"WTF was that!? The DPS was so high!"
Plantago Seed yelled in surprise. He stopped watching the fight when the brawler stumbled. It wasn't just him—everyone paused. Other than their team, no one else had shown that kind of talent.
Still, they kept an eye on the boss's health bar. When they saw a massive chunk suddenly disappear, they were shocked. They had been keeping each other in check, so there shouldn't have been any movement from the top guilds. So who in the world did that?
"It's them," Cold Night said with contempt. From his tone, it was clear he was referring to the Brawler and his party.
"What? That bunch of noobs!? Impossible!" Plantago Seed exclaimed.
"Just take a look, idiot!" Cold Night snapped, his character peeking out from behind a gravestone.
Right now, Ron and Ye Xiu were shamelessly comboing the boss, not giving it any time to breathe. It wasn't just them—Steam Bun Invasion and his party occasionally attacked too, though he was far more active than the rest.
"It's Lord Grim!!" Bound Boat shouted, startling Blue River.
"Lord Grim?" Blue River muttered. His character looks around in a hurry.
"What are they doing?" Plantago Seed asked.
"Trying to kill the boss, obviously," Cold Night said.
"Hmph! Do you really think that's possible? Look, the boss still has plenty of HP, and they don't even have enough people," Plantago Seed retorted.
"Then why don't you make a move and attack the boss?" Cold Night said, provoking him.
"Heh!" Plantago Seed chuckled. He almost took the bait but stopped himself. Now wasn't the right time.
On the other hand, Blue River called out to Lord Grim.
"Brother, join our party! You can have all the drops!"
Others quickly catch on.
"Old Blue… you! How shameless!" Cold Night scowled when he heard that. But he quickly turned his character toward Lord Grim and shouted,
"Brother! Join our team instead! We'll even give you ten Wolf Bristles!"
"No, join my team, Brother! You can have all the drops, and we'll add twenty Wolf Bristles!" Plantago Seed also joined the recruitment frenzy.
Lord Grim was known as an expert—that much was no secret—but no one had ever successfully recruited him. The closest one to doing so had been Blue River.
To their disappointment, there was no response.
"He's ignoring us..." Plantago Seed muttered.
"Hmph! Whatever! They won't be able to kill the boss anyway. Let's take it for ourselves!" Cold Night barked and commanded his troops, "Everyone, move!"
"Blue River, what should we do?" Bound Boat asked nervously, seeing their competitors make a move.
"We're moving too… but don't touch Lord Grim. If they try to attack him, help him," Blue River said.
"Help who...?" his party member asked, dumbfounded.
"Idiot! Do you think we're going to help those shameless guys!?" Blue River shouted.
As the armies approached from all directions, Ye Xiu and Ron didn't feel any pressure. In fact, they were looking forward to it.
Ron's dual-blade character crossed his dagger into an X and hacked Blood Gunner Yagg, sending him flying upward.
This move was called Sky Rend—a crowd-control skill similar to Sky Strike, but with more damage and slightly less control.
After knocking the boss into the air, Ron didn't follow up. Instead, he retreated; it wasn't just him, everyone followed after, leaving Ye Xiu alone.
The three guilds were momentarily stunned—then burst out laughing.
"Heh, did he get scared seeing us coming!?"
However, contrary to their expectations, Lord Grim repositioned his character right where Blood Gunner Yagg would land and used Falling Flower Palm, knocking the boss straight toward the three guild leaders.
They were caught off guard. Wasn't he handing the boss over to them? But that joy quickly twisted into dread.
Lord Grim was an expert. There was no way he'd just hand over the boss after dealing so much damage. What was he planning? No one could guess—until a sudden scream interrupted their thoughts.
"ARGH!"
Blood Gunner Yagg raised his two Blood Rifles and fired rapidly in all directions.
"Shit, it's red blood!" someone yelled.
Everyone knew what that meant—but it shouldn't have triggered yet. Red Blood Mode usually happened when a boss's HP dropped to its lowest point. Yet Blood Gunner Yagg still had half his health left.
They had forgotten there was *another* way to trigger it—reaching 200 combos.
This mechanic existed to prevent shameless players from comboing a boss to death. Once that threshold was hit, the boss would enter Red Blood Mode—boosting its defense and attack and summoning zombies equal to the number of players within its attack range.
And right now, Blood Gunner Yagg was surrounded by three major guilds and all their troops.
Everyone realized just how badly they'd messed up.
"Retreat!" someone yelled—but it was too late. Zombies were already emerging, and Blood Gunner Yagg was firing his rapid shots. With so many players around, someone was bound to get hit.
"Fuck!"
At that point, it became every man for himself. No one had the luxury to pay attention to Lord Grim anymore—they were all too busy fighting for their lives.
Meanwhile, since Lord Grim held the highest aggro, Ron was second only to him, and they had been carefully tracking the numbers. Blood Gunner Yagg chased after Lord Grim, while Ron and his teammates were already waiting in ambush.
Ye Xiu quickly called for backup—Sleeping Moon, Seven Fields, Immersed Jade, and several others joined in.
The big guilds noticed his movements and tried to interfere, but with two people coordinating flawlessly, Blood Gunner Yagg was killed right under their noses.
It was a devastating blow to the major guilds—not only did one of their leaders (Plantago Seed) die, but the boss was also stolen, and they hadn't even managed to put up a fight.
They could only stare as the global announcement appeared on their screens:
System Announcement!
System Announcement!
Congratulations to Steam Bun Invasion, Hidden Cloak, Bandage Fist, Lord Grim... for achieving the first kill on Blood Gunner Yagg!
Everyone was stunned—especially after seeing Lord Grim's name. He had already appeared in three announcements during the server launch, once more when he cleared Frost Forest, and now a fifth time.
Veteran or not, the name Lord Grim was now burned into everyone's memory.
But the battle wasn't over yet.
"Holy shit! Another first kill by Lord Grim!?" someone shouted.
"Yeah! A wild boss too—and he stole it right from under the big guilds' noses!" another replied excitedly.
"Damn! Any of the big guilds here? They must've passed out from shame, haha!"
"Hey, call an ambulance!" someone joked. Many players hated the big guilds for hogging all the wild bosses, so when they heard someone had stolen one—especially someone from Happy Café—they cheered. It felt like Lord Grim had taken revenge for them.
Still, some were anxious. Lord Grim and his team were surrounded—stealing wasn't the hard part; *escaping* was.
Meanwhile, Chen Guo, who was guiding Little Tang through account creation, overheard the café erupting in shouts. She was shocked—as the boss, she felt both proud and worried for Ye Xiu. She understood the situation perfectly.
Seeing the concern on her face, Tang Rou decided to postpone creating her account.
"Guo Guo, let's make the account later," Tang Rou said.
"Oh... okay," Chen Guo replied, realizing her intention. Together, they walked over to Ye Xiu's computer to see what was happening.
They weren't the only ones—several other players stopped what they were doing to watch. Some were concerned; others were just curious to see whether Ye Xiu could pull off an escape.