Chapter 40: Shattered Bucket
In Hell mode, Gaimer, the Sword Master, possessed two additional abilities compared to his Heroic mode counterpart: Earthshatter Slash and Arcing Slash. One was a mid-to-short-range strike that slammed into the ground with force, while the other swept out in a close-range cone, threatening anyone standing in front of him.
Before the battle began, everyone assumed the third Boss would be far more troublesome than the first two.
Yet once the fight actually started, they quickly realized something unexpected.
Gaimer simply wasn’t difficult.
Aside from having slightly higher armor than expected, the man fought like a glorified training dummy. Surrounded on all sides and hammered relentlessly by attacks, he barely managed to show off his new abilities before his health bar dropped to zero.
"...That simple?" Flynn looked around at the others, clearly surprised.
Let-There-Be-Light also looked confused. Even with the two additional abilities, Gaimer had been far easier to deal with than they had anticipated. Compared to the previous Boss, Rhaess, this fight almost felt anticlimactic.
Not-A-Bystander flicked his hair back and struck a pose. "You’re welcome. That’s what a real tank looks like."
Seeing that none of them had a clear explanation, Flynn chuckled quietly. "Let me ask my friend how their run is going."
He opened his message panel and sent a quick inquiry to Chad.
Chad’s team, as it turned out, was currently in the middle of a tense situation. They had already defeated Rhaess and killed the Sword Master, and were now making their way toward the Prince’s chamber.
When Chad heard that Flynn’s team had also cleared Gaimer, he immediately burst out in disbelief.
"That’s impossible! Your progress was way behind ours. When we were fighting Rhaess, you guys were still stuck clearing the corridor. How could you possibly catch up so fast?"
"Believe it or not, that’s up to you," Flynn replied calmly. "I’m just asking something. Was the Sword Master basically a training dummy for you guys too? Like, weirdly easy?"
"He didn’t have many tricks," Chad admitted after a moment. "Honestly, he was much easier than Rhaess."
Then his voice turned suspicious again.
"Wait, that part isn’t the weird one. What I want to know is how you got past that annoying woman."
"I kited her," Flynn replied after thinking for a moment.
That seemed to be the key. If he hadn’t taken over the kiting, there was no way Not-A-Bystander could have handled both the Boss and the adds at the same time.
Chad relayed Flynn’s answer to his own team, half as a joke.
The reaction was immediate.
"That’s complete nonsense," the team’s Rogue scoffed loudly. "A Rogue kiting a melee trash mob is barely manageable. Kiting a Boss? Does he think he’s the God of Rogues or something?"
"Who knows," Chad said with a laugh.
Just then, another message from Flynn appeared.
"The buckets the Boss throws can be destroyed."
Chad froze for a moment.
’Destroyed?’
The implication hit him almost instantly. If the buckets could be destroyed mid-air, then players wouldn’t get drenched, which meant they wouldn’t suffer the crippling movement slowdown.
He slowly looked up at the other members of his team.
"The buckets thrown by Rhaess and those Gardeners," he said carefully. "They can actually be broken. Did any of you try that?"
The group exchanged confused glances. Everyone shook their heads, only one Ranger timidly raised his hand.
"I tried once," he admitted quietly. "But I couldn’t aim properly."
"Damn it, why would you even try something so pointless?"
"Yeah, seriously. Boss abilities aren’t meant to be dodged like that."
As the debate broke out, Chad stayed silent and listened carefully.
He knew Flynn well enough to understand one thing: his friend wasn’t the kind of person who bragged without substance.
After a moment, he sent another message.
"Did you guys record the run?"
"I didn’t," Flynn replied, "but one of my teammates probably did."
"If you don’t mind, send me the video later so I can take a look. No rush. Oh, and what’s your party leader’s name? I’ll check the progress tracker."
In Hell mode dungeons, the system maintained a Boss kill leaderboard displaying the top fifty teams with the fastest progress. When multiple teams reached the same point, the ranking was determined by the time they killed the most recent Boss.
At the moment, eighteen teams had already cleared three Bosses.
Chad’s team was ranked fourteenth.
"Our leader is Let-There-Be-Light," Flynn replied. "I’ll ask about the video."
"Let-There-Be-Light..." Chad muttered to himself.
"That guy’s a solid player. A real expert."
Still, he couldn’t help wondering how Flynn had somehow ended up running a dungeon with a team like that.
He quickly opened the dungeon progress list and located Let-There-Be-Light’s party. They were currently sitting at eighteenth place.
The party list showed several names.
Let-There-Be-Light.
Not-A-Bystander.
Amy.
Peerless Blood-Sword.
And finally, Flynn’s Rogue character: Night-Stalker.
Chad read through them slowly.
"I’ve heard of Let-There-Be-Light and Not-A-Bystander... but who are the others?" he muttered. "Amy... that sounds like a girl’s name, doesn’t it?"
Back in Flynn’s group, Let-There-Be-Light hesitated slightly when Flynn brought up the request for the video.
Under normal circumstances, sharing a dungeon recording wasn’t a big deal. But during a world-first race, it was considered sensitive information.
If the video leaked, the difficulty of the first three Bosses would drop dramatically. Other teams could analyze the mechanics and weaknesses within minutes, and before long a wave of competitors would catch up.
Still, since Flynn had asked, refusing outright felt awkward.
Before he could respond, Peerless Blood-Sword spoke up coldly.
"A video like that is classified information. How can you just hand it out?"
"Oh, That’s actually a thing?" Flynn blinked in surprise.
He had no idea the recording carried that much weight, but the moment he heard their explanation he immediately understood.
They were racing for a world first.
Amy glanced at Flynn and spoke gently.
"How about this. Once the world first is decided, whether we get it or not, you can give your friend the video. Right now it really can’t be shared. If you check the official forums, you’ll see that almost no one has posted Hell mode dungeon videos yet."
Seeing the seriousness in their expressions, Flynn suddenly smiled.
"I had no idea it was that important," he said casually. "But if it affects the world first race, then it’s no problem. My friend isn’t in a hurry anyway. He just doesn’t believe we cleared it that easily."
Peerless Blood-Sword snorted.
"Tell him to check the leaderboard himself."
At that moment, Let-There-Be-Light suddenly asked, "What’s your friend’s name?"
"Chad..." Flynn began instinctively, then quickly corrected himself. "His in-game name is Blood-Stained-Boxers. Yeah... the name’s a bit crude."
"Blood-Stained-Boxers?!"
Let-There-Be-Light and Not-A-Bystander shouted at the same time.
Both of them were veterans of the gaming world and instantly recognized the name.
Let-There-Be-Light gave a helpless laugh.
"If it’s him, then there’s no problem giving him the video."
Peerless Blood-Sword stared in disbelief. "Why? That name’s ridiculous."
Not-A-Bystander glanced at him with mild disdain.
"Blood-Stained-Boxers has over thirty thousand points in the World Gaming Alliance rankings. He’s ranked 4278th in the world and 389th in North America. During the first major expansion of Dragon’s Age, he was the first player to establish a guild and led the world-first kill of the ancient world boss, the Elder Flame Dragon."
He paused briefly before adding dryly, "Do you really think a player like that needs to watch our dungeon video?"
Peerless Blood-Blade fell silent.
’This guy’s knowledge is way too shallow,’ Not-A-Bystander thought.
"Besides," Let-There-Be-Light added, "their team cleared Gaimer before we did. They’re probably already heading toward the Prince’s chamber."
He turned toward Amy and nodded.
"Package the video and send it to Night-Stalker. We’ll take a five-minute break while you do that."
Amy nodded and immediately started working.
As a Ranger, her camera perspective during battles was the widest and most stable, making her recordings the most useful.
The external hardware used for Age of Conquest was extremely powerful. In addition to running the game, it integrated a complete chat and communication system. Players could switch interfaces at any time to exchange messages, transfer files, and speak with friends.
Amy quickly downloaded the video she had recorded, compressed it into a package, and sent it directly to Flynn.
The moment Flynn received it, he forwarded it to Chad. Then he turned to Let-There-Be-Light and nodded.
"Thanks."
"No problem." Let-There-Be-Light chuckled. "No wonder you’re so skilled. Being friends with Blood-Stained-Boxers explains a lot."
"Is he really that amazing?" Flynn asked curiously. "You guys sound like you know him well."
Let-There-Be-Light looked at him in surprise.
"You seriously don’t know?"
He laughed softly before continuing.
"You’ve seen my skills, right? I’m pretty confident in them. But even so, my ranking in the North American region is outside the top nine hundred. Your friend, on the other hand, is in the top four hundred. That’s an incredible achievement."
"In fact," he added, "once you get into the range between the top one hundred and five hundred players, the skill gap becomes very small. At that level, luck and circumstances start playing a big role."
Not-A-Bystander nodded in agreement.
"Unfortunately, your friend’s luck hasn’t been great. His guild suffered a serious incident that caused a huge loss of momentum, and he himself disappeared for quite a while. That’s why his ranking hasn’t climbed higher."
He shrugged.
"If not for that, he probably could have broken into the top one hundred elite players. That’s why people like us keep an eye on him. We even ran content together once a long time ago, though he probably doesn’t remember."
Flynn listened quietly. He had never known this side of Chad’s past.
The thought made him purse his lips slightly. It must feel pretty good to have people speak about you with that kind of respect behind your back.
For a moment, Flynn felt a small trace of envy. Chad had clearly achieved something that others recognized and admired.
Meanwhile, Chad’s team had also called for a short break, he opened the video Flynn had sent and started watching.
Less than thirty seconds later, his expression changed.
Without a word, he immediately copied the file and sent it to the Rogue in his team.
"You should watch this too," Chad said. "See the difference."
"See the difference?" the Rogue laughed. "Don’t worry, bro. I’ll definitely help you beat your friend."
He opened the video with a grin, half a minute later, the grin disappeared. His face turned pale as he stared at the screen in silence.
The others immediately became curious and asked Chad to send them the video as well. One by one, they opened it.
After watching for a while, every single person in the group looked as if they had just seen a ghost.
"Boxer..." someone finally said slowly. This Rogue. You’re telling me he’s your friend? You sure he’s not a GM?"
"Pretty sure."
"Then he’s gotta know somebody! How the hell is a Rogue tanking trash mobs? Where did he get that kind of evasion? Is this some kind of bug?"
"I don’t know if it’s a bug or not," Chad said seriously. "But listen carefully. Don’t leak this video anywhere for now."
The others froze.
"Why?"
"I need to contact the game company."
They stared at him in disbelief.
"You’re going to report your friend?"
"Report my ass!" Chad snapped angrily. "I’m going to confirm with him first whether he used a bug or third-party software. If he did, I’ll make him report it himself before the company finds out."
The room went completely quiet.
Everyone understood the seriousness of the situation.
If it was a bug, that would actually be the better outcome. Before the game launched, the developers had proudly announced that the game contained no bugs. If any were discovered and exploited, they promised not to confiscate the gains.
But third-party software was a different matter entirely.
That meant a ban.
Not just a character ban, but a ban tied to personal identity information, with absolutely no room for negotiation.
Chad took a deep breath and fast-forwarded the video to the Rhaess fight.
The beginning looked ordinary enough.
The Ranger kited the adds while the Tank tried to maintain aggro. However, it was obvious that Not-A-Bystander was slightly weaker than Chad’s own Tank and couldn’t handle the Boss plus two trash mobs simultaneously.
Then Flynn suddenly stepped in.
He attacked Rhaess, pulled her aggro away from the Tank, and retreated smoothly down the corridor.
"Clean." Chad couldn’t help it. The movement was fluid. Only somebody who really knew what they were doing moved like that. The Ranger’s Concussive Shot hit perfect timing too, gave Flynn exactly what he needed.
Then the scene reached the moment that truly shocked him.
Flynn suddenly leaped out of the corridor. While airborne, he threw two bombs with astonishing precision, striking the bucket Rhaess had just hurled through the air.
The bucket exploded before it could land.
"Holy hell!" Chad shouted, jumping up from his seat. "How did he pull that off?!"
Now he finally understood what Flynn meant when he said the buckets could be destroyed.
The others were startled by Chad’s sudden shout and quickly skipped forward in their own videos.
When they reached the same moment, the room fell silent again.
Every single one of them was an expert player, roughly on the same level as Let-There-Be-Light or Not-A-Bystander.
Even so, the sight of Flynn throwing those two bombs mid-air left them completely stunned.
After a long moment, the team’s Rogue spoke in a trembling voice.
"Could this guy be... Starfall?"
’Starfall.’
The legendary player known as the God of Rogues.
The undisputed number one Rogue in North America, holding eighty thousand points in the World Gaming Alliance rankings and standing proudly at third place in the entire region.