Two hours passed by in the blink of an eye. It was over 7 pm in the night before we knew it.

As expected, Lin Yixin and I were able to clear out the entire fourth floor of the Ancient Thunder Temple without trouble. We gained a lot of experience, but not enough to level up, experience required to level up was so high.

Pop!

A Big Magic Stone hit the ground and rolled next to Lin Yixin’s feet. She picked it up and threw it into her bag, saying, “You could’ve gone to heaven, but no, you just had to choose hell. Welcome aboard then, little one!”

“What’s your experience at now?” I asked.

“Mmm, I’m at Level 58, 97%. It should take another ten minutes of grinding at most to level up!”

“Well, the boss is the only mob left for us to kill. Once its dead, we are sure to level up. I will get 56, you 59!”

“Yeah.”

……

After dodging an innumerable amount of lightning strikes, we arrived at the end of the fourth floor.

“Where’s the boss?” While Lin Yixin was looking left and right in confusion, I suddenly grabbed onto her arm and pulled her backward.

“Watch out!”

“Ah?!”

An extraordinarily huge and ugly creature burst out of the ground Lin Yixin was standing on a moment ago and crawled into the open. It resembled a jellyfish, and it had a soft, turquoise body that spread across the floor like a carpet. It was staring at us with a pair of eyes the size of a mung bean!

“Fuck, what is that!?” Lin Yixin asked loudly while staring at the boss.

“How should I know? Get ready, this is the boss we’re looking for!”

A line of text floated above the gigantic creature’s head: “Thunder Lair Worm Mother”. It was without a doubt the boss of the fourth floor!

It was a Level 62 Silver Rank boss that we knew nothing about; neither its stats nor its attack moves. Without a priest to support, neither Lin Yixin nor I was absolutely confident in our ability to defeat it.

“Be careful, don’t let it one-shot you!” Lin Yixin warned as she shot me a glance.

I responded with an acknowledging nod. “You too.”

Then, the two of us charged with our pets at the boss without hesitation!

Swhoosh!

Lin Yixin pulled out her dagger and channeled an incredible amount of power into the blade. Pupils glowing like the moon itself, she unleashed Moon Gaze and Extreme Break upon the boss’s defenseless body!

I readied my own sword and timed my own attack to match Lin Yixin’s. The second Extreme Break was unleashed, I dished out my own attack combo: Pardon + Desperate Gambit!

MISS!

2453!

Huh? How did I do so much damage when it wasn’t even a critical hit? It looks like this boss has pretty low Defense!

But when I checked the boss’s HP bar, I was shocked to find that its HP hadn’t shrunk in the slightest. Oh no, it looks like the boss compensates for its low Defense with a staggering amount of HP!

Lin Yixin activated Killer Wind Swordplay and attacked the boss more furiously than before. The two of us and our pets were able to deal almost 10000 damage in just a couple of seconds!

The boss’s HP finally dropped a little. Holy shit, this boss has got to have at least 100k HP if my math is correct!

“Huh?”

Suddenly, Lin Yixin frowned and let out an exclamation of surprise.

“What’s wrong?” I looked at her.

“Why isn’t the boss retaliating?”

“I know, I’m just as puzzled as you are…”

The boss showed no signs of retaliation even though we were giving it the trashing of its life. What’s going on here? Is it a free boss or something?

I was wrong, however. A strange, splashing noise came from inside the boss’s body, and it suddenly started twitching rapidly!

“What’s going on?” Lin Yixin’s astonishment grew even deeper.

I paid no heed to it and kept attacking, however. Whatever this boss was doing, all we needed to do was attack it until its HP reached zero and it died. It was a rule no boss could escape from!

Pwoot pwoot…

The boss suddenly raised its posterior and spat out something that looked like a mudball; an egg. The moment the egg cracked open, and a dozen or so green worms the size of humans started crawling toward us like giant cockroaches! They were actual enemies that we had to kill to survive!

Thunder Larva

Level: 60

Attack: 120~240

Defense: 50

HP: 100

Description: The children of the Thunder Lair Worm Mother. Their attack speed is incredibly high.

……

“So disgusting…” Lin Yixin commented while tugging the corner of her lips.

“Their Attack is so-so, but their numbers are crazy. If you’re not careful and get surrounded they might kill you,” I warned.

Lin Yixin chuckled. “There’s nothing to be afraid of. Just watch me!”

She charged toward the larvae and cut through them like butter. The foremost Thunder Larva let out a death screech before collapsing into a pool of sticky green liquid. Again, it was incredibly disgusting.

These larvae were Level 60, but their HP, Defense and EXP were shockingly low. There was no point in trying to farm them at all.

Pwoot pwoot pwoot...

The Thunder Lair Worm Mother continued to “give birth” to her children very rapidly, and soon Lin Yixin and I were trapped in a sea of larvae. It was literally impossible to escape now even if we wanted to.

The larvae kept biting at our boots and dealing around 5 to 10 points of damage at a time. A single larva was not a threat, but a hundred or even a thousand of them attacking us at once told a completely different story!

We finally realized the boss’s true power. It was a goddamned infinite spawn-type boss!

“Shit, we’re gonna be buried if this continues!”

I drank a Rank 4 Health Potion while complaining.

But Lin Yixin smiled confidently. “It’s not the end yet. You and your pet just focus on killing the boss and leave the rest to me…”

“Oh? I take it that you have a plan?”

“Mn!”

Lin Yixin nodded and downed an HP pot to stay alive. Then, she took out a red card from her bag and smiled. “I’ll show you what I’m made of. Rank 4 Skill Card, Sea of Flames!”

She tossed the card into the air, and it transformed into a magic circle that rained fire all around us!

Ding~!

Combat Log: Player “Wind Fantasy” used “Fire Fox Card” with “Sea of Flames” effect, dealing 25 magic damage per second to all surrounding enemies for 60 seconds!

……

25 magic damage? What can that possibly—

My thought was cut short when I realized that a bunch of numbers were rising from the larvae’s head continuously. 55, 57, 62, 63—since the larvae took around 50 to 70 damage every second, and it only took a moment for “Sea of Flames” to annihilate all of them!

“What do you think?”

Lin Yixin was positively glowing in high spirits and confidence. “Quickly, I only have 5 Fire Fox Cards, so we need to kill this Thunder Lair Worm Mother in 5 minutes tops. Each one of these costs gold, you know. Hmph hmph, I knew they would be useful someday!”

I was both stunned and impressed. “Are you a trash collector or something? If this boss didn’t happen to have such a gimmick, this card is practically trash among trash…”

Lin Yixin smiled uncaringly. “So what? I love collecting cards. At least half my warehouse is filled with cards, you know!”

What else could I say after hearing that? Only a rich person could afford a hobby like this!

The Sea of Flames effect scorched everything within a certain range except me and Lin Yixin, so the boss couldn’t do anything against us, no matter how many larvae it produced at a time.

We exploited the temporary respite to the max and dished out all the damage we could give. Without the larvae to harass us, the Thunder Lair Worm Mother couldn’t even hold out for five minutes!

I chanted repeatedly inside my mind when the boss’s HP hit rock bottom, “Come to me, Hero’s Token! I love you!”

Pop!

The Thunder Lair Worm Mother died and dropped a number of items. Unfortunately, the Hero’s Token wasn’t among them. Not only that, there were only a couple of Phantasmal Magic Stones and two incredibly average–looking equipment!

Swhoosh swhoosh!

Still, the experience we gained from her was enough to carry us over to the next level. I had to say, this excursion had truly been a profitable one!

I felt my tears welling after I picked up the equipment and checked their stats—

Lionheart Spear: Bronze-grade, 32~75 Attack, Agility +5. Level Requirement: 55

Birchwood Shield: Iron-grade, 27 Defense, Strength +2. Level Requirement: 55

……

Lin Yixin’s mouth fell open when she saw the equipment’s stats. She laughed. “This is a tragedy alright…”

I nodded in agreement. “I know right? Just what the hell is this shit? You dare call yourself a boss, worm mother?”

Lin Yixin giggled. “Hey, at least it gave a lot of experience. At our level, where else could we get 25% in less than 5 minutes?”

“Fair enough. Let’s move on to the fifth floor then. A Hero’s Token has to drop eventually!”

“Yeah!”

……

When we entered the fifth floor, we discovered that the mobs’ levels were even higher. This time, our opponents were Level 65 Thunder Knights. It was a type of horse-riding undead knight with high HP, high Defense, and average Attack. They definitely didn’t hit like a truck, but it took a bit more effort than usual to kill. In any case, with EXP yield like this, an extra bit of effort was a small price to pray.

I was in the sweet zone when I suddenly received a message from Du Thirteen: “Lu Chen, you’ve been fighting for a whole day. Do you want to log out and rest for a bit? Little Gui, Mamate, and I had already booked a spot at a restaurant downstairs. We’re gonna be eating some Sichuan fish. Do you want to join us?”

I replied immediately, “Nah, I’ll pass. I’m busy clearing a grinding zone right now. Just leave me and go have fun!”

“But Lil Beiming complains that she hasn’t seen you for a whole day and night. Your little sister is about to turn into a grudgeful wife, you know.”

I smiled at the joke and replied, “In that case, tell Beiming that I’ll join everyone for breakfast tomorrow.”

“Alright. We’re heading downstairs now. Take care of yourself and don’t work too hard, okay?”

“I got it. Now go. You can pay for the meal using our operation funds!”

“Understood!”

Gui Guzi, Du Thirteen, Yamete, and Beiming Xue’s IDs turned dark in my friend list. However, I noticed that Murong Mingyue was still online and leveling at a tremendous pace. She was now one of the highest-leveled priests in Floating Ice City, and it seemed like she was pouring a lot of effort into the game.

Had she finally awakened to her gaming lust and made up her mind to become the best wet nurse she could be?

I couldn’t help but feel glad by the fact that all our efforts were looking like they would pay off very soon. Once Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had officially founded a guild, Bloody Mercenaries would naturally join them when the time was right. When that happened, the dream of rising to the top in Floating Ice City would no longer just be a pipedream.

Unlike before, I had the loyalty of first-rate experts like Gui Guzi and Beiming Xue. The new Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls would reach unprecedented heights!

……

It was dark and quiet outside. The arms of the clock had already passed 9 pm.

The fifth floor of the Ancient Thunder Temple was a series of circular corridors that led to a huge hall at the end. The final boss we had to face was most likely the legendary Thunder General!

I wonder if this legendary expert will be so kind as to gift me a precious Hero’s Token?