Chapter 96: Shrinking from Battle

They arrived at the entrance to the final Dungeon Boss stage of the Valley of the Deathly Echo, where a chimera-like monster lay sleeping atop a pile of rubble.

It was the size of a water buffalo, with four eight-meter-long gray-black fleshy wings on its back, sickle-like claws resembling a mantis’s hanging from its front, and a mouthpiece embedded with serrated teeth. At a glance, it was clear this monster was not to be trifled with.

Kamiyu used the appraisal function that came with her Beta Tester Title, softly uttering, “Appraise,” in a volume no one else could hear.

Rows of information appeared.

She read aloud: “The Dungeon Boss of the Valley of the Deathly Echo is a Level 20 flying-type fire-attribute monster. Its weakness is low resistance to electric-attribute damage.”

She thought to herself, Haha, perfect! I happen to have three methods of dealing electric-attribute damage.

“Big Shot, this is a Level 20 Boss-level Aberrant Beast. Can we really defeat it?” said the Axe-Wielding Warrior.

They had come to leech Experience, but they weren’t prepared to freeload entirely—they wanted to help fight.

“No problem, it’ll be a breeze,” Kamiyu said confidently.

She was confident that simply wielding the Staff of Cruelty would be enough to easily eliminate the Level 20 Aberrant Beast Boss.

“Jack, go,” Kamiyu commanded lightly.

Jack unsheathed the Dragon Slayer Blade from his back, straightened his posture, and strode forward with his head held high.

“Wait a moment,” a Warrior Player stopped Jack.

“What is it?” Kamiyu frowned at this person. She was pressed for time and couldn’t afford any delays; this group had already slowed down her Material Farming pace.

“I know the Beta Tester Boss only appeared a few days ago. Even if you’ve been grinding Experience day and night for the past few days, your Level couldn’t possibly be higher than this Level 20 Boss. If you go fight it like this, you’ll definitely die,” the Warrior Player advised.

He believed Jack couldn’t defeat this Level 20 Aberrant Beast Boss.

“Big Shot, if I may ask, what is your Level?” another Warrior inquired.

“Level 6,” Jack replied succinctly, a man of few words but decisive action.

“What? Only Level 6? Big Shot, you can’t defeat it!” Upon hearing this answer, the Axe-Wielding Player quickly stepped forward to stop him.

“That’s right, this is suicidal. Even with Legendary Tier Defense, a Level difference this large—14 Levels—means you can’t defeat a High Level Aberrant Beast, let alone a Boss-level one, which has attributes two to three times higher than Aberrant Beasts of the same Level,” a female Archer Player also stepped forward to say.

Unexpectedly, Jack nodded in agreement. “You’re right. I can’t defeat this monster.”

The five-member Small Squad voiced their doubts in unison:

“Huh?”

“What the heck?”

“If you can’t defeat it, then why are you going up there, Big Shot? Isn’t that suicidal?”

Jack shook his head, turned to look at Kamiyu, and said calmly, “I can’t defeat it, but I never said she couldn’t.”

“Huh?”

“Really?”

“Is that possible?”

Kamiyu offered no explanation, stepping forward to say, “Whether we can defeat it or not, we’ll only know by trying.”

“Huh?”

“What’s going on?”

“Big Shot, haven’t you fought in this Instance Dungeon before?” asked the Warrior who had first stopped Jack.

Kamiyu shook her head. “No, this is our first time coming to farm this Instance Dungeon.”

“Tsk.”

Each member of the five-person team wore different expressions—some were shocked, some worried, and some were already considering backing out.

“This… this will get people killed.”

“Exactly, this isn’t a joke.”

“I don’t want to fight. I’m not joking with my own life. I’m just a small player.”

Three people wanted to quit, while the remaining two hesitated.

Kamiyu’s eyes lit up. She hadn’t expected anyone to back out at the last moment, but their retreat didn’t affect her combat power—instead, it unlocked her seal.

Kamiyu thought for a moment, deciding not to appear too eager. She calmly said, “I won’t stop anyone who wants to leave. Those who stay are welcome, but I can’t guarantee everyone’s safety.”

As soon as she said this, the other two also began to reconsider, their hearts beating with thoughts of retreat.

She didn’t need to refresh their perception or make them think she was incredibly powerful. Now wasn’t the time for that. Now was the time to accumulate strength in secret—the fewer people who knew, the better.

The two discussed with the three players who had clearly decided to quit. After careful consideration, all five walked over to apologize to Kamiyu and Jack, explaining that they couldn’t handle such a high-level battle.

Kamiyu said, “It’s fine. You’ve already done well. Not many dare to face their fears.”

After the five had completely left, only Kamiyu and Jack remained in the BOSS stage, with no one to disturb their mob grinding.

Now Kamiyu could go all out. She directly took out her Signature Sniper, the NTW-40, found a broken rock to use as a sniper point, and set up her Sniper Rifle there.

She said, “Jack, hurry up. Let’s make the most of our time and speed through this.”

This time, it was Jack who worried about Kamiyu. He asked, “You’re standing so far away. My Thorns Reflection can’t protect you.”

“No problem. I have a ‘pseudo-invincible’ equipment setup. When stationary, I can maintain intermittent invincibility,” she said confidently.

Jack was still slightly concerned. He wasn’t afraid of getting hurt himself, but he dreaded seeing Kamiyu injured.

Seeing this big man hesitating, Kamiyu directly took out a Large Health Potion and waved it in front of him, indicating that no matter how she fought, she could heal HP.

Only then did Jack feel reassured.

He lowered his two-handed Dragon-Slaying Greatsword, bent down, and charged straight toward the Level 20 BOSS Aberrant Beast, the Chimera. He sank into a charging stance, then leaped high into the air, delivering a powerful overhead slash from the sky, determined to split the Aberrant Beast Chimera in two.

“Wow, that’s so cool! Full marks for style, full marks for posture,” Kamiyu exclaimed as she saw a Black Armor Warrior soaring through the air, a 2-meter-long greatsword descending from the sky as if to cleave the earth in half.

Clang! The blade struck the Chimera’s head armor, producing a collision sound.

Wah wah wah wah! The Chimera awoke, letting out a terrifying screech.

But unfortunately, Jack’s Level was too low, and he wasn’t a DPS class. Even with an Ancestral Legendary Tier two-handed sword, surpassing 14 Levels against a high-attribute BOSS-tier Aberrant Beast only reduced the Aberrant Beast’s Health by 1/100.

The two were now in a Form Team state, allowing them to see the monster’s Health together.

“Pull aggro!” Kamiyu shouted.

“Taunting Battle Roar!” Jack shouted.

A distinctive roar of a Barbarian Warrior shook the Chimera Boss. Its eyes immediately turned red, and it charged straight toward Jack.

“Wait until I finish shooting before you act,” Kamiyu said.

“Activate Skill: Headshot Strike;

Load: Magic Bullet (Triple Attributes), Thunderstorm Bullet, Frenzied Lightning Arrow,” she whispered.

Kamiyu did not act lightly; when she did, it was a lethal blow. The Headshot Strike stacked triple damage, and the Magic Bullet’s triple attribute version stacked another triple on top of that.

The Frenzied Lightning Arrow combined six arcs into one, making the total damage value 3 (from Headshot Strike) * 6 (number of arcs) * 3 (triple attributes).

Fifty-four times her own Attack Power—she refused to believe this move wouldn’t electrocute the Chimera Boss.

A burst of intense blue-white electric light appeared at the muzzle of her gun, shooting like an arrow toward the Chimera’s head.