Chapter 8 : Chapter 8
Chapter 8: The Boss Came, and Then Died
“Finally leveled up. It took more than half an hour just to gain one level. That’s way too slow.”
After reaching Level 2, all of Lin Yuan’s attributes had risen to 90.
Without hesitation, he put all 40 free attribute points into Strength, raising it to 130.
That gave him 260 points of physical attack—enough to punch a Kobold Scavenger to death in a single blow.
Level 2 Ali was even more outrageous.
He had 2000 HP and 400 Attack.
And that was while completely unequipped. If he put on equipment, there would definitely be a qualitative leap in strength.
Summoned Beasts could also wear equipment. It was just that Ali currently only had two equipment slots.
If he wanted to expand those slots further, the only way was to raise his bloodline rank.
Once he became a Tenth Rank Holy Spirit, he would be able to equip ten pieces of gear just like a class-holder.
After casually cleaning up the battlefield, Lin Yuan continued onward.
The nearby Kobolds had already been cleared out, so Lin Yuan simply broke into a full-speed advance.
Very soon, he reached the central region of the Golden Fang Ruins.
The environment there was drastically different from the outer area.
It looked as though the place had once suffered a massive explosion.
The ground was full of craters, and a faint smell of gunpowder still lingered in the air. It was clearly unfit for habitation.
“Brother Lin, we’ve already entered the middle section of the Golden Fang Ruins.”
“The guide said there are a lot of landmines buried in the ground around here. Their detonation time is three seconds, and the blast radius is three meters. If you accidentally step on one, you have to get out of the area immediately.”
Sun Xu had stayed up late memorizing the guide last night, so he knew every single precaution by heart.
Lin Yuan, on the other hand, had spent all of last night strengthening his Summoned Beast. He had not read a single word of the guide.
That was fine too. It saved him the trouble.
Before Lin Yuan stretched a path nearly two kilometers long—the only route leading to the final Boss, Bronze Fang.
There were no monsters on it, but there were plenty of landmines buried underground.
“Ali, scout the path ahead.”
It would be a waste not to use a tank like Ali to scout.
Ali moved at once. He walked very slowly, clearly intending to use his body to trigger the mines.
Beep-beep-beep-beep!
A landmine was triggered.
Ali reacted instantly and left the blast radius in a flash.
Boom!
The ground was blasted open into a crater nearly half a meter deep.
If someone failed to dodge that in time, it would probably blow away more than half the HP bar of an ordinary class-holder.
Over the course of five minutes, Ali walked every inch of the surrounding area.
No more, no less—there were exactly fifty landmines.
It was only because Ali had high Agility and lightning-fast reactions that he managed it. Anyone else would have been blown up to death countless times by now.
“Ali, nicely done.”
Just as Lin Yuan was about to move forward, he suddenly heard an angry roar.
“Damn it! Which blind idiot triggered every last one of the mines I laid down?!”
The voice was thick with rage and panic as it rushed closer and closer.
A thunderous rumbling followed, and a Kobold riding a steam-powered motorcycle appeared before Lin Yuan.
【Rami the Miner】(Leader)
【Level: LV5】
【HP: 5000】
【Attack: 120】
【Defense: 50】
【Skill 1 (Mine-Laying): Rami throws three landmines at the target. Each landmine deals 100 points of magic damage (Cooldown: 10 seconds)】
【Skill 2 (Double Shot): Rami draws a gunpowder pistol and fires two shots at the target, dealing 150 points of physical damage and knocking the target back】
The moment Rami appeared, he immediately hurled three landmines at Ali.
Sneak attacks were the Kobolds’ specialty.
As soon as the three landmines hit Ali, Rami pulled a large-caliber gunpowder pistol from behind his back and fired twice in quick succession.
“Die, you trash!”
-100
-100
-100
-0
The three landmines dealt 300 damage to Ali. The gunpowder pistol failed to break his defense, though it still triggered the knockback effect.
“Damn it.”
“He actually went for a sneak attack!”
Lin Yuan flew into a rage. “Ali, kill him.”
There was no need for Lin Yuan to remind him. In two steps, Ali was already in front of the Kobold.
He opened with Sweeping Cleave.
-5250
One strike.
The Boss was dead.
+230
????
Sun Xu had assumed the battle would last for a while. Inwardly, he had been shouting that his chance to shine had finally come.
But before he could even cast a healing spell, the fight was over.
Was that remotely reasonable?
【Killed Rami the Miner (LV5), EXP increased by 800】
The Boss gave a huge amount of experience. Lin Yuan was now only 180 EXP away from Level 3.
And this Boss had also dropped a skill book and two pieces of equipment.
【Backstep】(D-Rank)
Skill Description: Consumes 20 Mana to leap backward a certain distance (Cooldown: 3 seconds)
【Civilian Tech Helmet】
【Grade: Bronze】
【Required Level: LV3】
【Attributes: Strength +5, Stamina +10】
It was a fairly decent piece of defensive gear, but his level was not high enough yet, so he put it away for the time being.
The second piece of equipment was much less impressive.
【Old-Style Gunpowder Pistol】
【Grade: Blackiron】
【Required Level: LV2】
【Attributes: Attack +15, Attack Speed: 1 attack every 2 seconds】
Better than nothing.
Since Lin Yuan did not have a weapon at the moment, he might as well equip it for now.
After sorting through the loot, Lin Yuan heard Sun Xu muttering beside him.
“This shouldn’t be possible. Why would a Boss appear here?”
Sun Xu had read the guide from beginning to end more than ten times. He was absolutely certain that a Boss was not supposed to appear here.
And yet, it had.
Not only had it appeared, it had even been instantly killed.
That was a disgrace to all Bosses everywhere.
“What are you thinking about?” Lin Yuan patted Sun Xu on the shoulder. “There aren’t any more landmines ahead. Hurry up.”
The moment he heard that, Sun Xu’s eyes lit up.
“I figured it out.”
“I figured out why a Boss appeared here.”
“It’s because your Summoned Beast triggered all the landmines, Brother Lin. That’s why the Boss showed up.”
Lin Yuan considered it for a moment.
The more he thought about it, the more it seemed to make sense.
And the truth was indeed more or less what Sun Xu had guessed.
Rami the Miner was a trigger-type Boss. As long as a class-holder triggered all fifty landmines nearby, the Boss would appear.
It was just that no team had ever done such a thing before.
Each landmine dealt 100 points of magic damage, and its blast radius was three meters. A single careless mistake would get someone blown up.
Being blown up once or twice was manageable, but after too many times, the healer’s Mana would definitely run dry.
And there was still the final Boss waiting ahead.
Even if they knew how to trigger this Boss, no team would willingly do it.
The key point was that this Boss was absolutely vile.
The moment it appeared, it would ambush the nearest target.
If that target happened to be the Tank, it was not too bad—they would not be killed instantly. But if it targeted a damage dealer or the healer, then one full combo from the Boss would definitely take one of them away.
Once he had sorted that out, Sun Xu was just about to move on when his eyes were suddenly drawn to a steam-powered motorcycle.
“Hey, Brother Lin, the Boss’s motorcycle.”
“Didn’t you say luring monsters was too slow? What if we use the motorcycle to pull them instead?”
“That’s a good idea.”
Lin Yuan walked up to the motorcycle and swung himself onto it in one fluid motion.
He could actually ride it!