Chapter 6
When the distance closed to eighteen meters, the Anger Horn Beast, resting with its eyes shut, suddenly opened its golden, slender pupils. It sprang up from the ground, and even without counting its towering horn, it stood over three meters tall.
Without hesitation, the Anger Horn Beast charged at the intruder daring to encroach on its territory.
“Thud, thud, thud…”
The ground trembled slightly with each powerful stride of the beast. As a level 20 boss, its base attack damage was 300, while the level 5 Ye Bai had only 225 health points. This meant that a single hit from the Anger Horn Beast would be fatal for her.
Thus, the strategy for dealing with this boss was… not to get hit!
【Roll】
Just as the Anger Horn Beast closed in on Ye Bai, now less than two meters away, she curled her body into a near-ball shape and executed a perfect roll to the side, deftly evading the beast’s charge by a mere whisker.
If she hadn’t known how to roll, with her current speed, she wouldn’t have been able to dodge that attack. Timing her skills was also crucial; using them too early could cause the boss to adjust its charge direction.
After rolling to avoid the blow, Ye Bai didn’t turn back to deal damage but continued to sprint forward.
“Whoosh—!”
As she dashed more than four meters away, a thick, gray-scaled tail swept past her back, missing by less than ten centimeters, stirring up a small cloud of dust that brushed against her.
The Anger Horn Beast’s main skills were 【Charge】 and 【Tail Sweep】, dealing 450 and 500 damage respectively, both with stunning and knockback effects. Missing either would be enough to take Ye Bai down twice.
This combo was the boss’s signature greeting, and players often found it hard to dodge the tail sweep after successfully avoiding the charge. For a typical level 20 player with 600 health, even with armor, a single hit could take away half their health.
To this, the producer Ye Bai remarked: “A boss has to have some flair!”
After dodging the tail sweep, the Anger Horn Beast entered a cooldown phase. Ye Bai quickly moved to its side.
‘-30’
Due to the height difference, Ye Bai swung her wooden sword, landing a hit on the beast’s thick leg.
Feeling the attack, the Anger Horn Beast roared and turned towards Ye Bai, raising its front paw high. This wasn’t a skill but a regular attack; however, 300 damage was no different from a skill hit for Ye Bai’s health.
‘-30’
After landing her second hit, Ye Bai immediately retreated.
“Whoosh!”
The Anger Horn Beast’s paw sliced through the air, missing her entirely.
In fact, after reaching level 5, Ye Bai’s speed attribute had increased, and her attack speed had improved slightly. If she had rolled to dodge, she could have landed another hit, but she didn’t want to risk it; rolling had a 5-second cooldown and should be saved for critical moments.
The biggest difference between high-level players and regular ones lies in the former’s ability to remain calm and patient. When facing a boss that could take your life with a single hit, one must never be greedy for more attacks.
‘-30’, ‘-30’, ‘-30’…
Ye Bai danced around the towering Anger Horn Beast, advancing and retreating, rolling with precision, steadily dealing damage. The scene looked perilous, yet she managed to evade each attack, frustrating the once-mighty nightmare boss to the point of impotent rage.
However, the Anger Horn Beast’s health indicated that this would be a long battle.
…
After rolling to avoid another skill, Ye Bai took a brief moment to glance at the time.
Unbeknownst to her, she had been in the game for over eleven hours.
She had spent the earlier hours mining and battling monsters, then dove straight into the boss fight. If this were the keyboard era, such an intense gaming session would have left her body exhausted. Yet, since entering “Wanjie,” Ye Bai had never felt that way.
This was also the main reason she chose to tackle a nightmare-level dungeon right after disabling the free combat mode.
Challenging a nightmare dungeon with starting equipment meant that Ye Bai couldn’t afford a single mistake; she had to remain focused throughout.
In the keyboard era, prolonged focus would lead to tired hands, stiff shoulders, and the potential for hunger or the need to use the restroom. Under such negative conditions, even if one’s awareness was sharp, it was impossible to guarantee flawless execution.
But in a holographic game, the physical body was in a state of rest, and the fatigue of reality was replaced by a focused mind, minimizing the chances of operational errors caused by external factors.
As a result, Ye Bai was able to accomplish something that was impossible in the keyboard era—soloing a nightmare dungeon with nothing but a blank slate!
…
Another hour passed, and after rolling through the area and landing over a thousand hits on the Anger Horn Beast’s legs with her wooden sword, its health finally dropped to 3%.
Suddenly, it halted, standing still, and let out a long, mournful roar towards the sky.
The boss had entered a berserk state!
Ye Bai’s heart raced, and she immediately ceased her attacks, retreating a short distance. She saw the horn atop the beast’s head begin to glow and raised her shield.
Before learning 【Block】, the shield, like her wooden sword, only provided a defensive posture. Once in this stance, her character couldn’t move but could reduce damage by a factor of her attributes multiplied by her weapon’s attributes. For Ye Bai, that meant a reduction of 30 points. Though it seemed small, it was crucial at this moment.
“Roar~~~~”
With a long cry, concentric red waves radiated from the beast’s horn.
“Crack, crack, crack…”
The ground around the Anger Horn Beast shattered like a spider’s web.
When the first wave touched Ye Bai, she experienced her first damage since entering the dungeon.
‘-90’
【Roar Shockwave】 was a full-range skill unleashed by the Anger Horn Beast upon entering its near-death berserk state, consisting of nine waves, each dealing 120 points of shock damage.
This non-physical damage couldn’t be dodged by rolling until Ye Bai learned the psychic defense skill; she could only endure the pain.
The second red wave struck Ye Bai.
‘-90’
Ye Bai’s defensive stance absorbed 30 points of damage, allowing her to withstand the second wave, leaving her health at 45.
Then came the third wave, arriving just as the red light was about to touch her.
In that critical moment, a flash of white light enveloped Ye Bai.
She leveled up!
Her health instantly surged from 45/225 to 250/250, fully restored and even raised her maximum health.
Moreover, the damage from the third wave was nullified.
This was a hidden detail of leveling up; during the 0.5 seconds when the white light appeared, the character was in an invincible state.
Ye Bai had saved her experience points to level up at this crucial moment, using this micro-manipulation not only to heal but, more importantly, to withstand a short-trigger damage effect, like the current 【Roar Shockwave】.
The rest was simple.
When Ye Bai reached level 8, the Anger Horn Beast’s final attack concluded, entering a weakened state with reduced damage and speed. With her health fully restored, she stepped forward to finish off the last of the boss’s health.
“Thud!”
The massive body of the Anger Horn Beast collapsed, its form dissipating into nothingness, while a large pile of loot burst forth.
Among the colorful spoils, one golden item stood out, shining brilliantly…
**Chapter 5**
Blueprint! Legendary level!
Upon recognizing the golden item, Ye Bai’s expression shifted, excitement lighting up her face.
Just one glance, and she knew this blueprint would be the most valuable reward from this dungeon.
Soloing a nightmare dungeon while carefully challenging the boss at the lowest level, it wasn’t uncommon for legendary items to drop. However, it was more likely to receive equipment or materials. Blueprints were precious and practical; for instance, the Nightwalker Cloak blueprint had only a 1% drop rate. Among the many legendary items that could drop from over a dozen bosses, finding a golden blueprint was akin to winning the lottery.
The reason it was deemed the most precious reward was that, as a blueprint dropped by a city-building dungeon boss, it would undoubtedly be a random building blueprint.
Blueprints have their own independent levels, categorized by the rarity of their content: Common (White), Rare (Green), Uncommon (Blue), and Legendary (Gold).
Naturally, among building blueprints, the rarer the blueprint, the more advanced and powerful the building function.
Most importantly, unlike the first three tiers of building blueprints, legendary building blueprints contain what are known as 【Wonder Buildings】—each one is unique across the entire server!
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