Chapter 428 - Divine Providence
s.h.i.+ Feng simply smiled at everyone’s surprise, not bothering to explain.
His high damage was not only due to the Blazing Meteor being a Pseudo-extraordinary item. He also had the Seven Luminaries Ring’s Aura of Fire effect, which increased his damage by 40% and reduced his target’s Defense by 40%.
However, the Seven Luminaries Ring needed to remain a secret.
Moreover, s.h.i.+ Feng was also a Tier 1 Blade Saint. His Attack Power had originally been high, so there was nothing odd about him dealing over -1,000 damage with one attack.
Because of s.h.i.+ Feng’s attack, the group’s total damage overwhelmed the Flame Guard’s battle recovery. It was utterly helpless. It could only roar furiously as it used its flame war hammer to defend itself against the eight’s attacks while attacking with its Flame Spears.
For a time, both sides were at a stalemate.
However, none of the Flame Guard’s attacks could land on any of its eight targets.
Only its Flame Domain could inflict any damage. However, with each player losing only 300 HP every three seconds, they only needed one healer per player to keep them at full health. As for s.h.i.+ Feng, he did not even need a healer. With more than 60 points in Fire Resistance, he could ignore the Flame Domain.
On the other hand, s.h.i.+ Feng’s team launched a rapid a.s.sault against the Flame Guard. Although the Lord had fended off many of the attacks with its flame war hammer, it had still received a significant amount of damage, its HP constantly decreasing.
95%... 94%... 93%...
Time pa.s.sed slowly. As the Flame Guard’s HP fell, its attacks became frantic. The team began to feel the strain of dodging so many Flame Spears. Everyone’s attack rate also started decreasing, slowing their enemy’s HP descent.
In the end, the fight that should have concluded after a dozen minutes or so had lasted over half an hour.
Although everyone was bored from repeatedly dodging the Flame Spears, when they thought about how they could kill a Flame Guard just by repeating these actions, they began to feel reinvigorated. Moreover, they could also train their evasive techniques, killing two birds with one stone. The members watching from 50 yards away were envious.
After more than half an hour, the Flame Guard’s HP finally fell to 15%.
Suddenly, the Flame Guard’s eyes glowed a brilliant red. The flames covering its body writhed and expanded as the monster grew several times its original size. The scorching flames vaporized the moisture in the air, causing a s.h.i.+mmering heat haze.
Inside the Final Cave, aside from s.h.i.+ Feng, everyone was stunned by the Flame Guard’s intimidating aura.
In the next moment, the Flame Guard opened its mouth, gathering berserk fire-type mana inside it. s.h.i.+ Feng exploded into motion, das.h.i.+ng between his teammates and his enemy.
“All of you, stand behind me. Healers, increase your healing!”
s.h.i.+ Feng hurriedly shouted. He then switched the Seven Luminaries Ring’s Aura of Fire to Aura of Illusion. Suddenly, all of his Attributes increased by 30%. Simultaneously, s.h.i.+ Feng also activated Fantasy World, gaining immunity to all magic damage for 20 seconds.
As a Lord ranked monster, the Flame Guard was far more powerful than other monsters, and this was its sure-kill skill, Ragefire Roar. When activated, the skill would deal a devastating blow to all enemies in a cone in front of it, burning everything to cinders.
Even if Cola, a Tier 1 Guardian Knight, activated Protection Blessing, he still would not survive the attack.
After Aqua Rose and the others received s.h.i.+ Feng’s command, they all promptly moved behind him.
Shortly after the seven rushed behind their Guild Leader’s guard, the Flame Guard roared and fired a blazing white cone. In the blink of an eye, the attack devoured everything 50 yards in front of Flame Guard. White light filled the once dimly lit cave, and the temperature inside the cave skyrocketed.
Everyone’s hearts pounded as they watched the attack.
This was practically Armageddon. Even the healers who stood 70 yards from the Flame Guard watched their HPs rapidly decrease. They lost over 400 HP every second, needing the a.s.sistance of their fellow healers, who stood further back, to keep them alive. One could just imagine what kind of damage those within 50 yards had received. They might have been instantly obliterated.
The Ragefire Roar lasted a full six seconds, transforming the cone before the Lord into a blistering h.e.l.l.
After the Flame Guard’s attack ended, the blast area in front of it had scorched black. Only the area behind s.h.i.+ Feng remained intact.
Among those present, Aqua Rose and the others’ HP had fallen to critical levels; only s.h.i.+ Feng was unharmed.
If s.h.i.+ Feng had not blocked the magic damage of the Ragefire Roar for them, they would have lost their lives instantly. Fortunately, Aqua Rose and the others had only received some DoT damage from the high temperatures.
Even after the attack, they still received over -500 damage every second. If not for the healers working frantically to restore their HP, they would have fallen, their roasted husks decorating the ground.
“The Flame Guard has entered a weakened state! Hit it with everything you’ve got!” s.h.i.+ Feng shouted as he glared at the shrunken Flame Guard.
Immediately, everyone scattered and returned to their respective positions, resuming their bombardment on their target once again.
When the Flame Guard only had 30,000 HP remaining and was about to use Ragefire Roar again, s.h.i.+ Feng activated Divine Providence, increasing his Luck by 20 points for 30 seconds. s.h.i.+ Feng also gave off a faint golden glow, becoming a dazzling sight to behold. s.h.i.+ Feng then used Flame Burst, gathering power into the Blazing Meteor. He aimed at the Flame Guard and launched a series of rapid attacks.
One hit after another struck the Flame Guard, each attack dealing over -4,000 damage. After 12 consecutive attacks, the Flame Guard’s 30,000 HP had vanished. The Flame Guard did not even have the chance to use its Ragefire Roar again.
The moment the Flame Guard died, a large number of items scattered around its body.
Ordinarily, a Lord ranked monster would only drop around half a dozen items or so when it died. However, due to the White Fog Canyon’s unique environment, the drop-rates of the monsters inside the canyon had increased significantly. Coupled with s.h.i.+ Feng’s 25 points of Luck, the Flame Guard dropped a mother lode.
With a simple glance, one could count over a dozen items scattered across the ground outside the cave entrance.
At the same time, everyone’s experience bars soared.
The Flame Guard was a Level 28 Lord. The amount of EXP gained from killing monsters inside White Fog Canyon was already high, three to four times that in the outside world. As the Flame Guard was Level 28, there was also the bonus EXP from the level difference. Hence, everyone received an abundance of EXP.
As a Blade Saint, s.h.i.+ Feng required double the EXP needed by other cla.s.ses to level up. Yet, even so, his experience bar still rose by 7%.
As long as they killed the remaining 15 Flame Guards outside the cave, s.h.i.+ Feng would definitely reach Level 24.
“Let’s take a break. We’ll start another round after we rest.”
s.h.i.+ Feng examined everyone’s statuses. Whether it was the magic damage dealers or healers, their Mana was nearly exhausted. Hence, s.h.i.+ Feng decided it was best if they rested before challenging the other Flame Guards. Moreover, they had spent the past hour dodging and attacking frantically. This had definitely strained everyone mentally. Hence, it would be beneficial to rest and prepare themselves for the next a.s.sault.
There was also another important reason why s.h.i.+ Feng chose to take a break.
Divine Providence had a Cooldown of one hour.
Now that they had such an amazing opportunity that allowed them to slaughter the Flame Guards, how could they waste it? s.h.i.+ Feng had to wait until Divine Providence was ready before taking down the next Flame Guard.
“Guild Leader, what should we do about the drops at the entrance?” Aqua Rose asked as she gazed at the pile of loot outside the cave covetously.
There were still 15 Flame Guards guarding their exit, so it was impossible to collect the loot right now.
“Relax. No one else can enter this place. Also, loot dropped by monsters won’t disappear for 48 hours. We have plenty of time to take care of the rest of the Flame Guards.” Although s.h.i.+ Feng also wanted to dash over and pick up the loot, the 15 Flame Guards were not there just for show.
After taking a short break, everyone resumed another round of attrition.
Now that everyone had experienced fighting a Flame Guard, it was much easier to deal with the rest.
Time pa.s.sed quickly, and one Flame Guard after another fell.
Unknowingly, nearly 18 hours had pa.s.sed in game. At this moment, the final Flame Guard died under s.h.i.+ Feng’s hands. It, too, fell to the ground and scattered a ton of loot.
Outside the cave, the loot of the 16 Flame Guards had grown into a small mountain, and the team struggled to contain their drool over the sight.
Meanwhile, s.h.i.+ Feng had finally reached Level 24. After allotting all of his Free Attribute Points into Intelligence, he was only 9 points away from reaching the Heavenly Dragon’s Breath’s requirement of 120 Intelligence.