My heart beat like a drum as I ran back to my party, and it was impossible to tell if it was due to excitement or fright. Could we really handle this many Myriad Poison Sandworms by ourselves?

However, I quickly calmed down and told myself that we had Beiming Xue, a super damage dealer and Murong Mingyue, a super healer.

…...

Meanwhile, the girls were still waiting for their party leader to return at the choke point. Suddenly, Beiming Xue smiled and said, “Ah, he’s back!”

At first He Yi was beaming at the announcement, but was quickly overcame by surprise when she looked at the minimap. “OMG, just how many sandworms is Lu Chen pulling toward us? The area ahead of us is chock-full of ‘em...”

Murong Mingyue’s mouth had also fallen open. “Shh, it looks like shit just got real…”

Whoosh!

I showed up at this exact moment. In fact, I almost tripped head first into He Yi’s lap because I was running too quickly. Catching me with her free left hand, He Yi smiled at me and asked, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah!”

I nodded and ordered the Dark Wasp to lower its altitude, plugging a gap between the stalagmite formation several paces away from me. Now that He Yi, the Dark Wasp and I had formed a frontline where the Myriad Poison Sandworms couldn’t get through unless they killed one of us, the three beauties behind us were free to rain havoc without having to worry about being attacked.

Murong Mingyue and Beiming Xue tried to send out their Wasps, but I stopped them quickly. “Recall your pets!”

Murong Mingyue asked, “Why though?”

“Because…” I barely had enough time to point at the poor things before they were torn to shreds by the Myriad Poison Sandworms. “Never mind. I don’t know why the flowers are so red either…”

He Yi raised her blade and declared seriously, “Prepare for battle!”

Dumbfounded, I hurriedly stopped her. “Boss, Eve, it’s better if you don’t move. If you accidentally draw aggro, Sister Mingyue won’t be able to heal both you and me. Just let me be the tank, okay? All you and the Dark Wasp need to do is stand between the gap and don’t move…”

He Yi pursed her lips unhappily. “Fine. It’s so not cool to be a weakling~~”

I gave her a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry, I promise you we’ll get you up there once we cleared out a couple more high difficulty zones!”

“Mn!”

The sea of sandworms finally reached us. However, every last one of them was slithering toward the Dark Wasp because it was the one who provoked them earlier. It looked like they wouldn’t be satisfied unless they make the Dark Wasp pay by tearing it to shreds.

I activated Ghost Deity Armor, raised the Ghost Ice Soul and summoned six shiny lights of death into existence. They hit the swarm perfectly and caused a ton of numbers to pop up.

1042!

1123!

1034!

…...

Having an amazing weapon like the Ghost Ice Soul made my Thousand Mirage Slash incredibly powerful, not to mention that Undead Energy dealt extra damage to living creatures. It was almost like I was cutting vegetables, not a bunch of deadly sandworms hell bent on making their attackers pay! They immediately looked away from the Dark Wasp and focused all their attention on me!

At the same time, Beiming Xue launched an Evil Spirit Volley and sent 8 arrows flying into the swarm. They exploded like mini-bombs and dealt splash damage to everything that was caught within the blast radius. So good!

Beauty Moonlight Stone also raised her staff and used Arctic Rain. It was a Level 30 AoE spell, so it did only around 20% the damage a normal single-target spell would do. The ridiculous damage—and I don’t mean that positively—was the reason why mages almost never used it during PvP or grinding. However, in this scenario where the skill could hit more than 5 enemies and slow them down slightly, it was absolutely worth having it. At least 30 Myriad Poison Sandworms were caught in the spell, so Moonlight Stone’s current damage output was only inferior to Beiming Xue’s and my own!

The Myriad Poison Sandworms swarmed toward me. According to my calculations, only three sandworms should be able to attack me at the same time, but even then I was taking an insane amount of damage. Three hits and a Poison Spit were all it took to delete 1247 HP from my health bar!

Swhoosh swhoosh!

But Murong Mingyue’s heals were very timely. I was surrounded by two flashes of holy light, and—

+742!

+447!

Tsk tsk, two heals and I was almost at full health... Man, it feels so nice to have a wet nurse who knows what she’s doing~~

Thousand Mirage Slash’s cooldown was 15 seconds, and Evil Spirit Volley’s cooldown was 10 seconds. Neither skill took particularly long to recharge, so we were visibly thinning down the swarm even though it had only been two minutes since the start of the battle. Our DPS was so awesome that Moonlight Stone had to voice her shock. “OMG, our EXP is flying like crazy! I… I’m so happy!”

Even He Yi was looking like she had overdosed on happiness. The sight of her EXP bar soaring was just that uplifting.

However, I was in a bit of a pickle. Some time later, Murong Mingyue couldn’t keep up with the damage that was being dealt to me!

She said anxiously, “What the hell, what’s wrong with my crit rate today? Even the mobs crit more than I do! Lu Chen, what should I do? You have less than one-third HP left and I don’t have enough to put you back in the green!”

I nodded. “It’s okay, sis!”

I grabbed a Rank 5 Health Potion from my bag and restored 1000 HP to myself instantly. One big heal for Murong Mingyue later, I was at full health again!

Beiming Xue laughed. “A Rank 5 Health Potion? You’re a bigger spender than I thought, boss!”

I smacked the sandworm blocking in front of me to the side and laughed back. “Well, what did you expect? Any player who chooses to play a heavy armor class should be prepared to splash some cash!”

Murong Mingyue exclaimed in admiration, “Your Defense is insane, Lu Chen. I doubt even Gui Guzi with his shield is tankier than you…”

I didn’t say anything because she was right. I was tankier than Gui Guzi thanks to my Ghost Deity Armor, not to mention that my general’s greatest flaw was his subpar equipment and his lack of Magic Resist. That being said, his ability to absorb damage and heal himself with his Undying Shield were still an incredible advantage he had over most people. Even Lin Yixin admitted that she would have to spend a teensy weensy more effort to kill the current Gui Guzi~~

We continued to bombard the Myriad Poison Sandworms and drop them like flies, but it took us around half an hour to kill most of them. Finally, only a couple low health sandworms were left near the end of the slaughter!

The Dark Wasp and I charged them while Beiming Xue assisted us from behind with her Evil Spirit Volley. We easily cleaned up the remaining mobs with ease!

Swoosh!

A beam of golden light surrounded me as I ascended to Level 68. Who would’ve thought that I would gain this much EXP in so little time? Now this is how you grind experience efficiently!

Murong Mingyue, He Yi, and Moonlight Stone leveled up twice after the battle because their levels were lower. Everyone looked overjoyed and excited by their reward.

The space in front of us was filled with shinies. Big Magic Stones were everywhere after we mowed down hundreds upon hundreds of mobs. We barely paid any attention to them however, because who cares about Big Magic Stones when you can ooh and aah over equipment instead?

That’s right, there were at least ten items lying on the ground, or rather the poisonous grasses, by the end of the battle. Still, I was aware that a Level 70 common mob would drop at best a Dark Steel–grade item. Only a boss or a Level 100 common mob had a chance of dropping a Silver-grade equipment.

He Yi lifted a fiery red spear and said, “Look, this one’s Steel-grade with 125 Attack. It’s not too bad, right? We can sell it in the guild after we get back!”

“Mn.”

On the other side, Murong Mingyue let out an exclamation of surprise. She was holding a shiny ring and smiling from ear to ear. “It’s a ring that improves healing output! This is awesome!”

Swhoosh!

She brought up the ring’s stat screen and surprised us a bit. It was as good as she said.

Ring of Hymn (Dark Steel–grade)

Stamina: +20

Intelligence: +14

Passive: Increases user’s healing by 7%

Level Requirement: 60

…...

He Yi gave her a smile and said, “Mingyue, this is definitely a ring that you can use, so take it!”

“Okay. Thanks boss~”

Murong Mingyue equipped the ring immediately, improving both her healing output and survivability at once!

We gathered the rest of the equipment and put it in my bag. There were 2 Dark Steel–grade, 11 Steel-grade, and 13 Bronze-grade items in total. They were all high-level equipment—especially the Dark Steel–grade and the Steel grade ones—I expected them to make big bucks in the market. As for the Bronze-grade equipment, they were most likely going to be sold at the NPC shops.

Murong Mingyue consumed a Magic Consumable to restore her MP while I moved to the front of the party again. I brought up the minimap before saying, “Let’s go! A bit further and we’ll reach Myriad Poison Cave’s second floor!”

“Mn!”

However, we didn’t go far before the ground suddenly started shaking beneath us!

“Earthquake?”

He Yi gripped my arm tightly while glancing left and right.

I simply stared toward the front with a calm smile on my face. “No, it’s not. See, there’s our chance. I knew there would be a boss on this floor!”

The ground churned visibly in front of us. Something was moving toward us from underground!

I ran toward it and plunged the Ghost Ice Soul straight into the earth!

Puchi!

The attack drew a spurt of green blood and a screech of pain from the creature hiding beneath the surface. It burst into view, revealing itself to be an extraordinarily large Myriad Poison Sandworm about 5 meters long. Crawling out on its 12 steely legs it turned its ugly head toward our direction and glared at us hatefully with its blood-red eyes!

Myriad Poison Sandworm King (Silver Rank Boss)

Level: 70

Attack: ???

Defense: ???

HP: ???

Skills: ???

Introduction: After absorbing various poisonous gases and undergoing many transformations, the king of the local sandworms has become a powerful demonic creature. Now, it rules over the Myriad Poison Sandworms residing in the first floor of Myriad Poison Cave.

…...

I couldn’t read its stats, but I knew that it was a Level 70 Silver Rank boss. It meant that it wasn’t impossible to kill at my current level!

I rushed forward and fired an Ice Ray straight toward its body!

Bang!

The boss withdrew unto itself and blocked my attack with its steely scales!

127!

I exclaimed in shock when I saw the paltry amount of damage I dealt. “Fuck! No way! There’s no way my skill dealt this little damage!”

Beiming Xue pointed at the boss and yelled, “Boss, I think the sandworm king is using a defensive skill!”

“Oh?”

Encouraged by Beiming Xue’s words, I ran forward again and executed Slayer Slash!

Bang!

This time I noticed a light bluish shield covering the boss when the skill hit its body, proving that Beiming Xue’s earlier observation was correct. The same thing had happened when the assassin of Flower Room had blocked my attack!

At the same time, Beiming Xue fired her own Devil Piercing Arrow, the one that ignored 50% of the target’s Defense!

Thud!

97!

However, the amount of damage she did was so small that we were one shock away from turning into stone. What the hell was this boss, and how did it block our attacks like they were nothing?

…...

Suddenly, the sandworm king drew back the twin blades attached to the sides of his head before slicing me across my chest armor, sending a wave of intense pain to assault my senses!

754!

Fuck, its Attack is incredible!