Chapter Eighty-One: Halo of Thorns

Swish, swish, swish—three beams of healing light descended upon Dragon Gallop Wild Bull, instantly restoring his vitality. Fortunately, at this stage, the healing spell didn’t trigger the earth spikes; otherwise, Ye Chen would have been at his wits’ end.

“Wild Bull, go up! Off-tanks, fall back and take your potions. When it’s your turn, don’t hesitate—don’t fear death.” In just a brief moment, both off-tanks were nearly depleted of health. Their hit points and defense simply couldn’t compare to Dragon Gallop Wild Bull’s, especially the berserker who had invested heavily in strength. If he hadn’t taken a Blood Coagulation Pill in a moment of crisis, he would have fallen already.

Dragon Gallop Wild Bull charged forward, swinging his staff, and with a casual taunt, drew the boss’s aggro. Though the Stone Lord had stopped using his combo attacks, his berserk state greatly increased his attack speed and damage. Each blow dealt over four hundred points, and an occasional critical hit made everyone turn pale. After only five or six hits, Dragon Gallop Wild Bull was forced to retreat, replaced by the two off-tanks.

Bang! Minus 1025—another critical from the Stone Lord instantly wiped out the half-health berserker off-tank. The group turned pale; this was their first casualty since entering the dungeon. As for Left-Handed Myth, he hardly counted as a member…

“Don’t panic, hold on—Stone Lord won’t last much longer,” Ye Chen encouraged his team while furiously hurling black fireballs at the boss. Hearing this, the others attacked the Stone Lord with bloodshot eyes, who now had only three percent health remaining.

“He’s about to unleash his combo! Knight tank, take the front!” Ye Chen barked. This was essentially sending the knight to his death, but there was no other way. Someone had to make the sacrifice. Sadly, the Chaos spell was ineffective against such a high-level boss; otherwise, the knight might have been spared.

Dragon Gallop War Rider, the knight tank, understood what it meant to step forward, but he harbored no resentment. As the team’s tank, he was always prepared for such a sacrifice. Ye Chen hadn’t hidden anything from him—he’d made it clear, the combo was coming…

Clenching his teeth, Dragon Gallop War Rider raised his lance and unleashed a Blood Strike—his most powerful aggro skill, equivalent to a taunt.

Bang, bang, bang—minus 523, minus 515, minus 1100—the Stone Lord turned and struck Dragon Gallop War Rider with a triple combo, sending him straight back to the respawn point. Thankfully, Dragon Gallop War Rider was experienced; he took a Blood Coagulation Pill after the second hit, allowing him to withstand the third. Otherwise, that last blow would have landed on Dragon Gallop Wild Bull, which would have been perilous.

This triple combo was the Stone Lord’s final retaliation. After those blows, his movements slowed dramatically. Though his attacks still dealt over four hundred damage, he no longer landed critical hits. Seconds later, this golden-tier villain let out a wailing cry and collapsed, transforming into a pile of stone fragments.

Silence. The whole scene was hushed. Everyone from Dragon Gallop, including Dragon Gallop Star Slayer and Rogue Never Leaves Empty-Handed, stared blankly at the scattered stones, unable to believe they had actually cleared a king-level dungeon and toppled a golden-tier boss.

“Ding! Golden-tier boss Stone Lord has fallen. Dungeon challenge successful.”

Only when the system announcement sounded did Dragon Gallop’s members snap out of their trance, erupting into excited cheers. Many couldn’t resist hugging each other in celebration. The two holy priestesses beside Ye Chen threw themselves at him, clinging to his arms, jumping and shouting with joy. For them, it was simply unbelievable—they had truly cleared a king-level dungeon. In the past, they only dared attempt the normal difficulty, never the hard mode. This felt like a dream.

Witnessing the scene and the scattered stones before him, Ye Chen’s face bloomed with a radiant smile. Success—though expected, it didn’t dampen his delight; in fact, his excitement surpassed even that of his teammates. They were elated to have cleared the king-level dungeon, but Ye Chen was thrilled for the bright future ahead. With fifty-eight, with strategies, no dungeon could block his path. Gold and equipment beckoned to him.

“Brother Night Dawn, congratulations on your level up! To rise from fifteen to twenty-four in just two days—there’s probably no one else in Fierce Mountain City who’s done that.” Dragon Gallop Star Slayer grinned, congratulating Ye Chen as the white light above his head slowly faded.

“What? Brother Night Dawn was level fifteen just yesterday?” Rogue Never Leaves Empty-Handed exclaimed in disbelief, staring at Ye Chen. He himself had spent half a month reaching level twenty-five, and the jump from fifteen to twenty-five took him more than a week. Two days—this was miraculous.

“Just lucky, really. I killed a few high-level bosses; otherwise, I wouldn’t have leveled up so fast.” Ye Chen smiled, then asked curiously, “Star Slayer, didn’t you tell him about the difficulty?”

“Nope. Hey, Star Slayer, how could you not mention something so important?” Rogue Never Leaves Empty-Handed glared at Dragon Gallop Star Slayer.

“Uh, Rogue, you can’t blame me for that. At the time, you kept asking about Brother Night Dawn’s and Fierce Tiger Family’s battle records, then dragged me off to test Night Dawn’s depth. How could I remember?” Dragon Gallop Star Slayer protested.

Feeling a little awkward, Rogue Never Leaves Empty-Handed scratched his head. “Forget it, let’s not talk about that. We’d better see what loot the boss dropped.”

Ye Chen nodded and walked over to the site where the Stone Lord had fallen. Opening loot was the exclusive right of the team leader.

In the dungeon, bosses didn’t vanish in a flash of white light, so Ye Chen had to rummage through the pile of stones. Luckily, the equipment all shone, making it impossible to miss. In a moment, he had found all three items dropped by the Stone Commander: a skill book, a longsword, and a hat.

Thorn Aura: When cast on a friendly target, forms a thorn aura around them—effect: reflects five percent of melee damage.

Ye Chen’s heart leapt with joy. According to the guide, the golden-tier Stone Commander was one of the few bosses capable of dropping the Dark Arbiter’s skill book. He hadn’t expected to get so lucky, scoring a Thorn Aura on the first try. Don’t underestimate this five percent melee damage reflection—it was only the level-one effect. As Ye Chen leveled up the skill, its power would surely become formidable, posing a grave threat to melee classes. Most importantly, this skill didn’t conflict with ordinary auras, meaning that it could be activated alongside attribute auras. In this respect, the skill was especially precious.

“I’ll take the skill book,” Ye Chen announced, holding up the Thorn Aura tome and, with a clap of his hands, learned it instantly. Naturally, no one objected—they couldn’t use it anyway. All eyes turned to the sword and hat, waiting for Ye Chen to reveal their attributes.