"Tch! Tell us what we need to do!" Purple Olive rolled her eyes at Ye Chen as she snorted. Ever since years ago, she had been in the position of toying and teasing the others' emotions, yet now, Ye Chen was the one toying with her heart. This sensation, simply unpleasant and annoying.
"Little girl, don't be anxious. Haste does not bring success. This secret is known by little players within the game. Even if you want to know it, we need to first bring the Boss over. Otherwise, being unable to test out the newfound knowledge will just plague your nightly sleep for the rest of eternity! AHAHA!" Ye Chen glanced back and smirked.
"You…!" Purple Olive took deep breaths, forcing down her exploding urge to slap this man who neither listened to reason nor bow to force.
"Hm, back to business. Luring the Boss over is seriously tough. Our speed is at most, the same as the Stone Wolves. The Boss is probably about Level 22 and so is the King of the Stone Wolves. Its speed will only be faster than its minions. While we have the Speed Scrolls, it will only boost our speed by 3 points at best. We would still be significantly slower than this giant. Over such a long distance, luring it over with just one person is suicidal." Seriousness wiped away the playfulness from a second ago as Ye Chen discussed the most substantial possibility of success. Immediately, the other three gathered around him.
"Being chased by the Boss is definite. With the Stone Wolf King's attack power, two hits would be enough to kill us. Our only shot at this would be Aggression Chaining."
This was obvious, and the party agreed with the method.
"I have a concrete plan for the rally order. Purple Olive, you are first, then Dharma and Queen. I will assist from the side. If anyone fails to get the aggro, I will pull it from the side. However, we only have one chance, if we fail to pass it even with my help, it will be obliteration for us."
A dense blanket of pressure crashed onto everyone at those words.
Ye Chen swept his gaze across the others. "Understood? Let's get to work then. Remember, use all of the effective scrolls. It would be collected back by the system at the end of this anyway."
Suddenly, Purple Olive interjected, "I can use Skin Toughening."
"Skin Toughening? That's a great defensive skill. Just pile it all on!" Ye Chen nodded. In the Boundless World, the Priest profession offered several defensive skills: Harden, Skin Toughening, Iron Defense, and more. All of these skills beefed up an adventurer's Defense. However, their effects were slightly different.
The Iron Defense added the most Defense. However, it would lower the adventurer's Movement Speed. Harden had intermediate Defense effects but would make the adventurer immune to some status effects. The Skin Toughening increased Defense slightly by strengthening the skin. When under attack, it would negate some of the damage and upon healing, increase the regeneration effects.
As Purple Olive's staff waved, glistening light spiralled around the entire party. As the light dissipated, they all could tell that their Defenses had increased by 12 points. Having done their preparation, everyone got into position. Turning to face the members behind her, Purple Olive took a deep breath. She consecutively activated her scrolls: HP, Defense Blessing ,and Speed. Then her palms gripped tightly on her staff and pointed it at the giant Stone Wolf right in front of her.
"Holy Bullet!" Before the blinding ball of holy light even landed on the Boss, Purple Olive turned and ran.
Just a few steps later, the attack landed, bringing single digit damage. However, the aggression was successfully pulled. A hoarse, thundering roar boomed through the area.
"RAWR!" With a loud bellow, the Stone Wolf King's menacing aura rippled violently from his limbs. Like an arrow leaving the bow, its body flashed and charged towards Purple Olive.
Behind everyone, a wave of cold shiver washed over Ye Chen.
"The Boss is moving faster than we expected! Dharma, move forward by ten steps. Queen, by twenty-three steps. No more, no less! Quick! This is our last chance!" Seeing the astonishing speed, Ye Chen decisively made his decision, rushing forward while giving the instructions.
Initially, he had planned to lure the Boss with just the three of them. But now, he needed to join into the fray. Without hesitation, Dharma and Queen went along with the plan hastily.
"Dharma, snipe now!"
As Ye Chen moved, his eyes remained glued on the Boss. In just a few steps, the Boss would be right above Purple Olive.
Dharma had long been prepared. With a quick aim, his arms pulled back. In a flash, an arrow sliced through the air.
-77!
A loud thud sounded. Along with it, a crimson number floated above the Boss. The massive gray head whipped and fixed onto the archer. The reddish-black pupils glistened with killing intent, sending pressure surging through Dharma. As rage overtook the Boss's mind, all thoughts of Purple Olive were extinguished, as it pounced towards Dharma!
"Queen, Void Ripples!"
Dharma immediately ran for his life, wheezing hard as his heart thumped faster and faster.
Not long later, Ye Chen quickly yelled for the Queen to attack.
With a firm nod, she raised her staff firmly and waved. Gray ripples suddenly emerged between the Boss and Dharma!
MISS!
Alas, unexpected accidents always occur when one least expects them! The pressure of the Level Suppression kicked in hard. The Boss was Level 22 but the Queen of the Night was only Level 16!
The inexperienced showed Queen's paling face. Panic, fear and regrets pumped through with that colossal mistake she made.
However, the Level Suppression was all in Ye Chen's plan.
"Don't panic, Spatial Totem Pole! If you miss again, then use the Spatial Fissure. Just keep trying, we still have time!" As long as the Stone Wolf King was still a distance away from Dharma, the Queen could miss once, even twice!
Ye Chen's voice forcefully tugged the Queen out of her panic. Her hands fidgeted and gripped tightly on her staff as she launched her second attack, "Spatial Totem Pole!" A massive pillar of aggression shot out from the ground between the predator and the prey, sending an uppercut straight into the Boss's chin.
-132!
This time, she was right on target, dealing massive damage, successfully pulling the aggression onto herself.
"Single Transplantation!"
The Queen sprinted ahead of the Boss, luring it towards Ye Chen. Ye Chen quickly transplanted the Durian Bomb Tree right behind the Queen, blocking the path of the Stone Wolf King.
"Illusions of Time!" As the Boss closed into the Durian Bomb Tree, Ye Chen began his attack. Immediately, the Durian Bomb Tree ballooned in size, raining exploding durians one after another.
Within the blinding rays of the explosions, many crimson numbers of more than 100 damage surfaced, together with equally high numbers of misses. Within an instant, the aggressions had been transferred onto Ye Chen.
Enraged further, the Boss ruthlessly pounded forward, slamming into the gigantic tree. In one swoop, close to 400 damage was dealt.
From a distance, Ye Chen was not going to wait for another lethal swing from the Boss. He activated a magic scroll and shot a sparkling ray onto the Boss, pulling the priority aggression onto himself.
"Withering Light!" A dismal 10 damage was dealt, but still, he pulled the aggression successfully.
Ye Chen was just a few steps from the stone pillar that the Durian Bomb Tree was on. He quickly ran below the pillar, awaiting the Boss. While he may be confident and sure of what he was doing, the overwhelming trepidation still plagued the Queen.
After losing to Ye Chen, she had gone onto the forums to analyze the attributes and perks of a Botanist, She knew, once a botanist activated the priority aggression, the affected monsters would not have the aggression deterred to anyone else within a short period. In other words, Ye Chen would suffer minimally two to three attacks from the Boss.
With every step, the hoarse roared, like the rumbling of chains in the gallows, reverberated through the forest. The distance between the Boss and Ye Chen was closing quickly. However, Ye Chen was still calm as still water, not a trace of panic or fear to be found on his face. He only used the only cooldown scroll he had to finish the cooldown of the Illusions of Time. When the Boss was about to leap onto the bottom of the pillar, the Illusions of Time struck again.
Once more, a torrential downpour of explosions pelted onto the Wolf King. Alas, the scene that the Queen of the Night feared for occurred. The aggression was still on Ye Chen!
Brushing off the bombs from the Durian Bomb Tree, the Boss viciously brandished its jaws, jumping at Ye Chen.
At that sight, Purple Olive cupped her face in horror. Yet, with a timely swerve, Ye Chen dodged it by a hair's width, circling to the other side of the pillar.
As easy as it sounded, that sight was sufficient to stop Dharma's heart as he watched. To him, Ye Chen really almost died. With the pity of Lady Luck, he dodged it.
However, it happened again, during the Boss's next assault. Now it was all clear. Ye Chen did not dodge by pure luck.
After the two attacks, despite the Level Suppression and constant misses, the Wolf King suffered massive damage from the enhanced Durian Bomb Tree. Finally, the aggression was pulled away.
Seeing the change of target, Ye Chen took a huge breath, feeling the Everest-like pressure off his shoulders.
If he had not gotten the elite mission equipment, the bonus 20% of the total attributes from the system, the speed scroll, and utilizing the stone pillar as an obstacle, it would have been impossible to avoid the Boss's attack when he was seven levels behind.
Far away, Purple Olive had half-peeked through the gaps of her fingers throughout the process. Now, her eyes and her mouth were frozen wide open in an expression of stunned surprise, ooking at what happened. "This guy… He's not as simple as he seems!"