Chapter 63: Guardian of Linlang

“What the hell, this thing’s so ugly!” Wu Shaochen complained and quickly cast an Insight spell.

[Guardian of Linlang] – Dungeon Guardian Boss

Level: 20
HP: 700,000
Physical Attack: 1800
Physical Defense: 900
Magic Defense: 800
Movement Speed: 320

Skill 1: Rapid Charge – Flaps its wings and charges at the target with blinding speed, ramming with its sharp horns to deal 180% physical damage and apply Armor Break, reducing target’s defense by 30% for 10 seconds. Attack range: 5 meters. Cooldown: 30 seconds.

Skill 2: Whip Strike – Slaps the target with its spiked tail, dealing 185% physical damage. Cooldown: 30 seconds.

Skill 3: Stomp – Slams the ground, dealing 170% physical damage to all targets within 2 meters and stunning them for 1 second. Cooldown: 2 minutes.

Skill 4: Field Suppression – Suppresses all targets within a 10-meter radius, reducing their attack power, attack speed, and movement speed by 20% for 1 minute. Cooldown: 5 minutes.

…

“F*cking hell, are you serious?” Wu Shaochen looked at the boss’s stats and felt like cursing out loud. This thing was definitely at least a Gold-level boss! Even if not, it wasn’t far off. A level 20 dungeon and they throw in something like this—what kind of twisted game devs were these?

“But whatever, that only screws over other people. For me, this is still manageable. It’s melee and slower than me. High attack, sure, but it can’t one-shot me. I’ve got over 9,000 HP and 700+ defense. Even if I eat all three of its skills, it still won’t kill me. In that case, kiting it shouldn’t be too hard. Worst case, I just run between the three corridors.”

Since he could take it on, Wu Shaochen charged in without hesitation. This thing was way too ugly—he couldn’t let it live for long; it was ruining his appetite.

But just as he entered aggro range, before he could even react, he got slammed by the boss’s horns, losing over 2,300 HP. His defense was also reduced by 30%. The speed of Rapid Charge truly lived up to its name—Wu Shaochen didn’t even see it clearly before getting hit. He was about to chug a potion when the boss stomped the ground, hitting him for another 2,400 HP and stunning him for a second. Right after that, a tail came swinging in his direction. Wu Shaochen quickly activated Void Form, breaking the stun and dodging the Whip Strike just in time.

“Damn it! These skills combo that well? Good thing I’m tanky—if I were a squishy class, I’d be dead by now.” Wu Shaochen gritted his teeth in anger and slashed the boss four times, stacking four layers of poison before turning tail and running.

The boss immediately activated Field Suppression, reducing his movement speed by 20%. But Wu Shaochen’s speed was simply too fast—even with the debuff, the Guardian of Linlang couldn’t catch him.

He kept moving and chugging potions along the way. Now wasn’t the time to be stingy with consumables. In no time, his HP was back to full. He kited the boss from the central corridor all the way to the far end of the right corridor, then doubled back. As he passed the boss again, he threw out a Crushing Blow and Exploiting Weakness, shaving off more than 3,000 HP. “Damn, if Crushing Blow can silence it, that’d be great. Otherwise, it might combo me again. Even if it won’t kill me, 10% pain sensitivity still hurts like hell when it hits.”

And so, Wu Shaochen kept kiting the boss back and forth. After more than thirty-six minutes, he finally wore it down. Watching the boss’s massive body collapse to the ground, and earning 56,000 EXP, Wu Shaochen rubbed his hands excitedly and looked at the loot. When he saw a golden glow, he was overjoyed.

“Haha! A gold-tier item!” Wu Shaochen was thrilled. Gold gear came with skills—way better than silver or bronze.

He hurriedly picked up all the loot. One gold, two silvers, two bronzes, and a skill book.

Just as he finished looting and hadn’t even had time to inspect the items, a system notification sounded out.

“Ding! Congratulations on clearing the dungeon. You’ve received a Silver Treasure Chest. As the first player to clear Linlang’s Secret Realm, your chest has been upgraded by one tier. Congratulations on obtaining a Gold Treasure Chest.”

A golden chest appeared in his inventory. He quickly checked the description.

Gold Treasure Chest: Can contain gold-tier gear for your class, or items of equal value such as skill books, rare scrolls, pet eggs, and materials. Extremely small chance of yielding Dark Gold-tier gear or items.

“Nice! That’s some good stuff!” Wu Shaochen squinted with joy, just about to open the chest when—bam—he got booted out of the dungeon and reappeared at the entrance, with countless pairs of eyes staring straight at him.

“What the hell? Not even a warning before kicking me out?” Wu Shaochen was annoyed. He wasn’t even mentally prepared.

“Dust-Sealed God, did you clear it? Was the dungeon hard?” someone came up and asked.

“Of course he cleared it. It’s Dust-Sealed God, after all!” another chimed in flatteringly.

Wu Shaochen rolled his eyes. These guys weren’t even level 20 yet—they couldn’t even enter the dungeon. Why were they hanging out here instead of grinding?

“Hey, look! The stone monument beside the dungeon lit up!” someone suddenly shouted.

Everyone followed his gaze and indeed saw the monument at the dungeon entrance glowing. A line of text appeared.

First Cleared Team: Dust-Sealed’s Team
Members: Dust-Sealed
Time: 36 minutes

“Holy crap! Dust-Sealed God is insane—soloed the whole thing!”

“He’s the only level 20 player in the entire Oracle server right now—no one else could even join him.”

“Still, soloing a 10-man dungeon? That’s wild!”

Wu Shaochen looked at the monument and twitched at the corners of his mouth.

“I seriously don’t want to be famous anymore…”

He thought he’d dodged the spotlight since there was no system-wide announcement, but nope—they had to immortalize it on a monument. So freaking annoying.

“Dust-Sealed God, what’s it like inside?” Soon, people surrounded him, bombarding him with questions.

“You guys better go level up instead. Asking me now is pointless—you can’t even enter,” Wu Shaochen left them with that and disappeared into the crowd. He still had a piece of gold gear to check out and a Gold Chest to open—no time for idle chatter.

After finally making it back to Jinling City, Wu Shaochen immediately opened his inventory to check the loot. First up, the gold-tier equipment—his first time seeing one!

[Linlang Boots] – Gold Tier
Movement Speed: +125
Physical Defense: +60
Magic Defense: +60
Bonus Attributes: Agility +25, Constitution +25, Fortitude +25
Passive Skill – Evasion: Automatically dodges the next incoming damage or control effect. Expires after 1 second. Cooldown: 3 minutes.
Equip Requirement: All classes

“Nice! Totally usable. I like this skill too. It’s a bit of a timing challenge, but that’s fine. I’ve got the reflexes.” Wu Shaochen happily equipped the Linlang Boots, replacing his old Graphite Boots.

Next, he checked the two silver-tier items: one armor and one ring. He already had Blackwind Leather Armor, so the armor was outclassed, but the ring was worth equipping.

[Tiger King’s Ring] – Silver Tier
HP: +700
Physical Attack: +200
Bonus Attributes: Constitution +24, Strength +24, Agility +22
Equip Requirement: Physical classes

The Tiger King set was dropped by the Tiger-Headed boss, and the other armor came from the Leopard-Headed boss. Seems like the Guardian drops gear from all three major dungeon bosses. It also has a chance to drop gold-tier Linlang gear.

Say no more—he put on the Tiger King’s Ring right away. The stats were exactly his style—straightforward and powerful.

As for the bronze items? He couldn’t be bothered to look. Those were auction house fodder anyway.

Now it was time for the main event.