Under the alternating attacks of the two Guardian Knights, Kalul quickly built up a massive amount of aggro. However, compared to when they fought elites, it was clear the four healers felt significantly more pressure.
Moreover, Shui Bo and Bai Yu clearly hadn't adapted to the boss's attack patterns; their dodging was stiff, managing to evade only one out of two attacks, so they took quite a bit of damage. Still, the healers' healing was noticeably easier than the last time they tried Kalul, a fact clearly reflected in their magic consumption.
Originally, Chenmo Canjian was worried they wouldn't be able to tank it, but that thought turned out to be unnecessary. The four healers worked in orderly fashion, unlike the previous attempts where they had no time to breathe and couldn't stop healing, or the two main tanks would die instantly.
This was actually quite normal. In the settings of the Divine Realm, level 10 was a major threshold. Before level 10 was an adaptation period, and once you reached it, the leniency disappeared. Therefore, a level 10, twenty-man, Hard-difficulty team dungeon was equivalent to running a level 5, twenty-man, Hell-difficulty dungeon at level 5 – how could it be easy?
Furthermore, Leaders possessed higher intelligence. To hold the boss's aggro and prevent it from attacking ranged DPS and healers required considerable skill, especially in terms of taunting techniques. Just holding aggro wasn't enough, as the boss wouldn't only attack the main tanks; it would still seize opportunities to slaughter the weakest healers first. This is where the main tanks' taunting ability came into play, giving the boss no chance to target the healers. Thus, the technical requirements for the main tanks were extremely high.
If it were the original two main tanks, they would have definitely done better than Shui Bo and Bai Yu. After all, their skills were truly excellent; they had just allocated their free attribute points incorrectly. Unfortunately, in the Divine Realm, there was no convenient feature like respecing. So, they could only ask the two to leave, and their task for a long time to come would be to constantly level up and desperately catch up on Strength and Agility, or the two would be completely useless.
"Now everyone can attack! Berserkers and Swordsmen, pay attention to assisting the main tanks in blocking attacks. A normal attack on the weapon or arm, if positioned correctly, can interrupt the boss's attack rhythm. Ranged, just focus all-out on dealing damage!" Shi Feng commanded as he saw that the two had stabilized the boss's aggro.
Instantly, the group rushed in to gang up on Kalul, while the ranged unleashed a bombardment of attacks.
-124, -137, -108, -189, -175...
Damage numbers popped up one after another above Kalul's head, though the overall damage wasn't high. The strongest among them was the Berserker, Chenmo Canjian. A single normal attack dealt 266 damage, and one skill, Heavy Strike, dealt 448. Next was Ci Xin. Although he was an Assassin with normal attacks only dealing around 120 damage, his attack speed was fast, and a single five-point Expose Weakness removed 587 health points.
Third place went to an elemental mage in the team, Mu Qing. She was the team leader of the elemental mage class in the Assassin Alliance, a top-notch player, and a famous beauty mage in the Star Moon Kingdom. She could rank among the top 100 elemental mages in the entire Star Moon Kingdom. Each of her attacks dealt 300-400 points of damage, but the casting time for spells was a bit longer, so her overall damage output was slightly weaker.
Chenmo Canjian originally wanted to say to Shi Feng, "See? Our team's damage output is awesome, right? Otherwise, why don't you join our guild, Nightwind? The position of First Vice Leader is yours!"
But when Chenmo Canjian saw Shi Feng charge behind Kalul and slash down with his sword, he was utterly stunned, and the words shriveled back in his throat.
Because Shi Feng casually swung two swords, dealing -395 and -376 damage. Then, a Level 10 Slash crit for 2137 damage. Immediately after, a Wind and Thunder Flash hit for -643, -832, -1102, adding an extra effect that increased damage taken.
Shi Feng then leaped high, raising his Abyssal sword, and descended from the sky, striking Kalul's large head with the force of thunder and fire. A heart-rending scream echoed out.
One skill, Inferno Thunder Blast, critted for 3312 damage, leaving the entire team dumbfounded.
If Shui Bo hadn't reacted quickly enough and used Taunt, followed immediately by Righteous Judgment, the top aggro would have been Shi Feng's.
"Ci Xin, where on earth did you find such an incredible Swordsman?" Mu Qing asked, her small mouth agape, turning to Ci Xin.
She didn't know much about Shi Feng because they were from different towns. She had always focused on leveling up and running dungeons to improve her equipment. Even after entering White River City, she hadn't met many who surpassed her.
So Mu Qing considered herself a top-tier player, but Shi Feng truly shocked her. Her highest damage was a critical hit of over seven hundred points, while Shi Feng casually dealt damage exceeding seven hundred and had just critted for over three thousand. It made her feel ashamed, realizing her self-proclaimed top-tier status was a joke.
"Hehe, isn't my big brother awesome? I knew how strong Brother Nightwind was right after I started playing the Divine Realm not long ago. With such formidable damage output, we've definitely got this Hard-difficulty first clear in the bag!" Ci Xin said proudly. After all, he was the one who brought Shi Feng in, and now Shi Feng's impressive performance stunned everyone, giving Ci Xin a lot of face.
"Tch, you're not Nightwind, what's there to be smug about? Can you deal over a thousand damage yourself?" Mu Qing rolled her eyes at Ci Xin.
"Miss Mu Qing, you flatter me too much. How could I compare to Brother Nightwind? He's the recognized god-tier expert in White River City; his output alone is worth more than ten of ours. If my damage is even a third of his, I'd be content," Ci Xin said with a bitter smile.
After all, Shi Feng was on the same level as Bai Qingxue. He and Shi Feng weren't even in the same league, so how could he possibly compare?
Even those who previously had minor complaints about Shi Feng no longer had any.
Because Shi Feng was too powerful. Not only was his attack damage super high, but his assistance in interrupting the boss's attack rhythm also won everyone's applause. Almost every attack included a strike aimed at the body of Kalul's saber, deflecting its trajectory slightly, making dodging much easier for the two main tanks and significantly reducing the healers' pressure.
At this moment, everyone finally understood what a true Swordsman was. Besides fierce attacks, they could also deftly assist the main tanks. Having such a Swordsman made conquering the dungeon so much easier. Even a rough estimate suggested their success rate had more than doubled.
Suddenly, Chenmo Canjian sent a private message to Mu Qing: "Mu Qing, you're the great beauty of our guild. Look how amazing Nightwind is; it would be such a waste not to recruit him into our guild. I'm a roughneck and not good at asking him directly, so I'll leave it to you to subtly hint at it. If you can get Nightwind to join our guild, I promise your benefits will triple, and you'll be promoted to Elder!"