Chapter 196

Any one of the three main forces could independently solve the Ant Queen before them.

Flames sprayed, ice and snow covered the area.

The five Chess Pieces fought with the three ants.

What surprised Li Yao was:

The Ant Queen wasn't strong, but the two ants holding shields were fiercely strong.

Based on the damage dealt, their endurance attribute was at least over four thousand.

Except for the two Chess Pieces sharing 【Close as Neighbors】, the other Chess Pieces couldn't break their defense at all!

All three were Lord-level monsters; looking at it this way,

this dungeon actually had a high difficulty.

Ordinary professionals who hadn't reached level 40 would find it very hard to clear.

About ten minutes passed.

The two shield ants' health dropped to half.

No!

Such slow efficiency made Li Yao suddenly realize something.

"Assuming they really have four thousand endurance, even a third-turn professional would find it hard to break their defense."

"Then how was the record broken?"

"There must be something I'm overlooking."

Li Yao thought.

His level wasn't high enough, so he could only rely on speculation to understand the monsters' strength.

He knew nothing about their skills.

Li Yao suddenly remembered that the top teams on the leaderboard all seemed to be multi-Poison Mage combinations.

Afraid of magic attacks?

Not entirely.

Li Yao stroked his chin, pondering.

The Darkwing Black Dragon also used magic attacks, but its damage was actually not as high as the Void Mantis's.

"Not as high as the Void Mantis," Li Yao repeated.

Then he smiled slightly.

He should have figured it out.

The Darkwing Black Dragon used fire-attribute attacks; fire-attribute damage was generally higher than other attributes, but now its damage was actually lower.

Plus, the Ant Disaster Cavern was a dry terrain like a desert.

The answer was obvious.

"Darkwing Black Dragon," Li Yao called out.

The Darkwing Black Dragon stopped attacking immediately and crawled beside Li Yao.

The Azure Bird flew into the sky, receiving the 【Close as Neighbors】 buff.

【Glacier Storm】 activated.

The temperature in the entire cavern plummeted.

The flying snow hit the shield-bearing ants.

【-】

【- (Weakness Attack)】

【-】

Large chunks of damage appeared on the heads of the two ants.

The Azure Bird flew around in the cavern, chirping incessantly, happy and forgetting itself.

This was the first time it had dealt such damage!

"Sure enough, I guessed right."

"These two ants holding shields,"

"are afraid of ice-element damage!"

The third floor, the difficulty lies in the two shield ants.

If they cannot be dealt with in a short time, the Queen can summon more and more ant monsters.

Once you find a way to counter the shield ants, dealing with the BOSS becomes very simple.

"Devourer, eat it."

At the command, the Devourer lunged at the Queen.

The shield ants have much higher HP than the Queen.

Li Yao worried that these two shield ants were also the Queen's summoned creatures, which would mean no HP reward after devouring them.

To be safe, he chose to eat the Queen instead; the HP gain wouldn't be much different.

【Killed a Lord-tier creature above your level, Disaster Ant Queen, EXP +7%】

【Void Devourer has completed evolutionary devouring, gained maximum HP.】

The Queen died, but the shield ants did not disappear; they are likely not summoned beasts.

Next time he runs this, he can try eating the shield ants.

【Devour Evolution】 cooldown is 45 minutes; Li Yao thought about it and decided not to waste time.

With the Flying Snow constantly freezing them, the shield ants were soon at low health.

The Void Mantis seized the opportunity and charged forward.

Blood flowed across the ground, staining the sand red.

Several notifications refreshed frantically on the system panel.

【Killed a Lord-tier creature above your level, Queen's Guard, EXP +5%】

【Combat training triggered, Void Mantis Strength +1.】

【Killed a Lord-tier creature above your level, Queen's Guard, EXP +5%】

【Combat training triggered, Void Mantis Strength +1.】

【Congratulations to the professional team 'None' for clearing the Ant Disaster Crypt (Purgatory)!】

【Congratulations to the professional team 'None' for breaking the Ant Disaster Crypt (Purgatory) clear time record!】

【Clear time: 1 hour, 7 minutes, 52 seconds】

【Captain: Li Yao (Chess Player)】

【Members: None】

【Reward obtained: Time Record Treasure Chest (Ant Disaster Crypt Purgatory Grade)】

The three monsters dropped two loot chests and 84 gold coins.

One step closer to the Void Mantis breaking through!

His EXP also reached 27th level, 34%.

As expected of a high-level dungeon, the efficiency is terrifyingly fast!

Li Yao glanced at the clear time.

One hour and seven minutes; actually, quite a bit of time was wasted. If he did it again, he could be at least 20 minutes faster.

However,

having already taken the reward once, even if it resets, he won't get another one.

When Li Yao enters next time, he will need to help the Void Mantis grind stats on the second floor, so the clear time will only be longer.

He put the treasure chests into his storage ring, turned around, and stepped into the teleportation vortex.

Just as Li Yao killed the last shield ant,

a deep bell chime rang out within the Ant Disaster Crypt room.

Three chimes in a row.

Inside and outside the room, anyone in the dungeon lobby could hear the bell.

"Holy crap! Someone broke the record again?"

"What do you mean 'again'? The Ant Disaster Crypt record hasn't been broken in a long time!"

"Go check it out! Which big shot broke the record? People who can break records usually become Vice-Captain-level students, let alone the Ant Disaster Crypt. Go early to latch onto them!"

For a moment, no one spoke; everyone looked at the record board.

A large number of students poured into the room, all wanting to see the excitement.

Fortunately, the room was large enough to remain spacious even after accommodating hundreds of people.

On the Ant Disaster Crypt board, the light screen was emitting a brilliant glow, and a brand-new record gradually appeared at the very top.

However,

among the hundreds present, not a single person dared to believe the new record that had appeared.

The sound of people gasping in shock rang out repeatedly.

【Difficulty: Purgatory Grade】

【Team members: Chess Player (Hidden), Clear time: 1 hour, 7 minutes, 52 seconds】

"Did it glitch?"

"Where are the people after Chess Player? Why hasn't it refreshed yet?"

"Is this even possible? Soloing Purgatory difficulty?"

"The key is, he was a full forty minutes faster than the previous record!"

"That was a record set by four SS-grade mages!"

"How did he do it?"

"I just want to know what Chess Player's profession is? SSS-grade?"

Everyone was shaking their heads; they had never heard of Chess Player at all!

Just then, Li Yao appeared in the dungeon room.

With a new record, and such an exaggerated one at that, no one had time to pay attention to Li Yao.

In their eyes,

Li Yao was just a clown putting on an act, completely incomparable to the big shot who broke the record!

"So many people?"

Li Yao followed their gaze, looked up, saw the new record he had created, and understood what was going on.

Records update in real-time. The academy, concerned about protecting student privacy, automatically hides levels and names when they appear on the board.

But on the board, almost no students choose to hide them.

It can be understood that

this is actually an advertising space, a place to show off one's muscles to other students.

Let others know your strength, and when there are difficult dungeons or tasks to complete, they will naturally come to you.

These high-difficulty dungeon tasks often represent high rewards.

Sometimes, the academy will even have people actively seek you out for contribution tasks.

Li Yao placed his ID card on the instrument under the dungeon crystal.

He paid two thousand points.

Unlike outside dungeons, dungeons recorded by the academy require an hour of charging time even if you spend points to reset the cooldown.

Taking advantage of this time, Li Yao found Xiao Hei, who was still standing behind the crowd.

Seeing Li Yao come over,

Xiao Hei suddenly came back to his senses.

Little master, there is more to this chapter, please click the next page to continue reading, it gets even more exciting!

He was very certain that Li Yao could definitely clear the dungeon.

But the new record that just appeared? He would never associate that with Li Yao.

He knew Li Yao's level.

No one would believe that a 27th-level professional could solo Purgatory in an hour!

But now Li Yao had come out of the dungeon.

How could there be such a coincidence?

"Senior Li Yao, that record..." Xiao Hei said in a low voice.

"Yeah, I broke it," Li Yao said casually, taking several loot chests out of his storage ring.

"I'm going to run it a few more times later. You go help me exchange these boxes for some points."

Entering the dungeon isn't expensive, but resetting the cooldown is very expensive!

If he wants to level up quickly, he'll likely have to spend a lot of points.

The chance of getting equipment he can use from BOSS loot chests is too small; it's better to exchange them for points.

"Uh..."

Looking at the four chests in his hands, Xiao Hei felt his throat tighten.

It really was Senior Li Yao who broke the record!

Looking at the professional in front of him, whose level was two levels lower than his own,

it was as if setting an unbelievable clear record was just an ordinary, trivial matter.

Xiao Hei suddenly realized:

Senior Li Yao isn't just someone to latch onto; he's a towering tree that people yearn for!

"Okay!" Xiao Hei nodded heavily. "I will definitely help Senior Li Yao sell them for a good price!"

"A fair price is fine, just sell them quickly."

Li Yao thought for a moment and continued, "Also, recommend another dungeon I can finish in an hour."

He didn't want to waste the time waiting for the charge.

Hearing this, Xiao Hei lowered his head and pondered for a while.

Now that he knew Senior Li Yao's true strength,

he was much bolder in his considerations and quickly thought of a dungeon.

"The Venomous Giant Lizard dungeon. There is only one BOSS inside; Senior Li Yao should be able to handle it very quickly."

"The Purgatory grade is a 30th-level Lord-tier monster."

"These single-BOSS dungeons cannot have their cooldowns reset, but Senior Li Yao doesn't need to worry; there are many such dungeons. You can go to one during each charging time."

Li Yao's eyes lit up.

Lord-tier monsters give a lot of EXP. Grinding them in rotation like this will make leveling up much faster!

The two left the Ant Disaster Crypt room.

At this time, there were more and more people in the room, all wanting to see which big shot broke the record.

Li Yao and the others had to squeeze for quite a while before they could walk out.

The Venomous Giant Lizard dungeon is on the third floor.

It can be entered from level 25 to 35.

The entry points are much more expensive than expected, requiring eight hundred points.

Li Yao could understand; after all, you go straight to the BOSS, which can save a lot of unnecessary time.

It's a good place to use a small investment for a big return.

Spend eight hundred to enter, and if good equipment drops, you can sell it for over a thousand points. As long as you have the strength, you can come and try your luck whenever you have time!

Li Yao paid the points, chose Purgatory difficulty, and disappeared into the vortex.

Xiao Hei glanced at his communicator and silently noted the time.

For this kind of single-BOSS dungeon, with Senior Li Yao's strength, it shouldn't take too long.

Soon,

a white light flashed, and Li Yao came out of the dungeon.

Xiao Hei walked up and smiled: "Twelve minutes! Only two minutes away from breaking the record!"

Li Yao smiled, didn't explain, and tossed the Giant Lizard loot chest to Xiao Hei.

Twelve minutes, eleven of which were spent waiting for the 【Devour Evolution】 cooldown.

Next time he can pay attention and get the time record reward.

A 30th-level Lord, the EXP is actually quite good, a full 4%.

The Devourer also gained eighty thousand HP, and its normal size is getting larger and larger.