Show Me the Money

The Bluestripe Daggertooth Pike Conger was huge and mighty, but being a mere Gold boss, it naturally couldn't get them too serious.

Hit by Cheng Xiong's Violent Whip and Han Shen's Underworld Blood Blade, the beast violently trembled, its skin turned red as if on fire, and its health dropped by a large chunk.

Szzz… Amidst a sound akin to boiling water, a series of numbers rose up from the beast's head.

"What do you think? My Underworld Blood Blade can burn the opponent and deal DoT damage," Han Shen said to Cheng Xiong.

"Humph, my skills won't be any less!" Cheng Xiong snorted and pointed his staff.

Boom!

A bullet-type attack landed on the creature's head and blew out a bloody hole roughly a meter in diameter.

CRRRACK!

The Bluestripe Daggertooth Pike Conger roared towards the sky. A blinding thunderbolt over ten meters struck out from its body and went straight for Cheng Xiong.

In addition, a rain of sparks burst out from the creature and landed into the surrounding waters. The sounds of electric sizzling ensued as Han Shen yelped in shock and repeatedly moved back.

Boom! The thunderbolt smashed at the magic shield before Cheng Xiong. The shield was enshrouded within arcing lightning before it crumbled shortly after, revealing the Sacrificer out in the open.

Kah… Kah… Another bolt streaked towards Cheng Xiong. At the same time, with the boss as the center, countless crackling electric threads spread out several dozen meters in the sea, leaving a layer of dead fish in their wake.

"Long-range boss. It's not gonna be an easy opponent," Xiao Jian indifferently remarked.

Cheng Xiong was forced to repeatedly retreat several dozens of meters by the thunderbolt attack. Han Shen was even more miserable. Struck numb by the wave of electric threads, he nearly drowned.

"If only I could use the ballista," Fatty regretfully said.

The entire surrounding was water, so there was no place to set the Plenilune Ballista. Otherwise, it could easily kill this Gold boss in a few bolts.

"Heh, I don't believe I can't handle this shit!" With a loud battle cry, Cheng Xiong flew toward the beast's head.

Priests had a pitifully low number of offensive skills, but the hidden class Sacrificer branching from it was just the opposite.

Whoosh!

Just like in the fight with Invincible East, a massive sword light rapidly descended from the sky and pierced through the Bluestripe Daggertooth Pike Conger's body.

Blood quickly dyed red the surrounding waters. The boss roared and went rampant. Electric bolts struck out in rapid succession, covering the area in blinding yellow light.

Cheng Xiong dodged left and right, barely enduring through the series of attacks as the magic shields he summoned crumbled, one after another.

Everyone was high level with good gears, and their damage naturally was accordingly improved as well. After a few rounds, the boss had lost half of its health.

"Rawwghh!"

As the creature let out a thunderous roar, snake-shaped bolts appeared out of thin air and weaved into an electric net that hurled down onto Cheng Xiong's head.

The advantage of Float was that it allowed hovering, but in turn, the flying speed wasn't desirable. Just a little bit too slow, Cheng Xiong was caught by the net. His entire body spasmed and freely fell.

"Inky, go!"

Fatty quickly summoned Inky. He grabbed the pet's foot and flung it towards Cheng Xiong.

Inky was sent to Cheng Xiong's side in a dizzy. Right before he was about to fall into the boss's open jaw, it grabbed his leg and used Float.

Kah! A thunderbolt struck Inky. The pet trembled and staggered.

"F*ck! Is this karma?" Cheng Xiong healed himself as soon as he recovered from the spasms. Then, he used Float to fly up high with lingering fear.

"This thing is still a Gold boss alright?" Xiao Jian rolled his eyes.

"Go!" Liu Lan shouted. Her pet, the Lightning Bird, turned into a streak and charged at the Bluestripe Daggertooth Pike Conger.

Puff!

A fist-sized hole appeared on the target, but there was no sign of the Lightning Bird.

"Uwuu…" Liu Lan stomped her feet in rage. It turned out that when the Lightning Bird pierced through the boss, it was electrocuted to death inside the latter's body.

The only one capable of combat left now was Cheng Xiong. The other four didn't have many long-ranged offensive skills, so if they neared the boss, they'd be electrocuted and sink down the ocean before they could even attack.

"The heck?! If anything, we could count as experts, right? And we're being outfought by a puny Gold boss?!" Han Shen was very displeased.

"You pounce! I'll heal you!" Cheng Xiong shouted.

"F*ck!" Han Shen only replied with one word upon Cheng Xiong's instigation.

"How about we lure it to the shore and use the ballista?" Liu Lan suggested.

"That's too troublesome, the shore is too far." The group ruled out this option after a quick discussion.

The massive beast slowly swam around and glared at the players with deep hatred. The entire water around it was dyed red. Blood kept gushing out from the head wound caused by Cheng Xiong earlier.

Filled with electric currents, a fifty-meter radius around the spike conger was now a forbidden zone. Everyone trespassing would be paralyzed beyond moving.

"How many more times can you use that sword attack?" Fatty asked Cheng Xiong.

"It's not gonna work. The cooldown is too long, long enough to let it health regen." Cheng Xiong shook his head.

"Let's cooperate, the two of us." Han Shen wobbled his dagger. His skills could deal DoT damage, so he should do as the only attacker.

Everyone had a pet capable of flying: Fatty's Inky, Liu Lan's Lightning Bird, Xiao Jian's Quad-Claw Indigo Crane, Cheng Xiong's Fire Bird, and the most bizarre of all, Han Shen's pet, a bat with a tiger head.

After pulling back to a far enough distance and getting rid of the abnormal status, Liu Lan re-summoned Sparky. The five pets hovered around the Bluestripe Daggertooth Pike Conger and attacked while the players lay in wait.

Attack power-wise, the Lightning Bird was the best amongst these pets. Its unrivaled speed and sharp beak could pierce through the most solid material. However, the boss's electrical body was just the bane of the bird's features, making Liu Lan extremely unhappy.

The beast constantly shrieked and screamed under the bombardment. The pets were all level 40 and above, so their damage was nothing to look down upon. After a few rounds, the boss lost a considerable amount of HP.

Whoosh! The spike conger repeated an old trick. An electric net descended from the sky upon the pets. The Lightning Bird was the first to escape due to its speed. Inky parried with a magic shield above its head and was repeatedly forced down towards the ocean. As for the other three, they were directly paralyzed and fell.

"Now!" Han Shen shouted.

Cheng Xiong tossed a Healing on Han Shen. Operating the Zephyr Wings that was transferred to him, Han Shen flew to the space above the boss and let himself fall.

Pff!

After a successful attack, Han Shen instantly withdrew. A thunderbolt from the boss wiped out a third of his health, which was quickly healed up by Cheng Xiong.

"Rawwwrghh!"

The spike conger suddenly wallowed in a frenzy. On the spot that Han Shen had just struck it, a sliver of black flame rose up.

The eerie black flame burned despite the seawater, and burned more and more intensely with time. Very soon, it grew from a strand of fire to a lump, then from a lump into a huge blaze.

"What skill is this?" Fatty was amazed.

"Underworld Assassin's unique skill, Underworld Fire Blade," Han Shen introduced.

Underworld Fire Blade ignited a flame of the underworld at the wound to deal DoT damage. Moreover, this flame couldn't be put out by water and would keep burning as long as the opponent still had HP.

"Hiss…"

Everyone gasped. That's one perverse skill! Only one touch and it will not end until you're dead!

"It's not that simple." Han Shen gave a pained smile as he instantly knew what they were thinking.

This skill would easily be dispelled with a purification-type skill. Not to mention, its success rate was very low, extremely and extraordinarily low. On top of that, the damage per second wasn't very high either, so it'd be useless against high-tiered bosses with fast health regen rates.

"I really didn't expect it to succeed this time," concluded Han Shen.

The rest nodded. A formidable skill like that was never easy to proc.

Every game needed balance. If a game allowed anything or anyone to be overly OP, it wouldn't be able to last very long.

The black flame continued to burn on the Bluestripe Daggertooth Pike Conger. Looking at the HP bar, it seemed to be dealing decent damage each second. The group only needed to wait patiently for the monster to be drained to death.

Rumble! Crrack! The boss crazily cast attacks in all directions. The underworld flame had rendered it helpless.

"Actually though, this boss isn't hard to kill. It's just that the conditions aren't in our favor," Fatty commented.

"No shit. On land, any of us can slay it one-on-one, but it just has to be an aquatic monster," said Cheng Xiong, a bit dejected.

Ding.

System Notification: Congratulations. You have slain the Gold boss Bluestripe Daggertooth Pike Conger. +200,000 EXP, +120 Reputation.

After waiting for over an hour, the boss finally died with a final shriek and dropped a bunch of items.

"Take the loot!" Everyone pounced towards the drops with joyous laughter.

Fatty didn't pick the drops and instead tossed several Harvests on the beast's body, gaining a pearl to his satisfaction.

This pearl was an unformed inner core, the energy source for the boss's electric attacks.

"What a pity. If we waited several days for it to rank up to Yao, we could have gained an electric-attribute inner core," Xiao Jian lamented.

"It's okay. It can still add an electric stat if used to refine a piece of equipment." Fatty displayed the pearl on his outstretched palm. "Anyone need it?

"I don't." Han Shen shook his head. "I didn't learn Blacksmithing. It's useless to me."

"Only if you craft me a piece of equipment with it," said Xiao Jian.

Liu Lan smiled without saying anything. Fatty rolled his eyes and simply placed the pearl in his inventory.

The group couldn't care less about items from a Gold boss. With the exception of a shield with an additional electric attack skill, everything else was fed to Fatty's Elemental Skill Book.

"Mhm, now we have to swim back."

"Damn it. We should have pulled the boss to the shore to kill it."

"Let's go."

……

"You, you really killed that damnable sea beast?" Seeing Fatty's group return, the old captain burst into tears. "My poor son, finally, someone's avenged you. You can now rest in peace."

"Our deepest condolences, Uncle. Erm, we don't need anything in return for our help. Since your son is gone, you can sort through his belongings and give us anything that you don't need," Fatty inched closer to the old man and said.