"?" Once Meng Jingtian joined the group, Meng Jingtian sent a question mark in the chat window, inquiring about the group's objective.
"The mission is to help us defeat a silver boss. One thousand gold coins for each person!" Wang Sisi explained.
Meng Jingtian realized that this silver boss was probably Ma Fangxing.
After all, this was a game. When a boss died, it would respawn after a certain amount of time.
Wang Sisi was Level 25, so it was very normal for her to get a mission to deal with the Level 25 Ma Fangxing.
"What's the objective of your mission?" Meng Jingtian privately messaged Cai Minghou.
"Kill one hundred Cool Breeze Camp bandits and ten elites!" Cai Minghou replied. "It doesn't conflict, and we can do them together. With all the people in their group, we should be able to finish it quickly."
Cai Minghou's mission was to exterminate the remaining bandits of Cool Breeze Camp, but this mission had set targets. This was because mobs would respawn after a certain amount of time had passed.
"Alright!" Meng Jingtian typed into group chat.
The two of them joined the ranks of the group and began to clear Cool Breeze Camp.
But perhaps because the group members had already killed enough bandits earlier, two minutes later, a system notification appeared: "You have provoked the boss of Cool Breeze Camp, Ma Fangxing. Ma Fangxing will soon appear!"
Soon, a horse loudly neighed, and Ma Fangxing rode in on a black horse, dressed in the armor of a general and swinging a saber.
Meng Jingtian was taken aback, quietly remarking to himself that this was the complete form of Ma Fangxing. When he had persuaded this boss to leave, he had neither brought out his horse nor equipped his armor.
Fortunately, all the members of Wang Sisi's group were Level 25 or 26, and they all had their proper roles. They quickly pulled the boss and began to drop his HP at a steady rate.
Not long after the battle started, the boss's HP began to approach 90%. Meng Jingtian knew that the boss would use its first high-damage skill soon, so he warned, "Everyone, scatter!"
Several people heard his warning and instinctively moved away from the group.
"Who the hell are you? Don't go blindly giving orders! Can you take the responsibility if the group wipes?" angrily roared a player called Sun Yaohai, wearing chainmail and holding a sword.
Before Meng Jingtian could answer, the boss's HP reached 90%. "Chaotic Saber Art!" Ma Fangxing roared, plunged into the pack of players on his horse, and began to flail his saber around.
"-54351"
"-48523"
"-51684"
Virtual numbers in red that only players could see appeared, and the players that had been grouped together were instantly wiped out.
All that was left were the few players who had scattered and now blankly stared at the boss.
This skill's damage was much higher compared to when Meng Jingtian had fought Ma Fangxing. Even the group's tanks had been instantly wiped.
After a momentary daze, Wang Sisi, who had also been killed and respawned, typed into group chat, "De-aggro the boss and wait for us to get back!"
After all, even the tanks had died. The remaining members wouldn't be able to keep fighting the boss.
"How did you know the boss would use that skill?" Wang Sisi curiously asked.
"Pft! We already fought this boss. If you don't listen to your elders, you'll suffer from regret. You died? Serves you right!" Sun Yaohai's rude words had been deeply upsetting to Cai Minghou, so his reply was very derisive.
"Little Hou!" Meng Jingtian glanced at him and indicated that he shouldn't speak so much nonsense.
He then typed into group chat, "Come back, and hurry up!"
After that, he did not de-aggro the boss like Wang Sisi wanted, but continued to fight it.
However, no matter how much DPS Meng Jingtian put out, he was never able to aggro the boss. Unable to play the role of a tank, all he could do was apply damage while using Divine Recovery on the player with aggro.
The player ran around in a circle and realized to his shock that he wasn't dead. In the end, he stopped and continued to fight the boss.
Meng Jingtian had much higher stats and level compared to when he first fought Ma Fangxing, and his damage was much higher.
And with his previous experience with the boss, he knew the boss's mechanics and skills, and would occasionally warn the other group members how to avoid the attacks.
80%… 50%… 30%… In less than two minutes, Ma Fangxing's HP was down to 10%.
It was only now that Wang Sisi and the rest managed to arrive.
Meng Jingtian saw that Wang Sisi had come over, and immediately used Divine Punishment. In a burst of bright light, Ma Fangxing toppled over.
Wang Sisi froze in shock. It… it was over?
"What? Did the mission not complete?" Meng Jingtian asked with a frown.
That shouldn't be! At this range, it should have completed, right?
"It completed! Uh, thank you!" Wang Sisi quickly came to her senses and smiled. When she looked at Meng Jingtian, a strange light could be seen in her surprised eyes.
Sun Yaohai's face darkened, and he raised his head in disdain and glared at Meng Jingtian. "What's there to be cocky about? He only defeated this boss, right?
"Sisi, since the mission is done, let's go!" He turned to Wang Sisi and reached out his hand to guide her away.
But Wang Sisi threw off his hand and unhappily said, "Why are you so rude? Leave by yourself if you want!"
She then looked at Meng Jingtian and smiled. "I owe a lot to you! Once we get back to Black Tortoise City, why don't I treat you to a meal at the Fragrant Pavilion?"
"I'm sorry; we still have a mission to do!" Meng Jingtian shook his head and withdrew from the group.
Cai Minghou saw this and withdrew as well, once more forming his own group with Meng Jingtian.
"We really lost out. They only managed to farm thirty-some mobs while we beat this boss almost entirely on our own. And now you just withdrew from the group without even getting some of the equipment," Cai Minghou softly grumbled to Meng Jingtian.
"He only dropped one purple piece of equipment. How much gold would that be if you split it among a group of nineteen people? I can't be bothered to waste time with them!" Meng Jingtian shook his head.
He hadn't joined the group for the one thousand gold coins Wang Sisi had promised, only because it happened to coincide with his own mission and joining their group would make it go faster.
"Right, right, right! Brother Tian doesn't lack money! And it's only a few gold coins!" Cai Minghou muttered.
Meanwhile, Wang Sisi's group members had taken their rewards and gone their own way. Wang Sisi and Sun Yaohai seemed to know each other, but for some reason, they had gotten into an argument.
"Ding! Wang Sisi has requested to join your group!" Afterward, Wang Sisi came over and requested to join Meng Jingtian's group.
After a moment of hesitation, Meng Jingtian decided to accept.
"Why did you leave the group? This is the one thousand gold I promised you, and also your portion of the money from auctioning the drops." Wang Sisi sent over a trade request.
So that's what it was about! It appeared that this person was someone who kept their promises. Though Meng Jingtian didn't really care that much about this one thousand gold, since it was what he had earned, Meng Jingtian accepted it without hesitation.
"What mission are you doing? Let me lend a hand. I really owe the two of you a lot for that boss just now. We probably would have wiped a ton otherwise." After the trade was done, Wang Sisi did not leave the group.