Chapter 62: Pushing Forward All the Way

"This thing shouldn't pose much of a killing pressure," Wu Shaochen muttered to himself. He motioned for Silver the Wolf to step back a bit, then activated his extreme speed and charged forward. He started with a set of skills to disorient it, followed by a four-layer poison attack. Swiftly retreating, although he couldn't keep circling due to the restricted passage, he could still move from one end to the other and back. If it can be avoided, there's no need to confront it head-on. If this guy activates its frenzy, each basic attack could take away over 900 of my health. Along with the damage from its skills, I can't hold on for long.

The four-layer poison can take away nearly 130,000 health in a minute. The Tiger-headed Chief, with only 450,000 health, couldn't survive for four minutes and fell to the ground, granting Wu Shaochen 32,000 experience points. Silver the Wolf gained 8,000 points and instantly leveled up to 17, as it was already close to leveling up.

Wu Shaochen picked up all the items on the ground. There was one silver, one bronze, and two iron equipment pieces. Apart from that, there was nothing else.

"Is... it really just dropping equipment?" Wu Shaochen was a bit stunned. Don't bosses usually drop other things besides equipment? Why does this dungeon only drop equipment?

Well, never mind, no need to dwell on it. Wu Shaochen glanced at the only silver equipment, a helmet that had slightly worse attributes than the Black Wind Helmet he was wearing. It wasn't necessary to switch, so he planned to sell it later. But, does this count as provoking a rival? What if it gets bought by World Dominance and used against me?

Hmm... let's just try again and then sell...

Wu Shaochen retraced his steps and returned to the three-way junction. This time, he chose the right passage and quickly encountered the monsters on that side. They were leopard-headed humanoids, similar to the Tiger-headed Chief in terms of attributes, but these guys turned out to be archers with two ranged skills. It didn't matter much since he had to confront them head-on anyway, whether they were ranged or melee fighters, as their basic attacks couldn't penetrate his defense.

Wu Shaochen pushed forward all the way, reaching the end. Along the way, he once again obtained a bronze and two iron equipment pieces, all of which he couldn't use. He used Insight on the leader of the leopard-headed humanoids at the end.

[Leopard-headed Chief] Dungeon Boss

Level: 20

Health: 400,000

Physical Attack: 1,200

Physical Defense: 650

Magic Defense: 600

Attack Speed: 50%

Critical Hit Rate: 10%

Movement Speed: 165

Skill 1: Armor-Piercing Arrow: Deals 165% physical damage to the target, ignoring 50% of their armor. Cooldown: 30 seconds.

Skill 2: Piercing Strike: Deals 160% physical damage to targets in a straight line. Cooldown: 30 seconds.

Skill 3: Extreme Speed: Increases movement and attack speed by 50% for 30 seconds. Cooldown: 2 minutes.

Upon seeing this boss, Wu Shaochen finally felt a bit troubled. Fighting this boss is quite challenging. In the dungeon, ranged enemies can't be kited. Their attack range and aggro range are the same. Once you run out of their attack range, it's like running out of their aggro range, causing them to regain full health and clear the poison. This mechanic is frustrating.

Since kiting is not an option, I have to face it head-on. My attack power is now over 1,500, and my basic attacks can deal over 800 damage. That means I can attack twice per second, resulting in approximately 1,700 damage, and I can regenerate around 170 health. With the help of healing potions, I can barely withstand the damage, but it does consume a lot of potions. The only uncertain factor is its 10% critical hit rate. If it crits too often, I won't be able to survive.

"I hope I'm not that unlucky," Wu Shaochen muttered. "Whatever, let's just do it."

He activated Extreme Speed and rushed forward to engage, but the boss also activated Extreme Speed, and arrows swiftly flew towards him. Combined with an Armor-Piercing Arrow, Wu Shaochen lost nearly 3,000 health before even touching the boss's health bar.

"Damn, they're taking advantage of my short range," Wu Shaochen cursed, quickly drinking a health potion. Finally, he managed to get close and started stabbing with his dagger. "You think your bow and arrows are faster? Let's see if they're faster than my dagger!"

The leopard-headed humanoid attacked while retreating, but soon realized that its movement speed couldn't match that of the human. It stopped retreating and stood face-to-face with Wu Shaochen, both maximizing their attack speed. Wu Shaochen used skills whenever available and resorted to regular attacks when skills were on cooldown. With lifesteal and potions, he barely gained the upper hand.

Just as Wu Shaochen was feeling triumphant, the leopard-headed humanoid's Armor-Piercing Arrow triggered a critical hit, instantly taking away over 3,000 of his health. Immediately after, a Piercing Strike also critically hit, causing over 2,000 health to vanish. Wu Shaochen was taken aback. He had been using mid-tier potions to save money, and his health had been hovering around 6,000. These two attacks had instantly left him severely wounded.

"Wolf cub, protect me!" Wu Shaochen shouted, activating Void and running behind Silver the Wolf, letting it take the frontline. He quickly drank an Instant Recovery Potion, regaining 1,000 health, and then drank a Large Potion to stabilize his health.

Meanwhile, Silver the Wolf bravely sacrificed itself, fearlessly standing in front of Wu Shaochen. Each arrow from the leopard-headed humanoid boss could take away 780 of Silver the Wolf's health, but with over 20,000 health, it could withstand it for a while.

Once Wu Shaochen's health reached over 5,000 again, he charged forward and launched a series of attacks at the leopard-headed humanoid boss. With high poison damage and decent attack power, the boss's health rapidly decreased. In the end, it could only endure for less than three minutes before collapsing to the ground, granting Wu Shaochen another 32,000 experience points.

Wu Shaochen picked up a dropped silver, two bronze, and two iron equipment. He looked at the silver equipment, which was a bracelet that could be used.

[Baotou King Bracelet] Silver Grade: Physical Attack +180, Attack Speed +15%, Additional Attributes: Strength +24, Agility +25, Constitution +24. Requirements for wearing: Assassin, Archer.

He changed the [Graphite Bracelet] and his attack increased by 52 points, reaching 1570 points. His attack speed also increased by 10% to reach 138%. His health increased by 464 points from fighting monsters and various enhancements, reaching a total of 9306 points. He was approaching the five-digit mark.

He didn't bother looking at the remaining bronze and iron equipment, so he directly put them all in his backpack and planned to sell them later.

After defeating the leopard-headed leader, Wu Shaochen returned to the three-way intersection. Now, he only had the middle path left. Once he cleared this path, he should be able to pass the level.

Without hesitation, Wu Shaochen walked towards the middle passage and quickly encountered the monsters in the middle passage: lion-headed beings, and they were disgusting mage monsters. However, Wu Shaochen's magic defense was not much different from his physical defense now, and these lion-headed beings were not much stronger than the other two routes. Wu Shaochen easily pushed through, occasionally drinking a potion, and if things got tough, he would let Yin Tailang take the hits. He reached the end without any major risks. He was quite lucky on this path and obtained two bronze and one iron equipment.

Looking at the lion-headed leader at the end, its strength was similar to the Silver War God's illusion in the Domain of the War God. There were no skills that required special attention, so Wu Shaochen directly charged forward. In a one-on-one situation, mages did not have an advantage, as they relied heavily on skills. Even if the fireball spell had a short cooldown of three seconds, it was enough time for Wu Shaochen to recover four to five hundred health.

In the end, the lion-headed leader couldn't hold on for three minutes and was defeated. It dropped a silver, two bronze, and one iron equipment, all of which were mage and priest equipment.

After killing the lion-headed beings, Wu Shaochen thought it was over and waited for the system prompt. However, instead of the system prompt, the ground started shaking.

"What's going on! Could it be collapsing?" Wu Shaochen quickly leaned against the wall to prevent himself from falling.

Soon, the ground stopped shaking, but in front of Wu Shaochen, the passage where he had killed the lion-headed leader had completely collapsed. A huge fissure appeared in the ground, and a giant monster crawled out of it. The monster had wings on its back, horns on its head, a head like a bull, a tiger's body, and a lion's tail. This appearance stunned Wu Shaochen.