Chapter 72: Mocking the Gold-Grade Bosses
Judging by that sudden spike of killing intent, the Assassin known as Torzel was definitely no ordinary foe.
Gold-grade NPCs were significantly more dangerous than standard Gold-grade monsters—this was a core truth Liam had learned in his past life. To be precise, NPCs always outperformed monsters of the same tier. As a Level 100 Assassin, Torzel's burst damage was undoubtedly catastrophic.
However, an Assassin’s greatest strength lay in the initial ambush. Since that had failed, the threat he posed to Liam had plummeted.
Several Night-Walkers near Liam didn't hesitate to strike. But in a single exchange, the one who moved first collapsed. A single strike dealt over 100,000 damage, instantly deleting the Night-Walker. That wasn't even Torzel’s maximum damage output; the Night-Walker simply hadn't possessed more than 100,000 HP to lose.
The remaining Night-Walkers were visibly shaken by Torzel’s ruthlessness.
Liam’s eyes narrowed slightly, though he remained unfazed. He raised his hand, unleashing a torrential rain of arrows. Torzel immediately blurred into an afterimage and vanished.
Shadowstep followed by Stealth!
It was a standard Assassin combo—common because it was incredibly effective. Entering Stealth directly made your trajectory predictable, but pairing it with Shadowstep was a perfect way to disorient an opponent.
Unfortunately for him, it wouldn't work on Liam.
Whiz!
Liam’s arrow locked onto the cloaked Torzel with unerring precision. Torzel deflected the projectile with his dagger and charged straight for Liam. Liam immediately retreated, his bow singing as he continued to fire.
Torzel was fast. As an Assassin, he possessed numerous movement-speed buffs. He continued to parry Liam’s arrows with his blades, but the landing points of those arrows were far more cunning than he anticipated. Before he could cover much ground, he was forced back by the sheer pressure of the volley.
If he thought a lone Assassin could solo-kill Liam, he was being naive. Even a Level 100 Gold-grade Boss couldn't bridge that gap alone.
Whiz! Whiz! Whiz!
The arrows grew denser, suppressing the Assassin in an instant.
"Earthsunder!"
Suddenly, a new voice rang out. A massive fissure tore through the ground beneath Liam’s feet.
"Glacial Wings!"
Without a second thought, Liam took to the skies, his gaze locking onto the Mage who had intervened.
Archmage Abyr (Gold Grade)
Level: 100
HP: ???
Attack: ???
Skills: ???
Liam frowned. Another Gold-grade Boss at the limit of the Second Advancement.
A Mage, a Warrior, and an Assassin—three peak Second Advancement powerhouses had arrived. It seemed Abraham was taking him very seriously indeed.
"So, you're Abraham’s vanguard," Liam muttered to himself. "I suppose I'll have to kill you all to get him to show his face."
As long as these peak Gold-grade Bosses were on the field, Abraham would remain in the shadows. In this arena, the Assassin had the highest burst but was limited to melee. Now that Liam was airborne, the melee threat was neutralized.
He turned his focus entirely on Archmage Abyr, his arrows whistling toward her in a blur. Abyr waved her staff, manifesting a dull yellow barrier that enveloped her.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Liam’s arrows slammed into the earthen shield. In less than a second, the barrier shattered. However, the moment it broke, Abyr’s next spell was already complete. A massive magic circle materialized above Liam.
Liam tried to dive out of the way, but a beam of yellow light locked onto him. His body stiffened, and in the next heartbeat, his skin began to petrify.
"Damn it."
He pushed his speed to the limit, but countless boulders began to rain down from the array above. He zig-zagged through the air, but he couldn't dodge them all.
Boom!
A massive rock slammed into him.
-58,210!
A single boulder had stripped over 50,000 HP. To Liam, this was a drop in the bucket. Just as he was about to break out of the rock-fall array, a figure shot into the sky like a rocket, hurtling toward him.
Liam’s pupils contracted. The newcomer was none other than General Flynn. The man had flight capabilities too. It made sense; as a Level 100 Gold-grade General with immense authority in the Astral Kingdom, it wasn't surprising that he possessed high-tier treasures.
Flynn collided with Liam, knocking him back into the falling rocks. Another boulder struck home.
-58,222!
Another damage number popped up. Liam could easily tank this. Thanks to the Purifying Jade Amulet, the petrification was barely taking hold, but it was still hindering his movements. These veteran Mages were truly a nuisance.
Liam reached for the Bangle of Fortune and equipped it. If they wanted a fight, he would show them exactly what he was capable of.
Whiz! Whiz! Whiz!
Quintuple Shot!
He aimed three arrows at the three Gold-grade Bosses. The other two were aimed at the City Guards below.
He needed to hit targets to trigger his Life-Steal. Abyr, Flynn, and Torzel were all capable of blocking or parrying his arrows, which would negate his healing. But by targeting the rank-and-file guards with the remaining arrows of the Quintuple Shot, he ensured a constant stream of recovery. This was the only way to suppress three Gold-grade Bosses simultaneously.
Sure enough, under Liam’s high-intensity bombardment, the trio was forced onto the defensive.
"Split up! Encircle him from three sides! Don't let him pin us down all at once!" Abyr commanded instantly.
The three Bosses diverged, attacking Liam from different angles. Even with Liam’s god-tier archery, he couldn't hit all three simultaneously with a single Quintuple Volley.
"Frost Monarch, no matter how strong you are, your life ends here today!" Flynn roared, leading the charge. He swung his blade, sending a massive wave of sword qi cutting through the air toward Liam.
Liam ignored the incoming strike, focusing his entire Quintuple Volley on the City Guards below.
Boom!
-185,080!
A massive damage number rose above Liam’s head. That was the power of a Level 100 Gold-grade General—truly terrifying. In his past life, a boss like this would have required a raid group of a hundred, if not a thousand, players. Yet here was Liam, standing alone against three of them.
Liam was taking heavy damage, but his Life-Steal was equally monstrous. This was where the Bloodstained Necklace showed its true value. The City Guards only had about 100,000 HP, and Liam’s arrows dealt roughly that much. If his Life-Steal were based on damage dealt—even at 50%—he would only recover 50,000 HP per hit.
However, the Bloodstained Necklace restored 1% of his maximum HP per basic attack, regardless of the damage dealt. Even if Liam only dealt 100 points of damage, the heal was fixed.
With Liam’s HP now exceeding seven million, a single arrow restored 70,000 HP. Five arrows meant 350,000 HP. Combined with his innate Life-Steal stats, a single Quintuple Volley healed him for over 400,000 HP.
"Interrupt him!" Abyr shouted, her eyes widening as she realized how fast Liam was regenerating.
Flynn lunged again. "Wolfhowl Shockwave!"
A rippling circle of light swept over Liam. His head throbbed, and his body locked up in a stun. But only 0.3 seconds later, the effect vanished.
"What?! How is that possible?" Flynn gasped. "How can your Resilience be this high?!"
It wasn't Resilience; it was the Purifying Jade Amulet. Its base 80% crowd-control reduction was already broken, but Liam had upgraded it to a staggering 90%. Flynn’s stun should have lasted nearly three seconds, but against Liam, it was a mere hiccup.
"Chain the CC!" Abyr cried, waving her staff.
Liam felt as if a mountain had been dropped on his shoulders. Soil rose up, Constricting his legs and rooting him in place. This time, the control lasted 0.6 seconds—double the duration of Flynn’s shockwave.
Liam frowned. Before he could break free, Flynn used a basic wooden sword technique to launch Liam into the air.
While Liam was in a Suspension state, Flynn performed a textbook Warrior aerial combo for the benefit of the soldiers below. He followed the launch with a Cross Slash to knock him back, then a Triple Slash to inflict hit-stun.
He stopped at three hits instead of using Ninefold or Twelvefold Slash because those didn't provide additional control; they only relied on the initial suspension. Given Liam's CC reduction, three hits were the absolute limit before he would recover.
"Terravolt Surge!"
Just as Liam was about to drop, Abyr triggered another Suspension effect, shaving off another 80,000 HP. Flynn sneered, following up with a Straight Thrust, Chain Slashes, and a Crescent Drain Slash to knock Liam further back and extend the juggle.
Since Liam and Flynn were fighting in mid-air, every player below had a front-row seat. Flynn’s damage was immense. Even with Resurgence and the Blood-Thirsty Dragon Scale providing passive healing, Liam couldn't fully offset the combined assault of the two Bosses.
In less than ten seconds, Liam had lost nearly a million HP. This was despite the fact that Flynn and Abyr were holding back their ultimate moves to maintain the aerial juggle. Liam’s armor and magic resistance were simply too low; their attacks were essentially dealing True Damage.
"Seismic Pulse!"
Abyr struck again, catching Liam in another mid-air juggle.
Liam was being stalled, but the situation at Blackwind City was deteriorating rapidly. While Flynn and Abyr were occupied with Liam, two other peak Second Advancement Gold-grade Bosses had emerged from the Demon's Den. They were tearing through the city defenses with the Night-Walker army.
Castellan Balthazar watched the sky, his heart sinking. It had taken ten seconds to strip one-seventh of Liam’s health. At this rate, it would take seventy seconds to kill him. But in those seventy seconds, the two Level 100 Night-Walkers would slaughter half the City Guard.
Torzel had gone to support the guards, but he was an Assassin. His burst was high, but he lacked the sustained, wide-area destruction of a Warrior or Mage.
Liam, however, wasn't worried. The combo was impressive, and while he had Purification ready, he chose not to use it. He was playing a longer game.
He wanted the Realm War to trigger!
If he killed these three Gold-grade Bosses too quickly, the Realm War might be delayed. He could afford to wait.
One minute passed.
Liam had lost six million HP. Ten more seconds, and he would be dead. Flynn and Abyr were grinning, their excitement palpable. After all this effort, they were finally going to take him down.
Then, Liam moved.
Purification!
Void Blink!
He reappeared above the City Guards and unleashed a Quintuple Volley—a hundred arrows a second. In the blink of an eye, his health bar snapped back to full.
General Flynn: "..."
Archmage Abyr: "..."
They had spent a full minute sweating and straining to whittle him down, and he had healed it all in a heartbeat.
"You're mocking us! YOU ARE MOCKING US!" Flynn roared in a fit of rage, charging Liam once more.
Liam continued to kite and pull them. Eventually, through sheer persistence and coordination, Flynn and Abyr managed to catch him in a combo again.
Once more, they executed a textbook chain of crowd control. Under normal circumstances, they couldn't have kept Liam locked down like this, but there was a hidden mechanic at play: Level and Grade Suppression.
If a Level 10 Mage cast a one-second stun on a Level 100 Gold-grade Boss, the actual duration might be 0.1 seconds or less. This wasn't just Resilience; it was the raw disparity in power. In Twilight of the Gods, every Class Advancement effectively raised a player's "Quality."
Monsters were ranked: Common, Elite, Black Iron, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum. A Level 1 player was roughly equivalent to an Elite Grade because of their ability to use equipment. A Level 1 player, even unarmed, had better stats than a Level 1 Crimson-Eye Rabbit. With gear, they were several times stronger. That was why players could solo common mobs of the same level.
Starting as an Elite, an Innate Talent awakening pushed a player to Black Iron status, and the First Advancement to Bronze, and so on.
The rule was absolute: low-level control against high-level targets was weakened. Conversely, if a Level 100 Boss used a one-second stun on a Level 1 player, the actual effect might last three or even five seconds.
And Liam was currently feeling the full weight of that suppression.