Without hesitation, Zhou Ming hurried toward the source of the sound.
Anyone who had played games knew that the drop rates of regular monsters and bosses were entirely different. Although the latter were difficult to kill, one had to dare to challenge them to get top-tier loot.
Moreover, given his current situation, his most urgent need was to kill a boss to acquire top-tier equipment!
Otherwise, trying to complete the Sin of Arrogance would be nothing more than wishful thinking.
A few minutes later, he arrived at the boss's location, and a massive black panther, standing a full two meters tall, came into view.
At this moment, the fiercely aggressive black panther wore a ferocious expression, roaring with anger as it relentlessly pursued a lean and short player. Whenever it closed the distance, it lashed out with sharp claws and fangs, though the latter managed to dodge each time by a hair's breadth.
"A player?"
Zhou Ming was slightly taken aback.
Right now, apart from him, there were actually other players daring to farm monsters in the Twilight Prairie, and even solo a boss?!
However, he quickly saw through the clues.
The player being chased by the boss had attributes that fell far short of wild antics in this place—
[Tingfeng Xiyu] (Wind Shadow Thief)
Level: 10
...
Wind Shadow Thief!
It seemed this person was even the holder of a hidden class!
At this moment, while running for his life, Tingyu Xifeng also noticed Zhou Ming watching from afar and shouted, "Run, the aggro range of this boss is huge!"
He didn't choose to shift the trouble onto others?
Not a bad guy!
Zhou Ming thought for a moment, smiled, and asked, "Need some help?"
"Stop joking around, bro, this is a Silver-grade boss!" Tingyu Xifeng said, speechless.
This guy seemed completely clueless about the situation!
This Black Wind Leopard King was by no means something current-stage players could provoke; it could one-shot people left and right!
Zhou Ming chuckled dryly, raised a hand toward the Black Wind Leopard King, fire elements surging in his palm: "What a coincidence, I hunt Silver-grade bosses!"
If it were merely a Bronze-grade, he wouldn't have much interest at all.
Only a Silver-grade first kill could make him care this much!
Sword of the Fallen!
"Whoosh—!"
A fiery red illusory giant sword crashed down fiercely from atop the Black Wind Leopard King's head, hindering its movement and making it roar in pain.
-238!
A bright red damage number popped up.
"Holy shit!"
Seeing the damage Zhou Ming dealt, Tingfeng Xiyu was dumbfounded: "This game has cheaters!"
Taking advantage of the period when the Black Wind Leopard King was slowed, he hurriedly put some distance between them, turned around, and saw that the boss's aggro had been drawn away by the other player.
Zhou Ming had no time for idle chatter. Facing a menacing and powerful foe, he had to give twelve percent of his focus to the fight.
"Awoo!"
As soon as it closed in, the Black Wind Leopard King opened its bloody maw, baring sharp teeth stained with foul-smelling saliva, and lunged to bite Zhou Ming, overflowing with savagery.
Tearing Slash!
Seeing this, Zhou Ming did not shrink from the fight, swinging his sword to trade blows with it.
"Ding!~"
System prompt: You used the skill [Tearing Slash], the next attack will deal 200% damage based on your own attack power, cause the enemy unit to lose 0.2% of its max health per second, and reduce movement speed by 30% for five seconds!
-169!
-210!
The Black Wind Leopard King's attack was no joke after all; even a regular attack dealt much higher damage than Zhou Ming's skill.
However, the effect of Tearing Slash took hold rapidly, causing the boss's wound to continuously bleed.
-40!
-40!
-40!
...
"!!"
Tingfeng Xiyu, watching from afar, was struck with awe.
Earlier, he had tried to inspect the Black Wind Leopard King's panel, only to find his level was too low—everything he saw was question marks!
Under such circumstances, there was actually a player who could fight it evenly; it was simply unbelievable—
[Travel the World] (Flame Lord)
Level: 16
Health: 3660
Attack: 328-333
Defense: 279-286
Skills: [Sword of the Fallen], [Tearing Slash]
...
"So you're Travel the World!" Tingfeng Xiyu snapped to his senses, a strange expression then appearing on his face.
Even the Travel the World who took the Bronze first kill shouldn't have such an outrageous stat panel, right?
Over three thousand health!
My entire health pool is just a fraction of yours!
"Bro, can you stop being a cheerleader?"
Having finished casting his two skills, Zhou Ming immediately fell to a disadvantage.
Compared to Lin Tao, the Black Wind Leopard King's attributes were far more than a tier higher!
Had he not been equipped with multiple Gold-grade pieces all over his body, he wouldn't have been able to hold his ground either—
[Black Wind Leopard King] (Silver-grade Boss)
Level: 30
Health: ???
Attack: 480-520
Defense: ???
Skills: [Junior Bloodlust], [Desperate Bite], [Continuous Claw Strikes]
Description: Leader of the Demonic Black Panther, overlord of the Twilight Prairie, and also, your doom
...
"Alright!"
Tingfeng Xiyu snapped back to reality, activated Stealth without hesitation to approach the Black Wind Leopard King, and then thrust out the dagger in his hand—striking with Pummel, one of the assassin's signature skills.
"Ding!~"
System prompt: The Black Wind Leopard King was hit by Tingfeng Xiyu's skill [Pummel], losing 1 health point and becoming stunned for 0.93 seconds!
Due to the massive attribute gap, the 1.5-second stun of Pummel was greatly negated.
Taking advantage of the brief pause in the boss's attacks, Zhou Ming hurriedly increased the distance, heavily chugging red potions to buy time while maximizing the effect of Tearing Slash.
The Black Wind Leopard King lacked sentience, and its aggro was entirely locked onto Travel the World. It resolutely gave chase, but afflicted with a heavy speed debuff, it couldn't catch up for a while.
Once the slow wore off, Zhou Ming repeated the tactic, while Tingfeng Xiyu lingered nearby, seizing opportunities to land crowd control and reduce the former's pressure.
Through their methodical cooperation, the boss's health slowly ticked downward, until only 50% health remained...
"Awoo!"
The Black Wind Leopard King roared toward the sky, its body suddenly swelling a size larger, its eyes turning blood-red and terrifyingly eerie.
"Ding!~"
System prompt: The Black Wind Leopard King used the skill [Junior Bloodlust], Attack +20%, Attack Speed +20%, Movement Speed +20%, lasting for twenty seconds!
Seeing this, Zhou Ming remained unhurried, quickly pulling back, using Sword of the Fallen to bombard and slow it, keeping his own health firmly above 50%. Since the Black Wind Leopard King's skill duration was short, it merely managed a couple of extra swipes before the effect naturally wore off.
40%!
30%!
The Black Wind Leopard King's health continued to drop.
"Is he really going to kill a Silver-grade boss?" Tingfeng Xiyu swallowed hard, his heart trembling.
On the second day of the server launch, a Silver first kill!
The shock this brought was far greater than the Bronze first kill!
"Ding!~"
System prompt: The Black Wind Leopard King used the skill [Desperate Bite], increasing its next attack damage by 250%!
Having entered a critical-health state, the boss grew increasingly frantic, its maw filled with sharp teeth biting savagely toward Zhou Ming.
"Shut your damn mouth!"
Zhou Ming's gaze turned cold as he pressed his left hand forward. Under his control, the Sword of the Fallen plummeted right in front of him, pressing down squarely from above the Black Wind Leopard King's incoming jaws, forcefully pinning its head against the ground, unable to move.
"Ding!~"
System prompt: You used the skill [Sword of the Fallen], successfully interrupting the Black Wind Leopard King's skill and inflicting a 1.35-second suppression effect!
He certainly hadn't forgotten that the suppression effect attached to the Sword of the Fallen was an extremely tyrannical form of crowd control.
Such an ability had to be put to good use.
-688! (Critical Strike)
As the astonishing number appeared, the Black Wind Leopard King completely lost its last chance at a comeback.
"???"
Tingfeng Xiyu, standing nearby, stared in a daze.
"Die!"
Zhou Ming swung his sword down once more, and the massive body of the Black Wind Leopard King crashed heavily to the ground.
Silver first kill, secured!
...