The raging flames spread across the sky, engulfing everything. As the flames were about to hit him, Nie Yan swiftly dashed outward using a Hurricane Step.
With a loud boom, the flames scattered in all directions.
The Lava Colossus searched around for Nie Yan’s trail. Nie Yan’s extremely high attack damage had enraged it.
The surroundings were ablaze, like a world of fire.
If only there was a skill that could counter the Lava Colossus’s Lava Domain.
Suddenly, Nie Yan had an idea. Without advanced skills, using lower-level ones might also work. He shouted in the team chat, “Everyone who knows Icebound Winter, use it!”
The mages were momentarily confused upon hearing Nie Yan’s command. Icebound Winter wasn’t a damaging skill, so why use it? Despite their doubts, they obediently cast the skill. After chanting their incantations, a thick mist gathered around, and the temperature dropped sharply. Frost crystals formed in the air, falling down and instantly evaporating into steam upon contact with the Lava Colossus’s Lava Domain. The temperature of the lava on the ground rapidly decreased. The Lava Colossus seemed to dislike the Icebound Winter skill—it developed a thin layer of white frost on its rocky skin, significantly slowing its movement speed and reducing its health regeneration rate.
Icebound Winter was one of the few mage skills whose effects could partially stack. With over 260 mages using it, including 50 to 60 using enhanced versions, the results were immediate.
Cui Can Daoguang quickly cast War God’s Protection on himself, significantly boosting his magic resistance, but he still fell victim to Icebound Winter’s effects, his body freezing and becoming immobile. Leng Ao Ying on the other side experienced the same. Only Nie Yan, who had used Divine Descent, managed to avoid the freezing effects of Icebound Winter.
The Lava Colossus shook off the frost and struggled forward, attempting to attack the mages.
Nie Yan waved his right hand and summoned the Golden Earth Dragon, blocking the Lava Colossus’s path first!
Against a monster of this caliber, the Golden Earth Dragon was practically useless, but it could still serve a minor purpose.
“Icebound Winter, a mid-tier skill, actually works against the Lava Colossus? Unbelievable!”
“When hundreds of Icebound Winter skills stack, the effect is still quite significant!”
The team members looked at Nie Yan in astonishment. They couldn’t understand how Nie Yan had thought of using a mid-tier skill like Icebound Winter against a super boss like the Lava Colossus. They had assumed that mid-tier skills would be completely ineffective against such a high-level boss, but Nie Yan had overturned their previous beliefs.
In truth, Nie Yan had just guessed correctly by sheer luck. Many times, thinking outside the box was necessary when fighting bosses.
A barrage of magic spells rained down on the Lava Colossus.
“The Lava Colossus has the Lava Surge skill. Everyone, be careful. Stick strictly to the tactics we discussed!” Nie Yan reminded the team in the chat, still feeling uneasy.
Everyone stood on the rocks, with nearly 600 to 700 mages densely unleashing their firepower.
About half an hour later, the Lava Colossus’s health dropped to just over a million. Enraged, it stomped around, swinging its massive arms to repeatedly push Cui Can Daoguang back. Suddenly, it opened its mouth and unleashed a Lava Roar, sending a powerful shockwave sweeping through the battlefield.
Mental Resistance!
Mental Suppression!
Everyone used their skills to evade the Lava Colossus’s attack, but 600 to 700 players failed to activate their defenses in time and were directly hit by the Lava Roar, becoming frozen in place.
Immediately afterward, the Lava Colossus unleashed a Lava Surge. A torrent of molten lava surged forward like a massive wave, ravaging everything in its path.
The Lava Colossus’s attack stunned everyone. They had planned that once it used Lava Surge, they would immediately dodge using various skills, and had even rehearsed it. As long as their reaction speed was fast enough, most players could avoid the attack. However, they hadn’t expected the Lava Colossus to first use Lava Roar, catching them off guard. Some quick-reacting players used random teleport scrolls or skills to escape, but the majority were still frozen by the Lava Roar’s effects and couldn’t flee, getting engulfed by the Lava Surge.
Players fell in droves, interrupting the battle. The Lava Colossus didn’t detect any other enemies and wandered around aimlessly. Its health quickly regenerated back to full.
As the Lava Colossus moved farther away, the surviving priests dared to resurrect their teammates. Many others, having suffered a total party wipe without a shaman in their group, had to run back to their corpses to revive.
The group resurrected and sat scattered on a clearing in the jungle, recovering their health and mana.
Looking at the Lava Colossus wandering in the distance, the team members couldn’t help but feel that indeed, a level 200 boss was no easy opponent.
Over 800 team members had perished, but experiencing one or two wipes while fighting a boss was normal. Fortunately, there was no equipment loss—only some experience points.
“How did that feel?” Nie Yan asked with a smile in the team chat.
“The Lava Colossus attacks too fast. There was no warning before the Lava Roar.”
“Yeah, we couldn’t dodge at all!”
Nie Yan turned to Qishi De Wang Ge, Wu Dao, and others and asked, “What do you think?”
“Usually, bosses give some kind of warning before attacking. Just now, before the Lava Roar, the Lava Colossus’s eyes seemed unusually fiery.”
“Also, before the Lava Roar, the magical elements around us became chaotic,” Xia Chong Yubing added.
Their group of over a thousand players fighting the Lava Colossus was different from their previous battle against Princess Aina in Okolen City. Fighting Princess Aina was purely a numbers game—no strategy involved. But fighting the Lava Colossus with a similar tactic would result in too many casualties, making it impractical. Taking down a level 200 boss with just over a thousand players required skill, so one or two wipes were normal.
Soon, the top-tier players summarized many useful insights, leaving the regular team members awestruck. This was how skill was developed—these elite players provided the best demonstration.
After resting and analyzing the previous lessons, the team practiced dodging the Lava Colossus’s Lava Roar and Lava Surge skills, reorganized themselves, and prepared again. Nie Yan, Wang Zhe Tian Xia, Sun, and others once again lured the Lava Colossus back.
The intense battle began. This time, the team successfully dodged the Lava Colossus’s first Lava Roar and Lava Surge, but they failed to evade its berserk mode when its health dropped below 30%, resulting in another wipe of over 900 members.
The team resurrected, rested, and continued analyzing how to counter the Lava Colossus’s berserk phase.
Nie Yan thought to himself that the third attempt might finally defeat the Lava Colossus. He realized that it was safer to have Cui Can Daoguang and Leng Ao Ying draw aggro. Whenever he unleashed a burst of critical hits, he would draw the Lava Colossus’s attention, leading to unexpected situations.
However, time was up, and they had to wait until next login to fight the Lava Colossus again!
Footage of the Bullman Tribe’s battle against the Lava Colossus was leaked online, once again showcasing the Lava Colossus’s immense power. Even the Bullman Tribe’s strongest elite team had suffered two wipes. At the same time, players couldn’t help but be amazed by the Bullman Tribe’s strength. Managing to fight a level 200 boss to a standstill with only two wipes meant they had already figured out a strategy to defeat the Lava Colossus. From then on, the Lava Colossus would be like a lamb awaiting slaughter.
Players could sense that the Bullman Tribe was rapidly advancing toward becoming the dominant force. Defeating the Lava Colossus was just one step in their journey.
Nie Yan chatted with the Bullman Tribe players for a while, killing time until a voice call came in. He checked and saw it was from Guo Huai.
“I’ve found everything you asked for,” Guo Huai said, sending over a list.
Nie Yan glanced at the list. It marked the locations of all bosses in the Grelan Empire above level 130, totaling over 3,000 spots, each with detailed information. This massive amount of data would take Nie Yan some time to go through.
“Thanks for the hard work.”
“No problem,” Guo Huai chuckled.
Nie Yan would need to study this list thoroughly to prepare for his upcoming plans.
In the capital of the Undead Empire, the Necropolis, on the edge of the main street, there was a villa belonging to Duo Duo, the leader of Angel’s Fall.
Currently, around thirty people were gathered here.
“Leader, are you sure about this? We already have over 100,000 troops on the surface. Sending another 100,000 will be costly,” Kuang Ao Qiang said, somewhat worried that such a large investment might burden the guild. He didn’t understand why Duo Duo insisted on opposing Angel’s Dominion so fiercely.
“I have my reasons. Just follow my orders,” Duo Duo replied firmly, unmoved by others’ concerns.
“Alright then. Boss, I think we should be wary of Bullman Tribe. Their leader, Kuang Zei Nie Yan, recently obtained the Abak Set. It’s said their top tank just acquired a legendary Demon Shield. They’re currently farming the level 200 Lava Colossus, and their number of top-tier players has reached thirty. At this rate, I think Angel’s Dominion will eventually be defeated by Bullman Tribe. Once the national war opens, Bullman Tribe might become our biggest rival. It might be better to keep Angel’s Dominion around to counter Bullman Tribe.”
Several players chimed in.
“You don’t understand. Between me and Ang Yi Tian Shi, only one of us can survive. Once we deal with Angel’s Dominion, everything else will be resolved,” Duo Duo said calmly.
Everyone looked at Duo Duo in confusion, not understanding his meaning. Why could only one of them survive? They had always been curious, but whenever they asked deeper questions, Duo Duo would brush them off, and they dared not press further.
Another 100,000 troops from Angel’s Fall left the underground and headed to the surface.
After logging off, Nie Yan received a call from Duo Duo. Angel’s Fall had dispatched another 100,000 troops to the surface. To honor the alliance, Bullman Tribe couldn’t stay out of it. Losing such a strong ally would be a significant loss, so they decided to mobilize 500,000 players to fight alongside Angel’s Fall.
These 500,000 players weren’t meant to directly attack Angel’s Dominion’s fortress. In previous wars, Bullman Tribe’s catapults had been mostly destroyed. Although they had rebuilt some, resource shortages meant the number of catapults was still far from sufficient. Therefore, Nie Yan’s 500,000 players weren’t planning to engage Angel’s Dominion head-on but instead intercept their players leveling outside.
Earlier, Angel’s Dominion, Kayseran Empire, and other guilds had used this very method to kill many Bullman Tribe members, pushing them into several difficult situations. Now, the tides had turned, and it was Bullman Tribe’s turn to advance aggressively against Angel’s Dominion.
After hanging up with Duo Duo, Nie Yan went to school with Xie Yao as usual.
The First Military Academy was peaceful as usual. Qin Han, the annoying guy, had finally received his due punishment for his misdeeds. His faction had quieted down and no longer acted as arrogantly as before. Liu Rui, who had previously allied with Qin Han, had enjoyed a brief moment of glory but was now gradually fading into the background, behaving himself and avoiding Nie Yan and Xie Yao whenever he saw them.
At noon, Nie Yan received a message from Ci Dao, indicating he had completed the mission.
Seeing this message, Nie Yan raised his eyebrows, replied to Ci Dao, then deleted the message.
Everything went smoothly. It was Mo Nei Consortium’s people who had taken out Liu Tianshi. On this continent, Liu Tianshi’s father was a high-ranking official with considerable power and background, making him difficult for most to touch. Mo Nei Consortium, on the other hand, was a financial oligarch from South America, powerful enough to influence a nation’s politics. They paid no heed to Liu Tianshi’s father’s influence on this continent. If the two sides clashed, it would be an interesting spectacle. However, they would only use their respective influences in various fields to sabotage each other unless a large-scale war broke out between nations, making it impossible for them to eliminate each other.
As long as Nie Yan, Ci Dao, Wang Duo, and others kept silent, the deaths of Qin Han and Liu Tianshi would remain an eternal secret. Nie Yan had full trust in Ci Dao, Wang Duo, and the others.
After receiving Ci Dao’s message, Nie Yan finally felt relieved. Silently eliminating two threats without attracting any attention was a job well done.
After school, Nie Yan and Xie Yao visited Tang Yao together. Tang Yao had already woken up. The doctor had given him a blood transfusion and treated his internal injuries. With the current medical standards, he would be back on his feet in a few days. The doctor said Tang Yao could log back into the game tonight, which was good news.
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