The players from Dark Recital fled from the Kong King as fast as their legs could carry them.
"Netherluna, how do you think the 13 of them will kill the Kong King...?" Canon asked in a curious tone.
"I don't know. Let's observe. I don't really have high hopes. That's a Level 180 Lord. If we didn't use the Sanction Magic Formation, we wouldn't even have dealt any damage to it!" Netherluna said. She remained skeptical of the strength of Nie Yan's group.
No one had ever successfully killed a Level 180 Lord to date. Many guilds had tried using all sorts of methods, only to be met with failure.
Netherluna felt Nie Yan's group was overestimating themselves a bit thinking they could take down a Level 180 Lord.
While Netherluna, Canon, and the other survivors retreated far into the distance, Nie Yan and his group were discussing how to deal with the Kong King in voice chat.
「Boss, what if those guys try to steal the Kong King from us at the last moment?」Lustboy asked. This was an issue that couldn't be ignored.
「Don't worry. Apart from our enemies like God Executioner Sword and Angel Corps, no other guilds would dare to kill steal us, unless they're suicidal,」Bladelight confidently said.
「Bladelight is right.」Nie Yan nodded.「I don't think that woman from Dark Recital would be that slimy anyway.」
「If they dare to try and steal the boss from us, we'll slaughter all of them!」Undying Scoundrel exclaimed, brandishing his staff. He was certainly a battle maniac.
At this moment, Sun and King of the World had already taken action. Appearing behind the Kong King, they immobilized it with Concussive Blow, then unleashed a flurry of attacks.
−1,832
−2,144
−1,897
…
Afterwards, the two quickly disappeared back into stealth.
The Kong King immediately aggroed onto Sun and King of the World, losing all interest in the fleeing Dark Recital players.
"GRAWWAH!" The Kong King let out a deafening roar, causing a powerful sound wave to sweep out in all directions.
About 100 meters or so away, Sun and King of the World materialized out of stealth. A damage value of 100 floated up above their heads.
The Kong King immediately charged toward Sun and King of the World.
「Lure the Kong King up that slope!」Nie Yan commanded after scanning the terrain. Although the slope didn't offer much help, it was still better than nothing.
Huge monsters like the Kong King had a 3-5% chance of missing when attacking players from an elevated position like a slope. Even this kind of minor advantage was extremely important when facing a boss. Dark Recital had also previously made use of this same slope when dealing with the Kong King.
Seeing Sun and King of the World dashing towards the slope, Lei Su, Bladelight, and Smoke Stub rushed toward it as well.
The Kong King was hot on Sun and King of the World's tails. The three soon ran up the slope.
At this moment, Lei Su, Bladelight, and Smoke Stub came charging forward from different directions.
Intercept!
Intercept!
Intercept!
Lei Su, Bladelight, and Smoke Stop executed a three-man pincer on the Kong King.
"GRWOOO!" The Kong King smashed down on Lei Su.
Lei Su leaped back three meters and evaded the attack.
BOOOOM! The Kong King's fist left a deep depression in the earth.
「Target is in position!」
「Assault!」
Lei Su rushed back in and took the Kong King's left flank. Meanwhile, Bladelight circled round to the front. Shield Bash! He rammed his shield into its chest, forcing it several steps back only for it to be stopped by Smoke Stub. The three Warriors locked the Kong King down.
"GRWAAAH!" The Kong King slammed down its mallet-like fists on Bladelight.
BOOM! Bladelight's feet sunk into the ground. A damage value of 30,000 floated up above his head.
Bladelight had 120,000 health. His defense and resistances were also astonishingly high. So, the amount of danger the Kong King posed to him was limited.
Nie Yan didn't need to give any commands. Young Seven quickly restored Bladelight's health back to full.
Black Hell waved his staff. A shadow energy fell over the Kong King, causing its movements to turn sluggish.
Tang Yao, Xie Yao, Lustboy, and Undying Scoundrel waved their staffs. A shower of magic rained down on the Kong King, dealing 3,000–5,000 damage each tick, occasionally critting for up to 10,000.
This kind of damage output left the players from Dark Recital speechless.
"My god. Even with the help of the Sanction Sealing Formation, our Mages only dealt damage in the double digits. These guys are crazy strong!" Canon remarked in shock.
Netherluna let out a deep sigh. "No wonder Asskickers United is so famous. I thought those stories about their top ranked players were exaggerated."
Nie Yan summoned Lil' Gold, Paladin Lafus, and his Shadow Clone. Lafus raised his sword and buffed everyone with his blessings. Lil' Gold opened his mouth and blasted the Kong King with Dragon Breath.
Nie Yan, his shadow clone, Sun, and King of the World lingered just outside the Kong King's attack range. From time to time, they dashed in and tagged it with several bleed skills.
The damage output of Nie Yan's group was astonishing. The Kong King's health steadily fell.
After killing so many players from Dark Recital a moment ago, the Kong King's health had recovered back to 92%. Now it fell back down to 79%.
Bladelight repeatedly staggered the Kong King with his Shield Bash, not allowing it to take even half-a-step anywhere. Plus, with two Archbishops supporting him from the rear, he was as immovable as Mt. Tai.
After the Kong King's health reached the 70% mark, it let out a world-shaking roar. Its eyes turned blood red, and its body swelled in size.
Seeing the Kong King going berserk, the spectating players from Dark Recital all believed Nie Yan's group was about to suffer a calamity, and the first to fall would be Bladelight.
Bulwark of the War God!
Bladelight's body also increased in size. Clad in a dazzling radiance, he looked like a golden armoured titan wielding an enormous greatshield.
"What kind of skill is that?" a player from Dark Recital cried out. All of them could feel a heavy pressure bearing down on them.
The Kong King smashed down with its fist.
Having personally experienced the might of the Kong King, the players from Dark Recital already imagined Bladelight's body sent flying far away. KLAAAAAANG! Bladelight's body only swayed a little.
A damage value of 20,000 floated up above Bladelight's head. The damage wasn't higher than before. In fact, it was 30% lower!
"That tickled!" Bladelight exclaimed. He then rammed his shield into the Kong King's abdomen.
As the battle went on, the Kong King's health fell down to the 30% mark. It entered the second phase of its Outrage ability. Its fur shone with an emerald glow while its eyes lit up with a green radiance. It grew even larger in size as its stats rose by another 50%.
"Damn! The boss has a second phase!?"
The players from Dark Recital glanced at each other with looks of shock. Only then did they realize how much of a joke it was for them to think they could take down this Level 180 Lord-class Kong King. They couldn't even handle the first phase of its Outrage ability, let alone the second phase.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! The Kong King delivered a flurry of blows onto Bladelight, each dealing 50,000–60,000 damage.
With the Kong King's attack power increasing once more, Bladelight had to fully rely on Young Seven and Black Hell. If the healing didn't come fast enough, he would be pummelled to death.
Young Seven and Black Hell never stopped healing. The two timed their heals perfectly, never two of them hitting simultaneously. It was delicate work. Cast two heals simultaneously and Bladelight would be vulnerable in the next moment, but they couldn't wait too long between heals either. This was an extremely fine balance.
Young Seven and Black Hell's heals came one after another at a steady tempo, leaving the players from Dark Recital dumbstruck.
"Damn, the heals from those two are more effective than the heals from our 30+ Priests combined!" Canon sighed. Their Priests were nowhere near the same level as Young Seven and Black Hell.
Comparison is the thief of joy. Netherluna gazed at her own guildmates. Compared to Nie Yan and the others, she felt an overwhelming sense of inferiority.
Seeing Young Seven and Black Hell somewhat straining to keep up the healing, Nie Yan had Paladin Lafus lend some aid. He also targeted the Kong King with Apocalyptic Extenticion. Five different high rank curses immediately sapped away at its strength, causing its stats to fall by 20%.
"Boss, that curse is pretty effective," Lustboy said.
"Yeah, hit it with another one!" Undying Scoundrel added.
"What do you take these curses for? You think I can just pull out another just because you said so?" Nie Yan rolled his eyes.
Nie Yan gazed at Battle Angel Kalenna floating beside his shoulder. Even in this critical moment, she showed no signs of taking action. If she was willing to join in, even 10 Kong Kings would have to obediently kneel down before her. He still couldn't commander her. So, he could only give up for now.
Their teamwork was flawless. The Kong King's health was steadily falling.
"Everyone, keep going! The Kong King is almost dead!" Smoke Stub shouted.
Tang Yao, Xie Yao, and the other Mages picked up the pace, firing out an endless stream of magic.
Nie Yan circled round behind the Kong King, then slashed away with Zennarde's Sword, spamming Hell Execution.
Miss!
Miss!
Miss!
...
Hell Execution kept failing.
The Kong King's health fell below 20%. Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and Lei Su also started spamming Execution. Even though the success rate was low, as long as it succeeded, the Kong King would instantly be killed, saving everyone a lot of unnecessary trouble.
Facing a boss also required luck. If you were lucky, you could achieve twice the results with half the effort.
"Damn, it won't die!" Lei Su raised his greatsword and came down with another Execution.