A Level 150 Spirit Rank boss. Those heavy words sent both joy and anxiety racing through my heart. I finally had a chance to challenge a Level 150 boss!
……
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The Earth Lizard Dragon"s gigantic body smashed through the stone wall. With an enraged roar, it let out another blast of dragon breath. I was about 30 yards away from it, so I had enough s.p.a.ce and time to reach cover. I suddenly reversed course as I accelerated, darting toward the nearby cl.u.s.tered stalact.i.tes so I could borrow them as cover. Given my reaction speed, it would be pretty easy to keep on dodging its breath attack.
Hissss...
A scorching hot pain up from my arm. Even though I had done my best to dodge, it had still grazed my forearm, causing me to take more than 2000 points of damage.
I turned around to look at the long black scar on the ground, undoubtedly left behind by the Earth Lizard Dragon"s breath. Hmmm, a diagonal dodge wasn"t quite enough to completely evade the attack, so next time I would have to make sure I wasn"t in the 60-degree arc cone in the middle of the Earth Lizard Dragon. That way I could escape unscathed with absolute certainty.
Dragon Slaying Slashes flew from my sword continuously as a barrage of attacks slowly whittled down the Earth Lizard Dragon"s health. The Dragon Slaying Slash had already become my number one treasure when it came to killing bosses.
As a warrior who couldn"t use either traps or magic, I didn"t have a lot of freedom to maneuver when fighting a boss. And so, the Dragon Slaying Slash, a long-range attack with incredible power, had given me a lot more flexibility to kite and maneuver around bosses. In fact, I could confidently say that this skill would allow me to take on any melee-based bosses!
The Earth Lizard Dragon roared furiously as it reared up and swiped at the stalact.i.tes separating the two of us with its claws, crus.h.i.+ng the stones into powder.
f.u.c.k, this boss is way too ferocious! The way this map was designed didn"t allow for the exploitation of any bugs, so the player could only rely on their mechanics and maneuvering to kill it!
……
Thud, thud, thud, thud…
Huge claws relentlessly pounded against the ground as the Earth Lizard Dragon leapt onto the uppermost part of the cave. It furiously launched attacks at me from above, its huge body lunging forward before its jaws snapped wide open. The stink of sulfur pervaded my nose before it shot out a stream of dragon breath at me once more. However, I had already antic.i.p.ated its attack and moved out of harm"s way the instant it tried to breathe on me.
Even then, it still tried to bite at me with a snap of its mighty jaws. Its fangs collided against each other with a mighty crash, causing my heart to race with shock. It didn"t even give me a chance to catch my breath as it swung those lethal claws at my face.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Claws as sharp as razors clashed against the Heaven-stealing Sword consecutively and I was sent reeling backward. A huge chunk of my health also went flying away at the same. But this d.a.m.ned lizard refused to let up as its head lunged forward again.
It wasn"t trying to bite me because I could see a ball of scorching fire gathering in the back of its throat. Its neck began to swell, and I could immediately tell that this blast would be fatal if I let it hit me!
The dragon claw smashed into my left arm and pressed it against the wall. I couldn"t move and I was suddenly overwhelmed by the feeling of impending doom. I sheathed the Heaven-stealing Sword with a speed that defied thought as streams of fiery red energy began to swirl around my iron gauntlet. I clenched my teeth and fiercely smashed my fist into the giant dragon"s mouth!
Magic Piercing Punch!
Boom!
The mighty punch rattled the Earth Lizard Dragon so hard that I rattled the brain in its skull. The dragon breath it had been about to spew died in its throat as it shook its head vigorously!
2563!
Tsk, tsk, this Magic Piercing Punch really isn"t bad at all! It did a significant amount of damage while also interrupting skills. It had dealt even more damage than an all-out basic attack from the Heaven-stealing Sword!
As the Earth Lizard Dragon staggered backward, I swiftly took advantage of the situation and whipped out the Heaven-stealing Sword out. I battered it with a flurry of blows, ensuring that the dragon remained poisoned, before turning around and slipping away like a human eel. As I backed away, I launched several more Dragon Slaying Slashes at it, shaving off even more of its health. I was very confident that the Earth Lizard Dragon"s HP was above 2000000, so I"d probably have to wait until next year if I wanted to wait for the poison to kill it.
"Graaaaawwwwrrrr!"
The Earth Dragon Lizard let out a howl filled with rage after suffering such great humiliation. Its mouth suddenly yawned open as a never-ending stream of fire seemed to pour from its throat. As it shook its head, it spewed fire all over the cave, setting it alight in a sea of flames. And I… just so happened to be smack dab in the middle of these flames!
Even though I was hiding behind the forest of stalact.i.tes, the scorching flames swirling all around me were causing my HP to drop like a rock!
4023!
4284!
4227!
……
I hurriedly used Tenacity of the Dead and chugged down a Rank 9 Health Potion, barely dragging myself back from death"s door! Before I could even breathe a sigh of relief, the Earth Lizard Dragon charged toward me with incredible swiftness. As it reared up in front of me, it raised one giant claw high in the air before smas.h.i.+ng down on top of me.
Bang!
My entire body shook violently as I flew into the corner like a kite whose string had been cut. I used Guard, but that blow still sent me flying! This Earth Lizard Dragon had at least twice the Strength that I did! If not, its blows wouldn"t be so overbearing!
I rolled out of the corner like an unkillable c.o.c.kroach the moment my body hit the ground. As I flipped off the ground and sped away, the Earth Lizard Dragon"s skull smashed into the huge stone behind me just half a second later!
f.u.c.king h.e.l.l! If it was any normal player and not as someone as quick as me, they would have been reduced to a b.l.o.o.d.y paste right then and there!
"Graaawwrrrr…"
The Earth Lizard Dragon roared like a bloodthirsty beast before it came barreling toward me once again. Its mouth stretched wide open as it prepared to unleash another blast of dragon breath!
As I stared at the dragon"s mouth, I began counting down in my head. Once the timer in my head hit zero, my war boots abruptly stomped against a stalact.i.te with a thud! My body flew through the air like a bolt of lightning. I had flown out of the 60-degree arc blast! While I just barely dodged its flaming breath in the air, I swung the Heaven-stealing Sword backward!
Dragon Slaying Slas.h.!.+
Bang!
3874!
I hit it right on the nose! Dragon Slaying Slash wasn"t a skill that needed to lock onto an enemy, so I didn"t even need to see the enemy to fire off a slash at it. Since the Earth Lizard Dragon was a bright red spot on my minimap, I was easily able to calculate its position without even physically looking at it. This technique resembled blind-sniping in the fps game, Counter-Strike, in which the player would use his instincts and experience to deduce the position of an enemy player and pre-fire as soon as they peeked out the corner. It was a reaction so fast that it exceeded the speed of thought, and it was this style of play that would give me the most time to flee and reposition myself.
Ten minutes flew past in the blink of an eye, and I once again summoned the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf which had already died once. I took control of the little wolf"s movements while using Dragon Slaying Slash to batter the Earth Lizard Dragon simultaneously. This style of play instantly made it two times more difficult to execute my moves perfectly, but it also made this boss fight much safer for me.
The greedy wolf let out a low growl as it sped toward the Earth Lizard Dragon in a zigzag pattern. Thankfully, this Earth Lizard Dragon was a landbound dragon. If it was a flying dragon, my dreams of using the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf as a meats.h.i.+eld would be nothing more than wishful thinking.
The originally quiet and serene cave shook with thunderous explosions. The cyan energy waves projected by my Dragon Slaying Slash flashed across the cave like lightning bolts as the dragon"s roars intermixed with the sound of fierce combat. All of these sounds melded together into a mournful dirge that seemed to be a requiem specially composed for this vicious Earth Lizard Dragon.
……
My senses were heightened as every single cell in my body focused on this fight. I ducked and weaved away from its pursuit as my feet drew an "S" on the ground. My mind remained completely calm and composed, it was as tranquil as the smooth surface of a lake. I had to be able to maintain this focus and composure in order to perform this perfect mult.i.tasking. The pathing of the greedy wolf was absolutely something that deserved to be studied. It could not allow the boss to evade its zigzag blocking, but it also couldn"t be too bold in cutting off the boss"s movement. If he made a single mistake, the Greedy Wolf would end up aggroing the boss, and it wouldn"t last more than a few swipes of the claw.
This sort of strategy actually wasn"t too different from the ancient way of kings. The ruler had to control his subjects with a delicate hand. He could not oppress them but he also had to uphold the strict laws of the country. The king had to strike a delicate balance between freedom and order, happiness and stability.
My current battle strategy really followed the same principles and it was if the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf was toying with the Earth Lizard Dragon at this moment. It continued to get in the way of its movement, but the moment it seemed like the dragon was about to smite it, it immediately fled away to get rid of all the aggro before returning again to frustrate the dragon.
Even though I had managed to pull this off, there was still no way to avoid the Earth Lizard Dragon"s scorching dragon breath. My health continued to drop while I was trapped in this sea of fire and I was practically dancing along the edge of a cliff as I kited it.
This boss hunt was exceedingly difficult, and it felt like I could die at any second. I had to continuously charge at the dragon to apply the poison, I had to Guard at crucial moments, and I also had to know exactly when to block an attack or use the greedy wolf to impede the dragon"s movements. I was applying nearly all of my mechanical skill and control to execute each and every move and it felt as if I was rising to a whole new level.
However, my health pots continued to disappear from my inventory at a furious rate in spite of my superlative skill. The Earth Lizard Dragon was simply moving too quickly and its attack power was so overwhelming that it left me barely clinging onto life. All in all, killing this boss was going to tire me to death before I actually kicked the bucket.
Beep!
It was at this precise moment that I received a message from Beiming Xue: "Big bro, it"s nearly eight! Have you finished getting ready to accompany me to the student gathering?"
I looked at the boss"s HP bar. It still had 41% of its health remaining. I could probably kill it if I kept up my relentless attacks for the next hour. So I replied: "Yes, finish your preparations and get dressed. I"ll probably finish up before 9, and I"ll go pick you up after that. I shouldn"t be too late."
"Okay! Big bro, what are you doing now?
"Lemme send you a video…"
"Oh?"
I shared my vision with her so that Beiming Xue could also see what I saw. She instantly let out a startled cry, "Wah, what a huge dragon! Big bro, you really are slaying a dragon…"
"Mn, aren"t I strong? If it drops any leather equipment, I"ll give it to you!"
"Heh! Big bro, I love you to bitsss!"
Me: "..."
……
Beiming Xue went offline soon as I continued my struggle. The Earth Lizard Dragon"s HP slowly dwindled while I danced on the edge of a sword. The dragon constantly hounded me as I stunned it with Thunderous Charge time and again. I also kept using Magic Piercing Punch at crucial moments to get me out of trouble. My confidence was rising. If I hadn"t learned Magic Piercing Punch before fighting this dragon, I would have already died countless deaths.
Time slowly flowed by as the dragon nest soon became dotted with huge craters. The entirety of the cave was scorched black by dragon fire and the Earth Lizard Dragon"s health bar was swiftly falling to zero!
My Dragon Slaying Slash wasn"t an instant-cast skill, so I couldn"t simply keep firing it off undisturbed. I could only grab myself a chance to use it after ten seconds of running around for my life. In sum, I could only deal 40k damage in a minute, 400k damage in ten, and 4m damage in a hundred minutes. Since I"d been doing this for more than an hour, I was keenly aware of how ridiculous the Earth Lizard Dragon"s health was. It had, at the very least, surpa.s.sed 3 million, and it was probably even higher than that.
When the clock struck 8:47, the dragon"s health finally fell to less than 5%. But I also started to tense up. Everything would be decided in these next few instants. The closer I got to victory, the more vigilant I had to be. I couldn"t afford any slip-ups!
A glittering cyan blade formed in the air before it exploded against the dragon"s head. The Earth Lizard Dragon had to be completely sick of this skill by now. It roared as it rushed forward, but the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf"s interference meant that it could not reach me with its claws or fangs. Furthermore, I was able to easily dodge its dragon breath by now.
As I watched the boss"s heath slowly whittle down to zero, my heart started pounding faster and faster.
4%!
3%!
2%!
1%!
When the boss"s health dropped to a tiny sliver, I grinned! The Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf blocked its way and I used my ultimate technique at the same moment the Earth Lizard Dragon was charging up its breath attack!
A beam of purple light rushed toward the sky as countless streams of energy swirled around the Heaven-stealing Sword. The image of a purple dragon soon formed around the sword and as I slashed forward, the purple dragon roared!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The Purple Dragon Howl exploded out of my sword and the Earth Lizard Dragon wailed miserably! It was at this moment that this Level 150 boss finally fell to my blade!
Whoos.h.!.+
A beam of gold light soared into the sky as I jumped to Level 118. In fact, I got so much EXP that I only needed 3% to reach 119. The Earth Lizard Dragon"s gigantic body slowly toppled to the ground behind me and a huge amount of drops appeared on the ground.