Perish together

Suddenly, the Night Cat Demon leaped into the air, abandoning Yue Zhongmian, who it had been attacking, and scratched at another team member, Yang Guang, who was also attacking.

"Ah, sorry!" Being a newbie, Yang Guang couldn't dodge such a swift strike and even hurriedly apologized. This was all because Yue Zhongmian had been teaching the three newbies along the way, instilling in them the team discipline that over-aggro (OT) was definitely the fault of the damage dealers, not the main tank's (MT) fault.

"Stop, don't attack anymore." Yue Zhongmian quickly stopped Yang Guang's attempt to retaliate and rushed up to try to regain aggro. However, in just that moment, the Night Cat Demon scratched Yang Guang a few times and then leaped at another team member.

"Damn, chain OT! Are you guys playing with me?" Yue Zhongmian roared in annoyance. The attacked team member was in a panic, and as a cloth-armored mage, being scratched by the berserk Night Cat Demon was serious—their health dropped rapidly. Ye Kai reacted super fast, immediately having Jun Mo Xiao start healing him, but some things can't be solved with skill alone. A cloth-armored mage, facing a berserk hidden BOSS, even with healing, how many seconds could they last?

The answer came quickly: seven seconds. Jun Mo Xiao's healing spell was still on cooldown, and the berserk Night Cat Demon's scratching and biting were seamless. Yue Zhongmian dove in to rescue, but it was too late to regain aggro, and the mage team member was killed.

In Glory, dying during a dungeon run means leaving the dungeon; there's no coming back to life, meaning the original five-person team was now down to four.

"Damn, lining up for OT, just kill me already!" Yue Zhongmian was on the verge of a breakdown. After the mage died, the Night Cat Demon's aggro didn't return to him but sharply turned towards the third person.

The third person was also a cloth-armored mage, but this time Ye Kai simply didn't have Jun Mo Xiao heal them. Instead, he had Jun Mo Xiao's healing spells return to Yang Guang.

Healing a mage could only sustain them for seven seconds against the Night Cat Demon, but in those seven seconds, Yang Guang was about to die. Because the berserk Night Cat Demon not only had increased attack speed and damage but also caused a bleeding status effect.

Yang Guang was unfortunately scratched by the Night Cat Demon, causing bleeding, and Ye Kai kept an eye on his declining health. Healing the mage now would only last seven seconds, but within those seven seconds, Yang Guang would surely die, and after seven seconds, the mage would also die. Unless Yue Zhongmian could regain aggro within those seven seconds.

Ye Kai seemed to have lost confidence in Yue Zhongmian, directly giving up on the mage to heal Yang Guang instead. This decisive action greatly angered Yue Zhongmian, who roared, "What are you doing with the healing?"

Ye Kai didn't respond. Without support, the mage fell instantly. Amidst Yue Zhongmian's cursing, the Night Cat Demon directly pounced towards Yang Guang.

Yang Guang, terrified, asked, "Should I hit it?"

"Don't hit anything, just stop messing around!" Yue Zhongmian, full of resentment, cursed as he came over to chase the Night Cat Demon and regain aggro.

Thirteen seconds.

Ye Kai calculated a time in his mind. It seemed like bad luck was sticking to Yang Guang; just as the bleeding status stopped, the Night Cat Demon's next scratch caused another bleed. These status effect attacks were chance-based, but it seemed like Yang Guang was cursed with a 100% chance of getting them. Cursed, bleeding, the Night Cat Demon gave him all the statuses except death.

Thirteen seconds was all Ye Kai could sustain him for. In that time, Yue Zhongmian needed to regain aggro for there to be any hope of survival. So, what about Yue Zhongmian?

The once sharp Yue Zhongmian was now always slipping up, swinging his sword through the air, cursing and swearing as Yang Guang finally fell.

The Night Cat Demon finally deigned to attack Yue Zhongmian, and Jun Mo Xiao's aggro was last, all because Ye Kai's skill was too good, with no unnecessary actions, naturally keeping aggro to a minimum.

"Brother, hang in there! Got any mana left?" Yue Zhongmian encouraged Ye Kai as he faced the attack.

"It's you who needs to hang in there," Ye Kai typed.

"Don't worry, with the two of us working together, we can take it down," Yue Zhongmian called out heroically, only to slip again, swinging his sword through the air and getting scratched across the face by the cat demon.

"Heal, heal, heal, heal!!!" Yue Zhongmian screamed.

No response. Jun Mo Xiao, who had been very prompt and skilled up until now, did not cast a healing spell on him.

"Can't heal, it'll cause OT," Yue Zhongmian saw Jun Mo Xiao type out.

"You..." Yue Zhongmian turned around sharply, seeing Jun Mo Xiao standing calmly under a tree outside the forest, watching him coldly. Yue Zhongmian realized something was wrong. Jun Mo Xiao was no newbie; they were far from causing OT, so why would he make such a mistake?

"It won't cause OT, heal quickly," Yue Zhongmian could only shout. But still, there was no response.

The Night Cat Demon's claw was already coming again, and Yue Zhongmian's reaction suddenly sped up. He blocked with his sword, sliding away, then immediately countered with an upward slash, the same skilled attack sequence he used at the start of the fight. Yue Zhongmian's hands were no longer slipping.

But this time, his combo wasn't as smooth because the berserk cat demon's increased speed and attacks made it hard for Yue Zhongmian to keep up. The follow-up thrusts missed, and he got bitten by the cat demon.

"Heal quickly!!!" Yue Zhongmian was desperate. He could take more hits than the cloth-armored mages and Yang Guang, but he wasn't invincible.

"Heal what?"

"Heal health!"

"What's healing health? All I see is you bleeding."

"You..." Yue Zhongmian was at a loss for words.

"It's a pity. If you could solo the hidden BOSS, you could have set the loot distribution to leader distribution before starting the fight. That way, even if team members leave, the hidden BOSS loot would be yours."

"Unfortunately, you're not skilled enough, so you still rely on team members to kill the BOSS. So, you intentionally controlled aggro, letting the Night Cat Demon OT at the right moment to clear out the team members, leaving a low-health BOSS for you to finish off alone, securing the loot for yourself. Whether the dungeon is cleared or not is far less important than the hidden BOSS."

The two messages from Jun Mo Xiao made Yue Zhongmian sweat. He hadn't expected this person, who had only spoken once along the way, to see through his entire plan. Indeed, he had intentionally controlled aggro to let the Night Cat Demon OT and kill Yang Guang and the others. He had planned for the healer to take aggro during the continuous healing of the three, but he didn't expect Jun Mo Xiao to give up on healing one of the mages. Did that mean he had seen through his plan from that moment? Knowing he couldn't save the others, he intentionally controlled his aggro, putting himself ahead in the aggro list, but then not healing him, letting him die to the Night Cat Demon?

"Brother..." Yue Zhongmian, realizing this person was no easy opponent, quickly started to negotiate, "At this point, let's not worry about that. We don't even know those three people. Now, if we work together to take down the cat demon, we both have a 50% chance of getting the loot, isn't that good?"

"50%? I prefer 100%."

"Well then..." Yue Zhongmian gritted his teeth internally, "Materials usually drop more than one item, so you pick what you need first, I'll pass, and we can roll for the rest. I'll even let you have all the equipment." Without healing support, Yue Zhongmian knew he couldn't last, so he had to make concessions.

"That's hard to believe!"

"What do you want then?" Yue Zhongmian sped up his speech, his health being rapidly depleted by the cat demon. He couldn't handle the berserk cat demon and was struggling to negotiate with Ye Kai at the same time. He had already mentally noted Jun Mo Xiao's name, swearing to make him pay.

"Don't worry about what I want, just go die peacefully!"

"You... you're crazy. If I die, you won't survive either. Then no one gets the loot." Only a quarter of his life remained.

"Man, there's no need to go down together!" Only a fifth of his life remained.

"Are you an idiot!" One-seventh.

"Jun Mo Xiao, you don't want to play anymore, do you? Do you know how powerful our Moonwheel Guild is?" One-ninth.

"You're done!" The last sliver.

"Your sister..." With one swipe of the Night Cat Demon's claw, the world went silent.

Jun Mo Xiao hadn't made a move, but he hadn't left combat either. After the Night Cat Demon took down Yue Zhongmian, it immediately pounced towards him.

Ye Kai smiled slightly, his left fingertips swiftly moving across several keys on the keyboard, his right hand sliding the mouse. On the screen, Jun Mo Xiao swung the Thousand Mechanism Umbrella, which unexpectedly opened up dramatically. The umbrella's canopy and ribs flipped backward, gathering at the tip, making the Thousand Mechanism Umbrella resemble a long spear.

The gathered umbrella ribs precisely pierced the Night Cat Demon.

Battle Mage skill: Dragon Fang.