21: Chapter 21 Hidden Boss? That's my movement attribute pack.

Darkness surged like a tide in the depths of the mine, as if it were the breathing of some living creature. Qin Ji withdrew his gaze from the abyss and turned to look at Shadow Killer, who was crouching beside the corpses of two NPCs, rummaging through them.

"Finished looting?"

Qin Ji's voice sounded exceptionally cold in the silent mine, startling Shadow Killer so much that his hand jerked, nearly dropping a bag of gold coins he had just pulled out.

"Finished." Shadow Killer stood up quickly, sliding two cold-gleaming daggers back into his waist belt, and cast a complicated look at the two corpses on the ground that had been headshotted by arrows. "Two Level 15 Elites, they dropped two blue items and a Warrior skill book, 'Heavy Slash'... This drop rate is much higher than wild monsters."

As an assassin who lived on the edge, Shadow Killer prided himself on his mental fortitude, but facing Qin Ji's overly calm face at this moment, he still felt a chill down his spine. Killing NPCs at this stage of the game was simply the behavior of a madman. Yet the man before him had not only done it but had done so with such fluid ease, as if he had merely swatted two flies.

"Since you've taken the benefits, you're an accomplice."

Qin Ji casually tossed the ice flame demon ore, which emitted a red and blue glow, as a hint of playfulness flashed in his purple-gold pupils. "Let's go, the real main course is further inside."

"Inside?" Shadow Killer froze for a moment, instinctively looking into the pitch-black depths of the mine shaft. "Isn't the quest already finished? As long as we take the Ore back..."

"That old fox Blacksmith Wang went to all that trouble for this Ore, and it wasn't just for smithing." Qin Ji's lips curled into a cold sneer as he stepped toward the depths. "Deep within this mine, a big fellow is being suppressed. This Ore is the key to opening the cage."

Shadow Killer's Adam's apple bobbed as he watched Qin Ji's defenseless back, a battle raging within his mind. Reason told him he should take the loot and run far away from this dangerous madman, but his intuition as a top player screamed in his ear—follow him! Follow him and you might witness a miracle!

A few seconds later, greed triumphed over fear.

"Wait for me!" Shadow Killer gritted his teeth and hurried to catch up.

"Ding! Player 'Qin Ji' has sent you a party invitation."

Shadow Killer was startled and clicked accept.

"Distribution Mode: Leader Distribution (Loot), EXP Distribution: 90% (Leader) / 10% (Member)."

Looking at this extremely overbearing distribution clause, Shadow Killer's mouth twitched. A ninety-ten split? This was practically treating someone like a slave! But thinking of that terrifying damage from earlier, he swallowed the curses at the tip of his tongue.

Getting a carry is good enough, why ask for more?

The two of them moved quickly, one after the other, down the winding mine shaft.

As they went deeper, the surrounding air became increasingly sweltering, and dark red crystalline structures began to appear on the rock walls.

"Crack... crack..."

The dense sound of shells rubbing together came from ahead. Turning a corner, Shadow Killer gasped.

In the huge cavern ahead, hundreds of massive crimson beetles were packed tightly together. The shells on their backs looked like red-hot branding irons, and corrosive acid dripped from their mouthparts.

[Lava Fire Beetle (Elite)]

[Rank: 12]

[HP: 2500/2500]

[Traits: Gregarious, Self-destruct]

"How... how do we fight this?" Shadow Killer gripped his daggers, his palms drenched in sweat. With this many elite monsters, even a hundred-man elite raid from a top guild would be forced to their knees, let alone just the two of them.

"How?"

Qin Ji stopped, slowly taking the dark gold longbow 'Meteor' from his back, his fingers resting on the bowstring.

"Stand and watch, don't blink."

"Twang—!"

The roar of the vibrating bowstring exploded in the enclosed mine like a sudden clap of thunder.

An arrow wrapped in a pitch-black airflow instantly tore through the air, rushing into the swarm with a terrifying sonic boom cloud.

The moment the arrow hit, it wasn't a point-to-point penetration, but rather triggered a devastating chain reaction.

"Boom!!"

The Lava Fire Beetle at the very front was instantly blown into fine powder. Then, that terrifying kinetic energy did not dissipate but transformed into a black shockwave, spreading backward in a fan shape.

[-4820! (Critical Hit)]

[-4820!]

[-4820!]

A series of crimson damage numbers erupted like a fountain, instantly obscuring Shadow Killer's vision.

Those elite beetles with astonishing defense were as fragile as paper toys before this single arrow. Wherever the black airflow passed, shells shattered and fluids evaporated, instantly clearing a five-meter-wide death corridor through the originally crowded swarm!

"Ding! Killed LV.12 Lava Fire Beetle, obtained EXP +120."

"Ding! Killed LV.12 Lava Fire Beetle, obtained EXP +120..."

The System notification sounds flickered frantically in Shadow Killer's ears like a glitch. He stared blankly as his experience bar surged upward at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"This works too?!"

Shadow Killer felt his worldview collapsing. This was an Archer? This was a damn human-shaped mobile nuclear bomb!

"Don't daze off, the stragglers are yours."

Qin Ji did not stop. The longbow in his hand became a blur, and every vibration of the bowstring was accompanied by the deaths of over a dozen monsters.

[Greedy Grasp triggered! Looted Attribute: Fire Resistance +1.]

[Greedy Grasp triggered! Looted Attribute: Strength +1.]

Watching the small golden words jumping on his retina, the smile in Qin Ji's eyes grew deeper.

This was exactly why he had brought Shadow Killer along—while it felt good to have someone shouting praises nearby, more importantly, this kind of high-density monster swarm was a paradise for him to farm passive attributes.

In just ten minutes.

The hundreds of Lava Fire Beetles that had once been packed together had turned into a floor covered in mangled corpses and glittering drops.

A golden light flashed on Shadow Killer's body as he leveled up directly to Rank 9.

"This leveling speed..." Shadow Killer looked at his hands, feeling somewhat dazed. "If the people outside who are still fighting over Slimes saw this, they'd probably delete their accounts in shame."

"This is just the beginning."

Qin Ji stepped over the field of corpses, not even bothering to pick up the common copper coins and Materials. His gaze was locked onto the deepest part of the mine, and the ice flame demon ore in his hand was vibrating violently, as if sensing some kind of call.

"The real big guy has woken up."

Before his voice had even faded, the entire mine suddenly began to shake violently.

"Rumble—"

The rock wall ahead collapsed with a crash, and a wave of heat so intense it was suffocating rushed toward them.

Amidst the flying rocks and dust, a massive figure five meters tall slowly stood up. Its entire body was composed of obsidian flowing with lava, and a huge crimson core was embedded in its chest, emitting a dull thud like a war drum with every pulse.

[Vein Guardian · Lava Colossus (Silver-Rank BOSS)]

[Rank: 20]

[HP: 150,000/150,000]

[Skills: Lava Spray, Earth Trample, Obsidian Shield]

"A Level 20 Silver BOSS?!"

Shadow Killer's voice cracked as he instinctively took two steps back. "That HP... one hundred and fifty thousand?! At this stage, it's impossible for anyone to even scratch it!"

You had to know that currently, the top-tier tank players in the entire server barely had over a thousand HP. A casual strike from this monster would likely kill them ten times over!

"Roar—!!"

The Lava Colossus let out a deafening roar and slammed its massive stone palm into the ground.

A visible shockwave mixed with boiling lava spread outward in a ring. The rocky ground along the way was instantly melted by the high temperature, turning into a patch of scorched red earth.

"Run! Run fast!" Shadow Killer turned to flee; this was an assassin's instinct—when facing an invincible enemy, survival came first.

However, a hand pressed down on his shoulder.

Qin Ji stood his ground, letting the scorching air ruffle his black hair. Not only was there no trace of fear in those purple-gold pupils, but they burned with a near-greedy fanaticism.

"Why run?"

Qin Ji slowly raised the 'Meteor' in his hand. The dark gold patterns on the bow began to glow frantically, and the surrounding air emitted a sharp hiss due to the extreme compression of mana.

"This is a live target with a hundred and fifty thousand HP..."

"Are you crazy?! That's a Level 20 BOSS! There's Rank suppression and defense bonuses!" Shadow Killer shouted in desperation. "No matter how high your attack is, it'll be cut by more than half when it hits him..."

"Cut?"

Qin Ji's lips curled into an arrogant arc.

In the next second, he released the bowstring.

There was no earth-shattering explosion as one might imagine.

This arrow was extremely fast and extremely quiet.

Only a thin black line, like a scythe swung by the Grim Reaper, instantly crossed the distance of dozens of meters, ignored the seemingly indestructible Obsidian Shield on the Lava Colossus's surface, and accurately pierced the crimson core in its chest.

Time seemed to freeze at this moment.

The massive arm the Lava Colossus had just raised froze in mid-air, and its originally violent roar came to an abrupt halt.

It lowered its head, looking at its own chest in a daze.

There, the core that had been a dazzling red was now turning a grayish-white at a visible speed, followed by a network of spiderweb-like cracks.

[-25,800! (Weak Point Penetration! Lethal Critical Hit!)]

A massive, purple-black damage number slowly drifted up from the head of the Lava Colossus.

Shadow Killer's mouth hung wide open, his jaw nearly hitting his feet.

"Twenty-five thousand?!"

At this stage, players' damage generally hovered in the double digits, yet this guy had dealt twenty-five thousand with one arrow?!

What kind of concept was this? It meant that if this BOSS didn't have such an absurdly thick health bar, this single arrow would have been enough to kill it twenty-five times over!

"Roar...!!"

The Lava Colossus let out a cry of extreme agony. Its dark red stone body instantly became as red as blood, and the surrounding temperature rose sharply.

[Warning: Lava Colossus has entered a Berserk state! Attack power increased by 50%, Defense decreased by 50%!]

"Berserk?"

A hint of disdain flashed in Qin Ji's eyes.

For ordinary players, a BOSS going Berserk was the start of a nightmare.

But for Qin Ji, a 50% reduction in defense?

"Doesn't that just mean I can chop it up even faster?"

Qin Ji's figure flickered as he actually charged forward instead of retreating, turning into a blur as he rushed toward the rampaging giant beast.

He put away his longbow and drew the heavy Dragon-Slaying Greatsword from his back with a reverse grip.

"Let me show you what real... numerical crushing looks like."

Qin Ji's figure leaped high into the air, tracing a perfect parabola. Facing the massive fist of the Lava Colossus that could crush a tank, he did not dodge. Instead, his greatsword met it head-on with the force of ten thousand tons.

"Clang!!"

The sound of clashing metal echoed through the air.

A shocking scene occurred.

The moment that massive fist made of obsidian touched Qin Ji's blade, it actually shattered inch by inch like tofu!

Qin Ji's figure was like a Meteor rising against the tide, forcibly smashing the giant beast's arm. Then, without losing momentum, his greatsword struck the giant beast's newly healed chest with a piercing whistle.

"Explode... for me!!"

With a low growl from Qin Ji, a terrifying power instantly erupted.

The Lava Colossus's massive body trembled violently, and then countless streaks of blinding golden light shot out from every crack in its body.

"Boom—!!"

The massive body exploded with a roar, turning into a rain of burning rubble.

In this magnificent and cruel rain of fire, Qin Ji landed with his sword in one hand, the rocky ground beneath him cracking in a spiderweb pattern from the impact. He slowly straightened his back and casually brushed off non-existent dust from his shoulder, his purple-gold eyes indifferent like a god looking down upon ants in the reflection of the flames.