"-344!"
"Instant kill!"
The moment the damage number appeared, Jiang Bai collapsed to the ground.
"Quick, grab the boss!"
As Jiang Bai fell, Xiao Yao Qing Feng immediately joined the battle.
Though the guy had a terrible personality, his combat instincts as a professional gamer were undeniable—he took over the boss aggro at the perfect moment.
Xiao Yao Qing Feng, a full-health warrior with 660 HP, took advantage of the Snow Wolf Lord's skill cooldown. A normal attack from the boss could only deal around 200 damage.
With Xiao Yao Mu Mu's healing raining down behind him and some big health potions in hand, Xiao Yao Qing Feng was able to tank the Snow Wolf Lord for the time being.
"Mu Mu, heal me like crazy. Don't worry about Xiao Hei. If I can last two more minutes, our reinforcements should arrive!"
Since they weren't planning on taking down the Snow Wolf Lord head-on, Xiao Yao Qing Feng opted for a kiting strategy. Though warriors had low agility and weren't ideal for kiting, he made it work.
He kept attacking while retreating, timing his dodges between the boss's attacks, and even used the untargeted Charge skill to reposition.
With these slick maneuvers, surviving for two minutes wasn't impossible.
Meanwhile, Xiao Yao Xiao Hei held back his damage output to avoid stealing aggro, only using basic attacks for about 10 damage each.
Xiao Yao Qing Feng was in high spirits. He hadn't expected to stumble upon a rare level 8 boss while grinding—what luck!
Not a single guild in the game could probably take this thing down, and here he was, reaping all the benefits!
"Hahaha…"
Grinning from ear to ear, he ran and kited the boss, elated beyond words.
But then—suddenly and silently—
A black iron arrow tore through the air and pierced through Xiao Yao Mu Mu's head.
"-393!"
"-40!"
In one shot, the full-health priest Xiao Yao Mu Mu was instantly killed!
"What!?"
As Xiao Yao Mu Mu fell, Xiao Yao Qing Feng stood dumbfounded, and Xiao Yao Xiao Hei froze like a statue.
"What the hell just happened!?"
When they saw the supposedly-dead Jiang Bai suddenly reappear behind Mu Mu's corpse, Xiao Yao Qing Feng's eyes nearly popped out of his skull.
"Holy sh*t!?"
"What kind of ghost story is this?!"
In an instant, Xiao Yao Qing Feng's face twisted in shock and confusion. He had no idea what just happened.
"You… weren't you dead?!"
"Heh."
Jiang Bai's chilling smile felt like an icy blade stabbing into their bones.
"Xiao Yao Qing Feng, I will make you regret everything you did today!"
Before Jiang Bai could even make a move, the Snow Wolf Lord—now behind Xiao Yao Qing Feng—launched a Frost Claw Strike and dealt nearly 500 damage, instantly killing him.
At the same time, Jiang Bai drew his bow toward Xiao Yao Xiao Hei.
"No—wait! Don't kill me!"
Xiao Hei cried out and scrambled to enter stealth.
But before he could fully disappear, an arrow—like a death god's spear—slammed into him, ripping him out of stealth and pinning him to a tree.
"-722" floated above his head.
"Critical hit!"
"Instant kill!"
After finishing off Xiao Hei, Jiang Bai wasted no time. While the boss was momentarily targetless due to Qing Feng's death, Jiang Bai delivered a basic attack followed by an instant-cast Multishot, finishing off the weakened Snow Wolf Lord.
As silence returned to the forest, Jiang Bai looked at the corpses of the three Xiao Yao players and the glowing loot dropped by the boss.
He suddenly felt completely refreshed and spat fiercely on Qing Feng's body.
"Resurrection truly is a divine skill!"
Jiang Bai had almost forgotten that his title, Ancient Will, had a resurrection ability that let him revive on the spot with 80% of his stats restored. The cooldown was 24 hours.
"This skill is practically cheating."
…
Beginner Village Resurrection Point
The three Xiao Yao players stood at the spawn point, their faces dark as coal.
"Can someone explain to me why he's alive again?"
"MLGB, that bastard has to be hacking, right?"
"This game can't be hacked," Xiao Yao Mu Mu whispered. "My guess is he has some resurrection item or scroll. Otherwise, there's no other explanation."
Xiao Yao Qing Feng was silent for a moment, then turned to Xiao Hei.
"Xiao Hei, call back the brothers heading to the Misty Forest. We're dead—if they go, they're just feeding him kills!"
Just as he finished speaking, a system-wide announcement suddenly echoed across the server.
"Player 'EmptyCityOldDream' is the first to kill the rare mutated boss Demonic Snow Wolf Lord. Reward: 100 reputation, 5 gold coins, and a mysterious prize."
The world chat exploded.
"Holy sh*t!!!"
"??? Is this game still playable for the rest of us?"
"A rare mutated boss?! My god, this guy is breaking the game…"
…
Back in the respawn area, the three Xiao Yao players were stunned speechless.
"CTM!!!"
Xiao Yao Qing Feng stomped furiously. Seeing his level drop back to 5 made him feel like coughing up blood.
After a long pause, he turned to Xiao Hei again.
"Xiao Hei, contact the people in Cloud City. We're teaming up to take this guy down. There's no way this grudge ends today. It's him or us!"
…
Meanwhile, Jiang Bai was amazed at his own haul.
The boss had dropped top-tier materials—perfect for crafting high-end gear and undoubtedly worth a fortune.
And more importantly, the Demonic Snow Wolf Lord had dropped a Boss Soul Crystal.
This was a crucial quest item.
"So I need to kill at least three lords?"
"Damn, this quest is actually kinda tough…"
Jiang Bai stashed away the Soul Crystal and moved on to the three equipment drops.
[Roaring Flame Staff] [Epic]Magic Attack: 76Intelligence: +8Spirit: +6[Roaring Flame] Passive: 5% chance on attack to summon a fireball that deals 100% magic damage.Equip Level: 10
"Purple-grade staff!!!"
Jiang Bai wanted to scream with joy. "This thing's worth a fortune!"
"The [Roaring Flame] effect is basically a 5% crit chance. This thing's crazy strong!"
[Snow Wolf Helmet] (Excellent)Defense: 18Constitution: +3Agility: +2Equip Level: 10
"Solid stats—I'll hang onto it and equip it later."
Currently, players under level 10 could only equip 6 gear pieces—no helmet slot. The 7th slot (helmet) unlocked at level 10.
[Pearl Ring] (Excellent)Magic Attack: 22Intelligence: +4Spirit: +2Equip Level: 10
"Another top-tier ring for casters!"
"These three items are worth a fortune!"
Jiang Bai couldn't even guess the total value of these drops. He had fully earned back the 17 gold he spent earlier crafting his Ancient Pendant.
Now, thanks to the system reward, he had 22 gold coins in his inventory.
The Plunder skill had also granted him +3 agility.
And the 100 reputation gained was huge—he now had 200 in total. At 1000, he could upgrade the Heart of Genesis once more.
His XP bar had jumped from 17% at level 8 to 68%, nearly half a level gained!
But the real highlight of the rewards—
Was the mysterious prize.
Heart pounding with excitement, Jiang Bai opened his inventory.