Chapter 43: Supreme Command

Xiao Liang put away his hostility toward Zheng Yuan and the others, following closely behind Lu Yang. Clear Wine Wind followed as well, feeling that arguing with someone like Zheng Yuan had beneath his dignity.

The group walked deeper into the cave. Blue Feather, walking beside Xia Yuwei, noticed the worry on Xia Yuwei's face. She quickened her pace to catch up with Lu Yang, nudged his chest with her arm, and secretly sent him a message: "Expert, playing the pig to eat the tiger all the way here—you're really quite mischievous."

When Lu Yang felt Blue Feather bump into him with her arm, he didn't understand at first. But after seeing the message, he couldn't help smiling as he replied, "What are you talking about?"

"You still deny it? You've practically scared us out of our wits. First, there's the second-ranked player on the global level leaderboard, then the top-ranked one, and now a vice guild master of a top guild pops up out of nowhere." Blue Feather pouted unhappily.

The corners of Lu Yang's mouth curved upward as he replied, "Alright, alright, this is my fault. From now on, I promise to explain everything beforehand."

He couldn't bear to see the little girl upset. In his past life, after his parents died and he was forced to flee abroad, Blue Feather had stayed by his side in the game through those hardest of times. If there was anyone besides Shen Mengyao who truly mattered to Lu Yang, it was Blue Feather.

He remembered it was the third year after he went abroad. When he logged in that day and heard Blue Feather crying as she told him her family was arranging for her to marry someone she despised, Lu Yang had loathed himself for being useless. But he had no choice; he lacked the ability to protect the little girl.

Things were different in this lifetime, however. In this life, Lu Yang was convinced he must be a good older brother and provide Blue Feather with the utmost protection.

"Smile, don't be angry anymore," Lu Yang coaxed Blue Feather.

Blue Feather had thought Lu Yang would be very annoyed, never expecting him to turn around and coax her instead. Unable to resist teasing him, she pretended to still be mad and said, "I'm not angry at all. As long as you aren't mad, that's fine."

Lu Yang raised his hands in surrender. "Okay, okay, my mistake. I'll get you a gift later."

"I don't care for it." Blue Feather turned her nose up, pouted slightly, and walked away...

Clear Wine Wind and Xiao Liang exchanged glances, both wearing expressions of sudden understanding. Clear Wine Wind secretly sent a message to Xiao Liang: "No wonder your boss was willing to carry them through leveling up. Turns out he's got his eyes on this little girl."

Xiao Liang gave a stealthy nod and replied, "Mhm, I had that feeling too."

With a tacit understanding, the two of them instantly became friends!

Blue Feather returned to Xia Yuwei's side and offered her a reassuring look. This time, Xia Yuwei didn't say anything more. She instinctively felt that Lu Yang's future achievements in this game would certainly not be limited to what was visible right now.

Zhang Zibo and the others felt the same way. When they communicated privately via messages, they all concluded that Lu Yang was an extraordinary individual.

Only Zheng Yuan looked at Lu Yang with mounting resentment. Just moments ago, when Blue Feather nudged Lu Yang's chest with her arm, that intimate gesture had driven Zheng Yuan nearly insane with jealousy.

The twenty-person team continued to explore deeper into the tunnel. After passing a sharp bend, Lu Yang spotted two NPCs dressed in light leather armor up ahead, uniformly named Rebel Soldiers.

According to official lore, the dungeon of the Death Cave tells the story of the rebel army and the city of St. Gail.

Back in the day, the city of St. Gail was not called by that name; it was known as the Fals Imperial Capital. Later, the empire was conquered by an army led by King Gail, Fals was killed, and the empire collapsed.

A small fraction of Falsian imperial officers, unwilling to accept such a defeat, secretly gathered members in preparation to restore the nation. This Death Cave served as an outpost for the rebels—originally a secret location, but upon learning that the main forces within St. Gail had been deployed to the borders to handle tense military affairs, and with permission from their superiors, they began ambushing passing merchants to manufacture panic.

Clear Wine Wind checked the monsters' health pool and saw they actually had 8,000 HP. He clicked his tongue and said, "As expected of an Epic-tier dungeon, their health is double that of regular dungeons."

Xia Yuwei, Zhang Zibo, and the others felt a surge of fear. Level 3 mob minions with 8,000 health, while their average output was only around 50 damage! Subtracting the three warriors and five healers, there were only 12 damage dealers in total. Killing even a single mob would require an immense amount of effort.

Lu Yang said, "Don't worry, they're just standard mobs. Clear Wine Wind, take the left one; Black Armor, take the right one. Everyone wait three seconds for Clear Wine Wind to establish aggro before attacking the mob he's holding along with me."

"Understood," the group replied in unison.

"Initiate the pull," Lu Yang said.

Xiao Liang and Clear Wine Wind nodded, charging forward to slam into the monsters. The two rebel soldiers were stunned for 1 second.

"Get the monsters to turn their backs to us. Warriors, move behind the monsters," Lu Yang instructed.

This was one of the simplest positioning methods from his past life. It not only prevented the monsters from suddenly running away, but also made player output much more convenient. Yet, in this game, no players had ever noticed this detail before.

Clear Wine Wind didn't understand Lu Yang's rationale at first, but realizing it a moment later, he cast an appreciative glance at Lu Yang.

"Thieves, don't stand at the monsters' sides; output from behind. Hunters, use Serpent Sting first, then Arcane Shot," Lu Yang directed.

Thieves dealing damage from behind humanoid targets gained a 30% increase in damage. There was only one hunter in the group, but their Serpent Sting was a toxin attack that dealt continuous damage over time; applying Serpent Sting first allowed the hunter to maximize their output.

"Warlocks, apply Curse of Agony first, then Shadow Bolt. Paladins, standard rotation. Mages, all use Fire spells." While speaking, Lu Yang applied the Scorched skill to the target.

[Scorch]
Type: Fire Spell
Mana Cost: 12
Casting Time: 1.5 seconds
Range: 30 yards
Effect: Releases a flame toward the target, wrapping them in fire and making them more vulnerable to fire damage. Stacks up to five times, with each stack increasing fire spell damage by 15 points and dealing 10 points of fire damage over a duration of 30 seconds.

This was a divine skill for Fire Mages in low-level dungeons. After stacking to five times, each time the target took fire damage, they would suffer an additional 75 points of fire damage.

Including Zheng Yuan, there were five mages in Xia Yuwei's team. None of them had high-end spell gear, and their full-magic builds meant their Fireball spells only dealt around 50 damage. With Lu Yang's five stacks of Scorch, their damage was multiplied by 2.5, allowing them to deal roughly 125 damage per hit.

Even with 8,000 health, the five of them could chew through over 600 health points of the monster every 3 seconds. Factoring in the output of the others, they killed a rebel soldier in less than 20 seconds.

Although Lu Yang had planned it well, during the DPS phase, only four mages in Xia Yuwei's team were casting Fireball. Lu Yang swept his gaze across the mages' positions and saw that Zheng Yuan was using Arcane Blast instead.