Chapter 12: First Heroic Difficulty Kill!

Charge!
Bloodlust!
The first boss, the Corrupted Treant of the Betrayed Treant dungeon, awaited. As everyone recovered, Morning Wind dashed forward, launching a bloodlust attack rather than Thunder Strike, since the boss was immune to slowing effects.
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Three free Gale Strikes, which didn’t trigger global cooldown, were unleashed in less than a second. Morning Wind then immediately switched to his shield to block the boss’s assault.
With one hand parrying attacks with the shield and the other hand wielding a one-handed sword for Devastate, he stacked five debuffs, weakening the boss’s defense by 25%, greatly boosting his burst damage.
“Use Purify!” The Corrupted Treant’s most dangerous move was a corrosive attack every three seconds, dealing 122 damage on Heroic difficulty. Without Purify to remove the effect, Morning Wind would lose a substantial amount of health.
Morning Wind’s health was a robust 2055 points. With Lin Shanshan’s Purify, even without a shield, Morning Wind could parry with his sword and still slay the boss. For safety, he stuck to using the shield. Shield parrying was much easier than sword parrying; unless Bloodlust triggered Gale Strike or he had two Rage Strikes available, Morning Wind only switched to sword for burst attacks.
Quick and simple! That was Zhang Xinting’s impression as she watched Morning Wind tank the first boss. In the Heavenly Slash team, pro players often ran circles around bosses, unlike Morning Wind, who stood his ground like a pillar, slaying the boss without needing to reposition. Though Zhang Xinting didn’t know him well, she sensed he could tank the boss easily and saved time by not moving, focusing on pure burst damage.
They pressed on, Morning Wind charging ahead! Boss two consisted of two gigantic treants. Zhang Xinting thought tanking both would be troublesome for Morning Wind, especially since Lin Shanshan’s spellcasting was slow and she stood still, making healing inefficient. But Zhang Xinting discovered a simple method for killing the second boss: luring one treant to circle the other, tanking only one. Morning Wind didn’t even bother pulling out his shield, parrying with his sword instead.
The third boss, a Redwood Treant, was the final challenge on Normal and Hard modes, but only the penultimate boss on Heroic. This boss posed a wipe risk due to constant summoning of small redwood treants—five to eight at a time on Heroic difficulty, making it quite troublesome.
Thunder Strike!
When the boss summoned mobs, Morning Wind used Thunder Strike to pull them in, then leapt back twice to cluster them. He unleashed Cleave and Whirlwind, quickly gaining aggro and led the mobs in circles around the boss. With his shield, Morning Wind blocked the small treants’ attacks and only suffered shadow bolt damage from the boss.
At first, Zhang Xinting worried if Morning Wind could hold the mobs, hoping to help kite them. But he handled it effortlessly. His Cleave and Whirlwind dealt massive damage and generated high aggro in defensive stance, and Thunder Strike kept the mobs firmly on him.
With the mobs swiftly dispatched, the Redwood Treant boss was no longer a threat. Many pro teams only made it this far; the final boss, the Burning Treant, was notoriously hard to defeat.
“I’ve fought the Burning Treant. Its spell damage is tremendous; each Fireball deals 800 damage, and tanks can only take two. The boss also casts Scorch, causing a burning effect—120 fire damage every two seconds. Most troublesome is when its health falls below 30%, it summons Burning Bomb Treants. Touching a bomb triggers 500 fire damage,” Zhang Xinting explained, recalling how her pro team in Heavenly Slash wiped at this last stage on Heroic.
“This sounds tricky,” Morning Wind mused, sitting down to strategize. The Burning Treant’s spell damage was high, and spells couldn’t be parried or blocked.

Morning Wind reviewed his skills and calculated quickly. “Xinting, keep your leopard pet beside you. When I move to your side, let the leopard block Fireball for me. Combined with my Shield Reflect, it’ll be manageable.”
Zhang Xinting, a pro player, had reliable controls. Morning Wind felt confident she could handle her pet to intercept Fireballs. Lin Shanshan’s healing alone wouldn’t suffice, especially since she also needed to use Purify to remove Scorch. With a mediocre healer, only unconventional methods would work.
“Using the leopard to absorb Fireballs is clever. Is it the same for Burning Bomb Treants?” Zhang Xinting instantly understood. Spell attacks couldn’t be parried or dodged, but if spells hit another target first, it changed everything. Unlike older web games, spells in this holographic MMO didn’t pass through other targets once locked. If the leopard blocked a Fireball before Morning Wind, he’d avoid the damage. Of course, this trick could only be used once, since the leopard’s health was just over 1000.
“No need for the bombs. I’ll move to your side, lure the bombs over, then jump back when they approach. We’ll focus fire and burst them down. Minimize the boss’s bomb summons.” The final phase was all about damage; the boss summoned bombs every thirty seconds, and without quick kills, a wipe was inevitable.
Pulling the boss!
Morning Wind’s opening was always the same—charge in, followed by Bloodlust. Since this boss was a spellcaster, he only used his shield for Shield Reflect; otherwise, he maximized his damage output.
Shield Reflect!
The Burning Treant threw a massive Fireball every ten seconds, dealing 800 damage. The smaller Fireballs, cast every 2.5 seconds, dealt only 240 damage—manageable. Morning Wind used Shield Reflect for the first big Fireball, bouncing it back—a skill with a twenty-second cooldown.
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Rage Strike! Morning Wind unleashed Rage Strike, scoring a critical hit. The two one-handed swords dealt a total of 4000 damage. After Giant Strike, which ignored 100% defense, his attacks were even fiercer. With Rage Strike’s critical, he triggered another Rage Strike, swinging again immediately.
Bloodlust!
Luck was on Morning Wind’s side; another free Gale Strike was triggered during Giant Strike’s armor reduction. His left hand rapidly struck, dealing over 4300 damage.
Sword in Hand, Life in Hand: Damage reduction skill. Allows you to block attacks with your weapon, reducing 30% of damage taken for eight seconds. Cooldown: 2 minutes. Cost: None.
Both Weapon Warriors and Wild Leopard Warriors had this skill. Unlike Shield Wall, Sword in Hand allowed blocking with weapons rather than shields. Lin Shanshan’s spellcasting was unskilled and slow, especially since she had to alternate between healing and Purify for Scorch. So Morning Wind had to rely on skills to mitigate damage.
The 800-damage Fireball was reduced to 560, and the 240-damage small Fireball to 168—an impressive reduction.
Once Sword in Hand expired, Morning Wind’s health was restored enough to continue tanking the boss through a burst phase. As the team focused their attacks, the boss’s health neared 30%. When the boss prepared another Fireball, Morning Wind moved to Zhang Xinting, and the leopard intercepted the Fireball.
Heroic Throw!
Morning Wind didn’t forget to throw a Heroic Throw while waiting for the leopard to absorb the Fireball, then used Intercept to return to the boss, unleashing more burst skills.

“The boss is summoning Burning Bomb Treants!” Zhang Xinting alerted Morning Wind, concerned since he had already used his support skill. How would he evade this time?
She needn’t have worried. As the boss summoned five Burning Bomb Treants, Morning Wind used Thunder Strike to pull them in, then activated Heroic Leap to escape.
As the Burning Bomb Treants approached, Morning Wind sidestepped, then charged back to the boss and activated the warrior’s ultimate Recklessness and Skull Battle Banner.
Recklessness: Burst skill. Increases warrior’s critical chance by 30% for twelve seconds. Cooldown: 3 minutes. Cost: None.
Skull Battle Banner: Banner skill. Increases critical damage for all party and raid members within thirty meters by 30% for fifteen seconds. Cooldown: 3 minutes. Cost: None.
Recklessness boosted critical chance, while Skull Battle Banner increased critical damage. Combined, they unleashed devastating attacks. Morning Wind triggered Bloodlust for a free Gale Strike, applied Giant Strike for armor reduction, then delivered three more free Gale Strikes. With Recklessness boosting crit chance, he landed two crits, stacked two Rage Strikes, and immediately used them.
After exhausting his Berserker skills, Morning Wind switched to shield, activating Shield Wall for 60% damage immunity, then used Shield Bash and Heroic Strike for more burst.
When the Burning Treant summoned a second wave of Burning Bomb Treants, the rogue beauty, who had been attacking from behind, activated Shadow Cloak and rushed the bomb mobs, detonating them all. With Shadow Cloak’s immunity to spell damage, the bombs couldn’t harm her. Morning Wind no longer needed to run out, and Zhang Xinting didn’t have to shoot the bomb treants.
Guild Invitation: Player “Frost Snow?Xiaoting” invites you to join “Frost Snow Guild.” Accept?
Morning Wind wondered why Zhang Xinting invited him now, since his reputation was hardly on par with theirs. Still, since she extended the invitation, he clicked accept.
Shield Reflect!
Execute!
Execute: Finishing skill. Attempts to finish off a wounded enemy, dealing 350% attack damage. Can only be used on targets below 20% health. Cooldown: None. Cost: 30 Rage.
As Shield Wall ended, Morning Wind used Shield Reflect to bounce the boss’s Fireball, then activated Execute, blasting the boss and depleting the Burning Treant’s remaining health.
System: Congratulations to “Frost Snow Guild” for achieving the first Heroic kill of the Betrayed Treant dungeon. Party members: “Duan Morning Wind,” “Frost Snow?Xun,” “Frost Snow?Xiaoxue,” “Frost Snow?Xiaoting,” “Frost Snow?Shanshan.”