We cleared all 12 training grounds. To be honest, we didn’t need to kill all the undead students on the training grounds, but they offered so much experience that we just couldn’t bring ourselves to waste such an opportunity. Moreover, instances could only be cleared once a week, so if we missed out on them, we would have to wait for seven days for another opportunity.

It took 5 whole hours, but we managed to grind everything in the end. Lin Yixin and Beiming Xue were able to hit Level 210 first. He Yi was sitting at Level 209 and 75%, and Murong Mingyue had climbed to Level 209. She would soon become the first eighth-promotion priest in the game. She expressed her delight in being able to "freeload" off a super party like this.

……

We stood together on the jadestone floor of the Martial Zone. The Magic Academy was right ahead of us, and standing in our path was a warrior clad in golden armor and red cape and wielding a blood-red broadsword.

It was none other than the first boss of the S3 instance and the one who beat the crap out of Warsky’s party!

Rustle rustle...

The Moonchaser Tiger’s gigantic paws made some soft noises as it ran across the stone. We soon arrived right in front of the boss.

The young warrior looked up. Just like all the students and trainers we had fought earlier, his face was rotten and withered in the way only an undead’s could. He had golden hair and dark red eyes, and the muscles pulling at his features gave him a horrifying appearance. However, even like this I could tell that he was a ridiculously handsome man when he was still human; the type who made women squeal in high-pitched voices just by making an entrance.

"You lot…"

He glared at us hatefully as he said, "You think your feeble powers are enough to unearth the dignity of the War God Academy, adventurers of the future? You’ve only killed mediocre students or newbies until this point! Come! I will show you the power of the strongest student in the whole academy!"

Lin Yixin shook her head regretfully. "What a shame. He must’ve been so handsome when he was still alive…"

He Yi said, "Let’s focus on finding a way to kill him…"

I had already activated Dark Pupils and shared its stats in the party channel. If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles—

Ochil the Fire (Ancient Immortal Rank Boss)

Level" 258

Attack: 24500~31500

Defense: 29000

HP: 40000000

Skills: Fire Break, Ice Flame Slash, Myriad Swords Obliteration

Introduction: Ochil was a son of the empire’s marshal and became the strongest student in the history of the War God Academy. During the very first year of his study, he defeated seven of the strongest students of the academy one after another. His skills and talent were so impressive that the president himself took him as his disciple and taught him his laws of fire. He was the most likely person in the empire to inherit the title as the strongest sword saint. For thousands and thousands of years, no legendary expert who entered War God Academy has ever been able to survive Ochil’s sword.

……

I pursed my lips. "A Level 258 Ancient Immortal Rank boss with over 30k max Attack? No wonder Warsky’s party was wiped by him. Everyone, be careful. Sis, Beiming, never let the boss get close to you, or you’ll almost certainly be one-shot. Yiyi, Eve, you two need to be careful as well!"

"Got it!"

"I’m going to aggro the boss first, and we’re going to charge him one by one. If we can stun him, then all is well. If not, Eve, Beiming, get ready to use your CC skills the second they’re ready. Keep the Trapping Nets and Shocking Arrows coming."

"Got it!"

After I gave everyone their instructions, I activated Great Earth Transformation, waved my arm and fired a God Binding Art at the boss. If this landed, there was a small chance we might be able to end this without taking a scratch!

Swhoosh!

The skill missed just as I predicted it would. An Ancient Immortal Rank boss naturally possessed much higher resistance than a normal Immortal Rank boss. Still, Ochil was successfully aggroed, and he Charged me the same time I used Thunderous Charge. We slammed into each other halfway!

Bang!

Both the boss and I were stunned at the same time, and my stun would last 2.4 seconds. He Yi and Lin Yixin used their Charge skills in an attempt to land their stuns as well, but unfortunately, they both missed. I hurriedly shouted in the party channel, "Don’t attack him!"

"Mn!" Both girls backed away immediately. The aggro was still on me, but any attack from them that wasn’t Charge could cause an OT. I dared not say that they would be able to tank the boss until I dragged the aggro back to myself.

As I thought, Ochil woke up before me and attacked me with a devastating triple-hit Fire Break + Ice Flame Slash combo!

Bang bang bang...

My body shuddered violently as a tearing paint bit into my body. Since I was still stunned, I wasn’t able to Guard or parry the skills at all—

192003!

212384!

242617!

273838!

……

Unbelievable! The boss had deleted over 60% of my max HP in one go, and this was after Royal Road and the Fire War God Card had buffed my HP to almost 1.4 million HP!

There was no need to doubt the boss's strength. This was most certainly going to be a difficult fight. Once I broke out of the stun, I immediately healed myself for 25% HP using Tenacity of the Dead and struck Ochil using Purple Frost Concentration!

Pu!

As Ochil’s face turned purple and lost 29% of his Defense, Beiming Xue activated her own armor break skill and lowered his Defense some more. Then, I executed Burning Blade Slash + Universe Break combo!

142882!

+28576!

182938!

+36587!

242020!

+48404!

251932!

+50386!

All my melee skills could lifesteal, and the damage and healing numbers rising above the boss's head were a most gorgeous sight. After that, I flicked my wrist and absorbed another 20k+ HP with a basic attack. Normally, this amount of HP absorbed was enough for me to keep a boss at bay, but Ochil wasn’t one of those bosses. It would kill me long before I absorbed enough HP to offset the damage. Thankfully, Murong Mingyue was already preparing a Greater Heal!

Swhoosh!

A warm sensation flooded my veins and increased my HP drastically—

+372848!

While tossing her Trapping Net, He Yi said with a chuckle, "Well done, Miss Murong! That was exactly the kind of critical heal Lu Chen needed! You’re out of danger for now, Lu Chen!"

"Yeah!"

I continued attacking the boss while parrying his attacks with the Dragon God Shield. It was an extremely close and dangerous battle because the boss dealt at least 300k+ damage to me every time it critted. In fact, one strike from the boss was enough to make Lin Yixin and He Yi yelp and run away with their metaphorical tail between their legs. Once again, it fell on me to get my crap beaten out of me for the party.

……

"Damn you! I will make you all pay!"

Some time later, Ochil suddenly stopped in his tracks and raised his index finger and middle finger in front of his forehead. At the same time, a cyclone of energy started spinning rapidly around him. He was obviously casting his ultimate skill, and it was one that I was only all too familiar with. It was the skill Xinran had searched the ancient era for and entrusted Rinser to teach me, Myriad Swords Obliteration. Why was I so sure it had come from the ancient times? It was because Ochil, an undead from ancient times, was the only entity so far to have used this skill. At the current stage of the game, I was fairly sure there was no NPC that could teach it. Xinran must have searched far and wide to stumble upon it.

"Watch out! It’s Myriad Swords Obliteration!" I hurriedly shouted.

Lin Yixin and He Yi dashed tens of yards away from the boss immediately. I remained where I was and fought fire with literal fire, carving up Ochil’s face with Burning Blade Slash.

"Kill!"

Ochil growled, and a seemingly infinite rain of swords fell from the sky. One second I felt a chilling sensation, and the next I had already lost over 400k HP. What a monster!

"Roar roar…"

The Phantom Wolf King, the Ghost Chariot and the Ironwing Dragon all died at the same time. Lin Yixin’s ice dragon was the only one still alive after the skill, but even it was surviving with only 37% HP. The Ancient Immortal Rank boss's attack was so "spicy" that even a holy dragon couldn’t withstand it.

……

"Well, this is beyond even my AoE heals to save!" Murong Mingyue stuck out her tongue cutely.

I retreated as I fought and dropped to the very dangerous point of 19%. Even after I used Tenacity of the Dead, I still wasn’t at 50% HP. Thankfully, my other eighth-promotion skill, Last Stand, came active on its own because its condition had been met, drastically increasing my Attack and boosting my lifesteal to 25%. Also, the Last Stand buff would linger for 12 more seconds, even after my HP had climbed back to over 50% HP. All I could say was that I loved the developers. I drank a health potion and was just barely able to remain in the fight.

Thud!

At a critical moment, Lin Yixin activated Charge and miraculously stunned the boss. She said urgently, "I’ll hold the boss off for a couple of seconds! Let Sister Mingyue heal you now!"

"Mn!"

Murong Mingyue hurriedly healed me while I pulled away from the boss. Behind me, Lin Yixin ate Fire Break + Ice Flame Slash combo from Ochil and dropped below 20% HP in just the blink of an eye. It was scary to say the least.

I gritted my teeth and rushed back into the fray using Thunderous Charge. Then, I executed Burning Blade Slash!

Thud!

To my surprise, the boss froze and became stunned for 7 seconds straight. It was the Necklace of the War God’s Broken Blade taking effect again!

"Gather together in one group!" Murong Mingyue shouted.

Lin Yixin, He Yi and I immediately surrounded Ochil in a circle and went all out while Murong Mingyue’s AoE heal dragged us all back to full health. However, Ochil raised his fingers and attempted to channel Myriad Swords Obliteration again the moment he woke up. Motherfucker!

"Eat this!"

I shouted and punched out with a swirling red fist!

Bang!

Magic Piercing Punch actually worked thanks to my ridiculous amount of Strength. The boss's Myriad Swords Obliteration was canceled before it could finish its build-up.

……

Occasionally, Lin Yixin would exploit the Ice Dragon Kris’s impressive regeneration powers to keep the boss busy while the rest of us ran circles around him and scored cheap hits. Even the white jade stones that made up the place were shredded by our skills. Kris was the only pet that the boss couldn’t annihilate in a single hit. Not even my apparition was an exception to the rule.

It took the three of us juggling the boss's aggro and controlling the boss with skills such as Trapping Net and God Binding Art to stay alive, and even these skills worked only 20% of the time. However, the breathers we earned when they worked were absolutely critical in prolonging our existence in this boss fight. Without them, we would’ve died to this powerful boss already.

The roller coaster of a boss fight lasted a bit over half an hour. Finally, Ochil’s HP was about to hit 0!

……

"Should we let Lu Chen kill him?" Lin Yixin asked.

He Yi nodded affirmatively. "Lu Chen has the highest Luck. We will get the best possible drops if he gets the last hit!"

"Got it!"

The two girls backed away at the same time while I rushed in for the last hit. I pressed my left hand to the ground and cast Rise of the Guardian Dragon!

For some reason, Ochil stared at my hand gesture and wailed almost as if he had suffered this skill before. "What the hell are you planning to do to me, you damn monster!?"

Me: "..."

The draconic shockwaves rocked his body like a lightning storm would do to a falling leaf. In the end, he wasn’t able to survive the powerful skill.