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Join the ServerThe appraiser had underestimated the rewards for a first kill in Hell difficulty. Even for Hard difficulty, the first kill granted 25 attribute points and 6,000,000 experience. Hell difficulty would only be higher, never lower!
No purple gear dropped, only eight semi-purple items. We hastily distributed them without wasting time.
Hell difficulty. Finally, Hell difficulty!
Even now, we still knew nothing about the Hell difficulty boss’s attack methods, not even what the legendary final boss looked like!
[Do you wish to enter the instance — Spider Nest — Hell Difficulty?]
[√]
With my choice, a massive purple-red portal materialized before us — the entrance to Hell difficulty!
“Let’s go!”
I stepped through the portal first. After a brief dizziness, a few shocking blood-red characters leaped before my eyes!
[High Magic Alert!]
The magic here is dense. Adventurers, retreat immediately, or you will be corroded to death! Countdown: 5 minutes!
5 minutes?!
How could the final boss of Hell difficulty be defeated in 5 minutes?
Suddenly, an extremely urgent BGM sounded in my ears. This BGM was clearly our death countdown! Once the music stopped after 5 minutes, that would be our end.
We were teleported into a sealed underground space filled with hazy pale purple magical energy. With every breath, I caught a sweet, bloody scent.
As I breathed, a small pale purple progress bar slowly rose beneath my health bar. There was no doubt — when it filled, I would be dead!
Once on solid ground, Yingning and the others instantly grasped the urgency of the moment.
“Set up the formation! Pull the boss!”
I sprinted at full speed toward the oval crystal at the cave’s center, which glowed purple with faint gold. I carried it back to the entrance and, without hesitation, smashed it with my hammer!
As the crystal shattered, the central pillar collapsed, and the entire cavern began to shake violently.
The next second, fleshy vines sprouted one after another from the collapsed center, spreading throughout the cave and completely transforming the walls into a fleshy surface!
The fleshy walls and floor were covered in blood vessels. It felt as if we were standing inside a giant monster’s belly!
When the entire battlefield was fully covered in flesh, a massive eye-shaped flaming composite emerged from the central collapse point. The blood vessels on the cave walls tightly bound to this flaming composite.
Half a minute had already passed. We had less than 4 minutes and 30 seconds left.
But we had to gather necessary information. I raised the monster encyclopedia I had prepared.
[Name: ???]
[Attribute: ???]
[Level: 50 HP: 30,000,000]
“Holy crap! Look at the boss’s HP!” Huo Jinjin frantically cursed. “30 million! Five minutes… who the hell can beat that? Even five hours would be sketchy!”
After realizing it was 30 million, not 3 million, a dejected thought flooded my mind — was this instance not meant to be cleared at the current stage? The stat difference was too huge; even the best technique and operation would be meaningless!
“Who dares to awaken me!!!”
Flames surged. From the central collapse point of the pupil burst a thunderous roar that shook the entire space. I could vaguely hear a deep,暴躁, and furious male voice.
“No time to waste! We have to try anyway! Main tank, pull the boss!”
After this boss appeared, the central collapse point didn’t close like the previous ones. Instead, its fleshy body filled the pit, giving melee fighters a foothold to deal damage.
Yingning struck with a Thousand-Pound Slash, dealing 2,400 damage. This meant the boss had neither high lightning nor physical resistance… but this damage number was nowhere near enough to beat 30 million in 5 minutes!
30 million in 5 minutes meant our team needed at least 100,000 DPS to have a chance!
We were far off!
“Try every attribute attack! See if the boss has a weakness!”
We unleashed a round of fire, ice, lightning, and holy damage. Unfortunately, the damage was all similar, indicating the boss had balanced resistances.
“Itchy! You pests!”
The boss suddenly roared. The next second, the flaming ball grew intensely hot and restless!
“Watch out for the ultimate! Everyone jump high into the air!” I quickly ordered.
But this time, the boss’s flame ultimate swept both the sky and the ground, leaving no safe space!
Standing at the outer edge, I saw Yingning, who was closest to the boss, get touched by the flame ring — her health bar instantly emptied.
[Team member Warrior Ning Beibei has fallen!]
[Team member Assassin Qingyu has fallen!]
[Team member Mage Cannon Fairy has fallen!]
[Team member Mage Immovable Ming King Huo Jinjin has fallen!]
In the last moment before the flames reached my nose, I shouted, “Reset!”
The instance reset, and the countdown restarted.
A bad start. We were nearly wiped out on the first attempt.
A 360-degree, no-blind-spot instant kill?
Impossible! There are no unsolvable challenges in the game!
****
The boss’s health was nearly half, which calmed Jiangu’s heart.
[Jiangu (Dead): Green Giant, pay attention to skill rotation. Don’t waste DPS time. Green Dog, don’t just heal. Use equipment skills as soon as they cool down… we’re running out of time!]
Thanks to the vanguard’s exploration, Sword Sweeping the World had long known the true strategy for this boss — reduce the number of surviving team members as much as possible.
For every additional surviving member, the boss’s all attributes doubled!
However, since DPS and healing couldn’t both be maximized, even knowing that fewer members meant a weaker boss, the team still had to maintain at least one tank and one healer. Otherwise, with only one DPS, they couldn’t survive to kill the boss; with only one healer slowly grinding, they couldn’t finish in 5 minutes using just equipment skills.
Thus, in Jiangu’s view, 1 tank and 1 healer was the only viable strategy.
Actually, 1 mage and 1 healer would be better, but mages had less than 2,000 HP and would be one-shot by the boss’s AoE. Only the shield warrior Green Giant and the priest Green Dog, boosted by various buffs, had HP over 2,000, allowing them to survive the boss’s AoE instant-kill skill.
Seeing the boss’s HP steadily drop, with less than 3 and a half minutes remaining, but following the current DPS rate, they should be able to claim the kill before the 5-minute limit and take the first kill!
This boss had a fixed strategy — tank and healer must be paired. If one didn’t know its weakness and strategy in advance, they would definitely wipe at least once! And one wipe meant losing the first kill!
Three and a half minutes left… by this time, other teams probably hadn’t even figured out the boss’s tactics yet?
Hah… Sword Sweeping the World was sure to get this first kill!
****
“This boss is impossible for humans! Is the gap between level 50 and 40 really this huge? A no-blind-spot, instant full-party wipe? What stats do you need to beat this!” Huo Jinjin wailed.
“So this is the strength of a purple-grade or higher boss…” Cannon Fairy’s voice was filled with helplessness. “I thought the Spider Queen was already insane… but now it seems Hell difficulty is another world compared to Hard difficulty…”
Qingyu looked at me as if about to speak. Yingning also frowned, seeming to want to say something.
“You two noticed too?” I was secretly surprised. “I severely underestimated their observational skills. Look at the team battle log. The flame damage the boss dealt to Beibei was a terrifying 16,000, to Qingyu was 8,000, to Cannon Fairy 4,000, and to Huo Jinjin only 2,000…”
“Why is that?” Cannon Fairy exclaimed. “Even though mages have higher magic resistance, the difference shouldn’t be that huge… What’s going on?”
“Look at the death log,” Yingning said.
“Beibei… then Qingyu… then me… finally Ersha Jin…” Cannon Fairy murmured.
“I get it now! So the damage decreases as members die? And you’re the fool, Cannon Fairy!” Huo Jinjin pouted.
“No, it’s not exactly that… If I’m not mistaken…” I pondered. “I wasn’t sure earlier, but after checking the team log, I have a clue. Anyway, no time! Let’s test it!”
“All of you, break your own meridians and lie dead!”
“Breaking meridians is a suicide skill. The others were taken aback: ‘Suicide?! Now?! Aren’t we doing the instance?!’”
“Xiaoya… could it be!!!” Yingning suddenly stamped her foot in realization. “Very possible!”
“Let’s try it! No time to explain!” I charged toward the boss again. “I’m pulling. You suicide now!”
“By now, two and a half minutes had passed since we entered the Hell instance.”
“Is God Ya planning to solo again? This is Hell difficulty!” Cannon Fairy exclaimed in disbelief.
“‘Again?’ Immovable Ming King Huo Jinjin clasped his hands and broke his meridians, leaving his last words: ‘Why do you have to blow smoke? This flattery won’t work on God Ya! I’ve never heard of anyone soloing the Spider Nest!’”
[Team member Mage Immovable Ming King Huo Jinjin has fallen!]
“Tch, ignorant!”
[Team member Mage Cannon Fairy has fallen!]
[Team member Assassin Qingyu has fallen!]
[Team member Warrior Ning Beibei has fallen!]
“Now… let’s see…”
“Who dares to awaken me!!!”
[Name: ???]
[Attribute: ???]
[Level: 50 HP: 1,875,000]
“Just as I thought!”
“Huo Jinjin, never seen a solo?” I charged at the boss, a slight smile curling at the corner of my mouth.
[Immovable Ming King Huo Jinjin (Dead): Of course! How could there be such a freak? First, a soloer must be a healer for sustain, but healers have no damage, so no one can solo an instance! Makes sense, right? Even God Ya has to admit it!]
I smiled: “No way!”
****
The forum was still buzzing with the words “Gunfire Rose” and just how divine those few people who snatched the first kill from the big guilds were… However, another matter was also weighing on everyone’s minds.
The final ownership of Hell difficulty.
Hell difficulty was just an entry qualification… Hell difficulty itself — that was the true highlight that would separate the high-end combat power in the game and determine the direction of factions!
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