Chapter 90: Farming the Boss

"Wings of the Colossus!" Ziyue shouted fiercely.

Her giant eagle let out a long cry and spread its wings, transforming into a massive pillar of wind that collided head-on with the hundreds of attacks surging up from below. Thunderous booms echoed as the wind pillar and the barrage of attacks clashed, exploding in midair again and again. The wind pillar was sliced to pieces and burst apart with a roar.

The enormous body of the giant eagle became the most obvious target. In an instant, it was struck by over a hundred attacks, blood splattering as hundreds of points of life were lost in a single moment.

"Hold tight, everyone," Ziyue shouted. The giant eagle gave another long cry, its wings flaring to deflect the incoming attacks, then dove toward the ground like a bolt of lightning. "Flash of Lightning!" Ziyue called, and the eagle transformed into an arrow, streaking toward the Minotaur Lord.

"Jump down!" Ziyue ordered, leaping from her summoned beast. The others followed suit.

But they landed right beside a level 40 elite beast, the Sacred Fire Demon Wolf.

The Sacred Fire Demon Wolf had already opened its bloody maw, waiting for its prey to deliver itself. As everyone landed next to it, the wolf let out a howl and lunged. Just as it thought it had succeeded, a purple scorpion burst from the earth, its massive pincers flipping the wolf over. "Go deal with the Minotaur Lord. I'll catch up," someone said, whipping the purple scorpion.

The scorpion let out a murky roar. Its powerful tail sprayed fierce flames, which turned into a blazing fire dragon in midair and swept madly toward the Sacred Fire Demon Wolf.

The Demon Wolf unleashed its own massive flames. The two torrents collided, forcing both beasts to retreat, leaving deep footprints in the ground.

Meanwhile, a long cry sounded in the sky. A massive figure swooped down, crashing onto the Minotaur Lord's back.

The giant eagle concentrated all its strength, its claws glowing white as it aimed for the vital spot at the back of the Minotaur Lord's head, intent on a fatal strike.

In the blink of an eye, the eagle's glowing claws plunged heavily into the Lord's neck. Meanwhile, I rushed beneath the Minotaur Lord, targeting its vulnerable underbelly.

Energy burst, shattering blows, and fierce assaults struck together. Then, aiming for the wounded spot, I unleashed a blast cannon. With a thunderous roar, the Minotaur Lord howled in agony, flung its head, and its massive body was sent flying.

The impact left a huge crater where it landed, but as the Minotaur Lord was hurled away, a swarm of lesser monsters surged forward, engulfing me in an instant.

Suddenly, a massive bolt of lightning exploded, consuming them all. I managed to stand up again—luckily, the Storm of Lightning came just in time to save me from disaster.

On the other side, Huanyue's invisible sword danced, cutting down the monsters that charged. She strode over their corpses, her armor stained red with their blood, which dripped steadily.

Meanwhile, the Minotaur Lord regrouped, its massive form turning. Its icy green eyes were filled with venomous hatred and murderous intent, fixed upon us.

With a deafening roar, it charged, "Little bull, become the feast of the grandfather's table!" Ten Thousand Volts shouted, raising his long staff. The air crackled overhead, and one lightning bolt after another crashed down.

Each bolt struck, turning monsters into charred husks, their screams echoing. Many bolts hit the Minotaur Lord, but it showed no fear, swinging its massive axe and roaring thunderously as it attacked.

"O raging hurricane in the sky, descend upon this land and tear all asunder—Death Gale!" Wind Dancer cried, her staff pointed at the charging Minotaur Lord. A piercing wind shrieked.

The Minotaur Lord failed to dodge, perhaps relying on its thick skin to withstand our attacks, but it hadn't expected to plunge into this terrifying spell. The Death Gale unleashed its full power—a barrage of wind pressure battered the Lord, wind blades slashed its flesh, blood splattered as its hide was ripped apart, and it was swept into the colossal pillar of wind, its skin and muscle torn relentlessly.

But it wasn't over. "Great God of Thunder, use your furious roar to destroy all life—Thunder God's Spear!" Ten Thousand Volts shouted again. A five-meter-long spear shot out like lightning, piercing the Minotaur Lord's massive head from crown to jaw, leaving a gaping bloody hole from which white brain matter spurted.

The giant body collapsed. Though the Minotaur Lord yielded considerable experience, it was still far from enough to level up. Ziyue arrived just then, seeing that we had finished off the Minotaur Lord. In truth, it wasn't entirely our doing—the Lord had already been reduced to a sliver of health by other players, allowing us to finish it off so easily. Still, the spoils were ours.

Ten Thousand Volts said, "Sister Ziyue, quick, let's find the second boss."

Ziyue replied, "Understood." With that, we all mounted the giant eagle again, roaming the battlefield in search of the next boss.

Soon, we found our target: a colossal beastman, seven to eight meters tall, covered in dense black fur, clad in simple animal skins, wielding two giant axes, its head resembling a rhinoceros. Around it, a dozen warriors attacked furiously. Not far off, another twenty or thirty stood, including mages and archers, all hurling ice spikes, wind blades, lightning, fireballs, and earth spikes at the beastman.

Rhino General, level 35 boss. Description: Vanguard captain of the Rhino Beastmen. Its powerful arms wield deadly axes, cutting down all enemies before it. Protected by hard skin, it is very difficult to kill.

Just as we arrived and prepared to act, the Rhino General let out a dying roar and collapsed, followed by cheers from the surrounding players and our own silent disappointment.

"Looks like we were too late," Xinyue said with a smile.

"So it seems. Let's go find the next one," Ziyue replied, patting her giant eagle summoning beast. The eagle let out a long cry and flew off.

We quickly found our next target: Skeleton King, level 40 boss. Description: Once a corpse in the mass grave of the Death Forest, now a killing machine infused with evil dark magic.

Upon spotting the target, we jumped down. Huanyue took point, while Xinyue threw four bottles at the boss. The boss's health dropped rapidly, white smoke rising with a corrosive sound. Enraged, the boss charged at us, but Xinyue uncorked a gourd, pouring a heap of mud-like substance onto the ground. The boss stepped onto this muddy path, its movement reduced to a snail's crawl. We unleashed a barrage of skills, and soon the Skeleton King was nothing more than scattered remains, blown away by the wind.

Curious, I asked, "Xinyue, what did you throw just now?"

Xinyue laughed, "Those were special potions I concocted—only we apothecaries can make them. Want to try?"

I replied, "No thanks."

The Skeleton King didn't grant much experience, but it did drop three pieces of purple gear, which was some consolation. Thinking back, the previous bosses hadn't even given a single red item, only blue skies and white clouds. Later, we shamelessly slew a level 38 Bloodthirsty Silver Wolf King at the west gate in front of most Empire players, picked up the loot, and left. Those guys cursed us so furiously that some were muted by the system for foul language.

Soon, another target appeared: the level 35 boss, Four-Armed Giant Ape. Over a dozen players had already fallen to it. After it tore another warrior to pieces, the purple scorpion appeared again, its massive tail stinger piercing the boss's chest and abdomen. Though it struck true, it wasn't fatal. But then powerful scorpion venom was injected, and the once formidable boss was soon as poisoned as a dead dog, helpless before us.

One after another, this path was pure madness. No one knew how much gear or experience we reaped, nor how many bosses we buried. I leveled up twice, now at level 42, my pockets full of money and equipment—never had boss-hunting been so exhilarating.

But just as we brought down another boss, the ground suddenly began to shake, and I felt a foreboding chill.