“Those humans...”
Bladefang ran through the dense forest, gasping for breath with staggering footsteps.
Wounds of varying sizes covered its body, and a broken arrow was still lodged in its right arm, dripping blood down its limb with every step.
“They're absolute devils.”
Bladefang recalled what had just happened.
In the beginning, everything had gone smoothly. It took out enemies with a single punch each, and those humans clad in ornate equipment couldn't even get close.
For a moment, it had even looked down on them, thinking they were nothing special.
Then things changed.
Those humans figured out a pattern.
The Knights stopped rushing forward to throw away their lives. Instead, they raised their shields, stacking layer upon layer in front to tightly guard the Mages and Rangers behind them.
Those ranged classes hiding behind the shield wall then began endlessly unleashing their skills.
Though it was a Gold Rank Class Holder, it didn't dare take so many magical skills head-on, not to mention that some Silver Rank spells were mixed in.
What made Bladefang's skin crawl even more was that the surrounding humans kept growing in number.
At first, there were only about a hundred. As the fight went on, it turned into two hundred, then three hundred...
The newcomers clearly had much worse gear and lower levels than the first batch, but their eyes—
Just thinking about it now sent a shiver down Bladefang's spine.
Those were not the eyes of warriors.
There was no fear, no hostility, no killer intent.
What was it, then?
Curiosity.
Excitement.
A desire for drama.
A playful, chaotic amusement, like spectators enjoying a spectacle...
Like a crowd standing around an arena watching a lion fight. And it was that lion trapped right in the middle.
On top of that, the corpses of those humans vanished into thin air after death—every time a white light flashed, Bladefang's heart sank a little deeper.
Ultimately, it chose to break through the encirclement.
Its Gold Rank strength was real; if it wanted to leave, those Bronze and Silver Rank humans couldn't stop it at all.
But those humans were infuriatingly persistent. Seeing it try to run, a crowd chased after it, firing stray arrows and flinging skills frantically, pursuing and bashing it for nearly five kilometers!
They had forcefully beaten it into a severely wounded state.
Although it eventually shook them off, the seven elite kobolds it had brought along were all wiped out.
Thinking of this, Bladefang was consumed with regret.
It should have fled immediately the very first time it encountered those strange humans.
Staggering to a halt, it leaned against a thick tree trunk, clenched its claws, and gritted its teeth as it yanked hard, enduring excruciating pain.
Pfft—
The broken arrow came out along with shredded flesh, and blood instantly gushed out.
“...I must get back and tell Lord Shaman everything that happened here.”
Bladefang gritted its teeth, its face contorting in pain. Then, it remembered the three ogres who had left the group without permission.
“And those three ogres! A bunch of bastards! Just as Lord Shaman said, they're completely unreliable!”
Suppressing the surge of violent anger in its heart, Bladefang was just about to get up and keep moving when a noisy commotion suddenly erupted from the forest behind it!
“Quick, quick, quick! The BOSS ran over here! Position locked!”
“My God, as expected of a Gold Rank BOSS, it can really run! It dragged us through five whole kilometers—my stamina bar and mana bar are completely drained!”
“Look! It's covered in wounds! Its HP bar is at the bottom, low health! It's definitely super weak!”
“Surround it, everyone! Trap it tight this time—don't let it escape again!”
A dense clamor of human voices approached from far to near, ringing clearly in its ears.
Bladefang froze, its pupils shrinking in shock as cold sweat instantly broke out across its back.
Impossible!
It had fled at full speed for five full kilometers, stealthily moving through the shadows the entire way and avoiding all open terrain!
How on earth did these humans track it down so precisely?!
Bladefang had no idea that players came with real-time BOSS coordinate markers. No matter where it fled on earth, its location was fully visible, leaving it with nowhere to hide.
Before Bladefang could snap out of its shock, a dense crowd of players swarmed around it once more.
Hundreds of pairs of eyes locked onto it in unison, every single pair shining with eager anticipation like they were eyeing a grand feast, bloodthirsty and ecstatic.
From behind the crowd, Nan Cheng stepped forward calmly, his expression steady as he issued orders in a low voice:
“Everyone, don't rush into melee recklessly! Keep kiting and wearing it down!”
“Knights, form an outer ring to block its pathing and lock down its movement! Mages and Rangers, maintain ranged AOE to chip away at its HP!”
The players shouted in agreement and acted immediately.
After the previous round of combat, everyone had figured out this Gold Rank BOSS's terrifying melee burst power.
Fighting it head-on was suicide. Although unlimited resurrection meant they weren't afraid of dying, running all the way back consumed too much stamina. Kiting, consuming its energy, and safely chipping away its HP was the most efficient strategy!
Dozens of heavily armored Knights bearing shields immediately spread out, raising their shields to form an airtight circular encirclement, firmly blocking all of Bladefang's escape routes.
In the next second, a sky full of flowing spell light and air-cleaving arrows rained down together!
Fire, ice spikes, wind blades, and holy light—skills of every color filled the forest, creating an explosive visual show.
“Get away from me!!”
Cornered into absolute desperation, Bladefang flew into a complete rage. Its remaining magic power erupted in an instant, and its figure flashed as it suddenly lunged forward.
The terrifying speed of a Gold Rank was fully displayed. It instantly closed the distance in front of a Knight player, swinging a heavy fist wrapped in fierce wind!
Bang!
The Knight player was blasted back several meters by the single punch, heavily wounded the moment he hit the ground with most of his HP gone. However, a green light soon shone from among the Mages, instantly healing most of his injuries.
Seeing this, the surrounding players immediately filled the gap, lining up shield to shield in a tight formation, greeting Bladefang with swords and shield rims.
Their attacks dealt negligible damage to Bladefang, but they clung tenaciously to its feet, giving it no opportunity to break out or counterattack.
Bladefang panted heavily, its eyes overflowing with humiliation and rage.
It saw right through the players' dirty tactics—they weren't trying to fight head-on, but simply wearing down its stamina and HP to drain the life out of it!
Yet Bladefang was utterly powerless.
Two hours of intense high-strength battle, fleeing at its absolute limit, combined with heavy wounds across its body—less than thirty percent of its stamina remained, and its peak combat strength was completely gone.
A proud Gold Rank powerhouse, reduced to this, toyed with and steadily worn down by a crowd of low-tier Bronze and Silver Rank ants!
“Utterly despicable!!”
Bladefang roared through gritted teeth, its heart filled with unwilling rage.
It had never imagined it would perish in a place like this, dying at the hands of a mob of nameless ants!
In the moment its focus wavered from rage, a new barrage of ranged skills slammed down once more.
High-level spells from several Silver Rank Mages struck its legs with precision!
BOOM!!
As the spells exploded, agonizing pain swept through its body. Bladefang's legs gave out, and it stumbled to its knees, heavily wounded and completely immobilized!
Seeing the BOSS's condition, the watching players instantly erupted!
“It's super low! It's going down!”
“Frontline make way! Let me grab the last hit for the first kill!”
“Don't steal it! That kill is mine!”
Several Knight players couldn't hold back, raising their swords as they rushed forward to finish it off.
Driven into a corner, a frantic, suicidal resolve surged in Bladefang's eyes.
It would rather die than suffer defeat, and it certainly wouldn't allow itself to be spectated and mocked by these bizarre humans after death!
“Even if I die, I will never let you have your way!!”
An obscure, ancient incantation burst from between its teeth, and the energy surrounding its body immediately grew chaotic.
“What is this BOSS doing?”
“Who cares what it's doing! It definitely can't be anything good! Quick, interrupt its casting!”
Although the players didn't understand what was happening, the instinctive reaction of “interrupt the BOSS's cast”—engraved into their very DNA—was activated in an instant.
All kinds of skills rained down on Bladefang once again.
“Too late—hahaha!!!” Bladefang let out an unhinged laugh. “Die with me!!”
The energy inside its body had expanded to a critical point, dark web-like cracks even beginning to surface on its skin. In the next second—
A cold flash glinted quietly from the shadows.
Silent and soundless.
Swift like a stroke of moonlight sweeping across water.
Splat—
Bladefang's laughter cut off abruptly.
It felt the world in front of it spinning.
Heaven and earth inverted, trees and people shifted position, and then it saw a headless torso kneeling not far away, dark crimson blood gushing from its neck—
Is that... my body?
In its final moment, Bladefang's consciousness froze into a giant question mark.
Then, it went completely dark.
A headless kobold body collapsed heavily to the ground.
At the same time, a crisp chime announcing a quest progress update echoed in the ears of every present player.
Nan Cheng let out a sigh of relief, wiping nonexistent cold sweat from his forehead.
If the BOSS had actually self-destructed, this whole trip would have been for nothing—they wouldn't have earned a single point of EXP.
“Hao Bai?” Nan Cheng raised an eyebrow as he looked toward the figure slowly stepping out from the shadows. “You came too?”
The dagger in Hao Bai's hand was still dripping blood. With an unfazed expression, he flicked the blood off the blade, sheathed the weapon, and gave a faint, “Yeah.”
“Good thing you showed up,” Nan Cheng said sincerely. “Otherwise, if this BOSS actually self-destructed, all our hours of work would have gone down the drain.”
Hao Bai nodded slightly without saying much, his gaze sweeping over the body on the ground that was gradually fading away.
The surrounding players had already erupted into a frenzy:
“Holy crap! That hit was so cool!”
“One-strike decapitation! Clean and crisp!”
“Boss Hao Bai is insane!”
Nan Cheng looked at Hao Bai, who remained unbothered amidst the surrounding crowd, and smiled. Then he turned his head to look in another direction.
“I wonder how things are going on Bruce's side.”
Rate on N.U.
