15: Chapter 15: Instant Kill, and another instant kill! Rare material [Thug Iron]!

So that was it.

When Zhang Jian attacked just now, he didn't use his precious 100% critical hit chance on a basic attack like he did in the trial dungeon.

He didn't rely on the continuous damage of Sword Qi Slash to directly one-shot the Thug Leader either.

Instead, after repeated calculations and consideration, he used Whirlwind Sword Slash directly.

This was because he had discovered during the previous waves of attacks...

That as long as he stayed within a fixed range, not too far from the furnace...

He would receive a buff that increased his attack power by 20% and his HP and Mana recovery speed by 20%.

And under this buff...

With his boosted attack power further amplified by a critical hit...

Even [Whirlwind Sword Slash] had the potential to one-shot a Thug.

He had taken into account that...

Compared to Sword Qi Slash, which applies all its damage to a single monster at once...

Meaning the crit progress would reset to zero immediately after use...

An AoE skill like Whirlwind Sword Slash attacks and releases from front to back within a fan-shaped area.

In reality, there is a sequence to the attacks on the monsters.

A sudden idea had struck him.

Could he continue to accumulate progress even after releasing the skill?

And in the attempt he just made, he succeeded on the first try!

After the first Thug in the queue was the first to be one-shot...

Every subsequent critical hit continued to build up the progress for the [The More Crits the Merrier] affix.

With the level-gap bonus for being 6 Ranks under, every critical hit increased the progress by a full 7%.

The deaths of the thirteen Thugs and the hits on the Thug Leader...

Resulted in 98% progress!

Just one critical hit away!

Zhang Jian's heart surged with excitement.

Withstanding the Boss's fierce Aura, he swung his sword once more.

He prayed silently in his heart.

"Give it to me!"

-95!

-95!

-95!

-95!

-146! (Critical Hit)

-95!

Among the several white damage numbers, one blood-red number was particularly eye-catching.

Zhang Jian was overjoyed; it worked!

The critical hit affix progress instantly reached 100%.

Zhang Jian turned and charged back into the mob of monsters.

While waiting for his skills to cool down, he dodged continuously.

The Thugs brandished their steel pipes, snarling at Zhang Jian.

However, they were all blocked by Sword Qi Body Protection.

The moment the cooldown ended...

Zhang Jian no longer hesitated.

Whirlwind Sword Slash bloomed magnificently once again.

Wave after wave of staggering damage numbers floated up once more.

The fourteen Thugs dropped dead one after another!

In the blink of an eye...

Only two ordinary Thugs and the Thug Leader remained on the field.

Seeing their companions die instantly, they seemed to daze for a moment.

Zhang Jian did not stop.

Still one critical hit short!

The first Thug.

Six strands of Sword Qi poured down, but no crit appeared.

Behind him, the ear-piercing roar of a chainsaw had already erupted from the Thug Leader's hands.

Zhang Jian suppressed his inner irritation and fear.

He didn't look back.

Instead, he chased after the ordinary Thug, continuing to strike with his sword.

Sword Qi Slash fell once more.

Zhang Jian stared fixedly at the color of the damage numbers.

He only breathed a sigh of relief when he saw a flash of red.

At that moment...

The Thug Leader slammed its chainsaw down heavily toward Zhang Jian, and his Sword Qi Body Protection shattered with a bang.

Amidst Wang Fei's scream...

Zhang Jian turned around resolutely.

Watching the Thug Leader swing the chainsaw again...

The corners of his mouth curled up slightly.

Had enough fun? Now it's my turn to perform!

-2448!

-5910!

-5910!

...

The full Sword Qi Slash hadn't even finished releasing.

Just as the third extra strand of Sword Qi swept past...

The Thug Leader's body suddenly stiffened, its HP instantly emptied.

It was directly sliced into pieces by the Sword Qi Slash and fell heavily.

The chainsaw in its hand also slammed into the ground with an ear-piercing clang.

Only then did Zhang Jian breathe a sigh of relief.

That was close!

At the final moment, he had once again accumulated enough progress for the critical hit affix, and under the attack bonus of the [So You Call Yourself a Boss] affix, he successfully counter-killed the Boss.

If he had been a moment later and the chainsaw had landed on him, he would likely have been the one defeated.

“You have gained 288 (+806) experience points.”

“You used [Sword Qi Slash] to successfully kill an ordinary monster 7 Ranks higher than yourself; your kill progress has increased by 256 points!”

“[I Only Hit the Elite] kill progress increased by 128 points.”

“[So You Call Yourself a Boss] kill progress increased by 128 points.”

“You have completed the third wave of attacks; Points +25.”

“Party size is between 2 and 4 members; points increased by an additional 100%.”

“All party members are challenging above their Rank; points increased by an additional 100%.”

“You have accumulated a total of 75 points.”

The third wave likely had higher base points because of the Boss's presence.

With the bonuses for party size and the level gap, it skyrocketed to 75 points.

The duo's total points reached 195!

They were almost able to exchange for two skill books.

However, since the quality was random and the effects uncertain, the two did not make a move rashly.

“You have cleared the 3rd wave. Normal difficulty completion: 30%. Exiting now will grant a C-Rank evaluation and an additional 2500 experience points.”

Seeing the prompt that they could exit the dungeon early, Wang Fei was filled with wonder.

“Brother Jian, you're amazing! Soloing a Boss, my god!”

After the Boss died, he received 144 experience points all at once, successfully reaching Rank 6.

Even if they exited the dungeon now, the additional experience was ridiculously high; it would fill half the bar for Rank 7 in no time.

He thought back to when Ye Wenjie and the others were bragging after clearing the Hard-level trial dungeon...

They were boasting about gaining a few hundred extra experience points; it seemed laughable now.

Zhang Jian, however, remained very calm.

“Stop praising me for a moment and let's see the loot.”

The two approached the Boss's body.

Two glows were flickering continuously.

“Brother Jian, you do it!”

Wang Fei gestured.

Zhang Jian didn't stand on ceremony and picked them up directly.

[thugs refined iron]

Quality: Rare

A valuable material for forging weapons. Adding it to a recipe increases the probability of the Critical Hit Rate attribute appearing.

Zhang Jian blinked.

This material is pretty good!

He continued looking down.

[Thug's Steel Blade]

Quality: Rare

Level Requirement: 10

Attack Power +40

Strength +12

As a Rank 10 weapon, its attack power was clearly on another level.

Even though it was only Rare quality, it was higher than the Superior quality items he had dropped before killing the BOSS.

It was just that the level requirement was too high for Zhang Jian to equip it yet.

However, since this was an open dungeon, the drops were not bound, so he could sell it for some money once they were out.

For a Boss monster, these two drops were considered decent.

Both were in a good mood.

But for Zhang Jian, the other gains were more important.

After one-shotting dozens of Thugs in a row, the progress increased by hundreds of points at a time thanks to the level-gap bonus.

Another affix had leveled up.

[whats there to say about getting one-shot] (Superior) (+4)

After you one-shot a monster no lower than your own Rank, you will automatically recover 5% of your maximum HP.

(To upgrade affix effect: One-shot: 28/10,000 monsters)

(To upgrade affix quality: 1 type of special affix of the same quality)

With enough accumulated experience, he had already reached Rank 5 after the battle.

After equipping both the [moon shadow wolf fang blade] and the [crescent wolf king armor]...

His HP reached 610 points, meaning this affix could recover 30 HP after one-shotting a monster!

It didn't seem like much.

But under the effect of [Whirlwind Sword Slash], if he one-shot a dozen monsters at once, he could recover several hundred HP.

The harder the one-shot, the more stable the stand!

And after equipping the [moon shadow wolf fang blade]...

His attack power soared to 170 points.

His Critical Hit Rate and Critical Damage also increased together.

In the following fourth wave, the monsters became Rank 11 Sharp-toothed Rats.

Although their attributes were a bit higher than the Thugs, they were no match for Zhang Jian.

With his increased attack power, even against monsters with higher HP, [Whirlwind Sword Slash] could still one-shot them if a critical hit occurred.

And after the fourth wave ended...

Zhang Jian's main skill affix finally leveled up.