Chapter 109: The Demon Clan Strongman

Zhang Shan maneuvered the Baby Panda to the front line, then relentlessly opened fire, taking down elite demon warriors one by one.

The elite monsters’ attack power was considerably higher than that of ordinary minions, exceeding a thousand, but that level of damage was still insignificant to the Baby Panda—less formidable even than the marching ants on the Ant Mountain map.

Boss Wu rarely bothered to heal the Baby Panda.

With nothing else to do, he grabbed his magic sword and joined in chopping at the monsters.

After equipping a full set of level 20 purple gear, Boss Wu’s attack power also surpassed a thousand, with less than a ten-level difference from Zhang Shan.

The level difference didn’t provide much suppression; each of Wu’s sword strikes dealt around seven to eight hundred damage.

Though Wu’s damage was just a fraction of Zhang Shan’s, it was better than standing idle.

Due to limited skill points, Wu hadn’t learned a single attack skill. As a Taoist class, he could only use the magic sword to fight, which was rather unimpressive.

But there was no choice—skill points were scarce. Taoist attack skill books weren’t expensive, costing only a few thousand gold coins, but learning them would waste precious skill points.

Wu had invested all his skill points into attack blessings and two healing skills, which required twenty-nine skill points at max level.

During the previous monster siege event, Wu had earned one skill point alongside Zhang Shan and the others.

Still, he was far from acquiring more. For now, his best way to gain skill points was by leveling up.

Once he reached level 30, he would have surplus points to learn other skills.

"Damn, these elite warriors are really tough to chop through. I have to strike over a hundred times per monster—practically mini-bosses," Wu complained.

"Ten thousand health points isn’t easy to break down. Otherwise, the second-floor dungeon would have been cleared long ago," Zhang Shan replied.

"Your legendary weapon makes things easier. You’re ten times faster than me at chopping."

"The weapon is a big help, but my passive skills boost my damage as well. Plus, I have the ‘Demon Slayer’ title, which speeds up monster farming significantly."

"What’s that title? How did you get it?"

Zhang Shan displayed the title: Demon Slayer.

Title: Demon Slayer—Pride of Humanity, bane of demons. Wearing this title increases damage against monsters by 10%.

"This title is awesome—directly boosts damage by ten percent. How’d you get it?"

"In the newbie village, I was the first to kill the Wild Boar King. That awarded me this title. It’s very useful for both farming and boss fights."

"I really want a title too. I wonder how to get one."

Zhang Shan honestly didn’t know how to obtain more titles. So far, he was aware of only two: his Demon Slayer and the Pioneer title from the World of Winds and Clouds.

The Pioneer title added defense and health, which wasn’t much help to his mage class, unless he was fighting players.

During regular gameplay, Zhang Shan wore the Demon Slayer title; he only switched to the Pioneer title during PvP, which was rare.

Titles couldn’t stack—regardless of how many a player earned, only one could be worn at a time.

"We’ll get there eventually. As long as we stay ahead of other players, there’s always a chance to obtain new titles."

"True. The best loot always goes to top players first. It’s a shame I have to work. If I followed you, I’d level up much faster."

"When our luck turns and we get some good gear to sell, you can quit that lousy job."

"Deal. Once I make my first big sum, I’ll quit. Factory work is really a pain."

"What’s so bad about it? Your factory is full of girls. Didn’t you meet your wife there?"

"That was a long time ago. Now the kid’s almost two. No matter how many girls are there, it’s none of my business anymore."

"Damn, are you acting like a saint now? Come on, we both know each other well."

"Seriously, I’m focused now. I don’t even look at the girls at work. You’ll understand once you get married."

Zhang Shan felt like he’d been hit by a thousand blows—a blunt reminder of his single status. It was as if Wu was saying, “You’re still a lonely dog; you just don’t get it.”

"Alright, you’re the good man of the guild. Let’s get back to farming."

Facing thousands of elite monsters, it was going to take a long time. Zhang Shan could take down about four or five per minute.

As for Boss Wu, he couldn’t kill even one elite monster per minute.

If they cleared all of them, it would take over four hours. Fortunately, it was still early—just past seven o’clock, not yet eight.

They expected to finish by midnight.

Since elite monsters dropped generous experience, they treated it as a grinding session to level up.

Time passed slowly as the two farmed monsters and chatted, reminiscent of their student days battling through games together.

Suddenly, Boss Wu shouted, "Look! Isn’t that a BOSS?"

Zhang Shan looked in the direction Wu pointed. Sure enough, a hammer-wielding orange-named BOSS stood in the distance—the Demon Brute.

"Let’s clear the nearby mobs first, then take on the BOSS."

"After grinding this dungeon for so long, finally a BOSS to shake things up, hehe."

"You think this BOSS will drop good stuff?" Wu asked.

"Just some junk purple gear. On normal difficulty, orange-named BOSSes rarely drop anything valuable. Don’t get your hopes up," Zhang Shan crushed Wu’s dreams.

Indeed, normal mode dungeon drops were disappointing.

Except for the final boss guarding the exit, who might drop something decent, the chance of orange BOSSes dropping quality loot was slim.

"Aw, it’s an orange BOSS after all. I thought it’d drop at least one or two orange items or skill books."

"Whatever. We’ll find out when we kill it."

At level 30, the orange BOSS posed no threat to Zhang Shan, especially with Boss Wu assisting.

Even alone, Zhang Shan could handle it.

Soon, aside from a few minions near the Demon Brute, all other monsters were cleared.

Zhang Shan sent the Baby Panda forward, pulling the BOSS and several elites, then switched into full attack mode—first dispatching the smaller monsters, then focusing on the Demon Brute.

Demon Brute stats: 1.5 million health, 3,000 attack power, skills: Charge, Storm Hammer, Smash.

Charge: Rapidly rushes the target, deals damage, and slows for three seconds.

Storm Hammer: Swings the massive hammer at the target, dealing double damage and stunning for three seconds.

Smash (Passive): The hammer’s attacks have a smashing effect, increasing damage by 50%.

The BOSS’s stats weren’t too impressive—1.5 million health and 3,000 attack power were fairly modest, likely due to normal mode dungeon nerfs.

As for its skills:

Charge was standard, much like a warrior’s charge.

But the other two were formidable—a stun skill with double damage, and a passive 50% damage boost meant the BOSS’s theoretical attack damage was 4,500.

That was quite powerful—consider that the red-named Wolf King had 5,000 attack, but relied on critical hits to excel.

The Demon Brute’s normal attacks were roughly on par with the Wolf King’s.

They had their work cut out for them.