Chapter 56: Congratulations, You Have Triggered a Boss Battle
"It went surprisingly smoothly."
Inside the clearing of the greenhouse, a contractor with naturally curly hair yawned.
"Don't touch anything."
Upon arriving here, Minai's expression turned cold. Her gaze was fixed on the stone door at the inner side of the clearing, where several vines clung. As long as they entered this stone door, 80% of their mission would be complete.
"The mineral deposits here are quite rich..."
"Focus up. What time is it, and you're still thinking about mining?"
"Cough, just saying it casually. Besides, I don't mine."
After observing for a while, the contractors all relaxed a bit. They hadn't seen any enemy Hunters, and instead had successfully occupied an important area.
Minai stopped in front of the stone door. She lightly touched the vines on it with her staff.
The emerald vines retracted like a shy mimosa, whoosh, and in the next moment, all the vines on the stone door withdrew.
Minai and Kulong exchanged a glance and simultaneously leaped backward.
A rustling sound came from above. The ball of vines on top of the stone door slowly unfurled, eventually hanging down, leaving only a seat formed by the vines.
On the vine seat sat a man holding a sheathed longsword, his head lowered. Emerald vines surged around him. At the same time, all the contractors present received a notification.
Name: Kukulin ??? (Boss-level Creature)
Category: Human
Health: 100%
Mana: 10,426 points
Strength: 129 (True Attribute)
Agility: 128 (True Attribute)
Stamina: 127 (True Attribute)
Intelligence: 124 (True Attribute)
Charm: 1 (About to drop)
Skill 1: Boss's Pride (Passive, Lv.0), Health 15,000 points, Immune to Physical Control, Reduces all damage by 25%.
Skill 2: Soul Tremor (Active, Lv.20), Kukulin can release a Soul Shock, range 50 meters, dealing Soul Strength x 5 Soul Damage, and causing 1-3 seconds of Soul Stun effect. Cooldown: 3 minutes, consumes 1,000 Mana per use.
Skill 3: Cycle Rebirth (Passive, Lv.50), Kukulin recovers 70 Health/Mana per second.
Skill 4: ??? (Passive, Lv.MAX), Kukulin's Mana has fused with his body, creating a wondrous change. Mana and Health form a virtuous cycle, greatly enhancing Health. Health increase equals 45% of total Mana.
Note: This ability increases Health by 4,691 points.
Skill 5: Blade Grandmaster (Passive, Lv.??), Increases blade-type weapon attack power by 526%, Neural Reflex Speed by 144%, Immune to Mental Control, Immune to Mind-based Seduction, Induction, etc... (Remaining data undetectable)
Skill 6: ??? (Passive, Lv.49), Each melee attack burns 275 points of the enemy's Mana and deals True Damage equal to the burned Mana x 1.6 (440 True Damage).
Form: ???
Skill 7: Blood Beast (Ultimate Ability, Lv.MAX), ???
???
???
...
When Minai saw Su Xiao's physical attributes, she secretly breathed a sigh of relief. She had dealt with a Boss-level creature with these attributes once before. Although dangerous, with over 400 contractors present, it was definitely a sure win.
But after seeing Su Xiao's various abilities, Minai's expression changed. Her combat experience was rich, and she immediately judged that this Boss-level creature was not the type whose strength could be assessed by physical attributes alone.
"Everyone, be careful!"
Minai quickly retreated, but she noticed that Kulong was standing still, his eyes wide open, staring fixedly at the enemy.
"This... is impossible."
Kulong was already somewhat confused because he recognized Su Xiao. Or rather, he could never forget Su Xiao's face in his lifetime.
"This, this, this isn't the enemy Hunter?!"
"I get it now. Bullshit Hunter. This guy isn't a contractor at all. What kind of bullshit prompt did Apocalypse Paradise give us?!"
"Hey, what are you guys talking about? Be specific. I don't understand at all."
"That Boss-level creature is the enemy we fought at the contractor camp!"
"Huh? What?"
"Whatever he is, destroy him!"
The contractors from the Apocalypse side suddenly split into two groups. One group wanted to fight, the other wanted to retreat from here first.
"Shut up."
Su Xiao raised his head and stood up from the vine seat.
"Focus fire on him!!"
Minai shouted loudly. This shout clearly had an effect. In an instant, a dense barrage of attacks rained down on Su Xiao, almost blotting out the sky.
Crack, crack, crack...
Boom!
A shockwave spread, sending large pieces of crystal shards flying everywhere. Various elements mixed with the blazing light of explosions, surging upward.
Clang!
A blade aura slashed out. Several tanks who had fought Su Xiao before stepped forward, slamming their shields into the ground to form a shield wall.
When the elemental fluctuations dissipated, Su Xiao stood unharmed on a vine in mid-air. The stone door behind and below him was pockmarked and cratered.
"Don't stop!"
Minai's staff rapidly transformed. Elemental Bullet: Thunder was fully loaded.
Bang!
Like a muffled thunderclap, a blue beam blasted towards Su Xiao.
With a crisp ding, the Thunder Elemental Bullet was deflected. The next moment, another sky-obscuring barrage of attacks rained down on Su Xiao.
After a series of explosions, large patches of emerald vines were shattered. All the contractors' eyes were fixed on the colorful explosion.
Thump~
A shockwave spread. The contractors closer to Su Xiao all felt a buzzing sound in their heads.
A blue afterimage flashed. With a loud crash, it landed right in the middle of the contractor crowd.
Su Xiao casually pulled a dark-imbued arrow from his shoulder. His Health recovered at an extremely fast rate. At this moment, he was surrounded by contractors, all of whom were in a state of Soul Stun.
Cyan Steel Shadow Energy surged on Dragon-Slaying Flash. Su Xiao made a diagonal slash. The longsword swept through, and a gunner's head flew into the air.
Pfft, pfft, pfft...
Blood and severed limbs splattered everywhere. Su Xiao was like a tiger entering a flock of sheep, chopping through the nearby contractors one by one like slicing vegetables. In an instant, a small patch of contractors from the Apocalypse Paradise side fell.
"Get the hell out!"
A roar came. A burly man leaped high into the air, his high-tech kinetic energy warhammer smashing down.
Bang!
Crystal layers scattered. The burly man's arms went numb. The next moment, a light blue slashing flash passed before his eyes. The hammer handle snapped in two. He suddenly felt his body become light, his vision rapidly descending, eventually leveling with the ground, then plunging into darkness.
'Blade Path: Azure Demon.'
A cyan-blue blade aura shot out. Three contractors still in Soul Stun were cut in half, never to wake again.
"Ha!"
A sharp shout came. Su Xiao felt a tremendous force from his side. Judging by its power, this was some kind of Ultimate Ability, and a locking-type one at that.
With a bang, Su Xiao was kicked horizontally away. Mid-flight, he grabbed a female contractor's head with one hand.
Boom!
Broken stones flew from the stone wall. Half of the female contractor's body was embedded in the wall. The intense pain made blood gush from her mouth, snapping her back to consciousness.
"Please, please don't kill me."
A tearful plea came. From the voice, it was clear this contractor was terrified.
Pfft!
Dragon-Slashing Flash pierced through the female contractor's neck. There wasn't a moment's hesitation.
Su Xiao flicked his longsword, flinging the female contractor away. Her body hit the ground with a thud.
Su Xiao patted the dust off his shoulder, his gaze fixed on the short-haired man in the distance who had kicked him. After meeting Su Xiao's eyes, the short-haired man hid in the crowd, clearly chickening out.
In the distance, Minai wiped the blood from her face, the corner of her eye twitching violently.
"Kulong, you were right. This... is indeed a monster."
Minai had long expected the enemy Hunter to be strong, but she hadn't expected him to be this ridiculously strong.
"Aren't you the expert on this? Give some advice. Quick!"
Kulong gritted his teeth, ready to charge at Su Xiao at any moment.
"..."
Minai was speechless. She couldn't offer any advice now.