The moment the God of Wrath disappeared, a ripple of unrest spread around them.
Clearly, the Emperor hadn't gone far.
It knew very well that the main god Zhang Yue had summoned came with a duration limit.
So, what it had been waiting for all along… was precisely this moment, when the God of Wrath vanished.
Right now was the perfect time for it to strike.
But what the Emperor didn't know was that Zhang Yue had already predicted this move.
So just as it prepared to launch a sneak attack from the shadows, the instant it appeared, Zhang Yue had already locked onto its presence.
Whoosh!
At the very moment Zhang Yue completed his flash movement, a figure shot past the spot he had been standing just a second earlier, moving as fast as lightning.
The next instant, the Emperor, wearing a bamboo hat and a long cloak, holding its blade, appeared before Zhang Yue and Chen Zijin.
One had to admit, this guy's intelligence was indeed online.
At Zhang Yue's side, Chen Zijin gripped her twin blades tightly, eyes blazing as she glared at the Emperor, clearly ready to fight.
However, Zhang Yue had no intention of fighting.
He said to her, "Retreat."
Chen Zijin blinked in confusion, "Huh?"
"Retreat? We're not fighting?"
"Can't beat it. How would we fight it?", Zhang Yue said matter-of-factly.
Chen Zijin pouted, frustrated, "Fine… but don't you still have the God of Desire? Summon that and crush it!"
Zhang Yue sighed softly, "Do you really think it would just stand there and wait for the God of Desire to suppress it?"
"If it were you, what would you do?"
Chen Zijin thought about it, then said, "If it were me, I'd run the moment you summoned the God of Desire, and come back to fight after the summoning time runs out."
At that, Chen Zijin instantly understood, summoning the God of Desire wouldn't work on such a cunning opponent.
So she followed Zhang Yue's command, "Run!"
"But where do we run to?"
Without a second word, Zhang Yue immediately activated the World 46 BOSS Challenge.
Whoosh!
A white light barrier appeared in front of him.
Just then, the Emperor, holding its long blade, once again charged straight toward Zhang Yue.
Before it could get close, Zhang Yue dove headfirst into the barrier.
The Emperor slashed through empty air.
The next moment, when it tried to shift its target to Chen Zijin, it realized she had already followed Zhang Yue through the light barrier as well.
That barrier, one only accessible to players who had completed the World 46 quest, perfectly blocked the Emperor's path.
Standing before the barrier, the Emperor's eyes glowed crimson, radiating endless killing intent.
Until the light faded away completely.
["Ding~ Welcome to the World 46 BOSS Challenge Territory. Please defeat the World BOSS [Vampire King]!"]
As the system notification chimed, Zhang Yue and Chen Zijin found themselves inside a dim underground tomb.
Before them stood a towering figure, a super vampire draped in a crimson cloak, clearly of noble status.
Data showed: Vampire King, Level 250, God-Class BOSS.
Running away while taking down a world boss at the same time, talk about efficiency.
Even Chen Zijin couldn't help but exclaim, "Zhang Yue, you're seriously something else!"
"Dont flatter me," Zhang Yue replied casually.
While talking, he summoned his Apex Predator.
A mere god-class boss wasn't worth Zhang Yue's personal effort, nor did it require him to summon all his pets.
One Apex Predator was enough.
After all, it was a Mythical-class pet.
Having been inactive for so long it was almost forgotten, the Apex Predator was finally released again, charging toward the Vampire King like an unrestrained beast, lightning-fast.
The Vampire King roared furiously, baring its fangs, and lunged to meet it head-on.
Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash!
Their battle was fierce and wild.
While dodging the Vampire King's strikes with extreme agility, the Apex Predator unleashed a torrential assault in return.
In the end, the Apex Predator prevailed.
With a flurry of stabs, it literally skewered the Vampire King to death.
Zhang Yue had to admit, his five pets were seriously strong.
The king-class bosses were slightly lacking, but each could easily solo a celestial-class BOSS.
With the Vampire King taken down effortlessly by the Apex Predator, Zhang Yue and Chen Zijin both completed the ultimate challenge of World 46.
After that, they passed through the barrier and arrived in World 47, The Demon Palace.
Within the national territory of World 47, inside the safe zone known as the Demon Hall, Chen Zijin turned to Zhang Yue and asked, "So what's next?"
"Even if we can't beat the Emperor, we can't just keep running forever, right?"
"Yeah," Zhang Yue nodded thoughtfully, "The reason we can't beat the Emperor comes down to stat suppression."
"Its stats far surpass mine right now. In the Death Territory, it looks like we're the same level, but in reality, the Emperor's true strength is at least thirty levels above what it shows."
Chen Zijin's eyes widened, "So you're saying our real opponent is actually a level 280 mega-boss."
The Emperor-class buff was simply too strong, making the Emperor's actual power far beyond what its level suggested.
And facing such a highly intelligent Emperor-class BOSS, using the Supreme Death Servants for suppression wouldn't work, it would just run away.
Zhang Yue understood one thing clearly: in this fight, he couldn't rely on anyone else. It had to be him.
He didn't need level advantage.
As long as his raw strength could match or surpass a same-level Emperor-class BOSS, he wouldn't have to fear the Ten Great Beasts anymore.
And the only way to defeat the Emperor, was to strengthen himself as fast as possible.
Just like how Luo Chen had soloed a Emperor-class BOSS larva back in World 28, his advantage came from the Desire God Set's star-level suppression.
Even though Zhang Yue's current 47-Star Transcendent Set already made his power far exceed that of an average level 240+ professional, Zhang Yue's strength was roughly equivalent to level 280.
That was more than enough against ordinary enemies, but still not enough against a Emperor-class BOSS.
He needed to further push his combat power to the absolute limit on top of his current level base.
Only when his stats no longer lagged behind the Emperor's could he possibly win.
"I get it," Chen Zijin said, "But how do we quickly get stronger?"
Zhang Yue thought for a moment.
Then he opened WeChat and messaged Ouyang Linger:
[Help me find a place like the Eternal Empire Palace in World 42, somewhere I can quickly increase my strength in a short time.]
Not long after, Ouyang Linger replied:
["Seriously, President? You just came out of World 42! You gained so much power last time, still not enough?"]
["Would you ever complain about having too much money?"]
That one line from Zhang Yue struck straight into her soul.
["Fine… I'll look into it. Give me a sec!"]