40: The black-robed apostle, the power of true injury!

The black magic flames were like maggots on a bone; once touched, they would cause a state of continuous Burning Effect and health loss.

Seeing that there was no place to step, Lin Yue subconsciously wanted to run out of the cave.

"Adventurer, you cannot leave the cave. Once my spellcasting is interrupted, I will be unable to locate the controller for a short time."

The Auspicious Beast's voice sounded again, its hurried breath revealing weakness.

Looking at the Auspicious Beast shrouded in a golden shield, Lin Yue almost cursed out loud.

"You can take it, but I can't, and I can't even counterattack."

"Hold on, two more minutes."

What a crappy mechanic, not even letting people run.

Lin Yue cursed under his breath and could only grit his teeth and endure it; Vibrant Life could restore 750 HP per second.

Two minutes meant 90,000 HP, plus the passive percentage health regeneration—it was worth a shot.

By now, the magic flames had reached Lin Yue's feet. Since he couldn't run, Lin Yue simply swapped all his equipment for tanky defensive gear, increasing his health by another 30,000, adding to his original 150,000 HP.

A total of 180,000 HP.

-4999

-4999

-4999!

The magic flame's damage was lower than that of Demon Shadow Flash Strike, but its duration was long—a full thirty seconds of roasting. If Lin Yue hadn't swapped his equipment temporarily, he might have been insta-killed by this wave.

Under the rapid recovery of Vibrant Life, Lin Yue's health slowly rose to around 210,000.

He immediately used Purify to clear all negative statuses and resumed the tug-of-war battle with the Demonized Gold-Swallowing Beast.

Sprint!

Now that the opponent's magic flame skill was on cooldown, Lin Yue decisively used the Sprint skill, turning into a small human-shaped whirlwind to maneuver around the Demonized Gold-Swallowing Beast in the cave.

With a two-minute Sprint state, as long as Lin Yue didn't get hit by the Demonized Gold-Swallowing Beast's Demon Shadow Flash Strike, he could withstand the next wave of magic flames even by tanking it head-on.

A white shadow and a black shadow chased each other around the cave. A full minute passed, and the black shadow couldn't even touch the corner of the white shadow's clothes.

Roar!

With the magic flame's cooldown over, the Demonized Gold-Swallowing Beast angrily emitted bursts of black flames, attacking Lin Yue once again.

-4999

-4999

Countless damage numbers continuously popped up over Lin Yue's head, but he didn't panic at all, standing right there and letting the magic flames burn him.

His health had recovered to 250,000 points. Even with thirty seconds of magic flames, it was impossible to insta-kill him.

Finally, the five-minute countdown ended, and the Auspicious Beast finally stood up.

"Found him, he's nearby!"

"You go deal with him; I will block my descendant."

The Auspicious Beast quickly told Lin Yue the controller's location, then turned around and began taking a one-sided beating from the Demonized Gold-Swallowing Beast.

Truly a scene of fatherly love and filial piety!

Lin Yue shook his head and walked quickly to the cave entrance, looking around and up. On a cliff, he discovered the Black-Robed Man almost shrouded in darkness.

"I finally found you."

Lin Yue had been holding back his anger; being hit for five minutes without fighting back had made him very irritable now.

Chain Fireball!

Explosive Flame!

Having found the target, the horn of counterattack was blown. However, before Lin Yue could vent the frustration in his chest, the Black-Robed Man's robes moved without wind, and a mirror-like ink-colored shield appeared on his body.

Good grief, another Magic Shield!

Lin Yue's teeth itched with rage; it seemed the Demon God's subordinates all knew this move.

"Adventurer, your magic cannot break my Magic Shield. Give up. The treasure of the gods is not something you Mortals can obtain."

"Bullshit, I'm going to use magic to defeat magic!"

After a chuunibyou-like outburst, Lin Yue calmed down. The Black-Robed Man didn't seem able to counterattack as he was focusing all his power on controlling the Demonized Gold-Swallowing Beast, which was exactly his chance.

Eye of Insight!

He raised his hand and threw an investigation skill at the opponent.

Black-Robed Apostle: Rank 20 Boss

HP: ???

Attack Power: ???

Skills: ???

Just like the Auspicious Beast, this Black-robed Person also had a treasure protecting him from investigation; only his Rank could be seen, no other information.

Although he didn't get other information, Lin Yue understood that this Black-Robed Man's strength should not be weaker than the Auspicious Beast's, otherwise the Auspicious Beast wouldn't have been so passive.

The previous one was an Evil God Emissary, and this one is called an Apostle. It seems an Apostle's strength is greater than an Emissary's.

Quickly analyzing the situation, Lin Yue's eyes were cold. The staff in his hand had already fused with his right hand, and countless explosive fireballs bombarded the Magic Shield.

Different from the previous battle against the Evil God Emissary, this time, Lin Yue's damage carried True Damage.

Rumble!

-1555

-1588

Critical Hit

-3145!

The effect of the True Damage was only one-tenth of his Magic Power, but it didn't matter. Even if the opponent's HP exceeded three million, as long as he could deal damage, he could grind him down.

The Black-Robed Man on the cliff felt the slight penetrating force coming from the Magic Shield. His brow furrowed, revealing a look of surprise.

"You can actually deal True Damage?"

It was no wonder the Black-Robed Man was surprised. If this were a main city, he might find it normal, but the key was that this was in the Novice Village. How could there be an Adventurer who could deal True Damage?

Ignoring the Black-Robed Man's question, Lin Yue grinned. Now, it was finally time for his counterattack... Meanwhile, in Xuanwu City,

Feng Yun, Young Master Leng had already reached Rank 12 by now, and in another half-day, he would be able to reach Rank 13.

Thanks to the advantage of White Emperor taking him to level up earlier, he was now firmly in the number one position on the leaderboard.

Looking at White Emperor on his friend list, who had just reached Rank 11, he was probably still in the Novice Village.

Otherwise, with his strength, it was possible he would have reached Rank 15.

By now, the leaderboard had undergone massive changes.

Because Lin Yue opened the Dungeon of Gloomy Ruins in advance, the Ranks of elite players from various guilds had taken a leap.

There were already quite a few Rank 11 players, and a large number of Rank 10 players.

Among them, the momentum of the Overlord Guild mentioned by White Emperor was particularly fierce. Because they used unscrupulous means to level up quickly in the early stages, they rapidly increased their strength in the Dungeon of Gloomy Ruins, becoming the first wave of people to reap the rewards.

Although Feng Yun, Young Master Leng's individual Rank was high, the Ranks of his guild members couldn't keep up. It seemed these Rank 11 and Rank 12 World Bosses would truly belong to the Overlord Guild.

Not only that.

Many other large guilds and clubs, those who were paying attention to White Emperor, discovered a problem.

White Emperor had already dropped out of the top ten on the leaderboard. Although his strength was impressive, he no longer had the same momentum as before.

"What is this White Emperor doing? Is he still in the Novice Village?"

"He's already Rank 11, so probably not. Maybe he's delayed by something in the real world."

"No matter what, White Emperor can no longer pose a threat to our Overlord Guild. If he doesn't stabilize his number one position, it will be hard for him to catch up later."

Overlord Invincible said disappointedly in the team channel.

He had originally thought White Emperor would be a decent opponent, but now it seemed he was nothing more than this.

After thinking for a moment, Overlord Invincible sent a message to the guild's middle management.

"Prepare yourselves. After the main force reaches Rank 11 tomorrow, we will conquer the World Boss!"

"Understood!"

...