Bang!

The Poison Ghost King landed a swift and painful Envenomed Strike on my shoulder, tearing through my flesh, causing my entire body to shake in pain. Fuck, it was a critical hit!

2245!

The boss then swung his greenish, poisonous sword again and caught me and the girls behind me in a sword aura! The Envenomed Sword Aura!

Boom!

I was dizzy for a moment. There was no Immortality to save me this time!

Swhoosh!

There was a flash, and I appeared as a soul at a nearby graveyard.

Behind me, He Yi, Murong Mingyue and Moonlight Stone also met the same fate. Beiming Xue was the only one who was still clinging to her life!

“Fuck!”

He Yi complained angrily, “This boss is way too powerful! I can’t believe a critical hit was all it took to one-shot me… I even lost my Azure Wolf Wristguards…”

I spread my arms in a helpless gesture. “What can you do? He’s a Dark Gold Rank boss!”

Murong Mingyue interrupted us. “Less talking, more reviving! The boss has less than one-third of his HP left, so let’s kill it already and call it a day!”

“Yeah!”

Inside the party channel, Beiming Xue said, “Guys, please hurry up! I’m kiting the boss but I don’t know how long I’m going to last…”

We all saw how fast the Poison Ghost King had been moving earlier. He was at least as fast as Beiming Xue, so it made sense that he was giving her a lot of trouble, not to mention that he was a Dark Gold Rank boss who managed to kill four of us and knock us down a level!

Thankfully, players moved a lot faster in soul form, so it would take us at most 5 minutes to return to the third floor. Since Beiming Xue was still alive and kicking, the boss shouldn’t have regenerated too much health yet.

Thud thud...

The moment we rushed back to the Ghost King Palace, we saw Beiming Xue making a mad dash for safety and just barely dodging a deadly swing from the boss. High-Agility classes were incredibly powerful in this regard!

I ran up to Beiming Xue and stood in front of her. Staring at the boss, I said, “Well done. Leave the rest to us!”

I summoned my Dark Wasp and used Charge immediately!

Swhoosh!

Then, I unleashed Ice Ray and Slayer Slash, chipping away almost 2000 HP in an instant.

At the same time, holy light flashed around my body again and again. Murong Mingyue wasn’t saving her MP at all.

Beiming Xue ran up to He Yi and returned the Azure Wolf Wristguards to her. She smiled and said, “Sister Eve, here’s your equipment~”

He Yi accepted the wristguards and returned the smile. “You’re amazing, Beiming. You actually managed to stall the boss for almost five minutes…”

“Hehe…”

While the two girls were chatting behind her, Moonlight Stone unleashed Arctic Rain and drastically slowed down the boss's movement speed. Thanks to her spell, I was able to dodge the boss's Death Combo perfectly!

The battle went very smoothly this time. I was prepared when the Poison Ghost King used the Envenomed Sword Aura again, so its powerful skill hit nothing but air.

Puchi!

I plunged my sword into the boss's chest for the last time and ripped it horizontally through his flesh using Desperate Gambit!

1803!

A long and terrible death scream later, the powerful Poison Ghost King finally reached the end of his life’s road!

Swoosh swoosh swoosh...

The Dark Gold Rank boss gave so much EXP that everyone leveled up once after its demise. Even I had returned to Level 69, although the death earlier kind of reset my earlier efforts. It would be a piece of cake for Lin Yixin to outlevel me today.

Pop pop pop...

As usual, the boss dropped a ton of items after he collapsed to the ground. I ran up to him, kicked his arm out of the way and stared at the small hill of loot sitting quietly atop the poisonous floor. The Phantasmal Magic stones alone numbered over thirty, and there was a new crystal that I had never seen before in the game until now. I picked it up and realized that it was the legendary Purple Crystal. Tsk tsk, this thing is definitely a lot more precious than a Phantasmal Magic Stone!

“Oh? Is that a Purple Crystal?”

He Yi smiled at me and said, “I read about it in the database before, and it’s quite expensive. An NPC will buy a 100 Quality Purple Crystal for 100 gold!”

I checked the quality of the Purple Crystal I was holding and said, “This one’s a 97, so it’s probably worth 97 gold.”

As I was saying this, I subconsciously threw the Purple Crystal into my bag. It wasn’t until I saw the long stares the girls were giving me that I realized my mistake.

He Yi let out a giggle before commenting, “Ahem, maybe you should exercise a bit of self-restraint next time?”

I replied in shame while taking out the Purple Crystal, “Sorry, it was pure reflex…”

“Let’s see what kind of equipment the boss dropped, shall we? It’s almost 10 in the morning!”

“Yeah.”

I walked up to the boss and swept everything the boss dropped into my arms. There were a total of 4 equipment pieces and 2 skill books. The first item was a darkly-glowing chest armor. The second was a helmet with a bloody luster. The third item was a bright necklace that looked like it was made of pure water, and the last item was a longbow with wavy light surrounding it!

“I have a feeling that one of these babies is going to be Dark Gold–grade!” I said.

He Yi burst into a giggle before urging me. “Quit teasing us and show us the stats already!”

“Okay!”

I selected the chest armor first and waved a hand over it. When the stat screen appeared before everyone’s eyes, the girls immediately let out a gasp.

Purgatory War Armor (Dark Gold–grade)

Defense: 175

Magic Resist: 140

Strength: +42

Stamina: +40

Passive: Increases user’s Defense by 7%

Passive: Increases user’s Magic Resist by 4%

Level Requirement: 70

……

175 Defense, 140 Magic Resist, 42 Strength and 40 Stamina? Holy shit, I didn’t think that an equipment at this stage of the game could have such amazing stats! There was nothing more a warrior loved than Strength and Stamina—it would be the opposite if it boosted Intelligence and Agility instead—not to mention that the equipment also had passives that boosted the user’s Defense and Magic Resist even further!

My heart was racing in excitement. I had to rub my eyes repeatedly to confirm that they weren’t playing tricks for me! The stats provided by the Level 70 Dark Gold–grade metal armor almost outstripped anything I had ever equipped in the past.

I looked at my Soul Turmoil Armor and took note of its paltry 48 Defense and 11 Stamina. There was no comparison. I was almost ashamed that I had cherished the Soul Turmoil Armor like my own kid...

Staring at the Purgatory War Armor’s stats, He Yi said, “I’m only Level 62, and you’re Level 69. This is a Level 70 metal armor, so it’s yours, Lu Chen.”

Murong Mingyue giggled from the side. “You’re too reserved, Eve. I thought you were going to roll for this equipment even though Lu Chen is the main damage dealer and tank of the party, and you’re just the freeloader…”

He Yi’s cheeks turned red. “Come on, I’m not an unreasonable person. Anyway, this chest armor is yours, Lu Chen!”

I nodded and tossed the Purgatory War Armor straight into my bag. I wasn’t a fan of fake courtesies and pretenses. “Thank you all!”

“Let’s move on to the next loot, shall we?”

“Yeah.”

This time, I waved my hand across the bloody helmet. The moment the stat screen appeared, everyone turned into stone once more.

Purgatory War Helmet (Dark Gold–grade)

Defense: 145

Magic Resist: 100

Strength: +37

Stamina: +35

Passive: Increases user’s hit rate by 15%

Passive: Increases user’s physical defense by 3%

Level Requirement: 70

……

Fuck me, another Dark Gold–grade item? It was even a part of the Purgatory equipment set! I… I’m rich! My strength was going to skyrocket the moment I hit Level 70!

I took a look at my experience bar. I was the one who scored the last hit on the Poison Ghost King, so I got a lot of experience as a result. I was sitting at Level 69 and 91% experience, and I should be close to, or rather certainly will be Level 70 after turning in this quest. Hell yeah!

I murmured as I looked back and forth between the Purgatory War Armor and He Yi. “Eve, boss, what do you think?”

He Yi rolled her eyes at me before replying, “What else? Just take it, you lucky man…”

“Leader is great! Leader is wise!”

“...”

Still overjoyed by the loot I had gotten from this boss fight, I went on to check the necklace that glowed like the moonlight. It had a crescent-shaped pendant, and it looked incredibly beautiful. The girls were clearly enchanted when they saw how pretty the necklace was. Well, that’s women for you. There was nothing they loved more than shiny and pretty stuff!

Moon Love (Dark Gold–grade)

Strength: +45

Stamina: +42

Passive: Increases user’s max HP by 20%

Passive: Increases user’s HP regeneration by 50%

Property: Female Only

Quest Trigger: ???

Level Requirement: 65

……

Fuck! This necklace was as mysterious as it looked...

Everyone was speechless for a moment. The necklace gave over 80 free stats and boosted its wearer’s max HP by 20%, as well as HP regeneration by 50%. Clearly, this equipment was meant to be worn by a magic knight, a Level 65 female magic knight to be exact. Well, there was no way I could wear this even if I was tempted by its stats and passives!

I waved the necklace once and asked everyone’s opinion. “This necklace gives amazing stats and triggers a quest after you put it on, and I’m almost certain it has something to do with its name, Moon Love. Since it boosts Strength, Stamina, max HP and HP regen, it should be worn by a magic knight… does anyone have a problem if I give this to Eve?”

The girls looked reluctant, but only because the necklace looked incredibly beautiful, not because they were tempted by the stats.

He Yi looked dazed as she accepted Moon Love. Her eyelashes were trembling, and her mouth was opened as if she wanted to say something. In the end, she looked at everyone and said, “This necklace is too precious for me to take without giving something back even if it is made to be worn by a magic knight. So…”

He Yi thought for a moment before continuing, “I’m going to pay everyone 50000 gold as compensation. Is that okay?”

Boss was the boss. 200k RMB out of the bank and she didn’t look fazed in the slightest...

Murong Mingyue curled her lips. “Eve, you don’t need to act like this. Didn’t Lu Chen nab 2 Dark Gold–grade equipment for himself just a minute ago?”

“But Lu Chen’s the main carry of the party, and I’m the freeloader…”

I gave her a reassuring smile when I saw the conflicted expression on her face. “Alright, let’s just do as the boss says, okay? She’ll pay us 50000 gold each in exchange for Moon Love!”

“Mn!”

He Yi nodded strongly at my words. 200k RMB was chump change to her, and Moon Love was too precious for her to give up.