Chapter 554: Taking a Turn for the Worse

Translator: alyschu

“Be careful, here it comes!"

My sword dangled loosely in my hand as I sprinted back toward the rest of the party. I reached a spot within range of nearly twenty healers as soon as I could. No matter how we were going to kill this boss, my first priority was to preserve my own life.

The Star Dragon’s furious roar echoed behind me and I suddenly felt a scorching sensation brush against my back. I immediately turned around to see that the Star Dragon was stretching its great jaws open. In the next instant, I saw a huge stream of dragonfire shoot out of its mouth. It looked like a concentrated beam of celestial flames that could instantly melt even steel.

I raised my hand desperately to ward off the dragonfire. Not the face!

Boom!

I bore the full brunt of that blast of dragonfire and the impact pushed me more than a few steps back. I felt as if parts of my body had been torn apart as it was assaulted by a burning pain. My vision swirled for just a second as a huge damage number popped up above my head.

27984!

......

"What the hell..."

𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

As Li Chengfeng, who was standing a fair distance away, stared at that damage number, he took his sword and grabbed High Fighting Spirits by the collar as he sprinted backward. He had reacted just in time because that blast of dragonfire hadn’t stopped at me. It continued traveling in a perfectly straight line, scorching everything in its path. Even though Li Chengfeng had been alert enough to avoid this calamitous blast of cosmic flame, three mages and seven archers had been caught up in that blast. All of them were immediately reduced to piles of ashes!

As the damage numbers flew up in the air, I shook my head in dismay. This Star Dragon had taken out 10% of our party with just the first blast of its breath and the incredible damage that it had dealt had chilled our hearts.

"So this is a Heaven Rank boss huh? This... this is a little bit too crazy, isn’t it? It’s... it’s way too insane..." Xu Yang stuttered.

There were some players whose courage had been broken by that attack but there was at least one person who still recklessly charged at the Star Dragon. A brilliant light radiated out from Lin Yixin’s White Moon at the same time her eyes flashed with moonlight. She used Moon Gaze on the Star Dragon and White Moon soon whistled toward it after that. It stabbed right into the purple dragon’s abdomen. After she had stabbed it in the belly, Lin Yixin immediately flew backward as she switched to her Frozen Sword and attacked the dragon with an Ice Flame Slash!

Boom!

18992!

I flew forward to take advantage of the effects of Extreme Break. Thunderous Charge caused sparks of electricity to fly from my body as I ran swiftly toward the Star Dragon. The moment I reached the boss, I immediately attacked it with my Universe Break + Burning Blade Slash combo. All four attacks hit its throat in quick-fire succession along with a string of damage numbers above its head.

24980!

10982!

15881!

19827!

......

Gui Guzi and He Yi hit it with their usual Barrier Breaks before immediately following up with their flurry attack skills. Everyone was trying to do as much damage to the boss while the effects of Extreme Break lasted. During these fifteen seconds, the Star Dragon’s Defense had turned into paper, but once its effects ended, it would be a lot harder to deal damage to it.

Arrows rained down on the purple dragon from behind as Beiming Xue and her troop of archers rained down suppressive fire on it. Shock Arrows, Devil Piercing Arrows and Volleys screamed toward the Star Dragon as they took advantage of the armor break effect of Extreme Break. This was the only time that most of them could break its Defense, and the boss had actually lost a good chunk of health after all the arrows had found their mark.

"Rooooaaar..."

The gigantic dragon reared back its head and howled as it swiped its claws at us. It had actually used a sweeping blow that heavily struck Gui Guzi, He Yi, and I. A tearing pain radiated from my right shoulder as three damage numbers popped up in the air.

16273!

19828!

14289!

......

Among the three of us, Gui Guzi’s Defense was the highest and He Yi’s Defense was the lowest, but all of us could endure attacks of this degree. Furthermore, the big group of priests behind us started healing us all rapidly and Murong Mingyue even cast a Pool of Life around us. She yelled, "Please don’t leave the radius of my Pool of Life unless you absolutely have to!"

Who would even want to willingly leave the radius of a quick HP regen spell? Needless to say, none of us would move out of this Pool of Life unless the dragon spat its flames at us again!

Before we even finished speaking, the boss swiped at us with its claws again. The four main tanks were hit by a flurry of attacks and our health started to drop to dangerous levels. The healing from our priests alleviated some of the danger, but all of us noticed that we actually didn’t have enough healing to keep up with the Star Dragon’s DPS.

Bang!

As the Star Dragon’s blade-like claws smashed into Lin Yixin’s chestplate, she gritted her teeth and hissed in a worried voice, "We can’t continue on like this. The priests are barely keeping us afloat and our HP bars won’t rise above 50%. This boss's attack speed is way too high..."

I nodded. "We need to use our health potions. If we don’t, there’s no way we can keep fighting this boss. Also, let’s switch up our strategy a little. Gui Guzi and I will tank the first round of attacks and when our HP drops to about 25%, we will immediately retreat. Yiyi, you’ll have to come up with a way to grab the boss's aggro at that time, and you and Eve will tank the next wave of attacks. Gui Guzi and I will heal up during that time, and if we keep rotating the main tanks like this, there’s a chance that we will win this fight."

Lin Yixin let out a soft laugh as she nodded in agreement. "Yeah, that’s a great idea!"

......

No one had imagined that this Heaven Rank boss would be this tyrannical. The Star Dragon’s attack power and attack speed was uncommonly high and we were still being hurled around like ragdolls in spite of our strength. I mean, the four main tanks were all people whose very footsteps could make Sky City shake, but we were still getting beaten to a pulp by this damned dragon. If it was hard to imagine that there would be another group of players who could take this boss on. Even Candlelight Shadow’s party would be one-shot because they didn’t have any Famous General Skill that could replicate the effects of Bombshell.

"Rooaar!"

As the Star Dragon blasted us with its breath, another group of mages, archers, and warriors were burned to ashes. We were rapidly losing party members and this was something that was very worrying.

I couldn’t help but say, "Priests, I want all of you to scatter right now. Don’t stand clumped together. The dragon breath is a line attack, so it doesn’t cover much area."

"Alright!"

Murong Mingyue, Moon Dew, and the rest of the priests swiftly formed a circle around us as we slowly surrounded the boss. Li Chengfeng, Xu Yang, High Fighting Spirits, and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun weren’t standing around doing nothing either. All of them swiftly activated Charge in an attempt to stun the boss, and even if they missed, they immediately used Barrier Break and their flurry skills to deal some damage to it. Once they finished their cycle of attacks, they retreated before the dragon could attack them. Their continuous attacks had actually chipped off quite a bit of the boss's HP.

It felt as if time had slowed down as the gigantic dragon’s roars reverberated in the valley. Its health was slowly but surely being whittled down but we were rapidly losing people as well. Our hundred-man party had been reduced to less than thirty and only our priests, who had been making sure to protect themselves, and our very best players remained. We even had to call a few dozen more priests from outside, if not, the situation would soon become untenable.

"Roooaar!"

The Star Dragon reared its head back as its wings unfurled. It suddenly attacked us with a Galaxy Storm, a skill which would continuously damage any target caught in a 5x5 yard square. The boss had already used this attack before and it was extremely terrifying. Gui Guzi furiously backpedaled as I retreated a few steps and shot a Dragon Slaying Slash at the dragon’s head. I firmly attracted the boss's aggro while also casting God Binding Art at it!

Alright, I finally succeeded!

Lin Yixin took advantage of my God Binding Art to use Extreme Break and everyone rushed forward to hack away at the Star Dragon furiously. We had actually shaved off 2% of the boss's HP in those fifteen seconds.

Yeah, Extreme Break was key to killing this boss. Without it, even experts like Li Chengfeng could barely deal 5000 damage to it. The Star Dragon’s Defense was nearly as horrid as its Attack!

......

Our attacks kept whittling away at the Star Dragon’s health and after about forty minutes, we had finally gotten it down to 50%. However, it hadn’t been as easy as it sounded. There were a few times that the boss's dragon breath had scored a critical hit against one of the main tanks, and even Gui Guzi and I had been nearly one-shot. This wasn’t a fight we could afford to let their guard down in!

All of us began to see the light at the end of the tunnel once the Star Dragon’s health dropped to 50%, and joy started to creep into our eyes.

High Fighting Spirits yelled, "Hahaha, the boss is about to fall. This boss is so strong so we might just be able to get one of those legendary Heaven-grade items from it, right? Hahaha, the first Heaven-grade item in the entire server. Sounds great, doesn’t it..."

Li Chengfeng replied, "It’s honestly hard to say. Let’s focus on killing the boss first. I have this feeling that we’re in quite a bit of danger right now. Such a long time has passed since all of us entered the Star Dragon Domain. Logically speaking, Candlelight Shadow should have already explored the entire map by now. It’s only a matter of time before we’re found. This boss has way too much HP and health regeneration, so we’re actually killing it rather slowly."

Xu Yang agreed with Li Chengfeng’s assessment. "That’s right. A few vicious battles have already taken place while we’ve been fighting this boss. Farewell Song, October Rain, and Warsky encountered Purple Lily by accident and they immediately started fighting. Both sides suffered terrible losses before the fight finally stopped. Coincidentally, or perhaps not so coincidentally in this case, both parties seemed to be heading east, which also happens to be where we’re at right now..."

My heart sank a little as I shouted, "Chengfeng, bring a few men to guard the entrance of the valley. You can’t let anyone enter this place before we finish killing the boss!"

"Yeah I got it!"

Li Chengfeng waved a hand and Xu Yang, High Fighting Spirits, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun, and a few other people fell in behind him. Their party was only eight strong, so it would be hard for them to prevent the other guilds from entering. But we really had no other choice. We only had this many people with us right now, and the rest of us had to focus our attention on this terrifying dragon at all times. So this was really the most we could spare.

......

Time seemed to slow to a crawl as the boss's HP slowly dropped from 50% to 40%. It then dropped from 40% to 30%, 30% to 20%, and finally from 20% to 10%. When the dragon’s HP finally reached one tenth, my heart rose up to my throat. It was crunch time. Our chance of getting the final dragon scale depended on how well we performed during the final stage of this boss fight.

It was at this moment that Li Chengfeng’s startled voice suddenly reverberated through the party channel. "Fucking hell! Candlelight Shadow is charging in with Candle Dragon, and... I also see people from Warsky Alliance and Purple Lily coming from different directions. What the hell! Why did they all come at the same time?!"

Xu Yang’s shocked voice sounded out over the party chat as well. "What do we do now? If all three guilds come at us at the same time, there’s no way we can hold this position!"

I hurriedly yelled, "I want all of you to retreat right now. Come back to where the main fighting force is. We need to hurry up and kill this boss! If not, all our efforts will have been for naught!"

It was at this precise moment that Gui Guzi suddenly shuddered. His body stiffened as it was rendered completely immobile. A high-level assassin appeared behind him, his dagger blinking with red light. He had blinded and stunned Gui Guzi at the same time! And this wasn’t any old assassin. It was our old friend, Farewell Song!

What was even worse was that another eight assassins appeared behind us. Their daggers whistled through the air as they targeted our priests first, and out of the eight priests that had been attacked, only Murong Mingyue and Moon Dew survived.

This boss really knew how to pick his moments. As our backline was being savaged by those assassins, its wings started flapping in the air. After that, it gave a great roar as a gigantic vortex that covered a 30x30 yard area formed in the middle of the battlefield. This was its ultimate technique, Galaxy Vortex!

Any player who was caught in Galaxy Vortex’s radius would be swiftly pulled into the center before being burned up by cosmic flames!

I swiftly backpedaled out of the attack’s radius, but I could only watch as the stunned Gui Guzi was dragged straight into the center of the gigantic vortex of cosmic energy!

"Roooooaaar..."

As violent flames engulfed him, Gui Guzi’s health started dropping like a rock. The Armored Swordback Dragon’s tenacity was depleted and Gui Guzi slowly began to sink to the ground. He pointed the tip of his Rainbow toward Farewell Song as he yelled, "Fuck your mom, Farewell Song! Your daddy here is gonna kill you one day!"

The Star Dragon wasn’t one to leave things undone. It blasted Gui Guzi with its breath for good measure, causing him to kneel to the ground. He had died and a spear which shone with a resplendent prismatic light dropped from his corpse. It was Rainbow!