12: Chapter 12 Legendary Equipment!

Lu Yang had studied the information about the two Hero-grade bosses in the Nightmare-difficulty Withered Forest back in school, and he already knew it by heart.

[Black Treant Kezhi (Hero)]: Rank 6, HP 8000, Attack 150.

For a Rank 6 Hero-tier template, its attributes could only be described as exaggerated.

Under normal circumstances, one would have to assemble an elite squad with excellent equipment and powerful Soul Talents to stand even a slim chance of defeating a boss of this level.

However, Lu Yang was an exception.

With his Immortal Talent, he didn't need to worry about dying at all; he could just slowly wear it down.

Without much preparation, he took a deep breath and charged straight at Kezhi.

The dry, hard earth beneath his feet crackled slightly as greyish-white dust kicked up under his boots and settled back down.

When Lu Yang was still over thirty meters away from Kezhi, the massive withered tree suddenly moved.

The ground trembled violently, and greyish-white soil showered down from Kezhi's thick roots.

Its root System burst out from beneath the cracked earth, twisting and knotting into the shape of legs to prop up its massive body.

At the same time, a pitch-Black Branch whipped through the air like a lash, accompanied by a sharp whistling sound and a powerful gust of wind.

Lu Yang barely caught a glimpse of an afterimage; the speed was so fast that he couldn't even react.

In the next second, Lu Yang felt a wave of intense pain.

-132!

A shocking damage number floated above Lu Yang's head, and more than half of his health bar instantly vanished.

A massive force sent him flying backward, and his back slammed heavily onto the dry, hard ground, kicking up a small cloud of dust.

However, at the exact moment he was injured, damage numbers also popped up above Kezhi's head.

-19! (Thorn Skin)

-33! (Flame Aura)

Based on Thorn Skin's reflection ratio, the damage should have been over 26 points.

But Kezhi's defense was too high, drastically reducing even the reflected damage.

At the same time, because Kezhi had entered the range of Flame Aura, it also took damage from Flame Aura.

However, the damage numbers were also mitigated quite a bit.

Although this round of damage wasn't very high, Lu Yang didn't care.

"As long as I can break through your defense, I'll trade my lives to wear you down. I'll grind you to death eventually."

After taking damage, Kezhi immediately let out an angry roar, its voice raspy and hollow: "Damned human! You court death!"

It waved its thick, long branches and lashed out viciously at Lu Yang again.

-132!

This attack completely emptied Lu Yang's health bar.

Yet in the very next instant, Lu Yang's health bar was full again.

Propping himself up with one hand, he flipped back onto his feet, patted the dust off his breastplate, and continued to charge toward Kezhi.

Up until now, Lu Yang hadn't even stepped within thirty meters of Kezhi.

This was the sheer pressure of a Hero-grade boss.

Even though Lu Yang's current attributes weren't too bad, he was still completely crushed when facing a boss of this level.

Of course, to Lu Yang, this didn't matter at all.

He could even just lie flat and let Kezhi attack him.

He could just lie on the ground and wait for Thorn Skin and Flame Aura to slowly wear Kezhi to death.

However, Lu Yang still had some pride. Since he was being beaten so painfully, he felt he had to at least rush up and slash it with his sword once, right?

Seeing that Lu Yang was dead, Kezhi had stopped its attacks and was about to walk back.

But in the next moment, it saw Lu Yang's health bar restore to full.

It roared, its voice carrying an undisguised trace of disgust: "So you're a disgusting fellow with life abilities!"

Before its voice could fade, a dark gleam suddenly flashed in its deep eye sockets.

Immediately after, the entire ground beneath Lu Yang's feet began to shake violently.

The dry soil cracked into fine lines, and a dull rumbling sound echoed from deep within the earth.

He actually could have tried to flee the area, but on second thought, he remained standing where he was.

In the next instant, sharp roots burst out from underground, crisscrossing like black blades exploding from the soil.

-320!

The roots impaled Lu Yang's body, and a terrifyingly high damage number floated up from his head.

His vision instantly went black.

This was Kezhi's skill, [Root Spikes].

It dealt high damage and had a large area of effect.

According to the guides, there was about a one-second reaction window from the ground's vibration to the roots bursting out.

For professionals with decent agility attributes, there was a chance to escape the skill's range.

But for Lu Yang, there was no need to dodge.

In fact, relying on the damage he received this time, he even reflected over fifty points of damage back to Kezhi.

This was quite delightful.

Once the roots retracted, Lu Yang climbed up from the ground once more, running toward Kezhi as if nothing had happened.

Seeing Lu Yang resurrect yet again, Kezhi grew even more furious.

Several of its thick, black branches twisted together, forming a massive trunk nearly half a meter in diameter, which slammed toward Lu Yang's chest with a dull whooshing sound.

-511!

Lu Yang's chest was pierced straight through, making him look like he had been skewered by a giant spear.

As the high damage number floated up from his head, a reflection of -99! also popped up above Kezhi's head.

When Kezhi pulled its branch back, Lu Yang stood up yet again, alive and kicking, and continued to charge.

Driven utterly mad by Lu Yang's constant resurrections, Kezhi launched attack after attack at him.

Sometimes it used skills, and other times it used basic attacks.

For almost every step Lu Yang took closer to Kezhi, he had to die once or even twice!

Dull thuds echoed continuously across the clearing, as greyish-white dust was repeatedly kicked up into the air and showered back down.

If someone outside were to witness this, the sheer brutality of it would make men fall silent and women weep.

Even Lu Yang himself felt he was pretty badass.

Although he wouldn't die, the pain was very real.

Having his chest pierced by a branch half a meter in diameter, nearly splitting his entire body in two—that kind of sharp pain was enough to make one's scalp go numb.

And that time he was impaled from bottom to top by the tree roots was also ridiculously painful.

Lu Yang's expression was distorted with pain.

However, while Lu Yang was distorted in pain, Kezhi was even more warped.

It realized that no matter how many times it killed this human, he could always stand back up as if nothing had happened.

This sight, which completely exceeded its understanding, made its anger burn hotter and hotter, and its attacks grew increasingly frenzied.

The thick branches slammed down on Lu Yang one after another, the clearing echoing with heavy thuds and the whistling of the wooden trunks cutting through the air.

However, as its attacks grew more frenzied, the reflected damage Kezhi took also became greater.

At the same time, the burning of Flame Aura continuously licked at its withered body.

As a Hero-tier monster, Kezhi already possessed a certain level of intelligence.

By the time Lu Yang had died an unknown number of times, Kezhi's health bar was down to its final fifth.

A trace of unprecedented fear surged in its deep eye sockets, and it shrieked, "Die for me!!"

Following that, massive branches slammed down frantically one after another, pouring down like a torrential rainstorm.

Under the continuous bombardment, Lu Yang's body was almost smashed into a pixelated mess.

Yet every time he fell, he would stand back up in the next second, completely whole.

This round of frenzied attacks lasted for a full three seconds, during which Lu Yang died seven times.

Meanwhile, Kezhi's own health was reduced by over five hundred points due to the reflected damage.

When Lu Yang climbed up from the ground for the seventh time, Kezhi's massive body took an uncontrollable step backward.

Its cracked roots dragged a crooked trail across the ground.

Its mind was filled with question marks.

What the hell is this monster?!

How could someone be completely immortal??

But as a low-level dungeon boss, even though it had some intelligence, it was still tightly bound by the rules.

As long as the enemy remained within its aggro range, it had to attack.

Thus, with a face full of despair, Kezhi could only watch helplessly as its own attacks and the flames drained its very last drop of health.

Its massive trunk fell with a thunderous crash, slamming onto the greyish-white, cracked earth and kicking up a cloud of dust.

Its withered canopy shattered into countless fragments, scattering noisily across the ground.

[Ding! You have slain the Black Treant Kezhi, obtaining some experience, Black Branch (Legendary) *3, Black Bark (Legendary) *1, hand of kezhi (Legendary) *1, "Mighty Strike (Excellent)" *1.]

Looking at the rewards prompted by the System, Lu Yang revealed an excited smile.

Of the four items, except for one, all the others were of Legendary grade!

The one that wasn't Legendary-grade actually turned out to be a skill book!

The only minor regret was that there were quite a few Materials—two whole pieces of Materials.

After all, compared to equipment, the value of Materials was still a tier lower.

Although this drop couldn't be called extremely lucky, it was still not bad.

Lu Yang couldn't wait to open and check the equipment.