Chapter 78: The Lord of Stone

After crossing the Bridge of Flames and returning to the normal stone forest, the group began advancing toward the forest’s end.

Longteng Mad Bull, the ascetic, had finally assembled a full set of rare-grade equipment. His defense had improved dramatically, and when he once again faced the ordinary Stone Golems within the forest, he could now withstand attacks from five of them simultaneously without breaking a sweat. He could practically tank an entire wave by himself, drawing envious glances—and no small amount of drool—from the other two sub-tanks.

As they pressed forward, the ordinary monsters no longer posed any obstacle, and with each fallen Stone Golem, their spoils grew ever richer. Over a dozen excellent-grade items had dropped, along with two or three rare-grade pieces. The greatest surprise, however, was a skill book for ascetics—Fortitude. This passive skill permanently increased the player’s constitution by ten and defense by thirty. Such a skill was incredibly valuable to an ascetic and was almost never seen on the open market. After Longteng Mad Bull learned it, his health nearly reached two thousand, bringing him a step closer to becoming a veritable ironclad tank.

Longteng Starbreaker watched Mad Bull eagerly consume the skill book and felt somewhat abashed. He did a quick tally—just from this run of the King-level dungeon, Longteng’s haul had been nothing short of astounding. The excellent-grade gear was too numerous to count, and the rare-grade items totaled at least six. Now, with the skill book easily worth over fifty gold coins, the overall value had surpassed five hundred gold. Meanwhile, Ye Chen had only taken a single bronze-grade ring, barely worth over two hundred gold; they had made an absolute fortune.

Longteng Starbreaker quietly whispered to Thief Never Leaves Empty, who agreed that Ye Chen should receive a share of the profits. For him, it wasn’t about getting a bargain, but about fair profit distribution as the key to successful cooperation. To offend someone over a moment’s greed would simply be foolish.

After a brief pause, Thief Never Leaves Empty called Ye Chen over with a smile. “Brother Nightfall, most of the loot from this dungeon has gone to us, and you’ve contributed immensely. Frankly, we feel a bit embarrassed about it. I just discussed it with Starbreaker, and we’ve decided to give you a third of the proceeds at market value. How does that sound to you?”

Ye Chen looked at him in mild surprise. If Thief Never Leaves Empty hadn’t brought it up, he would have done so himself before fighting the boss. After all, he ran a studio, not a charity, and had no ties to Longteng; he wasn’t about to work for free. The lesser monsters’ loot he could overlook—he’d already taken the best among them and didn’t mind a slight loss—but he had no intention of giving up the golden-grade Rock Lord’s drops without compensation. If a silver or even a gold-grade piece were to drop, that could easily be worth thousands of coins. If he couldn’t use it, why should he let someone else profit from his efforts? Now that Thief Never Leaves Empty had brought it up voluntarily, all the better.

“No problem, I’ll take your offer,” Ye Chen replied with a smile. A third was actually more than he’d expected, considering Longteng’s group had also put in work. Without their dozen-odd members, he couldn’t have cleared this King-level dungeon alone.

Such matters among the leadership were of no concern to the rest of the team, who only cared about how much experience and equipment they could get. With the promise of loot as motivation, the dozen members fought with renewed vigor—none more so than Longteng Mad Bull, who seemed to have taken some kind of stimulant. Seeing monsters, he’d rush forward with a wild cry. In just over ten minutes, the last eight Stone Golems of the stone forest had fallen. After gathering up the spoils, Ye Chen finally obtained the second item he needed—a skill book called Mana Spring. Also a passive skill, it increased his mana by two hundred. On the surface, it seemed less impressive than Mad Bull’s Fortitude, but for Ye Chen, it was excellent; an extra two hundred mana meant an additional two hundred damage for his Black Dragon Strike. So long as he wished, he could instantly kill any player with less than eighteen hundred health—though only in a single blow.

Passing through a sparse copse of stone trees and turning a corner, they finally reached the end of the stone forest. Ye Chen and the others at last beheld the ultimate boss—the Rock Lord. This creature was a giant stone man, towering and thickly built, its whole body composed of golden-hued rock. As it moved, the ground nearby trembled faintly.

[Rock Lord] (Gold-grade Boss)

Health: 280,000
Level: 28
Skills: Earth Spikes, Demoralizing Roar, War Stomp

“A gold-grade boss!” Longteng Mad Bull’s eyes widened with shock. Though Ye Chen had warned him the Rock Lord would be formidable, he hadn’t expected a gold-grade threat—he’d thought silver-grade at most.

“Demoralizing Roar, War Stomp!” When Thief Never Leaves Empty saw the boss’s skills, his expression changed instantly. Neither of those appeared in the hard-mode stone forest. War Stomp especially was an area-of-effect magic attack; if this golden behemoth unleashed it, the entire party could be wiped out. He couldn’t help but glance at Ye Chen, asking quietly, “Are you confident?”

“We’ll know once we try,” Ye Chen replied with a smile, then turned to Longteng Mad Bull. “Mad Bull, take out the Flame Crystal and get ready to engage.”

Mad Bull hurriedly fished out the Flame Crystal, a bit nervous. “Then I’ll go in, Brother Chen.” He prepared to charge, and the others readied themselves to follow, but Ye Chen waved them back. “Not yet. I’ll pull the boss. Wait here.”

“You’ll pull?” Mad Bull was momentarily stunned, as were the rest of the party. Could a glass-cannon support really initiate the fight? Even Thief Never Leaves Empty and Longteng Starbreaker looked at Ye Chen with uncertain eyes.

“I’ll pull. Stand back, especially the melee classes,” Ye Chen instructed simply, offering no further explanation. Then he strode confidently toward the Rock Lord, whose eyes were now open.

Ye Chen quickly entered the boss’s attack range.

“Pathetic humans, you dare trespass in my domain? Prepare to die!” roared the Rock Lord, its voice echoing like thunder.

A chime sounded: “Demoralizing Roar activated. All players within fifty yards have their physical attack reduced by seventy percent for thirty minutes.”

The distant team stood frozen at the notification, staring in disbelief as Ye Chen sprinted back. Thief Never Leaves Empty and Longteng Starbreaker exchanged a glance, both shocked yet relieved. If Ye Chen hadn’t stopped them, every physical class would have been crippled—without their damage, the team’s output would plummet, and the tanks wouldn’t be able to hold aggro, leading to a wipe.

Seeing it all unfold, the Longteng members now felt that running a dungeon with Ye Chen was a thoroughly enjoyable experience. Not only was a third of the loot fair; even half would have been a bargain.