Chapter 215: The Novel Wouldn

Upon the throne of white bones.

The Lich King slowly rose to his feet.

In his hand, the staff embedded with a massive black skull slammed down upon the throne.

Boom!

A wave of deathly pressure instantly swept across the entire area.

The two undead bone dragons also lifted their massive heads, fixing their gaze tightly on Lin Mo and his group.

The Lich King looked down upon Lin Mo and the others from above.

"Stupid, ignorant humans…"

"Since you've entered my domain, surrender your souls… and become my most loyal servants…"

The Lich King raised his staff.

Below, Lin Mo frowned slightly.

"Talk too much."

"Guys, kill it."

Boom——!!

Behind Lin Mo, effects exploded instantly!

Flames shot into the sky!

Thunder roared!

Extreme cold ravaged the land!

The earth cracked apart!

No probing, no maneuvering.

They opened with maximum firepower—absolute devastation.

The soul flames within the Lich King's eye sockets flared violently.

He hadn't even finished his line before being utterly drowned by this terrifying barrage.

Boom boom boom boom——!!!!

The entire white bone throne area erupted in a cataclysmic explosion.

The two seemingly mighty undead bone dragons didn't even manage to breathe a single dragon's breath.

At the instant they made contact with the combined assault of the four elemental skills, their massive skeletons shattered and vaporized…

As for the Lich King…

"Aaaah——!!!"

Accompanied by an extremely shrill and brief scream.

Not even a trace of ash remained.

【Congratulations! You have successfully slain the final boss: 'Bone Lich King'!】

A brilliant golden light of leveling enveloped Lin Mo.

【Your level has increased!】

【Current level: Lv. 3 (20%)】

Lin Mo stretched his limbs, a faint smile tugging at his lips.

Another level up.

Awesome!

In his skill bar:

【'Fireball Spell' crackled with flames, sneering: 'Hmph! Let Old Three show off, but you? You dare act tough in front of me?'】

【'Ice Spike Spell' crossed her arms, scoffing: 'That's it? You can't even qualify to be my little brother. What's the point of pretending?'】

【'Lightning Strike' shimmered with electric light, cold as ever: 'Waste.'】

【'Earth Shield' poked out its round head, ranting wildly: 'Exactly! What kind of pathetic Lich King? Even Brother Two hasn't had a chance to act and it's already dead!'】

Listening to the skills' remarks,

Lin Mo smiled too.

Trying to show off in front of these four Elemental Spirits? That's suicide.

Meanwhile,

A series of notifications popped up in everyone's panels.

【Congratulations! You have successfully cleared the team dungeon: Shadow Bone Forest (Hell Difficulty)!】

【Final clearance time: 59 seconds!】

As soon as the clearance time appeared, everyone sucked in a sharp breath.

They stared in disbelief at the number on their panels.

"Holy shit! 59 seconds?!"

Wang Dawei's voice trembled.

Ye Kong gripped his Tang blade tighter, swallowing hard.

"This… less than a minute?"

"Insane…"

Han Mengyao's mouth hung slightly open.

This was unprecedented—breaking the one-minute barrier!

This was a Hell-difficulty team dungeon!

…

Meanwhile,

In a field training zone of the Imperial Academy of Ying Country.

This was a forest shrouded in thick fog.

Blades flashed wildly, the roar of skills never ceased.

Members of Ying Country's strongest prodigy group, "Ghost God Clan," were covered in mud, fighting desperately within the forest.

Each one was venting their humiliation and rage.

Since the record had been broken,

They would just keep pushing harder—improve their skill proficiency, raise their levels, and crush the Long Xu Class on the Ten Thousand Nations Battlefield!

And at the rear of the team,

Amano Soichiro appeared utterly distracted.

His eyes never left his phone screen.

He kept refreshing the school forum.

His thumb frantically scrolled down, refreshing again and again.

Normally, for a Hell-difficulty team dungeon, any change in the record would be uploaded to the forum in seconds.

Amano Soichiro stared fixedly at the screen.

Suddenly,

The screen froze for half a second.

Then, a red-highlighted post appeared in his view.

【BREAKING!!! Our Ying Country's third record has been reclaimed by Dragon Country again! Is the Dragon Country Long Xu Class really this terrifying?】

The instant he saw the title,

Amano Soichiro's thumb froze mid-scroll.

"Heh…"

He let out a bitter laugh.

"Of course…"

"Broken again…"

In fact,

Until now, even after Dragon Country had set one crushing record after another, he had still clung to a sliver of hope.

What if?

What if Dragon Country had just gotten lucky, stumbling upon two dungeon exploits by chance?

But now, the third record had been taken again.

Three strikes, and you're out.

Dragon Country had shattered all his illusions in the cruelest way possible.

Amano Soichiro clicked into the post.

He wanted to see.

Just how crushing was Dragon Country's new record this time?

Had they broken the two-minute barrier?

In an instant, the page loaded.

A massive image was thrown before Amano Soichiro's eyes.

It was a high-definition screenshot of the dungeon's rift, displaying a row of clearance records.

【Clear time: 59 seconds.】

「…」

The instant he saw the number.

Aso Kanzō was stunned.

He forgot to breathe.

「59… seconds?

「No way?

He suspected he was hallucinating.

He yanked off his glasses and rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand.

Put them back on.

Looked again.

Still 59 seconds!

「Impossible!!!

Aso Kanzō's cry startled Liu Sheng Jianyi and the others, who were slaying monsters ahead—they turned around.

「What's wrong, Aso?

Liu Sheng Jianyi frowned and asked.

Aso Kanzō ignored his teammates' questions.

He stared fixedly at the screen, his eyes filled with confusion.

「How could it be 59 seconds…」

「No human could possibly achieve this score!

「Even if Longguo really produced a dungeon-specialized class, it couldn't possibly break the record this badly?

「Could it be…」

In Aso Kanzō's mind, a third hypothesis leapt out—so absurd even he couldn't believe it.

The thought had barely formed.

He shook his head violently.

「Impossible.

「How strong could he possibly be?

「Could he really have a Gao Jie skill at level 30?

「Even if he did have a Gao Jie skill, theoretically he couldn't clear it in 59 seconds… Gao Jie skills have long cooldowns.

「The final boss has massive HP—a single Gao Jie skill can't one-shot it…」

「Unless…」

「Someone in Longguo is holding five or six… or even seven or eight Gao Jie skills at once? Or perhaps multiple people with Gao Jie skills?

Thinking of this,

Aso Kanzō couldn't help letting out a bitter laugh.

「I've gone mad—thinking of Gao Jie skills as if they were common as weeds…」

「Seven or eight Gao Jie skills at level 30? Even novels wouldn't dare write this!

「It seems this Longguo dungeon-specialized class might be even more terrifying than I thought—perhaps even capable of… inventing dungeon exploits outright?

At that moment,

「Aso?

Liu Sheng Jianyi sensed something was off—he slashed back the monster before him and shouted.

「What's going on? What are you zoning out for?

Aso Kanzō shuddered violently and snapped back to reality.

He took a deep breath, shoved his phone into his pant pocket, and forced a smile.

「N…nothing!

Aso Kanzō replied:

「The record doesn't matter anymore!

「No matter what underhanded methods Longguo used, before absolute power, all mechanics are paper tigers!

「We must work twice as hard—raise our levels, sharpen our skill proficiency, wait for our chance, and tear them apart ourselves!

Hearing Aso Kanzō's words of encouragement,

Liu Sheng Jianyi and the others' battle lust surged again.

「Kill!!!

The forest erupted once more with deafening combat cries.

Though Aso Kanzō shouted loudly, his hands still trembled slightly.

He was afraid.

A fear born of the unknown.