“Watch out. It’s a giant dragon type boss…”
I backed up a few steps while holding the Xuanyuan Sword. Much of the ground around us had collapsed, and this dark type giant dragon was staring at us unblinkingly with bloody, hungry eyes. If its intention wasn’t obvious enough, it was licking its own fangs with its long tongue. Its entire body was covered in black, scaly armor, so I could bet that its Defense was pretty high as well.
The floating rune that represented the Blue Crystal Dragon floated around Li Chengfeng who was suspended in the air. Clearly he had activated his Mount Armor Transformation. “Lu Chen, tell us its stats, will you? We don’t fight battles we aren’t confident at winning!”
I nodded and scanned the boss with Dark Pupils. Then, I shared its stats in the party channel—
Ghost Dragon Earthwalker (Quasi-Divine Rank Boss)
Level: 320
Attack: 74,000~101,000
Defense: 120,000
HP: 1,000,000,000
Skills: Death Devour, Lethal Dragon’s Claw, Ice Fire Triple Strike, Infinite Summon
Introduction: The Earthwalker was a Holy Giant Dragon who was buried in the graveyard of Dragon Domain until it was resurrected by evil dark magic. The Earthwalker possesses tremendous strength, and it was an overlord in the Purgatory until the Wind Singer escaped from the Purgatory, and the enraged Lin Na dispatched a great number of troops from various planes to hunt her down. The Earthwalker was one of the dark commanders who had snuck out of a plane rift to hunt for food.
……
“Holy shit!”
Gui Guzi’s Ghostblade Halberd shivered in his grip. “This is bullshit! A Quasi-Divine Rank boss with over 100k Attack? Considering its hidden stats, its actual Attack must be 20 times or higher than its visible Attack! Can we really beat this thing?”
I nodded. “We can! I’ve beaten a Level 326 Quasi-Divine Rank boss in the Purgatory before. I was aided by the Twilight Wanderer at the time, yes, but there are 10 of us and only 1 boss, so we definitely have a good chance of slaying it. Also, I doubt the supply carts will be able to pass through until we’ve killed it. It’s clearly attracted by our quest.”
Li Chengfeng asked, “What’s our tactic?”
I pondered for a moment before replying, “I’ll use Profound Armor to tank the boss. Sis, keep me healed. Guanyue, refresh my buffs. Beiming and Lian Xin, CC the boss with stuns and slows. Eve, Chengfeng and Little Gui, attack when you think there’s an opportunity. Be very careful though. This Ice Fire Triple Strike may be able to one-shot us all!”
“Got it. Let’s go!”
“After me!”
I buffed myself again with the Hunter Card. After Lu Buyi and Pure Love refreshed their Purple Dragon[1] and bard buffs on me, my max HP skyrocketed all the way to 24 million. It shouldn’t be possible for the boss to one-shot me now. Now that I was ready, I flew straight toward the Earthwalker[2].
“Roar!”
The Earthwalker raised its neck and roared, “Finally! It’s been too long since I’ve smelled the scent of fresh meat! I’m going to consume you all!”
“Consume your sister!”
I let out a chuckle and pressed my blade against its neck. Then, I jammed it in and used Purple Frost Concentration to lower its Defense by 23.7%. The boss’s resistance was definitely weaker than the gods’ I had fought in the Purgatory.
Hurt, the Earthwalker shook me off and hit me with Lethal Dragon’s Claw!
Chiang!
Its talons struck the Dihai Shield and caused a sharp, metallic ring. I shivered violently and lost a huge chunk of HP. As expected of a Quasi-Divine Rank boss!
1,102,776!
I raised my arm and cast God Binding Art. However, a big fat MISS severed my hopes and dreams ruthlessly. I then resolved myself to fight this out without using the God Binding Art because honestly, it was very unlikely that the skill would work on a boss of this rank and power.
I aimed at the boss’s head and retaliated with Burning Blade Slash + Universe Break combo. The resulting damage was extremely pleasing to look at to say the least—
972,873!
1,127,374!
1,452,733!
1,823,729!
In the sky, Li Chengfeng manifested his dragon into existence and stabbed the boss 7 times using Dragonbone Flurry. Each hit dealt around 700k damage, not to mention that Lian Xin and Beiming were providing ranged firepower as well. As a result, the boss was losing HP at an astonishing rate.
“Roar roar…”
Suddenly, the boss turned around and swiped both Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi with Lethal Dragon’s Claw—
3,183,784!
3,527,739!
Gui Guzi looked like he was about to turn green as he flew away from the boss, “What the fuck is this Attack? The boss also deals extra damage to mount tenacity as well! It just deleted 20% of my Dark Crystal Dragon’s tenacity in one hit!”
Li Chengfeng laughed heartlessly at Gui Guzi’s plight and said, “Luckily for me, divine players have infinite mount tenacity after transforming, hehe…”
Gui Guzi: “Fuck you…”
It was around this time the Earthwalker suddenly opened its maw and condensed something that looked like a giant black hole. It was the skill Death Devour, and it was aimed at me. Is it trying to devour me?
I steeled my resolve and rushed forward instead of retreating. Bloody energy wrapped around my body like a cyclone, I slammed straight into the boss’s body and sent it stumbling at least a dozen or so meters to the back despite its size. Mad God Lunge had a 100% success rate, so the Earthwalker’s Death Devour was canceled before it could unleash it!
Humiliated and enraged, Earthwalker raised both of its claws menacingly. One of it was wreathed in flames, and the other in ice. It roared, “Die, lowly boy!”
The boss’s claws were too huge, and its attack speed too fast for me to dodge out of the way. So, I raised my shield, activated the Profound Armor skill of my Rising Cloud boots, and entered a Guard stance!
Chiang chiang chiang!
The first two hits of Ice Fire Triple Strike were ice-based, but the third was fire-based. To say that it felt jarring and unpleasant would be an understatement. My left arm felt like it was losing all sensation, and the damage numbers rising above my heads caused everyone’s jaw to hit the floor with a resounding clang—
1,928,381!
2,102,389!
2,575,785!
My HP dropped to the 25% mark all too quickly. Li Chengfeng clenched his fists and uttered, “If it could deal this much damage to Lu Chen when his Profound Armor was active, then it might one-shot the rest of us on the first hit!”
Pa!
Thankfully, the Xuanming Bow flashed just in time to stun the boss. I immediately executed my SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill, Xuanyuan Slash!
The attack deleted over 3 million HP instantly. My Divine Energy Points would slowly recover over time, so there was no reason not to use them.
……
As it turned out, battling the boss wasn’t as difficult as we had initially imagined. I had enough HP and Defense to tank even the boss’s greatest skill, Murong Mingyue and Pure Love could heal me, and even Lu Buyi had a weak healing skill that was better than nothing. With Murong Mingyue’s Pool of Life constantly healing me, I could even stay at the same spot and fight toe-to-toe against the boss.
The Earthwalker grew more and more violent after his HP had dropped to 30%. Its scales started glowing a dark light, and its claws began attacking even faster than before. There were multiple times He Yi, Gui Guzi and even Li Chengfeng had been knocked out of the way by its attacks. Although the divine players’ Unusual Physique could mitigate a lot of damage, that was only if the enemy was drastically weaker than them. Its effects were negligible when the opponent was on equal footing, and practically non-existent against a Quasi-Divine Rank boss like the Earthwalker. For example, Li Chengfeng was incapable of tanking the boss at all. His equipment only gave him 19% damage mitigation in total, which was nothing compared to my 50%.
“Is it just me, or does it look like the boss is about to evolve?” Pure Love asked while hugging her Seven-string Yaoqin.
Lu Buyi also tightened his grip around his Hidden Dragon Fan and warned, “Stay alert and keep Lu Chen healed…”
It was at this moment we all received a system notice. I narrowed my eyes instantly—
Ding!
System Notice: Ghost Dragon Earthwalker is enraged. They have successfully undergone an evolution and entered a berserk state. Their Attack is increased by 40%, their armor penetration is increased by 30%, and the damage of their Ice Fire Triple Strike is doubled!
……
“Oh man, here comes the real fight…” I chuckled.
Beiming Xue yelled while shooting her bow. “This is no time to be laughing, big bro! Take care not to be one-shot by the boss!!”
“Get your crowd controls ready. The boss will cast Ice Fire Triple Strike every 18 seconds. The skill doesn’t have any tells, so make sure you pummel it with stuns before it uses it! We’ll beat the boss to them with our superior number! 4 more seconds!”
“Got it!”
Our tactic was to hit the boss with every crowd control skill we had before it could cast its Ice Fire Triple Strike. Beiming Xue and Lin Xin cast their stuns at the same time, and even I was punching the boss’s lower jaw with Magic Piercing Punch that dealt 500k+ damage. Unfortunately, we still failed to stop the skill from casting in the end.
“Die, boy!”
The Earthwalker truly had gone berserk. His super Ice Fire Triple Strike rocked my Dihai Shield so hard I thought my arm would shatter from the pressure—
3,476,367!
4,018,273!
10,283,778!
The last hit was even a critical hit! I turned as white as death as my HP plummeted to almost nothing.
Murong Mingyue hurriedly shouted, “Use Shennong Tastes Grass, Gui Guzi! Lu Chen, cast Xuanyuan Art to save yourself! We’re all going to die if you die here…”
Gui Guzi’s Shennong Tastes Grass healed a lot of HP, and I was back to fighting condition after I downed a Rank 14 potion. I didn’t use Xuanyuan Art despite big sis’ advice because we were fighting in the Japanese’s domain right now. I was saving it for when they attacked us.
It was a fierce battle. The boss kept striking my chest armor and shield and deleting their equipment durability at an astonishing rate. If it wasn’t for the quest limitation, I would never have fought the Quasi-Divine Rank boss with so few people. Not long ago, a Level 310 Quasi-Divine Rank boss had spawned at Dragonbone Mountain Range, and Candlelight Shadow had to mobilize as many as 3000 players to kill it. Naturally, the pressure our 10-man party was facing was many times greater than that.
Another 20 minutes later, the boss had dropped to 10% HP. After it let out an angry roar, it chanted in the dragon’s tongue, “Come forth, ants of the Purgatory! Feast on these lowly lives with your sharp teeth!”
A black hole appeared on the Earthwalker’s body. The next moment, countless fiery mosquitoes emerged and flew straight toward us! I recognized the mob immediately. It was the Laiquito I had fought down in the Purgatory, and I knew they were powerful enough to instakill most players!
……
Swhoosh!
I descended to the ground and yelled, “All flyers, stay on the ground unless you want to die! Those mosquitoes can suck you dry in no time! Lian Xin, surround us with Sea of Flames! Those mobs are Level 324 dread-rank Laiquitoes, and they only have 1 million HP. They wouldn’t be able to survive your Sea of Flames for long!”
Lian Xin nodded and did as commanded. The Laiquitoes squeaked with pain immediately after they entered the Sea of Flames. Lian Xin’s Magic Attack was powerful enough, but the Ghost Armament Soul Shocker Bell also doubled her damage. This meant that her Sea of Flames dealt 500k damage to the mobs per second and killed them almost the moment they entered its range. Not long after, Li Chengfeng jumped to Level 256. If you could deal with the Laiquitoes, then you would be rewarded with an incredible amount of experience.
1. E/N: Since when do tacticians need to REFRESH their stratagems? They have no CD, they are active as long as the tactician is the party’s leader… ☜
2. T/N: I’ve noticed that these bosses just wait for you to prepare everything even though they’re supposedly intelligent. It is a game after all ☜
