119 Chapter 118: Party (1/2)
”Wu! Support!”
”Uh, what? How?!”
”You're a mage, aren't you? Shoot a spell!”
”Right.” I fumbled around with my staff and aimed it at the massive dragon that reared over us with a roar. Flames combusted around its mouth as it prepared to unleash an area of effect attack upon us.
Looked like I was too late.
”Everyone, stay behind me!” Ban Zhang shouted as he waded forward in his heavy Paladin armor. Hoisting up his shield, he slammed it onto the ground and erected a massive barrier that shimmered around us.
Whoosh!
The flames washed around us, directed away by the gleaming forcefield that Ban Zhang had created.
”Nice job!” Tong Xue shouted. The moment the flames died down, Ban Zhang slumped down and the barrier vanished. ”You can leave it to me!”
Tong Xue darted out, his figure almost invisible because of his black garb, and he slashed down with his dagger. Thanks to his assassin class, he was able to deal bonus damage and deliver a critical strike.
”RUOOOOR!”
The dragon flailed about as it staggered back, blood spurting from its wounds. It lashed out with its tail and struck poor Tong Xue before he could evade, sending him crashing onto the ground.
”Gah!”
Tong Xue writhed about, and I watched in dismay as his health dropped into the red.
”Xue!”
Lian Rou rushed toward him, her priestly robes rustling. Taking a deep breath, she clasped her hands in prayer and began whispering something under her breath. A golden glow suffused Tong Xue and his health bar began shooting back up, turning green once again.
”Thanks, Rou!”
Wiping the blood from his mouth, Tong Xue climbed back to his feet again. Glaring at the dragon he shook his dagger at it.
”Damn, we've been chipping away at its HP for so long, but we still can't bring it down!?”
”Well, keep trying!”
Tang Qi Hong stepped forward and swept her mage cloak to the side. Pointing her scepter at the dragon, she unleashed a hail of fireballs that crashed down from the heavens and denoated against the dragon's armored scales.
The final boss shrieked and flailed about, but swung its claws out to eviscerate us. Again, Ban Zhang was up to the task, rushing forward to tank the hit with his shield.
”Ugh…!” he moaned as he dug his heels in, and I saw the HP bar above his figure dip a little.
”Don't worry! I'll heal you!”
Lian Rou quickly stepped forward and began casting another prayer-based healing spell, allowing Ban Zhang to recover his HP.
”Hey, Wu! Why are you just standing around there for? Help me attack the damned dragon!”
”Oh…right!”
Snapping out of my stupor when Tang Qi Hong shouted at me, I turned around and unleashed a barrage of icicles that pelted the dragon. Above, fireballs plummeted down on the dragon and exploded again, causing it to stumble back from the impact.
”No, don't attack!” Tang Qi Hong shouted at me. ”You're using the wrong spell!”
I stared at her dumbly. ”What spell am I supposed to use then?”
The dragon cut in, roaring before she could say anything and unleashing its own flaming attacks that forced Ban Zhang to create another shield again. The flames washed around us, but ate away at poor Ban Zhang's HP and MP. Fortunately, we had Lian Rou around to heal him, but I saw the blue bar indicating her MP falling.
We couldn't keep this up.
”Wu, you're supposed to paralyze and entrap the dragon,” Tong Xue explained patiently.
”Oh…sorry.”
I thought the fastet way would be to bring the dragon's HP down to zero, but evidently I wasn't doing it right. Taking a deep breath, I raised my hand and conjured the menu screen, scrolling through it to see what repertoire of ice spells I had.
”Must be this one!”
The moment the dragon ceased its attack and the perspiring Ban Zhang lowered his shield, I threw my staff out and launched a freezing attack.
Millennial Ice Tomb!
”RUOOR!?”
The dragon was suddenly shrouded in ice, its limbs encased in glacial tombs. The ice rapidly spread over its massive body, locking its movements. The dragon tensed and struggled, but found itself held fast, even as the ice raced toward its neck.
”Excellent!”
Tong Xue leapt out and slashed the dragon's neck a couple of times before he was forced to jump back to the ground.
”And now for the finishing move! Hellish Armageddon!”
All of us glanced up when the enormous fireball materialized above the dragon. Tang Qi Hong was chuckling maniacally now as she raised both hands, getting ready to smash it on the dragon. Even our enemy was taken aback by the terrifying sight, its eyes going wide and its draconic jaws dropping. I actually felt sorry for the great beast.
”DIE!”
Tang Qi Hong swung both of her hands down, cackling like the witch she appeared to be. The dragon squealed uncharacteristically before it vanished underneath the enormous fireball, incinerated instantly.
”That had better do it,” I muttered as I glanced at my empty MP bar. Similarly, Tang Qi Hong had just burned all of her MP using that ultimate attack, so she would need several turns of drinking potions before she could recover her MP to use such large spells again.
We wouldn't last that many turns…
”Huff…huff…”
Ban Zhang, despite being at full health, was also out of MP and SP. Similarly, Lian Rou's MP bar was almost empty. She only had enough left for two healing spells at most. When that happened, we would be sitting ducks.
Only Tong Xue still had the SP to fight, but it was getting dangerously low after he executed two of his most powerful assassination attacks.
”Guoo…”
”!!!”
We all stared anxiously at the smoke, unable to believe that we had failed to slay the dragon. The majestic beast dragged its charred body out of the inferno, snarling defiantly…
…and then fell over. Glancing up, I saw that its HP bar had now reached zero.
”…phew…”
The moment I exhaled, the dragon exploded into countless golden pixels, and coins and items began raining down on us, along with a notification that screamed ”VICTORY!” the triumphant music blared out all around us, but I was too weary to pay attention.
”We did it! We got the Dark Dragon Dagger!” Tong Xue crowed as he grabbed one of the drop items, weeping with joy.
”Nice…this will boost my fire magic,” Tang Qi Hong was remaking as she held up a great, ruby encrusted bracelet to inspect it.
Everyone was gathering whatever loot they want, except me, who was standing there dumbly. Tang Qi Hong caught sight of me looking around blankly and sighed exaggeratedly.
”What are you doing?!” she reached out and shoved a gemstone into my hand. The menu immediately indicated that it was a Draconic Sapphire Gemstone that enhanced ice magic. ”You should take this.”
”Right…thanks.” I glanced around and shook my head. ”I'm not used to this. I only play shooter games and strategy games, after all.”
”No one else plays shooter games,” Tang Qi Hong pointed out, annoyed. ”We'll all get mowed down in a second, except you.”
”Actually, I would probably get shot first,” I chuckled. ”I'm not a very good player.”
”This is the only way we can all get into the same party and play together,” Tong Xue reminded us. Then he tilted his head. ”Speaking of party…we should log off and get ready for it.”
”Yeah.”
”Let's go.”
All around me, my party members raised their hands and conjured up their menus before clicking on the log off button. They then vanished from the virtual reality space, and I followed suit. Except that when I conjured my own menu, I didn't see the Log Off button.
My heart skipped a beat. You're kidding, right?
Oh, God…don't tell me this is going to suddenly turn into a story where I'm trapped in a virtual reality death game, and have to climb up one hundred levels to beat the game in order to survive. And I hope I don't end up gaining a harem along the way despite claiming that my one true love is the vice-captain of the most powerful guild…
”Why are you still online, Wu?”
Tang Qi Hong's voice came from somewhere. I glanced up, but other than a speaker icon that appeared in front of me, I couldn't see her.
”Um…there's a bug. I can't log out.”
”It should be at the bottom of your menu screen.”
”I know, I've been trying to look for it, but it's missing. I think it's a bug.”
”Oh, for the love of…” I suddenly felt a premonition. Before I could protest, I felt a sudden jerk, and the virtual reality environment was suddenly replaced by my booth. Tang Qi Hong was standing in front of me, holding the helmet-visor thing.
”Whoa!”
I gaped at her in disbelief.
”See? You're offline now.”
”B…but…” I spluttered. ”What if that ended up killing me?!”
Tang Qi Hong gave me a strange look. ”Why would that kill you?”
…never mind. It appeared that I had been reading way too much Sword Art Online. Of course such things didn't happen in the real world. Why would the helmet-visor thing fry my brain, and what reason would the creator of the game Fantasy Party Online have for trapping gamers in the game for years?
”Anyway, hurry up. The party is getting started.”
”…right.”
I followed Tang Qi Hong out of the net café. The rest of our party were waiting near the counter, having exited their booths quite some time ago.
”This is really your first time playing a VRMMORPG in a net café, huh?” Tong Xue grinned, amused. I scratched my head.
”Yeah…I'm more used to playing shooter games in a net café.”
”Aren't they still virtual reality games, though?” Ban Zhang frowned. ”You shouldn't have any problems handling the interface.”
”There was a bug and I couldn't log off.”
”I helped him take off the visor and forced a shutdown,” Tang Qi Hong explained. She then turned to the counter. ”We should inform them of that booth.”
After that was done, we proceeded to the barbeque restaurant where Tong Xue had reserved a table for us.
”That was fun!” Tong Xue stretched himself. ”I haven't had that much fun a long time!”
”Same,” Ban Zhang agreed. ”When was the last time I played a game?”
I didn't voice my complaint that it had to be a role-playing game of all things. That genre really wasn't my kind of thing, but I wasn't antisocial enough to not read the mood and protest against the majority. Sometimes we should just go with the flow instead of being stubborn and self-centered and ruining the fun for others.
How did we end up playing a game in a net café, though? I wondered. Apparently we had some time before the celebration party, and we still had to wait for Zhu Jiao and Bai Ning Xue, who were unexpectedly taking more time that we anticipated. While waiting, we decided to hang out, and Tong Xue spotted the net café just two blocks away from the barbeque restaurant that he resereved a table in. With nothing else to do, we decided to have a quick game before the meal.
As it turned out, the game was a lot longer than quick, but fortunately, neither Zhu Jiao nor Bai Ning Xue had arrived yet. Still, the time was drawing close, so we had to end the session.
”Paying together or separately?” The cashier asked.
”Separately,” we chorused. The cashier nodded, and proceeded to take our student cards one by one to register the fee deduction from our online accounts.
Once we completed the transactions, we then exited the net café and proceeded toward the barbeque restaurant. On the way there, we ran into Zhu Jiao and Bai Ning Xue, who were approaching from the direction of the academy.
”Jiao! Ning Xue! Over here!”
Lian Rou called out to them and waved them over. The couple spotted us and hastened their pace. Zhu Jiao grinned and waved back.
”You guys done with whatever you needed to do?” Ban Zhang asked. Zhu Jiao nodded and retrieved a martial arts manual. We could see the characters ”Mystical Earth Essence Formula” emblazoned across its cover in gold lettering.
”We also ran into Xin Xia on our way out.” Zhu Jiao's expression turned a little sad. ”She was just about to enter isolation training.”
”Xin Xia was against the attack on you, so she received the lightest punishment,” Bai Ning Xue assured him. ”We've done our best to consider the circumstances and will try to help her.”
As the student council president, Bai Ning Xue had some influence and she put in a good word or two for Qing Xin Xia. She wasn't able to absolve her completely of the match-rigging during the tournament, and Qing Xin Xia's sentence remained at one month, but she was somehow able to restore the Green Dragon Sect disciple's place in the student council.
She did not plan to do so for Li Chun Long, Gu Chun Song or any of the other condemned student council members.
”Thanks.”
Zhu Jiao nodded. Bai Ning Xue smiled briefly, and then turned to the rest of us.
”Speaking of which, thanks to the actions of those who would degrade the prestige of the academy, I'll need people to step up and replace them.” her eyes settled on Tang Qi Hong. ”Especially you, Qi Hong.”
”Eh…”
Tang Qi Hong grimaced at the thought of responsibility.
”I apologize for the way the rest of the student council members treated you and Feng Tian Yong, but this time I'll make sure neither of you are left out.” Bai Ning Xue frowned. ”I have no idea how they did it. They told me that you both rejected the posts…”
”That was partly my fault.” Tang Qi Hong looked a little embarrassed. ”I made the declaration that I refuse to serve in the same student council as you, and they took that literally.”
”I hope you'll change your mind. I'll need you.” Bai Ning Xue sighed. ”I've managed to convince Tian Yong to come back, and I still have Jiao to help me, but with Xin Xia in isolation training, we're short on numbers.”