The thunderous sound of hooves pounding against the ground reverberated throughout Sky City. The Black Cavalry had started their charge. These soldiers were more than just excellent riders, their skill with the bow was superlative as well. They had already started firing at the horde of monsters before they had even drawn near and they only started their charge in earnest after they let loose several volleys at them!
The players finally breathed a huge sigh of relief when they saw the huge host of NPC cavalrymen enter the battle. It was clear that we were no longer to push back these monsters whose levels were simply too high for us. We needed the NPC armies to deal with them.
Furthermore, we had been engaged in fierce battle since the very beginning, so the player population of Sky City had dropped to its lowest point. We barely even had one hundred thousand players left!
We"d gone from more than seventy million players to a mere one hundred thousand players. The ground around us was littered with equipment dropped by both monsters and players alike, but none of the survivors were able to pick them up. It wasn"t that we didn"t want to pick these items up, we were simply unable to. Everyone who was still alive had stuffed their inventories to the brim. Now we just needed to survive until the end, and all of us would reap ma.s.sive rewards!
……
Boom!
Thousand Ice Slash exploded in the middle of a group of monsters. I followed that up by throwing my sword into the air as I used Sword Boomerang. The Heaven-stealing Sword morphed into a whirling buzzsaw as it ripped through a group of harpies. However, there was no rest for the wicked! The moment the handle of my sword flew back into my palm, I immediately shot out Burning Blade Slash. Three fiery blades of sword energy shot into the group of harpies that I had attacked with my Sword Boomerang, instantly killing dozens of them. They fell to the ground with a miserable wail as my EXP bar skyrocketed!
Maybe it was because they were flying creatures, but the harpies gave far more experience than even the Giant Purgatory Beasts. They were Level 149 shadow-rank monsters while the Giant Purgatory Beasts were Level 145 shadow-rank monsters, but they gave at least five to ten times the experience that the Giant Purgatory Beasts.
Anyhow, I kept seeing the golden light of leveling flash all around me, so I knew that as long as we could survive this wave, the standard of the elite players of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls would rise explosively!
Hmmm, to be honest, even if they died here, they would already have gained enough!
The battle that was brewing to the east of Sky City was growing fiercer and fiercer. The NPC cavalrymen were slowly beginning to cut apart the clouds of harpies swarming the battlefield while we players were taking full advantage of our newly arrived meats.h.i.+elds. We let the NPCs tank all the hits while we rained fire down on the harpies. After all, there was nothing wrong with s.n.a.t.c.hing monster EXP from NPCs.
Over at where Snowy Cathaya was battling, Lin Yixin was raising her Frozen Sword high in the air as she cut through groups of monsters like a hot knife through b.u.t.ter. The Frostscythe Warhorse kept whinnying as she bombarded the monsters in front of her with Ice Flame Slash and other similar skills. Her Frozen Sword"s Outstanding Property kept proccing as well, and it kept spraying the enemies in front of Lin Yixin with icicle blasts. This weapon was precisely the reason why Lin Yixin had managed to maintain her place near the top of the war contribution ranking.
Unfortunately, The Monarch Descends weren"t doing so hot right now. Ling Xueshang bitterly pushed back against the waves of monsters, a bunch of nearly-dead players supporting her. It looked like they were having a lot of trouble with the monsters and it was honestly no surprise. Trying to kill shadow-rank monsters 30 levels higher than them without any Famous General Skills was quite the tall order, but if they could endure this baptism of fire, their strength would definitely undergo a veritable rebirth.
……
Pchhhht!
The Heaven-stealing Sword shone with a gloomy light as it slid through the body of an onrus.h.i.+ng harpy. I swung my arm violently to the side, flinging the harpy to the ground unceremoniously. I simultaneously bent down to pick up the leather bracers that it had dropped.
I immediately inspected them. Mn, not bad. These bracers were a piece of 2-star Outstanding Dark Gold–grade set which added 3% critical chance. Not bad! I could sell it in my shop when we returned to Sky City.
He Yi stirred up a cloud of dust as she flew over and said, “Lu Chen, Lu Chen~!”
“What"s up?”
“A boss has appeared at the northern edge of the battlefield. There aren"t that many players left there either. Hegemon Palace, Mad Dragon, and Flower Room have been, for all intents and purposes, wiped out. Should we go grab it?”
“Sure, let"s do it…”
I raised my longsword in the air and yelled, “Comrades, I want anyone who is Level 115 and above to follow me! We"re off to kill a boss!”
Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, Xu Yang, and a few others laughed out loud as they hefted their weapons and followed after me. Meanwhile, He Yi remained even farther ahead of our small formation. She clearly meant to serve as our guide.
However, when we reached the northern part of Sky City, we discovered that someone was already fighting the boss! Shockingly enough, the one who was facing off against the boss was Lin Yixin, who was currently sitting astride her Frostscythe Warhorse! Once she activated Bombsh.e.l.l, her stats would rise by 60–75%. Her health would reach about 30k, and her Defense, Attack, and attack speed would all receive huge boosts.
But Bombsh.e.l.l didn"t directly boost Lin Yixin"s crit rate. This was because crit rate wasn"t an actual stat that could be boosted. It was something that was calculated using one"s Agility stat and any bonuses added by equipment. I thanked the heavens that this was the case. If not, the Fruit Knife G.o.ddess would be absolutely unstoppable...
We finally laid eyes on the Level 149 Spirit Rank boss, Bloodwing the Sky Fury, who was currently hovering in the air. Astonis.h.i.+ngly enough, she was a beautiful woman who had two long blood-colored wings extending from her back. She was completely naked and her two lofty peaks quivered perkily with every attack she made.
How worrisome. If they shook too vigorously and fell off, would her stats decrease as well?
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Blood-colored feathers continued to rain down on Lin Yixin relentlessly. She swiftly used her sword to block most of those feathers, causing sparks to fly in the air, but the impact of those feathers continued to push her back. She had lost a huge chunk of health as well! This boss"s attack power was simply too high!
……
“OMG, Beauty Lin got here first. What should we do?” Chaos Moon said cheerily as she waved her hands helplessly in the air.
I stared into the distance. Even though Lin Yixin had Purple Marquis, Shadow Chanel, Clear Perfume, and a few others helping her, it still looked like an uphill battle for them. They sorely needed more healers, DPS, and tanks! In truth, they were in sore need of everything. Their puny ten-man squad wouldn"t be able to kill that boss...
A light flashed through my eyes before I laughed and said, “Eve, Lil Gui, Sister Mingyue, Li Chengfeng, Beiming Xue, Fighting Spirits, You and Yun, Chaos Moon, Xu Yang, Pure Love. All of you follow me! Let"s go and help them!”
Gui Guzi raised his spear in the air and grinned as he shouted, “Okay!”
He Yi raised Whirlwind high in the air as she gave a soft laugh. “Go tell Beauty Lin first and get her to add all of us to her party so we can get that boost from Bombsh.e.l.l. We"ll help them kill the boss. We"re just in it for the EXP this time and we"ll leave all the equipment drops to Snowy Cathaya!”
“Yes!”
I gave a heavy nod of my head. I couldn"t even imagine a scenario where He Yi would be so generous toward Lin Yixin, so I really appreciated the decision that she had made just now.
I rushed forward and greeted the boss with Burning Blade Slash. Three fiery blades of sword energy swept forward and struck Bloodwing, causing her to wail in agony and stumble backward through the air.
My attack had actually pushed the boss back a little!
Lin Yixin gave vent to a scream of rage before she shot me the sweetest smile. “You"re finally here…”
“Mn.” I nodded my head and replied, “Yiyi, add us into your party. We"ll help you kill the boss and we"re only here for the experience points. We"ll leave all of the equipment that the boss drops to you guys!”
“Okay! Thanks in advance!”
“Hah, why are you being so polite? Just treat me to meal when you"re free~”
“Mmmmm!”
Lin Yixin"s smile grew even sweeter as she added us into the party as quick as she could. With the addition of the two female priests, Murong Mingyue and Chaos Moon, their party instantly felt a whole lot safer!
Gui Guzi immediately a.s.sumed the role of the main tank. With Bombsh.e.l.l"s boost, this punk"s HP had very nearly reached forty thousand and his Defense had also risen by a terrifying number. Even though Bloodwing kept pelting him with poisoned feathers, he was more than capable of tanking her attacks.
I took a quick glance at my own stats. Hooh, my HP had instantly risen from 15960 to 26500. Just from this alone, I could deduce that Lin Yixin"s Tactics had reached about 165. It was a little short of my 188, but it was already doing more than enough work.
Now that I had high HP and Defense, I didn"t need to worry about anything as I rushed forward and unleashed a stream of blows. I wouldn"t die even if the boss attacked me, because Murong Mingyue, Chaos Moon, and the rest of the priests were paying close attention to all of our health bars.
Besides the twenty-odd people who were either DPS or tanks, the rest were all healers! There were nearly fifteen priests constantly topping up our health bars, so there was really no way that this boss could even begin to hurt us.
Our current squad had five of the top ten players ranked in the China server"s Player Power Ranking and Heavenly Ranking. We were also being bolstered by what could be considered the divine Famous General Skill at the current stage in the game, Bombsh.e.l.l. This party could easily be called the strongest in our server and it really wasn"t difficult for us to kill a Level 149 Spirit Rank Boss. It was only a matter of how long it would take us.
Bloodwing the Sky Fury was a flying boss too, so she didn"t have a lot of health in the first place. As a result, it only took this ridiculous squad of players seven minutes to drop her HP to a critical state. As my Burning Blade Slash and Li Chengfeng"s Dragonbone Flurry continuously barraged it, she finally gave up the ghost. The person who had claimed the kill was the Dragon Warrior Li Chengfeng.
The man sure was lucky! A boss had so much HP now that deliberately aiming for the last hit was practically impossible, so it all boiled down to luck.
Whoos.h.!.+
Golden light shot toward the sky. I reached Level 123. This boss really did give us a lot of experience. Oh well, the level difference between Bloodwing and us had really been quite incredible.
Bloodwing let out a shrill wail of misery and as she plummeted to the ground, a small heap of items and equipment appeared around her body.
Tsk tsk, Li Chengfeng seemed to have more than 10 points of Luck as well, so his item drop rate definitely wasn"t bad. I was very sure that there was at least a Spirit-grade item in that pile!
……
I sheathed my sword before turning around to smile at the Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players milling around behind me. “Alright, time to close up shop and return to the eastern part of the battlefield! It"s about time for us to prepare to greet the ninth wave of monsters. Their attacks will be even more vicious than the last wave!
Everyone nodded their head as Li Chengfeng quickly swapped his weapon. A s.h.i.+ny new sword appeared in his hand and he couldn"t help but let out a loud laugh as he said, “Ah, this feels great! Level 120 weapons really are awesome! This Tempest Sword has boosted my attack through the roof…”
Chaos Moon"s lips puckered up into a pout. “Will you die if you don"t show off, you b.a.s.t.a.r.d...”
Gui Guzi let out a hearty laugh as well. “If we can"t show off, we"ll end up with internal injuries! Just look at how awesome my Armored Swordback Dragon is! Every footstep it takes sounds like a clap of thunder! It"s super cool…”
Chaos Moon replied, “I… I want to hit Level 150 and ride a mount too…”
I walked over to her and patted her on the shoulder as I said, “There"s still a long way to go, young one. Keep grinding…”
Chaos Moon: “Bunch of b.a.s.t.a.r.ds…”
……
As everyone turned around and prepared to leave, we suddenly heard a shout. Lin Yixin had been inspecting the spoils of war and she was now galloping towards us as quick as lightning. She yelled, “Lu Chen! Guys! Don"t leave yet!”
“What"s up?” Everyone turned to look at her.
Lin Yixin caught up to us and leapt off her horse. She walked towards me and smiled sweetly before she thrust a weapon towards us. She said, “Well, if not for you, I"m afraid that Snowy Cathaya would have had a very difficult time killing that boss. So… this spear will be our thanks to you! Snowy Cathaya won"t let our allies down!”
Shockingly enough, the weapon she was holding in her hands was a long spear swirling with rainbow-colored energy, a sharp killing intent radiating from its deadly blade!
Lin Yixin quickly shared the spear"s stats. A whole list of numbers flew into the air before they slowly coalesced into a s.h.i.+mmery hologram. Everyone sucked in a breath of cold air when they saw the spear"s stats.
Rainbow (Spirit-grade, Outstanding★★★★)
Attack: 670~855
Strength: +110
Stamina: +105
Pa.s.sive: Increases user"s Attack by 35%
Pa.s.sive: Deals 20% splash damage
Property: Increases Mount Tenacity by 20%
Outstanding Property: When attacking a target, there is a 5% chance to trigger a flurry of thrusts that will damage the target and enemies around it
Slots: 3
Level Requirement: 120
……