17: Chapter 17 [The Butcher of the Night]! The Guardian Forge is on the verge of collapse!

In front of the main gate, Wang Dong raised his personal terminal again and frowned.

"It seems they've been in there for almost an hour already?"

The man known as Brother Hu nodded.

"It looks like these two young brothers are making smooth progress!"

Wang Dong shook his head.

"I know my brother well. Although his class is decent, he's usually timid and clumsy. He needs a lot of training to become a proper Professional. How could he possibly perform this well?"

He stared fixedly at the other man, his tone cold.

"I'm saying, Brother Hu, has something already gone wrong for them?"

The short man also tucked away his smile.

"What do you mean by that?"

"I'm just a dungeon administrator. Am I supposed to be responsible for the safety of those who enter the dungeon?"

Wang Dong also felt his tone was a bit off, so he quickly forced a smile.

"I didn't mean it like that."

"I just feel like something isn't quite right..."

Brother Hu let out a breath.

"I understand your concern."

"I can see from the terminal that the people in the dungeon still have vital signs; there's no problem..."

"How about this."

His eyes darted around.

"You pay another 100,000, and I can find a way to set a health threshold in the dungeon."

"If the health of either person falls below 10%, the dungeon will be forcibly terminated, and the two can exit in time. How about it?"

Wang Dong felt a sharp pang of annoyance.

Generally speaking.

Except for trial dungeons which have an automatic health warning line that allows for a lossless exit...

Other normal dungeons require setting a life limit bound to the Professional before entering.

Usually, this also costs quite a bit of money.

He had originally thought...

This was a Defense Mode dungeon.

If the two saw things going south, they could completely exit in time before the next wave arrived.

They wouldn't put themselves in a dangerous situation.

But looking at it now.

So much time had passed; even if they were just playing it safe and slow, they should at least be at the fourth wave by now.

According to Brother Hu, the monsters they'd face would basically be Rank 11 or even higher.

Even if the two were lucky and defeated the boss monster of the third wave...

By now, their supplies would likely be exhausted and their physical strength heavily drained.

The further they went, the more difficult it would become.

One careless mistake, and they might not have time to exit the dungeon before being buried inside.

Wang Dong thought it over and over, finally gritting his teeth.

"Fine, 100,000 it is!"

Brother Hu happily took the money and spent some time configuring the dungeon terminal.

He pulled over a lounge chair and lay down comfortably.

"Now you can rest easy."

"With this layer of protection, the further they go, the greater their harvest will be."

"Maybe they can even earn back the ticket money!"

A glimmer of hope also flashed in Wang Dong's eyes.

Since they hadn't come out for so long, maybe these two kids really did have some skill?

...

Clearing the waves smoothly all the way made Wang Fei feel a bit light-headed.

Especially after accumulating experience from three waves, he directly leveled up [Strategy and Tactics] twice in a row.

After the original effect was enhanced, it could reduce Zhang Jian's skill cooldown by 39%.

And under the affix bonus of [Brothers Are Awesome], this number directly became 68.25%.

This also reduced the cooldown of Zhang Jian's [Whirlwind Sword Slash] to less than 10 seconds.

From these three waves of monsters, he had accumulated over 46,000 experience points, raising [Whirlwind Sword Slash] by another level.

The damage of each Sword Qi became 91% of his Attack Power.

Relying on [Whirlwind Sword Slash], he could still carry out his infinite critical hit plan.

Just when he thought they could smoothly clear the 10th wave...

As it turned out.

At just the ninth wave, the two encountered a thorny challenge.

[Night Butcher] (Elite)

Rank: 14

Health: 26,000

Damage: 255

Defense: 68

Skills: Bloody Long Hook, Night Force Field

Initially.

Aside from Wang Fei being somewhat amazed by the opponent's exaggerated attributes...

Zhang Jian didn't take it too seriously in his heart.

No matter how high the health and defense, can it withstand my infinite critical hit Sword Qi Slash?

No matter how high the attack, Sword Qi Body Protection is enough!

But this fat man carrying a long hook and walking unsteadily truly taught Zhang Jian a lesson.

With one Bloody Long Hook, he directly hooked Wang Fei into the air.

His entire health bar dropped by more than half, scaring him so much his face turned pale and he started howling.

Although Zhang Jian acted to pull the opponent's aggro onto himself...

And even relied on Sword Qi Body Protection to block several attacks...

After the elite monster released the [Night Force Field]...

Zhang Jian's health recovery speed, attack speed, and movement speed all slowed down.

Seeing his Sword Qi Body Protection rapidly decreasing...

He was about to be worn to death by this large-scale debuff skill.

Zhang Jian immediately changed tactics, no longer focusing on just grinding the opponent down.

He had Wang Fei change the designated option of [Strategy and Tactics] to increasing Attack Power.

Although the base increase was only 5%, after the level-gap and solo bonuses, it was only 15%.

But under Zhang Jian's [Brother] affix, the effect increased further.

At the very least.

His Attack Power was already enough to one-shot Rank 12 mobs.

He could activate the [whats there to say about getting one-shot] affix at any time.

Relying on the 30 points of health recovery brought by a one-shot kill, he could barely maintain himself.

This wave was the most difficult one they had dealt with.

Zhang Jian didn't even dare to use [Whirlwind Sword Slash].

He was afraid that if these living health packs were quickly dealt with, it would be even harder to handle this elite monster hidden in the Night Force Field.

Fortunately.

Once Zhang Jian stabilized his footing, the rest was just a matter of persistent effort.

During this, another small setback occurred.

Once, Zhang Jian's attack was slightly slow, and the monster seized the opportunity to break through his blocking.

It swung its long hook several times at the Power Furnace behind them.

Instantly, it knocked off over 1,000 points of health.

The furnace's health dropped sharply by one-tenth.

Startled, Zhang Jian hurried to catch up and pull the aggro back.

The furnace could not be destroyed; otherwise, they would be teleported out of the dungeon immediately.

All their previous efforts would be in vain.

Facing the elite again, he restabilized the situation.

When he once again slashed through the air with his sword...

The [Night Butcher]'s scarred and obese body could no longer support itself and crashed to the ground.

"You have gained 1,440 (+7,200) experience points."

"You have successfully killed an elite-level monster 9 Ranks higher than yourself using [Sword Qi Slash]; your kill progress has increased by 2,560 points!"

"[I Only Hit the Elite] kill progress has increased by 1,280 points."

"[So Youre the So-Called Elite] kill progress has increased by 512 points."

"You have completed the ninth wave of attacks, points +45."

"The number of team members is greater than 1 and less than 5; points are increased by an additional 100%."

"All team members are challenging above their Rank; points are increased by an additional 100%."

"You have accumulated 135 points."

"You have passed the 9th wave; normal difficulty completion is 90%. Upon exiting, you can receive an A-Rank evaluation and an additional 5,000 experience points."

After this battle, Zhang Jian felt a bit exhausted.

He sat on the ground, panting slightly.

But looking at the rapidly increasing progress of various affixes, he felt like he wasn't that tired anymore.

He was somewhat glad he had stopped his idea of automatic leveling.

Without such amazing level-gap bonuses, how long would it take to stab them one by one?

And after the opponent died, there were two drops, which Wang Fei picked up.

[butchers refined iron]

Quality: Rare

A valuable material for refining weapons; adding it to a recipe increases the probability of the Attack Power percentage attribute appearing.

Zhang Jian suddenly sat up.

It actually increases the Attack Power percentage?

Good stuff!

It would be a bit of a pity to sell this.

It's just that he didn't know how to refine weapons yet, let alone have the corresponding recipe.

He could only solemnly put it away for now.

The other item was a blood-red long hook flashing with a cold light.

[Blade of the Night]

Quality: Rare

Rank Requirement: 14

Attack Power +85

Strength +20

The attack power of this weapon was so high it practically made Zhang Jian drool.

Unfortunately, the equipment Rank was too high; he could only look on with envy.

The two were just celebrating...

When a sharp warning sound rang out.

"Reminder!"

"A BOSS will be coming in the next wave; please handle it with care!"