Chapter 37: Soloing the Hell Difficulty Boss
Ahead, a dozen Blood-Backed Black Turtles came into view.
Blood-Backed Black Turtle (Elite)
Level: 45
HP: 99,375 / 99,375
Attack: 1,598
Skills: Blood-Thirsty Shell, Water Orb, Water Arrow, Magic Water Shield
In Hell Difficulty, there were no common mobs; even the weakest enemies started at the Elite Grade. Their attributes were significantly higher than those found outside the dungeon. Their health pools had nearly doubled, and their attack power had seen a substantial surge.
Whiz!
An arrow tore through the air.
Liam began his slaughter.
Sky-Piercer moved in right beside him, launching his own attack.
-19,150!
-1!
The first number belonged to Liam. The second was Sky-Piercer’s.
Sky-Piercer stared at his own pathetic damage, then looked at Liam’s. He felt a wave of numbness wash over him.
Is this guy even human?
Sky-Piercer’s attacks against the Blood-Backed Black Turtles only dealt a single point of forced damage. He couldn't wrap his head around how Liam’s single arrow could produce such a terrifying number.
As soon as the first turtle was struck, a massive swarm of them surged from the rear. The dense pack of Blood-Backed Black Turtles charged toward the duo like a dark tide.
Quintuple Shot!
Liam maximized his output. Combined with the bouncing arcs of Chain Lightning, the turtles began to collapse in heaps. Even with over ninety thousand HP, the creatures were being deleted by Liam in less than a second.
"Ding! You have reached Level 16. AP +5."
Sky-Piercer leveled up before they had even finished clearing the first wave. He spent the entire time "playing soy sauce"—doing absolutely nothing of value—watching Liam unleash a frantic barrage of death while the turtles fell like dominoes.
In less than two minutes, every Blood-Backed Black Turtle in the first area was dead.
They moved immediately to the second stage.
The layout was similar to the previous Hell Difficulty run. Here, the Blood-Backed Turtle Commanders appeared. Their attributes were roughly five times those of the standard Elite turtles.
Unfortunately for them, they fared no better. Under the relentless storm of Liam’s projectiles, they were forced to "drink their hatred" and collapse.
"Ding! You have reached Level 17. AP +5."
"Ding! You have reached Level 18. AP +5."
Sky-Piercer did nothing, yet his level was skyrocketing. On the Level Leaderboard, his name—which had previously been buried near the bottom—suddenly shot into the top five and continued to climb.
The third stage awaited.
Elite Grade turtles were no longer the primary threat. They were replaced by Commander-grade Blood-Backed Black Turtles, supplemented by Black Iron Grade Blood-Eyed Black Turtles. The overall combat power of the mob groups had jumped an entire tier.
If this were a group of ordinary players, even a twelve-man raid at Level 45 would find it nearly impossible to clear. It would likely take twelve top-tier players with Heavenly Grade Innate Talents, full gear sets, and specialized items just to have a chance at Hell Difficulty.
Yet Liam was treating it like a solo slaughterhouse.
Quintuple Shot. Maximum damage.
Occasionally, the Death Cycle effect triggered, instantly executing a mob regardless of its remaining health. The third stage offered a slight increase in pressure, but it failed to slow Liam down.
Sky-Piercer, however, didn't make it.
Despite Liam drawing all the aggro at the front, Sky-Piercer died. The reason was simple: a Blood-Eyed Black Turtle’s AoE skill grazed him for a split second, and his health bar vanished instantly.
Sky-Piercer’s stat build was extremely glass-cannon, focused almost entirely on Attack Velocity and Movement Speed. His HP and resistances were abysmal. If he hadn't been wearing a full set of Level 15 gear, he would have been turned into "heart-piercing cold" long ago.
His death in the third stage didn't hinder Liam.
Liam stepped into the fourth and final stage. This was the lair of the ultimate boss.
Blood-Eyed Dragon Turtle (Bronze)
Level: 45
HP: 16,850,000 / 16,850,000
Attack: 27,590
Skills: Rapid-Fire Water Cannons, Healing Physique, Dragon-Roar Tsunami, Nine-Pillar Impact, Black-Water Vortex, Blood-Thirsty Dragon Scale, Water Arrow Array, Blood-Eye Toxic Mist, Unstoppable, Berserk
Liam’s gaze sharpened.
It was exactly as he expected. In Hell Difficulty, the Blood-Eyed Dragon Turtle’s stats were gargantuan. Furthermore, the boss arena was enclosed; there was no room for infinite kiting. His only option was to avoid every crowd-control skill perfectly.
Whiz! Whiz! Whiz!
Liam opened fire the moment they made eye contact.
-19,285
+9,849
+2,000
Liam frowned. Ten thousand health recovered per second? That’s broken.
Even though he was dealing True Damage, the boss’s innate regeneration was healing back over ten thousand HP immediately. Undeterred, Liam ramped up his firing rate.
Arrows whistled through the air in quick succession. Because of the boss’s high regeneration, Liam’s effective damage per arrow was whittled down to about seven thousand. Given the turtle's sixteen-million-plus health pool, he would need over two thousand arrows to bring it down.
At three bonus HP per hit, two thousand arrows meant stacking six to seven thousand extra health. When he did the math, he realized that high-intensity Hell Difficulty dungeons were the most efficient way to farm his passive. Outside, he’d have to hunt thousands of separate mobs, wasting time on movement and waiting for respawns.
The Blood-Eyed Dragon Turtle lunged, slamming a massive claw down. Liam dodged by a hair’s breadth and kept firing.
The boss wasn't in a hurry. It struck again. This version was even larger than the one Liam had killed in the open world, and its claws covered a wider area. More importantly, it was more than twice as fast.
As Liam pulled back to create distance, a shimmering water mark appeared beneath his feet.
Sht.
Liam’s expression tightened. The boss had predicted his movement and pre-cast Nine-Pillar Impact. The range of this version was significantly larger than the overworld boss’s skill.
Boom!
A pillar of water erupted toward the sky.
"Glacial Wings!"
Liam knew his Star-Rank Lunar Purge couldn't cleanse a knock-up effect, so he didn't hesitate. He summoned his wings and launched himself into the air.
From the sky, the Blood-Eyed Dragon Turtle became a sitting duck. Although the Nine-Pillar Impact followed up with eight more bursts that reached his altitude, they were useless. Liam’s flight maneuvers were peerless. The skill had a slight delay—the water mark appeared before the impact—giving him more than enough time to react.
Whiz! Whiz! Whiz!
Suspended in the air, Liam rained down arrows with devastating force, steadily chipping away at the boss's massive health bar.
Seeing its water pillars fail to hit the target, the Dragon Turtle let out a furious roar. It unhinged its massive jaws, charging a new skill: Chain Water Cannons!
The cannons had a short charge time and moved with incredible speed. Yet, through a series of mid-air twists and turns, Liam evaded every single one. The projectiles were predictable; as soon as they left the turtle's maw, their trajectory was fixed, allowing Liam to reposition early.
While dodging, Liam never stopped his offensive. He was merciless. Arrows tore through the air, forcing the boss’s health lower and lower.
The turtle roared in frustration. It had no way to deal with the pest hovering above it. Liam was essentially in a "free-hit" state. At five arrows per second, he was dealing roughly forty thousand damage. In one minute, that was 2.4 million.
After five minutes, Liam had stripped away over ten million health.
Finally, just as the boss reached four million HP, the duration of Glacial Wings expired. Liam hit the ground but didn't stop firing.
What the Dragon Turtle did next left Liam stunned.
It triggered Berserk, but instead of charging, it immediately cast Healing Physique.
Liam watched in disbelief as the boss’s health bar surged. In the blink of an eye, it climbed back up to eleven million. A single skill had restored over six million HP.
"Fcking hell, that's insane," Liam muttered.
It wasn't that the Dragon Turtle was naturally this powerful; it was the Hell Difficulty scaling that made it a nightmare.
With its HP restored, the boss turned into a blur of light, using Charge to close the gap. Liam’s brow furrowed. Dodging a shell larger than a basketball court while it moved at that speed was impossible with current stats.
Thump!
-51,290!
A massive damage number popped over Liam’s head. His scalp tingled; that was a brutal hit.
Slap!
The Dragon Turtle followed up immediately, slamming a claw directly into Liam’s face.
CRITICAL!
-55,895!
Another staggering number.
Liam immediately strafed to the side, trying to use the boss’s own bulk to block its line of sight, as he had in previous fights. But this turtle’s Movement Speed and Attack Velocity were on another level. It spun instantly and swung another claw.
Liam dodged the follow-up by an inch, his own arrows flying in a blur. The battle between man and turtle turned into a bloody grind. By relying on his reflexes, Liam avoided the majority of the boss’s strikes.
The Dragon Turtle seemed to realize that this war of attrition wasn't working. Its regeneration was top-tier, but Liam’s own recovery was becoming equally horrifying.
The boss roared again.
The air grew heavy with moisture. A wall of water ten meters high surged toward Liam.
Liam’s eyes narrowed. He knew the combo was coming: the massive knock-up from Dragon-Roar Tsunami, followed by the crowd-control lock of Black-Water Vortex. Once trapped, he would be a target for the boss’s full burst.
-29,850!
The wave slammed into him. Before he even hit the ground, the Black-Water Vortex swirled open beneath him. Liam landed right in the center of the trap.
The Dragon Turtle immediately layered a Water Arrow Array over his head.
Against this chain of CC, even a Level 45 tank would likely crumble. Liam’s HP wasn't high enough to ignore such a combo.
The moment he touched the vortex, Liam triggered Star-Rank Lunar Purge. The cleanse cleared the snare instantly, allowing him to dash out of the danger zone.
Seeing its ultimate combo fail, the boss bellowed in rage. Liam ignored the noise. He stayed focused on his rhythm, maximizing every point of damage.
As arrows continued to fly, Liam’s max HP climbed, and his damage saw incremental increases. Every thousand HP he gained added thirty points to his True Damage. It seemed small, but at five arrows per second, it added up quickly.
With the boss’s main combo on cooldown, its threat level plummeted. Even with the Berserk buffs, the turtle only managed to land two more claw swipes. They hit hard, but that was it. Without a CC chain to pin him down, the boss couldn't finish him.
Liam’s Life-Steal was simply too monstrous.
The Ninefold Longbow provided 5% Life-Steal, returning about a thousand health per arrow. At five arrows per second, that was five thousand HP. Adding the bow’s passive regeneration (100 HP/sec), he was already at 5,100.
Then there was the Bloodstained Necklace, which provided Life-Steal equal to 1% of his Max HP per hit.
With Tears of the Life Goddess and the 10% bonus from Barney’s Innate Talent, Liam’s health had surpassed 640,000. One percent of that was 6,400 per arrow. Five arrows per second meant 32,000 health.
Furthermore, his Level 4 Resurgence skill restored 500 HP per second, and the Tears of the Life Goddess added another 10,000.
Altogether, Liam was regenerating 47,600 HP every single second.
As long as the Dragon Turtle couldn't keep him permanently stunned or land a single-hit execution, its damage was irrelevant. Most of the boss’s skills were multi-hit or wide-area, which typically meant lower burst per hit.
Of course, the boss did have burst—like the Black-Water Vortex combo. If he hadn't had a cleanse, the follow-up from the Water Arrow Array and Nine-Pillar Impact would have deleted him. It was a combo designed to one-shot any player of the same level.
But there was no "if." Liam had the cleanse, and he had the sustain. He slowly ground the boss down until the massive creature finally collapsed.
"Ding! Your party has achieved the World First for Blood-Eyed Dragon Turtle. A server-wide broadcast is about to commence. Do you wish to hide your name?"
"No."
"Server-Wide Broadcast: Congratulations to player Frost Monarch and Anonymous Mode for completing the First Clear of Black-Water Lake: Dragon Turtle. Rewards: Frost Monarch AP +80, Anonymous Mode AP +10. This announcement serves as an inspiration to all players."
"Server-Wide Broadcast: Congratulations to player Frost Monarch and Anonymous Mode..."
The announcement echoed through the world. Liam was used to it by now. Sky-Piercer had opted to remain anonymous. Because Sky-Piercer’s contribution to the clear was so minimal, his AP reward was only an eighth of Liam’s.
Moreover, because Sky-Piercer was currently dead and technically outside the active combat zone when the boss fell, he was ineligible for the final dungeon clearance reward chest.