144: Chapter 144 A Desperate Health Bar, You Call This an Archer?

"Bang—!"

That arrow, after all, had left the bowstring.

However, the anticipated explosion of a pierced skull did not resound on the three Golden BOSSes. This feathered arrow, imbued with destructive aura, drew a bizarre arc in the air, narrowly scraping past General Jinfulin's scalp before accurately piercing the throat of a City Guard Centurion who was charging with his shield raised behind him.

Pfft!

Blood splattered. The elite Centurion, who possessed 100,000 health, didn't even have time to let out a scream before a terrifying "-205000" critical damage floated above his head, instantly turning him into a corpse that fell to the ground.

At the same time, a dense green light surged from Qin Ji.

+102500!

The sliver of health that had dropped due to enduring the Rockfall Formation was instantly refilled by this massive life energy.

"This..."

General Jinfulin, who had just ignited his fighting spirit, looked at Qin Ji's instantly refilled health bar. His knuckles, gripping the wooden sword, turned white from excessive force, and a deep sense of powerlessness surged from his soles straight to the top of his head.

How was this a battle? This was clearly cheating right in front of them!

"Don't be stunned! His healing mechanism relies on killing units!"

Archmage Aibier, being an old monster who had lived for hundreds of years, saw through Qin Ji's "weakness" at a glance. A ruthless glint flashed across her wrinkled face. She slammed her staff onto the ground, and her hoarse roar echoed across the battlefield: "Everyone, listen! All retreat five hundred meters from the battlefield... no, one thousand meters! Don't be his blood pack!"

"Trying to run?"

Qin Ji floated in mid-air, a playfulradian curved at the corner of his mouth. He held his bow in his left hand and casually grabbed at the Void Realm with his right, as if grasping some invisible rule.

"Since you've come, all of you shall stay."

Before his words finished, his jiu he long bow trembled again. This time, it wasn't one arrow, but five!

Five arrows shot simultaneously!

Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh!

Five streaks of light, like the claws of death, did not shoot towards the distant fleeing soldiers, but directly covered the space around General Jinfulin.

"Petty tricks, open for me!"

Jinfulin roared, his body erupting with blood Qi, attempting to shatter the arrows with his Sword Qi. But he quickly realized that the target of these five arrows was not him at all, but his Personal Guards behind him, who were moving slowly due to severe injuries!

Puff puff puff!

Screams rose one after another.

Each arrow hit, a green "+70000" number floated above Qin Ji's head. With all five arrows hitting, a total of 350,000 health was recovered. Coupled with his terrifying lifesteal attribute, this single operation directly pushed his actual healing amount past 400,000!

One must know that Qin Ji's current total health had already surpassed the seven million mark. Such an unkillable, unsmashable monster, who could fully heal with a single counter-arrow, was simply the nightmare of all BOSSes.

"Damn it! We must interrupt his attack rhythm!"

A resolute glint flashed in Archmage Aibier's eyes. She bit her tongue hard, spitting a mouthful of essence blood onto the gem at the tip of her staff.

"Forbidden Spell: Earth Pulse!"

Rumble!

The air beneath Qin Ji's feet seemed to solidify instantly. A terrifying gravity field descended once more. This time, it wasn't just suppression; countless rock tentacles extended from the Void Realm, tightly coiling around his limbs.

"Control combo! Jinfulin!"

There was no need for Aibier to remind him. As a battle-hardened general, Jinfulin had already rushed forward the moment Qin Ji was controlled.

"Wolf Howl Shock!"

A visible sound wave halo violently struck Qin Ji's chest.

Buzz!

Qin Ji only felt a dizzying sensation in his brain, and his body fell into an irresistible stiff state.

"It's done!" A bright light burst forth in Jinfulin's eyes. "As long as we control him and prevent him from attacking and lifestealing, he's just a squishy target!"

However, this thought had just arisen, and before it even had time to transmit to his arm muscles, he discovered in horror that the confusion in Qin Ji's eyes lasted for less than 0.3 seconds before clarity returned.

That gaze was cold and mocking, as if watching a clown perform.

"How is that possible?! That was a three-second forced stun!" Jinfulin roared frantically internally.

Little did he know that the inconspicuous purification jade pendant at Qin Ji's waist was now emitting a warm glow. This Divine Artifact, which originally possessed an 80% crowd control reduction effect, had its tenacity stacked to an abnormal 90% with the blessing of Qin Ji's various passive skills!

Even Divine-Grade crowd control would be reduced by 90% when applied to him!

"It's not over yet!"

Archmage Aibier had clearly anticipated this scene. She waved her staff, and the earth transformed into a giant python, tightly coiling around Qin Ji's legs, attempting a second control.

But this 0.6-second control gap was not even enough for Qin Ji to yawn.

However, to make this act more realistic, Qin Ji did not immediately break free, but allowed the wooden sword in Jinfulin's hand to send him flying.

"Floating Consecutive Slashes!"

General Jinfulin seized this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, transforming into a crimson whirlwind and unleashing a furious barrage of attacks on Qin Ji in mid-air.

Launch, Cross Slash knockback, Three-Stage Slash stun...

This combo flowed smoothly, a textbook-level operation for a warrior. Each slash precisely hit the critical point of Qin Ji's mid-air judgment, forcibly extending his airborne time using skill mechanics.

-82000!

-75000!

-150000!

Dense damage numbers floated above Qin Ji's head. In less than ten seconds, his health bar visibly dropped a segment, losing nearly a million health points.

"There's a chance! There really is a chance!"

City Lord, Buteya'er Si, watching from afar, trembled with excitement. This was the first time Qin Ji had taken such heavy "damage" since the battle began.

However, Qin Ji, at the center of the storm, was calmly calculating the time.

"Ten seconds, one million health. At this efficiency, you'll need to chop for another minute to kill me."

Qin Ji sneered inwardly.

The reason he didn't retaliate, and even cooperated with the opponent's "combo performance," wasn't because he couldn't break free from the control. He held the Purification skill, Spatial Blink, and even several life-saving trump cards he hadn't used yet.

He was waiting.

Waiting for the National War signal that would ignite the entire server!

At this moment, at the other end of Black Wind City, the flames of war had already scorched half the sky red.

Two colossal level 100 Golden BOSSes were leading an endless army of Night Walkers, engulfing the City Guard's defenses like a tide. Without Jinfulin and Aibier in command, ordinary NPC guards were as fragile as paper before these abyssal monsters.

Screams, the sound of collapsing buildings, and the roars of monsters intertwined, playing the overture to Black Wind City's demise.

"That's enough."

Qin Ji glanced at the tottering City Lord's Manor in the distance. That was the core of Black Wind City; once it was breached, the National War countdown would forcibly begin.

"Since you all enjoy combos so much, I'll give you a gift too."

In mid-air, Qin Ji, who had been in a state of "passive beating," suddenly moved.

His originally stiff body twisted forcefully in the air, defying physical common sense. An arrowhead exuding a withered aura appeared on the string.

This was not an ordinary arrow, but the materialization of a special ability Qin Ji had plundered from an Undead Archmage in a hidden dungeon using Greedy Grasp—the mourning of the forgotten!

Although it didn't have the exaggerated range of the original Divine Artifact, it was enough to deal with these two old fellows in front of him.

"Purification!"

A holy pillar of light shot into the sky, instantly washing away all negative statuses from his body.

"Spatial Blink!"

Qin Ji's figure vanished into thin air, reappearing fifty meters away.

"Not good! Retreat quickly!" Archmage Aibier felt a tremor from the depths of her Soul, a premonition of death.

But it was too late.

"Silence: Anti-Magic Arrow!"

Qin Ji released the bowstring.

There was no earth-shattering explosion, only a gray ripple silently sweeping past Jinfulin's and Aibier's bodies.

The next second, Aibier, who was about to chant a defensive Spell, discovered in horror that no sound could escape her throat, and the familiar incantations in her mind seemed to have been forcibly erased by an eraser, becoming completely blank!

Silence!

And it was a forced silence lasting 5 seconds!

For a mage, these five seconds were longer than a century.

"Now, it's my turn."

Qin Ji's eyes were icy cold, and the longbow in his hand once again turned into an afterimage.

Five arrows shot simultaneously!

This time, the target of the arrows was no longer small soldiers, but Archmage Aibier, who had lost the protection of her magic shield!

Puff puff puff puff puff!

Five feathered arrows, like steel nails pinning a venomous snake, successively pierced Aibier's frail body.

-280000!

-310000! (Critical Hit)

-290000!

...

Terrifying damage numbers instantly cleared a large chunk of Aibier's health bar. What was even more despairing was that with these few arrow hits, the one million health Qin Ji had just lost instantly refilled, like a movie played in reverse!

General Jinfulin: "???"

Archmage Aibier: "???"

The health they had painstakingly chipped away for a full minute, burning their potential and combining combos, was instantly lifestealed back in one second?

"Too much! This is too much!"

General Jinfulin was so enraged that he spat out a mouthful of old blood, his mentality completely collapsing.

This was not a battle; it was a massacre! This was a dimensionality reduction strike from a higher-dimensional being to a lower-dimensional being!

"Is this what you call Golden Rank strength?"

Qin Ji casually shot an arrow, blowing up an Assassin attempting a sneak attack, his gaze indifferently sweeping over the two. "Rank suppression? Quality suppression? In the strategy guides of my previous life, you might have been insurmountable mountains. But in my eyes..."

He paused, slowly drawing his longbow to its full extent, the arrow tip pointing directly at the sky, as if pronouncing judgment on the entire world.

"You are just a pile of slightly thicker data."

Boom—!

From the direction of the City Lord's Manor in the distance, a deafening collapse finally sounded. The spire, symbolizing the power of Black Wind City, crumbled under the assault of the Night Walkers' army.

A System prompt sounded in Qin Ji's ear; it was the signal he had long awaited.

National War, activation conditions met.

"The game, officially begins."

Qin Ji no longer held back. Above the longbow in his hand, a suffocating purplish-gold light began to converge frantically.

The setting sun, like blood, dyed the entire shattered Black Wind City a dark red. Qin Ji stood on a broken section of the city wall, casually flicking off a drop of warm beast blood clinging to the bow arm. His purplish-gold pupils shone brightly in the twilight, like an ancient Vicious Beast that had just feasted, indifferently watching the two former deities, now completely engulfed in despair, beneath his feet, awaiting the final harvest.