"Mmph...”

With a muffled grunt, I rolled among the rubble.

The tauren boss charged, swinging his axe, his eyes filled with fury. But in the next moment, he was dumbstruck. There were players all over the place, and more than a dozen archers!

Lin Yixin charged forward, her eyes shining with moonlight.

Moon Gaze!

Extreme Break!

After two attacks, she quickly retreated. Fortunately, she got the boss's aggro.

Beiming Xue ordered, "Attack at will. Unleash Devil Piercing Arrow at full power!"

Immediately, a large group of three-promotion archers nocked their arrows to their bows and the arrows flew out with the twanging of the bowstrings. They all hit the boss's head and chest. Devil Piercing Arrow could ignore 50% of the target's Defense. The tauren boss's Defense had been shattered by Lin Yixin's Moon Gaze and Extreme Break, so his Defense stat couldn’t exceed 500. That being the case, the archers’ attacks became extremely effective!

Bang bang bang!

A series of stunning numbers appeared—

984!

874!

942!

……

In just a moment, 15% of the boss’s HP had been deleted. My blood heated up upon watching this. As expected, it was easier with so many people. Under the barrage of so many archers, even a Level 75 Dark Gold Rank boss would die quickly!

Yet the situation was not as optimistic as I imagined. Lin Yixin's Extreme Break only remained effective for 15 seconds. Then the boss's Defense returned to normal, and our archers’ damage tanked to 100–200. Those with subpar equipment couldn’t deal more than double digits!

Whoosh whoosh whoosh...

Scattered Rain quickly filled up my HP and shouted, "Falling Dust, go rescue Gui Guzi, he's not going to last...”

I turned to look back and found Gui Guzi's round shield filled with holes from the boss's enormous axe. He had less than a third of HP.

The tauren boss was really living up to his rank, his long-handled axe was well-guarded and powerful. Even Gui Guzi's Defense was not enough to block him for a minute!

I locked onto the boss and activated Charge!

Whoosh!

I immediately arrived and successfully stunned him. I laughed and said, "Little Gui, come back when you’re full HP!"

"Alright!"

Gui Guzi was a gaming genius, ferocious and decisive. He was clean and brisk in his mind and mechanics. If his innate talent was on the same level as Lin Yixin’s, I bet he’d become a Heavenly King himself in just a year.

In the blink of an eye, the tauren boss regained his senses. His axe trailed a string of fire as it swung down toward my shoulder!

Guard!

Wait, no, I couldn’t lose aggro. Otherwise, Beiming Xue behind me would take the aggro and suffer. They were volunteering in this fight and helping us for free. They couldn’t die or even be injured. Otherwise, my conscience would haunt me.

In a flash, I abandoned my defensive stance and readied my sword for the incoming blow!

Parry!

Ding!

A crisp sound. The axe of the tauren boss hit the Ghost Ice Soul and created a spray of sparks. My arm felt numb. The parry was successful but I still lost 448 HP!

Mn, the parry successfully decreased the damage by half. In other words, the boss's basic attack would deal almost 1000 damage each time. No wonder Gui Guzi wasn’t able to last too long.

Instead of retreating, I summoned the Dark Wasp. Go!

Ice Ray shot through the openings in the battle axe and pierced the boss's chestplate with a hiss. It quickly created a string of icy flowers that encased the boss in ice. Its movement speed and attack speed both dropped. Ice Ray was extremely powerful when used against strong enemies, surpassing its alternative—Blaze!

Behind me, a bunch of eerie ghastly arrows flew by and hit the boss's chest. Beiming Xue's Evil Spirit Volley had reached Rank 7 and she could fire 9 arrows. I saw 7 of them hit their mark. So strong!

Beiming Xue's bow flicking was almost completely mastered. She was most likely among the top of the China server. The divine archer under Candlelight Shadow’s command, Transient Smoke and Clouds, would hit 7 or 8 arrows of a 9-arrow Volley. Bow flicking was an exquisite technique. Expert archers would be amazing if they could hit their target 5 times. Ordinary archers could only count on 2 or 3 arrows hitting the target. The skill was just that inaccurate and disorderly!

In Eternal Moon Corporation's games, Transient Smoke and Clouds should be the top archer. Beiming Xue had to surpass him to claim the throne. However, we were disregarding the retired kings. Snow Moon’s Magic Cube of Fate had also been a super archer. Even the Heavenly King Frivolous Scholar was an archer, but his archery… yeah, never mind. His archery was even worse than mine.

……

Before Evil Spirit Volley faded, Beiming Xue's next arrow came. It carried a hint of icy luster!

Bang!

The arrow accurately hit the boss's neck and frost quickly spread through its body!

Freezing Arrow, Beiming Xue's newly-learned arrow skill had great effect on decreasing speed!

The boss's movement speed and attack speed decreased in tandem, and the effect could be prolonged. The boss became even easier to kill now. With its movement speed decreased, I had no difficulties keeping aggro. With lower attack speed, its attacks would also be less frequent, which meant that the overall damage I’d have to bear would similarly decrease. Against this boss slowed by Freezing Arrow, I felt as if I had been buffed by some super bard!

With me standing alone at the front and seven or so priests healing me from behind, the rest of the fight was extremely smooth!

Among the damage dealers, Lin Yixin and I were the highest contributors. However, I had three Dark Gold–grade items that boosted my stats by a significant margin, so my attack power was higher than hers!

Crack!

Even the most ordinary of my strikes took 1146 HP from the boss!

Lin Yixin quickly followed up but saw only 742 floating up. As if stunned by her failure to best me, she muttered with a helpless expression, "OMG, the Snow Shadow Sword is too weak already. Silver-grade equipment can’t keep up with our growing levels...”

I nodded and smiled. "You’re right, but don’t worry. If this tauren boss drops a sword, I won’t fight over it and will gladly give it to you!”

"But will this tauren drop a sword?"

"What are you afraid of? The wild chickens outside the starting village can drop a staff. One-kilogram wild chickens can’t hold a two-meter long staff, can they?"

"...”

Lin Yixin"s face turned red and she glared at me. "Focus on killing!"

……

Three minutes later, the boss's HP was near the bottom and it was about to die.

My heart moved, and I gave a look to Lin Yixin. She understood. With a smile, she suddenly turned and slid to the right of the boss. Her sword swept horizontally and drew a beautiful crescent with holy light. However, she did not find anything.

I chuckled, and raised the Ghost Ice Soul, making two consecutive slashes—Pardon + Thousand Mirage Slash!

MISS!

1454!

3405!

Popping into existence, two black figures slumped to the ground, dead!

Damn, so there were assassins waiting here to pick up equipment. So devious!

Pardon's effect would only affect one of the targets. Thus, only one of them received such high damage. Also, the two of them were guildless. But since they were Level 64 assassins, it was impossible for them to not be recruited by some guild by now. Therefore, there was only one explanation. Their faction didn’t want us to know who they belonged to!

"Hmph!"

Lin Yixin’s eyes filled with a hint of fury. She whispered, "They thought we wouldn’t be able to find out like this? Are they looking down on us?"

I swung my sword and cut hard on the boss's waist. I successfully took away the tauren boss's remaining HP!

"Aoooo...”

The Dark Gold Rank Boss fell with a scream. It dropped a pile of Phantasmal Magic Stones, Purple Crystals, and several shining pieces of equipment. I saw that among them was a sword flashing with moonlight, very beautiful, something that women would fall in love with at first glance!

Fuck. As expected, a beautiful girl like Lin Yixin was favored by heavens. When she needed a weapon the most, a sword like this really dropped. It would be perfect if the sword was Gold or Dark Gold–grade. Silver-grade with a high level requirement would also be fine.

"Lu Chen, quick...” Lin Yixin sprinted over and urged. Clearly, she suspected there may be other assassin players hiding and preparing to steal equipment!

I put all the spoils into my bag!

Seeing the boss fall, Beiming Xue smiled. "Boss, we are leaving?"

"Mn.”

Beiming Xue immediately turned around and said to the Bloody Mercenaries players behind her. "Students, our volunteer time is finished. Continue to level up!"

The group left without asking for wages. Such a valuable trait ~~

The other people in the team crowded over and Lin Yixin came even closer, wrapping a hand around my arm. She smiled and said, "Lu Chen, let's look at the sword...”

"Oh...”

I hurriedly opened the bag and took out the sword. The longsword shone with moonlight and had an icy presence. Cryptic runes floated on the surface of the blade, making it seem mysterious and beautiful. The lines of the sword were elegant and nimble, refined and exquisite. Clearly, it wasn’t of ordinary craft, its power was bound to be extraordinary!

My hand trembled. I could feel that a super strong weapon was about to be revealed!

I reached out with my sword. The stats of the longsword floated in the air. Immediately, everyone around was dumbfounded—

Moonlight Sword (Dark Gold–grade)

Attack: 195~320

Strength: +45

Stamina: +38

Passive: Increases the user's physical attack power by 10%

Passive: Increases the user's attack speed by 8%

Property: Moonlight, has 15% chance of 20% splash effect

Level Requirement: 70

……

My eyes were wide and I inhaled sharply. "WTF, max Attack of 320? This is more than two times the Attack of my Ghost Ice Soul. 10% physical Attack, 8% attack speed, damn! Three passive effects, 15% chance to deal splash damage? Fuck, did it have to be this overpowered...”

Lin Yixin's eyes never left the Moonlight Sword. She reached out to caress the blade. After a while, she finally lifted her head to look at me, "Little Cheat, do you remember what you just said?"

I said firmly, "Nope, completely forgot!"

"...”

The sound of the legendary Fruit Knife Goddess’s rage echoed through the valley.