88: Chapter 88 Since he's a BOSS, let's fatten him up before killing him!

A violet-gold energy sphere left his hand, tracing a distorted, deathly silent trajectory through the air before lightly colliding with the ancient Seal covered in cracks.

There was no earth-shattering roar, only a muffled sound like cloth being torn.

"Shii——"

The moment the highly compressed energy touched the Seal, it collapsed like a greedy black hole, followed by an unreasonable physical disintegration. The thick ice layer, the hard rock, and the remaining Formation runes all vaporized in that instant, not even leaving behind dust.

The originally deep underground entrance was now gouged into a massive hole dozens of meters in diameter. Violet-gold electric arcs still crackled at the edges, emitting a teeth-grating "zzz" sound.

Qin Ji retracted his hand and stepped over the line still smoking with greenish vapor.

His vision suddenly opened up.

This wasn't a narrow passage, but a massive hollowed-out underground ice palace. Countless crystal-clear ice pillars supported the dome. In the very center of the ice palace, a deep well emitting extreme cold white mist was gurgling, spewing forth torrents of frigid air.

That was the "spawn point" of the Ice Snow Giant.

Qin Ji's gaze swept over the ground by his feet. The corpse of the Ice Snow Giant he had slain earlier had already refreshed and disappeared. In its place, only a cluster of faintly glowing loot remained.

He casually gestured, and the items flew into his hand.

[Skill Evolution Scroll (Special)]

[Quality: Unknown]

[Effect: Forcibly increases the priority judgment of one skill (limited to skills below S-Rank).]

"A good start."

Qin Ji's brow twitched slightly. This item was a hard-to-find commodity on the market, priceless even if available. But his attention wasn't on it now; instead, he looked towards that deep well.

The cold air at the mouth of the well was churning violently. Some massive life sign was rapidly coalescing. According to guide information from his past life, the mechanism for elite monster spawn points like this was usually 'one dies, one spawns,' with an interval of about half an hour.

"Half an hour per, that's only forty-eight a day."

Qin Ji walked to the edge of the well, looking down at the enormous shadow slowly taking shape in the well water. His fingers lightly tapped on the cold spine of his greatsword, producing a series of rapid, crisp sounds.

"Too slow."

For ordinary players, a half-hour respawn for a level 50 Silver boss was practically a welfare stage. After all, just grinding down its 85 million HP required a full elite team to spend the better part of a day, all while guarding against the boss's enrages and health regeneration.

But in Qin Ji's eyes, this was a waste of life.

His attack speed had already broken through human limits. That big guy earlier couldn't even withstand one round of his basic attacks before kneeling. If he followed this respawn rate, how many years would it take to farm his "Strength" attribute to the max?

"Since quantity isn't enough, I'll have to work on quality."

A flash of mad brilliance passed through Qin Ji's eyes.

He reached back into his pack and pulled out a greenish fragment emitting an ancient, musty odor — the [epoch cauldron fragment].

This was a special item he had pilfered from the "Abandoned Temple" dungeon earlier. It weighed tens of thousands of pounds and possessed the characteristic of suppressing "earth vein Spiritual Qi."

Immediately after, he took out several high-level Demonic Beast cores he had casually crushed on the way here — pure energy aggregates.

"System, get to work."

Qin Ji mentally recited, directly activating the reverse function of [Greedy Grasp] — it could not only plunder but also "bestow."

Of course, this bestowal was for a more brutal harvest.

He tossed all the Demonic Beast cores in his hand into the deep well, while simultaneously slamming that immensely heavy [epoch cauldron fragment] down onto the mouth of the well!

"BOOM!!"

The deep well instantly boiled over.

The originally sluggish cold air, like boiling water, frantically surged against the well mouth, only to be firmly suppressed by the [epoch cauldron fragment]. The life form gestating at the bottom of the well sensed this influx of violent external energy, letting out a pained yet frenzied screech.

It was akin to forcibly injecting water into a pressure cooker.

Either the pot explodes, or... it cooks up a pot of peerless meat.

[Warning! High-energy reaction detected!]

[Regional Lord 'Ice Snow Giant' undergoing irreversible mutation...]

[Warning! Cataclysm level increasing! Tier forcibly ascending...]

The System's red alerts blared frantically in Qin Ji's ears, but he didn't retreat. Instead, he squatted by the well with keen interest, like a child waiting by the oven for a cake to finish baking.

"Crack——"

A fissure appeared on the seemingly indestructible [epoch cauldron fragment].

The next second.

"ROAR——!!!"

A roar loud enough to shatter eardrums broke through the suppression. The terrifying sound wave, mixed with a tangible blizzard, directly sent that several-ton bronze fragment flying, smashing it heavily into the distant rock wall.

A behemoth, twice the size of the previous one, wrapped in a tempest of wind and snow, erupted from the well!

It no longer had the rough rock-like texture. Its body was covered in a layer of dark golden ice crystal armor. Its originally scarlet eyes had now turned an eerie deep blue. The ice spikes on its back stood erect like swords and halberds, exuding a suffocating pressure.

[Frost Calamity: Winter Tyrant (Dark Gold Boss)]

[Level: 52]

[Health: 420,000,000 / 420,000,000]

[Traits: Absolute Zero, 30% Physical Damage Reflection, 1% Health Regeneration per second]

"420 million HP, damage reflection, and Dark Gold tier."

Qin Ji looked up at this monster that nearly touched the dome of the underground palace. The curve of his mouth lifted higher and higher, until it became an unrestrained, maniacal grin.

"Now this is the main course I wanted!"

The Winter Tyrant clearly possessed considerable intelligence. It lowered its head, its deep blue pupils fixed on the tiny human at its feet. It could sense that this very ant had bestowed upon it this new power, but this same ant also radiated a terrifying killing intent that made its very Soul tremble.

"ROAR!"

The Tyrant wasted no words. It raised its foot and stomped down hard.

"Ice Age!"

With its action, the ground instantly turned into a desolate frozen earth centered on it. Countless sharp ice spears erupted from underground with such density that there wasn't a shred of space to dodge.

This was a full-screen instant-kill skill!

If this were an ordinary player team, apart from the tank classes, everyone else would be instantly wiped.

But Qin Ji didn't even move.

He simply raised his left hand.

"Since you're so enthusiastic, I shouldn't be stingy either."

Black light coalesced in his hand. A grotesquely shaped greatsword materialized out of thin air.

[Greedy · Gluttony Form]!

Qin Ji's figure instantly vanished from his spot.

When he reappeared, he was already standing on the Winter Tyrant's massive knee.

"First strike, consider it interest."

The greatsword swept horizontally.

"Squelch!"

The incredibly hard dark gold ice crystal armor shattered like a crisp biscuit under Qin Ji's blade. Black Sword Qi cut into the Tyrant's flesh without hindrance, sending up a spray of blue blood rain.

-1,102,300!

-1,102,300!

-1,102,300!

Twelve strikes per second!

A dense cluster of damage numbers instantly overlapped, forming a red waterfall.

The Winter Tyrant roared in pain, its massive palm whistling through the air as it swatted at Qin Ji on its knee.

"Too slow."

Qin Ji lightly tapped his toes. His body, as if defying gravity, inverted and clung to the Tyrant's arm. The greatsword in his hand followed the motion, sweeping upwards and carving a deep, bone-exposing trench along that arm.

The Tyrant panicked.

Its prideful defense was like paper before this human. And its Soul-freezing cold, when striking this human, only produced a mocking string of "-0" numbers.

"Get away! Get away from me!"

The Tyrant issued a muddled, furious roar. It began frantically unleashing skills. Blizzards, ice roars, frigid rays... The entire underground palace instantly became a hellscape of chaotic elemental currents. The surrounding ice pillars exploded one after another, the ground riddled with holes.

But no matter how it struggled, that black figure clung to its blind spots like a persistent disease, outputting damage madly.

420 million HP, under the terrifying burst of over 10 million per second, was plummeting at a visible rate.

Fifty percent... thirty percent... ten percent...

The savagery in the Winter Tyrant's eyes finally completely transformed into fear.

It felt the chill of death.

"No... I am... the King..."

It tried to beg, tried to retreat, even attempted to crawl back into that deep well.

"Since you became a boss, you should have the awareness of being farmed."

Qin Ji's voice sounded in its ear, cold as a verdict from the deepest hell.

By now, Qin Ji had leaped into mid-air, both hands holding high that black energy-wreathed greatsword. Behind him, the Void Realm seemed to manifest a greedy, gaping maw, drooling over this sumptuous feast.

"Slash!"

The sword fell.

No fancy techniques, only pure power suppression.

The black sword light instantly pierced through the Tyrant's skull, splitting its massive body in two from the middle.

"BOOM——!!"

The Winter Tyrant's mountain-like corpse collapsed with a crash, shaking the entire underground palace violently. A rain of ice shards fell like diamond dust.

[Ding! Slain level 52 Dark Gold Boss 'Winter Tyrant,' triggering Perfect Plunder!]

[Strength +2000!]

[Physique +2000!]

[Obtained Trait: Heart of Winter (Ice skill damage increased by 50%, immune to Frozen status).]

[Obtained Hidden Drop: city establishment token (Silver-tier).]

Qin Ji landed, casually flicking away non-existent bloodstains from his blade.

He glanced at his drastically increased attribute panel, then at that silver-glowing token. A satisfied curve lifted the corner of his mouth.

"Fattening it up before killing it really is the correct way to play this game."

Deep within the underground palace, the cold wind moaned, swirling and lifting the ice crystals on the ground. Qin Ji leaned on his sword with one hand, his foot resting on the Tyrant's still-warm giant eyeball. He tilted his head slightly. His violet-gold pupils pierced through the swirling ice dust, gazing into the deeper, darker unknown abyss below the well. In his eyes, there was not a trace of fatigue, only endless greed and hunger.