LWGP - Chapter 140

Chapter 140: Engaging the Boss!

The door's opening was so abrupt that even Wang Jiu was caught off guard. She didn't even have time to wonder who had done it, or what method they had used to make this door—which should have perfectly resisted the Lycanthrope BOSS—open automatically. But it had already rushed in; that was a fact.

It probably knew it had a hard time getting in, so it immediately used its seven-foot scythe-blade upon entry. But everyone here was an elite, after all. Yan Guanqi reacted extremely quickly, immediately arranging for everyone to evade and prepare to attack.

"Eight priests, prepare Holy Light and buffs! Support the melee fighters!"

"Melee, use a taunt first to draw aggro."

"Mages, get ready. Only those with an average attribute of over 1000 after reduction should use debuffs. The rest, conserve your spirit power. Wait until it's in a weakened state to attack."

As expected of a gaming expert, he was experienced and had even calculated the loss from failing to break its armor, thus setting the threshold at an average attribute of 1000.

However, this 1000 average attribute wasn't completely precise. The first time was just a trial run.

Yan Guanqi arranged the melee fighters and priests, while the mages were led by Xia Laoci. A barrage of frost, freeze, and binding skills, along with various debuffs, slammed into the Lycanthrope.

Sure enough, even with skills from elites with an average attribute of 1000, some were effective, and some were not. Because its Agility and Stamina were so much higher than theirs, some of their debuffs would be naturally exempted even if they hit. So sometimes, having more people wasn't necessarily useful. But the game wouldn't be completely unforgiving. This is where probability came into play—out of thirty people, some of their skills were bound to be effective.

But even if they were effective, their effects were still reduced.

System: "If they are the same type of status skills, they cannot stack. Only one will take effect; the rest will fail. As for the one that does take effect, it still depends on the attribute difference. If the attribute gap is too large, even if you break its armor, the status effect's percentage will change based on the difference between you. For example, when you fought the Bloodthirsty Tribal Chief before, your strength was high enough and your Dark Curse was a high enough level, so you got the full 30% reduction. But if your attributes had been halved back then, your weakening effect on him wouldn't have even reached 10%."

So, for a BOSS fight, having too many people on the team was useless. It was all about the composition. First, you could have multiple people of the same class, but you couldn't have too much overlap in skills. Plus, your own attributes had to keep up. Only with strong attributes could you bring out a skill's proper effect and maximize its armor-breaking potential. Otherwise, even with a high-level skill, if you were dragging it down to its minimum effectiveness, it was meaningless.

This was the main reason why Wang Shu's basic aptitude and skill set were actually higher than some elites, but his damage output and Participation were still much lower.

He still needed to develop, but the Lycanthrope before them might not give them the time.

After the group unleashed a wave of skills, Wang Jiu used her Demon's Eye to directly view its status.

A total of seven debuffs were effective, weakening its attributes by a total of 35%. One was a root, one a silence, and one a slow.

Wang Jiu's mind calculated swiftly, and she also noticed something—she had glanced at the skills everyone used. A total of four people had cast a slow, but only one had broken its armor, because the other three's average attributes after reduction hadn't reached 1200.

The person who broke its armor was Chi Mantou, whose reduced attribute was 1630.

In Wang Jiu's mind, there was someone who should have been able to break the Lycanthrope's armor and slow it—the person who had secretly slowed her earlier.

The other party's true attributes were definitely on par with her own original stats.

But the interesting thing was, when she looked over everyone, only Luo Sheng currently possessed a special stealth ability. Everyone else's attributes and skills were laid bare before her eyes. She specifically focused on the four people with a slow skill. The most suspicious one was Chi Mantou, and he did indeed have the ability to break the BOSS's armor. The problem was, his slow skill was visible, not completely hidden, and his attributes were also a bit lacking.

So, he wasn't the one who had ambushed her before.

System: "But that's not certain. What if he's deliberately revealing this flaw to make you guess that it's not him?"

Wang Jiu: "If he were really that cunning, he should know my style. I'm the type who, upon having the slightest suspicion, might not get to the bottom of it but would instead seize any excuse to kill him. Why walk into a trap? He knows he can't beat me, so he wouldn't reveal such a flaw—among the four people with a slow skill, only his attributes could break my armor. If he were deliberately hiding his attributes, he'd have to keep them hidden, which would also affect his damage output on the BOSS. Given his friendship with Li Chui, there's no need for such a sacrifice."

So she was certain Chi Mantou wasn't the one who ambushed her. It was someone else, someone hidden very deep, who wasn't even willing to reveal their true strength during a team BOSS fight.

The System understood Wang Jiu's meaning, but it retorted mockingly: "The BOSS is right in front of you, and you still have the mind to ponder this?"

"I do. Because it's very interesting."

There must be some greater benefit that made this person make such a choice.

The door opening—was it related to him?

Wang Jiu connected the dots. Her gaze swept cryptically over a certain person, but it didn't actually delay her from dealing with the BOSS—because she hadn't made a move at all. She just focused on dodging, letting the Lycanthrope rampage through the vast laboratory.

The others were coordinating their full-force damage output. Seeing Wang Jiu so leisurely, they immediately grew anxious. Some shouted for Wang Jiu to act, telling her not to hoard spirit power for some crooked scheme (Li Chui). Some tactfully reminded Wang Jiu of the principles of cooperation (like Yan Guanqi and the others). Some spoke with hidden meaning, hoping Wang Jiu would take pity on them (Luo Sheng). And then there were those like Wang Shu, who, upon seeing Luo Sheng's "green tea" version of pleading for pity, started howling like a pig being slaughtered for Wang Jiu to protect them.

In any case, after their shouting, Wang Jiu ducked behind a lab bench. She glanced at them without replying, merely fiddling with the test tubes and materials on the benches as she moved.

Seeing her actions, the others realized what was happening.

In the team channel.

Luo Sheng: "She has a medical background and has done R&D. She's well-connected and knows this stuff. She should be preparing a potion. We'll hold it off on our end."

Everyone had a sudden realization. No wonder Wang Jiu wasn't fighting; she was going for a technical approach, not planning to use force.

As expected of an intellectual. They had misjudged her. She must be very nervous right now, too.

"We need to cooperate with her and let her work in peace!"

The members of several teams all expressed their agreement.

But Wang Shu and the others were as quiet as chickens.

Ahem, was Master/Lao Wang really nervous?

At this moment, the Goblin Trader, hiding in the small control room, also asked Wang Jiu this question in the friends channel.

"You can mix something? What are you mixing?" it nagged.

Wang Jiu gave an irrelevant answer: "Do I get special purchasing privileges for adding you as a friend?"

Goblin Trader: "Nope."

Wang Jiu: "A discount?"

Goblin Trader: "In your dreams."

Wang Jiu: "Oh."

Then, the System notified the Goblin Trader: "Hello, you have been removed as a friend by this user."

Goblin Trader: "???"

Although Yan Guanqi felt Wang Jiu's personal strength would be more effective against the BOSS, she was focused on fiddling with potion bottles. They couldn't force her, and they were well aware they couldn't control this person anyway.

So, they could only focus on holding off the Boss for now.

Fortunately, they had already mentally prepared for the possibility of this heretic, Wang Jiu, going off-script. Yan Guanqi quickly adjusted his strategy, directing the others into a coordinated state.

Unexpectedly, Xie Lu and his group were very obedient to commands. Their damage output and support were impeccable, and their coordination was excellent.

Yan Guanqi and the others were a bit puzzled, but they sensed it was definitely related to an order from Wang Jiu.

Since that was the case…

"Chi Mantou, you go on defense. Form up with Xie Lu and the other ten melee fighters and push forward. Mages, hang back at the bottom left and right corners, eight meters out, maintain positioning! It's about to do a jump slash! Silence it!"

The moment the command was given, Zhong Qing and Dong Long immediately used silence. The reason two of them did it was to guard against one being exempted by the boss.

Success!

The Lycanthrope's jump slash failed. It became extremely agitated and tried to attack Zhong Qing, but its aggro was quickly drawn away by the high-damage Xia Laoci and Chi Mantou.

The level of command was truly impressive. The group, who had been trapped in the lab by the sudden turn of events and were on the verge of being wiped out, quickly entered a battle-ready state. Their damage output and coordination from all directions got on track. They used support skills for positioning and drawing aggro. The longer it went on, the more stable they became, because the two top-tier gamers had begun to grasp the Lycanthrope's data and were directing everyone's attacks based on it.

At the very least, they had now calculated that the attribute threshold for breaking the Lycanthrope's armor was 1200.

Everyone below 1200 stopped attacking and switched to logistics, supporting the frontline offense and defense. They provided status buffs, Holy Light, and other healing support, or threw items like Puppet Cards.

After about a minute, the situation stabilized. The Lycanthrope was basically pinned in the center of the lab, with everyone spread out in four directions dealing damage.

The damage output was steady, but the actual damage dealt was worrying. After three waves of attacks from so many people, they had only taken down 8% of its health.

Actually, this was already pretty good. At least they hadn't collapsed. Being able to maintain continuous damage was key. The problem was—their spirit power probably wouldn't last.

In the team channel, Luo Sheng had already done a rough calculation. "With our current spirit power, we can only take off another 50% of its health at most. We can't even get it to the 30% weakened state. What do we do?"

Yan Guanqi frowned, but remained relatively calm. He said bluntly: "Wait for Wang Jiu."

It was strange. They were wary of Wang Jiu trying to seize command, yet they genuinely acknowledged her abilities.

But could one Wang Jiu really deal over 40% of the damage? Impossible!

Everyone felt the outlook was grim. This Golden BOSS's hide was too thick, and breaking its armor was too difficult. Unless they could quickly get it into a weakened state, allowing those with average attributes below 1200 to join in and increase the damage output.

So, they just needed to deal another 12% damage to get it down to the 30% threshold.

When the hell was Wang Jiu going to be ready?!!

At this point, even Li Chui and the others were hoping Wang Jiu would hurry up and free her hands.

Perhaps their wishes were too strong. After they desperately put out a few more waves of attacks, everyone's spirit power was nearing the red line. Wang Jiu finally finished her concoction. She poured the last test tube of reagent into a large beaker, watching as the colors mixed, bubbled, and sizzled. No one knew what the hell it was.

She braced one hand on the lab bench and used the other to stir the mixture with a spoon-like object.

"Hey, lady, are you scrambling eggs? Hurry up and fight! Stop putting on an act!"

With Chi Mantou and Dong Long on his side, and many others here who could restrain Wang Jiu, Li Chui was full of confidence and repeatedly provoked her.

It was normal, seeing as he'd been killed by her three times.

He was also getting impatient.

Just as he finished speaking, Wang Jiu pulled out the spoon. A Spirit Tentacle wrapped around the bottle.

In the few seconds it took for the tentacle to carry the bottle over, Bai Bai made its move. Its body transformed, expanding several dozen times. Its cuteness also magnified several dozen times—because its fur was so fluffy, snow-white, dense, and fine, it looked like a giant stuffed animal.

But its attack was ferocious. With a single swipe of its fox claws, it tore through the air and sent the unprepared Lycanthrope flying four meters high. Fortunately, the laboratory ceiling was high. After being sent flying, a wound appeared on its chest.

In terms of damage, Bai Bai was openly second only to the two gaming experts. An armor-breaking wound appeared.

The half-moon defensive armor had already appeared. Its damage was limited; it had only broken the skin, revealing a thin line of blood underneath.

Just as the Lycanthrope was about to use its roar skill in mid-air, Qiao Xuejing immediately used Hunting Cage, locking it in place.

Because the attribute difference was too great, the Hunting Cage only lasted for two seconds. The Lycanthrope's roar was interrupted. At this moment, Xie Lu, boosted by a buff from Lin Guiwan and his own critical damage, used Homing Bird Sword Art.

Homing Bird Sword Art was currently the coolest-looking skill. Combined with Xie Lu's positioning and his crouching charge, followed by a final flick of his sword, the blade's light wasn't from burst damage or frost, but it was just incredibly handsome and beautiful—the key point being that his personal looks dominated all the other men here.

That sword flew out, like a bird skimming through a deep mountain gorge, creating an empty valley's lonely echo.

Having likely figured something out, Yan Guanqi and the others also timed their burst damage to coincide, concentrating all of it on the wound from the fox's claw.

Clang!!

The sword's tip accurately pierced the claw wound, sending three drops of blood flying. The flesh beneath oozed blood again.

Swish! The follow-up was perfect. The next wave of attacks coalesced.

Before the Lycanthrope landed, the wound on its chest was directly torn open, and bits of flesh even went flying.

After a strange cracking sound, kachak, its ferocious, thick legs got stuck in a trap Qiao Xuejing had just set at its landing spot while it was being knocked away.

It saw it, and the violence in its scarlet pupils intensified.

Such precise timing. As expected of an architect.

Luo Sheng glanced at Qiao Xuejing and also threw out two frozen puppets right on time, forming an icy spiderweb, and added a buffing puppet to boost the group.

The Lycanthrope landed with both feet stuck in a Beast Trap, one of the trap skills. It could have escaped in two seconds, but because of the icy spiderweb, two seconds became five. Finally, Bai Bai got close and used a Golden Whip skill.

It roared.

Boom! The roar skill wasn't omnidirectional, but directional. At that moment, Chi Mantou, at the front, holding a golden staff, summoned a Vajra Seal.

Voom! The Vajra Seal spun, enveloping all of the strongest members.

Defense!

The group was still pushed back more than ten meters by the immense impact, sending many tables and chairs flying.

Many of the lab benches collapsed, and all the glass shattered. Wang Shu and the others had long since hidden far away. They could see that amidst such a powerful attack, Bai Bai's fox tail transformed into a long streak of white light, viciously lashing at the already damaged wound.

With that strike, the Lycanthrope's mouth opened—that's right, the spot where Bai Bai had initially clawed was its stomach.

Did it get hit so hard it threw up?

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