Zhan Long

Chapter 81 - Challenging a Purple Rank

Our group of 200 passed through forests, and after about an hour, we finally reached a blood-red area on the map. But what made me light up was that I had been to this area before. This was to the east of Dragon City, an extremely vast area with high-level monsters — Fire Stone Canyon!

According to official sources, the Fire Stone Canyon had monsters from Level 39 to Level 90, and the deeper you ventured, the higher the monsters’ levels were. This would be the number one leveling area for players from Ba Huang City in 2 to 3 months. This vast area could accommodate 100,000 players leveling since the monsters had a fast respawn rate at about 20 minutes per respawn, so the players wouldn’t run out of monsters to kill.

……

Standing at the edge of the Fire Stone Canyon, I mused to myself.

Beside me, Jian Feng Han carried his blade and smiled: “Hey, Xiao Yao does this area feel familiar?”

I nodded: “Of course, I was PK-ed by you here before.”

Jian Feng Han: “I got killed by you too……”

General Li Mu holding onto his longsword said: “Both of you can stop the reminiscing, let us know where the Boss is, I’m sure you can tell us now?”

Jian Feng Han: “Yeah, the Boss’s location was found by our assassin. The Level 55 Purple Rank Boss is just up ahead after we pass over a small hill. It’s in a place called “Valley of the Everlasting Wind”, and the Boss is called “General of the Everlasting Wind”. It’s said to be the spirit of an ancient general. As long as we can kill him, our chances of getting the Guild Creation Tablet are at least 25%!”

General Li Mu trembled and with confusion in his eyes: “Jian Feng Han, when you told me that we’re going to kill a Boss, I thought it was a Gold Rank one, you… you actually chose to fight against a Purple Rank Boss. Are you trying to lead 200 people to their death?”

Jian Feng Han chuckled with a domineering look in his eyes: “[Hero’s Mound]’s Q Sword has chosen to fight a Level 55 Gold Rank Boss. As such, I, Jian Feng Han, will take on an even stronger Boss. I believe that if we all work together, even a Purple Rank Boss can be killed. What’s more, a Purple Rank Boss can drop extremely rare Purple Tier equipment that surpasses Gold Tier equipment. Don’t you all think that this is a huge opportunity? Relax, if there are weapon loots, swords belong to Xiao Yao, axes to Bai Qi, you and Wang Jian get priority on spears, and longbows go to Lian Po. What do you think?”

Li Mu took a deep breath and with a deep hunger for war in his eyes, he said: “Alright, let’s do it……”

Jian Feng Han drew his blade, and pointed straight and true towards Fire Stone Canyon: “Brothers, forward! We will reach the Boss in 10 minutes!”

……

As the mass of players swarmed over the hill, a Level 45 monster got in the way and was focus-killed by a group of mages and musketeers. Flying above in groups, there were at least 30 Wind Elves who were mages, archers and musketeers. Even a Level 55 Purple Rank Boss shouldn’t stand for long if all of us attacked it together.

“Rustle……”

My Silver Locked Battle Boots trod lightly on the sandy ground as I reached the top edge of the valley first. Leaning over, I saw a valley about 50 meters deep; it was the Valley of Everlasting Wind. All around, there were many soldiers carrying long halberds; Level 49 monsters with pretty normal attack and defense. Looked like we would have to clear these monsters before we could approach the Boss!

“Healers, add buffs to Xiao Yao Zi Zai !” Jian Feng Han commanded.

Immediately, a ray of white light descended, it was Level 4 [Encourage], and it raised my attack by 4%. Jian Feng Han looked at me and chuckled: “Xiao Yao will you go ahead and kill one Level 49 Soldier of the Everlasting Wind first? Show us the power of your DPS and defense!”

“Sure!”

I lifted my sword and rushed down the slope. A golden hexagram appeared underneath my boots as rocks concurrently exploded due to my speed down the slope. Three consecutive strikes leapt from the edge of my blade as I launched a Level 4 Combo and loudly struck the shoulder of a Soldier of the Everlasting Wind, bringing out a string of damage numbers —

“398!”

“377!”

“802!”

The third hit was a critical strike. Next, as my blade flashed, an aura surged out from under my feet before I landed on the ground. Without waiting for the monster to regain his strength, [Strength of a Thousand Men] gave off a repeated thrashing as it connected with the monster’s rotten face. A stream of damage numbers jumped out and [Wind Blade] abruptly hacked its arm off, releasing a damage number of 700+. Baby Bobo did a [Combo] and the Soldier of the Everlasting Wind fell to the ground. All settled within 1.5 seconds!

……

On the hillside, a group of [Vanguard] players were dumbstruck. Jian Feng Han clenched his teeth: “Damn…his firepower……”

Jian Feng Han looked closely at me and said softly: “This Xiao Yao Zi Zai is indeed not a simple person, a pity he isn’t willing to join my [Vanguard]……”

Li Mu gripped his longsword tightly, in a low voice: “This guy, his strength has grown so much since the last time we met, it’s scary!”

Wang Jian raised an eyebrow: “Hmph, I’d like to duel with him!”

Lian Po ran his hand down his beard: “Don’t bother, your current equipment is a level below his and he has a [Combo]. You definitely aren’t a match for him. But the most important thing is…… Xiao Yao Zi Zai’s moves are really exquisite, his movements are exceptional even though his gaming skills are only 70 points max. He must be a rare expert in real life!”

Wang Jian: “……”

……

20 minutes later, we killed our way into the depths of Valley of the Everlasting Wind.

In the distance, 12 antique totem pillars stood proudly at the heart of the valley. Every totem was linked at the top by a thick metal chain. The 12 glowing chains were all tied to the center, where a heavily armored war general with disheveled hair knelt, holding the shaft of a long blade. The chains penetrated his chest, as black blood dripped along them.

“We have reached the Boss……”

Jian Feng Han raised an arm: “Let’s not be anxious to start attacking the Boss, take a look at his skills and attributes before we make a move……”

I took a step forward and realized that my level was too low to see the Boss’s attributes. It was same for the rest of the players. For a Level 55 Purple Rank Boss, it was reasonable to say that a minimum of Level 49 was needed to see its stats. The current information was hardly complete, and though we could see the tip of the iceberg, all we could gather was that this Boss wouldn’t be easy to kill —

[General of the Everlasting Wind] (Purple Rank Boss)

Level: 55

Attack: ???

Defense: ???

Health: ???

Skills: ???

Introduction: General of the Everlasting Wind was a general in a distant empire about 2000 years ago. Disagreeing with the cruel and atrocious emperor, he betrayed his country. Later, he was chased by the Imperial army to the East Coast where he used his long blade to massacre a thousand soldiers. In the end, he was imprisoned by a crafty black magician. His soul was broken into pieces and his body imprisoned within the Valley of the Everlasting Wind. After being imprisoned for such a long time, his natural temperament has changed and has been reduced to that of a murderous devil.

……

I smiled: “We can’t see his attributes and skills, only that he is a Level 55 Purple Rank Boss. How do we fight him?”

Li Mu pondered aloud: “Kill him with brute force? We can use Monks to surround the Boss, then kill him using ranged attacks, this tactic should be feasible and may reduce our losses.”

Everyone looked at Jian Feng Han. After all, he was the Guildmaster of [Vanguard] and also the man behind the plan to take down this Boss.

Jian Feng Han appeared to understand what everyone was thinking. He stuck his longsword into the ground and looked towards the Boss: “I think that we should split into 3 squads. Squad 1 will be Xiao Yao Zi Zai, with the General Family assisting him, as well as 20 Healers to focus on keeping their HP up. If Xiao Yao Zi Zai cannot hold up and it leads to Squad 1 to be exterminated, Squad 2 will engage the Boss. Squad 2 will be led by Fushen Thousand Blade and assisted by sufficient DPS and Healers. If Squad 2 cannot hold up as well, then Squad 3, led by myself, will attack the Boss. If Squad 3 also perishes, then that means we have failed.”

I frowned but do not say anything.

General Li Mu narrowed his eyes: “Bad idea?”

Wang Jian grips his longsword: “Yeah, not smart.”

Jian Feng Han looked surprised: “Why not? Is there anything that you all disagree with?”

Li Mu nodded: “Doesn’t it seem a bit inappropriate that you invited the 4 of us from the General Family and Xiao Yao to assist and are now placing us in the main battle force; Asking us to engage the boss first? After all, we have no idea what the Boss’s skills, health, attacks and defense are at the moment. To attack hastily would mean an easy death. I think we should be Squad 2, while you can form Squad 1 and attack the Boss first to test out it’s skills.”

Jian Feng Han licked his lips and raised the corner of his mouth: “Alright, Brother Li Mu has a point. Let’s do as he suggested! [Vanguard] will organize a squad to attack first, to test the Boss’s skills and stats. Who’s willing to go first?”

Fushen Thousand Blade raised his staff and shield: “I will!”

Jian Feng Han shook his head: “No, you are [Vanguard]’s main tank, you shouldn’t be in the advanced party. How about…… Monk, why don’t you go first?”

From the crowd, a Level 39 Monk from [Vanguard] stepped forward. In his right hand, he held an iron rod, in this left, a shield. His bald head shone as he grinned: “No blood relations means being relegated to cannon fodder. Just joined the guild and I’m already given a nice errand……”

ID: Goodbye Tears Level 39 Monk

……

Goodbye Tears quickly chose 7 healers, more than a dozen mages, archers and musketeers, as well as 2 assassins as the main DPS dealers.

“Guildmaster, shall we start?”

“Yeah!” Jian Feng Han seemed to chuckle: “You can only blame yourself for ridiculing me on the forums……”

……

“Brothers, stay strong, let’s roll!”

Goodbye Tears raised his iron rod and roared as he rushed towards the Boss. As he raised his arm, a golden ray shone down, [Put Down Your Sword] reduced the Boss’s attack by 10% and drew a large amount of aggro!

“Clang clang clang ……”

Right after getting hit by [Put Down Your Sword], the General of the Everlasting Wind was immediately agitated and angry. Emitting wrath as he struggled to stand up, he bellowed: “Damn it, you lowly adventurers dare to violate my territory, die!”

“Bang bang bang ……”

The irons chains broke apart as the General of the Everlasting Wind struggled free from the chains and regained his freedom. Raising his longsword, he rushed toward Goodbye Tears and snarled: “Baldy, your life is mine!”

……

“Crash!”

Bloody bristles appeared on the edge of his blade as it slammed into Goodbye Tears’ shield, sending countless sparks flying!

“741!”

“What kind of attack is this……”

Goodbye Tears retreated several steps and wielding his iron rod, he lunged forward, “Bang”, the strike connected straight onto the Boss’s forehead as he shouted: “Healers, focus on me. Mages use Ice Wind and Ice Cones to reduce his attack!”

Author Note: One of Destiny’s controls allows the setting of the skill level to be used to be decided by the player. For example, if a player can execute a Level 10 [Combo], he or she can choose to use a Level 1 [Combo] or a Level 7 [Combo] etc. When activating the skill, the Level of use will appear in the box below.