Chapter 75

"Quickly get behind me, she's about to use her skill." Watching Haijia, who was almost ready to throw a fireball, Duke Dehua Rien reminded Li Huailin and the others again.

"Big Sister, the black ball has stopped moving." Hongchen Yanyu said while running.

Everyone looked back for a moment. Indeed, the black ball had suddenly stopped moving. This was somewhat reassuring, as it would have been disastrous if it had continued to chase them and collided with all five people at once, dealing damage that no one could withstand.

"Big Sister, hurry." Since Hongyue was the closest to Haijia and the farthest from Duke Dehua Rien, she was the last to arrive. Although Li Huailin was standing in a similar position to Hongyue, he had a 50% speed boost, making him the first to arrive.

"In the name of the Holy Light, please protect the warriors behind me." Just as Hongyue ran into the position behind Duke Dehua Rien, he immediately activated his skill. A golden, semi-transparent light wall appeared in front of him, but it was small, just enough to cover Duke Dehua Rien and the space behind him.

"Why didn't you use this skill earlier? Your companions are all dead, you bastard." Li Huailin couldn't help but comment.

"Fire! Purify everything!" Haijia almost simultaneously cast her skill, two large fireballs directly hitting the light wall Duke Dehua Rien had released, causing two loud explosions. The fireballs exploded, igniting the surrounding ground with sparks, showing how incredibly hot the flames were. However, Duke Dehua Rien's light wall, though shattered by the two fireballs, had successfully blocked the attack, and Li Huailin and the others were unharmed.

"Damn Holy Light, I will crush you!" Haijia, seeing her attack blocked, looked very angry, her tone becoming vicious.

"She can't keep using such a high-cost skill. Take this opportunity to finish her quickly." Duke Dehua Rien shouted to Li Huailin and the others after blocking the attack.

"It seems we're in a loop. Everyone, keep attacking." Hongyue said, rushing forward first.

"The black ball is still chasing me, but its speed seems to have reset to the beginning." Hongchen Yanyu looked at the black ball, which had started moving again, but its speed had returned to a slow acceleration, not the speed it had before stopping.

"Everyone, listen to my command. When we reach 60% health, I think the big fireball avoidance scenario will happen again. We'll use this chance to reset the black ball's speed." Hongyue said while attacking Haijia to draw aggro.

"Okay." Everyone nodded.

"What the hell!" Just as Li Huailin delivered his first strike, he suddenly noticed his attack power had drastically decreased. The first hit only dealt 220 damage, the lowest damage he had dealt since boosting his stats by +280%. Fortunately, the stacking in "Heart of Glory" only applied to base strength. Li Huailin had first increased his strength by 280%, then reduced it by 100%, leaving him with a 180% increase, which was still effective. Without the 280% boost, his attacks would have been reduced to a mere 1-point damage.

Looking at his debuff bar, the Strength Blessing had indeed appeared, stacking every 30 seconds, and he didn't know when it had been applied.

"Damn, I really want to touch the black ball." Seeing his weak output, Li Huailin couldn't help but want to clear his debuff, but he couldn't do that now. If the black ball received a buff, its power would increase, even if only by 20 points, it would be too much to handle later.

However, despite the reduced output, they could still fight. The boss Haijia's health began to drop, from 80% to 70%. Just as they were fighting well, Haijia suddenly shouted, "Let me show you the power of fire magic."

Haijia extended her hand, and a red beam hit Hongchen Yanyu, who was trying to escape.

"What's going on?" Hongyue, seeing the red beam hit Hongchen Yanyu, immediately asked.

"I got a debuff, ah." Hongchen Yanyu didn't have time to report before the black ball caught up to her, dealing 260 damage.

"What debuff?" Being caught by the black ball was normal, and Hongyue wasn't too concerned, but he immediately asked again.

"It will cause 800 fire damage in 10 seconds, it says it's an explosion damage." Hongchen Yanyu reported.

"Take a fire protection potion, drink a health potion, and stay away from the two healers." Hongyue immediately ordered.

"Okay." Hongchen Yanyu nodded and immediately took a fire protection potion from her bag. Since the potion had a cooldown, she couldn't drink a health potion yet, but reducing 220 fire damage would keep her safe for now. Looking at the black ball's movement, she added, "The black ball is heading towards Huailin."

"Great." Li Huailin couldn't help but say.

"Be careful and try to avoid it until we reach 60% health." Hongyue said to Li Huailin.

"Okay." Li Huailin nodded.

The black ball's initial speed wasn't very fast, so Li Huailin had time to deal a few more attacks. Although his attack power had dropped significantly, it was still higher than most melee classes.

Seeing the black ball approaching, Li Huailin left the boss Haijia and started running to the side.

"Bang." The debuff on Hongchen Yanyu, who had just cast two ice arrows, was triggered, causing a large explosion. Fortunately, it was just a game, and the explosion only interrupted her casting, slightly startling her. She paused and immediately resumed casting ice arrows, reporting, "It dealt over 660 fire damage, it seems to be an area attack, and it might hit nearby teammates. I'm fine for now, don't heal me."

"Give her a heal." Hongyue said.

The heal was an instant cast, not using the casting bar. Although Hongchen Yanyu was temporarily safe, her health was below 20%, and she couldn't drink a potion due to the cooldown. Giving her a slow health regeneration spell was a safer option.

Hongyan Heshui gave Hongchen Yanyu a heal between two healing spells and continued to heal Hongyue.

However, with only two damage dealers in the party, and one being chased by the black ball, the damage output became a big problem. The boss's health dropped very slowly, taking a long time to reach 60%.

Li Huailin hadn't been caught by the black ball yet, thanks to his speed, but he was running out of time. Just then, the boss's health reached 60%, and the boss started casting a big skill, causing the black ball to stop.

"She's casting a skill again, quickly get behind me." Duke Dehua Rien shouted again.

The group, now more experienced, immediately ran behind Duke Dehua Rien. As they ran, Hongyue asked, "Shui'er, Cuiwu, how much mana do you have left?"

"33%." The main healer, Hongyan Heshui, said.

"46%." Hongfei Cuwu was also under high pressure.

"Trouble, we don't have enough mana. I'm afraid we won't be able to kill the boss." Hongyue immediately saw the problem. "Mana potions?"

"I've already used one, it has 20 seconds left on cooldown." Hongyan Heshui said.

"Hongyue, I have a suggestion." Li Huailin suddenly said.

"Hmm?" Hongyue turned around. "What do you have in mind?"

"I'll tank the boss, trade me your gear." Li Huailin said. "I noticed the black ball doesn't chase the person with the highest aggro. If I tank the boss, my damage won't be wasted. Otherwise, being chased by the black ball, we're already short on damage, and we'll be worn down."

"It seems... reasonable." Hongyue immediately considered the pros and cons. "Worth a try."

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**End of Chapter**