I raised my arm. I was almost at max Divine Energy Points, so who could possibly threaten me?!

Golden seals dropped from the sky again and again, killing countless. The Black Crow Tribe players—at least the party they brought into Zephyr Valley—numbered 2000 or so, and their vision range was reduced because it was nighttime. There was absolutely no chance they could’ve beaten me with or without the Ancient Divine Dragon.

"Fly, little dragon!"

The Ancient Divine Dragon soared until it was 40 yards above the ground. Here, my sword aura could hit all the enemies below me with impunity, but their melee players couldn’t even touch me. Burning Blade Slash split the hills into many halves and killed all the archers, mages, tamers and more hiding at the spot I was pointing at. The Phantom Wolf King and apparition were murdering the hell out of the enemy’s pets as well. Speaking of which, the apparition had 70% of my stats, and it was riding the apparition of an Ancient Divine Dragon as well. It alone could make life hell for my opponents.

In less than half an hour, the enemy’s 2000-strong party had dwindled to just a handful.

……

"Ah!"

A poor-looking male priest was running away with shock and disbelief in his eyes. "Fuck, is that guy even human? How the fuck is he soloing so many of us alone…"

"Roar!"

The Ancient Divine Dragon roared, and I descended right in front of the male priest. I pressed the Purple Ying Sword to his throat, pushed him to a nearby tree and shot him a cold smile. "Hey there. I have a skill called Cage Spell, and it allows me to kill you to Level 0 in one go. If you don’t want to return to Level 0, you will answer my questions truthfully. Lie, and I will kill you where you stand, understand?"

The guy looked like he was about to shit his pants. He nodded frantically while replying in a Shandong accent, "Ask away. I won’t lie…"

My lips curled downward. Seriously? Where did he even get a Shandong accent translation plug-in?

I gave him a nod and asked, "How many players are there in Black Crow Tribe?"

"About 9000. There are 4000 of them online right now."

"How many forces are there in Iron Skull Wilderness besides Black Crow Tribe?"

"Too many to count, seriously…"

"Fine. Last question. Why are you here, and why did you ambush me?"

White-faced and shaking like a leaf, he answered, "That… that’s because the boss fancied your equipment, and it’s the Black Crow Tribe’s way to kill all solo players or small parties we happen upon. Also, one of our brothers got a map that gave him a quest to kill Great Undead Magus Yuve in Zephyr Valley. If we managed to complete the hundred-man quest, we would be rewarded handsomely for our efforts. That’s why the chief said to kill you and keep away from the center of the map at all costs!"

My eyes turned colder. "Very well. Tell your chief to get his ass out of Zephyr Valley as soon as possible, or I’m going to kill him every time I see him. Also, remind him that I very much don’t mind using my Cage Spell to bring you to Level 0. Don’t think I won’t follow through on my words!"

The male priest nodded panickedly. “Yes, yes, I understand, I’ll definitely get your message to the boss!"

"Good. Now begone!"

……

I smiled sardonically as the male priest scampered away from me. These bandits only knew how to bully the weak. Their courage wilted like a flower when they encountered a powerful player like me.

I summoned the Phantom Wolf King back to my side and climbed back on my dragon. A low cry later, the Ancient Divine Dragon departed from the ground and vanished into the night sky. I planned to tackle the center from a different direction because I didn’t want to run into these Black Crow Tribe players anymore. It was because I loathed the idea of being interrupted while fighting against a boss, not because I thought I couldn’t take them on.

……

It wasn’t long before I found a three-kilometer long defense line at the periphery of the necropolis. It was overflowing with Level 245+ fiend-rank Corpse Eaters, Hatreds, Skeleton Knights and more. The chances that the Black Crow Tribe would visit this area was very low because one, it would take an incredible amount of energy to tackle this area, and two, there was an extremely high chance that they would party-wipe here. After all, a mob that could hit me for over 30k+ damage could more or less one-shot their magic knights.

There were no big guilds in Iron Skull Wilderness, meaning that their ability to grind levels, equipment and more was nowhere as fast as affiliated players’. Their ability to acquire supplies, skills, support and more was greatly limited as well, which was only natural. They didn’t have a main city to accelerate their growth after all.

On the other hand, I was a player of Sky City. My support skills such as Foraging and combat skills were all at max rank a long time ago. It would be stranger if they were even close to my level of strength.

Suddenly, I heard the dull noise of a gallop in front of me. I saw a group of high-level undead cavalrymen clad in silver armor riding toward me with their spears at the ready. Their complexion was pale, and their eyes were icy red. I had no doubt that they were all Asuras. Heaven knows how many fellow undead they consumed to get to their level.

"That’s the daring brat who has been defiling our lands! Kill him!"

The undead knight at the forefront shouted on top of his lungs before thrusting his spear at me using Barrier Break. Holy shit, even mobs could use Barrier Break these days!

Clang!

I easily parried the skill and returned the affectionate gesture with Burning Blade Slash, hitting a dozen or so of undead knights and causing many 100k damage numbers to rise above their heads. These mobs were definitely more powerful than the Corpse Eaters I had fought earlier. I read their exact stats using Dark Pupils—

Blood Lion Knight (Heaven Rank Miniboss)

Level: 245

Attack: 17500~24000

Defense: 22000

HP: 12,800,000

Skills: Barrier Break, Undead Slash, Frost Strike

Introduction: A terrible monster that resides in Iron Skull Wilderness. The Blood Lion Knights were human royal knights until their kingdom fell into ruins, and they were transformed into puppets of the undead. The Great Undead Magus Juve used undead magic to strengthen their skeleton and turn them into one of the most powerful units in Zephyr Valley.

……

Pu pu!

There were two Barrier Breaks that I wasn’t able to dodge away in time, so they skewered my chest and caused my HP to drop visibly twice. These minibosses were super powerful—

62992!

69383!

I made the Ancient Divine Dragon zigzag around the minibosses constantly and used the foremost undead knight as a shield of sorts, reducing the amount of damage I took as much as possible. At the same time, I kept swinging the Purple Ying Sword and using my AoE skills to damage the enemy and heal myself.

Although the Blood Lion Knights were just minibosses, their HP was still terrifyingly huge. Their Frost Strike skill was extremely disgusting as well, reducing their target’s movement speed by 80%. It was almost like I was hit by an immobilizing skill.

I sneaked a glance at the general direction of the necropolis and noticed that I had reached the center before I knew it. In fact, right in front of me was a wooden house and an undead mage meditating to himself. A blood-red scepter was lying next to him. I had no doubt that he was the magus I had been tasked to kill, Great Undead Magus Juve, which made these twelve Blood Lion Knights his bodyguards. Once I had killed them all, I would be able to fight Juve one on one!

……

Pleased that my objective was right in front of me, I dropped a couple of Icy Cyclone Domains to slow the Blood Lion Knights and hit them with Coiling Dragon Revolution, Ancient Seal, Burning Blade Slash and more. They might be minibosses, but their HP pools were hardly infinite.

That being said, the Heaven Rank minibosses were no pigs waiting to be slaughtered by the butcher. They swung their ice cold spears again and again, using Barrier Break the moment it was off cooldown. Not only that, they even knew how to coordinate their Trapping Nets! No matter how fast I was, I couldn’t dodge everything all the time. In the end, I slipped up and...

Pu!

The moment Trapping Net took effect and held me in place, seven Blood Lion Knights rushed in and used their Barrier Breaks at once. I didn’t even have the chance to dodge out of the way. It was a grave situation. I was aware that seven Barrier Breaks were enough to one-shot even me.

That was why I used Tenacity of the Dead in the middle of the attacks!

A red light surrounded me and healed me for 25%, just barely putting me out of lethal range. Then, I stabbed my sword into the ground and used War Crush, rocking the bodies of the Heaven Rank knights and causing a ton of numbers to pop up everywhere—

152727!

+30545!

155900!

+31180!

165050!

+55010!

……

I instantly returned to full health, but the minibosses wouldn’t stop until I died. As a result, my health kept shooting up and down like a roller coaster. Every time I almost hit rock bottom, I would use an AoE skill to heal myself back to full. It was so dangerous that I dared not even use War Crush every time it went off cooldown, saving it only when I really needed the health. I had to say that the 20% lifesteal of the Purple Ying Sword was an absolute lifesaver. Without it, I would’ve turned into an actual corpse a long time ago...

Ten minutes later, I finally brought the dozen or so minibosses to red health. They bared their teeth in anger, but there was nothing they could do against me. Thanks to me, my pet’s perfect positioning, and the Ancient Divine Dragon’s absolutely devastating Summon the Storm, I was ultimately able to defeat them!

"Roar roar…"

Two minibosses dropped dead at the same time, and they shouted angrily, "Just you wait, damned adventurer! The great undead magus will take revenge for us! Our loyalty to the Night Creatures is eternal, and our souls will be redeemed!"

……

My experience skyrocketed by almost 10% after the two minibosses died. By the time I killed the rest of them, a pillar of golden light washed over me and increased my level to 208. Hell, I was already sitting at 49%! Once I killed the Great Undead Magus Juve, I bet I could level up to 209.

I jumped off my dragon and hemmed and hawed at the equipment dropped by the minibosses. All things considered, the loot was pretty good. There were three Heaven-grade and one Immortal-grade item. The Immortal-grade drop was an icy whip exclusive to the Tamer class, and it had a passive that increased all tamer skill ranks by 2. It was an absolute powerhouse of a weapon, but unfortunately Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls didn’t have any tamer that was worth mentioning at all. I was most likely going to sell it for a fortune once I returned to Sky City. I had heard that Warsky Alliance and Candle Dragon were raising their super tamers. I was sure that they could afford it.

……

It was at this moment a large group of red dots appeared on the minimap and approached my position at high speed.

I shivered with apprehension. The red dots were players, not mobs, and judging from the way the ground was trembling, it was another cavalry troop. Who the fuck are these people, and why is this normally barren wasteland so crowded today?