Midnight.
This marks the "next day" that all players of First World have been eagerly awaiting for days.
Officially begin!
At midnight every day, the First World server recognizes it as a new day.
Therefore, those challenging the new dungeon always start precisely at this time.
Every time this happens, logging into the game is when the loading wheel spins due to the sheer number of players, causing server overload.
No One sat on the chair, watching the live stream of the four people who would begin this dungeon attempt, with some snacks he bought for the night alongside a cup of hot coffee.
Typically, he would sleep a little before starting his pioneering.
But the image of the Heavenly Demon In Black earlier prevented him from sleeping.
He sighed. Feeling a bit weary.
“No One, is the live stream stable?”
“It's stable. We can start.”
“Okay.”
Lady Lam and the team were standing right at the circle of fire in the City of Azure Flames.
At the time when the pioneering dungeon had not been conquered, the flames surrounding the Immortal Blade in the City of Azure Flames served as the "teleport gate" for the new dungeon.
Rushing directly into those flames would transport players to the new dungeon.
Once pioneering is successfully achieved, that location will then appear on the First World's map. From there, a new teleport gate can be used to access it.
“Let's go!”
The Moonlight Clan party jumped right in.
“So boring, Lady Lam, hurry up and die so I can swap into the team!”
Sword of Love was also in the chat room watching the live stream of those four.He was quite upset that he couldn't join the main team.
Simultaneously, the four screens displayed text indicating the location.
【Tomb of The Immortal Blade - Hall of Past Memories】
【"This is the end of the dream."】
The four were startled.
Lady Lam immediately planted her shield into the ground and began chanting a spell.
"Hana, bring out the "Two Ounces of Ink." Song !
Hana and TwinBird seemed to instantly understand their roles.
Cherished Dream also began chanting a spell.
TwinBird quickly sent her falcon into the sky, while Hana pulled out a 【Musical Cube】.
That 【Musical Cube】 was given to her by No One, containing a total of 10 songs to be used depending on the situation.
Meanwhile, many people were watching the experts tackling the dungeon on streaming platforms. Cheers erupted.
The Moonlight Clan was also one of the guilds currently attempting this dungeon, with a decent reputation. They attracted about 10,000 live viewers.
Another member of the guild handled speaking duties on the live stream and managed the perspective changes of the four members.
The guild's party only needed to focus on conquering the dungeon.
Although this was common practice for guilds with some recognition in the First World. Currently, the top guild, Black&White, had around 1 million live viewers.
[BOSS Room! This dungeon starts right in the BOSS room!]
[Oh my, it truly is Godlike! Last time, the final boss Pioneer was just over 10 levels, but this time, the First Boss is more than 30 levels above the players!]
[Great Lady Lam, keep it up! Great Lady Lam is always the best!]
[This team seems to be the meta for this pioneering period. One Tank, one Musician, one Mage, one Physical Damage Dealer.]
The chat kept buzzing in the streaming room.
As they entered the Tomb of The Immortal Blade, it was a large room.
In the center stood a single boss.
【Lv.100 Phantom of the Immortal Blade】
It still wore the attire of an Immortal Blade, though it looked incredibly ethereal, leaning towards a white hue, with feet as transparent as a specter.
Before it was a sword embedded in the ground.
Cherished Dream immediately used 【Appraisal】
"Guild master, here are the details."
Cherished Dream shared the boss's information through the chat.
The stream screen also zoomed in on Cherished Dream's stream view.
A pioneering team usually has a Mage or Taoist as a core.
Because the ability to 【Appraise】the boss is incredibly important.
【Lv.100 Phantom of The Immortal Blade】
【The Immortal Blade in the Hall fell into a state of enlightenment. Grasping the sword, they directly executed the Starchaser Sword Technique. From there, a new sword technique was realized.】
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BUFF:
【Power of the Immortal Blade: The first strike on the enemy will instantly kill that enemy.】
【Phantom: The possessor cannot be hit.】
【Only I Am The Honored One: Beneficial effects cannot be removed.】
【Challenge the Immortal Blade: If the possessor's sword destroys a target, it immediately enters a Demonic state.】
Oh my gosh. Four broken buffs.
No One knew that Godlike wouldn't be easy, but to this extent.
【Power of the Immortal Blade】 directly kills the first person who attacks the Immortal Blade.
【Challenge the Immortal Blade】 immediately puts the Immortal Blade in a Demonic state. Although we don’t know what exactly it is, it sounds dangerous.
No One didn't need to personally experience that state; soon enough, other players passing through the dungeon would trigger that state, and he could see it for himself.
【Only I Am The Honored One】 is naturally meant to counter Sword of Love's skill, Cleaving the Principles.
Sword of Love is probably cursing about that buff right now.
And then there's 【Phantom】.
Previously, there was another boss with a similar buff. Extremely difficult to deal with.
Hmph, let's start with the first strategy.
"Lady Lam, after chanting, immediately use 【Indestructible Wall】."
"Hana, be ready to buff Lady Lam."
"TwinBird, use 【Falcon's Mark】."
"Cherished Dream, focus on dealing damage."
"Understood!" the entire team responded in unison.
Immediately, Lady Lam finished chanting her skill.
【Divine Guardian Protection】!
A giant Divine Guardian appeared in the battle arena, wielding its spear and striking down on the entire team.
This created an ultra-thick shield for the whole team, also increasing their attack as long as the shield remains intact.
However, the chanting time is quite long, taking 10 seconds. Therefore, it was used before the battle started.
This skill is commonly used as an opener by the Paladin.
【Indestructible Wall】!
This time, a massive wall of light was erected between the entire team and the Phantom of The Immortal Blade.
This is a terrain-blocking skill of the Paladin.
The enemy's attacks will be blocked by this terrain five times before it breaks.
【Falcon's Mark】 was also activated.
TwinBird's falcon began marking the Phantom of The Immortal Blade.
This is a skill of the Falconer; the marked target will suffer -100% evasion, and the next attack will remove the mark, also increasing the critical hit rate.
This is to dispel the phantom.
"Is everyone ready? It's my turn."
At this moment, Cherished Dream had just finished casting 【Path of The Star Transformation】.
This self-buff enhances his magic stats to the maximum level a buff can achieve, doubling his current stats.
He simultaneously summoned five small familiars, the maximum number of familiars that can be created at once.
【Maximum Firepower】
【Sacrifice Familiar】
【Gathering Power】
【Ritual of War Declaration】
【Extreme Yang Formation】
【Yin Yang Formation】
Stacking buffs!【Maximum Firepower】causes the next attack to deal 1.5x its normal damage.
【Ritual of War Declaration】increases the team's overall damage output by 20%.
【Extreme Yang Formation】multiplies current magic stats by 1.5 times.
【Gathering Power】enables the next attack to bypass magic defense stats.
【Yin Yang Formation】lasts for 10 seconds, causing attacks from those within the formation to apply a debuff reducing the target's defense by 25% for 3 seconds with each hit.
TwinBird also began buffing.
【Falcon Wing Battlecry】
The Falcon soaring in the sky emits a sound, directly enhancing the critical stats for the whole team.
It's Hana's turn.
【Marching Melody】
This Bard skill lightly buffs attack stats, increasing them by 1.1 times for teammates.
Lastly, it’s Lady Lam's turn.
【Holy Bible Blessing】
For 5 seconds, every attack will heal by 10% of the damage dealt. It also inflicts an additional 5% of the attacker's main damage with each hit.
This prepares for any Boss with a damage reflection mechanism.
Activate!
【I Borrow from the World One Ounce of Ink】
【Attack Increase!】 【Critical Increase!】
Debuffs simultaneously appeared on the Phantom of The Immortal Blade.【Defense Decrease!】
【Accuracy Decrease!】
No One and the entire team shouted almost simultaneously.
"Now!"
Cherished Dream had completed the spell casting. A massive dragon crafted from countless pieces of paper talismans was created.
The incantation began.
"Go forth, power of the realm of sorrow."
【Mortal Hell】
In an instant, the dragon erupted into blazing black fire and charged directly at the Phantom of The Immortal Blade.
The chat was buzzing with excitement, the messages echoed wildly.
[GO. GREAT LADY LAM. GO!]
[GO. GREAT LADY LAM. GO!]
[GO. GREAT LADY LAM. GO!]
[Wow, after the Job Change, to have so many buffs like this, no wonder they call it Godlike; even the Pioneer boss must be terrified.]
[GO. GREAT LADY LAM. GO !]
[GO. GREAT LADY LAM. GO !]
[WAIT.]
[DON'T.]
[STOP THE SKILL.]
Just after casting the skill, No One noticed something was off in the chat.
Stop it?
Could it be?
BOOM.
The explosion from 【Mortal Hell】burn the arena.
The unique skill animation effect of 【Mortal Hell】was unleashed, painting the entire map in a swirling mix of black and red, as if the entire battlefield was drenched in blood. Numerous hands of hell emerged from it.
The effect of Mortal Hell is to explode onto the enemy. Immediately after, it creates a large area that continuously deals damage for 1 minute.
Using 【Mortal Hell】was intentional. If the aim was just massive damage, the Mage's 【Destruction Blast】would provide the strongest concentrated damage.
But they were taking advantage of a technique to extend the effect duration, also known as Snapshot.
To put it simply, normally if you apply a bunch of buffs to your stats, then use a skill, and the buff duration ends, that's it.
But, you can take advantage of the buffed skill.
Not every skill is just about firing a fireball to hit an enemy and dealing damage.
There are also skills that work over time!
Like creating a ring of fire around yourself or a snowstorm over the entire map.
For example, if the buff lasts only 2 seconds, but the skill persists for 5 seconds, then after the first 2 seconds, will the skill stop benefitting from the buff?
No!
That's not how buff mechanics work.
A skill activated during the buff duration will receive the entire buff amount throughout its execution.
This is the terrifying aspect of 【Mortal Hell】; it deals damage continuously for 1 minute. It inflicts damage once every second.
Besides the initial explosion which deals 600% of magical damage, it continuously inflicts 10% magical damage every second!
Adding up to 600% more damage across 1 minute.
Thanks to 【Holy Book Blessing】 from Lady Lam, each time damage is inflicted, an additional 5% damage is applied.
This directly increases the damage dealt in 1 minute to 900% instead of 600%!
Altogether, it inflicts 1500% damage from a single skill. And this total damage continues to be multiplied by other types of buffs.No One had tested this amount of damage on the dungeon boss the last time, almost directly killing the First Boss.
The team was confident they could significantly reduce the Boss's health, even if it were Godlike.
That was in the past.
Now, the entire team is in disarray.
The chat room is filled with shouting.
[WTF.]
[Report it to the admin. The game is bugged.]
[The damn publisher's gone mad LOL.]
[Game for dogs to play.]
[Game for dogs to play.]
[Game for dogs to play.]
[Unbelievable. Game for dogs to play.]
No One felt a bit stunned and didn't even bother looking at the chat screen.
He was laughing and sweating at the same time.
"The game for dogs to play is back."
This is indeed the difficulty of Godlike.
The music from the Musical Cube continued to play from the moment it started until it dealt damage.
"I borrow two ounces of ink from the mortal world."
The four corpses of the team lay fallen, the death screen displayed.
"One stroke of longing, one stroke of mistake."
The Indestructible Wall was shattered, and 【Mortal Hell】 abruptly ended because the user had died."Finally, dream of a reformed journey."
The skill had just been executed, but the damage dealt had not even been calculated.
Throughout the entire process, the Boss's health bar hadn't decreased even slightly.
The Phantom of The Immortal Blade paid no heed to the four corpses on the ground.
It calmly walked back to the center, where it had stood for eternity waiting for challengers.
Once again, it embedded the sword into the earth.
As if everyone was nothing but ants before it eyes.
It was merely the Phantom of the Immortal Blade.
Yet this existence before all the players at this moment was invincible!
"The illusions of people exchanged for solitude."
The Musical Cube, with a faint sizzling sound, began to explode as its owner had died.