"Hiss hiss…"

The Scorpion King’s face was ugly enough, but it also had 6 eyes that could spin all the way around. Its mouth was also filled with tiny needles and seven rows of sharp teeth. It was incredibly scary. The white foam dripping down its mouth was obviously its trademark venom. The tiniest contact with this thing could probably kill most things with ease.

Talons pressing against wet soil, the Ancient Divine Dragon backed away under my command while I scanned the boss with Dark Pupils. As I thought, the monsters at the borderland of the continent were of much higher level than any mob within Sky City domain, and that included the bosses—

Scorpion King (Immortal Rank Boss)

Level: 245

Attack: 24500~33000

Defense: 30000

HP: 35,000,000

Skills: Sting Attack, Venom Dance, Venom Mist

Introduction: The Scorpion King is one of the terrors of Iron Skull Wilderness and the king of the Venomous Scorpions. A single drop of its venom is enough to kill an adult Giant Dragon. Once, one of human leaders, Fia, sent 10000 elite soldiers to Iron Skull Wilderness to slay the Scorpion King, only to lose them all to its deadly mist. For tens of thousands of years, the Scorpion King ruled the Venomous Scorpions and a corner of Iron Skull Wilderness unchallenged.

……

I pursed my lips as I read its description. Heavens, this Scorpion King was at least an entire league ahead of most of the bosses I had encountered up until this point. With a base Attack of 33000 and god knows how much more hidden stat boosts granted by the system because of its boss status, I fully expected this monstrosity to give me a lot of trouble.

Swhoosh swhoosh!

I activated Great Earth Transformation. This was the type of fight one could not afford to spare Divine Energy Points.

I also activated undead energy, coating the translucent blade of the Purple Ying Sword in a sheen of red light. The Scorpion King was a living creature, so it should take extra damage from undead energy. Also, I refreshed my Venomous Scorpion Card to increase my poison resistance. Obviously, I would die way faster without it.

Finally, I summoned my apparition to join the battle. The three of us should be able to pose quite the threat to the boss.

"Let’s go!"

I let out a battle cry and charged toward the boss, tentatively firing Thousand Ice Slash when it was still 20 yards away. Thousands and thousands of icy blades immediately crashed onto the boss's body!

Boom!

Unfortunately, not only did the skill fail to freeze the Scorpion King, it only dealt 48992 damage. Its tough, black carapace gave it ridiculously high Defense, so much so that my damage was greatly diminished even with the improved Purple Ying Sword and Ancient Divine Dragon. This meant that I must locate and strike at its weak point as soon as possible, or I would most likely lose a battle of attrition.

The Scorpion King let out a screech of pain before skittering toward me with its six limbs at high speed. When it opened its mouth, a pitch black and obviously poisonous needle flew straight toward me. It was its first skill, Sting Attack!

Chiang!

I swung my sword and parried the skill successfully, but I still suffered over 70k damage, and my sword arm numbed temporarily. As expected, parries were almost useless against a Level 245 Immortal Rank boss. That being said, I would’ve suffered at least 100k damage from the skill if I hadn’t done it.

I raised the Dragon God Shield and charged again. At the same time, I raised my arm and executed God Binding Art. Unfortunately, it failed to do anything except create a big string of characters above the boss’s head, and they read “MISS”. Worse, I wasn’t able to locate a single weak point on its body with Dark Pupils. Even the eyes and the mouth didn’t count as weak points.

Chiang!

I tried Burning Blade Slash next and fired three flaming auras at the Scorpion King. They engulfed the boss, but dealt a less-than-encouraging amount of damage—

45920!

59282!

73767!

This couldn’t continue. The Scorpion King’s Defense was just too high. At this rate, it would take forever to kill it! The Scorpion King attacked!

Swhoosh! As the Scorpion King raised its hook-like telson, its stinger suddenly spun rapidly like a top. Then, it pierced my shoulder so fast that I wasn’t even able to react to it, inflicting a mind-numbing sensation and a disgusting amount of damage—

172388!

I nearly shat my pants when I saw the damage number. It was the Venom Dance skill. Thank goodness the boss couldn’t use it repeatedly, or no amount of HP was enough to tank this kind of punishment. Venom Dance also inflicted continuous poison damage, but thankfully the Venomous Scorpion Card and Purple Cloud Ring increased my poison resistance enough that it wasn’t a problem yet. Otherwise, this would’ve been a very, very short boss fight.

"Roar roar…"

The Phantom Wolf King slapped the boss's tail with Claw of the Storm while its attention was on me. The apparition also fired a long-range Dragon Slaying Slash + Coiling Dragon Revolution combo and a short-range Burning Blade Slash + Thousand Ice Slash combo. Unfortunately, the DPS still wasn’t enough.

I executed War Crush to delete 150k HP from the boss and absorb 30k+ for my own. At the same time, I used Tenacity of the Dead to restore 25% of my HP. One should never underestimate a boss no matter how weak or strong they appeared to be, so the royal road here was to stay at full health if at all possible, especially since I was alone and without a priest.

Next, the Scorpion King planted two of its forelimbs into the ground, attacking me with its two pincers. It was its basic attack. As I raised my shield to block, I suddenly noticed that there was a green sac beneath its body. This time, Dark Pupils revealed to me that it was its weak point! I immediately abandoned my guard and executed a lightning fast Burning Blade Slash + Universe Break combo!

Pu pu pu...

The Scorpion King let out a scream of pain. This time, the damage I dealt looked a lot more pleasing to the eye—

192383!

90484!

132727!

182733!

I returned to full health for an instant thanks to my weapon’s lifesteal, but took 100k+ damage immediately afterward due to the Scorpion King’s basic attack. It was the price I had to pay for opting not to defend myself.

I moved the Ancient Divine Dragon back while plopping a couple Icy Cyclone Domains on the ground, freezing the Scorpion King’s limbs and buying my skills time to refresh. Not only that, I used the Phantom Wolf King and the apparition to draw the aggro away from me and reduce its DPS. Every second counted here.

I scanned my surroundings while waiting and noticed that the cave was filled with stalactites. I also noticed that, while the Venomous King was a lot bigger than the Ancient Divine Dragon, it was also a lot less flexible due to its hardened carapace. I might be able to use the terrain to my advantage.

It was at this moment the Scorpion King let out a screech and executed Venom Dance and Sting Attack in rapid succession, deleting 300k+ HP in an instant. Face turning purple at the sight of my near-empty health bar, I hurriedly drank a Saint Spirit Potion and dished out a Universe Break + Burning Blade Slash + Thousand Ice Slash triple combo, dealing around 800k damage and lifestealing around 160k HP. Thanks to Regeneration of the Undead, I just barely survived the attack.

"Come on, little dragon!"

Another painful impact rocked my shoulder as I ordered the Ancient Divine Dragon to turn around. Even with the stat boosts provided by the Ancient Divine Dragon, the Scorpion King was capable of dishing out as much damage as I healed. There was just no way I would be able to kill an Immortal Rank boss that was 30+ levels above me in a fair fight!

As we raced toward the exit, I saw two gigantic stalactites hanging from the ceiling with about a meter of space at the center. I immediately spurred the Ancient Divine Dragon toward the gap. The Ancient Divine Dragon easily fit through it thanks to its flexible body, but the screeching Scorpion King had no choice but to slam right into the stalactites to get to me. The moment I heard a loud bang, I turned around and fired a chain of skills at its weak point, greatly reducing its HP. The Phantom Wolf King and the apparition also scored quick attacks on the weak point before escaping to safety. Their DPS was way lower than mine, so there was no chance I could use them as primary tanks. They wouldn’t be able to hold the aggro, and OT was bound to happen really fast.

Crack! Crack!

The Scorpion King roared and struck the two stalactites blocking its way with a mighty swing, shredding the ten-thousand-year-old rock formation like nothing. Tsk tsk, this boss was just way too powerful!

I continued to stay in front of the boss while searching for an opportunity to land a hit. When it did present itself, I immediately launched a Coiling Dragon Revolution at its poison sac. The sudden chill in my arm informed me that the skill would deal 7 times more damage than normal, and just as expected a huge damage number rose above its head—

1369774!

How wonderful! If only all my attacks dealt 7 times the damage. I would’ve been able to take it out in five minutes tops!

The Scorpion King gave me no time to fantasize though. Mouth frothing with white foam as if it had entered a berserk state, it suddenly let out an angry roar and spat a green fog out of its mouth. Soon, the entire area was filled with poisonous fog!

Beep!

Combat Log: The Scorpion King used "Venom Mist", dealing continuous damage. Your active card reduced its effects by 50%, and your equipment "Purple Cloud Ring" further reduced its effects by 50%. 25% of the effect will be applied to you. You will take 2500 poison damage every second over 300 seconds!

……

I swore inside my head. How shameless! How despicable! FIVE minutes of Poisoned status condition? This is bullshit!

I backed away from the boss. Thanks to Dark Pupils, the green fog didn’t impede my vision too much. Also, the Ancient Divine Dragon’s body was flexible enough that gaps that we could squeeze through with ease kept the Scorpion King at bay until it had torn a wide enough hole. While the Scorpion King was dismantling the rocks, I hit it with Burning Blade Slash and Universe Break. On a related note, I didn’t stop using God Binding Art just because it had failed the first time, and so far I had a one in three chance of immobilizing it. As a result, I was able to maintain my HP around 50% at all times. I used absolutely every tool and trick at my disposal to control the ferocious boss!

……

The boss fight lasted almost an hour. My Attack was insane, but the Scorpion King’s HP regeneration speed was just as insane. In the end though, I was able to reduce its HP to a paltry 5% despite using up as much as 50% of my potion stock. Victory was in sight, and my heart overflowed with expectation. What kind of reward would a Level 245 Immortal Rank boss drop, I wonder? A Divine Armament might be too much to ask, but I certainly wouldn’t mind a high-level Immortal-grade piece of equipment!