11: Chapter 11: The Aesthetics of Violence! Turning Hell-Level Dungeons into a "Buffet"

The moment the lightning exploded, Qin Ji's figure was no longer a solid entity that human eyes could capture, but a sharp arc of electricity refracting above the swamp.

The nine massive Twisted Treant leaders had just recovered from the stun of their companion's sudden death and were swinging flails capable of crushing rock in an attempt to counterattack, but their movements in Qin Ji's eyes were like old film slowed down four times.

"Too slow."

Qin Ji's figure made an incredible second turn in mid-air, his toes pushing off the side of a missed flail.

Bang!

The tremendous reaction force caused that Twisted Treant leader's arm to instantly dislocate, and using this thrust, Qin Ji shot backwards, spinning like a drill.

The iron sword in his hand, wrapped in lingering thunder, precisely pierced into the open wooden maw of the second Twisted Treant leader, penetrating through the back of its head!

-9200 (Critical Weak Point + Thunder Blast)!

Charred wood chips and dark red sap gushed out, splattering onto his cold face; rather than making him look disheveled, it only added a touch of Asura-like ferocity.

He did not stop.

For Qin Ji, who possessed the 【Greedy Grasp】, these were not lethal monsters in front of him, but walking attribute packs.

The third one, the fourth one...

A slaughter full of the aesthetic of violence played out in the swamp.

There was no flashy footwork, no cautious probing, only the most extreme speed and the most brutal strength.

Every time his sword edge swept past, it was accompanied by the wailing of monsters and the System's kill notifications.

When the massive body of the last Twisted Treant leader collapsed with a boom, kicking up a sky full of mud, the iron sword in Qin Ji's hand was slightly glowing red from the high-intensity slashing, emitting an overwhelmed hum.

【Killed LV.13 Reinforced Elite "Twisted Treant Leader"!】

【Triggered "Greedy Grasp"! Plundered passive skill fragment: Hardened Skin (1/10)!】

...

【Congratulations! You have collected all passive skill fragments, automatically synthesizing the skill: Hardened Skin (Elementary).】

【Hardened Skin (Elementary): When receiving physical attacks, forcibly reduce damage by 50 points (calculated prior to defense).】

Qin Ji shook his wrist, looking at the newly added passive skill on his panel, the curve of his mouth deepening.

Forced damage reduction.

This was a god-tier skill that tank classes dreamed of, usually only learnable via skill books after changing class to "Heavy Armored Knight" or "Great Shield Guard".

And now, just by farming a wave of mobs, he had gotten it for free.

"Is this the value of a Hell-Rank dungeon?"

Qin Ji casually picked up the dozen or so silver coins dropped on the ground, not in a rush to enter the next stage, instead pulling a bottle of inferior mana potion from his backpack and downing it.

Although his combat style looked like a Berserker, the consumption of the thunder enchantment still bottomed out his pathetic mana pool.

...

Meanwhile.

China Region, Futou Guild headquarters, top-secret conference room.

On the massive holographic projection screen, a video clip of only five seconds was being played on loop.

The footage was a bit shaky, clearly a candid shot.

In the video, a back view wearing newbie cloth armor was piercing a "Camouflaged Treant" in its vital spot with a single sword strike; the terrifying damage numbers and the instant kill scene appeared particularly glaring against the dim background.

At the head of the conference table, a young man with the ID "Divine Wolf" tapped his fingers lightly on the table, his gaze fixed intently on the last frozen frame of the video.

"Is this that Qin Ji?"

Divine Wolf's voice betrayed no emotion, but those who knew him understood this was his serious mode, "One-shotting a level ten hidden guard; even a Berserker who puts all points into Agility couldn't achieve this kind of burst power."

Sitting to his side was Futou Shield Mountain—the same chubby merchant who traded with Qin Ji in the Newbie Village—now puffing out his round belly, his face greasy with a hint of smugness.

"Guild Leader, I risked my life to record this video. The scene back then, tsk tsk, that tree didn't even finish screaming before it was gone."

Shield Mountain said while deliberately tugging at the faintly glowing leather armor he wore, one of the components of the "Treant Set" Qin Ji had sold him earlier, "And look at this gear I'm wearing, it was all sold to me by him. The current market price for this set is at least 400,000 credits, and he just threw it to me without batting an eye."

"400,000?"

A burly man next to him with the ID "Futou Madman" snorted coldly, "That's the price for normal players. For an expert like this, as long as he's willing, just carrying a boss through a dungeon would earn more than that. Guild Leader, did you call us here just to see this?"

"I want to recruit him."

Divine Wolf spoke suddenly, interrupting the discussion.

He stood up, his gaze burning: "ragnarok has only been open for two days, and he can already solo a Hell-Rank dungeon. A person like this is either a top-tier god from the closed beta using an alt, or he has awakened some kind of unique talent. Shield Mountain, I had you contact him before, what was his attitude?"

Shield Mountain scratched his head and smiled bitterly: "Brother Ji is... how should I put it, a bit strange. He seems very interested in money, but also seems not to care about it at all. I probed him before; if it were a contract with an annual salary in the tens of millions, he probably wouldn't even glance at it."

"Annual salary in the tens of millions?"

Divine Wolf shook his head and held up a finger, "If he can maintain this dominance and drive our guild's progress in the Early Stage of this game, never mind tens of millions, I can afford to pay a hundred million."

A collective gasp echoed instantly in the conference room.

Futou Madman's hand, which had been toying with a dagger, froze in mid-air, and the dagger fell onto the table with a "clang"; another high-ranking mage was still holding their teacup, but the tea had already spilled over the rim.

A hundred million!

This was already the top salary for legendary players in the era of PC gaming.

"Don't be surprised just yet."

Divine Wolf pulled up the guild resource panel, "Shield Mountain, pass the order down. Have all guild members still in the Newbie Village immediately attempt to probe the Twisted Jungle dungeon. Also, prepare liquid capital; since he likes to sell equipment, we will be his biggest buyer."

At this point, Divine Wolf paused, his eyes becoming sharp as knives: "Remember, it is to recruit, not to make enemies. People like this—if they cannot become friends, they must absolutely not be allowed to become enemies."

...

Twisted Jungle, Third Area.

Qin Ji, unaware that his market value had skyrocketed into the nine figures, was currently facing the biggest trouble since entering the dungeon.

No, to be precise, four troubles.

In the clearing before him, four five-meter-tall 【Twisted Treant King】s were lined up in a fan shape.

They were different from the previous elite monsters; tumorous growths resembling human faces grew on their crowns, each face twisted into an expression of agony, whispering in their mouths in a way that made one's sanity plummet.

【Twisted Treant King (Black Iron BOSS)】

【Rank: LV.10】

【HP: 186,800】

【Skills: Vine Cage (Guaranteed Hit), Death Coil, Poison Mist Spray】

Four Black Iron BOSSes.

This was the malice of the Hell-Rank difficulty.

In Normal difficulty, there was only one here, but in Hell-Rank, it was quadrupled, and their attributes were significantly enhanced.

"Hiss—"

The four Treant Kings let out a hiss in unison.

The ground cracked without warning, and countless dark purple vines, like ghost hands reaching out from Hell, instantly locked onto Qin Ji's feet and spread frantically up his legs.

【Vine Cage】!

This was a targeted hard crowd-control skill that could not be avoided by footwork!

Almost at the same time, the four Treant Kings opened their crowns, and four thick green clouds of poison mist bombarded the trapped Qin Ji like cannonballs.

If it were an average Agility-based player, they would have already been sentenced to death.

Unable to move, unable to dodge, they could only take the quadruple poison damage head-on.

But Qin Ji only looked down at the vines wrapped around his waist, not even frowning.

"Hard CC?"

He curled his lips into a mocking smile, "In the face of absolute strength, there is no such thing as control, only fragile shackles."

The next second, all the muscles in Qin Ji's body bulged suddenly, and his spine let out a cracking sound like a roaring dragon.

"Break... for me!!"

He didn't use any crowd-control removal skills, relying purely on his monstrously stacked 【Strength】 attribute to violently break free.

Snap! Snap! Snap!

Those vines, with toughness comparable to steel cables, snapped inch by inch like rotten hemp ropes under the brute force of Qin Ji's tearing!

Amidst the flying broken vines, Qin Ji's figure didn't retreat but advanced, charging straight into the four clouds of poison mist.

Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle—

The poison mist corroded his leather armor, and a series of damage numbers floated above his head.

-18!

-15!

-20!

This amount of damage, for Qin Ji who possessed thousands of HP and had just acquired the 【Hardened Skin】 damage reduction, didn't even scratch his health bar.

The moment he charged out of the poison mist, Qin Ji had already arrived in front of the Treant King on the far left.

"Now, it's my turn."

His iron sword swept horizontally, kicking up a sharp, piercing sound of wind being broken.

Boom!!

This sword strike landed on the Treant King's trunk, emitting a loud clang like metal striking metal.

The tremendous impact force caused this five-meter-tall behemoth to tilt backwards, and a golden critical damage number floated above its head.

-4800!

Although the Treant King's defense was far superior to the small mobs, in the face of Qin Ji's overflowing attack power, it was still as brittle as paper.

The rhythm of the battle was instantly taken over by Qin Ji.

He was like a Tyrannosaurus Rex that had broken into a flock of sheep, ignoring the attacks of the other three BOSSes and focusing intently on pounding this one.

This strategy of "wounding all ten fingers is not as good as breaking one" became incredibly efficient with the support of absolute defense and HP.

Two minutes later.

As the last Treant King turned into withered wood with a mournful cry, four rich golden lights of experience merged into Qin Ji's body one after another.

"Ding! You have leveled up! Current Rank: LV.11."

Qin Ji exhaled a breath of turbid air, picked up a Black Iron-grade pair of greaves that had dropped on the ground, and tossed them into his backpack without even looking at the stats.

His gaze passed through the chaotic battlefield and cast toward the deepest part of the jungle.

There, a massive ancient tree that blotted out the sky stood silently in the darkness.

It did not bare its fangs and claws like the other Treants, nor did it even stir a whisper of wind, but that sense of oppression originating from the level of life made the surrounding air viscous.

The final boss of the Twisted Jungle.

Nine-Headed Serpent Cypress.

Qin Ji stepped over the corpses of the Treant Kings, his footsteps clearly audible in the deathly silent space.

The moment he stepped into the final area, the sleeping ancient tree seemed to be awakened.

Countless aerial roots hanging in the air began to slowly squirm, and the huge face in the center of the trunk, which seemed to be pieced together from countless human bones, slowly opened its eyes.

There was no unnecessary chatter, nor any cutscene.

Qin Ji held his sword in one hand, the tip pointing diagonally toward the ground, walking step by step toward that mountain-like shadow.

Behind him was the path stained red with blood and wood chips; before him was the slaughter feast about to boil over.

The setting sun sank completely below the horizon, and the only light source in the dungeon was the nether ghost fire floating around the ancient tree.

The flickering green light shone on Qin Ji's face, stretching his shadow extremely long, finally overlapping with that massive tree shadow, as if an ant were baring its fangs, preparing to devour this giant beast that had slept for a hundred years.