Vampire Princess Guide in Progress - Volume 1 Chapter 19

Chapter 19: Iris Knights Announcement

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【Attention to all players of 《Floating Island: Fragments of the Stars》…】

【After the event where players became unable to exit the game, late last night, the only remaining PVE guild, the 《Iris Knights》 guild, attempted to clear the second floor with all members and successfully reached the BOSS dungeon with high morale】

【However, in the subsequent BOSS battle against 「Minorius」 on the second floor, due to the significantly increased strength of the BOSS and team members’ inability to calmly handle mechanics under the high pressure of life-threatening situations, among the 25 members who participated in the BOSS battle, the following casualties occurred】

【Vice Guildmaster – Silver Shield Knight 「Lockias」 Lv.20】

【Knight 「Lien」 Lv.18】

【Mage 「Elune」 Lv.18】

【Mage 「Star Map」 Lv.15】

【Dark Assassin 「White Beak」 Lv.17】

【Great Hammer Warrior 「Anvil」 Lv.16】

【We pay the highest respect to these 6 Iris Knights who bravely sacrificed themselves】

【The Iris Knights guild officially announces that starting today, we will enter a period of silent activity and will not conduct any BOSS raids in the near future. At the same time, we will publish the latest intelligence about the BOSS 「Minorius」 that we have obtained so far】

【— Iris Knights Guildmaster, Karen Liu】

— This is the basic content of the announcement.

As for the information about the second floor BOSS mentioned in the announcement, it was included as an attachment with access permissions set for everyone, revealing the current statistics of the second floor BOSS.

The raid failed, even that strongest guild also…

Just as some people said, even the most elite group of players couldn’t defeat the second floor BOSS.

And there were 6 casualties among the members. The players on the list even had levels generally higher than the Lv.15 that Nolan had originally expected, with Vice Guildmaster Lockias, who served as the main tank (primary damage absorber), even reaching Lv.20.

This was definitely not a challenge undertaken without preparation. All participating players had raised their levels to above Lv.15, which would have given them a significant numerical advantage if the BOSS had maintained its strength from the closed beta period.

After all, the average baseline level requirement for the second floor BOSS was Lv.10, and they were already 5 levels above that.

But now… or perhaps the numbers were sufficient, but as the announcement mentioned, some people didn’t calmly handle the mechanics properly.

Even if they were closed beta players, even if they were familiar with the combat in this world, when they saw their HP values decreasing and the thought flashed through their minds that “if you die, you really die,” the fear of death would instantly flood their entire body like a tidal wave.

“So they failed.” Nolan closed the chat window of the World Channel.

“These people on the list… they all died in the BOSS battle, right?” Cross looked at that heart-wrenching list of names and suddenly felt something indescribable in her heart, making her feel a pang of grief and discomfort.

The sacrifice of these players was being announced in a somewhat honorable way.

Nolan nodded slightly and said, “Although the announcement is written very rationally, without any personal emotions. But Guildmaster Karen’s decision to stop guild activities is enough to show how much of a blow this incident was to the Iris Knights.”

“I just saw that even the vice guildmaster seems to have…”

“Yes. Lockias… that guy was a good person. And he was the main tank of the Iris Knights. Dungeons with him never had OT issues.”

OT is the abbreviation for “Over Threat.”

It refers to when a player’s threat level against a target exceeds that of the tank, causing the monster to turn and attack that player instead.

In other words, with Lockias as the main tank, the monster’s aggro was firmly locked on him, never allowing the monster to attack others. He was a player who performed extremely well in the damage absorption role.

He and his silver great shield had always been able to give his teammates a very sufficient sense of security.

“Eh? Nolan, you knew him?” Cross asked.

“Not really. I think I’ve always forgotten to tell Cross, but I’m actually a closed beta player.”

“During the closed beta, I did cooperate with that guy somewhat. He was someone with a strong sense of teamwork and leadership, and he was very kind to others. I didn’t expect… he probably volunteered to cover the retreat or something, otherwise with his equipment that stacked health and defense, he should have been the least likely to die.”

Regarding the fact that Nolan was a closed beta player, Cross had actually already guessed it in her heart.

After all, even though they had entered the game together, Nolan was already very familiar with the entire game. Actually, the reason Cross wanted to play with Nolan in the first place was because she wanted to ask him to be her guide in the game.

But this was the first time she heard Nolan talk about events during the game’s closed beta period. Actually, many things happened during that time.

“Perhaps it’s as the announcement said, after successfully reaching the BOSS dungeon on the second floor, morale was high, and relying on their understanding of the mechanics from the closed beta period and their equipment level stats, they tried to take it down in one go.”

I heard that during the first floor raids, the team members were mostly only at Lv.3~Lv.5, and they wiped more than 20 times purely due to the numerical pressure being too great. At that time, all the major guilds were competing for the first kill of the floor BOSS, with barely any level grinding, so they were basically relying on skill.

But when raiding the second floor, because their numbers were completely sufficient, they became somewhat overconfident.

“Mmm…” Cross pursed her lips and responded softly.

Although Nolan spoke so calmly, she could see that his mood was not light either.

The Iris Knights, as the last guild, had now also come to a halt.

But at least they hadn’t disbanded.

Nolan downloaded the BOSS information from the announcement and looked at it carefully, then turned his gaze to his equipment panel, facing those rows of attribute values, seeming to lower his gaze and start calculating something…

After a few minutes, Nolan belatedly realized that he had been immersed in the data panel and had completely left Cross hanging.

And because she saw Nolan’s serious expression, Cross had been quietly avoiding disturbing him, just silently staring at him with her gaze, blinking her big eyes, until Nolan came back from his thoughts.

“Ah, I’m sorry. I was lost in thought just now. Do you want to continue farming equipment in the surrounding area?”

Compared to experience points, what the first floor could provide was already somewhat weak. As the level increased, the experience requirements became higher and higher, but they still didn’t have green quality weapons, so farming equipment had become the main purpose.

“Yes! Let’s farm until dark today!” Cross said with a very energetic appearance, raising her magic staff.

She seemed to have completely lost her fear of first floor combat.

This was a good thing, as she had gradually acquired the ability to survive independently.

“Then I’ll have to rely on your ranged magic to improve efficiency, and remember to always keep an eye on your MP value.”