Chapter 129: The Spirit's Clash on the Mountain

The Lord of Shaking Mountains suddenly raised his enormous iron hammer. This time, however, he paused briefly to gather strength. Once charged, the entire hammer was dyed in a crimson glow before crashing down with tremendous force.

Skill—Smash!

-3325

Blood-red numbers immediately floated above the head of the Soul Rider.

By then, Ye Chen and the others had retreated more than thirty-five yards. Seeing the two bosses clash, several players could not help slowing for a moment.

“If you don’t want to die, keep running!” Ye Chen shouted coldly as he charged ahead, reaching a distance of more than fifty yards. At that moment, the Lord of Shaking Mountains suddenly abandoned his hammer attack and instead raised his tank-like foot high into the air before stomping it violently into the ground.

Trample!

Boom!

The enormous force struck the earth. As the ground trembled violently, spiderweb-like cracks spread across its surface, while a visible shock wave expanded outward from the Lord of Shaking Mountains’ foot. Several players who had fallen a step behind were struck by the shock wave.

-1700, -1633, -1826

Damage numbers floated above their heads. Fortunately, they were all heavily armored. If they had been fragile spellcasters, they would have been killed outright. The Elemental Mages standing beside Ye Chen exchanged glances, all secretly relieved that they had run fast enough.

The three heavily armored players had just reached Ye Chen’s side when, before they could even turn around, the ground trembled violently once more. Looking back, they saw that the Lord of Shaking Mountains had activated Trample again.

It was a double cast!

“Brother Night Morning, this Lord of Shaking Mountains doesn’t use this trick all the time, does he? We can’t take it!” Distant Monk said with a pale face.

He had been watching the Soul Rider tank the Lord of Shaking Mountains the entire time. The damage from the earlier Trample had clearly been greater the closer one was to the boss. The two Tramples had cost the Soul Rider nearly eight thousand health. Although his own defense was considerably higher than the Soul Rider’s, Distant Monk estimated that he would still lose around six thousand health if he took the attack himself. Moreover, he had only eight thousand health. If the attack happened to critically strike…

“Don’t worry. The Lord of Shaking Mountains’ skills have a limited number of uses. The Soul Rider has two hundred thousand health. By the time it dies, this fellow will have exhausted all of his minor skills.” Ye Chen spoke while directing the Soul Rider to counterattack.

Although the Soul Rider was of a lower rank, its attack was still fairly decent, dealing four to five hundred damage each time. Compared with the Lord of Shaking Mountains’ remaining five hundred thousand health, that was little more than a drop in the ocean, but it was still better than nothing.

“That’s good to hear. By the way, Brother Night Morning, if we didn’t have this Soul Rider, would you have any way to deal with it?” Distant Monk asked curiously. He wondered whether Ye Chen could eliminate the Lord of Shaking Mountains with the team they currently had.

Ye Chen fell silent for a moment before answering, “There is a way, but it’s extremely dangerous. This is the best arrangement.”

In truth, the method was to have the four melee players take turns interrupting the Lord of Shaking Mountains’ skills. But if even one of them made a mistake, the entire team could easily be wiped out.

Distant Monk nodded without the slightest doubt that Ye Chen was capable of doing so. In his view, since Ye Chen said there was a way, then there certainly was one. The other players who had overheard their conversation thought the same. After three hours of battle, Ye Chen had completely proven his ability. Without him, they would never have made it this far.

“With the Soul Rider tanking for us, everyone, make the most of the time. Ranged classes, follow me and attack.” As Ye Chen spoke, he waved his Abyss Staff, sending a Chain Fireball toward the enormous Lord of Shaking Mountains.

-1800, -1659, -3526 (Critical Hit!)

The final strike of Chain Fireball had a hidden effect that increased spell critical chance by eight percent. It was incredibly powerful!

Seeing the damage Ye Chen dealt, the Mages were filled with envy and resentment. Their hands, however, did not pause for even an instant. All kinds of powerful second-advancement spells poured toward the Lord of Shaking Mountains.

-432, -512, -189…

The lowest damage had actually come from Long Face. It was even lower than the damage dealt by the two Holy Shepherds, causing his already long face to become even longer.

“Haha, don’t be discouraged, Long Face. The Lord of Shaking Mountains has low magic resistance but high physical defense. That’s perfectly normal.” Ye Chen laughed as he consoled him. Dealing less damage than the Holy Shepherds had probably dealt a severe blow to the man’s pride.

Each round, the spellcasters led by Ye Chen dealt a total of roughly six thousand five hundred damage. Adding the Soul Rider’s four or five hundred, they could reduce the Lord of Shaking Mountains’ health by approximately seven thousand per round.

Because the Lord of Shaking Mountains was constantly using his skills, he dealt about three thousand five hundred damage to the Soul Rider each round. Thus, the Soul Rider’s damage output was exactly half that of the Lord of Shaking Mountains. The Soul Rider had two hundred thousand health, while the Lord of Shaking Mountains had five hundred thousand. Therefore, the Silver-ranked Soul Rider was fully capable of trading its life for four hundred thousand health from the Dark Gold-ranked Lord of Shaking Mountains.

The group quickly calculated the figures, and a wave of cheers erupted across the team channel. By the time they faced the Dark Gold Lord of Shaking Mountains themselves, this super boss would have no more than one hundred thousand health remaining.

A dozen minutes later, everyone discovered that the situation was even better than they had anticipated. The Lord of Shaking Mountains’ skills truly did have a limited number of uses. It could no longer use Trample or Smash, and could only trade blows with the Soul Rider one attack at a time.

As their health rose and fell, the moment the Soul Rider was finally killed by the Lord of Shaking Mountains, the once-arrogant Dark Gold boss had less than fifty thousand health remaining.

“Monk, it’s your turn to shine!” Ye Chen felt not the slightest bit of reluctance when he watched the Soul Rider die. It had been more than worth it. This Silver-ranked summon had already exceeded its value completely.

“Haha, leave it to me.” Distant Monk let out a hearty laugh, raised his Coiling Dragon Staff, and charged toward the Lord of Shaking Mountains, whose health was already critically low. The other three melee players followed close behind.

The two sides soon met in close combat. Although the Lord of Shaking Mountains had lost its two commonly used skills, its tremendous strength remained formidable. A casual swing of its hammer nearly sent Distant Monk flying. This was despite the fact that his strength had already been doubled. Before the increase, he would have had no ability to face such a monster.

Leaving its attack power aside, if a tank could be casually sent flying by a monster, it would be impossible to hold its aggro, and the damage dealers would have no chance to fight.

-2106

Blood-red numbers floated above Distant Monk’s head, and everyone quietly breathed a sigh of relief. Distant Monk truly deserved to be known as Blazing Mountain City’s foremost ascetic. His defense was beyond reproach.

The two Holy Shepherds were even more relieved. If the damage had exceeded three thousand, they would never have been able to keep him alive without the Tower of Holy Light.

Whoosh, whoosh!

+986, +1031

Two milky-white beams of holy light descended upon Distant Monk’s head, immediately restoring his health.

Resentment!

Distant Monk swung his Coiling Dragon Staff and used his strongest second-advancement aggro skill. After being struck by the skill, the Lord of Shaking Mountains focused all its attention on Distant Monk and roared as it raised its massive hammer once more.

“Attack! Everyone, attack with all your strength!” Ye Chen shouted while wildly hurling Chain Fireballs.

The dozen players immediately gave it everything they had. Magic and blades rained down upon the Lord of Shaking Mountains. With only fifty thousand health remaining, it could not withstand such a furious barrage. In less than five minutes, the super boss’s health had fallen below fifteen thousand.

“Stop! Everyone, cease attacking!” Ye Chen suddenly issued an order through the team channel.

Upon hearing Ye Chen’s command, the players almost instinctively halted their attacks. Everyone knew that in Ye Chen’s team, they had to be obedient and follow orders. Otherwise, they would die horribly.

Seeing that every player had stopped attacking, Ye Chen nodded in satisfaction. This was exactly the effect he wanted. In the future, when he formed his own team, every member would have to obey commands without question. Otherwise, no matter how many strategy guides they possessed, they would be useless.

For example, once the Lord of Shaking Mountains’ health fell below ten thousand, it would unleash Earthshaking three times. If everyone ignored his orders and continued their assault without preparing, they would all die.

“Three casts of Earthshaking?” Long Face and the others were horrified when they heard Ye Chen’s explanation.

Some Gold bosses also possessed the ultimate skill Earthshaking. For example, the outdoor boss Great Earth Bear King in the Yellow Rain Forest of Blazing Mountain City had this skill. Long Face and the others had seen that boss before, and had also witnessed other teams challenge it. Those teams were almost always wiped out by this skill.

Once activated, its power was truly terrifying. It could wipe out not only a dozen people, but even a hundred.

“One cast is already deadly. How are we supposed to deal with three?” Distant Monk was dumbfounded as well. The Lord of Shaking Mountains’ Earthshaking was certainly more powerful than the Bear King’s. He probably could not withstand even two casts, let alone three.

“How do we deal with it? We handle it the same way we dealt with the Frost Priest King back then.” Ye Chen spoke through the team channel.

“Brother Night Morning, are you saying that you’ve also accurately determined when this Lord of Shaking Mountains will use its ultimate skill?” Distant Monk’s eyes lit up. Long Face and the others had evidently heard about that incident as well, and they immediately stared at Ye Chen with eager expressions, waiting for him to reveal his secret.

Ye Chen nodded and said calmly, “At nine thousand five hundred, nine thousand, and eight thousand seven hundred health, the Lord of Shaking Mountains will unleash Earthshaking.”

When they heard those health thresholds, everyone sucked in a breath of cold air. They were far too close together. It was easy to imagine that if Ye Chen had not warned them in advance, everyone would have died here. No one could withstand the Earthshaking of a Dark Gold boss three times—not even an immortal.

“The Lord of Shaking Mountains has fifteen thousand health remaining. I won’t participate in the attack anymore. Otherwise, a critical hit might cost everyone their lives. Spellcasters, help reduce its health to eleven thousand, then stop attacking as well. The melee classes will handle the remaining health.”

Hearing Ye Chen’s arrangement, everyone nodded in agreement. Critical hits from spellcasters were too dangerous. If they were not careful, they might trigger two of the ultimate skills at once. The melee players had no such concern. Their attacks dealt only a little over one hundred damage each time, and even a critical hit would not exceed two hundred and fifty. It was much safer.

“Everyone, begin. Reduce it to eleven thousand first, then I’ll make the arrangements.” Ye Chen’s calm tone reassured even the players who had been feeling uneasy. They all prepared to attack.

Reducing the boss’s health by four thousand was no problem for them. The Elemental Mages attacked cautiously and finished the task with ease in less than a minute.

Seeing the Lord of Shaking Mountains’ health drop below eleven thousand, all the players immediately stopped attacking and waited for Ye Chen’s next order.

To be continued.

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