“FIREBALL INCOMING!” Moloch shouted as he tightly held on to Jin’s head. The dungeon supplier pulled the reins of his black sludge panda mount to evade the incoming projectile by jumping over it. For once, Jin’s tactician had decided to come out and act as the bait, luring the enemies to work with newfound vigour.
Jin wasn’t alone in his counterattack assault. He had followed the advice of Hou Fei to recruit the cultivators into his cavalry team to rush through the sky bridge infested with Demons.
—–
“Any Pandawans still around at this time?” Jin asked in the open pandemonium voice channel.
“Boss Jin?” It was a familiar and somewhat nostalgic sound to the Pandawans who had toiled for the past few hours. Slowly, more of the Pandawans reported their presence and Jin could not believe it. Almost all of them were still around for the raid despite it being this late.
“You can’t actually blame us since our generous donor here had decided to sponsor all of our expenses just this once. Although, I don’t think anyone of us would mind being there next time.” Blind Bat Cultivator Yue Han not so subtly hinted at Xiong Da contributions.
“Only if everyone in the Pandawan chat group appears. Otherwise no free rides!” Hungry Hippo Cultivator Xiong Da imposed on that condition very strictly since he wanted there to be unity among the Pandawans.
“He just wants to spend money after work hours. And here I keep telling him not to spend that much. Boss Jin had already warned him that if he doesn’t watch it, the ‘unlimited’ fund for his help back then will eventually run out.” Esthetic Egret Cultivator Ruo Ying shook her head in dismay, knowing that she could not stop him from using his money to ‘help’ his friends.
“You can spend more on me!” Luo Bo, the Illusive Rabbit Cultivator, said in the new temporary Pandawan only channel.
“Please Xiong Da, save me from eventual debt. Please! ow-!” Shi Zuo pleaded honestly in the channel, and they could infer that Luo Bo was the one that cut him off the voice chat.
“Ya, I am totally busted just from defending, it really sucks. Boss, to be honest, can’t we have an easy win for once? Oh shit! Bin Yong! On your right! Lion Mantis!!” Yue Wen shouted as most of them were still in combat, mostly trying to delay the attacks coming from the Lion Mantis so Dread Reaver and Flame Ripper could kill them.
“Pandawans, that’s why I have a proposition for you guys. Let’s counterattack, and I will lead the charge.” Jin’s short and simple statement suddenly lit up the eyes of all the Pandawans. They had always wanted to see their Boss in action, and this was the first time that Jin proactively volunteered to let them feast their eyes on his actual strength.
“YES!” All the Pandawans felt as if their strength had returned and they did not hesitate to rush down any Demons that they were facing before moving to the coordinates Jin gave them to meet up with him. The Orcs who were in the field quickly filled their gaps to prevent the Demons from taking advantage of the gap they had.
The first to arrive were Angry Ape Cultivator Bu Dong and Towering Tortoise Cultivator Kong Xian. They were surprised to see that Jin wasn’t there yet. Instead, it was a group of people they did not instantly recognise, but as they approached them, realisation suddenly struck Bu Dong. “Ah! Aren’t you guys the bosses from the various instances in the Tree Mall?” He asked, and they all chuckled.
“Looks like I am not inferior to Boss Jin when it comes to being famous.” Owner of Lele Castle Tower Instance and Cultivator of the Hunting Hog Si Fang boasted as he nodded his head.
“Boy! Catch!” Owner of Offshore Sea Store Instance and Cultivator of the Shimmering Shark, Lai Fu threw a vitality drink towards Bu Dong. “For the first one to recognise us, it’s a small gift. Hahahah!”
“Who would not recognise you? You always shout from the second floor in the morning to promote your goods.” Manager of Panda Burger Instance and Cultivator of the Hunting Hog, Ke Ru scoffed at him.
“Guys, chill. We are here to have fun. It’s quite rare we can allocate some time to spend together.” Co-Owner of the Panda Arcade Store and Cultivator of the Hunting Hog, He Rong tried to appease his friends.
“This is amazing! I’ve always lauded and admired Landlord Jin for his brilliance in creating the Food Pyramid Instance, but I’ve never expected him to get this crazy for his dungeon instances! Is it always like this?!” Owner of the Mixed Rice Stall in the Food Pyramid Instance and Cultivator of the Waking Wok, San Sun exclaimed.
“It’s not always that crazy. I frequented enough to know that this is indeed an epic raid event. He must have prepared it for a long time as something truly special for the start of the new year.” Owner of the Meow Meow Karaoke Instance and Cultivator of the Cacophonic Cat Mang Tang reasoned.
“Heh, you guys will get lucky to see Boss Jin in action tonight. We cultivators have frequented his dungeon store for so long, and yet this is the first time he promised to appear and lead us.” Bu Dong informed them. Not long after, the rest of the Pandawan arrived and exchanged greetings.
“How about giving them a small discount if they do well?” Jin was the last to arrive. He had dressed in a black and white jacket with an emblem at the side of his sleeve, with the words “BOSS” in English with a fierce Panda face affixed at the top of it.
All of them chuckled at Jin’s way to show off his position as the leader. Given his personality, he was usually not that kind of person, which made the strange getup even more amusing. There was no need for him to reinforce his position. After he had bested the Triad Boss and established the Tree Mall, no one would doubt that he was the real boss of the Tian Gong Shopping District.
“So Boss, what is your counterattack proposal?” Xiong Da asked, and Jin took out a few Black Sludge Crystals from his storage watch. With a bit of chi manipulation, those crystals glimmered a little before transforming into a cloud of black sludge above the group’s head.
“We are going to strike hard and fast, catching the attention of the server’s main boss. According to my developers’ kit program, he is undoubtedly one of the strongest monsters that the server has ever created, and even I may have some problem fighting against it alone. I hope I can count on your help for this once in a lifetime opportunity.” Jin explained while asking for their help.
He showed them the picture of King Baal with the aid of some hologram. Many were aware of the capabilities of Jin’s instances to create such a simple hologram, but cultivators like San Sun were surprised to see such futuristic graphics.
Yet the Pandawans on site, they were all grinning hard that they could finally hit back against the Demon Horde.
