"Going in!"
I spurred the Armored Ice Qilin Horse, and it dashed right into the magic formation after responding with a neigh. The next moment, I had pa.s.sed through the curtain of darkness and arrived at a whole new area—the map of Dragonlight Canyon.
The first thing I noticed about the scenery in front of me was how gray it was. I could see trees swaying lightly on the ground and a pair of mountain ranges hugging a wide canyon at the center. From a bird"s eye view, it looked like the gap between two dragons that were crawling side by side to each other. There was also a stream at the center of the canyon stretching toward the distant horizon. It was the lifeline of Dragonlight Canyon and the entire reason this forest could survive this place.
An animalistic roar suddenly broke out from somewhere far away. It sounded so sharp and violent that I couldn"t help a s.h.i.+ver. I had no doubt that this canyon was crawling with high-level monsters that might pose a good challenge for our party.
Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh...
Light flashed behind me, and the girls appeared. He Yi rode up to me with her Blade of the Earthen Soul unsheathed and said smilingly, "Hoho, this map is pretty big! No wonder it has a 72-hour limit. a.s.suming that this whole map is crawling with mobs, it"ll definitely take us three days or so to clear completely."
I smiled back. "Yes. Anyway, let"s not waste any more time. You, sis and Moonlight Stone are all and just a bit away from hitting Level 150, so let"s try to get you all to Level 152 or so so you can get sixth promotion the moment you get out. We can"t fall behind our compet.i.tors too much."
"Mn. Let"s go!"
"Go!"
……
The Armored Ice Qilin Horse raised its hooves and dashed forward, the Phantom Wolf King following right behind it. On top of that, I summoned my apparition to double my firepower. There shouldn"t be any mob I couldn"t deal with now.
Our first mob didn"t take long to appear. It was a Level 170 black bear covered in armored spikes called “Spiked Ironback Bear”. Its Attack and Defense were so powerful that it would basically murder the s.h.i.+t out of everyone except Level 150 sixth-promotion players if it were to sp.a.w.n in a plaza of Sky City.
"Let"s go!"
He Yi charged the mob but failed to stun it. She immediately followed up with a fiery Barrier Break that penetrated its body and dealt 16820 damage. Thanks to the effects of Royal Road, she did pretty good damage despite the level discrepancy.
I used my own Charge after He Yi, and—maybe because I had entered the Earthfire Realm, and He Yi hadn"t—I was able to stun it immediately. While the Spiked Ironback Bear was paralyzed by lightning, I hit it with Universe Break and Burning Blade Slash. The outpour of sword energy rocked the mob"s body and dealt a ton of damage—
25893!
13829!
19233!
28348!
……
He Yi couldn"t help but pout a little when she saw the damage numbers. "OMG, your Burning Blade Slash is way too OP. This is a Level 170 mob, and your last hit dealt almost 30k damage…"
I smiled. "Do you want me to be the party leader before we run into a boss, Eve? You can do over 20k damage per hit as well if I activate Martial G.o.d!"
Behind me, Beiming Xue voiced her agreement, "Yeah, yeah! Let"s do it! Big bro"s Martial G.o.d is better for grinding mobs, and it"ll also make my attacks stronger!"
Moonlight Stone nodded as well. Martial G.o.d was the best PvE Famous General Skill bar none because it boosted everyone"s attack power by 200% and made grinding mobs way easier than it should be. That being said, poverty-stricken players might prefer Chaos Moon"s Famous General Skill, Plunder, over Martial G.o.d. 100% increased attack power and 200% increased drop rate were absolutely nothing to scoff at!
After I turned on Martial G.o.d, everyone"s attack power, including the Phantom Wolf King"s and the Ironwing Dragon"s, was increased drastically. It was nice that the Famous General Skill affected both players and pets.
The Ironback Bear let out a dying scream and collapsed after the Cyan Netherworld Sword and Blade of the Earthen Soul tore its body apart. It dropped a Phantasmal Magic Stone that rolled a long, long distance away.
Moonlight Stone walked over to the Phantasmal Magic Stone and picked it up. She exclaimed in pleasant surprise, "Wow, it"s a 84 Quality Phantasmal Magic Stone! That"s 84 gold or 84 RMB! Does anyone want this?"
I shook my head and said, "Finders keepers. You can keep it…"
Moonlight Stone did just that before declaring smilingly, "Next!"
We moved on. There was no way a Level 170 Ironback Bear could stop us.
We stayed close to the river as we traversed the meandering canyon. Looking at the big map, the darkening red signaled that the mobs would grow stronger the deeper we ventured. Of course, we didn"t know when we would get there, only that we would go in after we had cleared out all the outside mobs first.
……
"Ah, there"s a rich ore vein over here!"
Moonlight Stone cheered in excitement from the front. Her secondary profession was a miner, so she immediately pulled out her mining tools and started digging away the vein of Thorium. Thorium was a Rank 9 mineral and very popular because it was an essential material when forging Rank 9 and 10 metal armors. The unusually high number of master weaponsmiths and armorsmiths in Sky City also ensured that the demand was high. A stack of Rank 9 mineral could be sold for 500 RMB, and a stack of Rank 10 mineral, a ridiculous price of 2000 RMB. It was why a large number of players ventured deep into the mountains in search of minerals every day, turning even a gigantic map like Dragonbone Mountain Range upside down. Of course, countless players died to the mobs as a result. Without sufficient strength, it was practically suicide to invade one"s home and rob them of their ores.
He Yi and I stayed close to Moonlight Stone while she dug her ores. She was a mage, so there was almost no chance she could survive if she was caught alone with a mob.
Two minutes later, Moonlight Stone finally finished her work and rose to her feet. Her face was rosy with excitement, "Hoho, I got 3 stacks of Thorium in total! That"s 1500 RMB! What a jackpot!"
I replied with a joke. "I demand a dividend!"
He Yi shot me a scornful glance. "You have no shame…"
Murong Mingyue pointed her scepter to the front and said, "Do you guys mind looking to the front before you talk about loot distribution? I think we p.i.s.sed off the bear clan. Oh? There"s even a super large bear in the middle of the pack. Is it the boss?"
I glanced to the direction she was pointing, and true enough, an entire horde of bears had appeared on the open plain right outside the forest. They were all Level 170 to 172 ancient mobs, and at the very back, standing atop a big rock, was an exceptionally huge bear with cyan-colored fur and narrow eyes. It definitely looks like the king of the pack alright.
I activated Dark Pupils and performed a super long-range inspection. Yep, it was definitely the boss of the group, and its name was “Cyanlight Bear King”. Once again, we were made to realize just how valuable this map was. It was incredible how soon we ran into a boss already. In Heavenblessed, the best equipment basically dropped from bosses, and our party was strong enough to challenge even Heaven Rank bosses. Therefore, most bosses were just walking bags of wealth and experience to us!
"G.o.d d.a.m.n, it sure has a lot of lackeys…"
I gripped the Cyan Netherworld Sword and said leisurely, "Girls, it looks like we have to clear out the small fries first. Trust me, you do not want to get obstructed by the mobs while we fight against the boss."
He Yi nodded in agreement and said, "Lu Chen, your mount is faster, so you should be the one to aggro the mobs. Then we… actually, let"s find a choke point first. We"ll die if we get swarmed by the mobs…"
I laughed. "No need, we have a bigger party this time. There"s you, me, the Ironwing Dragon, the Phantom Wolf King, my apparition and Beiming Xue"s Purgatory Thunder Beast. The six of us can easily surround sis, Beiming and Moonlight Stone and create a solid half-circle near the edge of the map. While I aggro the mobs, find a spot where the mountain is behind us and get into position. Also, stay alert. These are Level 172 ancient mobs. It"ll be embarra.s.sing to get party-wiped here, right?"
He Yi chuckled. "We know, so get going already. We"re not that noob…"
"Alright. See you in a jiffy!"
I spurred the Armored Ice Qilin Horse and galloped away. When I entered the mobs" aggro range, they raised their heads and looked at me. Then, they started swiping at me with their big paws.
Thud thud thud...
My mount left behind deep marks on the ground as it galloped in between the trees and the rocks. We were able to zigzag away from their attacks and aggro them to maximum effect. It wasn"t long before an entire sea of bears started chasing after me, but they were so slow that they were unable to catch up to me at all. It was all they could do not to lose track of me.
Less than three minutes later, I returned to He Yi"s side and took my position. At the same time, I ordered my apparition to stand in front of Beiming Xue. For some reason, the dark archer wore a blissful look on her face as she leaned on the back of her fake big brother. Then, she drew her Dragonbone String and fired a devastating twelve-arrow Evil Spirit Volley at the incoming horde!
Boom boom boom!
The Evil Spirit Volley was imbued with a splash effect, so it detonated like missiles and dealt a ton of damage when it hit the mobs. I immediately followed up the attack with Burning Blade Slash where the crowd was the thickest, rocking their bodies and causing their HP to drop even further. In fact, the third strike of my Burning Blade Slash dealt close to 40k damage, a feat that was possible only when Martial G.o.d was active.
He Yi wore a serious look on her face as she launched five sword auras in front of her. Every hit of Purgatory of Ice and Magma dealt 18k damage or more, for a total of 100k damage by the time the animation ended. Moreover, her weapon had a splash effect, so the bears on the left side of our half-circle dropped from 100 to 0 just like that! They"ve actually been one-shot!
"Wow…"
Moonlight Stone"s mouth fell open. "Sister He Yi is so amazing… she one-shot the mobs…"
Even I couldn"t help but feel a bit of envy. He Yi"s Purgatory of Ice and Magma was even stronger than my Burning Blade Slas.h.!.+
Meanwhile, the Ironwing Dragon opened its mouth and fired a draconic breath, setting at least a dozen bears on fire. It was a gladdening sight. The Ironwing Dragon had finally picked up an AoE skill, adding much to Murong Mingyue"s DPS.
My Phantom Wolf King was even more impressive, of course. Purgatory Storm was deadly enough, but it also triggered Claw of the Storm non-stop and wreaked havoc in the ranks of Spiked Ironback Bears. I would be sad for the bears if I was on their side.
Moonlight Stone was also a major contributor of our firepower. Galaxy Storm and mages in general were just way too powerful, and with repeated casts, her DPS wasn"t too far behind Beiming Xue"s!
……
Less than ten minutes later, almost 500 bears dropped dead. Everyone was bursting with happiness as our experience bars filled up considerably.
While we were sweeping the battlefield, Beiming Xue suddenly let out a scream, "Wow, look at this!"
"What"s wrong, Beiming?"
I walked over and saw Beiming Xue holding up a ring with a dazed expression on her face.