9 The Immortal - Tao Renjing
Taking advantage of the wound exposure system, the team finally managed to get the boss's health down to 10% and a system prompt sounded out.
[System: Warning! Spirit Snake Laoshe entered the berserk state! Speed increased by 50%, Damage and Defense reduced by 20%]
As soon as they received the system warning, the team became alert. They made sure to look around for any surprises. But what they didn't expect was for the snake to suddenly rushed towards the wall and even breaking through it. There was a slight quake as debris came tumbling down.
[System: The hidden path to the Immortal's Resting Place has been revealed!]
This notification shocked the whole team and Li Shenyang quickly opened the map. 'Sure enough, there is a new area forward,' Li Shenyang thought.
"Let's chase after the boss," Qinglong's voice travelled through Li Shenyang's headphone. "Fill up your health and blues."
Li Shenyang could see Qinglong's character chugging several potions. The rest also followed suit. Only Li Shenyang drank one bottle before telling the others that he's ready.
"Only one bottle?" Lightning Lynx can't help commenting.
"En. While fighting earlier, I already used up most of my blue potions," Li Shenyang informed them. Because of his low cooldown, he ended up using too many 'slash' and his blue ran out very quickly. 'Looks like I have to craft pieces of equipment that has Qi regeneration. It is good that I found out this problem early.'
"I noticed that your blue consumption rate was very high. It's alright, the boss is already dying and it shouldn't take long for us to kill it," Bai Lang said. "Then, once we get the rewards, you can return to the village and restock your items."
"After that, we'll repeat this dungeon and get the fastest clear time," Illusory Swan added.
[System: Spirit Snake Laoshe is shedding its skin!]
[System: Spirit Snake Laoshe completely shed its skin! Defense is reduced by 70%]
"Shedding its skin?" Illusory Swan's voice sounded confused. They all looked at each other before quickly rushing to the new path that the snake revealed. They didn't know why the snake shed its skin but if the system informed them about it, it might be something that the boss was designed to do. They didn't run for long, because they saw the remains of the skin.
Unfortunately, they didn't see any other trace of the spirit snake. "The skin is here, but where is the boss?" Black Inferno Tiger asked out loud.
Qinglong didn't answer and instead, went to check the snakeskin. Upon inspection, he noticed that the snakeskin is a loot-able item. He did not waste time to loot it and the team received materials from the loot.
[System: Received Broken Scales x13]
[System: Received Spirit Snake Laoshe's Snake Skin x1]
[System: Received Spirit Snake Laoshe's Drop of Blood x1]
Three system message appeared on Li Shenyang's chat box and he quickly went to his inventory to check the description of the items he received.
[Item: Broken Scales (Basic)]
[Description: Broken scales of a beast. Can be used as crafting equipment materials.]
[Item: Spirit Snake Laoshe's Snake Skin (Rare)]
[Description: The snakeskin belonging to Spirit Snake Laoshe. It can be used as crafting materials. Beginner's tip - Because the skin of Spirit Snake Laoshe is tough, beginners are advised to use it to craft defence types of equipment.]
[Item: Spirit Snake Laoshe's Drop of Blood (Rare)]
[Description: The blood of Spirit Snake Laoshe. It can be used as a pill refining materials, equipment crafting materials, and used to form a contract for a chance to obtain Spirit Snake Laoshe. Requires item - Beast Egg (Basic)]
'Beast Egg, basic… does that mean there's a rare type beast eggs and above?' Li Shenyang's fear that this game being a pay to win is increasing with time.
"Yang Shen?" Li Shenyang heard Qinglong calling him. "Are you there?"
"Ah, yes. I'm here. Sorry, was reading the items description," Li Shenyang quickly apologized.
"It's alright. The boss' health is still staying at 10%. Let's go find it," Qinglong replied.
With tacit understanding, the team continued to walk through the path. Soon, they came into another large area of the cave but as soon as they stepped in, the system warning greeted them.
[System: Warning! Players have entered a sealed space! Until the boss is killed, players are unable to escape the space!]
"Ah… are you people the one who reduced my pet to this state?" a voice could be heard but the voice did not belong to any of them. The voice sounded eerie and because it went directly from his headphone, Li Shenyang felt that the person speaking it was directly behind him. If he were to experience this in the middle of the night, he might've immediately logged out for fear that he might be haunted. "Impudent mortal, let this master teach you the meaning of death!"
The moment the sentence was said, the team saw a huge wind blade coming towards them at high speed. Because of Li Shenyang's speed buff, he was able to get away in time but the rest was not as fortunate. The attack directly killed off Lightning Lynx and Illusory Swan who have a low defence. Bai Lang and Black Inferno Tiger suffered heavy damage, with their health remaining at 18% and 27% respectively. Qinglong seemed to have activated an innate defence skill that was available for his bloodline and managed to reduce the damage he received by half. Even so, it still took 30% off from his health.
[System: Warning! The Immortal Spirit Tao Renjing has awoken from his slumber!]
"Fucking system! Your warning came out late!" Illusory Swan cursed. "Fuck, do I have to spend money again to revive? Reviving in the city option is greyed out."
"Reviving at the dungeon entrance is also greyed out…" Lightning Lynx added. "There is a revive at the same spot, but you have to pay 300 spirit points."
"I don't have the spirit points, ah! I already used them to increase my stats!" Illusory Swan wailed. Just then, he saw that Lightning Lynx has already revived but unlike Illusory Swan's revive using items earlier, there is no buff for him. Even his health is only filled up until 75%. "You…! You're that rich?!"
"No. Like you, I also don't have enough. But I just tried to click it and the system revived me. But…" Lightning Lynx trailed off for a while and Li Shenyang's focused on his hearing. "The bonus stats I placed in my stats were randomly taken away."
"Fuck! Does the developer think it's easy to get 300 points?!" Illusory Swan cursed once more, but he still revived on the same spot. It seems that spending once was enough for him. "Where is this Immortal Spirit?!"
Just as the question left Illusory Swan's lips, Li Shenyang saw a flash of white from the corner of his screen.
"Careful! Another wind blade!" he warned as he dodged the wind blade. Luckily, with his timely warning, the team managed to dodge it.
"It seems that the Immortal Spirit can't release the wind blade repeatedly. There are cool down for it. Let's find the snake first! Only by killing the snake can we escape the dungeon!" Qinglong informed his team.
"I saw the snake! It's hidden in the corner to the northeast!" Bai Lang quickly informed his team the moment he saw the snake. "It looks weakened!"
"On it!" Qinglong said before his character rushed towards the northeast where the snake is hiding.
"I'll back you up!" Li Shenyang also followed suit. Though the snake has a debuff where its defence is decreased by 70%, its damage and speed are still high.
"Still dared to try and kill my pet?! Bah! If I don't kill all of you today, then I am no longer surnamed Tao!" the Immortal Spirit's voice sounded out once more and this time, a new health bar appeared below Spirit Snake Laoshe's health.
A bright, red name spelt Immortal Spirit - Tao Renjing is placed directly above this new health bar.
"Laoshe, come to my side, ba!"
The spirit snake seems to have heard of this order and quickly rushed over to his master's side. It was only then did the team finally saw the Immortal Spirit, who now slowly took an ethereal form.
"Hold on! Qinglong, did you not say that the Immortal's spirit was scattered?! Then how come it is here?!" Li Shenyang couldn't help but voice out his question. He didn't read the dungeon lore because he thought it was a waste of time. He only wanted to play the game because he liked battling and he found himself enjoying the battle system. But that doesn't mean that he fell for the game just yet.
"That is what the dungeon lore said. I did not read it wrong. I even checked it the moment the boss's health appeared," Qinglong replied, there was a hint of worry in his voice.
"Then… did we accidentally encounter the secret boss? On our first attempt?! What kind of devil's luck is this, ah!" Li Shenyang glared at his computer screen.
