48: Is anyone actually able to beat Chapter 48 on 1000% difficulty?

After lunch, the three packed up their things and continued on their way. Along the next stretch of the journey, they cleared three more waves of Soldiers. Hu Jinsi was getting more and more comfortable using Spinning Crane Kick; the three-circle spinning kick had almost become a standard routine: Charge into the enemy group, kick them away, heal back to full with healing mist, and move to the next one. Su Wan's Thunderwave was specifically responsible for knocking back any Soldiers who rolled away to escape, while Lin Rui guarded Su Wan's side, dealing with anyone who tried to sneak up from behind. Their coordination was as smooth as a well-oiled machine.

Until they discovered new enemies behind a section of burnt-out low wall.

They were a group of humanoid monsters completely different from the Soldiers. They were half a head taller than the Soldiers, wore chainmail, and held a sword in one hand and a Shield in the other. The Shields were heavy tower Shields with faded kingdom emblems painted on their surfaces. They patrolled the ruined streets in a loose formation, their footsteps heavy and uniform, each step causing the ground to tremble slightly.

"Swordsmen," Lin Rui said in a low voice. "The second type of common enemy mentioned in the data."

Hu Jinsi counted them: five. It was one fewer than the Soldier squads they had encountered before, but the chainmail and tower Shields gave off a sense of oppression far greater than those agile monsters wearing colorful leather armor.

"Let's test the waters first," Lin Rui gestured. "Same old rules: you Charge, I'll follow, and Su will cover the rear."

Hu Jinsi hoisted his staff onto his shoulder, took a deep breath, and activated [Chi Torpedo]!

His figure turned into a blur as he rushed toward the five Swordsmen at the front of the enemy group. Without the slightest hesitation, he immediately activated [Spinning Crane Kick] the moment he got close!

His body spun like a top, his right leg kicking toward the enemy in front with a sharp whistling sound.

"Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!"

Four muffled sounds rang out almost simultaneously. In the nick of time, the four Swordsmen raised their tower Shields at the same time. Hu Jinsi's kick struck the four Shield faces, producing a dull sound like kicking four bronze bells. A massive counter-shock force traveled up from his foot, and Hu Jinsi felt as if his ankle had kicked a solid Block of iron.

[-3] [-4] [-3] [-5]

The damage numbers were pitifully low. After Hu Jinsi finished his three-circle spinning kick, he had only taken off less than a quarter of the 4 Swordsmen's HP. Only the fire damage added by [Hot Boot Spike] left a charred mark on the Shields, which barely made the damage numbers look decent.

After the three-circle kick, Hu Jinsi lost his balance upon landing. The counter-shock force from repeatedly kicking hard objects made his calf muscles spasm slightly. Before he could adjust his stance, the Swordsman in front pushed his tower Shield forward.

[Shield Bash!]

[-12]

The massive impact hit Hu Jinsi in the chest, pushing him back two steps. At the same time, the three Swordsmen to the side circled out from behind the Shield wall, their broadswords swinging down with a heavy whistling sound.

[Heavy Strike!] x3

Hu Jinsi raised his staff to defend, but still took three hits of over a dozen damage each.

[-14] [-15] [-13]

Although his staff blocked part of the blades, the massive impact still made him feel like his internal organs were trembling.

"Jinsi!" Lin Rui roared.

Hu Jinsi did not continue to tangle with them. He gritted his teeth against the pain and used [Expel Harm]. An invisible force of chi drew the surrounding threats onto himself, stabilizing his precarious health bar (+37). Then, he used [Chi Torpedo] to quickly return to Lin Rui's side, planning to first assist Lin Rui in taking care of the Swordsman who had flanked them.

"These guys are ridiculously tough!" Hu Jinsi panted, his back already soaked with sweat.

His gaze swept toward Su Wan's direction. That single Swordsman who had flanked from the right was taking heavy steps, approaching Su Wan step by step. Su Wan retreated while holding her lyre, but although the Swordsman's stride was slow, every step was firm, and the distance was closing little by little.

"Take care of that one first!" Hu Jinsi shouted.

Lin Rui had already moved. He faced the Swordsman with his round Shield, but did not collide head-on; he knew his round Shield couldn't withstand the defensive power of the opponent's tower Shield. He quickly circled to the Swordsman's side, aiming his short spear at the lower body, which had no armor protection. The chainmail only covered down to the waist, and the thighs and calves only had ordinary leather pants.

[-8] [-11] [-9] [-10]...

Lin Rui's short spear thrust out continuously, alternating between Shield Bash and Heavy Strike. The Swordsman tried to use his tower Shield to defend, but the tower Shield was too heavy, and his turning speed was as slow as moving underwater. Lin Rui flexibly circled behind him, his short spear stabbing into the back of his thighs and the back of his knees repeatedly. After two continuous skill rotations, the Swordsman finally couldn't hold on, fell to one knee, and then dissipated into points of Light.

"Taken care of!" Lin Rui turned back.

At the same time, Su Wan quickly initiated [Thunderwave], launching an attack toward the four Swordsmen that Hu Jinsi had previously abandoned, pushing them away from the squad once again.

"These guys..." Hu Jinsi rubbed his numb shoulder. "Not only can they use Shield Block, but the key is that they use their Shields much better than Su Wan."

Su Wan rolled her eyes at him. "Are you saying I'm bad at using my Shield?"

"Wouldn't dare, wouldn't dare." Hu Jinsi waved his hands, but the corners of his mouth were definitely suppressing a laugh. Even in the middle of battle, Su Wan could feel Lin Rui and Hu Jinsi's snarky comments about the speed of her improvement in using Shield techniques.

In the brief lull of the battle, the three quickly summarized their findings. Although these Swordsmen had high defense and heavy attacks, they had a fatal weakness: they had no Charge or movement skills.

"Did you notice?" Lin Rui stared at the four Swordsmen slowly approaching. "When I retreated from the encirclement just now, they just walked over slowly. The distance was no more than twenty meters, and it took them over ten seconds."

"And," Su Wan added, "my Thunderwave was fully effective against them; they have absolutely no damage reduction against magic attacks."

Hu Jinsi's eyes lit up. "That means—"

"Flank them." Lin Rui and Hu Jinsi said the word almost simultaneously.

The tactics were quickly adjusted. Lin Rui faced the four Swordsmen with his tower Shield, in the front maintaining the offensive, his short spear stabbing at their Shield faces repeatedly, making a clanging sound. The four Swordsmen were attracted by Lin Rui's offensive, simultaneously turning their tower Shields to the front, forming a Shield wall.

Hu Jinsi circled around from the flank. Taking advantage of the speed from [Parkour], he stepped on a section of collapsed stone wall, vaulted up, and landed behind the Swordsmen. The Swordsmen heard the commotion and tried to turn around, but the tower Shields were too heavy, making turning extremely difficult. Hu Jinsi clearly saw one of the Swordsmen take three seconds just to turn his body halfway; that amount of time was enough for him to land seven or eight kicks.

[Flurry of Blows]!

With the help of the fire enchantment from Hot Boot Spike, Hu Jinsi launched a fierce attack on the Swordsmen's lower bodies, which had no armor protection. Three consecutive kicks each landed precisely on the back of the knees, calves, and ankles. The flames scorched charred marks onto their leather pants, and the Swordsmen let out muffled roars, but the heavy tower Shields made it impossible for them to defend in time.

Su Wan's [Thunderwave] intervened at the right time. Whenever a Swordsman tried to turn to face Hu Jinsi, the golden sound waves pushed them back to face Lin Rui, forcing them to just take the hits passively.

The three's coordination formed an efficient assembly line: Lin Rui restrained them from the front, attracting the Shield wall's orientation; Hu Jinsi snuck up from behind, focusing on the lower body; Su Wan controlled the rhythm, preventing the Swordsmen from turning. Before Hu Jinsi's chi pool was completely exhausted, the four Swordsmen finally fell to their knees one after another and dissipated into points of Light.

Hu Jinsi sat down on the ground, panting heavily. The previous round of Flurry of Blows had almost drained his chi pool, and his leg muscles were spasming as if he were tap dancing.

"The strength of these Swordsmen is completely on a different level from the Soldiers before," he said.

"These Swordsmen are almost catching up to the weaker elite monsters over in Goldshire," Lin Rui said, putting away his tower Shield and inspecting the new dents on its surface.

Su Wan walked over and replenished Hu Jinsi with a [Healing Word]. Warm white Light fell onto his head, and Hu Jinsi felt the pain ease a little.

"These Swordsmen are clearly defensive-counterattack types; the more of them there are, the stronger their defensive formation," Lin Rui summarized. "If you have the ability, break their defense in one go; if not, you can only outsmart them."

"Actually, maybe tripwires would be perfect for countering these Swordsmen," Hu Jinsi said, leaning against the stone wall to exercise his ankle. "But setting up tripwires just for a few Swordsmen is a bit of a waste of time."

"And these Swordsmen are so slow," Su Wan said. "Actually, we could completely kite them from a distance the whole way."

Hu Jinsi and Lin Rui both looked at her at the same time.

"Thunderwave plus a Light crossbow," Su Wan shook the lyre in her hand. "They can't catch up."

"...Makes sense." Lin Rui nodded. "Let's try it next time."

---

These few Swordsmen left behind a money pouch with less than one hundred credits, and a sword.

[Standard Broadsword]

[Type: Military Weapon]

[Damage: 12-20 / Slashing]

[Attribute Requirement: Strength 15]

[Effect: When you perform a Heavy Strike (Critical Hit) with this sword, you can deal an additional 1 point of slashing damage.]

[Item Description: This slightly heavy one-handed sword is the signature equipment of the Kingdom's regular army. The blade is forged from cheap steel, and its surface is covered with fine grinding marks and rust spots, clearly having been baptized by countless battles. The simple cross-shaped guard has no fancy carvings; only the worn leather on the handle tells of how many enemies it has slain. For a Swordsman charging into battle, it is not sharp enough, but it is reliable enough.]

Lin Rui picked up the broadsword and weighed it. The blade was much heavier than the short spear, but holding it in his hand gave him a solid sense of security. He tried swinging it twice, and the blade cut through the air with a low, mournful sound.

"Strength requirement 15, just right." He tied the broadsword to his waist. "The wooden shafts of the short spears and long spears break too easily in high-intensity battles; this has enough hardness."

"Congratulations on finally having a decent weapon," Hu Jinsi said. "Get a set of half-plate armor, and you can cosplay as one of the Swordsmen here."

Lin Rui didn't respond, only gently patted Hu Jinsi's shoulder with the blade, using just enough force to make the latter wince.

As they continued their journey and drew closer to the drawbridge, the number of enemies began to gradually increase.

What was trickier was that Soldiers and swordsmen began to appear in mixed groups. The Soldiers were responsible for rapid flanking, while the swordsmen were responsible for frontal advancement. Combining these two completely different tactical styles caused the team quite a bit of trouble.

But the trio had already accumulated enough experience. Faced with mixed enemies, their strategy became simple and efficient: first, retreat quickly to create distance, prioritizing the faster Soldiers. Hu Jinsi could clear out most of them with three rounds of his Spinning Crane Kick. Then, they would slowly deal with the slow-moving swordsmen.

The tower Shields carried by those swordsmen were the heaviest type of Shield. Lin Rui had used similar Shields before and was well aware of their drawbacks; anyone wielding such a tower Shield would find it extremely difficult to turn around. After clearing out the Soldiers, the three swordsmen had to face the Jack-of-All-Trades Squad's endless flanking tactics.

"The one on the left is about to turn!" Hu Jinsi shouted. He activated Crane Stance, circled around to the swordsman's back from the right, and unleashed Flurry of Blows! Three kicks landed on the same knee joint, and the swordsman collapsed to the ground before his tower Shield could even turn to face him. Lin Rui followed up with a sword strike from the side, and the enemy dissolved into points of Light.

"The one on the right, too!" Su Wan's Thunderwave pushed the swordsman, who was attempting to turn, back to the front. Lin Rui thrust his broadsword through a gap in the Shield wall, precisely hitting the seam of the chainmail.

This attrition tactic was extremely effective. The tower Shield swordsmen could not outrun the agile trio and could only be worn down to death by the endless flanking. Obviously, these swordsmen couldn't just abandon their tower Shields to race the three of them, so they were quickly eliminated through this exhausting tactic. The scene of the battle was even somewhat absurd: three fully armed, heavily armored swordsmen were being circled like dogs by two boys and a girl. The Shield wall turned left and right, but they could never find their opponent in front of them.

Between fighting and stopping, the time reached nearly four in the afternoon. The squad finally arrived at a location one kilometer away from the drawbridge.

The mountain road was winding, and combined with the constant fighting and resting with monsters, it felt a bit like the saying "seeing the mountain but running the horse to death." But this time, they didn't see any more swordsmen or Soldiers. Ahead was a relatively open clearing, and in the center of the clearing stood a humanoid figure, along with ten skeletons by his side.

"Shadow Mage," Lin Rui said in a low voice. "The first boss."

The figure wore a tattered purple robe, with a hood obscuring most of his face, revealing only a pale, white chin. The phalanges of his hands were exceptionally slender, with a faint blue ghostly Light glowing at the fingertips. The ten skeleton warriors beside him held rusted iron swords and shattered Shields, with weak green soulfire burning in their eye sockets.

While on the road, Lin Rui had already provided Hu Jinsi with a detailed introduction to the monster's attributes.

"After the battle starts, don't wait for Su Wan to finish clearing those small skeletons. Let's go straight into melee to cut down this Mage," Lin Rui said quickly. "Force him to use up his Misty Step quickly. At the same time, keep him from having the energy to control the skeletons, and let Su Wan sing these undead to death with Requiem Chant."

"Misty Step can only be cast three times," Hu Jinsi confirmed. "If we both pursue him, we can exhaust it within 30 seconds."

"Right. Once the undead are dead and he has no displacement ability left, how long can a Mage last?" Lin Rui continued. "After Su Wan finishes singing the skeletons to death, she will switch to singing Spell-Breaking Melody to suppress his spells. That way, he won't even be able to cast Sleep; at most, he'll manage a Shield, and we can just hack him to death."

"What about Bone Finger and Curse of Agony?"

"Bone Finger has an ultra-long range, basically covering the entire battlefield. Getting hit will deduct from your maximum HP and maximum HP cap, which can only recover after resting for a night. Curse of Agony has a shorter range than Bone Finger, but once you are hit, you take damage every 6 seconds for 60 seconds. Fortunately, the check is based on Perception; since your Perception is high, you have a high probability of resisting it. So, try to keep the aggro on yourself."

"This Mage himself has used quite a variety of spells according to the intelligence reports," Lin Rui continued. "Known ones include Mage Hand, Ray of Frost, Light, Shield, Magic Missile, Sleep, Misty Step, Ray of Enfeeblement, Banishment, and Vampiric Touch—these are standard spells. Additionally, there are two special spells: Bone Finger and Curse of Agony."

"So, according to your analysis, this Mage is basically a sitting duck for us?"

"Of course. Why else would we stick with this dungeon after selecting it, even though we could look up information?" Lin Rui gave a rare smile. "The normal strategy involves slowly breaking down the skeletons one by one, during which you have to take damage from the skeletons' retaliation while also tanking the Mage's spell attacks. But we'll just have Su Wan disable the skeletons directly, and the rest is just a straightforward melee fight."

Hu Jinsi nodded: "Then let's do it."

The three of them adjusted their states. Su Wan held her lyre in front of her and took a deep breath; Lin Rui drew his broadsword and held it horizontally by his side; Hu Jinsi hung his long staff on his back and stretched his ankles—the Chi pool that had been exhausted while dealing with the swordsmen had already mostly recovered after meditating along the way.

"Go!"

This was perhaps the least exciting boss battle Hu Jinsi had ever experienced.

Every part of the battle went exactly according to plan. Su Wan's Requiem Chant rang out, and golden sound waves spread in a circle. The ten skeleton warriors trembled, fell apart, and turned into points of Light within the sound waves. After singing for about 20 seconds, these skeleton minions were history. Throughout the process, Su Wan barely expended any effort; the suppression effect of Requiem Chant on the undead was extremely obvious.

The Shadow Mage tried to counterattack with spells, but Hu Jinsi and Lin Rui flanked him from the left and right as soon as the battle started, attacking alternately with the broadsword and long staff, forcing him to use Misty Step repeatedly to dodge.

First Misty Step—he appeared thirty meters away. Hu Jinsi used Chi Torpedo to catch up.

Second Misty Step—he appeared twenty meters away. Lin Rui used Charge to follow up.

Third Misty Step—he appeared ten meters away. But Hu Jinsi used another Chi Torpedo to catch up, his long staff sweeping horizontally.

Misty Step was exhausted, and the skeletons were completely wiped out. The Shadow Mage tried to cast Shield, but Su Wan's Spell-Breaking Melody had already begun. The melody suppressing the spellcasting wove into an invisible net in the air; the Mage's incantation was interrupted halfway through, and a string of meaningless syllables spilled from his mouth.

The only injury was that Hu Jinsi had taken a hit from Bone Finger early in the battle and was locked onto by Curse of Agony. However, he successfully resisted the Curse of Agony's Perception check—after all, a Perception attribute of 20 was not just for show. Bone Finger had knocked off 25 of his HP and also deducted 25 from his maximum HP cap.

But that was all. Fortunately, they didn't plan to continue moving forward today.

Hu Jinsi clutched his shoulder where he had been hit by Bone Finger, watching the Shadow Mage dissolve into points of Light under the double assault of Lin Rui's broadsword and his own body. He had only one thought in his mind: this was too smooth.

After the Mage died, a hat and a pair of boots were left on the ground.

[Anti-Death Hood]

[Type: Magic Item / Head]

[Effect: The wearer takes 3 less negative energy damage (minimum 1)]

[Item Description: A hood sewn from coarse cloth soaked in herbs, emitting a faint scent of camphor mixed with grave soil. It cannot completely isolate the aura of death, but it can make one feel better.]

[Silent Walking Boots]

[Type: Magic Item / Foot]

[Effect: The wearer has an advantage when Stealthing. When traveling long distances in a non-combat state, they will not suffer exhaustion due to terrain.]

[Item Description: The soles are padded with cork and velvet, making almost no sound when walking on gravel or wooden boards, but the surface of the shoes is still stained with mud that hasn't been washed off yet.]

Hu Jinsi picked up the hat and boots and took a look, then sighed: "Su Wan and I both have footwear equipment, and Lin Rui doesn't need the Stealth bonus either, so it's basically useless to us. As for the hat, we have Su Wan, and creatures from the negative energy system can't even get close to us, so it's just something else to sell for money."

"It's alright," Lin Rui said, glancing at the dropped items. "Although our squad can barely use them, anything that can be sold is a good item. I've seen drops from 1000% difficulty, and they are much stronger than this."

"1000% difficulty?" Hu Jinsi turned his head in surprise. "How is that possible? Aren't these dungeons level-restricted? How could people around level ten possibly beat 1000% difficulty?"

"Those people who dropped levels only had their level and level-dependent attributes reduced, but their feats, skills, and equipment are still there," Lin Rui said, sheathing his broadsword at his waist. "Think about it, if we went to fight 1000% difficulty Blood Moor now, wouldn't it be possible?"

"I see..." Hu Jinsi understood a bit. "Then how good is the 1000% difficulty gear you mentioned?"

"Take that hat for example." Lin Rui pointed at the Anti-Death Hood in Hu Jinsi's hand. "To be precise, when 9 people run the dungeon at 1150% difficulty, the drop has this stat:"

[Requiem: 10 times per day, when you witness a creature die within 3 meters of you (including allies), you can restore 6 HP (representing the absorption of dissipated soul energy).]

Hu Jinsi was stunned for a moment, then looked down at the lousy hat in his hand that only reduced negative energy damage by 3 points, and imagined the version that restored 6 HP for every enemy that died.

"Wow, if everyone had one, we wouldn't even need a healer," he exclaimed.

Lin Rui put the Anti-Death Hood into his backpack: "So we still have a long way to go. Let's go, let's find a place to spend the night first, and fight the rest tomorrow."