Artha found dungeons boring. Just as boring as grinding monsters in the map. He was literally spoonfed. Sylvester told him when and where to use the spells, when to chug some potions, when to run. Afterall, he was MVP in the unexplored areas of dungeon. But slowly, he got into the mood. He watched and checked more things. He would discuss these with Sela. She would not think he was stupid or mad. He had asked even stupider questions before.
As one of the frontrunners (though he always stayed in back along with healers), he understood the pressure tanks and other melee players felt.
And that thing happened.
They found an elite bunny. To be more technical and precise, it found them. Artha's first thought - F*ck!
But others went hyper. Sylvester said urgently, " Guys, guys! This is it! We found an elite monster. Just follow my orders and we can kill it. It's just one monster. Kill it and the bonuses we get will make all the money spent worth it. Don't hold back anymore."
Artha was confused. They were holding back? Why didn't they tell it to him then? He was giving his 100% till now. He saw the elite monster and understood what giving everything to it meant.
Level 4 bunnies were bad. They were bigger than common cats and dogs. An elite version? That animal just took steroids for breakfast, lunch, dinner and supper. It's teeth was longer and sharper than thief's dagger.
That elite monster was like a goon. So it should behave like one, right? Send the minions one by one, then in group, if that fails, then enter the field. Apparently, it didn't get the memo on goon's behaviour. It entered the field directly and even tried to killsteal the players.
Sela was good. Her shield, even better. Still she got pushed back. Her HP bar turned red. But she got two Heals back to back, so she pulled through. Is this what you meant, Sylvester, when you said there would be a healer dedicated to him, Artha thought. Not that he blamed them. To face a strong yet agile monster, tanks were must. Artha was a happy accident.
As soon as the elite bunny hit the tank, aka, Sela, everyone else turned hyperalert.
Sylvester threw one sentence, one command to Artha. Kill other bunnies, don't let them gather and hit other team members. If you can't kill, just engaging is also okay. That part was mentioned by Sela. So half the pressure just slid off, just like that.
Sylvester would need all of his concentration on this elite bunny and he had to command other 5 players precisely.
' Rogan, pull the aggro. Sela can't hold one.'
' Balador, just keep striking it. Try to get critical hits.'
'Artha, use spell when the monster is high in the air. It can't escape then.'
' Please concentrate on limbs, so that it can't run too fast.'
'Little moon, your turn!'
Sylvester kept on giving orders when healing others. Healing spells were of different varieties too. One, commonly used, first taught one, was one where huge amount of HP would be dumped into the player. It was emergency rescue. Another type was also present, while gave HP over time. Players just had to be careful enough to not die in the meantime. Heal over time gave more HP that the former one but it would not be so useful all the time. While fighting elites and higher grade monsters, the ratio between two types of healing had to be in good proportion.
The healers in the team were good. Just as good as regular healer of hard headed galore team, atleast it seemed so to him. He definitely would not compare them to guild's healers he knew. He was a husky roaming with wolves. That he could survive till now was because those healers were very, very good. So, comparing them to these would be wrong on so many levels, thus no comparison done.
After gulping his third mana potion after the fight with elite bunny began, Artha followed the new set of orders, "Artha! Sunbeam! Now! On elite!". Sylvester had no time to say complete sentence. They were running low on potions. The thief had to change his dagger as the durability ended in previous one and it turned into scrap.
After the last ultimate attempt where everyone used their max damage spell/skill, the elite finally, finally died and crash to the ground.
Sylvester barked, "Don't relax! Clear these critters now." Everyone rushed out again to massacre the bunnies though they felt bone tired. Can't help it. What if you die while the monster was being looted? Wouldn't all this be a waste? They had gained so much XP by killing the elite. So the body was tired, the brain happy.
"Huh! That's the last of it. Hurry! We have to loot the body before it vanishes completely."
Sylvester took the lead as he was team leader. No one volunteered. Artha pondered for a moment and stayed silent. He really wanted to loot. The probability of getting better items were on all time high on opening day. But he had joined not out of merit but through connections. He could not ask when Sela herself didn't ask.
He watched the way the monster was looted manually. He seriously doubted the mind of players when he saw the process. What is so great about touching monster's body? You are not dissecting it, cutting it open. Just...touch it few times. Maybe grope? Did Sylvester had some rabbit or mink or fur fetish? Artha blinked and watched even more closely. Was there some timer of sort sort while gathering monster loot? He would get such timers when he was picked higher level or higher grade items out in the map.
Sylvester stood up. Was the looting unsuccessful? He didn't see any loot.
"Good news, everyone. We got a weapon this time - uncommon grade level 4 double handed sword."
Sylvester laughed out aloud. The cannon fodders, the pioneers had started killing elites just few batches back and none had uncommon grade item, that too, a weapon. Granted, it was just level 4, but it was more than enough for now. There would be even more elites, so more chances to get better items.
He continued, "I will be taking this weapon, obviously. However, fear not. I am not stingy. I'll calculate the price and hand over the coins equivalent to its value individually."
It was the usual procedure when different people came together to play as team. The regular loot would be divided equally. The extras depended on the evaluation, on how the individuals played the game.