Chapter 75: The Giant of Fire Element

Left-Handed Legend shot Ye Chen a resentful look, but finally, under the oppressive gaze of Thief-in-the-Night, he stepped toward the slowly awakening Fire Elemental Giant.

“Damn humans! How dare you disturb my slumber? I will let the flames devour your souls!” The Fire Elemental Giant rolled upright from the ground, the raging fire on its body surging wildly. With a sudden roar, it opened its mouth and spat a stream of violet-red flame, shooting straight at Left-Handed Legend.

“Ding, Fire Elemental Giant uses skill: Flame Roar.”

The system prompt echoed in everyone’s ears, and the party members’ faces changed drastically—they hadn’t expected the boss to unleash a big move right off the bat. Dragon-Teng Wildbull couldn’t help but exclaim, “Damn, that’s a real show of force! Don’t let that kid get one-shotted.”

Thief-in-the-Night felt a jolt of worry and glanced at Ye Chen, only to see his face completely calm, as if he had everything under control.

-512. The flames instantly engulfed Left-Handed Legend. When the damage number appeared above his head, everyone sucked in a breath of cold air. Fortunately, Left-Handed Legend had invested in stamina stats and was clad in a full bronze set, boasting a health pool of 880. If it had been any other Holy Priest, they would’ve been killed instantly.

“Heal, heal! Hurry up and heal me! I’m about to die!” As the flames subsided, Left-Handed Legend, his whole body charred black, appeared before everyone, shrieking like a violated maiden as he stared at his health bar, which was less than half full.

Several Holy Priest girls from Dragon-Teng rushed to cast Healing Spells on him, but Ye Chen waved a hand to stop them. “Don’t heal him yet. He hasn’t grabbed aggro. Anyone who heals now dies. Let him heal himself.”

“Ye Chen, you bastard! You son of a—!” Left-Handed Legend had no time to care about anything else. As a Holy Priest, he was used to leisurely healing from the back—he’d never tanked a boss before. Now, feeling the brush with death, he wished he could eat Ye Chen alive. Seeing the Fire Elemental Giant readying another strike and no one coming to his aid, he had no choice but to shakily chant Holy Light Healing on himself.

“Holy Priests, leave him be for now. Let him secure aggro first, then you can heal. Melee, get ready to move in. Ranged, prepare to attack.” As Ye Chen gave out orders, he began casting a Black Fireball.

“Brother Chen, what if the Fire Elemental Giant uses Flame Roar again? Won’t he be one-shotted?” Dragon-Teng Wildbull asked worriedly. Thief-in-the-Night and Dragon-Teng Starbreaker also looked over, clearly sharing the concern.

“He won’t. If a caster tanks the Fire Elemental Giant, it only uses Flame Roar on the first hit. Don’t worry.” Ye Chen replied calmly. All the guides were very clear on this—using a caster as the main tank was a trick he’d come up with himself. Even the top teams hadn’t discovered the secret of the splash damage.

Reassured by Ye Chen’s words, the group relaxed. In their minds, if Ye Chen said it, it must be true.

Sure enough, the Fire Elemental Giant’s next attack was just a regular fire spell, knocking around 200 health off Left-Handed Legend each time. Once he stabilized his health, Ye Chen immediately commanded the team to swarm the boss. Just as Ye Chen predicted, the Fire Elemental Giant focused solely on trading spells with Left-Handed Legend, never using the devastating Flame Splash again.

Dragon-Teng Starbreaker and Thief-in-the-Night exchanged glances, their eyes full of shock. They never knew the Fire Elemental Giant in the Rocky Forest could be handled this way. In the past, they’d suffered greatly at the hands of this quest monster…

The Fire Elemental Giant, as a pure quest boss, wasn’t particularly remarkable except for its tricky Flame Splash. Now that Ye Chen had neutralized that, and with over a dozen elite players attacking from all sides, the boss was soon in dire straits.

Within minutes, the Fire Elemental Giant’s health dropped below 10%. At most, it would last another minute before collapsing at their feet.

“Hah, Ye Chen, I thought you were so tough, but all this time you’ve just been relying on me. Hmph, you’re nothing special after all. Without me, which one of you noobs could tank this boss?” Left-Handed Legend, realizing he was in no danger, had long since recovered his composure. Now that the boss was about to go down under his tanking, his smugness returned full force.

“Yes, you’re amazing, you’re formidable. How about this—though the boss doesn’t drop loot, the experience is still significant. We’ll let you land the final blow so you get a bit more.” Ye Chen said with a grin.

Left-Handed Legend’s eyes lit up. “You mean it?”

“Of course. I’m the party leader—I make the call. The last blow is yours.”

“Brother Chen, why let him have it? It was your strategy—it should go to you,” Dragon-Teng Wildbull protested, clearly fed up with Left-Handed Legend.

“Exactly, if anyone deserves it, it’s Brother Chen,” the other team members chimed in, none of them fond of Left-Handed Legend.

“Hey, the leader’s decision is final. What’s it to you? Ye Chen, you’d better not go back on your word!” Left-Handed Legend glared at Ye Chen.

Ye Chen touched his nose and flashed a brilliant smile. “I won’t go back on my word. It’s all yours. Come on, let’s finish the boss.”

The team members exchanged helpless glances and could only obey Ye Chen’s arrangement, continuing to focus on the fight. Only Dragon-Teng Starbreaker and Thief-in-the-Night looked at Ye Chen with strange expressions, sensing something was up. Based on Ye Chen’s behavior so far, he hardly seemed like someone who would repay ingratitude with virtue.

5%, 4%, 3%, 2%…

Staring intently at the boss’s health bar, Left-Handed Legend grew more anxious. “Stop attacking! Stop! This boss is mine—mine! All of you, back off! Stay away!”

“Alright, everyone stop. We keep our word. Clear out and let him have the boss,” Ye Chen signaled, halting Dragon-Teng Wildbull and the others who were about to finish the boss themselves. Then he asked Left-Handed Legend, “Do you need us to move even further away?”

“Back off! Go at least 50 yards out! Don’t even think of stealing my last hit!” Left-Handed Legend, thrilled at the prospect of the kill, shooed Ye Chen’s group away impatiently.

“Alright, everyone over here. Let’s stand back and watch—don’t get in his way.” Ye Chen led the grudging players to an open spot dozens of yards away.

Seeing Ye Chen’s group really move away, Left-Handed Legend grew even more excited and started assaulting the boss with Light of Retribution as if it cost nothing.

-326, -355, -318. With its remaining sliver of health, the Fire Elemental Giant fell!

A beam of white light descended from the sky—Left-Handed Legend leveled up!

“I leveled up! I leveled up! Hell yeah—” Left-Handed Legend shouted in excitement, but before he could finish, a chilling system prompt echoed in his ears.

“Ding, Fire Elemental Giant has died. Its Flaming Body will lose control and explode in 3 seconds. Explosion damage: 10,000. Three-second countdown starting.”

3, 2, 1—boom!

Flames erupted everywhere. This time, before the damage numbers even appeared, Left-Handed Legend had vanished without a trace.

“I’m done playing with you lot! Ye Chen, you just wait!” came the furious shout of the resurrected Left-Handed Legend in the party channel, before he quit the group altogether. He finally realized that Ye Chen had let him land the last hit just to set him up…