We spent three whole hours cleansing the student hostel of skeletal mages. There was no training ground in the Magic Academy because they meditated on their own beds.

A column of golden light surrounded me as I took out the last group of student mages. I had risen to Level 215, Lin Yixin and Beiming to Level 211, and He Yi and Murong Mingyue to Level 210. This meant that everyone in the party could now undergo their eighth class promotions after we’ve cleared the S3 instance.

As the main tank of the party though, all I had to say about the experience was torturous. Twice, the student mages actually managed to kill me, triggering Immortality once but not the other time. Otherwise, I would’ve hit Level 215 a long time ago. That being said, Resurrection Art increased my Attack by 10%, and this buff would remain with me until I logged out of the game.

……

There was a magic tower at the end of the Magic Academy, and standing beneath it was an old man in gray robes. His back was stooped, his eyes were lightless, and he was holding a dark blue-colored magic ball in his left hand. He said in a shuddering voice, "Cultivators of the future generation, I am glad that you were able to make your way to this place because it means that your strength has surpassed our expectations. This is as far as you will go, however. I, the royal mage of the empire, Cayman the Psychic, will stop your carnage here. Prepare to die, you presumptuous fools!"

His words were scary, but his appearance was so shabby that we all wondered if the boss could actually put up the fight he promised.

Lin Yixin even stuck out her tongue playfully and said, "He can’t even see with his eyes anymore. Can he even land his magic properly? Maybe the devs decided to be considerate and designed this to be a pushover boss?"

I agreed. "Yeah, how can this bag of old bones possibly deal with us youngsters?"

He Yi giggled. "Come on, you guys are being super impolite to your elders right now. I personally think it’s amazing that he can even stand with his age. Oh, that walking staff of his is pretty good-looking too. It’s very neoclassical…"

Beiming Xue: "..."

……

Cayman quaked with rage as he listened to our insults. He raised his scepter, activated the magic circles around him and shouted shudderingly, "Suffer the curse of fate, foolish youngsters!"

While this was going on, I shared the stats screen I obtained through Dark Pupils in the party channel—

Cayman the Psychic (Ancient Immortal Rank Boss)

Level: 260

Attack: 23500~30500

Defense: 24000

HP: 30000000

Skills: Flame Blast, Ice Dragon Break, Summon Strange Beast

Introduction: As the strongest mage and summoner in the history of War God Academy, Cayman the Psychic possessed unparalleled talent in comprehending the elements of magic. He was regarded by the emperor himself to be an extremely talented mage since young, and as he grew older, he became known as the strongest mage of the empire. Not only that, Cayman was well-versed in the art of summoning, and he was capable of summoning ancient strange beasts to aid him in battle. As a result, he was strong enough to fight even a Sword Saint level expert on even footing. Countless experts had perished to Cayman’s magic over hundreds of thousands of years.

……

Beiming Xue pursed her lips. "Why do I feel like big brother and Sister Lin Yixin just stirred up a hornet’s nest?"

Murong Mingyue nodded in agreement. "Not only that, they practically smacked it off the tree and stomped on it. This is going to be ‘fun’..."

Chiang!

I unsheathed the Purple Ying Sword with a laugh, "So what if I did? We were always going to fight him anyway! Anyway, it’s time to apply the buffs. Girls, come closer so I can squeal at the sight of your beauty, will ya?"

After Lin Yixin and He Yi walked closer to me, I used Wild Roar and gave everyone a 15% Attack boost. Then, I said, "We’ll surround the boss in a triangular formation. This way, only one of us will be caught by its Flame Blast at a time, which is a straight-line AoE skill. Ice Dragon Break also seems to be a straight-line skill, so there’s even less to be afraid of!"

"Got it!" Both girls nodded in unison.

I charged toward the boss first and started with God Binding Art. A couple of divine arms immediately fell from the sky and surrounded the boss, but they weren’t able to contain him. He was a Level 260 Ancient Immortal Rank boss.

The Psychic laughed sinisterly as he waved his scepter at me. "Rise, dragons that slumber in the ancient earth! Tear everything before your eyes to bits! Ice Dragon Break!"

Swhoosh!

An ice dragon flew straight toward me, but I couldn’t retreat because an OT would happen. So, I gritted my teeth, moved my arm backward, and tossed my sword straight at the surge of magical energy! Coiling Dragon Revolution!

Break!"

Coiling Dragon Revolution pierced through the boss's spell and his chest, dealing over 180k damage. However, the Ice Dragon Break also splashed against my Dragon God Shield and made me feel like something was tearing my body into bits and pieces. 30k Magic Attack was just too much for anyone to endure!

372872!

Lin Yixin couldn’t hold back a gasp of surprise as she stared at the damage number rising above my head. "OMG, even Little Cheat with his Magic Resist took this much damage? Don’t let your guard down, Sister He Yi!"

"I know!"

He Yi galloped toward the boss and threw Trapping Net at him. Then, she pierced his neck with the Seven Star Veluriyam Spear and used her five-hit Purgatory of Ice and Magma!

The Psychic howled in pain but retaliated with Flame Blast immediately. It hit He Yi squarely on her shield!

491238!

At this point, everyone’s complexion had turned into various shades of blue and purple. He Yi only had a max HP of 900k or so. Had the Flame Blast critted, there was a high chance she would’ve died just like that.

"Ugh…"

The magic knight endured the scorching pain and executed Green Wave Slash, deleting another 150k HP from the boss's health bar.

Sensing an opening, I dashed close and stabbed the Psychic in the chest with Purple Frost Concentration, greatly reducing his Defense. Lin Yixin also coordinated with me by pulling out her brand new Mow Fireblade and slapping the boss with Extreme Break + Moon Gaze combo, greatly reducing the boss's Defense and max HP as well. I immediately followed up with Burning Blade Slash + War Crush, then Summon The Storm + Rise of the Guardian Dragon before the Extreme Break’s debuff was over. The boss was able to put a hole in my body with Ice Dragon Break again, but during the time I backed away to safety, I held my fingers in front of my forehead and cast Myriad Swords Obliteration, riddling the boss's body with swords and dealing tons of damage.

The Psychic roared as he cast more common spells such as Fire Dragon Spells and Galaxy Storms, causing everyone’s HP except Beiming and Murong Mingyue to drop like a rock. It was absolutely terrifying. Every spell was a chance for the boss to delete us, and in order to protect the girls I had to work extra hard and hold his aggro for the majority of the time. Even the Ancient Divine Dragon was glaring at the Psychic and twisting its body here and there to facilitate my attacks.

"Damn you all! You will pay the price of blood!"

The Psychic growled and raised his scepter. He was obviously going to use his ultimate skill!

I hurriedly rushed forward and punched the boss in the head with Magic Piercing Punch. Unfortunately, the skill failed to take effect, and the Psychic continued chanting his ultimate skill unhindered.

……

"O’ slumbering beasts of the nine hells, heed my call and awaken from your long, lonely slumber! I, Cayman the Psychic, beseech the power of the strange beasts!"

As his raised scepter shivered in his hands, columns of blue magic suddenly burst out of the ground. The trembling continued for a moment until many, many monstrous-looking beasts emerged into view. Their upper body was that of a porcupine, but their lower body was that of a snake. They wielded a pair of scythes, and they screeched like what you would expect from an unholy monster. Worse, the mage had summoned 12 of these "strange beasts" at once! [1]

I locked onto one of the monsters and checked its stats. It was called Great Earth Hydralisk, a mob with formidable assassin-like attacks that could also go into stealth. It hadn’t shown its face on the continent for tens of thousands of years until now.

"Jie jie…"

The wriggling hydralisks rushed us and swung their twin scythes like crazy. A second later, Lin Yixin let out a groan and became the first of all of us to die!

He Yi tried to protect Murong Mingyue, but she lasted only for a moment before dying as well.

"Fuck!"

Although my eyes were widened with shock, I didn’t stop fighting and tried to one-shot the Great Earth Hydralisks with Burning Blade Slash, but I quickly discovered that every single one of them was a miniboss with incredibly high HP. Long story short, not even I could kill them in a short time. Worse, after the Great Earth Hydralisks discovered that I had high tankiness and high Attack, they suddenly burrowed into the underground and...

Thud thud thud!

Spears suddenly burst out of the ground and damaged me again and again. If this was outside, I would be able to fly high into the sky and avoid all the damage. In an instance though, the Ancient Divine Dragon could only fight on the ground. What this meant was that I had no choice but to endure the attack and lose HP non-stop. Behind me, Beiming Xue and Murong Mingyue groaned and died at the same time after they both ate a spike.

Not only were the Great Earth Hydralisks ridiculously powerful, there were 12 of these bastards in total. What a scam!

……

Inside the party channel, Lin Yixin said to me, "Turn off your Resurrection Art, let the boss kill you, and run with us, Little Cheat! We need to come up with a new strategy, or we won’t be able to beat this Psychic!"

"Yeah!"

It was at this moment I finally understood why Cayman was Cayman the Psychic, not Cayman the Bullshit OP Broken Kickass mage. His true power lay in his ability to summon 12 Great Earth Hydralisks, not his magical prowess, that shameless fuck...

And so, I allowed myself to be killed by the boss. An instant later, I appeared at a graveyard outside the instance as a soul.

……

"Ugh…"

I felt a bit embarrassed when I saw four ghost girls staring at me with their wide, beautiful eyes. "You guys were waiting for me?"

Murong Mingyue giggled. "Even the invincible Lu Chen couldn’t cheat death this time. Tsk tsk, this sure is one hell of a party wipe…"

"More like one hell of a load of bullcrap. I dropped back to Level 214, dammit…"

"..."

……

"So, how are we going to fight this out? Also, let’s think while we run back to our bodies, or the boss will return to full health soon…" Lin Yixin started.

He Yi nodded. "Mm, we need to kill those hydralisks first, or we won’t be able to focus down that Psychic. Sigh, this second boss is way harder than I thought…"

I chuckled. "Of course it is. That’s how you know that the S3 equipment you’re wearing is super valuable!"

"Yeah."

1. (T/N: this is totally the hydralisk from Starcraft)