Chapter 988: A Tour of the Burning Throne
The entire forty-man elite raid group of the Renegade Alliance appeared at the entrance to the Burning Throne dungeon.
Outside, the sky glowed with a sickly green light, while the land itself looked scorched by demonic fel energy. The entrance stood completely deserted, which wasn’t surprising. The average player level across Dragonspire was still around 100, and most players hadn’t even reached that point yet. Only the top players from major guilds had managed to break into triple digits.
The level rankings were no longer divided by region either. They now tracked the entire Dragonspire player base.
Ethan still sat firmly at number one, and the gap between him and everyone else was absurd. The player in second place was only level 109, and when Ethan glanced at the name, he couldn’t help but smile. Little Horn. Of all people.
Back in his previous life, Little Horn had been the undisputed number one player. No rivals, no debate. Now Ethan was leaving him in the dust. On top of that, the guy still owed him a favor. After all, Ethan had personally mapped out the entire quest chain that eventually led Little Horn to obtaining the Divine ability, Sundering Shot.
Ethan didn’t spend much time studying the rankings. He skimmed through them quickly, recognizing plenty of famous names from his previous life, along with a few unfamiliar ones that hadn’t appeared in any of his memories.
After defeating the second boss of the Burning Throne on Normal difficulty, the raid had gone ahead to scout the next encounter. Ethan explained the mechanics, everyone listened, and then they collectively decided not to even attempt it.
Technically, it wasn’t a single third boss.
Beyond the second boss stood a teleporter that split into two separate wings, each leading to a different encounter. Players had to choose which path to tackle first. The Burning Throne itself was essentially a massive warship.
One teleporter led to the upper deck on the second level, where a female demon waited. She had six arms and countless blades protruding from her back, making her look more like a living weapon than a person. The entire area served as the ship’s weapons bay.
That fight was a pure damage race. Kill her quickly enough and the raid survived. Fail, and everyone died.
At specific points throughout the battle, fel bombs would rain across the battlefield, covering nearly the entire area. Every bomb phase had a designated safe zone, and the tank needed to move the boss there immediately whenever the phase changed. Everyone else had to get inside the safe zone before the explosions went off.
The third phase was even worse. Three separate hatches would open one after another, each containing a unique ability players could activate. One applied a vulnerability effect that increased the boss’s damage taken. Another created a protective barrier capable of blocking the encounter’s devastating raid-wide attack. Once all three hatches had been used, the fight entered its final stretch. That was effectively the soft enrage timer.
Without the protection granted by those hatches, the next wave of fel bombs would wipe out the entire raid instantly. There was no amount of gear that could survive it. It wasn’t a matter of taking heavy damage. It was simply death. Even Ethan’s Divine-tier equipment wouldn’t make a difference.
After hearing the explanation, everyone exchanged looks. The answer was obvious.
They were still suffering from level penalties, with attacks missing far more often than they should. Their damage output wasn’t bad, and their execution wasn’t the problem either. The issue was that the system’s level suppression mechanic didn’t care how skilled you were. That boss simply wasn’t realistic right now.
So the raid returned to the teleporter and chose the other wing instead. The bridge.
At the far end stood a towering armored giant with a single eye. The Fel Cyclops Commander.
This encounter played out as a constant struggle across the length of the bridge. Every time the boss entered a new phase, mines appeared throughout the battlefield. Some dealt direct damage. Some slowed movement. Others applied fel-fire burns that continued dealing damage long after the initial explosion. No matter the type, stepping on them hurt.
Whenever a phase transition occurred, the raid had to push through the minefield as quickly as possible. One tank and two healers were required to cross first and re-establish control of the boss. If they failed, the commander would remain in place and continuously cast fel fireballs. Those fireballs would strike both sides of the bridge and summon powerful winds.
The winds constantly pushed players backward while reducing their movement speed. Anyone who couldn’t keep advancing would eventually be blown off the bridge entirely.
Because of that, the main tank needed some form of mobility skill, whether it was a charge, leap, or similar movement ability. The healers needed strong mobility as well. Even if the tank successfully reached the boss and interrupted its channeling, survival wasn’t guaranteed. Without healers arriving immediately afterward, the tank would simply be overwhelmed and killed.
Someone also had to clear the mines. That responsibility usually fell to the second tank.
The job was far more complicated than it sounded. The mine-clearing tank needed to instantly recognize every mine type and understand exactly how each one worked. They had to chart a safe route for the rest of the raid while carefully controlling their pace. Move too quickly, and chain detonations would overwhelm incoming healing. Move too slowly, and the entire raid would fall behind. Either mistake could wipe the group.
This was the kind of encounter that required repeated practice runs before a team could hope to master it.
As Ethan explained the mechanics, he realized Leo’s Grandmaster class was actually perfect for the fight. Its mobility was excellent, especially when paired with Heaven’s Dawn. As a druid, Leo could shift into Panther Form during combat, giving him some of the fastest movement available to any healer.
The other tank slot was more problematic. Warriors weren’t particularly well suited for handling the mine-clearing role.
Paladins, on the other hand, were ideal. A paladin could activate Divine Shield and run straight through the entire minefield without caring what they stepped on. Every mine would trigger harmlessly, clearing a path for everyone behind them. The downside was the cooldown. Divine Shield could only be used once every ten minutes, which usually meant a single use per fight.
Fortunately, paladins had another option. Blessing of Protection. The ability granted immunity to physical damage. Mine detonations counted as physical damage. The burning effect left behind afterward counted as magical damage. By activating Blessing of Protection before charging through the mines, a paladin could ignore the explosion itself and only require healing for the lingering burn effect. Since Blessing of Protection had a five-minute cooldown, it could usually be used several times during the encounter.
Combined with a single use of Divine Shield, a paladin could handle four mine-clearing phases while taking very little damage. If the raid’s damage output was high enough, the boss would die after four phase transitions. Even slower groups rarely saw a fifth. Anything beyond that didn’t matter. Once enough time passed, the bridge itself collapsed, and at that point, the raid wiped regardless.
By the time Ethan finished, everyone looked as though they had just been struck by inspiration. The mechanics were so detailed that it was hard not to wonder how he knew all of it.
Only Leo and the other veterans remained completely calm. They’d seen this sort of thing before. Ever since the beginning of the game, Ethan had been selling dungeon guides that were accurate enough to seem impossible. After everything they’d witnessed, some of them had quietly entertained the idea that Ethan might actually possess memories from the future. No one had ever asked. Certain secrets were better left untouched.
After defeating the twin demonic hounds, the rest of the expedition had essentially turned into a sightseeing trip through the Burning Throne. Now the raid stood once again at the dungeon entrance.
Ethan had other matters waiting for him. The Northern Frontier Region. It was time to leave.