"Chirp chirp…"
From the way the Firelight Mouse was shaking its b.u.t.t, you would never imagine that it was the culprit behind the inferno burning the Flower Fairies alive.
It was getting a bit boring, so I said, "The Firelight Mouse is a fire-type creature, right? I wonder if you can barbecue it if you put it above a bonfire…"
Murong Mingyue replied, "It's worth a shot!"
Lin Yixin also looked very excited. "Do it! Do it!"
Shocked, He Yi defended her pet immediately. "Not now! At least do it after this battle is over…"
Beiming Xue said, "Hey, are you guys watching the guild chat?"
"What's wrong?"
"Xu Yang and Du Thirteen have been fighting G.o.ds of Destruction with Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and b.l.o.o.d.y Mercenaries the whole day…"
"OMG!"
I checked the guild chats. It looked like everyone was having one h.e.l.luva time over there. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had declared war on the G.o.ds of Destruction due to yesterday's incident, and as a result, the two guilds were locked in both minor and major GvGs for an entire day!
After war was declared, the ID of the players of the enemy guild would turn red in color, meaning that you could fight them any time you wanted. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was the only Rank 3 guild in Floating Ice City right now, and it had an active player count of 2000. Therefore, it was now strong enough to fight G.o.ds of Destruction on even footing!
Murong Mingyue said, "Men are all battle maniacs, hmph! I can't believe those idiots made our guilds drop an entire day of grinding to fight G.o.ds of Destruction. They must've been kicked in the head by a donkey…"
I smiled placatingly. "It's fine once in a while, isn't it? It can get boring spending the whole day doing nothing but grinding, you know."
He Yi giggled. "You were expecting support from Lu Chen? You said it yourself—men are all battle maniacs, and he is no exception. If he wasn't doing Xinran's quest, he probably would've gone to hunt Dominating Heaven Blade himself!"
I stared at my Purgatory Sword with a smile. "Dominating Heaven Blade? Forget it. Not even three Dominating Heaven Blades would be a match for me, though they might have a slim chance if all five of their best experts attacked me together…"
"OMG, that's a rather bold claim, don't you think?" Murong Mingyue stared at me.
I smiled but didn't give her a reply. Surprisingly, it was Lin Yixin who came to my defense. "He's right, you know. He has a full set of Dark Gold–grade gear, a 3-star Outstanding Purgatory Sword, and an absolute advantage in terms of skill. G.o.ds of Destruction couldn't one-shot him even if they tried, so it isn't an exaggeration to say that he's way ahead of Dominating Heaven Blade."
"Anyway, let's get this over with. I'm so hungry…"
"Yeah…"
……
The way the Flower Fairies jumped back and forth before our eyes was incredibly annoying, so we showed them no mercy and worked twice as hard. Over two hours later, we finally cooked all of them into fried vegetables!
The ground was littered with bodies, and I was sitting at Level 85, 74%. I would definitely level up to 86 after we killed the final boss and turned in this quest! Seriously, this quest was so rewarding that it was almost cheating!
We swept the battlefield and collected all the loot. The Flower Fairies mostly dropped Level 85 Dark Steel or Silver-grade equipment. Right now, there was no market for these items because only a handful of players had hit Level 80. However, the situation would turn a hundred and eighty degrees in half a month at most. Not everyone would have the chance to kill a boss in hopes of getting Gold or Dark Gold–grade equipment.
We left the Big Magic Stones behind, even those with 100 Quality. After all, who would want something that sold for 20 silver at most? At least the Phantasmal Magic Stones were still selling for tens of gold each.
My bag was quickly filled with a ton of great items. It was an exhilarating feeling to say the least.
I watched the map as I walked at the front of the party. We were only a short way away from the end now. I could feel an unnatural chill seeping into my bones, and I could see a white-colored flower on a cliff at the end of the path. If i wasn't mistaken, it was the Frost s...o...b..ll we were looking for!
"It's the quest item!" Beiming Xue pointed.
I nodded with a smile. "Yes, finally. We still need to check if a boss is guarding it, however. Let's move! It's almost 10 pm already!"
"Yeah!"
We ran until we arrived at the foot of the mountain range. Then, our eyes goggled at a certain creature right beneath the Frost s...o...b..ll. It was a vicious-looking boss with a long, lizard-like body and hooves for its feet. Its ugly head was shaped like a dragon's, but for some reason it had a pair of hands right below its neck. One of its hand was pressing against the ground like an extra foot, and the other holding a long weapon that was shaped like a trident or a spear, clearly not an ordinary weapon!
King of Destruction Dogus (Purple Gold Rank Boss)
Level: 95
Attack: ???
Defense: ???
HP: ???
Skills: ???
Introduction: A demonic creature from h.e.l.l, Dogus is a destructive monster who once slaughtered an entire human legion with its powerful soul-stealing spear. When Princess Karinshan and her elite troops attempted to hunt it down, they only managed to force it into the arctic lands as the creature managed to dug its way into the ground and escape. Many years later, he returned to the surface and became the king of Hundred Flower Valley.
……
"A Level 95 Purple Gold Rank boss…" I gulped once before asking, "It looks pretty tough. What should we do?"
s.h.i.+ng!
Lin Yixin pulled out her Moonlight Sword and smiled confidently. "What else? We kill it."
He Yi said, "Let's devise a plan first. It's not a good habit to fight a war without preparation, not to mention that this Dogus is called the King of Destruction. It's never a good idea to underestimate a boss with a t.i.tle like that…"
I replied, "It's impossible to come up with anything specific since its stats and skills are invisible, so we'll stick to the old plan: I'll keep the boss busy while you all damage it. Beiming Xue, don't forget to use Freezing Arrow to keep it under control. At least it doesn't have underlings that we have to deal with."
"Mn!"
"Alright, get ready to Charge, frontliners. I'm first, Yiyi second, and Eve third. Let's maximize our CC efficiency!"
"Yeah!"
I raised the Purgatory Sword and let out a growl, buffing everyone with Wild Roar. Then, I locked onto the boss and activated Charge!
Whoos.h.!.+
MISS!
I reached the boss in just the blink of an eye, but all I got was a big fat MISS. It was to be expected, though. Both its level and rank were pretty high after all!
Stunned or not, the boss was going to die here one way or another!
Beside me, Lin Yixin had also joined the fray. It looked like she expected her Charge to MISS as well because she immediately unleashed Extreme Break the moment she hit the boss, drastically reducing its physical defenses!
I immediately followed up with Pardon + Desperate Gambit!
MISS!
17568!
h.e.l.l yeah, I got a critical hit on my first strike! It looks like today is my lucky day!
But at the same time, I was chilled to see that our combined attacks—over 25k damage in total—deleted less than 5% of the boss's HP only, meaning that the King of Destruction had at least 500k HP. This wouldn't be an easy fight!
"d.a.m.ned humans!"
Dogus raised his spear and swung it down. "I sentence all of you to death! Die for your greed and your hypocriy!"
My hands were covered in cold sweat. His spear had come to a sudden stop just when it was about to hit me. Miraculously, He Yi had managed to stun the boss briefly with her Charge!
I took two hasty steps backward before circling to the boss's right flank. Two basic attacks later, a paralytic feeling suddenly shot up my arm. Eh? It's the paralysis effect!
Thank heavens for three seconds of hard CC!
Everyone dished out as much damage as they could during this short but valuable opening. The boss was still affected by Extreme Break, so it was losing HP rapidly!
At the distance, Beiming Xue was flicking her bow and maximizing the damage output of her Evil Spirit Volley. Even Murong Mingyue had decided to fire a h.e.l.lish Rockfall first and heal later!
A bunch of hits later, the boss's HP finally dropped to 90% or so. What the heck, it's so much tougher than the usual bosses!
"Lowly humans, die!"
The boss abruptly moved again and thrust its spear at me. It was so fast that I couldn't even Guard in time!
Puchi!
A despairingly high amount of damage rose above my head as pain shot through my body—2874!
It was too much. The boss could kill me in two or three hits at most! This is insane!
I wasn't the only one who was losing HP, however. Both He Yi and Lin Yixin s.h.i.+vered as they took splash damage—
1293!
1293!
This was the most dangerous part of it all. The King of Destruction was plenty powerful already, but his basic attacks also did a whopping 45% splash damage! It was one disaster after another!
Lin Yixin shouted, "Sister Mingyue, heal Lu Chen first! He's going to die…"
I wanted to say I wasn't going to, but excessive stubbornness would only lead to death and level loss!
Swhoosh swhoos.h.!.+
+1045!
+1238!
Murong Mingyue's heals were swift and effective. Her cooldown-reducing Prayer Scepter was starting to show off its true power!
However, the boss was still very powerful. It swung its spear twice and silenced Lin Yixin and He Yi immediately.
2764!
3102!
Lin Yixin almost died, and He Yi lost two-thirds of her HP, all in two basic attacks and the splash damage that came with them! It looked like the boss was completely out of our league right now!
Crack!
Lin Yixin dished out one last attack before retreating out of range. Chugging a HP potion down her throat, she shouted, "Lu Chen, Sister He Yi, let's engage it one by one! Its splash damage is just too powerful for us to attack it together!"
"Mn!"
He Yi retreated and left me behind. Murong Mingyue immediately focused all her healing on me.
Still, the boss was insanely powerful. Even after a 150% increase to her healing powers, I was just barely surviving its powerful swings! Every hit that struck my body felt so painful that I wanted to die!
2894!
3001!
I drank an HP potion immediately and healed for 2500 HP!
+2500!
I barely managed to cling onto life while Murong Mingyue continued to heal me. Of course, I wasn't just standing there and letting it hit me for free. Sometimes I would trigger a Purgatory Slash, and sometimes I would trigger my ring's paralysis effect. Whatever I did, I aimed to slow down the rate I was dying by even little. Even so, the situation was way too precarious for my liking!
"Roar! You d.a.m.ned human foot soldier!"
Dogus suddenly roared and coated his spear in a sheen of b.l.o.o.d.y light. I immediately fell into despair!
6784!
It was a critical hit and a one-shot…
Ding~!
System Notice: Congratulations, you have triggered "Immortality VIII" and revived with full HP!
……
Awesome! At Rank 8, the skill only had an 8% chance to trigger on death, but it still activated and saved my life. Meanwhile, He Yi and Lin Yixin were trying and failing to keep the aggro I just lost. If I didn't regain its attention soon, a party wipe was all but certain! I immediately activated Charge and hit the boss like a bolt of lightning!
Whoos.h.!.+
It was a successful stun. It looked like the G.o.ddess of luck was smiling upon me again!
I deleted another chunk of HP from the boss's health bar while it was frozen. As the boss's HP neared dangerous level, Dogus entered a new animation and shouted, "O' mighty G.o.d of fire, please grant me the power to destroy everything—Rain of Fire!"
