Chapter 987: No Way He Was Getting the Loot
A warrior’s Execute either worked or it didn’t.
Even against a boss at the same level, the base success rate was only 0.2%, and it could only be used once the target dropped below 20% health. Technically, you could keep spamming it, but a 0.2% chance was already terrible.
These warriors were only level 101 to 103. The bosses were seven to nine levels higher. That already miserable success rate had been reduced to almost nothing. Ethan did a quick calculation. ’The actual chance is probably below 0.01%.’
And yet here he was, running a damage amplification skill while Leo, this complete idiot, was telling the warriors to spam Execute. Ethan genuinely had no idea how this guy had managed to lead raids for so long.
"Uhh... uhh... hahaha..."
A few people tried to hold it in out of respect for Leo. The result sounded more like strained grunts than laughter.
Markham didn’t bother trying. Neither did SeraphWarrior, Williams. The two of them were laughing so hard they could barely breathe.
Ever since Ethan had joined the raid, Leo had been getting roasted nonstop, and every single time his expression looked like a man trying to force down a mouthful of nails. The funniest part was that nobody here felt sorry for him.
There were forty people in the raid. Aside from Ethan, every single one of them had been raiding with Leo since the early days of the Renegade Alliance. Everyone knew exactly what kind of person he was.
Leo had always had a habit of doing something stupid right when a boss was about to die. Back then, countless wipes had happened because he suddenly decided to get creative at the worst possible moment.
The most infamous incident happened during a world-first race.
They lost. The boss had only seven hundred health remaining when the raid wiped. The reason? Leo saw the boss drop to 1% health and decided it was the perfect time to show off. He put away his shield, pulled out a two-handed weapon, and started spamming Execute.
Two attacks later, he had no shield equipped when the boss launched a heavy strike. The hit crushed him instantly. The tank was gone.
At the time, Heaven’s Dawn hadn’t joined the raid yet, and none of their druids had Battle Resurrection. Without a tank, the boss started tearing through the raid one player at a time.
Meanwhile, Leo lay dead on the floor, still shouting into voice chat. "Keep going! It’s almost dead! One percent! Half a percent!"
Then the last healer died.
Boss health: 703.
The entire raid stared at their screens in silence. The world-first kill had slipped away right in front of them. Afterward, Leo had his pay docked for three straight months, and the money was distributed among the rest of the raid as compensation.
So hearing him shout about Execute again brought all those memories rushing back. More than a year had passed, but everyone still remembered it clearly.
Honestly, if Ethan hadn’t been here today, Leo probably would have started pulling the same nonsense again. Then again, without Ethan, they never would have reached this point in the first place.
The bosses were down to 7%. Everyone’s nerves were stretched tight.
"Slow down on the Fire Hound. Stop attacking if you have to. The Shadow Hound still has too much health left. Damn it, Skyblade, again? Didn’t you hear me?"
Leo treated Ethan’s instructions like background noise. "Boss... could you stop yelling at me for once? Look at my damage. Look at my ranking..." His voice actually cracked near the end. It sounded like he was on the verge of tears.
"..."
After hearing that, Ethan checked the damage meters.
Leo was ranked thirty-eighth.
There were forty people in the raid. Remove the two healers, and that left thirty-eight damage dealers. Leo was dead last.
Being last wasn’t even the embarrassing part. The player in thirty-seventh place was doing more than twice his damage. Leo wasn’t even close. With numbers that bad, whether he stopped attacking or not barely made a difference.
"So... does everyone have their cooldowns back?" Ethan changed the subject so abruptly it almost gave people whiplash.
Nobody answered. Not because they were ignoring him. Most of them were already using their cooldowns and burning the bosses down. Ethan could see that perfectly well. Everyone else could also tell he was desperately trying to move on from the awkwardness.
Several raid members looked like they were about to burst from holding back laughter. Skyblade had really picked the worst possible day to be stubborn. It honestly felt like Ethan had joined the raid specifically to bully him.
"Heh... Spirit Embodiment."
Since nobody responded, Ethan instinctively wanted to rub his nose. Unfortunately, he was still in Dire Bear Form. Claws weren’t exactly great for that. So instead, he casually announced another skill.
Spirit Embodiment was another ability granted by the Twilight War Spear. It summoned sixteen druid spirits over three seconds. Each spirit would possess the caster and immediately cast a different spell or ability. Cooldown: ten minutes.
The Twilight War Spear had already increased Ethan’s health and attack power enough to push him to seventh place on the damage rankings. The moment Spirit Embodiment activated, he climbed to sixth.
Sixteen different spells erupted across the battlefield. Panther Form abilities. Owl Form abilities. One spirit even used Wild Growth from Tree Form. Each healing tick restored sixty thousand health. The effect lasted sixteen seconds.
Kiara’s eyes widened.
Then luck stepped in. Five of the spirits used Panther Form’s Savage Bite. All five crit.
Massive damage numbers exploded above the Shadow Hound’s head.
-264,587!
The number was so absurd that even Ethan was caught off guard. "Holy shit! Stop hitting the Shadow Hound!" He nearly scared himself with how loudly he shouted.
The Shadow Hound’s health had plummeted straight to 3%. Thankfully, the spirits finished their attacks at that moment. If they had accidentally killed the Shadow Hound first, all the work they had put into balancing the bosses’ health would have gone to waste.
"Boss, you..."
Leo immediately sensed an opportunity and tried to fight back. Unfortunately for him, he only got two words out.
"What about me? You got a problem?" Ethan’s voice dropped. It wasn’t loud. That somehow made it more threatening.
Leo instantly shrank back. His shoulders tightened, and he wisely decided not to continue.
A smart person knew when to compromise. A wiser person knew when to keep their mouth shut. Honestly, Leo had always needed someone willing to put him in his place.
Ethan was enjoying this far more than he should have. The guy was exactly the same as he remembered from his previous life. Big mouth. Lazy. Always causing trouble if nobody kept an eye on him. Ethan couldn’t help chuckling to himself. This run had been worth it. For the first time since hearing about his mother’s injury, the emptiness that had been weighing on him felt a little lighter.
With Ethan’s Forbidden Incantation buff still active, the final phase ended quickly. Five minutes later, both bosses fell at almost the exact same moment.
"I’ll loot..." Leo’s eyes immediately lit up.
Ethan didn’t even let him finish. "Move."
One word. One kick. Leo flew away from the boss’s corpse.
"Boss, you..." Leo looked genuinely heartbroken.
Ethan couldn’t have cared less. It had been a very long time since he’d looted a raid boss himself. There was absolutely no way he was letting Leo get there first.