031 Brotherhood: Friendship Beneath the Blade!

As expected! The final boss had become stronger!

Upon arriving at the Scorched Lands, Chenfeng and the others saw that the Burning Withered Treant now wielded a Brotherhood Sword, glowing red-hot in its hand. Clearly, by completing the quest in the way the undead mage “Shade” had, the boss had gained a special weapon: the Blazing Brotherhood Sword. Chenfeng didn’t know the details, but it was evident that this weapon must be a quest item tied to Shade.

“The Brotherhood Sword is definitely mine!” the monk declared. He never shied from a duel; in his eyes, Chenfeng and the berserker’s damage output wasn’t high enough to pose a threat. Even if Shade, who had gained the Blackwater Withered Treant, joined in, it wouldn’t trouble him. After all, the monk considered himself a master, blessed with talents in two specializations—what had he to fear?

“Monk, I’ll help you share the damage!” Instead of shifting into his ferocious humanoid panther form, Chenfeng transformed into a giant bear, staying at the monk’s side as the fight began to help absorb damage.

“Alright, but if the boss casts a massive fireball, you’ll have to help me block it!” The monk glanced at Chenfeng’s health, which had leapt to 2,500; two fireballs dealing 800 damage each shouldn’t be a problem. Besides, with the boss now wielding the Brotherhood Sword for close combat, even the monk doubted he could withstand every blow.

A sweeping strike!

—1183
—683

“Damn, the boss hits hard in melee!” the monk cried in alarm. The Burning Withered Treant’s blazing Brotherhood Sword crashed down, carving away over 1,100 of the monk’s health, while the white bear took nearly 700 damage. The berserker, attacking from behind the boss, suffered much less in comparison.

Clearly, the Burning Withered Treant not only possessed powerful spells but now boasted devastating melee attacks as well. Chenfeng leapt back, reverting to human form, then quickly shifted into the form of a Tree of Life, casting Rejuvenation on both himself and the monk for sustained healing. Healing spells did generate aggro, but far less than dealing damage, so Chenfeng moved about, applying Rejuvenation to each party member. This kept his threat even lower than the priest’s.

“Hurry up and get back to dealing damage, this boss is brutal!” The berserker had already called on Chenfeng to attack four times now; but Chenfeng was either absorbing damage for the monk or busy casting Rejuvenation, wasting precious time. The worst part was, the berserker noticed Chenfeng’s threat was now lower than the priest’s—a dangerous situation.

Chenfeng shifted back into his panther form, unleashing frenzied attacks, raising his threat just above the priest’s.

“Useless damage dealer, what’s the point of keeping you?” The berserker initiated a vote to kick Chenfeng from the party, but the monk and Shade both refused, keeping Chenfeng in the team.

“You brat, what’s wrong with you? You’re using two green-quality weapons and I haven’t said a word, but now you want to kick my off-tank? If you want to die, just say so and I’ll kick you out myself!” The monk had long found the berserker disagreeable; not only did he hide information, his damage was low, and yet he had the nerve to team up with the beautiful priest. While Chenfeng’s damage was modest, he could absorb hits for the monk and heal everyone—he was invaluable.

Shade glanced at Chenfeng, understanding the situation. He could have controlled his own damage output too, but it was too late for that now. The priest, for some reason, had completely run out of mana, and the boss was down to just 30% health. Chenfeng had been watching the priest—after the last fight, she hadn’t restored much mana before jumping into this battle.

“No way, already out of mana? All right, everyone, just go all out!” The monk felt despair; if he went down now, he’d want to cry. Chenfeng transformed into a Tree of Life again, but only cast Rejuvenation for steady healing. As a hidden class, the others didn’t know the full extent of Chenfeng’s abilities, and since he’d only ever used this one skill, the monk didn’t realize Chenfeng could have acted as a full healer.

Alone, Chenfeng’s healing wasn’t enough, and the monk fell. The Burning Withered Treant turned on Shade next; though the undead mage had his Blackwater Withered Treant for protection, he couldn’t hold off the boss for long and soon fell as well.

Chenfeng’s threat was now even lower than the berserker’s, so the boss turned to attack the berserker. The berserker switched to his shield, using Shield Reflect to bounce a massive fireball back at the boss. Meanwhile, the priest chugged a mana potion and resumed healing the warrior. At this moment, Chenfeng reverted to human form and used a combat resurrection skill to revive Shade.

Shapeshifters possessed a combat resurrection ability, instantly reviving a teammate during battle. The revived ally’s threat level was reset to zero, so the boss would not target Shade.

Seeing that Chenfeng stopped attacking and sat back to watch, Shade did the same and asked, “Why did you save me?”

“I figured you must have another quest to complete. We’re both hidden classes—more friends means more paths,” Chenfeng replied. He knew that it was rare to earn a favor from this undead mage, and since he already had two Brotherhood Swords, another wouldn’t make much difference; better to help Shade complete his quest.

“I’ll add you as a friend,” Shade said readily, sending a friend request.

The berserker, realizing his plot had been exposed, stopped blaming Chenfeng and Shade for not attacking. After all, he’d started with underhanded tricks. “You think I can’t handle this?”

“With both berserker and shield talents, how could you possibly fail?” Chenfeng sneered. He’d noticed earlier that the berserker used a defensive stance from the shield specialization, so while his attack rhythm was fast, his damage output was a bit lower.

Totem Huangquan, the berserker, knew Chenfeng had seen through him, or else he wouldn’t have acted with such subtlety. “Since you know I have dual talents, do you still think you can beat me?”

Dual berserker and shield specializations? Shade hadn’t realized this, focused as he was on his own quest. That made the coming contest for the Brotherhood Sword much more uncertain.

“I just want to know: have you maxed out all your berserker and shield skills? You should know, hidden classes have all skills maxed. I can tank, deal damage, and heal—think you can beat me?” Even professional players had to weigh their strength when showing off before Chenfeng. The berserker really thought victory was in the bag.

—2203

Suddenly, the Burning Withered Treant unleashed a sweeping strike, instantly slashing the berserker’s health. By the time he tried to activate Shield Wall, it was already too late. Even with the priest healing, he couldn’t last much longer. Did he really think he could stand up to the enhanced Burning Withered Treant? Only the combined efforts of the monk and Chenfeng had managed to tank it before. Normally, a sweeping strike dealt heavy damage to the main target and lighter damage to secondary targets, but this boss’s version dealt extreme damage, split among party members. Chenfeng had already proven that.

“You two better remember this!” Totem Huangquan hadn’t expected the boss’s sweeping strike to be so deadly. Realizing he couldn’t survive, and knowing the others wouldn’t help, he spat this line before falling.

At that point, Chenfeng’s threat wasn’t much higher than the priest’s, and since she’d been healing Totem Huangquan, her threat had surpassed Chenfeng’s. Once the berserker fell, she followed suit.

Rejuvenation!
Bear form!

Chenfeng cast Rejuvenation on himself, then charged forward, activating Savage Defense to reduce incoming damage by 50% and tanked the boss. With the boss at only 7% health, Shade had his Blackwater Withered Treant soak the fireballs and unleashed his ultimate. The rest was easy work.

The Burning Withered Treant fell, and Chenfeng stepped back, not even glancing at the loot. He worried that approaching the Brotherhood Sword would trigger a fight with the others—this was, after all, a party-killing weapon. But no matter who picked it up, a duel would be necessary. Shade simply strode forward to check the drops.

[Black Tree Charcoal]: Rare material. This ever-burning charcoal, a component of the Burning Withered Treant, never goes out.

It was a rare material—Chenfeng had fought the boss many times without ever seeing it drop, but now, in the midst of a quest, six pieces had appeared at once. Black Tree Charcoal was in high demand for leveling up blacksmithing; many weapons required its flame for forging.

Chenfeng gave up his claim to the Brotherhood Sword. With only two left, Shade received it automatically. He immediately used a scroll, summoning a fire elemental that picked up the Brotherhood Sword. The blade turned crimson, just like the one wielded by the Burning Withered Treant.

[Flame Warrior]: Rare summoned creature. To gain greater power, the Flame Warrior willingly becomes the slave of a warlock.

“Two quests completed in a row—thanks!” Shade immediately blacklisted Totem Huangquan; that so-called friend had shown his true colors over the Brotherhood Sword. A virtual stranger, Chenfeng, had not only saved him but helped him secure the sword. Their friendship now surpassed any weapon—a sword capable of ending a guild had become the witness to their bond.

“Haha, this is just my alternate character; my main is a warrior named Duan Chenfeng.” Chenfeng knew he’d earned a true friend. He might have given up a Brotherhood Sword, but this friend was well worth it.

“I didn’t expect it to be you,” Shade said with some surprise; the game hadn’t been out long and yet Chenfeng already had an alternate character with a hidden class. Shade had thought himself impressive, but Chenfeng surpassed him.

“You know me?” Chenfeng had always known Shade was taciturn, but now he was opening up. Clearly, there was a world of difference between friends and strangers.

“We’re both wanted by the Divine War Guild.” Not many players had a bounty from that guild; the most famous were Chenfeng and Shade, because neither had been killed by the guild yet, and both had claimed numerous guild lives.

“If you ever need help, just call on me!” Chenfeng hadn’t realized they were both on the Divine War Guild’s wanted list. He didn’t ask why; since Shade hadn’t inquired about him, it was only polite not to pry.

Just as Chenfeng pulled out a barrel of beer, the chubby monk ran his corpse back into the dungeon, making his way over. But the Brotherhood Sword had already been distributed; it was his own fault for not being present, so he had no right to complain about the loot!

“Damn it, where’s my Brotherhood Sword?” the monk bellowed, rolling over to start a fight.