37: 【Dragon Burial Tomb】

Now, with these three buffs—two bad, one good—the answer seems obvious.

However, Shi Li knew that in roguelike mode, what's good might not stay good, and what's bad doesn't necessarily mean it will remain bad.

Nevertheless, to get familiar with the task first, he still chose C, the safest option.

After all, the first two debuffs severely impacted combat power; they might encounter the first small monster and be wiped out.

After choosing C, new text appeared.

"Everyone quickly ran towards the right fork in the road, successfully escaping the rolling boulders."

"Then, on a small altar, they discovered a large amount of gold."

"The valuable haul immediately boosted everyone's morale."

"Obtained BUFF [Discovered Treasure]: In this simulated mission, all character cards' attack power +10 points (stackable)."

"Continuing forward, a new fork in the road appeared again."

"Please help them make a choice."

"A. Left fork in the road; there's a faint smell of decay."

"Can obtain BUFF [Victim's Equipment]: In this simulated mission, all character cards' HP +30 points (stackable)."

"B. Right fork in the road; a faint, ominous aura emanates from it."

"Will encounter combat."

"Which one should I choose?"

Shi Li was hesitant for a moment.

Logically speaking, there would also be benefits after combat.

So, this looked like a multiple-choice question where both options offered benefits.

Just as he hesitated for a short while, new text suddenly appeared.

"While everyone was hesitating, that careless fellow accidentally triggered a mechanism again and discovered a secret passage."

"You have gained an unknown option."

"?. Enter the secret passage."

"This careless guy seems a bit off; could he be the character card I eventually get?"

Shi Li couldn't help but complain.

After about half an hour of strategizing, Shi Li finally arrived at the final Boss battle.

He sent Red Blade Maiden to participate in all the battles he encountered along the way.

Because unique relic cards are different from ordinary relic cards, they only have 0% and 100% completion.

As long as he could pass, no matter what means he used, it was fine.

If he could pass in one go now, that would be even better, saving money and effort.

In fact, Shi Li believed that as long as he could reach the Boss, it counted as a success.

The chances of passing in one go were very high.

"With Red Blade Maiden in hand, Boss battles are really much easier."

Under the various positive buffs, Red Blade Maiden's combat power was incredibly fierce.

Her basic damage alone could deal nearly 300 damage with a normal attack.

Moreover, she had powerful Recovery, which meant she could use skills without consuming any HP.

So, Shi Li confidently clicked on the Boss battle option.

The surrounding scene was a magnificent Dragon Burial Ancient Tomb hall, grand yet empty.

Only a single coffin stood alone in the very center.

As soon as the card game began, the coffin appeared on the card table.

"Millennium Wooden Coffin"

Persistence, Attack 0, 20000 / 20000, 0 / 300

"Mysterious Runes - Passive": When the Millennium Wooden Coffin's energy is fully Charged, it will successfully open.

"Forced Break - Passive": If the Millennium Wooden Coffin's HP drops to 0 before its energy is fully Charged, the Boss will be weakened.

"Twenty thousand HP? That's too simple."

A Persistence card Recoverys 15 energy per hit, so 300 energy means 20 hits.

And the wooden coffin has 20,000 HP, which means each hit needs to deal an average of 1,000 damage.

For others, achieving such high single-hit average output might be difficult.

But Shi Li had Red Blade Maiden, who could slash for 2200+ damage.

Taking it down would be effortless.

To maximize benefits, Shi Li even had the Momentum cards in his deck attack first to Recovery energy.

Anyway, Red Blade Maiden only needed 5 hits, leaving 14 hits to spare.

Controlling the number of attacks this way, the wooden coffin was broken when its energy reached 195 / 300.

"Crack!"

When the first crack appeared on the surface of the wooden coffin, more cracks quickly followed.

Soon, a network of cracks covered the entire surface of the coffin.

"Roar..."

Then, a low growl emanated from within.

"Boom!"

The entire coffin then exploded in place, filling the air with smoke.

In the smoke, Shi Li could vaguely see a tall figure.

"It's not a dragon."

He had originally thought that since this mission was called Dragon Burial Ancient Tomb, a dragon should be lying in the final coffin.

When the smoke cleared, the opponent's appearance was fully revealed.

From its outstretched hands, Shi Li immediately identified the type of enemy.

A zombie, this was a zombie.

Light blue skin, with a yellow talisman bearing unknown runes pasted on its forehead.

Its upper body was unclothed, revealing numerous scars from its former life.

"Ancient Tomb Royal Guard"

Persistence, Attack 300, 0 / 300

HP: 1000 / 1000 + 1000 / 1000 + 1000 / 1000 +... "Multi-core Corpse Core - Passive": The Ancient Tomb Royal Guard's HP is divided into 20 segments.

"Ancestral Dragon Protection - Passive": The Ancient Tomb Royal Guard has [Plating] and [Super Armor] effects.

"Yin Qi Abundant - Passive": When the Ancient Tomb Royal Guard's energy is fully Charged, it gains [Invincible] effect.

"General's Order - 100 Energy": When there are fewer than 8 units on the field, the Ancient Tomb Royal Guard automatically summons 3 [Ancient Tomb Servants].

"Ancient Tomb Servant"

Balanced, Attack 0, 100 / 100

"Sincere Sacrifice - Passive": Each Ancient Tomb Servant provides 10 energy to the Ancient Tomb Royal Guard every turn.

"This..."

After seeing this panel, Shi Li fell silent.

Among all the mission Bosses he had encountered, this Boss had the most complex mechanics.

Even Crimson Blade's one-star and one-star to two-star Bosses couldn't compare to it.

He had to prevent its energy from fully Charge to enter [Invincible] state, and also prevent too much energy from accumulating, which would summon too many servants and thus increase the Charge speed.

And it was immune to all hard crowd control and negative effects.

But these weren't the key issues; they were still within controllable limits.

What made Shi Li most speechless was the meaning of this Boss's HP bar.

He had just finished saying that Red Blade Maiden was invincible against Bosses, and now such an anti-instant-kill Boss appeared.

It was completely Red Blade Maiden's bane.

He had seen this kind of mechanism in books; it was a very rare type.

For example, with these 20 HP bars, no matter how much damage was over-dealt, only 1 bar could be cleared per turn.

This meant that to defeat it, he would need at least 20 turns.

20 turns? His deck would have been completely wiped out long ago, with not even a speck left.

As Shi Li expected, after an intense battle, he lost the card game without any suspense.

"Unfortunately, this mission failed."

"Yes / No, spend 2000 cubic coins to reset this mission."

"The price went up again..."

Shi Li was helpless about this outcome.

One-star simulated missions didn't consume much mental energy; he had refreshed Dragon Burial Ancient Tomb 8 times today, spending 16,000 cubic coins.

His once full pockets now only had 1,000 left after three days.

"That's enough for today."

Looking at the time, he could only choose to stop.

Firstly, because he was almost out of money, and he hadn't fully familiarized himself with this simulated mission yet; even if he refreshed it two more times, the result would probably be the same.

Secondly, because tomorrow was the 32-to-16 and 16-to-8 rounds of the simulated unified exam, which was very important, and he needed to get a good rest tonight...