Crackle! Crackle!

Electricity crackled on the tip of Lin Xu’s scepter. The boss slowly raised his weapon and cried, "Thunder Spell!"

Lightning fell from the sky, and thunder roared against my eardrums. In just an instant, every player within a hundred yards of the boss had been struck by lightning. Pain seared my entire body as the Guardian Dragon Armor absorbed part of the damage as HP—

780992!

+78099!

He Yi and Lin Yixin backed away from the boss after losing almost a million HP. The attack was a forbidden spell; an absolute nightmare against any and all heavy-armor players. The three of us might have survived, but the same couldn’t be said for the 19 melee Warsky Alliance players who were one-shot. Their equipment was only a tad poorer than the average, but that was enough of a difference to kill them even with the Roland Bloodknight Card.

Warsky frowned deeply at the sight before saying to October Rain, "Thank goodness you had the foresight to withdraw from the frontline before that happened. You would’ve died to the spell otherwise…"

October Rain smiled a little. "Hmph. It’s just basic guesswork. The boss was at low health, so I knew that it was going to cast an ultimate sooner or later."

After that, she looked at Song of Cloud and Water and asked, "It’s time to deal the final blow. Please send in God Bone and Song of Ice and Fire now, Sister Song of Cloud and Water. But remember, the last hit must go to Lu Chen."

Song of Cloud and Water glanced at God Bone and Song of Ice and Water, prompting them to attack the boss. Then, she blinked once and shot me a question, "Don’t you have the Battle Astral Wind, Lu Chen? Why aren’t you using it? I’m sure you’d be able to handle the boss much better if you used it."

I didn’t answer her, but October Rain smiled knowingly and put a hand on Song of Cloud and Water’s shoulder. "Come now. You should know better than to question an expert’s secrets."

The woman was too smart for her own good. I still didn’t say anything, but I knew that October Rain had figured out my plan. There were only 7 of us and almost a thousand of them. My choice to fight the boss in their presence was no less dangerous than detoothing a tiger. That was why I was saving Battle Astral Wind in case Warsky Alliance decided to betray us.

Rustle rustle…

An unnatural, shallow depression slowly appeared on the grassy ground less than 10 yards away from me. It was the only visible sign that betrayed the existence of an assassin. The fact that I couldn’t see the assassin even with Dark Pupils meant that it could only be Farewell Song. If I was barely able to capture his outline back when I had first gotten Dark Pupils, now I wasn’t able to see him at all. Warsky must’ve ordered him to keep an eye on me. The moment I reneged my promise and stole any equipment, Farewell Song would immediately stun me so that Song of Ice and Fire, God Bone, October Rain, Lin Bing Dou Zhe and more could kill me. There was almost no chance I would be able to survive their combined assault.

"Heh!"

I smiled and darted behind the boss in one smooth motion. Then, I fired Thousand Ice Slash that hit not only the boss, but also the spot where Farewell Song was as well. A trail of unnatural footsteps immediately appeared on the wet grass. It was Farewell Song retreating to avoid the skill.

In reality, he hadn’t needed to do so because I was using safe attack mode, meaning that my attacks would only damage mobs and bosses. I did it to inform Farewell Song that I knew exactly where he was, and that underestimating me might be the last mistake he committed on this map. Displeasure flashed across Warsky’s face for an instant. For now, I held the upper hand in this psychological warfare.

……

A couple more rounds of attacks later, Lin Xu’s HP dropped to almost 1%. October Rain immediately shouted, "All damage dealers, withdraw from the frontline now! Lu Chen will have the last hit! Priests, keep him healed so he doesn’t die!"

Relying on my powerful Guardian Dragon Armor to reduce my damage received and Warsky Alliance’s priests to heal me, I abruptly changed tactics and went head-to-head against Lin Xu. His Touch of the Dragonkiss hurt like a bitch, but my Rise of the Guardian Dragon + Burning Blade Slash + Myriad Swords Obliteration combo hurt just as bad, if not more. A few more attacks later, As Lin Xu’s withered face distorted, and his scepter shivered in his hand, he let out one final shout, "Damned adventurers! You may have killed me, but you will not escape the curse! May infinite darkness forever entrap your souls!"

Pop pop pop...

The boss dropped a ton of equipment and increased my level to 223 when he died. This made the third Ancient Immortal Rank boss I killed since I embarked on this journey, and the amount of experience I had gotten thus far was impressive to say the least. It was equal to several days of instance experience.

Pa!

I grabbed Lin Xu’s soul essence and activated Ghost Spirits Step Art without hesitation. Then, I pulled away from the boss without even bothering to look at the loot. A promise was a promise, and the chance that the boss might drop a super-tier Divine Armament was incredibly low anyway. It was just an Ancient Immortal Rank boss after all. The chance existed, but it was less than one in ten thousand.

I dashed to where full-health Lin Yixin and He Yi were waiting for me. They moved to my left and right side protectively before asking, "You got it?"

"I got it. Time to withdraw and turn in our quest!"

"Got it!"

……

However, October Rain raced up to me and said, "Lu Chen, wait?"

"What is it?"

"You haven’t paid us yet!"

"Oh. Right…"

I transferred October Rain 100k gold immediately before asking, "Is that enough? We can discuss the matter of mounted archers after we return to Sky City!"

October Rain smiled sweetly. "Oh yes, no problem. Thank you for your patronage, boss!"

"Fuck!"

Meanwhile, Warsky had walked up to the boss to check the pile of loot beneath its body. Suddenly, surprise flashed across his eyes, and he abruptly grabbed a long weapon with a dark cyan-colored blade. The blade glowed with divine energy, and the clouds above our heads abruptly parted when he raised the weapon. When the golden sunlight touched the blade, the ground actually trembled like it was welcoming something—

Ding~!

System Notice: Congratulations, player "Warsky" (China) has obtained the Divine Armament "Immortal Blade" (Twelve Divine Armaments, Outstanding★★★★★★★★★)!

……

"The fuck? The Immortal Blade?"

My eyes bulged with fury and disbelief. "Are you kidding me? A mere Ancient Immortal Rank boss like Lin Xu dropped one of the Twelve Divine Armaments of all things? What the… fuck!?"

Lin Yixin was also exclaiming in astonishment, "Oh my god, the chance is one in a couple ten thousand, and you actually got it? This is just…"

He Yi pressed her lips together, but kept a tight grip on both my and Lin Yixin’s arm. "Calm down, you two. Remember, they’re many and we’re not…"

Lin Yixin bit her lips. "The Immortal Blade is a Wanderer-specific weapon, dammit! I can’t believe Warsky would get it before me…"

……

At the valley, Warsky walked over with an expression of barely controlled joy on his face. He stabbed the blade into the ground before clasping his fists at me, saying, "Thank you so much for your gift, Lu Chen! I’m not sure I can digest it all! Haha! This Immortal Blade has such an insane Attack! Thank you so much!"

I curled my lips but kept the Chill of the Nine Provinces lowered. "Make sure you hold tight to it and live no matter what, then. It would be a shame if you lost it before you got to enjoy its benefits, eh? There are countless people who are eyeing the Twelve Divine Armaments after all. Don’t look so high that you fall into a pit in the end, eh?"

Warsky simply smirked with great confidence and said, "Relax, Lu Chen! Do you think I’m still the same Warsky I used to be? Just watch, I will show you how I transformed from a noob to a top-tier expert!"

I furrowed my brows a bit and said, "Very well. I’m going to turn in my quest now. Take care!"

Warsky nodded back. "Yes, you do you. Let us meet again… in the champion arena, hehe!"

Me: "..."

……

I turned around and left the area with the girls. Everyone was looking a bit restless, and a while later Beiming Xue looked back at me and said, "I think Warsky has let his luck get to his head somewhat, big brother. I can’t believe he just issued you an open challenge!"

I nodded quietly.

Lin Yixin said, "Warsky’s equipment is pretty good, and now that he has the Immortal Blade, his Defense and HP stats are as good as Sister He Yi’s and mine, and his Attack surpassed even ours. If he can find a sufficiently powerful mount as well, then he has a real chance of ushering in a new era of his own."

Beiming Xue checked the game database a bit. "Do you know that Warsky is ranked seventh in terms of points in the champion arena right now? He has a 72% win rate against Lin Bing Dou Zhe, and even managed to beat Candlelight Shadow twice in 11 matches…"

I shuddered. "What? Warsky actually managed to beat Candlelight Shadow twice?"

"Yes…"

"That’s scary. It proves that his skills and tactics are close to Little Piglet’s now…"

I frowned deeply before adding, "We’ve been so busy grinding instances and fighting Nation Wars that Warsky’s individual growth completely passed our minds. I suppose he has earned the right to challenge me now…"

He Yi smiled a little before consoling me, "Don’t let it bother you too much, Lu Chen. It’s true that Warsky got a huge gift from you, but remember, the Twelve Divine Armaments aren't permanently bound to their owners. When the chance arises, we’ll get Chaos Moon to kill Warsky and grab his Immortal Blade!"

Lin Yixin smiled as well. "Ohh, I didn’t know you were secretly such a violent girl, Sister He Yi. Have you ever beaten up Little Cheat in the workshop? C’mon, you can tell me!"

He Yi shook her head. "No, I didn’t. I can’t possibly do something like that to him."

Lin Yixin: "..."

I looked to the distance again before saying, "Well, whatever. What isn’t mine, isn’t mine. It’s not bad to have a powerful opponent like Warsky either. When everything is said and done, I’ll check how much he really grew in the champion arena!"

"Mn mn! Anyway, it’s time to turn in the quest first!"

"Yeah!"

……

When we passed through the dark forest and arrived about 500 meters away from the Dragon God Cave though, a ton of red dots suddenly appeared within my vision. It looked like some players had gotten in front of us.

Rustle rustle...

A pine cone hit the floor as a player on a mount emerged from the nearby forest. He was clad in shiny armor and wielding a longsword. He was none other than Candlelight Shadow himself. A beautiful girl leaped down from his mount before smiling at him. "Boss, we spent a lot of effort to take down that boss, right? Can you show us your new pet please?"

Candlelight Shadow smiled back. "You really want to see it, Yuse?"

"Yep!"

"Well, fine. It was thanks to you that we managed to beat that giant dragon."

Behind them, a new group of people—Blue Sky Scar, Tempest Shadow, God’s Dance and the rest of the Candle Dragon gang—emerged from the forest as well while saying, "Show us, show us!"

……

Swhoosh!

Candlelight Shadow waved his sword once, and a magic formation appeared on the ground. Very soon, a tiny dragon covered in delicate scales climbed up his shoulder, let out a cute roar and let loose a small jet of flames. Judging from the flames surrounding its body, it was a fire-type Holy Giant Dragon!