Chapter 9 : Chapter 9
Chapter 9: Baiting Out Skills! Deflect a Thousand Pounds with Four Ounces!
Though it was called Secluded Valley, there was not the slightest trace of seclusion here.
There were only cracked rocks glowing red from heat, scorched black marks all around, and scattered bones strewn across the ground.
“It really does look exactly like the illustrations in the history textbooks.”
As Ye Ze looked around, he could not help but wonder, “If everything is the same as it was back then, then the final boss...”
At that very moment, a heaven-shaking roar thundered into the sky!
Unlike the boss stages of other dungeons, there were no minor monsters here, no elite monsters, nothing of the sort.
There was only a single figure overflowing with demonic energy, slowly emerging from Secluded Valley.
The moment he saw that boss, Ye Ze sucked in a sharp breath.
“Damn, it is a stat monster!”
【Beast King · Crimson Demon Lion】
Type: Final boss of the Magical Beast Mountain Range
Quality: Rare ☆☆☆☆☆
Level: 10
Attributes: Strength 145, Constitution 140, Agility 105, Spirit 68
Skills: Demonic Flame Breath, Crushing Impact, Scorching Claw Strike, Lion King Bloodline.
————
Rare five stars!
Above Rare quality, each grade also had additional star levels, and five stars was the highest rank within Rare grade!
Looking at its attribute panel, Ye Ze finally understood why no one had ever cleared Hell difficulty.
The boss’s stats were simply too monstrous!
In the Novice Dungeon, only Class Users below Level 9 were allowed to enter.
And yet they had to face a boss like this.
High attack, immense durability, and terrifying speed!
Even a full team of four Level 9 Class Users might not be able to withstand a single strike from the Crimson Demon Lion.
In an instant, Ye Ze understood the “painstaking thought” of the dungeon’s designer.
This damn thing had never been meant to be cleared!
According to the records in the history books, this Crimson Demon Lion had been the Beast King back when China campaigned against the Magical Beast Mountain Range.
And as one who had risen to the position of Beast King, its combat experience was naturally not to be underestimated.
“Hmph—”
The Crimson Demon Lion let out a heavy snort, sending a wave of heat rolling outward.
“There is only one person?”
As the final boss of Hell difficulty, it had not seen challengers in a very long time.
Not to mention a lone challenger.
But in the span of a single instant, Ye Ze already had an idea.
“This is a little troublesome.”
“But it is worth trying!”
If anyone who had entered Hell difficulty before had been standing here, they would have started cursing on the spot:
One single breath from the Crimson Demon Lion was enough to reduce both you and your summoned beasts to ashes!
You are only a Level 3 Summoner. What gives you the right to even think of trying?
But Ye Ze had thought of the same thing.
“Squirrel, summon twenty Shadow Clones at once and send them straight at the boss’s face!”
Twenty of them! That required 400 mana!
That would consume half of the Shadow Squirrel’s current mana pool.
No textbook would ever recommend a strategy like this!
And yet, the moment it heard Ye Ze’s order, the squirrel unleashed the skill without the slightest hesitation. In an instant, twenty shadow squirrels appeared before Ye Ze.
“Go!”
As Ye Ze spoke, he also held back Panda and the squirrel’s true body. “You two stay back for now.”
The moment those words fell, the twenty Shadow Clone squirrels charged the Crimson Demon Lion.
The lion, however, looked utterly disdainful as it spat out a mouthful of demonic flame!
“Whoosh—”
The Shadow Clones, which had cost half of its mana, were burned away completely.
But instead of alarm, joy appeared on Ye Ze’s face.
“It worked!”
What seemed like a ridiculous act of throwing them away to die was actually a common tactic from the games he had played in his previous life...
baiting out skills!
As the top liberal arts student at the War Academy, Ye Ze knew these recorded skills extremely well.
Demonic Flame Breath was the Crimson Demon Lion’s only area-of-effect skill.
And unlike Shadow Clone, this skill had a cooldown!
Faced with such a large number of shadow squirrels, the Crimson Demon Lion would never waste time swatting them one by one. Using an area attack was the best choice.
And once that area attack was gone, Ye Ze’s chance of victory would arrive!
“Go, Panda, Squirrel!”
At Ye Ze’s command, the squirrel immediately dove into the ground first, merging with the shadows.
This was his innate skill, Shadow Meld!
It allowed his body to merge into any shadow and move through it.
A top-tier stealth skill!
Yet even when facing Panda and Shadow Squirrel, two Epic summoned beasts, the Crimson Demon Lion showed not the slightest interest.
“You have the courage to attack first. That is something, at least!”
The Crimson Demon Lion’s voice rang out in a low growl.
There were not a few teams of Class Users who, upon seeing its attributes, simply withdrew from the dungeon on the spot.
But it still did not take them seriously.
With its combat power, one claw strike would be enough to kill either of these opponents instantly!
“Die!”
The Crimson Demon Lion disliked wasting time. It lunged at Panda at high speed, intending to end the battle at once.
But what shocked it was this: that strike felt as though it had landed in cotton.
It did not deal any damage at all!
Panda’s two hands swayed left and right, and somehow he blocked the sharp claws, then dissolved the attack in an uncanny manner!
Ye Ze’s expression turned excited.
“So this is Deflect a Thousand Pounds with Four Ounces!”
【Deflect a Thousand Pounds with Four Ounces - lv.10】
【Uses subtle leverage and yielding force to neutralize and counter powerful attacks with the least possible strength!】
【Against attacks whose power does not exceed ten times your own, it can reflect the enemy’s attack together with 200% of your own attack as damage back onto the opponent!】
“Smack—”
With a backhand shove from Panda, immense force came crashing down onto the Crimson Demon Lion’s crown.
A faint sound of cracking bone rang out.
Its vision swam with stars, and blood poured without end!
An ordinary attack could never have dealt such tremendous damage.
But Deflect a Thousand Pounds with Four Ounces had also borrowed the Crimson Demon Lion’s own force, and that sent the damage soaring to a completely different level!
On top of that, the blow had landed squarely on the head, making it especially lethal.
This was the true core of Ye Ze’s strategy:
Deflect a Thousand Pounds with Four Ounces could not deal with spells, area attacks, and similar skills.
But if he baited out the area skill first, then all of the Crimson Demon Lion’s remaining strength-based attacks would be perfectly countered by Panda!
A stat monster of a boss?
Then I will use your own damage to strike you down!
“ROAR—!”
The Crimson Demon Lion collapsed heavily to the ground, grievously wounded and furious beyond measure!
As the king of the Magical Beast Mountain Range, it had never been plotted against like this before!
But even in such a miserable state, with only a sliver of life left...
the Crimson Demon Lion still had the strength to fight on!
Unfortunately, just as it was preparing to take its furious revenge in the next instant, its body suddenly could not move at all!
Shadow Squirrel’s 【Shadow Bind】 had taken effect!
—By controlling the enemy’s shadow, it could immobilize the target.
If it had still been at full strength, Shadow Bind could never have controlled a monster with attributes as overwhelming as the Crimson Demon Lion’s.
But now that it was severely wounded, it had no strength left to defend itself...
“Damn... you!!!”
Those were the final words the Crimson Demon Lion spoke in this dungeon.
Once it had been immobilized, how could it possibly resist?
A blade of shadow formed in the squirrel’s hand and plunged viciously into the Crimson Demon Lion’s eye.
Even so, Panda and the squirrel still had to keep striking for over a minute
before the Crimson Demon Lion finally lost the last of its strength...
【Killed the final boss - Crimson Demon Lion. EXP +500!】
【Congratulations! As the first Class User to clear a Hell-difficulty dungeon, you will be ranked first on China’s Hell-Difficulty Clearance Rankings!】
【Congratulations on the first clear of ‘Magical Beast Mountain Range.’ You have obtained the Hell-difficulty first-clear reward: EXP +1000! Exclusive First-Clear Treasure Chest x1!】
【Dungeon complete. The system will now automatically collect the boss’s spoils for you...】
【Ding! Your level has risen to Level 4!】
【Talent — You have gained one draw chance for ‘Infinite Golden Traits’!】