MMO: Pierce Heaven Til’ It Breaks

Li Yi was able to summon Alleria not because he took her as his pet, instead, he had simply spent some money to hire her.

The Defiants’ Confederation was an interesting group. Many were eager to increase their reputation with this faction in his past life due to the fact that it offered mercenaries. Anyone with good standing could spend money and hire them to assist in battle.

A player could hire mercenaries while tackling a dungeon, battling a boss in the wild, farming minions, or any such activities with similar nature. However, in a player-versus-player situation, the mercenaries would not intervene. Their role was confined to player-versus-environment situations.

One could only hire them if one’s affinity with them had reached Worship. Li Yi had achieved the latter with Alleria but not with other members. As such, the only member he could summon at the moment was her.

A mercenary could be hired endlessly for one whole day after paying 10 Gold Coins. However, once the affinity toward the person who offered the contract fell below Worship, the mercenary would resign on its own accord. If this were to happen, the player would need to find ways to improve the affinity between both sides before it can be hired again.

“Human, be on your guard, their numbers are many!”

Alleria rushed to one side with her shield up and pulled all the Frost Giants together.

Group Taunt, Dynamic Shield, Megashield Impact, Earth Protection…

She knew all the skills of an Earth Vagabond, including the rare special skills that few people knew.

Among the mercenaries, Alleria’s method of use was the simplest and most practical. She was an Earth Vagabond, titled Windwalker (somewhat equivalent to the Heroes of Humanity). If a player chose to be hostile to her, her name would turn purple in color.

An Epic-level Hero could not possibly be weak.

One stroke of Wind Attraction and Alleria brought all the Frost Giants rushing from three directions toward her, and waves of Megashield Impact were launched without stopping. The damage figures materializing on top of their heads went up as high as 10,000.

Although Alleria’s ATK was far lower than Li Yi, it was around the middle and upper tier for main tanks. In other words, it was not low.

Alleria’s gallantry allowed Li Yi to catch his breath. His exhausted mana bar quickly grew.

Li Yi also summoned the Violent Bear King to attract their attention, defending the areas Alleria left exposed.

Before Li Yi obtained Territory Power, the originally robust Violent Bear King had already revealed its weakness. In the face high-level monsters, it would hold up for only a few seconds before its glorious demise.

The present Territory Master as he was, and being skilled in the Pet Path, his Territory Power could influence his pet, thereby improving said pet’s overall attributes.

Affected by Li Yi’s level 1 in Territory Rank and 812 Holy attribute points, the current Violent Bear King’s HP temporarily surged up to 500,000, which was even higher than some main tanks. It was a common issue for main tanks that their ATK was too low. Alleria’s Megashield Impact dealt over 10,000 damage per second, but one Sweep of the Violent Bear King dealt only between 3000 to 5000. Nevertheless, their biggest role at present was to attract the monsters’ attention. The chief damage dealer remained Li Yi.

At this time, Li Yi’s mana had thoroughly recovered. To be on the safe side, he summoned the Mermaid Queen, Freya.

Although the little mermaid did not have any active attack skills, her Sea God’s Song made her appearance necessary.

A dungeon boss was generally immune to all abnormal statuses, but its minions had no such ability. As the Mermaid Queen started singing, seven abnormal statuses were immediately inflicted.

Petrification, confusion, muted, weakened…

When the seven abnormal statuses appeared, the damage caused by Alleria and the Violent Bear King was indirectly more than doubled, not because their strength became greater, but because their target’s attributes were reduced by Freya.

In the Frost Graveyard, the overwhelming part for the player was not the boss battle, but the endless waves of monsters flocking toward the altar. Once one of the four Pearls was broken, their challenge would end in failure. The difficulty was almost unreasonable.

There would be hostiles from all directions, if there were four main tanks, they would pose no problem as one person would stand guard on one side. However, who else was a damage dealer like Li Yi? As the number of main tanks increased, their DPS would drop. Without clearing up the minions in time, more would gather and with time they would become an unmanageable mess.

Another thing in this dungeon was that, once the boss battle was initiated, and there were still surviving minions near the altar, the boss would enter Berserk Mode…

Under heroic difficulty, the Frost Emperor had an HP of 200 million!

The monsterlings never stopped coming. Alleria and the Violent Bear King could only to contain them, while the role of Freya was to undermine their strength. The real damage could only be done by Li Yi himself.

“True Overlord Arrow!”

The fiery phoenix resurfaced; its unstoppable gust of energy blew up on all the enemies in front…

While enemy reinforcements were the hardest part of this dungeon, it meant nothing to Li Yi. The reason was not his skills, but the fact that his equipment was simply too strong.

Soon, the minions around were almost eradicated. He briefly retired to recover his mana and stopped Alleria and the bear.

There were only three Frost Giants left in the vicinity of the altar.

The Violent Bear King received the order and immediately returned to Li Yi’s side.

“Human, why not finish them off?” Alleria queried.

Li Yi did not answer and fired twice, leaving the last of them alive.

What he planned was to make the Frost Emperor enter Berserk Mode.

Killing a berserk Frost Emperor would earn him the achievement of The Shattered Cold Heart of His Imperial Majesty. Li Yi tried many times to no avail. He wanted to try once more in this life.

Committing oneself to such achievements was a pain in the ass. Some special achievements would give you rewards, most of the achievements, however, would not. Unlocking the latter would not affect anyone in any way.

The Shattered Cold Heart of His Imperial Majesty was worthless trash.

However, it did not deter many players in his past life. Almost every day, players would willingly attempt the ridiculous inconvenience.

Probably to show off the fact that I can do it, but you can’t. In other words, bragging rights.

Only a mentality of this sort would prompt people to waste their time.

Alleria looked at Li Yi with her head tilted and sighed slightly.

Tilting one’s head was a major feature of the white elves. Most female elven NPCs would do it.

A mercenary would unconditionally obey commands issued by the player, but when it cost the mercenary’s life, her affinity would be reduced to a great extent.

To be safe, Li Yi withdrew her to the summoning stone, since her DPS would serve little good in boss battles anyway.

Freya was also recalled, leaving only the Violent Bear King.

“Arise, O the mighty Emperor in deep slumber! Thy frozen armor and sword will bring an everlasting winter and destruction upon this land!” The surviving Frost Giant roared.

The altar was destroyed, and the Frost Emperor which was red from head to toe climbed out from beneath.

“Water Clone!”

“Violent Bear’s Protection!”

Li Yi threw a Hunt Target on the Emperor. The latter raised its hand and seized it unexpectedly.

Damn it!

Li Yi cursed and began to charge a Powered-up Arrow.

Tch-psh-bish-tst-pst-brrrr-

Both himself and his clone simultaneously fired the Powered-up Arrow, and then a Shooting Star Arrow Hail in close succession.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

“Death is your only way out, intruder!”

Having withstood his attacks, its body moved. The frozen sword pointed right at him, letting loose a Great Frost that frosted its surroundings. The attack had a range that matched his Shooting Star Arrow Hail.

Li Yi then released a True Overlord Arrow, but this time it failed to repel the Great Frost. They missed each other. The flame phoenix crashed into the body of the Frost Emperor while the Great Frost penetrated Li Yi’s body.

The remaining HP of the Frost Emperor was 3,543,231, but Li Yi was found lying on the ground.

The challenge ended in failure.

Just a little bit more…

Li Yi lay for a long time, then decided he would attempt the dungeon again.

If it were not for the achievement, it would be easy for him to put down a non-berserk Frost Emperor with his current strength.

However, his vanity got the better of him.

For what he could not accomplish in the past, he decided that he would not leave without the achievement.

Li Yi reentered the dungeon. Since the challenge failed (boss not killed), the map was automatically reset. What he had to do now was to start over.

Alleria, Freya, the Violent Bear King, his three powerful aides were all summoned.

Alleria kept shaking her head, while Freya gave her thoughts and prayers.

“Everyone at the ready, and go!” Li Yi ordered.

“Regain the altar and resurrect His Majesty! Let us go, brothers! Destroy this abomination!”

“I will use their blood to pay homage to His Majesty!”

The assault of the Frost Giants had begun once more.

…