Chapter 269: Has This Game Gone Fantasy?
"Hey, Boss!" the alt account sent a message.
"Let’s team up for the new dungeon. If we get the first clear, everyone on the team gets a 50,000 reward."
"You got it!" the other player readily agreed. In less than ten minutes, the team was assembled.
"Boss, how’s your gameplay? Want me to lead the party?" the alt account messaged again. "Your mic isn’t on."
"No need," Evan Fairchild replied simply.
The team entered the dungeon directly.
The other two members were ranked fourth and seventh in Combat Power.
Moreover, they weren’t pay-to-win players, but genuinely skilled ones.
As a result, their team’s total combat power was still a bit higher than Zane Langdon and Melody Monroe’s team.
Melody Monroe’s team fought desperately to reach the ninth stage. Keith Coleman had been out of the fight since the sixth, which meant only three of them were left holding on.
After that, even Jasper Rockwell started to take it seriously.
But the final stage was absolutely brutal! His skills were suppressed, so he couldn’t heal at all.
"Forget about healing! Swap your skills! Just focus on attacking!"
"I already did!" Jasper Rockwell’s mechanics were truly terrible.
"Mr. Langdon, unleash your ultimates. We need to change our strategy."
"I’m looking up some guides to see if I can help," said Keith Coleman. Since his character was already dead, he had the most free time.
He was just now realizing how much fun gaming actually was.
And this game really required some brains to play, too.
In contrast to the frantic scrambling on Jasper Rockwell’s end, Evan Fairchild remained perfectly calm, phone in hand.
"Hey, it’s working! This strategy is working!" Jasper Rockwell exclaimed in pleasant surprise.
When it was Zane Langdon’s turn to attack, he activated a skill. It would transfer any damage Melody Monroe took directly to him. His current health was a bit higher than hers.
"As long as one of us survives, it’s fine. Dead accounts get a penalty in the final combat power calculation," Zane Langdon’s voice rang out.
Evan Fairchild had a rough idea of how their battle was going.
Melody Monroe stopped overthinking and focused on the fight.
’As expected of a new dungeon, it’s so hard to clear!’ she thought. ’Even a team like ours is struggling this much.’
Finally, the last monster’s health bar was depleted. Zane Langdon and Jasper Rockwell had already fallen in battle, and Melody Monroe herself only had a sliver of health left.
’What a close call!’
The group waited excitedly for the system notification.
"Congratulations on clearing the dungeon. A completion reward package has been sent to your account."
"Weren’t we the first ones to clear it?" Jasper Rockwell’s voice was the first to break the silence.
"Check the world chat," Zane Langdon reminded him.
Melody Monroe quickly opened the chat window.
Someone had actually gotten the first clear just five minutes before they did!
The world chat exploded!
The top-ranked player, along with his alt account and the fourth and seventh-ranked players, had formed a team and run the dungeon!
Those four actually teamed up! They’d beaten the second-ranked players’ "dream team" to the punch!
Was this for real?
"It’s okay. We cleared it anyway, we were just a few minutes late," Melody Monroe said, trying to console everyone.
"What is wrong with that number one player! He actually went and got the fourth and seventh-ranked players to team up with him! Does he need to win that badly?" Jasper Rockwell was furious.
He still needed a "First Dungeon Clear" title.
He’d never managed to get a single one.
He had been so confident today, thinking he’d finally get it, only to lose in the end.
"It’s just a game, don’t take it so seriously," Zane Langdon’s voice also chimed in.