[Dark Underground City]
When Lin Mo and Ning Xi followed the sound and arrived, they didn't see Nether or Frost Dance.
All they saw was a field of Blood Ghoul corpses and shattered skeletons scattered in front of a wooden cabin.
Lin Mo recognized them at a glance. They were the remains of the skeleton warriors Nether had summoned with his talent.
"Looks like they already ran."
Lin Mo couldn't help feeling a little disappointed.
He had missed the chance to catch Frost Dance and get information out of her.
Still, it wasn't a complete loss.
At the very least, Nether and Frost Dance had helped Lin Mo find Mo Chen.
Looking at the wooden cabin ahead, the bracelet on Siya's wrist, the Divine Advent Seraph's Heart of Eternity, suddenly began glowing with a faint light.
Siya seemed to sense something.
Pointing at the cabin, she said, "He's there!"
"It's him!"
"Mo Chen!"
"Mo Chen repaired the Heart of Eternity for me before. It recorded his aura. As long as he's close enough, it can sense his presence."
At this moment, seeing the Blood Ghoul King standing guard in front of the cabin without leaving even a single step, Lin Mo said thankfully, "Looks like we got here just in time."
Just as Lin Mo had expected, even if Nether and Frost Dance had entered the Dark Underground City ahead of them, with just the two of them, at their current level and strength, moving through this level 75 map would have been extremely difficult.
Finding Mo Chen would have been even harder.
Still, they were SSS-rank hidden class holders after all.
One ranked third on Inferno City's leaderboard, the other fourth.
Their strength was definitely no joke.
"Even with a thirteen-level gap, they could barely deal with ordinary Blood Ghouls."
"But this Blood Ghoul King is already far beyond what they're capable of handling."
In fact, Lin Mo had worried for nothing.
Even if he hadn't made it here in time, with Nether and Frost Dance's current strength, they wouldn't have been able to defeat this Blood Ghoul King anyway.
It was obvious that unless this Blood Ghoul King was dealt with, there would be no way to rescue the imprisoned Mo Chen inside the cabin.
Now that they had confirmed Mo Chen was being held inside the cabin before them, Ning Xi smiled happily.
"The Dark Underground City has really complicated terrain."
"If it weren't for them, Brother Lin Mo, we might not have found Mo Chen this quickly."
"Yeah," Lin Mo nodded, "We really have Nether and Frost Dance to thank for this."
His gaze returned to the Blood Ghoul King, "Let's deal with it first, then we'll go find Mo Chen."
"Xiao Xi, get ready for the boss!"
"Mhm!", Ning Xi gripped her staff tightly, full of anticipation.
She was already prepared to land the finishing blow and activate her talent's tenfold reward multiplier for an enormous haul.
After all, this Blood Ghoul King was a Tier-6 Boss.
It was worth a fortune.
The last Tier-6 Boss Lin Mo had encountered in this life had been the level 70 Hellfire Phoenix, the final guardian of the Tenth Hall of Yama Hall.
With Ning Xi's tenfold reward multiplier, that Hellfire Phoenix had dropped an entire Tier-6 full-gold Yama Set.
Of course, as the final Boss of the Yama Hall map, it had a special identity and background that gave it extra value.
But even if this Blood Ghoul King was just an ordinary wild Tier-6 Boss with no special status, even if it wasn't worth as much as the Hellfire Phoenix, its value definitely wouldn't be low.
At the very least, a Tier-6 piece of equipment was guaranteed.
And with Ning Xi's tenfold reward multiplier, if it dropped one Tier-6 piece of equipment, it was equivalent to dropping ten.
If it dropped two, that was the equivalent of twenty.
At this moment, in Lin Mo and Ning Xi's eyes, the thing standing before them was no longer a terrifying super Boss.
It was a massive treasure chest.
At Lin Mo's command, Strong-Maned Pig charged first, gripping his Nine-Toothed Rake as he attacked the Blood Ghoul King.
Lin Mo, Ning Xi, and Ah Li waited, planning to attack only after Strong-Maned Pig had secured the boss's aggro.
After all, this was the monster that had forced even Nether, the second strongest player in Dragon Nation from Lin Mo's previous life, to retreat.
They had to be careful.
The Blood Ghoul King had only just driven away two humans.
Now two more had appeared.
Endless fury filled its ferocious face.
"You damned humans!"
"Get out of this king's territory!"
The Blood Ghoul King threw back its head, opening its bloody maw in a deafening roar.
The next moment...
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
As the Blood Ghoul King's HP dropped by 1% every second, streams of visible crimson light erupted from its body.
S-rank Skill, Blood Annihilation!
By continuously consuming its own HP, it dealt sustained AoE damage to all enemies within a large area.
The Blood Ghoul King's skill had an attack radius of a full 100 yards, twice the range of ordinary ranged attacks.
It was also an omnidirectional attack with no blind spots, piercing through everything.
Lin Mo, Ning Xi, Ah Li, and Siya had no way to avoid it as they were all pierced by the crimson light.
Bloody damage numbers rose above their heads one after another.
-7,325!
-7,416!
-8,116!
-8,102!
Ancestral-grade Dark Gold Strong-Maned Pig could absorb 90% of the damage dealt to its master, Lin Mo.
Ning Xi's SSS-rank talent, Supreme Emperor, also came with 90% damage reduction.
So the two of them only suffered 10% of the incoming damage, which wasn't too serious.
Ah Li and Siya, however, had no damage reduction.
The damage they took was over ten times higher than what Lin Mo and Ning Xi suffered.
Damage numbers exceeding seventy to eighty thousand instantly appeared, Ah Li and Siya were both killed on the spot.
Fortunately, before entering the underground city, Lin Mo had already had Siya place death immunity and resurrection marks on everyone, including herself.
After being killed, Ah Li and Siya automatically revived inside the pet space.
Normally, pets couldn't be recalled during combat.
Using this resurrection "bug," Ah Li and Siya were sent back into the pet space, and Lin Mo and Ning Xi didn't dare summon them again.
Because the Blood Ghoul King's crimson light was still erupting continuously.
Even Lin Mo and Ning Xi, with 90% damage reduction, were reaching their limit.
As for Ah Li and Siya, the moment they appeared, they'd be instantly killed again.
The only one on the battlefield who could withstand it was Strong-Maned Pig.
It had to be said, it wasn't just tanky, it was unbelievably tanky.
With its set skill Peerless: Bloody Battle activated, Strong-Maned Pig's defense exceeded 50,000.
Combined with its talent's 50% final damage reduction, it could withstand attacks from the level 75, Tier-6 Boss Blood Ghoul King.
Each hit only dealt ten to twenty thousand damage.
Even while absorbing another thirty to forty thousand continuous damage for Lin Mo, its HP pool of over 2.6 million was more than enough to handle it.
Not to mention that before entering the dungeon, Strong-Maned Pig had already stacked an enormous shield with its SSS-rank passive Iron Bones: Unbreakable, completely covering its HP bar.
And with the SSS-rank passive Bloodbath: Copper Wall and Iron Fortress, which restored 1% of its maximum HP every second, that was over 26,000 HP per second, Strong-Maned Pig was absurdly tanky.
The Blood Ghoul King simply couldn't hurt it.
At this moment, Lin Mo felt an unprecedented sense of security from Brother Pig.
At first, Lin Mo had only evolved Dark Gold Strong-Maned Pig as a temporary pet before replacing it later.
After all, it had originally just been an ordinary Pipi Pig that evolved into an ordinary pet.
But after going through so much together, Lin Mo had gradually developed a special bond with Brother Zhu.
Moved, Lin Mo said, "I've decided, Brother Pig!."
"We'll never leave each other in this lifetime."
"Just wait. Once I get the chance, I'll definitely visit your hometown and raise your bloodline strength. I'll make you the pinnacle of the Dark Gold clan."
Lin Mo's empty promise worked like a shot of adrenaline for Strong-Maned Pig.
"Roar! Roar!"
Brandishing its Nine-Toothed Rake, it charged straight at the Blood Ghoul King.
Bang!
Just as Lin Mo and Ning Xi were about to reach their limit under the Blood Ghoul King's continuous Blood Annihilation, Strong-Maned Pig smashed its rake into the Blood Ghoul King's head, interrupting its Blood Annihilation skill.
Seizing the opportunity, from the rear line, Lin Mo and Ning Xi immediately locked onto the Blood Ghoul King and unleashed a relentless barrage of attacks.