"It seems... a bit stupid?"
Seeing Magmadar fall, Baise emerged from the back and kicked the head of the giant core hound. To be honest, she had been quite frightened by the terrifying aura the beast gave off after it Frenzied. But as Allen kited the giant creature around like a dumb dog, that fear vanished, replaced by an indescribable sense of "absurdity."
Yes. Absurdity.
And it looked almost "clumsily cute" in a strange way that made one want to laugh.
"Stupid? You won't think so after it takes a bite out of you."
Allen rolled his eyes irritably, then crouched down to loot the body with a heart full of trepidation. Just one second later, his previously stoic face broke into a look of unshielded joy.
Giantstalker's Leggings!
Legplates of Might!
Medallion of Steadfast Might!
"Red... it's red?!" [Note: "Red" is slang for extremely lucky/good loot]
"But what's with this 'one run trash, one run god-tier' luck?"
"No! Wait! Last time I think I used my right hand to loot, and this time I used my left..."
"Could it be that I'm being influenced by the "God's Left Hand and Devil's Right Hand"? I have to use my left hand to loot bodies!" [Note: That's Gallery Fake]
Allen rubbed his chin, falling into deep thought. While this sounded like pure superstition, how many WoW players weren't influenced by some form of "metaphysics"? From the Lucky Rabbit's Foot to designating specific people to enter the dungeon first, the evolution of loot-luck metaphysics had gone through at least seven or eight stages.
'From now on, I only loot with the left hand! It's decided!'
Having settled his looting posture, he immediately equipped the Giantstalker's Leggings. He then tossed the Medallion of Steadfast Might and the Legplates of Might to the martial artist. "Here! Your good stuff has arrived!"
"Oh? New armor!"
A look of joy appeared on Bodoro's face as he equipped them without hesitation. Instantly, the massive boost to Strength and Stamina from the two items made him notice an extraordinary change. He couldn't help but grin. "This feeling of constantly becoming stronger... it's truly wonderful!"
"Yeah! There's nothing more exciting than feeling yourself getting stronger and stronger," Allen agreed without hesitation. To some extent, he was addicted to this feeling too, which was why he had become the way he was.
"What about me? Isn't there anything I can use?" Baise, wearing a partial Shadowcraft set, pointed to her own nose.
As the weakest member of the small team, she felt the incredible boost from equipment most keenly. It could be said that her current self was already many dimensions stronger than she had been just a few days ago. Especially the neuro-reflex speed boost from high Agility gear. It felt like she was a different person; most monster movements now looked like they were in slow motion.
Allen shrugged helplessly. "Sorry, the drops are completely random. There's nothing for you yet. But there are at least six more BOSSes ahead. Four of them drop two items, and two drop three. You still have a chance."
"Completely random, huh..." Baise's lips twitched slightly. Her luck had never been particularly good.
With the equipment distribution settled, Allen walked straight to the feet of the second BOSS and crouched down to examine the glowing red rune. Obviously, this was a Rune of the Firelord.
Normally, one would need to go to the islands off the coast of Azshara to complete a quest chain and obtain Aqual Quintessence from Duke Hydraxis to extinguish it; otherwise, the ninth BOSS wouldn't appear. But the problem was that he could only enter the dungeon directly and couldn't access the wider world map. He couldn't do the quest, so he had to try other methods to douse the fire.
Thinking of this, Allen quickly activated his Transmutation ability to create a glob of liquid air and smeared it directly over the rune.
Hiss…
Accompanied by a piercing sound, the liquid air began to absorb heat and evaporate rapidly. Once it vanished, the brightness of the Rune of the Firelord had visibly dimmed.
'It's working! Again!'
Realizing he could extinguish the fire with his Nen, he immediately increased his Aura output, creating a block of solid air that radiated bone-chilling cold directly above the rune. Amidst a massive cloud of white vapor, the rune, originally as bright as a flame, began to fade more and more until it burst with a pop, leaving only a powerless piece of iron on the ground.
"Success!" Allen's lips curled into a slight smile.
Now the final obstacle on the road to Ragnaros was removed. The remaining questions were how many more Thorium arrows he could fire with multi-layered enhancements before his Aura ran out, and how long Bodoro could hold out as the MT. The more abilities he layered, the faster his Aura was consumed. Specifically, the Big Bang Arrow—a single long charge could consume thousands or even tens of thousands of units of Aura.
And so, the three humans and one wolf fought and rested, sequentially taking down the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth BOSSes.
The moment the "Arcane Explosion guy" (Shazzrah) fell, Bodoro's body finally hit its limit. He had even used a taboo technique that burned his life essence, a move that could lead to death, and he collapsed onto the floor unconscious with a heavy thud.
Seeing this, Baise rushed over, propping him up from the scorching ground. "Hey! Wake up! Are you okay?" she shouted anxiously.
"Don't worry, he's just exhausted and has lost a bit too much blood. He'll be fine after he eats and rests for a day. Also, feed him this."
Allen, panting for breath, tossed over a Major Healing Potion and then walked to the corpse to check the loot. Having pushed this far into the instance, even he felt like he was running on empty. Especially his HP on the Hunter class panel; it had nearly bottomed out during the fight with Baron Geddon, and he had only pulled through by relying on the Ghoul's tenacious self-healing. The Aura consumption was no joke; he had almost reached the point where he needed to tap into the reserves in the Red Dragon's stomach.
Of course, the harvest was massive.
BOSS #3 Gehennas dropped Giantstalker's Boots and Nightslayer Gloves; BOSS #4 Garr dropped Giantstalker's Helmet, Brutality Blade, and Drillborer Disk; BOSS #5 Baron Geddon dropped Obsidian Edged Blade and Lawbringer Spaulders; BOSS #6 Shazzrah dropped Nightslayer Boots and Giantstalker's Gloves.
Clearly, looting with the "God's Left Hand" was working. At least most of the drops were usable, and he had pulled every single piece of the Hunter set he needed. At this rate, he might just "graduate" in a single lockout. If this happened in the actual game, the raid would have 100% exploded; the casters and healers would have already started cursing the raid leader for having "Black Hands."
But now... it was simply perfect!
Including the bracers and belt that had dropped from trash mobs earlier, Allen had already completed his 6-piece set bonus. Not only were his Stamina and Agility greatly increased, but under the set effects, Lupos had also received a massive power-up.
After tossing the Nightslayer Boots to Baise, he immediately led the team out of the dungeon and back to their hotel room. Due to extreme exhaustion, everyone took a quick shower and collapsed into their beds to sleep without even eating.
They slept for over a dozen hours, not opening their eyes again until the early morning of the next day. It had to be said that the recovery speed of a Nen user was truly terrifying. Though they had looked half-dead yesterday, they were mostly recovered after a good sleep and a meal. While their Aura wasn't at 100% capacity, it was definitely enough to continue from yesterday's progress and take down two or three more BOSSes.