Chapter Thirty: The Demon Tribe’s Ritual

While chatting and fighting monsters with the others, Zhang Shan calculated his current leveling speed. The level fifteen mobs could be killed in at most three hits—at his rate of attack, less than four seconds per kill. Counting the time spent moving and switching targets, he averaged one monster every five to six seconds.

Each monster yielded about 150 experience points, so in an hour, Zhang Shan could rack up over 100,000 experience points. To reach level twelve required 180,000 experience, meaning he could level up in under two hours. Equipping that divine weapon had sent his pace soaring.

He checked the leaderboard and saw that the top player, Heart Moves With Me, was already closing in on level fourteen—impressively fast. Yet, this person didn’t seem to belong to any major guild, as their name lacked any guild tag—likely a lone wolf.

That made sense. Zhang Shan himself would be an independent player if not for Wind Chime’s invitation. Solo leveling wasn’t necessarily slow. With so many players in the game, someone was bound to get lucky, snag some great gear or an ideal skill for grinding, and speed ahead. Nothing surprising about that.

The longer Zhang Shan farmed, the faster he became, gradually putting more distance between himself and the rest of the team. The monsters grew denser around him. Occasionally, mobs would even respawn right at his side, leaving him a bit flustered.

He summoned his pet back out, setting it to follow and guard mode. That way, if any monsters attacked him, the pet would intercept them first, holding them off until Zhang Shan could deal with them.

Near eleven o'clock, Zhang Shan reached level twelve. He invested all his attribute points into Agility, and saved his skill points—he now had four banked, but still hadn't seen a single skill book drop.

He wondered if his luck had run dry after getting the divine weapon. After nearly two thousand monsters, he’d only gotten some white gear and random junk. Let alone skill books, he hadn't even seen a single green item. Maybe his earlier luck had been too outrageous, and this was just the normal drop rate now? He wasn’t entirely sure.

It looked like getting good loot would be tough without tackling bosses.

No matter. He didn’t need much in the way of equipment for now—his attack power was solid, and his health wasn’t bad either. At this rate, he wouldn’t be lagging behind even if he coasted to level two. As for skill books, he’d just leave it to fate.

“Anyone found a boss yet?” Zhang Shan asked in the party chat.

“Nope, haven’t even seen a boss’s shadow. By the way, Six Barrels, how’d you end up so far away?”

“Didn’t notice. Just got further and further while farming.”

“No boss to fight—so boring.”

“How often does that Sentinel Captain respawn, anyway? It’s been a while since we killed the boss.”

“Even if it respawns, we probably wouldn’t find it. Those patrol-type monsters don’t respawn in fixed locations—who knows where it’d wander off to.”

“This map is just too big. With so few of us, finding a boss is pure luck.”

“Not necessarily. Big bosses usually hang out where monsters are thickest, or they’re alone in some clearing.”

“There are already plenty of monsters here, but still no boss in sight.”

As the conversation went on, Zhang Shan realized that the monsters in his current area were truly densely packed—several times thicker than where they’d been before. Could there actually be a big boss around here?

He pressed onward. Picking the direction with the most monsters, he found the density growing ever higher, as if he were in the level one chicken fields back in the starter village—no matter how many he killed, there were always more.

Pushing forward was tough. The mobs pressed in ever closer. As soon as he cleared those ahead, more would respawn behind. If he dared pause, he’d be swarmed and beaten down in no time. All he could do was keep up a relentless barrage of attacks, carving out a tiny bubble of space so he could inch forward.

He didn’t know how much time had passed before he suddenly spotted a structure up ahead.

After all this time grinding in the Borang Wasteland, he hadn’t seen a single building, and had assumed the demon tribe monsters didn’t live in structures. Though it was too far to make out clearly, the silhouette resembled an altar.

Aha—some kind of find.

In games, altars either housed bosses, were related to quests, or held treasures. Either way, being the first to discover one usually meant something good.

He hurried to investigate.

As he drew closer, he was taken aback.

Was that a boss? It was enormous—could humanoid bosses really be this big? More like a giant.

Upon the altar stood a colossal, humanoid boss, wielding a staff, chanting or praying—its sheer size was overwhelming.

It was a red-named boss: a Demon Tribe Shaman, clearly a magic type. As for its stats—no point even wondering. Even with a divine weapon, Zhang Shan knew he couldn’t hope to take on such a boss.

Just looking at its massive frame, he could imagine its strength. Even if an entire guild came at it, they probably couldn’t bring this boss down.

“Discovered a wild red boss,” Zhang Shan announced, sharing his view with the party so everyone could see what he saw.

“No way—that boss is huge! Could we even fight it?”

“Fight the boss? Don’t kid yourself. Look at all those mobs around Six Barrels—like grains of rice. We’d be wiped before we even saw the boss.”

“Oops, got distracted watching the boss.”

“Six Barrels, you’re a beast. How can you stand your ground with so many mobs? Hardcore.”

“Heh, I manage—as long as I keep attacking, I can hold out.”

“So what about this boss? Are we just here to gawk? Maybe someone could check its stats—maybe it only looks scary and is actually a pushover.”

“Who’d go? No one but Six Barrels could even get close, and if he tries, he’ll get killed and sent back to town. No rescue possible.”

Zhang Shan eyed the boss with longing, but there was no way to approach. If only he could come up with a plan—if he couldn’t fight it, maybe he could at least get a closer look.

Hmm? The closer he got to the altar, the fewer mobs there seemed to be. Was it possible there were no monsters right by the altar?

He sped up, clearing a path toward the altar, and soon found that, sure enough, the mobs thinned out near it. Could he be within the boss’s aggro range already?

He felt a bit anxious.

Breaking contact with the mobs, he cautiously edged closer to the altar, worried the boss might lash out at any moment.

But he needn’t have worried—the boss didn’t even glance his way. Evidently, he hadn’t entered its aggro zone yet.

Circling the altar, Zhang Shan found that besides the Demon Tribe Shaman, there were four purple-named bosses stationed at each corner of the altar.

He couldn’t take the red boss, but maybe he could try for one of the purple ones? He hesitated—not out of fear he couldn’t handle them, but because he worried that attacking one might trigger all the bosses to attack at once, which would be the end of him.

“There are four purple bosses on the altar too. Could I take one? Or would attacking one trigger them all?” Zhang Shan asked in the party chat.

“Hard to say—no one’s ever fought these, who knows what their mechanics are?”

“Why not give it a shot? Worst case, you die once—doesn’t matter, you level fast anyway.”

Zhang Shan was speechless.

Such irresponsibility!

But they had a point—no one had tried these bosses, so anything was possible. Maybe they were meant to be fought one at a time, or maybe all together. No way to know without trying.

He watched a little longer. If nothing else, he’d just have to try.