"Finally! Haha!"
"We did it!"
"Quick, confirm! Confirm everything! Before someone else does!"
Immediately the friends erupted in immense joy. The last bit of doubt dissipated. The pressure entirely fell off their shoulders. Another wave of cheers spread. Only they themselves knew the mental strain experienced after GalanTen's challenge. No one wanted to be overtaken. The friends worked hard for this. But now they could once again show the whole world that Hotpot was the number one team! And this would never change!
Silver Blade didn't forget to enter their information. A moment later an announcement destined to shake the server spread.
[Server Announcement:]
[Please congratulate Dream Avenue on being the first to achieve the first clear of the dungeon Nexkra'nar's Nest on hell mode.]
[Dream Avenue thanks Colville Constructions, St. Fabre, Dourand Electronics, Cider, Malney & Sons, Lucky Ten Malls Ltd., and Bellissio for their generous support.]
***
Same time, different space. SpireX was sitting on a flying mount not much different from Radiant Shield's griffon, his mind focused on the battle, constantly striking in front of him.
Flaoting next to the team captain was a dwarf, Henragon, his eyes an unhealthy red, clearly agitated. The ambitious warrior attacked with everything he had, almost appearing mad. His two axes collided with the wall of blades, which trembled incessantly, just short of being breached. This was the second of three walls. Although it might look like the team was just short of breaking the skill, this little distance caused them despair.
"Come one!"
"Don't slack off!"
"We got it this time!"
GalanTen had been stuck in this room, facing the two bosses for a while now. Before entering the dungeon, they had already known about the walls of blades. They recognized the threat. Yet they had been confident to make it through. With their equipment, surely, this skill shouldn't be able to stop them.
However, realitiy delivered a heavy blow. The walls were sturdier than anyone could have expected. After two attempts the team realized that blindly striking the walls wouldn't be enough. They had to change strategies.
GalanTen's members were after all no noobs. They had rich gaming experience. Henragon for example had been part of a famous gaming club called Gorocom Gaming. Once, they had been hailed as the number one outside the Central Star System. They even aspired to challenge those top clubs. Unfortunately, everything fell apart with one single boss run. Was history about to repeat itself?
No! Henragon refused to believe this. GalanTen was stuck at this fight, but it was impossible for others to do any better. After all, no one could rival GalanTen's equipment, and especially not their information. This was what everyone firmly believed. If GalanTen didn't know the strategy to win this fight, others wouldn't either.
Thus, it was only a matter of adapting on the fly. The ten members stuck their heads together, racked their brains, and came up with various strategies. However, performing two flash steps in quick succession was not one of those strategies. After all, there was not enough time. No one would be able to reduce the delay between two flash steps below three seconds. At this point in time everyone would think this was impossible.
It was a pity for GalanTen. They simply never considered it. Instead, they thought their best bet was to first break through one wall and then use flash step to overcome the other two walls.
However, as it turned out, these walls were incredibly sturdy. Pestered by the white flames flying around it took quite some time to create a hole big enough for a person and their flying mount to fit through. And when they finally succeeded and sent someone to interrupt the skill, they had to realize that one person was not enough. The walls still existed, moving unstoppably, eager to turn the adventurers into sieves.
This discovery was a blow to GalanTen, but they recovered after a short rest. New strategies were put to the test. Creating three holes? Too slow. Breaking through all walls with concentrated might? Too slow. Ignoring all the damage, working the healer to the bones, in order to break through? Too much damage and… also too slow.
Now the team was slowly approaching their wit's end. As professional players they wouldn't throw a tantrum but one could see the emotions in everyone's eyes, some more some less. The worst was Henragon, who felt reminded of his worst experience with Gorocom Gaming where they had been stuck during a boss battle.
"Guys, guys! Don't tilt! Observe the room, maybe we are missing something!"
SpireX was indeed a qualified captain. His words managed to calm everyone down somewhat. Under his lead the team didn't become irrational, instead remaining open-minded while still continuing their assault on the walls of blades. However, right at that moment...
[Server Announcement:]
[Please congratulate Dream Avenue on being the first to achieve the first clear of the dungeon Nexkra'nar's Nest on hell mode.]
[Dream Avenue thanks Colville Constructions, St. Fabre, Dourand Electronics, Cider, Malney & Sons, Lucky Ten Malls Ltd., and Bellissio for their generous support.]
"What?!"
"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"
"How can this be?!"
Even the experienced players received a profound shock at this time. Dream Avenue, or rather Hotpot, cleared the dungeon? How? How could they be so much faster?
Shocked, everyone froze for a moment. But a moment of carelessness could have terrible consequences. Two clusters of white flames crept up on the team's mage. As the latter noticed what was happening it was already too late. The two flames crashed into their body. The damage was immense. The mage, already injured before, was directly sent back to the checkpoint.
The death of a teammate woke everyone up. However, the lack of a damage dealer was a heavy blow. With less damage it became even more difficult to break through the wall. Furthermore, their motivation also took a big dip. Dream Avenue had already completed the dungeon. How were they supposed to push themselves now?
Under these conditions it was no surprise that a while later the nine members of GalanTen died one of the top ten wretched deaths.
***
The atmosphere among Liam and his friends was naturally the exact opposite. They were overjoyed as the announcement finally came. They even forgot to take a look at the achievement they were granted for clearing the dungeon as their attention was on the global chat.
Congratulations came from all sides. Some people even wrote in the name of companies or organizations. Most companies had long since realized that it was important to have a presence in the game. It was somewhat like establishing account on the most important social media platforms.
However, these annoying corporations mostly got drowned out by the flood of players. Dream Avenue's members were extremely active, celebrating the success, feeling a sense of honour. See, these were our founding members! Who said Hotpot would lose their title as number one team? Come on out now! Talk again!
While a large part of the people believed in Hotpot, there were indeed not a few who have had their doubts. After all, these newly rising players like GalanTen were just too fierce. In only a few days they rose through the ranking list. Also, there were many stories of players clashing with those upstarts, reporting that these newcomers were decked out in unbeatable gear and with the skills of seasoned veterans.
But finally, someone stepped up to dampen the newcomers' momentum. Perhaps the stories had simply been exaggerated. Against a real top team even the rising newcomers were unable to achieve a victory.
Some people were surprised, others thought it was as expected. However, at this moment everyone had to once again acknowledge Hotpot's prowess. The number one team defended its title!
"Hehe, now all those haters will shut up!"
Cyclone exclaimed with a triumphant smile. A hand patted her shoulder. She looked at Silver Blade, who spoke up:
"Didn't we agree not to look too much into forums? These people are just bored and miserable. No matter what you do, if you are too brilliant you can attract resentment from people wishing to see you fall. There really is no need to spend such people too much attention!"
"I know… but when I see such a comment I just can't help it…"
Silver Blade didn't know what else to say. She patted her friend's shoulder and smiled.
"Silver is right. At such a moment, why are we wasting our thoughts on such people? We should be happy right now!"
"I agree!"
"Let's celebrate tonight!"
"Yes! We haven't visited Ten Thousand Tastes in a while!"
"That's the spirit!"
The friends hyped each other up and Cyclone was also infected by the mood, forgetting these ugly comments. In this mood everyone was eager to leave the temple. However, Liam hastily stopped them.
"Wait, wait! Don't forget why we came here!"
"Right, the Dragontear!"
Eyes lighting up the friends again put their attention on the matriarch. They knew that an item with such a name couldn't be simple. Everyone was curious what this mysterious Dragontear was all about.