"What’s the situation?" Lin Yixin asked inside the party channel.

I replied softly while hiding behind the darkened corner of a wall. "Warsky Alliance found the fifth floor boss. About 37 of them are heading over to fight it now."

He Yi asked next, "Who’s in the party?"

I glanced in the direction of the departed party before answering, "Warsky, Lin Bing, Farewell Song, Laughing At The Heavens and October Rain are all present. They also have 9 priests and 7 archers. With this many eighth-promotion archers, they should be able to CC the boss pretty frequently. Farewell Song can set up Traps to influence the boss's movements as well. Finally, they have 9 priests, and Warsky has the Immortal Blade. I’m worried that Warsky Alliance will be able to defeat the boss. The question is, what do we do now?"

Murong Mingyue asked, "Well, what do you want to do?"

I clenched my fists. "From a moral point of view, we shouldn’t interfere with the boss fight unless they show that they’re incapable of beating it. From a logical point of view though, we absolutely shouldn’t let the boss pass us by. Warsky Alliance has always thought of us as their rival and competitor. If we surrender this boss to them, the experience and loot they get out of it may allow them to catch up to us and even build up a new super-tier expert for themselves. Warsky Alliance is already overflowing with talent. If they gain a couple more Farewell Songs, they will definitely be able to threaten our throne in Sky City."

Lin Yixin chuckled. "You can’t have both the moral high ground and the high ground advantage. What do you really want?"

I replied, "Well, I think I would like the moral high ground in this case. If Warsky Alliance manages to defeat the boss, then whatever. If they can’t, then we can take overwithout being accused of breaking the moral code. Also, it’ll be easier to kill a half-health boss than a full-health boss. Finally, Warsky Alliance’s presence may be enough to shield us from Blood Alliance’s assassins, so it’s not like we’re getting nothing out of this…"

"Okay…"

……

A while later, a smiling Lin Yixin showed up with He Yi, Beiming Xue and the rest of the girls. Her purple pupils looked both demonic and attractive in the darkness. After they got close to me, I made a hushing noise before turning back to look at Warsky Alliance.

The spot I chose was at least 50 yards away from the party. This way, Warsky Alliance’s archers wouldn’t be able to spot me with Clear As Flame. Moreover, Dragon God Cave’s lighting was extremely poor, so a red dot 50 yards away wouldn’t show on the map screen. This time, we were in the darkness, and Warsky Alliance was in the light. It was obvious that Warsky had no plans to hide either. If anyone dared to contest the boss, he would give it his all and beat the crap out of them. The guild leader had been overflowing with confidence since he obtained the Immortal Blade. It also improved his strength to a whole new height. At a certain level, skills mattered less than confidence and fearlessness. The victor was usually the one more confident and brazen.

In the darkness, Warsky carefully approached the cliffside leading down to the sixth floor. We had been so close away from this spot, but Warsky Alliance managed to get ahead of us this time. So far, all the bosses in Dragon God Cave had appeared at the cliff. They were the guardians blocking the way to the next floor, and the fifth floor boss was no exception.

Warsky stared straight ahead as his cloak flapped behind him. In this moment, he was undoubtedly a true expert. He said, "Get ready, everyone. Spread out so that a dragon breath can’t hit all of you at once, but don’t get close to the edge either. We’ve lost a hundred brothers and sisters to the Blood Hook Dragons, and I’m not keen to pay the tuition fee again."

Suddenly, a deafening roar erupted from the darkness. Then, a gigantic dragon’s head emerged into view. Its skull alone was two meters wide, and it cast a shadow over Warsky and his mount. It had blood-red scales that gleamed intimidatingly in the darkness, and a pair of eyes that glowed cruelly and animalistically. A pause later, it abruptly opened its maw and cackled. "I guess I wasn’t hallucinating after all! It’s been three thousand years, and it looks like I’m finally getting some fresh meat today. Now come at me, adventurers! I know you’re targeting Mingyu, but Mingyu is an old friend of mine. You’ll have to walk over my corpse before I’ll allow you to travel into the depths!"

Warsky shuddered from head to toe. "Holy shit…"

"What is it, boss?" Farewell Song asked.

Warsky’s eyes gleamed cyan as he replied, "According to my Eagle Pupils, this motherfucker is a Level 297 Ancient Immortal Rank boss with an Attack of 70k. This is going to be a fun one. Anyway, I’ll be the MT as usual. Archers, take turns shooting your Shock Arrow. I absolutely won’t mind it if you can chain stun the old bastard from beginning until the end. Farewell Song, please tell our third and fourth floor brothers and sisters to come over as soon as possible. We may not be able to hold out for too long!"

Farewell Song replied, "I’ve sent the order. Do we wait for them, or do we fight now?"

"We fight now. The longer we wait, the likelier it is for something to go wrong!"

"Very well!"

……

The Immortal Blade suddenly shone brighter, and Warsky vanished from the spot he was a moment ago. An animalistic roar erupted from his person, and he dropped a powerful Cyan Tiger Shatter right on top of the dragon’s head. The Immortal Blade had a ton of Attack, and not even a Level 297 Ancient Immortal Rank boss was immune to its damage. It lost 390k+ HP immediately and let out a groan of pain. Cyan Tiger Shatter ignored even more Defense than Barrier Break, so it could be seen as a better version of it.

After Warsky landed back on the ground, he withdrew while buffing himself with a Snot Dragon Card. "Shoot it now, archers!"

The eighth-promotion archers unleashed their skill combos, but they either missed or dealt miniscule damage to the boss named "Crimson Crystal Dragon”. They clearly lacked the stats to do anything to it.

Warsky grimaced before giving out his next order, "Lower its Defense, Little Rain!"

October Rain’s armor-breaking arrow struck before he even finished the sentence, lowering the boss's Defense by 14.9%. It was a paltry sum, but against a boss this powerful, any amount was acceptable. It certainly was the only reason the archers’ damage had risen to 4 digits.

"Roar roar roar…"

The Crimson Crystal Dragon let out a furious roar and struck Warsky twice with its steel-like talons. Warsky turned green as his shield[1] glowed red like it was on fire, and his HP dropped tremendously—

790283!

812237!

The Crimson Crystal Dragon wasn’t done yet. It opened its maw next and unleashed its dragon breath, causing Warsky to instinctively raise his shield and Guard. Normally, this would be a fantastic move, but Guard was useless against magic-type damage like dragon breath. As a result, he lost another 1 million HP.

"What the fuck is this Attack?!"

You could almost see Warsky’s soul floating out of his mouth. It had taken 9 priests dropping their Instant Heals on him at the same time to keep alive, and he still wasn’t even at 10% HP. The boss fight was just beginning, and already it looked like they were about to wipe. The two magic knights behind Warsky dropped dead without being able to do anything, which was expected since they didn’t have any bard buff on them. Also, Warsky currently had 3 Ancient Immortal-grade pieces of equipment on his person. Of course his resistance would be higher than theirs.

Just when Warsky thought he would die, the Crimson Crystal Dragon suddenly stopped moving, and a gigantic stun icon appeared on its head. It was Farewell Song saving his boss in the nick of time. He had activated Heavenly River Transformation, slashed the back of the boss's neck and successfully stunned it with Ambush for 2.9 seconds. A second slower, and Warsky would be gone already.

After Farewell Song landed Blade Vortex + Dance of Death combo, he launched himself away from the boss and vanished in a puff of fluorescent powder. This was the power of a top-tier assassin; the ability to escape no matter how strong the opponent was. As an assassin, landing a combo was secondary to surviving and coming back later.

Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh...

Meanwhile, Warsky had been healed by his players and his Immortal Blade to almost 2 million HP in just three seconds. The moment he recovered, he immediately charged the boss and engaged it once more. Nine eighth-promotion priests equaled to 2 or 3 Murong Mingyues at least, so healing was among the least of his worries.

……

The Crimson Crystal Dragon didn’t always attack Warsky only. In fact, he had the boss's attention only 80% of the time. It wasn’t completely his fault though. He had my survivability, but he didn’t have my Attack. As a result, he lost 16 players in less than 5 minutes.

"Are they here yet?" a 33% HP Warsky yelled while blocking a swipe with his shield.

Farewell Song replied in an even tone, "The first 50-man party will be arriving in 30 seconds!"

"Good!"

Unfortunately, this 50-man party appeared directly behind us. Beiming Xue immediately turned as pale as a ghost. "Oh no, they’ll definitely discover us…"

However, I placed an assuring hand on her shoulder and said, "Calm down. Remember, we’re just watching the boss fight, not stealing the boss…"

I then stepped out of the darkness, walked up to an illuminated part of the wall, leaned against it and watched Warsky’s fight with a smile on my face. Behind me, the girls followed suit and stood next to me as well. Lian Xin even sat cross-legged on the ground and unwittingly flashed her smooth, pale legs, distracting the archers so much that they nearly forgot that they were in a boss fight.

……

"Fuck me, why are they here…"

Warsky complained while fighting the boss, "Fuck me! Lu Chen, what is the meaning of this? Are you going to just stand there and do nothing?"

I smiled. "Of course! You don’t expect us to help you, do you? A Level 297 Ancient Immortal Rank boss is no joke, and we can’t afford to lose even a single member. No way we’re lending you a hand…"

October Rain: "..."

Warsky gritted his teeth but kept his silence. It looked like he was saying something in the party channel though.

……

Rustle rustle...

A moment later, the leaves on the ground shuddered by a tiny fraction. It was nearly indiscernible, but it didn’t escape my notice. The unnatural movement was caused by two Warsky Alliance assassins, and Farewell Song might be closeby. For now, I didn’t know if they were here to keep an eye on us, or assassinate us.

1. T/N: I think I noticed it some chapters ago, but Warsky has a shield now. I guess it’s been long enough that Lu Chen’s shield mark thing isn’t so rare anymore.