A while later, Murong Mingyue revived in a flash. She immediately protected herself with a Spell Shield before healing herself to full and using a consumable to recover MP. Right after that, Moon Dew revived as well.

"So? Are Dark Mercenaries and Blood Alliance here yet?" I asked Murong Mingyue. The reason I asked her was because a player’s soul was only visible to another player’s soul[1]. As far as I was aware, there wasn’t a skill including my Dark Pupils that could reveal another person’s soul.

Murong Mingyue nodded and said, "Oh, they’re everywhere. I counted at least a hundred of them before I revived. I don’t need to tell you why they haven’t revived, do I?"

Me: "..."

Lin Yixin asked, "So, we campin’?"

I considered the idea for a moment before saying, "Nah, that would be too shameless…"

"You say that, but your smirk betrays your true intentions!" She pointed an accusing finger at me.

I shrugged. "I mean, if you girls really want to camp these bastards, then why not? Newly revived players don’t have buffs, and they only have 50% of their HP and MP. Who doesn’t enjoy killing enemies like that?"

Lin Yixin: "..."

He Yi let out a helpless chuckle. "Come on, there’s no point camping them. If they revive and attack us again, we’ll just wipe them until they’ve finally learned their lesson. Amber Pupil isn’t here anyway, and if I’m not mistaken, his escape scroll probably took him somewhere far away from Bloody Shield Domain. Even if he rushes over immediately, it’ll still take him a while to make the journey. The chance of these people attacking us without Amber Pupil’s order is pretty low."

I nodded. "Eve is right. Let’s go!"

"Mn!"

……

Unlike usual, I waited until the girls had all gone ahead of me before activating Earth Escape and slipping into the underground. It was to sow doubt in the enemies’ minds by making them wonder if I would be so evil as to hide somewhere in a corner and kill them the second they revived. I knew it would work because even an innocent party would’ve worried about the possibility, much less one we had absolutely thrashed in the past hour. For just a bit of MP, I could delay Dark Mercenaries and especially Now and Forever from reviving for at least ten minutes. It wouldn’t be inaccurate to say that we had traumatized them.

Anyway, we continued forward but chose a different path this time.

Along the way, He Yi opened the map and pointed at the centermost area of the floor. "This area is so red it’s almost black. I’m willing to bet it’s where the boss or where the entrance to the fourth floor is. Therefore, we should explore it even if my deduction turns out to be untrue later."

We obeyed her wisdom and grinded our way to the center. Nearly two hours later, I had leveled up to 235, 15 levels away from the godlike threshold that was Level 250.

"Halt…"

I suddenly stopped in my tracks and said, "We’re at most 100 yards away from the centermost area where the boss may very well reside, so I suggest that we heal our HP and MP to full first. I also want you girls to wait until I’ve scouted out the area for Blood Alliance, Dark Mercenaries or God’s Domain players. If there really is a boss in there, we should lure it to a passage at least a kilometer away from the original spot and kill it there. I don’t want to do all the hard work and have our fruits of labor stolen by some asshole at the last second."

Lin Yixin nodded. "That is a great plan. Go then!"

After Murong Mingyue cast Regeneration on me, I slipped into the underground once more and scouted ahead with the Phantom Wolf King. Speaking of which, the whole third floor of Bloodthirsty Castle was unnaturally dark, limiting my natural vision range to just 20 yards and even Dark Pupils to just 200 yards. That was the main reason Red Maple and his goons were able to ambush us.

I barely encountered any Undead Purgatory Mages along the way. As I approached the center, the area in front of me was suddenly set alight by rays of bloody light. There was an old skeletal mage chained to the center of a gigantic magical hexagram and altar. Both his arms and legs were trapped by thick chains that were clearly imbued with some sort of magic.

"Ugh…"

He moaned piteously, "This fate cannot be mine! I want to leave. I want to leave Bloodthirsty Castle and return to my hometown. I want to kill everyone and turn them into ghosts that will only obey my command. Spirit Capital City should only belong to me and my great devil emperor! This fate cannot be mine…"

It really was a boss, a boss that was chained up no less! I thought to myself: this is going to be such a cakewalk when the boss fight begins! I’m so going to attack its immovable weak point again and again! With some luck, we might even be able to beat it without losing a single point of HP!

Dreams were great, but reality was a cruel mistress. The second I set a foot on the altar, flames immediately burst out of the hexagram and engulfed my entire body!

400000!

400000!

400000!

……

Motherfucker! As it turned out, the hexagram formation dealt 400k fixed damage to anyone who entered it! No one could withstand this level of damage for long!

I immediately rolled back down from the altar. Dammit, I should’ve known that the devs wouldn’t bundle their boss into a gift and just hand it over to the players like that. How about a ranged attack?

I fired a Dragon Slaying Slash at the boss, but a blue screen appeared out of nowhere and blocked it. There was a barrier surrounding the hexagram, and it had an infinite amount of durability. There was only one way to do this.

"For fuck’s sake…" I groaned loudly.

It was clear what I had to do. I must step into the hexagram, break the chains and lure the boss out of his confinement. It was either that or give up.

After I had returned to full health, I leaped onto the altar and unleashed Burning Blade Slash + Thousand Ice Slash + basic attack combo in three different directions. This time, I activated Battle Astral Wind to stop the flames from damaging me. I was able to shatter five chains and even leave a couple of cuts on the boss's body when all was said and done!

Pa!

Unexpectedly, the old skeletal mage returned to his feet with a kip-up and grinned maliciously at me. "Who are you, boy? I am so very grateful to my savior. As thanks, I will kill you and revive you as a divine undead warrior with eternal life and an infinite path ahead. There is this small drawback where you must submit to my will and become my servant, but I’m sure you will accept it…"

I smirked. "I haven’t released you to save you, old fool!"

Puchi!

I pierced his chest with Universe Break and greatly reduced his Defense with Purple Frost Concentration at the same time. Then, I aimed at a blank space behind me and activated Thunderous Charge. It was the fastest way to get away from the boss and this goddamned flaming hexagram.

Behind me, I heard the old mage roar in fury, "You dare make a fool out of me? I will burn you into ashes, damned brat!"

The bony old mage immediately started giving chase.

While running away, I said in the party channel, "Here comes the boss! Beiming, prepare your Shock Arrow and Lian Xin, prepare your Ice Arrow Spell! The boss is super high-level, so bring your A-game—"

While saying this, I looked back to scan the boss with Dark Pupils before sharing his stats in the party channel—

Bloody Minstrel Ornos (Archean Immortal Rank Boss)

Level: 305

Magic Attack: 55000~62400

Defense: 70000

HP: 90000000

Property: 3% chance to instakill the target

Skills: Blaze Blast, Prairie Fire, Blade of Shield Breaking

Introduction: In ancient times, Bloody Minstrel Ornos was the king of Spirit Capital City and a mage with supernatural magic control. He was a once-in-a-century genius, and he became a holy magus at a very young age. However, he was too arrogant for his own good, and he suffered grievous injuries while battling against the Purgatory Lord Karst. He was never able to return to his former strength until the day Spirit Capital City was conquered by the undead. Ornos was imprisoned in Bloodthirsty Castle after his murder, and the hateful man converted all of his fury, resentment and defiance into the single-minded desire for destruction. Today, he wants nothing more but to return to the human realm and destroy everything. Perhaps Coldblade had unwittingly done the human empires a service by imprisoning Ornos...

Whoosh!

A wave of heat roasted my back and deleted 470k HP from my health bar. This bastard’s Magic Attack was nothing like the Undead Purgatory Mages’, and the gap between his minimum and maximum attack power was extremely narrow! Consistent DPS was definitely going to be one of the sore points of this boss fight!

"Watch out, Lu Chen!"

He Yi cried out in warning, "Please don’t let the boss's 3% chance to instakill trigger…"

Murong Mingyue said, "You should turn on Resurrection Art now if you haven't…"

I drank a Rank 13 Dragonheart Orchid Agent while running. "I’ve been keeping it on all this time! Anyway, let’s fight the boss inside that passage. Sis, Beauty Moon Dew, please keep me healthy while I lure the boss over…"

"Yeah!"

Columns of holy light enveloped me and healed me repeatedly while I firmly held the boss's threat with Myriad Swords Obliteration and Coiling Dragon Revolution. It was only after the boss had entered my chosen passage did I finally turn around to face him. Now, no one should be able to interrupt us.

Pa!

I ran back to the boss and smacked his ugly head with a devastating Burning Blade Slash. The boss retaliated by casting his Prairie Fire spell—a super AoE skill with a 50-yard radius—and setting the world on fire. Even He Yi and Lin Yixin took damage despite flying in the air.

392092!

412828!

391021!

Lin Yixin said in a hurry as her HP dropped like a fountain, "I’m losing HP too quickly! I’m withdrawing!"

She landed one last Extreme Break between the boss's neck before pulling away to safety. Her HP had fallen below 30%, and she could’ve died if she stayed for even a second longer. On the other hand, I had to remain where I was because all the girls would die the moment I pulled back. At least I had Battle Astral Wind and Tenacity of the Dead to keep me fighting.

After Prairie Fire disappeared, Ornos cast another one of his magic spells, Blades of Shield Breaking. Countless giant blades appeared in the air before raining down on my position. It was clearly an AoE attack, but what kind of effect did it have exactly?

Not taking any chances, I raised the Cyan Dragon Shield and activated Cyan Dragon Scale. My entire body became covered in cyan-colored dragon scales, and my resistances skyrocketed. Even so, I felt like I was being shredded to pieces as my HP dropped drastically—872674!

He Yi’s mouth fell open. "OMG, this boss is crazy…"

I had no choice. I turned the Life side of my blade upward and activated the Xuanyuan Art, healing everyone and myself by 50% HP. It was the right call because Ornos didn’t hesitate to follow up with a standard Fireball and a much deadlier Blaze Blast. Still, with Murong Mingyue and Moon Dew healing me constantly, I was no longer in danger of dropping dead to a crit or something.

"You will die, boy!" Ornos howled.

I retorted, "I’ve heard that a million times, old bones!"

Boom!

It was just a Fireball, but somehow my vision was graying in front of me. Goddammit! The boss had triggered that 3% chance to instakill his target!

Swhoosh!

Just as suddenly, I came back to life with full HP and MP. After my surprise had passed, I laughed. "Well, shit! Immortality triggered too!"

……

I fear no one if I can keep reviving without cost!

1. T/N: this is one of the weirder things about Heavenblessed’s mechanics to me. It seems like you can stay in ghost/spirit form for as long as you want, or at least long enough that there is value in doing so, so can’t you just have one guy stay close to Lu Chen’s party and spy on them until forever? They are the perfect spy since nothing can detect them and they’re invulnerable to everything