“Where? Where’s the boss?” I looked around in a hurry.
Beiming Xue waved her hand. “Not here! One of the Dragonlight Archers I sent away for scouting just died at the swampland directly south from here. He saw the Sovereign Rank boss of the monster wave we’re fighting, and the people who are fighting it right now!”
“What are the coordinates, and who are the people?” I asked.
Beiming Xue blinked once before answering, “Koreans of Burning City. Not only are they the closest enemy party to us, my scout claimed that the leader was none other than Candlelight Shadow’s junior sister, Tear Stain…”
I clenched my fists. “Understood.”
Tiger Leopard Knight asked, “What should we do now, guild leader?”
“Gather everyone and tell them that we’re moving to contest the boss. The Koreans cannot be allowed to obtain a Ghost Armament and use it to threaten us later. In fact, we should contest any boss that isn’t being fought by a Chinese guild.”
Moonlight Stone said, “But I heard that you’re the one who gave up Sunset City to Tear Stain during the battle of Hot Sand City. I thought you shared a good relationship with her?”
I laughed. “That was then, this is now, not to mention that it was a purely business transaction at the time. Also, Candlelight Shadow and I have literally fought each other both online and offline, and Tear Stain is his junior sister and a former lover. Do you think she would hold any good will toward me at all?”
Moonlight Stone giggled. “You’re so much more handsome than Candlelight Shadow though!”
I replied calmly, “Yes, and that means nothing at all to Tear Stain. There are many people in this world who only love once in their lives. Even if they fall in love with another person in the future, they won’t be as willing to give up everything anymore. Tear Stain is probably one such woman… Anyway, let’s stop the chit-chat here. All Dragonlight Cavalrymen, mount up and be ready to gallop at full speed. We’ll be following Beiming Xue to the boss location. By the way, do you know how much HP the boss has left, Beiming?”
Beiming Xue answered, “It was 40% about 5 minutes ago, so I reckon that it’s about 20% now. It’ll be 10% by the time we arrive!”
“Let’s go!”
……
Beiming Xue and her pet led the way as the Dragonlight Cavalry and Dragonlight Archers followed closely behind her. The Holy Mages, priests and the other on-foot classes wouldn’t be able to catch up with us immediately, but there was no time. Technically speaking, the China server was the closest server to the Ancient Chaotic Secret Realm map. Therefore, there was no reason we should give up all this Luck, experience and loot that should rightfully be ours to the Koreans!
The Brave General Horseshoe gleamed a magnificent shine as the Dragonlight Cavalry thundered across the wetlands. At the forefront, a ton of red dots appeared on my map screen thanks to Dark Pupils. I could even see blue-and-red skills flashing in the distant swampland with my naked eye. It was the color of magic and a sure indicator that the Koreans were duking it out against the boss.
Chiang!
I unsheathed the Chill of Nine Provinces and ordered in a low tone, “Beiming Xue, Heaven’s Rain and I will take over the boss from the Koreans. I will try to take out Tear Stain as well. While we do that, the rest of you will run down the Burning City party. Dragonlight Archers, make sure to take cover while you stun the enemies with Shock Arrow. Finally, focus the mages first because they are the biggest threat against the Dragonlight Cavalry!”
Everyone nodded. Moonlight Stone said to me from her older brother’s mount, “I’ll assist you with Ice Arrow Spells later. Let’s take out Tear Stain before we tackle the boss!”
“Yeah!”
……
The Dragonscale Beasts’ feet quickly became covered in mud. The ground was only a couple of inches above the water. About a hundred meters away, I saw a minotaur general around ten meter tall swinging a blood-red axe in every direction and causing havoc to the Throne of the Wild players surrounding it. A Level 221 magic knight had dropped dead after taking 1.79 million damage from the attack. The boss must be incredibly powerful to deal so much damage.
After capturing the boss’s stats with Dark Pupils, I said in a hurry, “The Minotaur King is a Level 300 Ancient Immortal Rank boss with very high Attack. Don’t kill the boss yet, just keep it CC’d as much as possible while we clean up Throne of the Wild.”
Tear Stain’s party probably numbered around ten thousand at most just like us. It wasn’t like she couldn’t bring more players with her, but some players wouldn’t get to kill even a single mob if that was the case.
By now, Tear Stain had discovered us as well. She maneuvered herself away from the boss to shout, “The Chinese are attacking! It’s Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls! Emperor Wang, take a thousand players with you and hold them off with everything you’ve got! I just need 5 minutes. 5 minutes, and I’ll be able to kill this boss!”
Emperor Wang, vice leader of Throne of the Wild and a high-level magic knight nodded. “Leave it to me. Third and fourth squad, follow me!”
……
Tiger Leopard Knight’s features shook when he saw Emperor Wang charging toward us. He said, “Fuck, I know this Emperor Wang! I’ve fought against him when I was still in Candle Dragon. He’s a 5-Strength magic knight with first-rate equipment and enough Strength to injure me with Ultimate Strength Break!”
I abruptly raised my sword and cried, “Together with Dreaming Souls, our Ancient Sword paves the way! Run them through!”
While everyone was unsheathing their weapons, I steered my Ancient Divine Dragon into a beeline straight toward Emperor Wang. He was a powerful opponent, so I needed to kill him before he could impede our charge. There were only a couple thousand of us, and Tear Stain was the kind of woman who would absolutely give us hell with a shield formation + mage + priest party composition if we allowed her opportunity.
“Dammit!”
Emperor Wang quickly noticed who I was targeting, and he obviously didn’t want to engage me in a head-to-head fight. It was too late to back out, however. Reluctance melting away into a fighting spirit, he let out an angry roar and charged toward me, “Kill!”
Swhoosh!
His spear blade became coated in red flames as he swung his Barrier Break in an arc at me. Using Barrier Break this way made it much easier to land a hit, but the trade-off was that its damage would suffer tremendously. It was at least 30% weaker than the normal Barrier Break.
I didn’t bother with dodging the attack. I simply put the Cyan Dragon Shield in his spear’s way and tanked about 240k damage. His equipment was definitely powerful, and he definitely made my killing intent flare even brighter than before!
Thud!
The moment I brushed past Emperor Wang, I immediately activated Fusion Armor and covered my Guardian Dragon Armor in dragon scales. Right after that, I spun around with impossible speed and hit his back with a God Binding Art. Emperor Wang let out a muffled groan as his body suddenly froze against his will. Judging from the despair in his eyes, he knew exactly what was going to happen.
Tiger Leopard Knight declared, “Allow me!”
Pu pu pu…
He and two other Dragonlight Cavalrymen struck Emperor Wang with Barrier Break and dropped his HP to 50% instantly. While this was going on, I slapped Emperor Wang with the ominous-looking Chains of Freedom and executed my Burning Blade Slash!
“Dammit!”
This was the first time Emperor Wang witnessed the Chains of Freedom in action, and what he saw in his combat log nearly made him shit his pants. He tried to activate his invincibility skill, but I had acted so quickly and decisively that Burning Blade Slash was already ripping him apart when he made the decision!
White light escaped Emperor Wang’s dead body again and again as he dropped 10 levels and 5 pieces of equipment. I grabbed them all and gave them a quick glance, and I was glad to announce that even the lousiest piece among them was Immortal-grade. Even better, the guy’s chest armor was Level 220 Archean Immortal-grade. No wonder he was able to tank 3 Barrier Breaks and my Burning Blade Slash before dying. Most people would’ve died to just 3 Barrier Breaks.
……
“Emperor Wang!”
Tear Stain exclaimed in shock while she scored a critical hit against the boss’s thighs. She clearly wasn’t expecting her trusted aide to be one-shot so quickly. Furious and frustrated, she glared in my direction and swore, “Just you wait, Lu Chen! Bastard!”
The Throne of the Wild players who were supposed to stop us basically lost all fighting spirit the moment Emperor Wang died. My 2000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen were fully buffed by our bards, and their Attack was boosted by 200% by my Martial God. We shredded through the demoralized enemies like paper and reached the Minotaur King when it still had 7% HP. It’s not too late yet!
I pointed the Death side of my sword toward the sky and growled, “Xuanyuan Art!”
“Shit!”
Tear Stain swore again as she backed away from me, but a devious smile crossed my lips. Instead of the gloomy flash that usually accompanied the skill, snow and ice started falling all around me. One of my weapon’s strongest skills, Cold of the Nine Provinces, froze all enemies within 100 yards into ice!
Crack crack crack…
It wasn’t just the players of Throne of the Wild who were immobilized by my skill. The Minotaur King had become encased in ice as well.
Tear Stain had always been a decisive woman, and she didn’t hesitate to turn her ring and protect herself in an invincibility shield. Then, she ordered through gritted teeth, “Retreat! The enemy is too powerful! It is better to surrender the boss than die here, so retreat now!”
It wasn’t like Tear Stain had another choice. In an MMORPG, few things felt worse than being PK’d by your nemesis after you got a boss down to low health. Assuming you couldn’t win, there were only two shitty options you could make: you could either escape and fight another day, or you wipe and fight another day. Obviously, Tear Stain had chosen the superior option.
……
While the Dragonlight Cavalry were killing the players who I had frozen, Tiger Leopard Knight shouted, “No need to chase after the defeated enemy! Form a defensive circle around the boss and prepare for a boss fight!”
I nodded approvingly. Tiger Leopard Knight had definitely been trained by Candlelight Shadow. He was able to make the right call in this situation.
Now that Throne of the Wild had been chased off, I turned around and Charged the boss. Some of the Dragonlight Cavalry did the same and used Barrier Break!
However, the enraged Minotaur King swung its axe wildly and killed seven or eight Dragonlight Cavalrymen in no time. It was only then that they backed off and let me tank the Minotaur King alone. No wonder Tear Stain and Throne of the Wild weren’t able to end this boss before we showed up. It was definitely stronger than expected.
If we hadn’t carried over a couple of our high-level priests on our mounts, even I wouldn’t be able to handle this boss.
……
Less than a minute later, the boss had almost no HP left. A sudden chill suddenly seeped into my arm from the Chill of the Nine Provinces, and I struck the boss’s groin for 7 times more damage than normal—
2607584!
The Minotaur King let out a terrible scream before slowly collapsing. At the same time, a pillar of golden light enveloped me and increased my level to 241. I was yet another step closer to the mysterious ceiling, Level 250.
