143: Chapter 143 Oh no, it's coming for me!

The golden scroll slowly dissipated between heaven and earth.

The peak of the Wind and Snow Divine Mountain returned to a dead silence.

That gigantic phantom remained unchanged and did not speak again.

Chen You stood in place, completely still.

world boss... Shadow Monarch...

Is this thing an Ancient God?

It looks incredibly imposing, and I still have to wait a full day and night!

Chen You looked at himself, then looked at the magic array.

"I... remember you!"

That cold and grand voice seemed to echo in his mind, making Chen You jump and his hair stand on end.

He remembered!

The Tomb of Thousand Lights!

That dark entity summoned by the Meng family crest, which had signed a contract with the entire family!

Back then, that thing was just a projection, which he had purified directly using a stack of Exorcism Talismans as if flushing a toilet.

Before leaving, that projection had seemed to say something nonsensical like, "I will descend for you."

It connects. Everything connects!

Back then, it was a spiritual projection, so using Exorcism Talismans was the perfect counter.

But what is set to descend in 24 hours now is the actual body!

"I knew it, what goes around comes around."

Chen You couldn't help but curse under his breath.

"Now this is great; I've directly pulled the full aggro of a world boss."

One look and it says, "I remember you," which clearly tells him.

When the boss lands, he'll be the first one it tries to crush, right?

He looked up at the glaring red countdown in the upper right corner of his vision.

[ 23 : 58 : 47 ]

One day and one night.

Chen You instantly recalled Hill's cryptic reminder.

It turned out she wasn't saying that completing the mission would take a day and a night, but that the time from triggering the quest until the boss descended would take a day and a night!

"Can't these NPCs just speak plainly? Riddler scum get out of the Source Realm!"

Chen You complained furiously in his heart, but his actions didn't stop.

Now wasn't the time for complaining.

A world boss—judging by the name alone, it wasn't on the same level as ordinary dungeon bosses.

What mechanisms did this thing have?

Were there any special rules?

Was there any clever workaround?

He didn't know anything.

He had to get intelligence!

"Swish!"

Chen You didn't hesitate and directly pulled out a [recall talisman] and crushed it.

A silver light flashed, and his figure instantly vanished from the desolate and desperate peak of the snowy mountain.

...

At the same time, the entire Source Realm was boiling over.

The power of the [World Announcement] was far more terrifying than Chen You had imagined.

It was like a nuclear bomb dropped into a calm lake, stirring up monstrous waves.

Thousand Light City, Teleportation Square.

Countless white lights lit up in succession; those were the players logging in frantically after receiving the news.

"Holy crap! A world boss! Did I read that right? How many years has it been since a world boss appeared!"

"Shadow Monarch? Just the name sounds fierce! The descent location is the Wind and Snow Divine Mountain!"

"Quick, quick, quick! Group up! Are there any brothers going to the outskirts of the Wind and Snow Divine Mountain to stake out? Maybe we can grab the first-hand intel!"

"Who triggered it? The announcement didn't say!"

A player who had just emerged from a dungeon looked blankly at the frenzied crowd around him and casually asked a question.

A nearby Thief, who was "well-informed," immediately put on an expression of "you're out of the loop" and lowered his voice:

"Who else could it be? It's that big shot named 'Chen You' again!"

"Him again?!"

"Absolutely certain! I saw him at the Wind and Snow Divine Mountain! It must be him using some violent means!"

The Thief spoke as if he knew the facts, but in reality, he didn't even know where the Wind and Snow Divine Mountain was.

The sounds of discussion, roaring, and grouping calls turned the entire Thousand Light City into a noisy marketplace.

Countless Adventurers' eyes flickered with greed and excitement, as if what was about to descend wasn't a world-destroying monarch, but a giant moving treasure chest.

The same scene was playing out simultaneously in all the major cities.

This included the territories of the major guilds.

In the grand Titan Temple guild hall in Titan City, the atmosphere was grim.

A Titan Warrior, over three meters tall, with a metallic sheen flashing on the ring-shaped protrusion on his forehead, slammed his fist onto the council table.

"Bang!"

The table, made entirely of obsidian, instantly cracked.

"Summon! Summon all online members of the combat sequence! Also, immediately send someone to notify the Guild Master!"

He looked around, his voice like a massive bell.

"It's been years since a world boss appeared! This time, it must belong to the Titans!"

The Elf God Clan and the Roman God Clan also began gathering their forces, converging toward the Wind and Snow Divine Mountain.

A storm covering the entire Source Realm seemed about to break at any moment.

...

"Swish!"

A white light flashed, and Chen You's figure appeared in the central plaza of Thousand Light City.

The clamor around him made him frown.

He immediately summoned Big White Rabbit and headed straight for the Supreme Tower.

"It's that big shot!"

"He appeared! It must be him!"

"Big shot, wait! Let me fawn over you before you go!"

Chen You's face darkened, and he silently sped up.

Outside the Supreme Tower, the crowd roared, like a pot of boiling water.

Inside the Supreme Tower, however, it was so quiet that one could hear their own heartbeat.

As Chen You stepped through the door, the external noise seemed to be completely isolated by an invisible wall.

Behind the counter, Hill was still wearing a simple, elegant long dress, lowering her head to polish a crystal glass.

Her movements were graceful and focused, as if everything outside had nothing to do with her.

"Hill." Chen You leaned his hands on the bar, his body slightly forward. "A world boss, how does that work?"

Hill's action of polishing the glass paused for an instant.

She slowly raised her head, her beautiful eyes fixed on Chen You, a faint, almost imperceptible smile playing on her lips.

"Once the threads of fate are plucked, they will sound..."

"Stop reciting, Master," Chen You interrupted her expressionlessly. "Get to the point."

The smile on Hill's lips instantly froze.

A clear trace of shock flashed in her usually calm eyes, followed by a fleeting moment of annoyance.

It seemed she recalled an unpleasant memory.

But she quickly recovered her professional, gentle smile.

"Hmph."

A barely audible snort escaped Hill's nose. She put down the crystal glass and finally stopped speaking in riddles.

"A world boss is an open trial set by the supreme laws of the Source Realm for all civilizations."

Her voice regained its coolness, but it lacked some of its ethereal quality and gained more substance.

"A trial?" Chen You urged.

"There are three key points," Hill said, extending a slender finger.

"First, universal participation."

"After the Shadow Monarch descends, Adventurers of any level, any class, or any guild can join the battle."

"No threshold, no restrictions."

Chen You raised an eyebrow.

Universal participation?

This wasn't necessarily a good thing.

"Second, and the most crucial point: relative attributes."

Hill extended her second finger, her tone becoming exceptionally solemn.

"A world boss does not have fixed attributes. Its strength depends on the challengers themselves."

Hill explained, "Simply put, whatever your level is, the Monarch you see will be a boss of that corresponding level."

"A Level 10 Adventurer faces a Shadow Monarch appropriate for Level 10."

"And a Level 92 Titan God Clan member faces a Shadow Monarch appropriate for Level 92."

Chen You frowned slightly.

"Everyone... faces a boss matched to their own level?"

He instantly understood the terrifying logic behind this.

This completely smoothed out the absolute suppression caused by level differences!

The top players on the rankings couldn't instantly kill the boss as if crushing an ant.

And low-level players wouldn't be unable to even scratch its defense due to attribute gaps.

The system, in a manner that could be called 'absolutely fair,' pulled all players onto the same starting line.

"Then how are rewards settled?" Chen You immediately pressed for the core question.

"That's the third point," Hill extended her third finger, a hint of playful anticipation flashing in her eyes.

"Damage contribution. Ranking is based on the percentage of damage dealt to the Shadow Monarch by all Adventurers."

"The higher the damage percentage you inflict, the higher your rank, and naturally, the better the rewards you receive."

Chen You's heart skipped a beat.

The focus was here!

This wasn't just a simple PVE dragon-slaying battle; this was a resource competition disguised as PVE, with the core being extreme PVP!

All participants were direct competitors.