Chapter 130: Chapter 130: The 41st Layer of the Secret Realm, Facing the Epic Boss!

However, as he climbed the levels and the number of Lords increased, Zi Liyuan finally couldn’t afford to be idle anymore.

Lao Tie could only suppress up to two Lord Bosses at a time, and when the number exceeded that, the rest of the bosses would head straight for Zi Liyuan.

Therefore, the Skeleton Cannon Fodder Group was back in business once again.

But the upgraded Skeleton Cannon Fodder Group, with various enhancements, had improved attributes. When they launched a group charge, they could still break through the Lord Boss’s defenses and inflict single-digit damage.

With thousands of Underworld Knights charging wave after wave, it was practically impossible for the Lord Bosses to reach Zi Liyuan’s side and attack him.

However, these Secret Realm Bosses weren’t pushovers, especially the magic-wielding Lord Bosses that often had large-area clearance skills.

Once these guys unleashed their AOE skills, they could virtually clear the sky of skeletons. If several of them used it at once, a complete annihilation of the Skeleton Cannon Fodder Group in one wave was not out of the question.

Unfortunately, what Zi Liyuan was least short of was Skeleton Cannon Fodder. Even though the summoning cost of the upgraded version had doubled, he could easily afford it with his nearly 100k Spiritual Power.

For just 100 Spiritual Power points, he got 512 skeletons delivered to his doorstep, express service included, (づ￣3￣)づ╭～ dear~

With a wave of his Magic Wand, 1024 Underworld Knights were spread across the field once more, then the Skeletal Horses moved their hooves in unison, delivering a skeleton buffet service on their backs.

Zi Liyuan, aside from timely replenishing the Skeleton Cannon Fodder Group’s losses, spent the rest of his time waiting for his spells’ cooldown and blasting the Lord Bosses that Lao Tie was attacking with a barrage of spells.

Thanks to the Bone Spear and Death’s Dark Arrow, two high-damage skills, in addition to the Death’s Dark Arrow imprinted by his set, he could deal considerable damage, not to mention casting curses for support.

With a deepening damage curse applied, Lao Tie’s lethality instantly soared by more than double, not to mention the curses that weakened, caused blowback from attacks, and more.

After all, the mere LV41~50 Lord Bosses were simply not enough for Zi Liyuan to handle.

Killing Lords was like killing chickens, even if ten of them came at a time, it only meant there were more chickens and it took a bit longer.

However, compared to his previous speed, facing multiple Lord Bosses inevitably slowed down his progress through the levels.

Of course, it was Zi Liyuan who felt the challenge was going too slowly, but in reality, his pace had already shocked a certain Tower-defense Mediterranean Oasis teacher to the point of almost dislocating their jaw.

“Is this year’s national college entrance examination’s top scorer really that ferocious? To reach the forty-first level in less than half an hour, that’s outrageous!”

After muttering a complaint, the teacher turned to look at another screen beside him, which displayed Shen Yurou’s battle.

Clad in armor with a thick sci-fi vibe, two huge sniper rifles were being alternately fired at the boss’s critical points on the forehead, unleashing a frenzy of precision shots that resulted in exploding damage numbers.

“What a novel set of equipment, the armor provides extremely fast movement speed and attack power, essentially treating the Bosses like kites to be flown.”

But seeing that Shen Yurou had only reached the twentieth floor, the Mediterranean Oasis teacher finally breathed a sigh of relief. Her speed was fast, yet still within normal limits.

“This girl ranked thirty-second in the national rankings; there are thirty freaks ahead of her. This year’s newcomers are truly strong, I’m somehow looking forward to the day they enroll.”

Seemingly thinking of something fun, the teacher chuckled to himself with a sneaky laugh.

[Ding, congratulations to Zi Liyuan for slaying the fortieth floor Secret Realm Boss, successfully clearing the fortieth floor. You have five minutes to rest, or you may directly enter the next level of the Secret Realm Challenge.]

[Level Clearance Countdown: 4 minutes 59 seconds…]

“Phew, dealing with 10 level 50 Lord Bosses at once without the Corpse Explosion Technique is really a hassle.”

Glancing at his swiftly recovering Spiritual Power, Zi Liyuan did not immediately proceed to the next level but, took the rare opportunity to rest and reorganize.

The level 50 Lord Bosses had not caused any damage to Lao Tie, but they did consume a significant amount of his Spiritual Power, mainly because the brute used auxiliary attacks and threw spells without a thought to conserving Spiritual Power.

[Level Clearance Countdown: 1 second!]

As the countdown hit zero, instead of a portal appearing, the whole space seemed to collapse halfway and then shattered and reassembled into a different scene.

The forty-first level of the Secret Realm; the scenery changed once again, this time into a massive coliseum with opposing sides each standing on one side.

“Damn, treating me like I’m nothing, huh?!”

Seeing the level 51 Epic Boss on the opposite side, Zi Liyuan couldn’t help but swear out loud.

To know, the Spider Warriors from the martial trial instance were only level 50; their levels weren’t even as high as this one.

However, the Spider Warrior had several times more health than this Frost Giant, with only 10 million hit points.

Actually, this was not what had caused Zi Liyuan to curse. Faced with an Epic Boss, Lao Tie had managed to solo it in the martial trial instance and had received a significant boost; therefore, dealing with it now would naturally be a breeze.

But don’t forget, with each increasing level of the Secret Realm, the mechanic was to add +1 in quantity!

If he were suddenly faced with ten at once, Zi Liyuan couldn’t even bear to imagine it, maybe he would get beaten to death?

Shaking his head, he thought about how to deal with several of these creatures at once and directed Lao Tie to start greeting the guests.

With Lao Tie’s current stats, a normal attack from this Epic Boss could only take a few hundred points off his health, and even with skills, the damage wouldn’t exceed ten thousand.

On the other hand, Lao Tie’s attacks could still instantaneously deal over 35,000 damage, and with Zi Liyuan’s various support abilities and curses, it could reach over 70,000 damage per second.

So, soloing an Epic Boss wasn’t an issue, but if six or seven were to gang up on him, Lao Tie with his mere 700,000+ health points might not be able to withstand it.

While calculating the damage and contemplating strategies, the only solution he could think of in the end was to rely on the Skeleton Cannon Fodder Group and himself to hold off eight Epic Bosses, allowing Lao Tie to focus on just two in direct combat.

He had to rely on the never-ending Skeleton Sea to fight such a prolonged battle.

“This is only the forties, but what about levels above fifty? Could it really be Legendary Bosses?”

Recalling the attributes of the Spider Queen in the martial trial instance, Zi Liyuan shivered at the thought. If at level fifty-one, it was truly a Legendary Boss like the Spider Queen, then he might not be able to get through level fifty-two.

The 10 million hit points quickly depleted under Lao Tie’s relentless assault. After the Epic Boss was defeated, he once again paused for rest, waiting until his condition was fully restored before venturing into the next level of the Secret Realm.

The two Epic Frost Giants caused Lao Tie’s health to drop a bit too quickly, but fortunately, with the passive life-draining attack effect, along with the high instant damage, he still managed to maintain a balance in his health.

But when facing three Epic Frost Giants, the balance of health loss could no longer be sustained. Lao Tie’s health started to decline slowly but surely, and the life-draining effect alone could no longer compensate for it.