Chapter 147: Barbatos Must Die!

PD, Lin, Charles, Belle... countless players who had been beaten into a state of autistic despair looked at that health bar, which had changed to [29,999,990], and then at the detailed synchronized execution tutorial on the forum. Something deep within them was completely ignited.

It was the endless fighting spirit and unyielding will of those known as "Humanity's Last Masters"!

"Brothers! Copy the homework! Just follow Great God White Night's 'Health Threshold Stop-Flow' playstyle!"

"For Mash, for Chaldea, for all of humanity! Counterattack—!!!"

Their brief despair was swept into the dustbin of history, replaced by a world-shaking counter-offensive from tens of millions of fanatical players!

If the Grand Temple of Time raid mechanics designed by Oriole were like a precise steel fortress...

...then White Night's guide, titled "Synchronized Execution Flow," was the perfect crowbar to pry that fortress open.

The fifth hour after the server opened.

The players of FGO, having experienced the wailing and howling of first-encounter kills and the despair of being forcibly dragged down by the mechanics, finally began to grasp the special rhythm known as "progression" under the guidance of this hand-holding tutorial.

On the world map, that health bar that once inspired despair began to tick downward at a slow but incredibly steady pace.

[29,999,000]

[29,985,000]

[29,910,000]

Countless raid rooms lit up simultaneously with the dazzling light representing a clear.

The voice channels were filled with the hoarse but ecstatic roars of players.

"We cleared it! Holy crap, brothers, we cleared it!!"

"Team two and team four stopped their attacks beautifully! This feeling of twenty people clearing together is ten thousand times better than pulling a five-star myself!"

"Keep making rooms! Even if the Jade Emperor himself shows up today, he won't be able to save this damn pillar! I said it!"

Witnessing this tragic yet hot-blooded scene of all humanity working together and fighting bloody battles to save the Human Order...

...a hint of gratification flashed in the eyes of Oriole, who had been silently observing from the various livestreams and forums.

"The epic feeling of saving the world is important, but as a game designer, I know exactly how much energy it takes for everyone to clear a raid once."

Oriole picked up his coffee, took a sip, and smiled slightly.

He knew very well that this outburst of "fighting for the greater good" was the source of power that sustained players in overcoming fear and difficulties. But to expect everyone to tirelessly grind away at an astronomical health bar of thirty million, relying solely on passion would be too torturous.

The best gaming experience should provide players with generous material feedback after a peak of emotional resonance.

And that ultimate driving force, enough to send all players into a frenzy, had long since been quietly tucked into the clear drop list by Oriole.

...

As a veteran corporate slave player who worked like a dog at the office by day and grinded like crazy in games by night, Lin had already thoroughly studied the raid mechanics based on the forum guides.

Furthermore, in the configuration interface before the battle, he had keenly discovered a feature—

For the Demon God Pillar aggregate in the Core Coordination Bureau with thirty million total HP, the leader could freely choose its "Dominant Defensive Personality" before each assault!

Demon God Pillars with different personalities would release completely different exclusive skills. For example, [Flauros] would release "Rain of Ashes" which dealt true damage to the whole screen, while [Halphas] would frequently release "Buff Removal" and physical damage reduction buffs.

The reason Lin had set his sights on [Barbatos], who released the annoying "Skill Seal," among the many Demon God Pillars, was that he had keenly noticed in a previous update announcement that Barbatos actually dropped the rare material [Heart of a Foreign God], which usually had an extremely low drop rate!

It was specifically for this drop that he had gathered his friends from his group to form this raid team.

His original intention was: taking advantage of the server-wide progression craze, even if the drop rate for this thing was extremely low, as long as everyone grinded hard all night, each person could surely get one or two hearts to slightly raise the skill levels of their hungry Servants.

"Phew... good work, everyone! Even though team four broke the shield a few seconds early and we almost wiped, luckily the main DPS had enough damage to force a kill."

Having just finished this half-hour-long progression tug-of-war, Lin wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and let out a long sigh of relief.

Then, just as he habitually prepared to skip the material settlement and continue to the next round of torture...

...the golden, glittering settlement interface that popped up in the center of the screen made his hand stop abruptly in mid-air.

Lin's eyes widened bit by bit, his pupils reflecting several rows of icons on the screen that were so luxurious they made his head spin.

[Battle Settlement (Rank: A)]

[Drops Obtained: Heart of a Foreign God x3, Forbidden Page x8, Assassin Gold Monument x10]...

Lin was dumbfounded.

Not just him, but his group friends, who were just boasting about the joy of their "First Kill" in the voice chat, also went eerily silent at this moment.

A full five seconds passed.

Lin subconsciously rubbed his eyes and even leaned his face close to the screen to repeatedly confirm if he was having hallucinations from working too much overtime.

"Holy crap?! What kind of ghost drop rate is this?!"

He knew it would drop hearts, but he never imagined in his wildest dreams that Old Thief Kirito would set the drop rate so high!

In previous versions of FGO, the drop rates for materials were simply pathetic.

Especially for items like the [Heart of a Foreign God], which was a necessity for high-tier Servant ascensions; usually, even if one spent an entire bar of AP grinding Free Quests with hellish drop rates, they wouldn't necessarily see the shadow of a single heart.

But now... just a single, ordinary Rank A suppression of a Demon God Pillar actually wholesaled 3 hearts and 8 pages?!

"...I got drops here too! I was just coasting in team two, and the settlement gave me 5 hearts directly!" The voice of a group friend, who often played Isaac online with him, came through trembling.

"Holy cow! Same here! I'm just a leecher, and I got a bunch of gears and pages! This material drop rate is wrong!"

Lin swallowed hard.

Looking at the settlement screenshots instantly flooding the group chat, the tragic light in his eyes that had been burning for "saving the world" was quickly replaced by a down-to-earth fanaticism.

"Brothers..."

Lin took a deep breath and typed frantically in the group chat, "This drop rate is definitely a benefit Old Thief Kirito gave us! Forget about pushing the main story or defeating the Demon God King for now! Those hearts, pages, bones... we can stock up on all of them here at once!"

"Everyone in the group, stop choosing Demon God Pillars randomly! Everyone, lock onto [Barbatos]!"

"Nobody sleeps today until our warehouses are bursting with hearts! Charge for me!!!"

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