Swhoosh!

Cyan-colored gusts of wind blew around me before condensing into astral walls that were as impregnable as steel fortresses. The second I returned to life, I activated Battle Astral Wind and tried my best to stall the boss as much as possible. In this case, my death was a good thing because it increased my Attack by 10%. There were probably many, many more powerful bosses like Mountain Guardian in this mysterious map, so I was sure that I would appreciate the extra oomph.

Mountain Guardian glared at me for a moment before suddenly turning toward Lin Yixin and raising its battle axe. The bastard’s trying to one-shot her with a scythe toss!

I hurriedly activated Heavenly River Transformation and caused a pair of bloody wings to appear behind my back. Thankfully, I hadn’t wasted too many Divine Energy Points during the previous boss fight, and I had been saving up precisely for a moment like this. I raised the Chill of the Nine Provinces high, summoned the golden sword that was Xuanyuan Slash, and brought it down right on top of Mountain Guardian’s head!

Bang!

Dust clouds whipped across my face for a moment. Xuanyuan Slash was a critical hit! Not bad!

1840090!

That dealt so much damage that the boss lost over 2% HP instantly. It also redirected the aggro back to me and caused it to toss his scythe at me instead!

Bang!

MISS!

Battle Astral Wind was a lot more durable while Heavenly River Transformation was still in effect, so the deadly skill only deleted 19% durability. I wasn’t going to waste the opportunity.

"Go all out!"

I stopped holding back and executed Burning Blade Slash + Thousand Ice Slash + Rise of the Guardian Dragon combo. The reason I used Thousand Ice Slash was because I hoped the Freeze CC would take effect, even though chances of it happening were pretty low. It looked like my luck was finally starting to turn around, however. Mountain Guardian let out an angry roar, and its feet became encased in ice for 3.7 seconds!

Lian Xin and Beiming Xue complied and began dishing out their strongest skills such as Evil Spirit Volley and God Devil Break. He Yi and Lin Yixin both activated Heavenly River Transformation before launching their strongest skills as well. In the end, Beiming Xue, Lian Xin and even Murong Mingyue activated Heavenly River Transformation to maximize their firepower. Guanyue, the only player in the party who didn’t have an Ancient Divine Skill, complained, "Come on, you guys are trampling all over my dignity here…"

It was a bloodbath for both sides. My Purple Frost Concentration and Lin Yixin’s Extreme Break allowed the party to deal almost true damage to the boss. However, the painful Mountain Guardian also gave us hell with its busted Attack. One might even argue that we were the ones who came up short in the exchange of blows. If Murong Mingyue and Pure Love weren’t with us, we wouldn’t be able to weather its relentless assault for even half a minute.

Bang!

A powerful impact rocked my shield and sent me skidding across a mountain path for a dozen or so meters. The blow had deleted over 400k HP, but I activated Ghost Spirit Step Art and reengaged the boss without hesitation. The skill gave me a 75% chance to miss any attack for 15 seconds, and it was a time both Lin Yixin and He Yi desperately needed to get their health back.

I shot a glance at my Divine Energy Points and noted that I was still sitting at a healthy 117. Speaking of which, killing the Two-headed Ice-and-Fire Hydras gave me 5 Divine Energy Points per kill because they were minibosses. Otherwise, the transformation would’ve sucked me dry with its 10-points-per-minute consumption rate a long time ago.

……

One of the reasons Mountain Guardian’s new form was such a pain in the ass to deal with was because all of its attacks had become AoE attacks. Even a basic attack resulted in a blue, 25-degree cone shockwave. That was why Lin Yixin, He Yi and I fought in a triangular formation around the boss while the rest of the girls stood further back at the sides of our "triangle”. When brute force wasn’t enough to beat a boss, it was necessary to adapt and come up with appropriate tactics on the fly. The brain was easily the most important position in a super party.

The sheer intensity of the battle shook the forests and the mountain itself. The lower Mountain Guardian’s health became, the louder his roars actually became. Suddenly, the boss enveloped himself in an inferno that looked like blood and roared imperiously, "The Purgatory Ruler is the true ruler of the world! No one will stop the specters of death from overshadowing this continent. Not me, not you, not anyone! I will stop you from disrupting Lord Lin Na’s plan even at the cost of my life, boy! Die!"

The ground suddenly split apart, and the entire world became engulfed in flames. Before I knew it, all 6 girls except me had vanished from the battlefield. In the end, I wasn’t able to avert the second worst-case scenario. I had had a feeling that the boss had one last super AoE skill up its sleeves, and that evil premonition turned out to be true after all. Even if we were destined to defeat it, it would come at a great cost.

As I lost another level, I activated Cold of the Nine Provinces to freeze it for 7 seconds. Maybe it was because my weapon was of super-high grade, its signature skill succeeded more often than I expected it would. I certainly appreciated its success rate considering how close we were to getting party-wiped. I yelled in the party channel, "Corpse-run quick before I die!"

"Okay!"

I attacked again and again while running rings around Mountain Guardian. I also took the opportunity to resummon my apparition and the Phantom Wolf King. Thirty seconds later, the girls all came back to life, and I used Xuanyuan Art to heal them all from 50% to 100% HP right away.

……

We resumed our earlier tactic and made the boss run for every hit it dished out. Although the boss had less than 3% HP left, it would be foolish to grow careless now and die an unnecessary death.

"How many Divine Energy Points do you have left, Lu Chen?" He Yi asked me.

"54. Why?"

"I want everyone to stop attacking for 1 second when the boss drops to 1% HP. During this time, you will take it out with Burning Blade Slash + Xuanyuan Slash combo, Lu Chen. The boss has evolved, and you have 91 Luck. If you are the one who scores the last hit, the chances that it will drop a Divine or a Sacred Armament are easily over 50%! No one has any objections, right? Let’s do this!"

"Okay!"

I didn’t try to play coy because it was better for everyone if I scored the last hit. The last hit experience was always massive, but it couldn’t possibly compare to a Divine or a Sacred Armament.

……

Mountain Guardian’s HP declined slowly and steadily. Thanks to our teamwork, the boss was powerless to change anything anymore.

"Now is the time!" Lin Yixin declared, "Go get him, Little Cheat!"

I immediately dashed behind the boss and executed lightning-quick Xuanyuan Slash + Burning Blade Slash. The faster I could execute a skill combo, the more time I had to react to its retaliation, and the lower the risk of dying.

Boom boom boom!

Four damage numbers rose consecutively above the boss's head. Then, Mountain Guardian let out one final roar before it finally dropped to its knees and hit the ground like a landslide. At the same time, a ton of equipment, gems and magic stones appeared beneath its dead body.

……

Pa!

The moment I confirmed that the boss was dead, I dropped on my butt and wiped the sweat on my forehead. "Motherfucker. I can’t believe how many levels it took to defeat this goddamned boss!"

The girls walked up to me smilingly. "I know you’re tired, but you should check the boss drops and distribute them as soon as possible. Who knows if Mountain Guardian’s death might trigger something?"

"Yeah."

I rose to my feet, lifted my legs, and kicked the boss so hard that its body rolled over completely. It was part of the perks of having super high Strength. The grass looked crushed by the boss's weight, but the equipment, gems and magic stones were completely unharmed.

The boss dropped a total of four pieces of equipment. The first one I picked up was a metal armor with golden draconic energy coursing through it. Not only did it look cool, I knew in my heart that it was going to be my next armor. The Heaven-burning Armor had served me well, but it was only a Level 160 Immortal-grade item. Even He Yi and Lin Yixin’s S3 set armors were better than that.

There was also a snow-covered dagger, cloth-armor wristguards, and a ring with flames dancing around it. They all looked pretty good.

The girls’ eyes widened with excitement and cheer. "What are you blanking out for? Show us their stats already…"

I smiled a bit and held up the draconic armor. When I waved a hand across it, the girls’ jaws hit the floor just as I thought they would—

Guardian Dragon Armor (Sacred Armament, Outstanding★★★★★★★★)

Defense: 14700

Magic Resist: 13500

Strength: +2890

Stamina: +2850

Agility: +2700

Intelligence: +2650

Tactics: +220

Passive: Increases user’s Defense by 95%

Passive: Increases user's max HP by 90000

Passive: Increases user’s resistance toward all types of magic by 240%

Outstanding Property: Guardian Dragon. When attacked, 10% of the damage received is converted into HP.

Slots: 18

Introduction: During the ancient times, the noble dragons lived in the Moonlight Dragon City. After spending thousands of years injecting draconic energy into an unusual metal, the Dragon Speakers successfully forged a never-before-seen metal armor called “Guardian Dragon Armor”. It is said that the wearer of the armor gains a massive boost in vitality and the tenacity of a dragon.

Level Requirement: 220

Reputation Requirement: 750000

……

I said slowly, "So, about this equipment…"

"What?" Lin Yixin shot me a glance and a sweet smile. "My and Sister Eve’s armors are both better than yours, so feel free to take this Sacred Armament for yourself. Also, you’re the main tank of this party. Is there any reason not to give u a high-Defense metal armor like this?"

He Yi agreed. "Yes. Yiyi got a ring and I already got the Suppressing Fire Sword anyway. It’s your turn to get the loot now!"

So, I replaced my existing armor with the Guardian Dragon Armor and said, "Thank you!"

I felt a tremendous energy cycling around my chest the moment I put it on. As expected of a high-level Sacred Armament, even the sensation it gave when putting on was unique!

As a general rule of thumb, Sacred Armaments were almost as good as Divine Armaments in the sense that they were better than low-rank Divine Armaments, but poorer than top-tier Divine Armaments such as the Twelve Divine Armaments. All in all though, all peak-level players would want to wear Sacred Armaments eventually.

I checked my stats again and found them extremely pleasing to the eye, my Defense even more so—

ID: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand (Title: Frostblade of Death)

Class: Master Swordsman of Death

Level: 221

HP: 693820

Attack: 31750~35970

Defense: 60865

Magic Resist: 55920

Reputation: 959400

Tactics: 1702

Luck: 91

……

My max HP was close to 700k now. If I factored in my equipment boosts, 70% boost from Pure Love’s buffs, 80% boost from the Fire War God Card, and another 80% from Lin Yixin’s Bombshell, that was a total boost of 250%[1], or 2.45 million max HP. My base Defense had also jumped to 60k now, or over 200k effective Defense after factoring in my equipment. A normal boss wouldn’t be able to touch me, muahahaha! This Guardian Dragon Armor couldn’t have come at a better timing!

1. T/N: Did Lu Chen naturally have 20% boost to his HP from his passives/equipment? Otherwise it should only be 230%. Eh, whatever

E/N: Probably some item has it. I wish we kept track of all his equipped items