"Damned it! This shield is practically impenetrable!"
"My mana's already depleted, but his shield doesn't even have a single crack. This defies all logic!"
"Don't stop! Keep attacking! Even if we use up all our potions, we have to break his turtle shell!"
Shadow Claw truly had impressive cohesion. Nearly twenty thousand troops attacked Kalis in unison, their skill lights converging into an overwhelming sea of light that shook the earth.
But limited by the fact that most players were still in the first job advancement phase, their attack range and methods were restricted. In reality, only a few hundred could actually hit Kalis.
Nearly 180,000 damage per second steadily chipped away at the Crystal Barricade's shield value. But just as the shield was about to break, Kalis would lift his hand and cast Meteor Shower, instantly clearing the dense crowd around him.
With the damage pressure drastically reduced, he would casually refresh his shield, and the earth-yellow barrier would fill up again as if it had never been attacked.
"That's sickening! How the hell did he stack his stats? Is he a cheater?"
"Unleash all your ultimate skills! Even if he has thick HP and plenty of mana, his equipment's durability will eventually run out!"
"Exactly! Grind down his equipment durability! I refuse to believe he can stay unscathed!"
Shadow Claw's senior executives shouted frantically in the guild channel, their voices filled with humiliation and reluctance. Twenty thousand troops besieging one man and failing to make progress, this was already the greatest shame in the guild's history.
Another vice guild master, Shadow Claw Falric, had wanted to propose leaving some men to pin down the Wraith General, preventing the BOSS from regaining HP while out of combat.
But after witnessing how much more troublesome Kalis was than the BOSS, with a seemingly endless shield, he ultimately didn't dare speak up.
"Hahaha! Is that all you've got?" Kalis shouted in a mocking tone while using Lightning Bolt to snip lives with precision. "Attack harder! Did you save all your strength for picking on the weak?"
"Your spells feel like a light breeze. Try harder! Let me feel the power of a top guild on Solaria Continent!"
"What's wrong? Ran out of steam? Do you need me to give you time to return to the city, restock on potions, and come back?"
His taunts were sharp and piercing. Shadow Claw's players gritted their teeth in hatred, eager to tear his mouth apart, but they could never break through that seemingly fragile yet truly impenetrable earth-yellow shield.
"Damn it!" Vaelen watched as guild members fell like wheat under a harvester, finally unable to contain his anxiety. He had personally experienced Kalis's terrifying damage and knew just how absurdly powerful his output was.
Even though the guild had stockpiled massive amounts of Resurrection Scrolls, and players out of combat could instantly revive teammates, when too many people died in one area, "model congestion" would occur.
Corpses piled up like mountains, making it impossible to get close enough to use scrolls. They could only watch as their teammates' resurrection countdowns ended, forcing them to be teleported back to the main city.
As a result, under Kalis's wave after wave of AOE attacks, Shadow Claw's numbers gradually dwindled. Over 1,200 players had been forced to return to the city, their combat strength reduced by more than half.
"Guild Master, this isn't working!" Falric remained calm, analyzing solemnly. "His shield is endless. We've run out of shield-breaking scrolls—we can't kill him at all!"
Vaelen had long since lost his cool. He grabbed his staff and joined the attack, snorting coldly when he heard Falric's words: "Buy more scrolls if we're out! I refuse to believe twenty thousand people can't take down one solo player! If all else fails, hire mercenaries! I'll pay 200,000 gold coins for anyone who can ignore shields! My treat!"
Zevran fell silent, seemingly considering the feasibility. He opened his friend list, where there was a player named Thorne with an unusually high level. But after hesitating for a long time, he never sent a message.
"It's too far," Falric shook his head. "It would take at least two hours to get here from the main city. That's manageable for delivering supplies, but with Kalis's killing efficiency, we'll probably be completely wiped out by then."
"Even if we die, we'll take him down with us!" Vaelen roared as he began chanting his ultimate skill, Inferno Blast. A massive black fireball slammed into Kalis's shield, dealing -22,845 damage.
Falric ignored the irrational Vaelen and turned to persuade Zevran: "Guild Master, cut our losses. Let's retreat."
"No! We can't retreat! I must kill him!" Vaelen shouted furiously when he heard the proposal to withdraw.
At that moment, Kalis's Star Wind finished its cooldown. The blue stellar storm formed once again, instantly killing all players within 100 meters—Vaelen included, who dissolved into a streak of white light.
Kalis's mocking voice still echoed in the crater: "Are you guys even trying? Did you skip breakfast? Should I wait here while you log off to eat and come back?"
After several rounds of large-area skills, the number of Shadow Claw members killed by Kalis exceeded eight thousand. Players were piling on top of each other, and many fallen members couldn't be revived due to corpse congestion, forced to return to the main city by the system. Even Kalis found it somewhat absurd.
"That's enough!"
Zevran, who had been silent for a long time, finally spoke. His face was ashen, and his eyes were filled with barely contained anger. He stared fiercely at the arrogant Kalis and said coldly: "Today, you have superior equipment and strength. I admit defeat! The next time we meet, I will avenge this humiliation and drive you out of this game! Brothers, retreat!"
Before he finished speaking, he crushed a Return Scroll, and his figure disappeared from the crater in an instant.
"Guild Master!"
"Guild Master Zevran!"
Shadow Claw's members stared in stunned disbelief. They had never imagined that Zevran, their guild leader, would retreat so decisively. They still had plenty of Resurrection Scrolls and were willing to fight on together. But the leader's departure instantly shattered everyone's morale.
"Guild Master, we still have the strength to fight! Why retreat?" Vaelen asked anxiously in a private message.
Zevran sighed and replied: "We can't beat him. I admit defeat this time. A true man knows when to bend and when to stand tall. We have financial backing, we'll get our revenge sooner or later."
"But..." Vaelen's heart bled. "We spent 5 million gold coins hiring the Ironwake Guild to chip away 40% of the BOSS's HP. We paid the price of tens of thousands of deaths and finally got the Wraith General down to 30% HP... Are we just going to give up like this?"
"We have no other choice," Zevran's tone was calm. "The BOSS still has a lot of HP. We can't take it down in a short time. With Kalis interfering, we'll be completely wiped out sooner or later. Instead of continuing to throw our lives away, we should cut our losses and return to the city to level up first. We can find another BOSS, but we can't afford to lose our brothers' levels and equipment for nothing."
In truth, he felt more distressed than anyone else about this battle. The accumulated experience loss, equipment durability damage, and potion consumption were already astronomical. But as guild master, he had to make the most rational choice.
Guild Master... I...
Vaelen was filled with regret, secretly wishing he had never provoked Kalis in the starting village.
But then he thought, no matter how wrong he had been back then, he had never been this ruthless. One man had ruined the efforts of twenty to thirty thousand people! Besides, Kalis had already killed him five or six times. He should have already gotten his revenge.
To still refuse to let him go after all this, such a man was far too vicious!
"Kalis! I will avenge this!" Vaelen roared inwardly, then crushed a Return Scroll and left Godfall Basin.
With the guild master and vice guild master retreating one after another, the remaining members, though unwilling, had lost their morale. Continuing to fight would be futile.
Some players not in combat quietly crushed Return Scrolls and returned to Drakenspire City. Only a few irritable, hot-headed players continued to attack Kalis fearlessly.
Seeing that Shadow Claw's core combat strength had already withdrawn and he had achieved a complete victory, Kalis gradually lost interest in continuing the slaughter. He shouted loudly: "You can leave now."
As soon as he finished speaking, he stopped casting skills, giving the remaining players a chance to disengage from combat.