Thud thud thud...

Metallic sparks erupted from between our boots and the hard floor as the five of us split away from each other. At the same time, the Crimson Crystal Dragon, the magic stones and the enhancement gems hit the floor as well. Of course, these items were less important. Nothing was more important than boss equipment, and the last hit, I think, was struck by Warsky. With his 39 Luck, the equipment drops should be of passable quality.

Meanwhile, Dominating Heaven Blade was charging a low-health Candlelight Shadow with Dominating Archer God. He had seen the guy claiming a piece of equipment for himself, and taking him out might cause that equipment to drop. According to Eternal Moon’s game rules, the drop rate of a newly-acquired item was far higher than that of an item worn for a long time.

Swhoosh swhoosh…

However, a pair of Candle Dragon players was able to force Dominating Heaven Blade back with their Barrier Breaks. What surprised me wasn’t the fact that they succeeded, but the ease with which they did it. They were high-level cavalrymen, sure, but Dominating Heaven Blade wasn’t a weak player either. Candlelight Shadow had recruited a ton of experts in the past half a year or so, and it didn’t look like he had skimmed on the quality. At the very least, a pair of them was equal or better than one Dominating Heaven Blade.

After Dominating Heaven Blade was knocked back, Candlelight Shadow killed both him and Dominating Archer God with Outer Flame. He sneered while drinking a health potion, "Pathetic. A wiser man would’ve known better than to challenge me with such weak strength!"

Suddenly, a deep voice replied, "What about me? Do you think I’m strong enough to kill you?"

"What?!"

Candlelight Shadow shuddered. A single man dashed out of the darkness, and he was vice leader of Hegemon Palace and the Cold Wind Swordsman, Little Piglet. His equipment was much better than what it used to be, and he was empowered by Strength of Divine Arms. He swung his sword three times from a tricky angle, killed the two Candle Dragon experts, and fired a sword aura straight at Candlelight Shadow!

"Ugh…"

The sword aura struck true, but Candlelight Shadow survived with a sliver of HP left. He rolled off a cliff behind him and vanished before Little Piglet could do anything else. There was no way to tell if he lived or died.

……

Little Piglet turned back and shot Pillar of the Nation a smile. "I did my best, but I could only get a hit in. He’s just too fast…"

Pillar of the Nation sneered. "It’s fine. Candlelight Shadow’s blood isn’t worth dirtying your sword anyway!"

Beside the guild leader, Profound Puff suddenly pointed to the sky and said, "Hey look, there’s a red crystal where the boss died. What is that?"

We all looked. There was a shiny crystal floating a couple inches above the ground where the Crimson Crystal Dragon was killed.

A shiver coursed through Gui Guzi’s body when he saw it. "That’s a Dragon Crystal! According to Mamate and Xu Yang, it’s an incredibly rare key material that is used to forge high-level equipment! Currently, players are only able to forge Heaven-grade equipment consistently, but the Dragon Crystal can be used to forge Immortal or even Ancient Immortal-grade equipment!"

"What are we waiting for then? Let’s grab it!"

I took off toward the Dragon Crystal at high speed. The Dragon Crystal was a kind of metal that gradually took form inside a dragon’s body. That was why it was as rare as it was. There were two ways a player could obtain high-level equipment. One, they dropped it from bosses. Two, they forged it using precious metals like the Dragon Crystals. Heaven-grade equipment would be outdated eventually, so it was critical that we got our hands on it.

I was just about to reach it when someone suddenly slammed me violently off course. I should’ve seen it coming. Little Piglet was faster than me after he activated Freezing Heat. He wasn’t the final victor though. A whooshing sound came from behind us, and a 30% HP Warsky appeared out of nowhere to slam Little Piglet to the ground!

Pa!

Warsky grabbed the Dragon Crystal and let out a hearty laugh. "The Dragon Crystal is mine!"

Gui Guzi, Li Chengfeng, High Fighting Spirits, Chaos Moon and more were about to contest it when I shouted at them, "Don’t move! Stay right there!"

"What?" Both Gui Guzi and Li Chengfeng blurted in confusion.

Suddenly, a burst of flame erupted from the underground. Then, before anyone could even blink, a huge, black-colored divine dragon emerged from the darkness and swallowed both Warsky and the Dragon Crystal!

"How dare you! That Dragon Crystal is ours!" Lin Bing Dou Zhe charged forward.

The dragon’s scales suddenly stood up as if it was enraged by Lin Bing Dou Zhe’s defiance. It fired a jet of dragon breath at him, and the man left behind only a 2 million damage number, a pair of wristguards and dust. The dragon had literally evaporated an expert of Lin Bing Dou Zhe’s level in one hit!

……

"Holy shit!"

Gui Guzi swore with a stern expression, "That’s… that’s one of the nine Purgatory Sovereigns, Strella the Dark Magma! But why is it on the fifth floor?"

Li Chengfeng gripped his sword tightly. "This isn’t good. If that thing can one-shot Lin Bing Dou Zhe, the rest of us are…"

Luo River God of the Capital, Moonkiss, October Rain and everyone else held their breaths. No one dared to say a word and risk provoking the insanely powerful dragon.

For a while, Strella simply stared at us with its burning, malicious eyes. Then, it opened its maws and said in a deep voice, "No one can have the Crimson Crystal Dragon’s crystal besides me! As for you lot, hmph! Your foolishness infuriates me, adventurers of the future generations! Come to me if you wish to kill me! I promise to teach you the myriad tastes of death myself!"

Strella’s long neck began shrinking back to the darkness below. When its gigantic head finally vanished from view, almost all of us let out an audible sigh of relief. The battle hadn’t even yet begun, and Strella’s sheer presence and domain had almost crushed us all.

……

"Fuck!"

Lin Yixin clenched her fists and swore out loud as she stared at the spot Strella had disappeared from. A while later, she let out a sigh and asked in a quiet voice, "Are we still going to the seventh floor to kill Strella?"

He Yi said thoughtfully, "No one will call us cowards if we retreat now…"

Beiming Xue looked at me. "What do you say, big brother?"

I clenched my fists and declared, "We’re going. Worst-case scenario, we die to a Purgatory Sovereign. That’s not a bad way to go, is it?"

Lian Xin: "..."

……

Not everyone shared our opinions, however. For example, Gods of Destruction and Pop Culture’s players all pulled out their return scrolls and vanished in a flash of white light. Even Dominating Mage God was swearing like a sailor, "Who the fuck designed this shitty ass map? There’s no way anyone can beat such a powerful boss! Eternal Moon deserves to go fucking bankrupt! C’mon, let’s head back and grind the S1 instance!"

Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh…

Before Strella showed up, there were over 2000 players on the fifth floor. Now though, less than a hundred had chosen to remain. They had all witnessed the power of the Crimson Crystal Dragon and the cruelty of the Dragon God Strella. No one was foolish enough to think that they were strong enough to enter the seventh floor. Warsky, the wielder of the Immortal Blade had been eaten in a single gulp, and Candlelight Shadow himself had been knocked down to the sixth floor. If even the top CGL Hall of Famers couldn’t conquer this map, no one could.

I looked at Warsky Alliance but noticed that they hadn’t teleported away for some reason. So, I walked up to October Rain and asked, "Beauty Rain, your best MT, Warsky, has been swallowed by Strella, so why haven’t you gone back yet? You know you’re going to lose a ton of men if you continue, right?"

October Rain bit her lips before responding, "Can you cut the crap please? Warsky may be swallowed, but he is still alive in Strella’s stomach somehow. My guild screen shows that he’s still online and inside Dragon God Cave. One way or another, I must find Strella, cut open its stomach, and drag Warsky out whether he’s dead or alive!"

I was touched by her loyalty. "Warsky is truly blessed to have a counsellor like you!"

However, October Rain replied, "I think you’re mistaken about something. I don’t really care if Warsky lives or dies, but I can’t let his Immortal Blade rot in Strella’s stomach. It’s a small chance, but it’s a chance nonetheless."

Me: "..."

……

Purple Marquis asked Lin Yixin, "Do we continue onward, guild leader?"

Lin Yixin nodded affirmatively. "Mn!"

Li Chengfeng also walked up to me and said, "Lu Chen, the ring I picked up earlier is an Ancient Immortal-grade ring that adds 72% ranged attack power and 50k max HP, so I gifted it to Beiming Xue. It wasn’t free though. You’re her older brother, right? If the sword you picked up earlier isn’t a Divine Armament, can I have it in return?"

Now that he mentioned it, I hadn’t even checked the loot I grabbed from the Crimson Crystal Dragon’s corpse. I hurriedly pulled it out of my bag. It had a long crimson blade with fiery runes floating across its surface. Appearance-wise, it already looked like a powerful sword. When I brought up its stat screen, Li Chengfeng nearly forgot to wipe his saliva—

Crimson Refinement Sword (Ancient Immortal-grade, Outstanding★★★★★★★)

Attack: 11000~13500

Strength: +2250

Stamina: +2100

Agility: +2050

Intelligence: +1900

Tactics: +185

Passive: Increases user’s Attack by 175%

Passive: Increases user's splash damage by 40%

Passive: When swinging the Crimson Refinement Sword, 15% chance to deal triple damage. Stackable with critical hits.

Slots: 17

Outstanding Property: Crimson Refinement Flame. When attacking a target, there is a 10% chance to trigger flames that will deal damage equal to one basic attack.

Effect: Regeneration. Increases user’s HP by 1% every second.

Level Requirement: 220

Reputation Requirement: 450000

……

Li Chengfeng wiped his saliva before saying, "Holy shit! Not only is it an Ancient Immortal-grade weapon, its Attack completely surpasses my Dark Blade! It’s awesome!"

I dropped the weapon in his hands and shot him a smile. "Take it. As you said, you gave Beiming Xue an Ancient Immortal-grade ring, so it’s only right that you get this in return. Plus, your Attack has been lacking as of late. This weapon will more than fix that problem!"

"Hell yeah! When we get back, I’m going to torture noobs in the competitive arena for 24 hours straight!"

Me: "..."

I sent Lin Yixin a message because she was speaking with her guildmates, and I didn’t want to interrupt her. "Yiyi, I know I promised to get you a sword, but Chengfeng asked me for the Crimson Refinement Sword first, and he gifted Beiming Xue a very powerful ring. Don’t worry though. The next sword-type weapon will be yours for sure, even if it’s one of the Twelve Divine Armaments or something!"

Three meters away, Lin Yixin shot me a sweet smile and messaged me back. "It’s okay. It’s only right to strengthen your own people first. I can use Dragonfrost like a sword anyway, and I’m not particularly lacking in Attack right now. Oh, and did I mention that my loot was a pair of Ancient Immortal-grade boots? So don’t worry about it. Anyway, let’s head to the sixth floor now, shall we?"

I looked at Lin Yixin’s feet and noticed that she was already wearing her new boots. The dark gold–colored boots looked very impressive. "Mn!"