For a time, no one said anything as they stared at the small hill of equipment, gemstones and items. Then, Hickey waved her hand and declared, "Boss, you’re the backbone of this boss fight, so you should make the first pick."

I wasn’t planning to claim any boss loot at all, but the pet egg was just too tempting for me to resist. It had been a long time since I saw He Yi, and it was about time I gave her a gift anyway. He Yi was still using the Firelight Mouse and Ghost Chariot, so she could definitely use a powerful boss-tier pet.

So, I accepted the offer, picked up the cyan pet egg and tossed it into my bag without even checking its stats. I said, "I only want this. You may roll the rest of the loot among yourselves…"

"Alright!"

……

The smile on Hickey’s face spread like a blooming flower as she picked up the Cyan Snake King’s equipment one by one. She shared the equipment’s stats with everyone so that they could roll for the one they wanted.

Cyan Flame Battle Axe: Level 200 Immortal-grade. Increases user's Attack by 125%, can trigger the Cyan Flame to attack a huge area.

Cyan King War Shield: Level 200 Heaven-grade. Increases user's Defense by 87%, can trigger a shield to protect the user.

Ring of the Warsong King: Level 200 Earth-grade. Improves effects of a bard’s skills by 20%.

Cyan Soul Cloak: Level 200 Immortal-grade. Increases user’s Defense by 45%, reduces damage taken by 15%.

……

The amazing loot dropped by an Immortal Rank boss stunned the country bumpkins of Iron Skull Wilderness so much that they forgot to speak for a time. A great rolling session later, Warscar became the triumphant winner of the Cyan Flame Battle Axe. The new equipment was sure to increase his combat and destructive power massively.

The Cyan King War Shield had slightly better stats than my Dragon God Shield, but no invincibility skill. That was enough for me to filter it from my mind. War Dead was the next lucky guy to win it. Ring of the Warsong King was won by a bard, and Cyan Soul Cloak went to Hickey. All in all, our party’s survivability had gone up considerably.

I checked the cyan pet egg only after the rest of the loot had been shared. What I found gladdened me. I was sure that He Yi would like it—

Snake King Little Qing (Immortal Rank Boss pet)

Level: 0

Introduction: Venomous. Can assume a human form after growing into an adult.

……

Well well, it looked like the Snake King retained its ability to transform into a girl and fight that way! Not bad at all! I had every reason to believe that He Yi would love it. In fact, if I hadn’t planned to give it to her as a gift, I would’ve claimed it for myself. Oh well. It wasn’t like the Phantom Wolf King was inferior to it. It was also very doggy and very cute.

We continued forward after the loot distribution was complete.

This time, we encountered a ridiculously huge white snake mob. It had a bloated body shape, average Attack and ridiculous Defense, so much so that even Warscar and a group of Zephyr Cavalrymen took a long time to take out just one of them.

Of course, I didn’t encounter such problems. I challenged a white snake alone and lowered its miniboss Defense by 37% using Purple Frost Concentration right off the bat. After that, well, it was a slaughter. Hickey had assigned 3 priests and 2 bards to me alone. The priests could heal, and the bards not only had buffs, but also some minor DoT heals to stack. As a result, I was able to kill a white snake while maintaining over 90% HP. I was never in danger because my Defense was, just like the white snake mob, off the charts as well.

And so we kept brutalizing the white pythons along the way, inhaling their experience and claiming their equipment as trophies. Almost three hours later, we finally got close to the Dragon God Hall.

……

Hickey said to me while holding the blood-drenched Fire God’s Blade, "Boss, I just received a report saying that Breeze and Rain and God of War are making their way to the Dragon God Hall through the third path. The one-thousand man party tackling that path were completely destroyed by them. Bloodlust and Black Crow Tribe were also making progress, and, oh, India’s Natural Flow is on the second path. Just like us, they’re about to reach the boss…"

I exclaimed in surprise, "Natural Flow’s players are here too? Did… did their guild leader, Flowing Cloud, come too?"

Hickey giggled at my reaction before slapping me on the shoulder. "Why do you look so nervous? Is she an important person to you? We’ve cooperated for quite some time, but I’ve never seen you this nervous before."

I curled my lips. "It’s not like that. I owe her one, and I don’t think I can bring myself to kill her if we run into her. However, that will impact our chances of success, so…"

"Ah."

Hickey nodded understandingly before saying, "Understood. If Flowing Cloud does show up, I’ll be the one to kill her. This is as good a chance as any to find out if Elephant City’s war goddess is truly as great as she seems…"

Warscar teased her, "You may be able to defeat Flowing Cloud, but you definitely won’t be able to defeat China’s number one female fighter…"

"Oh, you mean the Fruit Knife Goddess Beautiful Little Pepper?"

Hickey’s eyes sharpened as she said, "I’ve heard of her all the way back in Spirit of Grief. She was the girl to watch out far after Windy, Wind That Touches The Moon and Iced Tea. I will duel her when the chance presents itself."

I shrugged. "I would advise you to forget about it. Your skills are at least a tier behind hers, so…"

"Er…" Hickey exclaimed in realization, "Oh! Now that I thought about it, Beautiful Little Pepper is your girlfriend, right? I can’t believe I forgot about it…"

"Anyway, let’s clear out the mobs as soon as possible so we can aggro the boss. No one knows how strong the final boss is, so be prepared to be party-wiped…" I paused for a moment before continuing, "If the boss turns out to be too powerful, we can surrender the boss at the beginning, let the Indians do the hard work for us before ripping it back out from their jaws. To be honest, Godkiller is no match for the Beast King Cavalry right now. It’s best to avoid a direct confrontation whenever possible."

Warscar clenched his fists. "It’s too bad we don’t have enough people. We vikings only number around 20000 players only. Sigh, when are we ever going to be able to fight Cyan Beast?"

I patted his shoulder consolingly, "Don’t worry, I have several hundred thousand brothers and sisters in China who’ll lay down their lives for me. When the war in Iron Skull Wilderness is over, I’ll find an opportunity to consolidate our forces with Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls’. I promise you we’ll crush Cyan Beast beneath our boots together!"

"Holy shit!" Warscar exclaimed with wide eyes. "Really? You’re not joking, are you?"

Hickey giggled. "What do you think? Boss’s guild had gone up against Cyan Beast, Natural Flow, God’s Domain and many more top guilds head-on repeatedly, and they never lost a single battle!"

Warscar’s eyes turned round. "God damn…"

I smiled. "We are not alone, understand? We just need to hold on a bit longer, and a much brighter future will descend upon all of us…"

Warscar nodded. "Got it. Anyway, let’s lure the miniboss over and kill it already…"

"Yeah…"

……

After we took out the last of the white snakes, we climbed up the stairs leading to the Dragon God Hall and emerged into a clearing. There were six other exits beside ours, and all of them were pitch black except one that was occasionally illuminated by the light of skills. It was obviously Cyan Beast’s passageway. Breeze and Rain and God of War would be showing up very soon.

Hickey looked at the exit and commented, "Goddamned Cyan Beast is like grass that cannot be wiped out even with wildfire."

I smiled. "Even if the boss's experience goes to them in the end, it’s all fine as long as we get the Ascension Proof. Also, we should stall them for as long as possible…"

"Er, why do we want to stall them?" Warscar asked in confusion.

Hickey explained to him, "It’s because they had to travel a long way to come to Iron Skull Wilderness. There’s no way we can kill them all to Level 0, but we can stall them out and make them use as many potions and consumables as possible. They can’t wage war against us without any supplies, can they? Once they’re out, they’ll have to retreat no matter how much they want to continue the war…"

"Oh, I see…"

……

I made the Ancient Divine Dragon fly up the final staircase and arrived at a huge hall with a blood-red ceiling. At the center of the hall was a huge dragon covered in red flames. Its head was bowed, its eyes were closed, and its wings were withdrawn to its back as if it was asleep. It was a flying lizard with a very impressive name—

Blood Dragon God (Ancient Immortal Rank Boss)

Level: 260

Attack: ???

Defense: ???

HP: ???

Skills: ???

Introduction: As a member of the ancient holy dragon race, the Blood Dragon God’s bloodline is among the holiest bloodlines of all dragons. However, he chose to cultivate the evil laws of blood refinement and grow his strength by devouring others, so he was exiled by the Dragon God and even chased by the Dragon Speaker Binglan to the ends of the world. Binglan managed to cut off its right wing and seal it, but the Blood Dragon God was able to break the seal and return to the world. Today, it’s Linda the Whisperer’s personal mount.

……

Are you shitting me? A Level 260 Ancient Immortal Rank boss? It was bad enough that I couldn’t see its stats at all, but this Blood Dragon God was Linda the Whisperer’s personal mount as well. Linda the Whisperer was the third strongest Purgatory Sovereign of Heavenblessed and an absolute monster who was only weaker than Sophie and Lin Na. Even if we managed to overcome all adversaries and kill the Blood Dragon God, Linda the Whisperer would most likely seek us out for revenge.

My palm became covered in sweat. I honestly didn’t know what was the best course of action to take.

"Do we fight it, guild leader?" Warscar asked me.

Hickey pursed her lips together. "I’m not sure if we can do it, not to mention that Breeze and Rain and God of War are about to arrive…"

In the end, I gritted my teeth and declared, "Screw it! Let’s awaken the Blood Dragon God first and grab its aggro! Whether or not Breeze and Rain decides to take it from us is his business!"

"Yeah!"

……

Pa!

After I had fully buffed myself into a walking fortress, I spurred my little dragon forward, activated Great Earth Transformation and tossed my weapon. Go, Coiling Dragon Revolution!

The spiraling vortex of murder struck the Blood Dragon God squarely on the head, but to my shock, the weapon was knocked back right back to me, meaning that it had failed to penetrate its Defense at all. I almost vomited blood when I saw this. If even I couldn’t scratch the boss, who else in the world could threaten it!?