done raids before when I played the adventurer mode, so there shouldn't be much difference, right? Isn't it just the tank holding aggro, the healers healing, and the DPS spamming attacks?"

Xiao Yu shook his head. "The difference is huge. Having heroes and not having heroes make all the difference when it comes to running dungeons."

Generally speaking, if there are no heroes in the team, then the only option is to use the tactics Esmehalda just mentioned. To deal with a dungeon that has never been attempted before, ordinary adventure teams often need to try multiple times, constantly summarizing their experiences to finally clear the dungeon. During these attempts, the team often wipes many times, losing a lot of equipment and experience. Some guilds even go bankrupt while trying to clear the dungeon. However, once the dungeon is cleared, the team enters the break-even phase, and the guild can make a profit, provided that the dungeon's boss is not killed by the storyline.

Therefore, many dungeons that produce good equipment and are easy to find are monopolized by large guilds. Heroes who want to defeat the bosses in these dungeons have to defeat the adventurers guarding the entrance first, which is quite ironic.

However, things are different if there is a hero in the adventurer's party. Currently, the most popular heroes for dungeons are tank-type heroes because heroes have several times more health than ordinary players, thus the margin for error is much higher, and there is basically no risk of the tank dying.

Of course, because hero players are powerful, they can also use some more unrestrained tactics. For example, Xiao Yu once saw a Warrior -type hero lead thirty-five healing adventurers to solo an ancient dragon.

Generally speaking, the tactics vary depending on the type of heroes in the team, but they are all basically arranged around the heroes.

Azathoth (Water Elemental Prince): "So, what are your special skills?"

Esmehalda thought for a moment. Her two hero skills were Summon Xiao Yu and Frost Detonation, with Summon Xiao Yu being the most crucial, since a mid-level boss could be soloed in some five-player dungeons.

Azathoth (Water Elemental Prince): "Since I'm here, I'll naturally be the tank for this raid, so the tank class can be ignored when choosing adventurers."

Esmehalda (Dalaran Mystic): "But wait a minute, you don't have Taunt skill. If you don't have Taunt skill, you can only rely on damage to generate threat and pull mobs. What if you miss one?"

Azathoth (Water Elemental Prince): "Hehe, that's not a problem at all. We just need to bring more hunters. Hunters have a skill called 'Misdirection,' which Misdirection a target, causing all the threat generated by the hunter to be transferred to that target for a period of time."

So all we need to do is bring a lot of hunters, and they can all Misdirection me when we enter the dungeon.

Also, since your Frost Detonation needs the target to be Freeze to be most effective, bring more Frost Mages with you.

Of course, healing is also indispensable; someone has to heal me. Apart from these three professions, the others are not really necessary.

After discussing for a while, the two finally decided on the following personnel configuration: 1 hero (Esmehalda), 8 hunters responsible for applying Misdirection to redirect monster aggro to Xiao Yu, while also dealing a lot of damage. If any monsters were missed, the hunters' pets could also tank for them.

Six ice mages used Frost Nova, Blizzard, and other skills throughout the game to deal massive damage and apply a freezing effect, making it easier for Esmehalda to use Frost Detonation.

The remaining six slots were allocated to healers. Two Priest were assigned to group heals, two Paladin to single-target heals, and two Druid to provide continuous healing.

All adventurers participating in this operation must be level 30 or above. If you can't find enough, find a class with similar abilities to replace them. For example, an elementalist can replace an ice mage, Shaman can replace Druid, and a priest can replace Priest.

After arranging the composition of the adventure team, Xiao Yu also planned the trigger location for the team. Then, he and Esmehalda parted ways and returned to the Water Elemental Plane. The rest was up to Esmehalda to handle, and Xiao Yu had a lot of confidence in her.

However, he also had to put in some effort. The reason he set a three-day timeframe was so that he could recover from his injuries within those three days and also level up a few times.

Over the next three days, Xiao Yu continued to level up while recovering from his injuries. After three days, he finally reached level 30, and this time, he finally obtained the AOE skill he wanted.

Skill 1: Frost Storm. Summons a biting wind to deal continuous cold damage to enemies within a 30-yard range and slow them down.

Skill 2: Flamestrike. Summons Flamestrike to deal continuous and massive fire damage to enemies within a 30-yard radius, burning them.

Skill 3: Maelstrom. Summons a massive whirlpool that deals continuous damage to enemies within a certain area and drags them towards its center. Range: 30 yards. (Water Elemental are unaffected by this skill; if cast in water, the area of effect is increased by 100%).

Xiao Yu thought to himself, "Are you kidding me? Why do they always present me with such difficult choices?"

Strictly speaking, both Frost Storm and Flamestrike are excellent skills, dealing high damage over a wide area and possessing special effects—one slows and the other burns—making them perfect for dealing with groups of enemies.

However, this mutated skill is equally powerful. Judging from the skill description, this skill not only deals high damage and has a strong limiting effect, but also has a power boost in water.

However, after much hesitation, Xiao Yu still chose Flamestrike. There was no other way; in terms of damage alone, this skill was the strongest. Most importantly, he would be spending a long time in the Water Elemental Plane, and a fire-type wide-area damage spell was undoubtedly a very powerful skill for Xiao Yu.

Besides leveling up and learning skills, Xiao Yu also contacted an old friend, Old E. During his time as the Balrog Lord, he had made quite a few boss friends. Although they weren't particularly close, helping each other out was no problem. Old E was a necromancer, and the Western Plaguelands were teeming with Undead, so it was essential to find someone familiar with the area to guide him. The Western Plaguelands were vast, and it was normal to spend a day or two exploring. Without a guide, it was inevitable that they would encounter powerful monsters. If they encountered monsters that were too strong, the adventurers might all die before they even reached the Tower of Amalarui.

Old E readily agreed to help, which increased the chances of success for this operation.

After contacting Old E and checking the time, Xiao Yu realized it was time to meet Esmehalda. He waited a while and, sure enough, received Esmehalda's summons.

Xiao Yu readily chose to summon, and with a flash of white light, Xiao Yu appeared in the Prime Material Plane.