Chapter 161 The Real Boss

Less than a minute after that Current died, a burst of black energy erupted from his remains, soaring straight into the sky. Immediately afterward, I felt a massive, invisible wave of energy rushing toward us, so intense that it caused a dull, stinging pain on our faces and made it hard to even stand steady or keep our eyes open.

"You're not dead yet, it seems," the Arbiter said, just as he was about to step forward. But the Fire Dragon King immediately rushed to his side and said, "Stop right there. If you keep going, you'll be violating the rules."

"Ugh! Fine. Weiwei Long, I'll leave the rest to you. Coordinate well, and you'll have no problem defeating him," the Arbiter said.

I immediately spoke up, "Hey, since you're doing a good deed, do it to the end. You've already helped us once, you wouldn't mind doing it again, right, everyone?"

The girls behind me all nodded in agreement, but the Arbiter replied, "All right, be content with what you have. Me coming to help you once was already bending the rules. If I help again, who knows what those guys upstairs will say about me? I'll have to write another self-criticism report. Come on, buddy, have some sympathy for me, won't you?"

Realizing there was no keeping him here, I asked, "Before you leave, can I at least ask what an Arbiter means?"

The Arbiter answered, "Well, even if I explained it, you wouldn't understand. But in your terms, I'm basically a GM, and I'm in charge of every little thing in this district. Alright, enough talking, if I don't leave now, who knows what kind of crime those guys will pin on me. Oh, and once you win, I'll come look for you." With that, he and the Fire Dragon King vanished into thin air.

Feng Xiaoyue then turned to me and asked, "Dragon Spirit, is your brother a GM?"

I replied, "I only have one sister, Long Xin, where would I get a brother?"

Feng Xiaoyue continued, "Then why does that guy's look so much like yours?"

"This..." I was somewhat speechless. Could it be that I was a twin at birth, and my older or younger brother was snatched away at the hospital? Ugh, my imagination was running wild! I shook my head and said, "Let's not think about that right now. Let's take care of the boss first."

Right after that, the black energy ahead vanished. "Fall back, the boss is coming out!" Huanyue shouted at the top of her lungs.

As her voice trailed off, a heartbreaking, miserable scream echoed through the air. A black shadow soared into the sky—it had twin wings on its back, six-toed giant claws, a green face with sharp fangs, and a truly hideous appearance. The boss looked like something straight out of Resident Evil.

Its human-like face contorted into something between a man and a beast. I quickly used Fiery Eyes to scan it: Soul Devourer, Level 55 Boss. Description: It lacks strong combat power of its own, but can possess powerful targets to control them and make them its own.

It seemed this was the true boss. My spirits lifted instantly. "A Level 55 boss! We have nothing to be afraid of. As long as our coordination is on point, we'll be fine."

"Got it. Linger, sister, we'll leave the support and healing to you!" Feng Xiaoyue turned her head and said.

"Understood, leave it to me!" Linger agreed with complete confidence.

***

At this moment, the Soul Devourer soared high into the air, its expression twisted with extreme rage. Its figure descended like a lightning bolt, and with a flash of cold light, its sharp claws slashed out. Its very first strike wasn't aimed at anyone else, but straight at Linger in the rearmost row—it must have known from looking at her that the healer had to be eliminated first.

Linger executed a Flash spell with incredible speed, but the Soul Devourer instantly whipped its head around, shifting its next target to Feng Xiaoyue. With a sharp rip! Feng Xiaoyue's greaves were sliced open, blood spraying into the air as a damage figure of —2133 popped up.

Following that was another stab. Feng Xiaoyue was forced into a desperate backward roll. Having landed its first hit, the Soul Devourer immediately chained into another combo, its left claw whistling through the air with a piercing howl. Just as the razor-sharp claws were about to reach Feng Xiaoyue's throat, a muffled "boom" rang out. A figure charged forward, slamming hard into the Soul Devourer's side. The boss's body tilted, and as its body tilted, its claw went off-target, sparing Feng Xiaoyue from certain death.

However, as the Soul Devourer listed to the side, it hoisted its leg mid-air and swept a kick across the shoulder of the person who had crashed into it. The movement was too fast for any reaction; the defender had charged in with a large shield, only to be struck like being hit by a lightning bolt, instantly sent flying over twenty meters away.

The kick knocked away over a thousand HP and sent them tumbling backward. However, Linger instantly healed them back to full health. At the same time, an afterimage charged straight toward the boss, the phantom's holy sword descending in a direct overhead chop at the boss's face.

No matter how flashy a warrior's swordsmanship was, it ultimately boiled down to speed and power. When the two were perfectly combined, it became a devastating lethal strike. Huanyue leapt into the air, slashing upward, but before she even got close, the boss grabbed her lower abdomen with one claw and kicked her right back. Without a doubt, she was heavily wounded on the spot.

Fortunately, Linger was there, and a single Heal spell instantly recovered over three thousand HP. At the same time, I swung my Ruyi Staff down from the boss's blind spot behind it. Yet, the boss acted as though it had eyes on the back of its head, dodging instantly before its two claws whipped up and down in a blur. Sparks flew in every direction as I took four consecutive hits, my health plummeting by over 3,500 points. Still, Linger's heal pulled my HP right back up.

Four blue beams shot simultaneously from Fire Phoenix's purple bow. After striking the boss, she fired an arrow straight up into the sky, and a rain of arrows cascaded down, cutting more than a dozen lacerations across the boss's body. Viscous green liquid seeped from the gasps—the boss's blood was apparently green.

I scanned the boss again with Fiery Eyes: total HP 1 million, with over 900,000 remaining. Since the boss didn't regenerate health and couldn't one-shot us, as long as Linger was in the back healing, and Summer kept tossing out various potion bottles to debuff the boss, winning was entirely possible.

"Roar—!"

The Soul Devourer suddenly flew up into the air, opened its bizarre mouth, and let out a chilling roar.

Fall back! Everyone clearly realized the boss's ultimate skill was about to drop.

Having witnessed the terrifying power of so many bosses, a group of high-level players like them knew that boss skills were usually fatal. At a moment like this, retreating essentially meant running for your life.

"Woolala! Woolala!"

The Soul Devourer spewed a wave of black Qi into the sky. The black Qi then transformed into countless sharp spikes, raining down like scattered flowers with an extremely wide coverage area.

I cursed inwardly. With this kind of density and speed of attack, it would be a miracle to dodge them. It was like no matter how skilled a human was, it was impossible to dodge raindrops in a downpour. As expected, defense basically came down to enduring it.

***

When those sharp spikes showered down, however, I noticed they didn't seem to have any offensive power at all. They struck our defensive gear and rapidly vanished without a trace, completely painless and ticklish. But then the problem arose: the moment too many of these things touched us, my limbs instantly went numb.

"Ding~! You have been affected by Corrosive Spikes. Movement speed decreased by 80%, defense decreased by 40%, attack speed decreased by 20%. Duration: one minute."

Damn it! This boss skill was entirely too overpowered. Now, everyone's speed and movements were drastically slowed. The Soul Devourer soared into the air, its twin claws striking out simultaneously from a distance, transforming into countless sword afterimages that rushed toward us with a swishing sound.

The streaks of sword Qi swept across us like lasers. No matter who they hit, every single strike shaved away 2,000 HP and carried a slowing effect, making everyone's movements even more sluggish.

Huanyue and Feng Xiaoyue, the two high-level warriors, simply resorted to raising their swords to parry. I immediately activated Feint, followed by Wind Protection. Linger relied on a protective barrier to shield herself, while Summer activated Firmament Hold, using her large shield to protect herself and Fire Phoenix. However, this sword-rain onslaught was unprecedentedly fierce and continuous. After half a minute, Huanyue began to buckle—her class traded defense for high offense, and basic healing potions simply couldn't keep up. Fortunately, she immediately summoned a fierce gale with her holy sword to protect herself; otherwise, if things kept going this way, and with Linger desperately chanting spells in the back to heal us, casualties would have been inevitable. By this time, the sword rain had leveled all the surrounding ruins.

A minute later, the boss's skill ended. The moment it eased up, a massive whirlwind arrived with a roar, rapidly engulfing it. Feng Xiaoyue then raised the Soul-Devouring Sword high, and the sky instantly clouded over with rolling thunder. Huanyue's whirlwind controlled the boss for less than ten seconds before being shattered, but by then, bolts of lightning were crashing down from the heavens.

Every single bolt struck the boss dead-on:
—1434
—1435
—1433
—1453
......

Every time a bolt of lightning struck the boss, alongside the damage numbers, the boss would be stunned once every three hits. Our eyes lit up—this was the absolute best opportunity! With the boss stunned and unable to retaliate, it was time for our side to unleash a slaughter. Instantly, our skills rained down upon the boss like a downpour. Amidst flashing blades and elemental energy, the boss suffered catastrophic damage, its HP plummeting wildly by a massive chunk. We seized the moment to wail on the boss relentlessly, stripping away even more of its health long after the lightning storm finally subsided.