Did the Top-Ranked Girl Get Exposed Today? [HoloVerse] - Chapter 25
Instance Rescue Mission
Location: Mountain God Instance
Time: After the eighth team wipe.
Characters:
From the Returning Home Guild: Danhuang Liuxinbao, Wang Mo, Xian Yun.
From the Generous Song Guild: Bu Ranchen, Meng Zhongren, Zhi Ge, Kang Kai.
And from the Flowing Clouds Guild: Wan Liuyun, Wan Liunian.
Event: Bu Ranchen and Wan Liuyun both made critical mistakes, triggering the eighth team wipe since the instance began.
What Happened:
The whales clashed head-on. Wan Liunian was forced offline after his game pod’s network cable was cut. To resolve the chaos, Wang Mo called in Di Xiang for backup.
When Di Xiang entered the instance, Bu Ranchen was being healed by his dedicated healer, Meng Zhongren. Meanwhile, Wan Liunian used his “cash power” to bribe Bu Ranchen’s guildmates, Kang Kai and Zhi Ge, who then switched sides to protect Wan Liunian.
Xian Yun lounged around watching the drama unfold, while Wang Mo and Danhuang Liuxinbao discussed the instance mechanics.
The two whales, who had essentially set up camp at the respawn point, continued their magical showdown.
Bu Ranchen shot a sidelong glance at Wan Liuyun: “Have you ever been Rank 1? Do you even know what it feels like to be worshipped by thousands?”
Wan Liuyun, eyes closed as two attendants fanned her and massaged her shoulders, replied languidly, “The Rank 1 who dies three times in five minutes?”
“Even Fifty Strings would rise from the grave if she saw your gameplay now.”
Bu Ranchen retorted defiantly, “Money is a form of strength too. If youβve got what it takes, why donβt you spend your way to a Rank 1 account!”
Bu Ranchen knew that Wan Liuyun, the eternal second-place in Sword Dream, had tried to buy out the top-ranked account, but Shang Xianyue completely ignored her purchase inquiries.
After Shang Xianyue deleted her account, a bunch of battle-crazed players in Sword Dream were eager to draw their swords and challenge for the top spot. The fierce competition meant Wan Liuyun still hadnβt achieved her goal.
The power gap among the top ten in Sword Dream‘s rankings was narrow, so Wan Liuyun was actively tackling new instances to secure her position and aim for the top five to boost her stats.
But perhaps the whales’ energies just didnβt mix, Bu Ranchen kept making mistakes, and Wan Liuyun, as the second-ranked player, wasnβt performing up to her usual standard.
Despite the time spent, they remained one step away from defeating the boss. Another team had already secured the second clear, and the longer they took, the fewer rewards theyβd get.
Secretly anxious, Wan Liuyun grew increasingly irritated with Bu Ranchen for holding them back.
“30,000 gold to replace one person,” she said coldly, pointing at Bu Ranchen and turning to the party leader, Wang Mo.
Bu Ranchen fired back, “50,000 gold to replace Wan Liuyun!”
Wan Liuyun chuckled. “Trying to challenge my financial power?”
Bu Ranchen curled his lip scornfully. “Little girl, what power do you even have?”
“80,000 gold to kick Wan Liuyun!”
“I’ll pay 100,000 to remove Bu Ranchen!”
“120,000!”
“150,000!”
The exchange rate in the game was 10 gold to 1 RMB.
The two whales spared no expense to force the other out and save face.
Xian Yun and Danhuang Liuxinbao watched in awe, while Meng Zhongren, Kang Kai, and Zhi Ge were all too familiar with their guild leaders’ antics and werenβt surprised.
Only Wang Mo was silently pondering whether, as the party leader, she should take this somewhat unethical gold or not.
Before she could wrestle with her conscience, Di Xiangβs figure appeared in the instance, accompanied by a system notification.
[System Notification] Player [Di Xiang] has joined the party! Current party size: 9/9!
Well, well.
Xian Yun pulled a bag of sunflower seeds from her backpack and shared it with the three people beside her. Munching on the seeds, she watched as Di Xiang approached the bickering pair, Bu Ranchen and Wan Liuyun.
Another whale has arrived. Time for some entertainment.
Di Xiang glanced at the injured players, then at the two whales squabbling like elementary school kids, and quickly grasped the situation.
She spoke concisely: “150,000 gold each. I’ll carry both of you through the dungeon.”
Xian Yun stopped chewing her seeds. Danhuang Liuxinbao found the seeds in her hand suddenly tasteless. Overachiever glared at Di Xiang, who was stealing her business, and sharpened her sword with a grinding motion.
After exchanging a look and weighing the pros and cons, the two snorted in unison and rolled their eyes. “Deal!”
As Overachiever approached with her sword, Di Xiang remained unfazed.
“I’ll split half with you.”
Overachiever turned and headed toward the boss.
After some casual banter, Danhuang Liuxinbao, as the raid leader, turned serious. “I don’t know how you and your apprentice cleared the side quest, but the main dungeon might be different.”
“There’s a main boss and a mini-boss, ‘Mountain God’ and an NPC named Sasha. Attacking Sasha enrages the ‘Mountain God.’ If you only attack the ‘Mountain God,’ it’ll still enrage when its health drops to the last third.”
“Our previous wipes happened during the ‘Mountain God’s’ final enrage phase.”
“That NPC Sasha is also annoying, high damage, fast movement, and we can’t even attack her.”
Xian Yun couldn’t help but complain: if they attacked Sasha, the boss would enrage, and with only her and Meng Zhongren as healers, they couldn’t keep the other seven players alive.
Danhuang Liuxinbao shrugged and asked Di Xiang, “You’ve fought the boss before. Any tips?”
They were still in the trial-and-error phase. If it weren’t for the two whales fighting each other, they should have figured out the dungeon mechanics by now.
Di Xiang briefly explained how she and Feng Xiaoxiao had cleared the dungeon.
Overachiever pondered, “If we follow your method, we should assign two people to distract Sasha while the rest focus on lowering the ‘Mountain God’s’ health. When it’s close to one-third, we should also reduce Sasha’s health.”
“So, we need to take down Sasha before the enraged ‘Mountain God’ wipes us out, right?”
Danhuang Liuxinbao brushed the seed shells off her hands. “Let’s give it a try.”
She turned to the others and called out, “Xian Yun and Meng Zhongren, focus on healing. Single-target heals for the lowest health, AoE heals on my command. I’ll still pull aggro. Generous and you two Sword Meng Zhongrens with high mobility, handle Sasha, keep her away from the ‘Mountain God.'”
“The rest of you, stay behind me and DPS. Don’t leave my protection range.”
Danhuang Liuxinbao singled out Bu Ranchen and said earnestly, “Pay attention to your skills. Don’t cast debuffs on teammates or buffs on the boss again.”
Bu Ranchen chuckled awkwardly, “Hehehe…”
“Pfft.” Wan Liuyun didn’t hold back her laughter.
Danhuang Liuxinbao patted her shoulder. “Your sword shadows look cool, but don’t sacrifice damage for style.”
Wan Liuyun: “…Okay.”
A Sword Meng Zhongren who doesn’t show off isn’t a true Sword Meng Zhongren, but for the sake of clearing the dungeon, Wan Liuyun decided to temporarily give up using her whale-tier recharge effects to flaunt.
With a grasp at the air, a spear materialized in her hand, its crimson tassel fluttering fiercely in the dim setting. Everyone stood ready, following the direction of Danhuang Liuxinbao’s spear as they charged toward the “Mountain God” seated silently on a lotus in the distance.
“Mountain God” slowly opened its eyes, its health bar glowing as it drew a bone sword from its spine. Behind it, Sasha held the red threads controlling it like a puppeteer manipulating a marionette. “Go.”
With a sharp glare, “Mountain God” instantly appeared before the group, slashing multiple times. Danhuang Liuxinbao adeptly switched from gun to shield, absorbing damage for her teammates, while Xian Yun scattered a few petals to restore her health to a safe level.
Kang Kai and Zhi Ge, as instructed earlier, bypassed “Mountain God” and charged toward Sasha, tossing a few light skills to draw her aggro. The two circled around without retaliating, effectively kiting the boss.
Behind Danhuang Liuxinbao, countless sword shadows clashed in retaliation, while the melodious strains of a zither echoed as fingers deftly activated skills, applying defense buffs to the surrounding allies.
Wang Mo and Wan Liunan, as the main damage dealers, tacitly attacked from a distance, one wielding a sword, the other a feathered bow. The two healers busily monitored their teammates’ health bars, casting healing spells as needed.
The party’s health fluctuated up and down, but no one had fallen by the final phase.
As the frontline tank, Danhuang Liuxinbao couldn’t help but sigh in relief before steeling herself to face the boss’s last desperate assault.
Seizing the moment when “Mountain God” was charging its sword energy, Danhuang Liuxinbao shouted to Kang Kai and Zhi Ge, who were kiting the boss, “It’s about time! Focus fire and cripple Sasha first!”
“Roger that!”
The two simultaneously drew their swords, coordinating with the arrows shot by Wan Liunan and Wang Mo. In an instant, blades and arrows flashed, reducing Sasha’s health to a critical level.
“Mountain God’s” charged attack faltered. In that split second, it unhesitatingly turned toward Danhuang Liuxinbao and the others.
Ignoring the sword slashes and arrows piercing its back, it lunged toward Sasha like a moth to a flame, just as it had in its fleeting life, shielding her from the attacks of Kang Kai and Zhi Ge.
A few members of the party who had never witnessed such a scene were momentarily stunned, hesitating whether to continue their assault.
Only Wang Mo showed no mercy, drawing his bow and firing an arrow. The radiant feathered arrow illuminated the dim scene, decisively ending both dungeon bosses in one shot.
The screen darkened for everyone as the game’s clearance cutscene played, accompanied by a sorrowful background melody.
“Life is like a mayfly, born at dawn and dead by dusk…”
A mournful female voice, its origin unclear, echoed hauntingly through the space.
Her words brushed gently over the embracing pair, one human, one ghost, like a feather, dispelling the gloom of the place.
“Return now…”
The scene shifted. “Mountain God” and Sasha dissolved into points of light and vanished, leaving only a clearance treasure chest in their place.
Before Xian Yun could chastise Wang Mo for her cold-heartedness, her eyes were dazzled by the chest not far away.
“Wow! Such a, such a huge treasure chest!”
Xian Yun grinned from ear to ear, rubbing her hands together eagerly as she approached the chest with the others.
“Who’s going to open it?”
She turned to ask the group.
“Whoever has the best luck should open it,” Danhuang Liuxinbao suggested.
As soon as she spoke, Bu Ranchen and Wan Liuyun simultaneously took a step back.
Bu Ranchen: ?
Wan Liuyun: ?
“Bad luck?” Bu Ranchen raised an eyebrow.
“Always hitting the pity system in every game’s gacha,” Wan Liuyun replied with a world-weary smile, no longer in the mood to compete with Bu Ranchen over who was wealthier.
Bu Ranchen felt a strange sense of camaraderie. She patted Wan Liuyun’ shoulder. “I always get scammed too. No matter how much money I pour in, I’ve never gotten a lucky pull.”
Setting aside their previous differences, the two seemed to have found kindred spirits in that moment.
“How many pulls did it take for you to get the last outfit and weapon set?”
“250, the pity pull. What about you for the cloak and accessories the time before that?”
“250 guaranteed minimum!”
“What about the New Year set and the limited mount?”
“250 guaranteed minimum.”
The two held hands, tears welling in their eyes as they spat out the icy number 250 one after another.
Bu Ranchen excitedly hugged Wan Liuyun, “Family, oh family! You must join our Non-Chieftain Alliance!”
Wan Liuyun felt both the thrill of finding fellow non-chieftains and a shared sense of camaraderie with Bu Ranchen in their mutual misfortune.
Without hesitation, she accepted Bu Ranchen’s invitation: “I’ll join, I’ll join right now!”
…
With just one sentence, Danhuang Liuxinbao had filtered out two ultimate non-chieftains + game cash cows.
Xian Yun gave her a thumbs-up, and Danhuang Liuxinbao slightly lifted her chin, looking quite pleased.
“Let me open it.”
Everyone looked up, surprised to hear Di Xiang, who had been mostly silent, speak up.
Under the puzzled gazes of Generous Song Guild and the others, and the nearly tangible suspicion in Danhuang Liuxinbao’s eyes, Di Xiang smiled with effortless grace, like pear blossoms falling in spring snow, a fleeting brilliance that dazzled the eyes with its beauty.
“I think,” Di Xiang’s lips curved upward, his gaze soft and enchanting as if recalling something, “my luck has been quite good lately.”
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE
