45: Chapter 45 What does it mean when the boss dies before you even see him?

[Ding! You have killed Goblin High Shaman Graybone, and obtained: some experience, Graybone Mask (Legendary) * 1, Ancestral Totem Fragment (Legendary) * 1, Ancestral Bone Staff (Legendary) * 1, "Bone Spear Storm (Legendary)" * 1.]

Same formula, same drop situation.

Shen Qingci and the other three looked at the drop notifications, completely numb to it.

It was another three pieces of Legendary equipment plus one Legendary skill book.

Lance hugged his staff, nodded, and said with a matter-of-fact expression: "As expected of my Brother Lu."

Rebecca and the other three did not refute it.

They had truly witnessed Lu Yang's drop rate firsthand.

Rebecca muttered: "Does this guy really not use cheats? Speaking of which, the digitalized Universe feels similar to some online games; could there be cheats too?"

Shen Qingci glanced speechlessly at the muttering Rebecca, her pure and pretty face carrying a hint of exasperation: "What are you talking about? How could such a thing exist?"

Rebecca retorted: "Then how do you explain Lu Yang's drop rate?"

Shen Qingci opened her mouth, thought for a long time, her fair cheeks blushing slightly, and finally choked out: "I-It's possible that classmate Lu Yang is just better-looking? Didn't he just say that?"

Rebecca: "..."

Zhu Tongchen: "..."

Lance: "..."

The three of them looked at Shen Qingci in shock.

"No way, you actually believe such nonsense?!"

Rebecca's lips even twitched, and blue veins popped up on her forehead.

She took a deep breath, looking utterly exasperated as she said: "With a brain like yours, even if Lu Yang tricked you away, you'd probably still say he did a good job tricking you."

Shen Qingci instantly blushed: "How is that possible?! I wouldn't be fooled, alright?!"

While refuting it verbally, her heart involuntarily echoed Rebecca's words.

Classmate Lu Yang wanted to trick her away?

This... this wouldn't be very good, right?

Naturally, Lu Yang had no idea that the four of them had started a new round of discussion behind his back regarding his drop rate.

He had already started checking the equipment and skill books.

After just a few glances, Lu Yang lost interest.

The Graybone Mask was a mage-type helmet.

The Ancestral Totem Fragment was a mage-type accessory.

However, this accessory was quite good.

[Ancestral Totem Fragment (Legendary)]: Accessory, Intelligence +12, Stamina +8, Mana Regeneration Speed +30%, Required Rank: 8

It could increase mana regeneration speed by a full 30%.

It could be said to be a top-tier low-level accessory for mages.

If there were no better accessories, this thing wouldn't become outdated even up to the First Tier.

After all, mana recovery was too important for mages.

The Ancestral Bone Staff was also a mage-type staff weapon.

And that "Bone Spear Storm" was naturally a mage-type skill.

Looking at this row of mage-type drops, Lu Yang felt mentally exhausted.

There was no helping it; Graybone itself was a mage-type class, so it was completely normal for it to drop mage-type equipment and skill books.

But then again, this Bone Spear Storm... did Graybone really have this skill?

Lu Yang felt that maybe he killed it too fast, and it didn't have time to use this skill?

After all, in the final stage just now, Graybone seemed to have gone berserk and transformed...

It was a pity that it got one-shot right after transforming; it most likely still had its ultimate skill bottled up and failed to unleash it.

Lu Yang stopped thinking about it, turned around, beckoned to Shen Qingci and the other three, and smiled: "Come over, let's continue."

Shen Qingci and the other three also stopped discussing what was going on with Lu Yang's luck.

They trotted to catch up with Lu Yang.

The team continued deeper.

During the subsequent mob stage, Lu Yang still didn't make a move, instead continuing to let Rebecca and the others hone their combat abilities and accumulate combat experience.

Lu Yang even discovered a very good training method.

He directly turned off the Frost Aura and turned the Flame Aura up to maximum, reaching a range of nearly two kilometers.

Then he suppressed the power of the Flame Aura to the bare minimum, dealing only about one or two points of damage per second.

Suddenly, all the Goblins nearby were enraged by this weak scorching and surged in from passages in all directions, elites and bosses mixed together, with wave after wave of monster tides!

Having passed through the passages after Graybone, the Rank of the Goblins had increased once more.

Most of them were Rank 8 Goblins, and occasionally even Rank 9 Goblins could be seen.

Most of them were elites, with a small portion being bosses.

The number of bosses was also noticeably more than before.

If they were just elite monsters, it naturally posed no pressure for Rebecca's four-person team.

But with a few bosses mixed in, the situation was completely different.

No matter how tough Rebecca's defense was, facing the monster tide, she had to tense her mind and block attacks with all her might.

Even Shen Qingci needed to use frost-type skills to slow and kite, buying time for the team to adjust their positioning.

Zhu Tongchen had to shuttle quickly across the battlefield, finding terrain suitable for positional warfare while cutting down the catapult throwers and shamans in the back row.

Lance, furthermore, had to simultaneously look after the health bars of all four people without being distracted for a single second.

And whenever Lance's mana pool was completely emptied, Lu Yang would turn both auras up to maximum, instantly clearing all monsters and giving them time to recover.

Watching the four of them running around like headless chickens in a flustered mess, a trace of satisfaction and excitement actually welled up in Lu Yang's heart.

He always felt he was showing a bit of a tendency toward being a sadist.

Although it wasn't very nice, it was quite interesting.

Of course, Rebecca and the other three were not particularly happy.

Continuous high-intensity combat was just too exhausting!

Keeping their nerves constantly tensed made them mentally exhausted beyond measure.

Fortunately, Lu Yang was still somewhat humane and gave them time to rest.

Even so, after multiple high-intensity battles, while their physical stamina and mana could recover, it was becoming increasingly difficult for their minds to maintain high concentration.

There would even be some low-level mistakes, such as Rebecca missing an elite that flanked around, Shen Qingci forgetting to apply her Ice Armor in advance, Lance's Holy Light Shield being half a beat too slow, and so on...

This required Lu Yang to step in and save the day to resolve it.

However, Lu Yang was not without gains.

In the process of constantly fine-tuning the aura's range and power, his control over the aura abilities became increasingly refined.

Soul Talents were different from skills; they were an innate instinct, as natural as fish swimming and humans breathing.

But bringing out better results from this instinct was the application of Soul Talent.

Originally, Lu Yang could only simply control the range and power.

Later on, he was even able to perform precise control within a small area.

For example, doubling the power at a certain point, or only slowing without dealing damage in a certain passage.

Even he himself was somewhat surprised by this progress.

However, as Rebecca and the other three's condition deteriorated and the frequency of mistakes noticeably increased, Lu Yang stopped aggroing monsters.

Continuing to train would no longer be training, but torture.

He smiled and said: "Alright, you guys have a good rest next."

Hearing this, Rebecca and the other three instantly breathed a sigh of relief and nodded hurriedly.

Lance's little round face was pale, his whole body leaning against the rock wall, and his two legs were still trembling slightly.

Continuously looking after the health bars of four people for several hours consumed far too much Mental Energy.

While panting, he complained: "Healing classes are really not something humans can do!"

Rebecca took off her helmet; her brilliant blonde hair was already soaked with sweat, sticking in strands to her cheeks and neck.

She wiped the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand, and upon hearing this, said exasperatedly: "I haven't even said anything yet. You guys at least have a breather, but I have to keep my eyes glued to all the passages without even daring to blink."

After all, this fellow Lu Yang was extremely insidious, and could pull a group of monsters over at any moment, with Goblins possibly appearing in any passage at any time!

Her mind was not relaxed for a single second!

Shen Qingci and Zhu Tongchen were also full of exhaustion.

After all, one needed to control the crowd and deal damage, while the other needed to act as a scout, formulate tactics, determine the battle site, and also be responsible for output.

Everyone was under a lot of pressure.

Lu Yang chuckled softly: "Next, you guys just follow me, and we'll smash right through."

Shen Qingci and the other three all nodded.

With such high-intensity combat, it would be very difficult for them to recover their mental state today.

It was impossible to have Lu Yang accompany them here to recover for a whole day, right?

Lance spoke up directly: "Brother Lu, you've got to go all out! Right now, I just want to go home, lie in bed, and have a good sleep!"

Lu Yang chuckled softly: "No problem."

He activated both auras with full force, the interlaced red and blue radiance spreading out from beneath his feet like a breached tide, sweeping toward every passage deep within the Goblin Lair.

Almost every second, dozens of monster-killing notification sounds rang out.

Ding-ding-ding-ding kept ringing endlessly.

Among them were elites and bosses.

All monsters under the coverage of the dual auras met the same end: their health bars were emptied before they even saw the shadow of the enemy.

Experience points and drop notifications went crazy spamming the screen like they were free.

The four of them followed closely behind Lu Yang, walking briskly through the empty cave passages, occasionally stepping on Goblin corpses that hadn't had time to refresh yet.

On the withered skin, scorch marks from flame burns and white frost from being frozen still remained, but the few of them didn't even spare it a second glance, having seen it far too many times before.

They had already walked through countless large and small camps, without seeing a single living monster along the way.

However, when they had walked over ten kilometers out, a shrill scream suddenly came from the darkness in the distance.

That scream echoed twice deep within the cave before completely sinking into silence.

Afterwards, the System prompt sound became a bit more impassioned.

That was the unique prompt sound for killing a boss.

[Ding! You have killed Goblin Shadow Assassin Nightfang, and obtained: some experience, Shadow Walker Bracers (Legendary) * 1, Nightfang's Blade (Legendary) * 1, Nightfang's Shadow Cloak (Legendary) * 1, "Shadow Step (Legendary)" * 1.]

Lu Yang's footsteps paused: "Huh??"

Shen Qingci and the other three people on the side raised their heads at almost the exact same instant, each with a blank expression.

"????"

Ah?

What's going on?

The boss is dead??

But they hadn't even seen the boss yet!