The two tanks immediately did their jobs. Radiant Shield slammed into one of the burly demons, whose angry red eyes abruptly stared at him.
Immediately Radiant Shield’s senses tingled. He saw movement out of the corner of his eyes. The second demon swung his bare fist at the obstacle in its path.
Radiant Shield steeled his arm, blocking the powerful blow with his shield.
[Stance -14!]
Feeling a strong force shaking his shoulder, Radiant Shield frowned. He knew that his defense wasn’t perfect. He still had to learn a lot.
At the same time Silver Blade clashed with the flaming demons. Two claws engulfed in fire reached for her.
The tank didn’t panic. She moved a perfect step to the right, causing the one claw to block the other’s path. The demons, brutal and limited in intelligence, never thought about giving in and almost collided in the air.
The awkward position dampened the might of their fists, making them easy to block.
[Stance -8!]x2
“Beautiful!”
Even Liam was impressed. But he didn’t have much time to watch, waving at the others.
“Come guys, follow me!”
“What are you doing?”
Except for the two occupied tanks the rest of the party watched with confused eyes as Liam left the marked area.
“Our mission is to kill 50 demons here! Let’s gather some!”
“What? Are you crazy?!”
“Don’t worry, just trust me!”
Liam’s friends looked at each other, shrugging their shoulders. They quickly began attacking enemies outside the circle. One by one raging eyes turned towards them. With each enemy added the pressure on the players increased.
In no time at all, twenty demons surged into the area.
“Expert, you can tell us now how we should deal with these. Please!”
Cyclone pleaded Bleary Mirage, watching the incoming enemies with fear in her eyes.
“We don’t!”
“It’s not the time to joke!”
“I’m not joking!”
Before Cyclone could say more, a familiar voice came from the sky.
“Oh no! Adventurers! Be careful!”
Suddenly a ray of pink light flashed before everyone’s eyes. Large holes appeared in all the infernals’ chests. The chaotic creatures had died with eyes wide open, unable to comprehend the cause of their deaths.
Even the party members only say their helper when she stopped in the air. Major Onrabell carried a thin rapier-like sword, three times larger than herself. She swayed faintly, looking exhausted.
“In a time of need, we received timely assistance. Dear viewers, who would have thought that this tiny fairy is so powerful!”
Fortune zoomed in one the major with sparkling eyes, immediately commenting for her video.
“Guys, don’t get distracted! The fight isn’t over yet!”, warned Liam quickly.
“Oh, got it. Should we gather the enemies again?”
“No. Unfortunately this trick only works once.”
“Ah, this means fighting normally…”, said Cyclone with faked distress.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
The blond woman’s comment brought smiles to the party. After the successful start everyone’s mood improved somewhat.
***
Meanwhile in another instance of the dungeon. Star Gazer finished his talk with the major, leading his team towards the marked area.
As soon as the infernals attacked, Spiked Pen in heavy black armor clashed with their fists.
Star Gazer scanned the surroundings.
“Killing fifty infernals, just as the information said. Good, my preparations weren’t in vain.”
With a face that was assured of victory he pulled out a scroll form his inventory.
“This Arcane Puppet of minor infinity will quickly put us ahead of the others.”
Star Gazer unfurled the scroll, revealing the depiction of a brown puppet surrounded by multiple magical circles. With a thought mana surged into the scroll, causing it to disappear.
A puppet suddenly appeared out of thin air.
“Haha, boss with this little toy we are already at a huge advantage!”, laughed an ice mage called Age of Frost.
“Ha, I almost feel bad for not having to do anything.”
Hearing their tank sigh jokingly, a thief wearing a black mask couldn’t help but comment:
“Who asked us to work for such a great family. With the information the boss has this dungeon will be ours without fault!”
“Ok, ok. Tone it down.”, said Star Gazer with a roll of his eyes. “Although a puppet is good, do you know what’s even better?”
“Tell us, boss.”
“Of course it’s two puppets!”
Everyone laughed as they watched Star Gazer take out another scroll. A moment later two puppets walked out of the circle. Each of them attacked three enemies and drew them back in.
Star Gazer nodded his head calmly.
“Good, three enemies are just right. With the continuous heal these puppets have they are just enough to tank the damage.
However, their attack is low. Guys, this will be our job!”
“Of course, boss! Watch as we take apart these few infernals!”
The party members laughed confidently as they engaged the fight.
***
Phoenix Feather positioned her team around the marked area. With five mages, two healer and three tanks the setup was quite particular.
“Ok, you all know the plan. Let’s start!”
“Yes!”
Crisp voices answered her as the tanks entered the circle. Immediately infernals separated from the surrounding fights. They ignored the mages outside and directly attacked the tanks.
“Careful! Rose, take care of those archers! Don’t let Blue Roots do all the work.”
“Yes, sorry!”
Phoenix Feather sighed inwardly. She really loved all the members of her team, but they just couldn’t quite contest with the top players.
She glanced at her younger sister Cherry Blossom who was the first to begin casting, showing a smile of praise.
***
The composition of Phoenix Feather’s and Earthquake’s teams were almost completely opposite.
Earthquake led four burly, battle-hungry men and women in heavy armors into the battle. One step behind him was Callida with a long spear, coordinating the fight.
And even further behind stood two mages and two healers, ready to assist the frontline as much as possible.
The addition of mages was already a concession Earthquake made for Callida. If it were on him the team didn’t need any ranged fighters at all.
When the infernals arrived, Immortal Boulder laughed excitedly. Without regard for the type of enemy he directly used a skill to pull the attention of all four demons.
The other melee fighters carried large, heavy swords, arriving behind the enemies with a few skillful steps and swinging their weapons in wide arcs.
The battle was violent but also efficient, dealing maximum damage with every attack.
Earthquake’s team once again proved why they were known for having some of the most talent players when it comes to the offensive.
However, this came as a price as the team members often disregarded their defenses, keeping the healers extremely busy.
***
At the same time, Fat Tiger stood outside the dungeon gate, feeling quite helpless. He had already seen the skills of those other guilds before.
Although he didn’t want to admit it, he knew that his people couldn’t keep up.
“Hah, well. Maybe we have to be content with being a second-rate guild. It’s not that bad…”
Suddenly he felt a tap on his shoulder. Turning around he found Glorious Sunrise arriving with a few other familiar faces.
“Brother Tiger! No time to sigh, I found our savior.”
Fat Tiger glanced at the striking woman with short, blond hair walking behind Glorious Sunrise.
“Miss I never miss? You want to hire mercenaries?”
“Why not? We only need to add the names of our guilds to the achievement. And with the fame brought by a first clear we can lure pro players to work for us. It’s an investment!”
“It sounds good, but…”
Fat Tiger turned to Miss I never miss with a skeptical gaze:
“Can you even get the first clear?”
“We can’t guarantee it but I’m at least 75% confident!”
“You are quite honest.”
“I never deceive my clients! Furthermore, you can pay half the money in advance. If we don’t get the first clear you don’t need to pay more.”
“How much are we talking about?”
“Two million credits.”
Hearing this sum, Fat Tiger took a sharp breath. He dramatically held his hand on his chest.
“Now I know why you came to me, Sunrise!”
The blond man only smiled wryly as an answer. Fat Tiger furrowed his brows. Eventually he made up his mind.
“Alright, let’s do it!”
“Great, I knew you’d have the courage, brother Tiger!”
A few minutes later the two guild bosses entered the dungeon together with eight mercenaries.
***
“Keep it up, guys! Only those two are left!”
Liam animated his friends while bringing his swords down for a [Double Slash].
With skilled movements the two tall enemies were hit, causing the holy marks above their heads to explode violently.
[-595!]x2
The two elite demons roared in anger. One fist like a hammer and one ferocious claw slammed into the tanks.
At this moment other attacks arrived. An arrow and a bolt of lightning slammed into the enemies.
Their movements stopped abruptly. With unwilling cries they fell to the floor, losing their lives.
The party sighed in relief as they finally had a short break.