Chapter 6: Can the Boss Actually Target the Back Row?

Over the past two days of grinding levels and farming gear, their squad had cleared countless dungeons just like this one. All the equipment they were wearing had been looted from level 30 bosses.

Dealing with the enemy in front of them was, as far as they were concerned, a walk in the park.

"Let me think..."

"I remember this boss's skills — Undead Summoning, releasing a fog, and a fire circle spell..."

"The first two skills don't deal much damage. Once the undead squad comes out, just herd them together. The one to watch out for is the third skill — it has a cast windup before it fires."

Within just a few seconds of the encounter, Fengxue Liushuang had already mapped out the entire boss-fight strategy. His experience clearly showed.

Xia Er swept his gaze across the group, reading the floating information above them, his brow furrowing slightly.

Two Warriors, one healer, one ranged, one archer...

Five players, all of them job-advanced, and the squad composition was remarkably well-rounded — not only did they have melee and ranged damage dealers, they even had a healer. It was clear this group knew what they were doing.

While he was still sizing them up, the two Warriors had already closed the distance.

Xia Er had no intention of meeting them head-on. Among the five starting classes, Warriors had the highest HP and typically served as the frontline aggro-holders in a squad, drawing attention so their teammates could deal damage freely. With a healer backing them up, taking one down in a short time would be no easy feat.

He stepped back slightly to dodge the incoming attacks, and his pupils gradually dimmed as he began channeling the magic power within him.

Wisps of mist spread outward from him as the center point, swiftly blanketing the entire area in a fleeting moment.

The thick fog obscured all vision — visibility dropped to less than a meter — and it carried a corrosive effect on top of that.

Creak...

Accompanied by a strange, grating sound, a withered hand with traces of rotting flesh burst violently up through the ground.

One by one, Undead Soldiers clawed their way out of the earth, clad in tattered, rusted armor and clutching corroded longswords, flames flickering in their hollow eye sockets.

Watching the Undead Soldiers charge toward him, Fengxue Liushuang raised his sword to parry, deflecting the blade with a sharp knock. Just as he was about to exploit the opening and strike back, another slash came slicing out of the unseen fog.

[HP -20]

"Damn it! Dark Veil plus Undead Summoning — since when did this boss learn to combo skills?"

Attacks from the Undead Soldiers rained in from every direction, and with the fog cutting off all visibility, Fengxue Liushuang found himself completely overwhelmed.

"I told you, the devs reworked this thing. It's seriously messed up."

Li Shen's voice drifted through the fog.

Xu Changjiang immediately called out, "The two of us, stick together."

At the order, Li Shen didn't hesitate and moved in close. The two stood back-to-back, greatswords raised and ready.

It was a solid formation — far fewer blind spots than before. When the Undead Soldiers came at them again, they were able to hold their ground with composure.

But just as they were focused on clearing out the undead minions, a teammate's shout crackled through the party channel.

"Where are you guys?"

"Clearing the adds. Don't rush — regroup first, then go back to hitting the boss once the Dark Veil ends."

"But the boss is on us right now!"

"Hurry—"

The voice cut off mid-sentence. The channel went dead.

In the interest of realism, Oracle's party voice chat had range limitations and could be disrupted by various factors. Once the distance became too great, the connection would drop entirely.

The reason for the disconnect right now was obvious.

Their teammate had been killed by the boss and sent back to the starter village.

"This is way beyond just 'messed up,' isn't it?"

"It went after the back row?"

Fengxue Liushuang was genuinely stunned by the boss's level of intelligence.

During the beta, he had encountered bosses with impressively high AI — but that was in the late game. Having something like this show up near the starter village...

He had some choice words for the game's developers.

After what felt like an eternity, the two of them finally finished off the last of the undead minions.

The fog gradually dissipated. As visibility returned, the teammates who had been standing at the back were all gone — nothing remained but a scattering of dropped gear on the ground, and the Undead Archmage's health bar, barely nicked.

Looking at the two dumbfounded players, Xia Er's expression didn't change in the slightest.

They were all players, after all. Xia Er understood how these people thought better than anyone. So from the very start of the fight, he had deployed the Dark Veil to cut off their sightlines, used the Undead Soldiers to pin down the two Warriors, and then circled around to take out the back row directly.

The plan had worked perfectly.

The three squishier targets had gone down in just two casts of Ember Fire. He had taken a glancing hit from the archer during the fight — barely a scratch — and now only the two Warriors remained.

Staring at the boss's silhouette, Li Shen felt his voice trembling slightly as he spoke: "What do we do, Bro Shuang? Do we keep fighting?"

"Buddy, go up there and draw its aggro for me. I'm out of here."

"It's the early access period — dying and losing a level hurts too much. I still need to recruit for my guild."

"Huh?"

Hearing nothing from the voice channel, Li Shen seemed to realize something. He turned his head — and Fengxue Liushuang was already sprinting full-tilt back toward the starter village, wind at his heels, having even chugged a speed potion.

But there was no way Xia Er was letting him go.

After finishing off the low-health Li Shen, he immediately gave chase in the direction the other player had fled. The movement speed bonus from his cloak came into full effect, and in no time at all, he had caught up.

Several rings of light materialized beneath the fleeing player's feet. Flames erupted — and the figure was consumed entirely.

[Player Killed — Fengxue Liushuang]

[EXP +2000]

Hiss...

"That felt pretty good."

Watching his experience bar surge upward by a large chunk, Xia Er couldn't help but nod in satisfaction.

Higher-level players really did drop more EXP.

Only five players had come this time, but the combined experience they yielded was even more than the last wave. His level had climbed to 32.

"A few more skill points to spend..."

He opened the skill panel and, after a moment's consideration, decided to invest them into [Undead Summoning].

On its own, the skill wasn't particularly strong — the undead minions were easy for players to clear out. But paired with Dark Veil, it became genuinely nasty. Worth focusing on.

[Skill points consumed.]

[Skill: Undead Summoning Lv.1 → Lv.2]

[Description: MP cost reduced by 100. Number of Undead Soldiers increased to 30.]

He closed the panel.

The rewards from this encounter weren't over yet.

Beyond the base stat increases and skill points that came with leveling up, the gear dropped by these veteran players was the real prize.