Who Awakened Me

"Poor little puppy Garix, I'll avenge you!" Xiao Yu muttered to himself, his eyes still fixed on the screen.

Of course, he didn't expect Lava Giant Fieldegar to stop them at the Obsidian Bridge. He wanted to analyze their exact strength from the course of the battle.

Lava Giant Fieldegar: "No one may pass through here. Prepare to be crushed to pieces, little insects."

The boss fight began.

The battle lasted only twenty minutes,

Lava Giant Fieldegar: "Ah... how is this possible... Fieldergar was defeated by a group of-mortals!"

World announcement: In the year 1375 of the Firmament Era, the human hero Long Ao Jiutian slew Lava Giant Fieldegar in Blazing Flame Canyon. This deed has been recorded in the Chronicles of the Firmament.

The outcome was no surprise to Xiao Yu, but the fight had been a little too quick. Several things were clear from the battle. First, their DPS was fierce. Fieldergar was a typical target-dummy boss: his attack power was average and he had no particularly powerful skills, but he had a whopping ten million health, two million more than Xiao Yu himself. Yet they had taken him down in twenty minutes. Their damage was so high because the players with ordinary adventurer templates included almost no pure healers or tanks, but plenty of hybrid classes. Even so, with a hero tank and a hero healer, they had no need to fear the tank going down. The other players could ignore healing and tanking altogether and focus on dealing damage at full strength, making for a very comfortable fight.

Against the Lava Giant, who had no AOE skills, they were practically his worst possible counter.

But if a lineup like that went up against Flame Controller Alex, who specialized in AOE, it probably wouldn't be so easy, Xiao Yu thought.

Lava Giant Fieldegar also dropped a pile of epic items, and his corpse was an important source of materials. After butchering the corpse and obtaining a pile of rare materials and rare gems, the Light of Dawn Adventure Group made its way deeper into the temple. In the temple hall, they encountered the dungeon's third boss, a giant flame lizardman warlock-Flame Controller Alex.

"This boss seems to have AOE skills. Everyone, get your buffs up."

Greater Fire Protection Scrolls, over a hundred apiece at the auction house, were slapped on one after another, more than a dozen of them, without anyone batting an eye.

Greater Fire Resistance Potions, over fifty a bottle at the auction house: everyone downed one. It seemed they had each downed three or four bottles since entering the dungeon.

Xiao Yu winced at the sight. Just how rich were these people?

Long Ao Jiutian, however, didn't drink a fire resistance potion. His fire resistance was probably already over the cap.

Einstein the Flame Master: "Foolish mortals, you have come to a place you should not have. Face the trial of the flames!"

The battle began in an instant.

This fight was even shorter than the last. The Flame Master's damage was astonishing, but he had a pitiful five million-odd health, far less than the Lava Giant before him. Ten minutes later, he fell with a miserable scream.

World announcement: In the year 1375 of the Firmament Era, the human hero Long Ao Jiutian slew Einstein the Flame Master in Blazing Flame Canyon. This deed has been recorded in the Chronicles of the Firmament.

Fortunately, his damage was high enough that he at least managed to take down two adventurers. Death in this game took effect immediately, so there was no such thing as a corpse run; combat losses were real losses. Unless they all left the dungeon and formed a group to enter again, those two wouldn't be able to rejoin the fight.

But there are forty of them! What the hell good does killing two do? Damn it, I spent three thousand yuan bringing you back to life last time, and you're this useless?! Xiao Yu roared inwardly. Still, he knew it wasn't that Alex was too useless, but that the adventure group was too strong.

With the adventure group about to reach the Flame Altar, Xiao Yu knew he could no longer hide. It was time to fight to the death.

From his observations, Xiao Yu already understood that the enemy he faced this time was stronger than any he had faced before. No wonder Long Ao Jiutian was so confident. Xiao Yu's skills dealt almost entirely fire damage, and with their resistance, the other side held far too great an advantage.

Though he had a bad feeling about it, Xiao Yu had no way to escape. As the dungeon's final boss, he couldn't retreat once an adventure group entered. Even if he logged out now, the system would take over the Balrog Lord's body and use AI to fight the group. He might as well fight them himself; at least he would have a sliver of a chance to win.

Standing before the Fire Altar, Long Ao Jiutian didn't immediately start the fight. Instead, he leaped onto a raised platform and launched into an impromptu speech. "We've arrived. This is the place, the Flame Altar. It was from here that the army of fire elementals entered the Prime Material Plane and turned the Verdant Plains, once a paradise on earth, into scorched earth ravaged by elemental creatures. Today, we will reclaim the land that belongs to us. Come, warriors! Let us make history and forge a legend. For the glory of the Alliance, charge!"

His speech to the players under him was, of course, not the awakening of his chuunibyou spirit from getting too caught up in role-playing. He was using Group Inspiration, a skill unique to hero players that could greatly boost players' morale and attributes for a short time. Its precise effects were related to the content of the speech.

Hero templates were far stronger than those of ordinary adventurer players. Not only did they have several times the health and attributes of ordinary adventurers, but their skill effects were also extraordinarily powerful. With one use of Group Inspiration, the entire party burst into golden light at once. The effect was simply spectacular.

Of course, powerful as hero templates were, they naturally had corresponding limitations. Along with their formidable strength, they also occupied more population slots-five in all. In other words, in a forty-person dungeon, a party made up entirely of hero players could only bring eight people inside.

There were two hero players in the party now, leaving only thirty slots for adventurer players. With two of those already dead, the party now numbered thirty in total: twenty-eight adventurers and two heroes.

"Warriors, forward! There is the Flame Altar. As long as we destroy that altar, our mission will be complete!"

Long Ao Jiutian (Dark Avenger) waved his sword and immediately led the charge toward the altar.

Before the altar, a fire elemental elder appeared from nowhere. "Intruders, you have entered a place you should not have." With that, he came forward to meet them.

Is this the final boss, the Balrog Lord? He doesn't look like it, Long Ao Jiutian thought. He knew what the Balrog Lord looked like.

"Everyone, be careful. This probably isn't the final boss, so don't let your guard down after we beat him." As he spoke, he met the elder head-on with Multiple Cleave. Several flashes of sword light swept past, and the fire elemental elder instantly lost half his health. Of course, the elder wasn't really the boss, only an elite monster, so Long Ao Jiutian and Phoenix brought him down in a few blows. He didn't die immediately, however. Bleeding, he struggled over to the edge of the lava lake. "Heh heh, you mortals have no idea what you're doing. Some things are older than this world itself. Awaken, great Raglios, the Balrog Lord."

Watching the fire elemental elder's dutiful performance, Xiao Yu wished the fellow would just cough up blood and die. Unfortunately, in the script he had arranged, the fellow absolutely couldn't die before summoning him.

At that thought, his gaze fell on Long Ao Jiutian again. "All right, you want war? Then I'll give you war."

The lava lake churned, as though something were awakening within it. A pillar of fire shot up toward the temple's domed ceiling, a sight as spectacular as a volcanic eruption. The adventurers watched the scene in uncertainty, but none of them showed the slightest sign of faltering.

"Everyone, hold steady!" Long Aotian shouted, as though encouraging himself, but his heart still began pounding uncontrollably. That's a pretty badass entrance for a boss, he thought with some envy. Maybe I should buy a boss account to play around with later?

At that moment, a voice suddenly rang out. It seemed to come from the distant depths of the earth, yet also from the sky, echoing through the hall of the Flame Altar.

Raglios, the Balrog Lord: "Who-summons me? Who-has awakened me?!"

These were the boss lines Xiao Yu had written. As the final boss of a dungeon, he could design special lines and sound and lighting effects for his entrance, phase changes, and death in battle. This imposing entrance was the product of Xiao Yu taking his chuunibyou tendencies to the extreme, mainly to keep players from seeing through the fact that he was also a player, while indulging a little of his own twisted taste.

As the voice echoed, an enormous body made of flames and rising lava appeared in the lava lake and slowly rose. A Balrog Lord over thirty meters tall appeared before everyone, stunning them all the moment he emerged.

The lower half of his body resembled a spiraling vortex of fire, and his entire form was wrapped in blazing flames. His upper body was made of half-solidified lava. One hand gripped an enormous Balrog Hammer, while rising flames burned in the other. His eyes looked down upon them all with an air of utter supremacy.