Ultimate Strength Break was a skill that ignored Magic Shield and dealt damage based on the Strength difference between the user and the target. Although Lin Xu was a holy magus, physically he was a weakling with around 5000 Strength at most. Currently, all eighth-promotion cavalrymen who dropped all their skill points into Strength possessed 8000 Strength at least, which translated to over 120k damage against the Level 280 boss. Not only that, Heartpiercer gave them 20% lifesteal, so they both dealt good damage to the boss and healed from it. October Rain’s tactic was sound for sure.

……

The drizzle continued, and red maple leaves swayed to the wind as we watched the boss fight from the hills. Neither retreat nor advance looked very feasible right now.

"So, should we get down there and take them all out?" Lin Yixin asked while blinking.

I shook my head immediately. "No. Our relationship with Warsky Alliance—especially during the Nation Wars—isn’t so bad that we can afford to have an acrimonious fallout with them. I would rather negotiate with them first before deciding if we should steal the boss…"

The corners of He Yi’s lips turned up slightly. "The two of you are pretty confident, aren’t you? October Rain’s party is 300-man strong, and Warsky, Farewell Song and Laughing At The Heavens are centering the valley with a 500-man party. This means that Warsky Alliance has dispatched at least a thousand players to Dragon Domain. I don’t feel very good about our chances if it comes down to that…"

I assured her in a confident tone, "Nah, our chances of succeeding are pretty high. I can annihilate a hundred-man party instantly with Xuanyuan Slash + Rise of the Guardian Dragon, and I promise you they won’t be able to avoid it even if they know we are coming. There should be no one you and Yiyi can’t handle with your Ancient Divine Skills turned on unless you’re facing off Farewell Song, Lin Bing Dou Zhe or Warsky themselves…"

However, Beiming Xue objected in a dumbfounded tone, "Big brother, you know that Farewell Song moves as fast as a ghost, and his skills are insane, right? You’re the only one among us who’s guaranteed to beat him."

I shrugged. "To be honest, Farewell Song has Heavenly River Transformation, and my Dark Pupils can’t see through his invisibility. If he manages to ambush me, or I fall into his Trap, there’s a good chance he can kill me before I even break out of the stun. Anything’s possible…"

"Yeah…"

"And that is why I want to negotiate with them first. Warsky and October Rain will give me this face at least…"

"Alright. Off you go…"

"Yeah."

……

I leaped over a giant rock on the hill and allowed gravity to pull me toward the ground. Cloak stretching out above my head, I activated Fusion Armor and floated the rest of the way down like some sort of god. The divine light shining from the Guardian Dragon Armor dispelled some of my naturally dark presence as an Asura King, or my Dark Pupils alone could’ve caused someone to piss their pants. Finally, I turned on my equipment luster so everyone knew exactly how many Sacred Armaments, Divine Armaments and Immortal-grade pieces of equipment I was wearing. As long as the person wasn’t blind, they only needed a glimpse to know that I was a peak expert.

I was giving the Warsky Alliance players every opportunity to see me coming, and they did. While skidding a few steps to the side, Lin Bing Dou Zhe glanced at me and asked, "How the fuck did Lu Chen get here? If he’s here, then Lu Chen, From Water, Lin Yixin, Beiming Xue and more may be here as well. What do we do, Sister Rain? This isn’t good!"

Hundred Battler was chugging down a health potion after losing over 500k HP to a fireball from the boss. "Yeah! We’ve lost dozens of brothers and sisters to drag this boss down to 35% HP. We absolutely can’t give it away now! Sister Rain, please get rid of him one way or another!"

A trace of worry flashed across October Rain’s eyes, but she answered, "I’ll do my best!"

She left the battlefield and walked straight toward me. After shooting me a beautiful smile and activating Clear As Flame to observe my surroundings, she said, "Long time no see, Lu Chen. We weren’t expecting to meet you today. Are you alone? Are Lin Yixin and Beiming Xue with you?"

I knew she was trying to gauge me out, so I smiled back and replied, "Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls have more elites than just Beiming Xue, you know. Just like you, my guild has come to Dragon Domain, and if necessary I can summon my one thousand elites and of course, my Ancient Divine Skill owners, to join me... On an unrelated note, you’ve traveled a long way just to kill some bosses, haven’t you?"

October Rain answered, "Yes, we have. Ancient Immortal-grade equipment is the hot shit these days, and the Ancient Immortal Rank bosses here have a low chance to drop a Sacred Armament or even a Divine Armament. Naturally, Warsky Alliance would like to grind a high-level map like this to grow stronger."

I didn’t answer her this time. I simply walked past her and straight toward the boss.

"Hey!"

October Rain caught up to me and grabbed my wristguard. "It’s rude to leave a girl hanging like that! Don’t tell me the boss is more attractive than me?"

I continued staring at the Holy Magus Lin Xu. "I’ll be frank with you, Beauty Rain. The girls and I have accepted a quest, and this Lin Xu is our quest boss. We need his soul essence to turn in the quest. Therefore, I would like to enter a negotiation with you. Will you give me the boss if I agree to certain conditions?"

October Rain fell silent for a time. She had probably anticipated my question, but she didn’t actually know what to do after her prediction came true.

Before the archer could say anything, Hundred Battler ran over and growled at me, "Who do you think you are, Lu Chen? This Dragon Domain isn’t your backyard, is it? We aren’t obligated to give you anything!"

I didn’t say a word.

Lin Bing Dou Zhe also frothed at me, "Warsky Alliance are no weaklings that you can boss around however you like, and Ancient Sword won’t remain strong forever, Lu Chen! Just you wait! We will replace you one day!"

I still didn’t say a word.

A few seconds later, Warsky finally showed up with Song of Cloud and Water, God Bone, Song of Ice and Fire and more. The guild leader stopped about tens of meters away from me but didn’t dismount to speak with me. It was almost as if he was looking down on me as he asked, "Long time no see, Lu Chen! What’s going on here?"

I smiled politely and said, "Warsky, the boss you’re fighting right now is my quest boss. I need a quest item it drops to turn in a quest. If you kill this boss, there’s a high chance the quest item won’t drop, and my quest will fail here."

Warsky smiled. "I see!"

He suddenly changed his tune and said, "I’m sure you noticed that we’ve lost almost a hundred players to kill this bastard of a holy magus. They are all elites, but this Ancient Immortal Rank boss is just too strong. I don’t mind giving you this favor, but I can’t let my brothers and sisters die for nothing, can I? Otherwise, they’ll think me weak and scorn me for succumbing to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls’ might. You understand my position, don’t you?"

Warsky wasn’t giving an inch. His attitude was expected, however. After the latest Nation War was over, and a precarious balance had formed between the Northern Alliance, the Chaotic 27, the China server and the India server, the guilds were starting to set their sights on each other once more. Warsky wasn’t a man who was content with the number 2 spot. His goal had always been to dominate the Center with Warsky Alliance.

I thought for a moment before offering a compromise, "How about this: I’ll join your party and help your boss fight. I’ll score the last hit, but I won’t claim a single piece of loot it drops. All I want is the soul essence, which is useless to you anyway. Finally, I’ll pay your dead players 1000 gold each for their trouble. What do you say?"

Warsky grinned. "That is very reasonable. But I’m sure my brothers and sisters’ lives are worth more than 1000 gold each."

This time, I unsheathed the Chill of the Nine Provinces and stared at Warsky coldly. "Don’t give an inch and take a mile, Warsky. I’m not a lamb who will wait to be slaughtered, let alone your ATM machine. Push me over the edge, and watch me take the boss from right under your nose."

"Is that so?"

Warsky gripped his sword hilt and declared, "You can certainly try!"

Mount cries resounded from above the hill, and the girls entered the fray in no time. It was because they noticed that we were close to a fallout. In fact, Lian Xin and Beiming Xue had already activated their Heavenly River Transformation and were a hair away from attacking Warsky.

October Rain hurriedly shot Warsky a meaningful look before stepping in front of him. Then, she smiled politely and said, "Calm down, everyone. Lu Chen, we can give you the boss if you must have it. However, on top of the gold compensation, I have one more condition that I hope you would accept."

I nodded. "Tell me!"

"Can you train us 100 mounted archers?"

"Unacceptable. It’ll cost too much resources. However… I can consider it if you prepare the resources yourselves."

Warsky’s eyes lit up. "Really? Will you train us an indefinite amount of mounted archers as long as we supply you the resources?"

I shook my head. "Of course not. Dark Moon City is our exclusive territory. There is no way I can justify duplicating mounts or training mounted archers indefinitely for another guild. We can train you 100 mounted archers, but no more than that. You can take it or leave it!"

Warsky fell silent. I could see him weighing the pros and cons. Warsky was a pragmatist, and he knew me well enough to know that asking for more was just asking for a fallout. Worst-case scenario, we both lose when all is said and done.

Almost two minutes later, Warsky finally nodded. "Alright, you have a deal. We’ll give you the last hit, but you may only take the soul essence as promised. Otherwise, all our efforts will have been for naught."

"Very good!"

……

Now that the negotiations were complete, the girls got ready to join the boss fight as well. I didn’t let Pure Love, Murong Mingyue or Beiming Xue join the battle because there was a chance the boss might have a large-scale AoE skill. It would suck if they were one-shot without being able to do anything. This was especially true for Beiming Xue because she carried the Xuanming Bow. Agreement or not, Warsky would absolutely try to rob the Xuanming Bow and maximize his gains. It was Warsky Alliance’s objective after all.

Swhoosh!

I slammed into Lin Xu with Thunderous Charge and stunned him before he could react. Then, I executed a Purple Frost Concentration + Burning Blade Slash combo that deleted the boss's HP like paper. Our "allies" were so stunned that Hundred Battler actually stopped in his tracks and blurted, "What the fuck is that Attack?!"