Chapter 76: The Sword Dance That Stole the Show!

Chapter 76: Chapter 76: The Sword Dance That Stole the Show!

"The first achievement has been unlocked!"

Ji Xiaoyu showed a look of joy, but seeing the continuous snow-capped mountains ahead and a palace standing at the peak, she couldn’t help but feel nervous again. In the past, there had indeed been strategy teams that managed to one-shot the Frozen Soil Demon Spirits with high damage output to unlock the [Frozen Soil Land] achievement. However, [Cold Assault] was only the easiest achievement to unlock. The difficulty of obtaining the latter two became increasingly higher.

"Guild Master, are we really going to follow your combat plan for the second dungeon?" Ji Xiaoyu turned to look at Yu Zhun beside her. Although she had great faith in Yu Zhun’s strength, thinking of his simple and crude combat plan, Ji Xiaoyu couldn’t help but worry. She wondered if this could really work.

"Trust me." Yu Zhun nodded calmly. It was time to experience the limits of the Lv4 [Sword Dance].

Yu Zhun skillfully took out his loudspeaker and turned on the looping playback.

"My name is Yu Zhun. When you hear this sentence, it means you are going to die.

"My name is Yu Zhun. When you..."

The maximum-volume recording echoed through the silent Snow Ridge for a long time. Salas couldn’t help but lean in close to Ji Xiaoyu and whisper.

"Did you notice? The Guild Master changed his recording." He recalled that in the [Bloody City] dungeon earlier, it had clearly been a different recording!

"Listening to the same one all the time gets boring," Ji Xiaoyu nodded in understanding.

"Rich Lady Yu, every time the Guild Master goes on a killing spree, he takes out his loudspeaker. He’s so high-profile. What do you think..." Salas looked at Yu Zhun swaggering in front of them, a thoughtful look in his eyes. "If I made a loudspeaker item, would the Guild Master buy it?"

"Good idea." Ji Xiaoyu silently gave Sa a thumbs-up.

Soon, the three arrived halfway up the snow mountain.

Salas and Ji Xiaoyu, who had been chatting casually just a moment ago, both put on serious expressions simultaneously. In front of them stood a group of over a hundred opponents. The opponents were divided into two types: one wore Magic Robes and held Magic Staffs, while the other wore Armor and held Hunting Blades. The two types were mixed together in a completely disorganized formation. When Yu Zhun’s trio saw them, all the opponents also looked over, instantly entering a combat state.

[Snow Ridge Wizard (Lv20)]

[Attributes:

Life Value: 60,000

Mana: 1,000

Physical Attack: 0

Magic Attack: 1,200

Physical Defense: 0

Magic Defense: 5,000]

[Mechanism (Ice Strike): Attack interval 3s. Deals Magic damage and simultaneously marks the target with 1 stack of Frozen Mark, lasting 10s. Prioritizes attacking targets with a Frozen Mark. Upon reaching 2 stacks of Frozen Mark, the marks are cleared and the target enters a frozen state for 5s. Marks from different Snow Ridge Wizards are not equivalent. Entering the frozen state again while already frozen extends the duration of the state.]

[Snow Ridge Hunter (Lv20)]

[Attributes:

Life Value: 10,000

Mana: 1,000

Physical Attack: 1,200

Magic Attack: 0

Physical Defense: 5,000

Magic Defense: 0]

[Mechanism (Ice Breaker): Attack interval 5s. Prioritizes attacking targets in a frozen state. When attacking a frozen target, it ignores Physical Defense and deals Physical damage equal to 50% of the target’s maximum Life Value.]

Even though they already knew how outrageous the Mechanism of the second stage, [Thousand Mountain Snow Ridge], was, Salas and Ji Xiaoyu still couldn’t help but click their tongues in astonishment at this moment.

The Snow Ridge Wizards in this stage, just like the Frozen Soil Demon Spirits in the previous stage, could stack marks, but there were some differences between the two. The fact that marks from different Snow Ridge Wizards were not equivalent meant that if two different Snow Ridge Wizards each applied one stack of Frozen Mark to the same player, the marks wouldn’t combine to trigger the frozen state. In addition, the Snow Ridge Wizard’s mark would disappear after only 10 seconds, whereas the Frozen Soil Demon Spirit’s mark lasted indefinitely.

As for the Snow Ridge Hunters, they seemed unremarkable, but once a player was frozen, it would become a nightmare of rapid team casualties. At the same time, the Snow Ridge Wizards and Snow Ridge Hunters respectively possessed the attribute characteristics of high Life Value with high Magic Defense, and low Life Value with high Physical Defense.

If the only requirement for this second stage was just to clear it, it wouldn’t be difficult. Although both types of Mechanism monsters had high movement speed, unlike the Frozen Soil Demon Spirit where one could just avoid combat and run away, there were ways to face them directly. First, have Mages use large-scale AOE Magic skills to wipe out all the Snow Ridge Hunters. Then, have a tank step up to take the Snow Ridge Wizards’ attacks while being healed by Priests. Finally, have the archers and Assassins focus fire on the Snow Ridge Wizards.

But just like the first stage, if one wanted to unlock the [Thousand Mountain Snow Ridge] achievement for the second stage and aim for a perfect clear, this method would not work. The method to obtain the [Thousand Mountain Snow Ridge] achievement was: kill all the Snow Ridge Wizards and Snow Ridge Hunters, ensuring all Snow Ridge Hunters survive until the last Snow Ridge Wizard is dead, and clearing the stage with zero casualties in the team!

This was a trial of... Hell difficulty! Almost ninety-nine percent of the raiding teams that attempted a perfect clear would fail here!

And for Yu Zhun’s trio, this battle was equally difficult. The AOE skill Ji Xiaoyu was most adept at using, [Blast Flame], could wipe out all the Snow Ridge Hunters in just one strike, so it could not be used. Although [Frost Kill] had high damage, it still required two hits to take out a single Snow Ridge Wizard. Considering the skill’s cooling time, its effectiveness wouldn’t be very good in this heavily outnumbered battle.

Therefore...

"Wind Entanglement!"

Ji Xiaoyu heavily stomped her Magic Staff onto the ground. The moment its brilliant gemstone lit up, a gust of wind sweeping across the field caught up the snow on the ground, instantly enveloping all the Snow Ridge Wizards and Snow Ridge Hunters present. Mage skill [Wind Entanglement (Lv1)]: caused a 30% deceleration to all flying objects and hostile targets within range. It could slow down the Ice Strikes cast by the Snow Ridge Wizards. This was the only help Ji Xiaoyu could provide to Yu Zhun.

As the fierce wind kicked up, Yu Zhun pounced on the opponents ahead like a cheetah, his eyes flashing with a sharp light.

Skill [Swift Step], activated!

Skill [Sword Dance], activated!

In his hands, [Nether’s Sigh] bloomed with a purplish-black Nether light. Equipment effect [Soul Capture], activated! Reduced the Physical Attack and Magic Attack of targets facing the wielder head-on by 30%!

The moment he entered the Snow Ridge Wizards’ attack range, streaks of ice-blue energy projectiles rushed toward his face like a curtain of rain. Those were the Snow Ridge Wizards’ Ice Strikes!

Ji Xiaoyu clenched her fists tightly. Under the effect of [Wind Entanglement], the Snow Ridge Wizards’ attacks, being flying objects, would similarly be slowed down by 30%, but the sheer volume of attacks was simply too much. She wondered if Yu Zhun could really dodge them all.

Beside her, Salas couldn’t help but tightly grip the Priest’s Book in his hands, revealing a solemn expression. He prepared to activate [Purification] to ensure that he could promptly remove the crowd control the very instant Yu Zhun was frozen!

In the next moment, their eyes widened sharply!

Facing the dense, rain-like barrage of attacks, Yu Zhun’s figure was like a wisp of light smoke, agilely weaving and dodging among the energy projectiles. Again and again. He resembled a martial arts master whose skills had reached the pinnacle of perfection; every twist and turn seemed incredibly effortless and graceful.

The rain-like barrage of attacks could not stop his will to fight, and the freezing cold Snow Ridge could not extinguish his soaring killing intent. The moment Yu Zhun charged into the enemy crowd, a slaughtering feast belonging to the Assassin officially began!