Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

The Dark Waters Kingsnake was an Aquatic Behemoth.

Within The New Age, Aquatic Behemoths were mainly Elemental Spirits, just like the Burning Crow. Players would not get any equipment from killing them, but they would get the Aquatic Spirit Crystal, an extremely rare and powerful Mana material.

The Dark Waters Kingsnake was a mutated species. In fact, it had some distant relationship to the Naga species.

It was rumored that the first of the Dark Waters Kingsnake had been just a normal Aquatic Sacred Beast. However, it had engulfed an entire sea of Nagas. Absorbing the Nagas’ powers, it had evolved and hence had been reborn as such.

In other words, the Dark Waters Kingsnake had some of the Nagas’ attributes. Coincidentally, the Enchanted Scaly Armor that Lin Jie owned was also inherited from the Nagas! If Lin Jie killed the Dark Waters Kingsnake now and absorbed its body and powers, he could further upgrade his Enchanted Scaly Armor. Besides, the Dark Waters Kingsnake was found only at the Mesosaprobic Shrine, and it was tasked to guard the Dark Holy Water Source. Getting to this Sacred Beast would allow Lin Jie to gain more hints to find the Dark Holy Water Source.

The Dark Waters Kingsnake, which was a Level 50 Dark Gold Overlord monster, had only 1,000 Health Points—correct, only 1,000 Health Points! However, it was covered with Mesosaprobic Scales from top to tail, and every piece of its scales was thicker than even the Kiara Beast King Armor. To sum it up, it was as if this monster had donned thousands of armors!

The most tricky part in attacking the Dark Waters Kingsnake lay in this: every one of its scales had independent health bars and Defense points. Meanwhile, each piece of scale could help to withstand the damage this monster received!

In Lin Jie’s previous life, the Dark Waters Kingsnake had been ranked at the second position of the ‘Top 10 Most Difficult Bosses’ Leaderboard! It had been discovered during the first year The New Age had started, but it had only been killed by players when the game had been into its fifth year. In fact, the method of killing this monster had only been leaked out during the sixth year of the game!

But guess what? Lin Jie obviously was aware of this method!

…

Outside the Arcane Cage Skill’s AOE, Demon Robe fixed his stare at the outer arcane walls. Until he heard a terrible roar coming from within the walls, he finally heaved a sigh of relief and scoffed. “The Dark Waters Kingsnake was alerted!”

The Paladin Section Leader, Drunk, asked cautiously, “Leader, what’s the point of us doing all this? Given Lone Wolf’s abilities, he may be strong enough to kill the Dark Gold Overlord Boss alone. After all, the King of Blood, which Eighteen Massacres summoned out, was killed by Lone Wolf too.”

Demon Robe’s lips curved up into a smile as he replied confidently, “You’ll see. Eighteen Massacres was a fool—the stupidity of him to rave around in the game when he obtained that few stats and skills from joining the Dark Shrine. He’s a loser through and through. The Dark Shrine is indeed very powerful during the beginning stages of the game, but when the general players’ community get to Level 40 and start their Advanced Job-Change, the disadvantages of joining the Dark Shrine will be revealed. When that time comes, Eighteen Massacres will drop to the ranks of a normal player. Furthermore, the only two equipment which he owns and can allow him to be better than normal players are now wasted. His Mara Armor is now gone, while his Seven Style Spear’s ruined. He’s already no threat to us.”

“What? He lost the Mara Armor?” Drunk was shocked. “That was a Dark Gold armor, and he only required the last piece of it to gather the complete Dark Gold Set! No matter how strong Lone Wolf’s weapon is, I think that’s only a Dark Gold Fragment at most, correct?”

“Hmph, he had lofty ambitions but was clearly biting off more than he could chew. Losing the Mara Armor is still a small matter—comparatively, his Seven Style Spear being ruined was a greater loss. Initially, that spear of his could be upgraded into a Sub-Legendary weapon, but he was too greedy for his own good and actually coveted the upgrading material for Lone Wolf’s weapon. He thought that item would make his Seven Style Spear become somewhat of a Legendary weapon, but little did he know that it would end up benefiting Lone Wolf instead.

“In any case, we cannot underestimate the powers of Lone Wolf’s weapon. From what I know, this weapon needs to go through several rounds of evolution. This means that this weapon may really become a Legendary one if Lone Wolf continues to upgrade it.”

Listening to all these made Drunk shudder. After all, at present, only top-notch players could get their hands on Dark Gold equipment fragments. Yet he knew now that Lone Wolf owned a weapon that might even become Legendary—just how scary did that sound!

“Hmph, you don’t need to be overly worried. Lone Wolf will meet his doom today,” Demon Robe glanced at his subordinate’s expression and understood that Drunk was shaken by what he heard. He changed topics and commented, “The Dark Waters Kingsnake was a monster of the Primordial ages. There’s a team within our Dark-Robed Knights who joined the Mesosaprobic Shrine previously. They tried to kill this monster for more than 10 times secretly, but they were wiped out every time. However, their losses allowed them to be familiarized with the Dark Waters Kingsnake’s skills, and they had told me about it. From what I see, no players can kill the Dark Waters Kingsnake during this stage of the game, no matter how strong they are.”

“No one? Not even the Savage Blade team?” Drunk’s attention was indeed attracted to this new topic. He turned back and stared in horror at the Arcane Cage before him, and gulped down his saliva nervously.

Demon Robe revealed a smile. “I assume you are asking this because you have no idea how terrible the Dark Waters Kingsnake is. Although it is only a Dark Gold Overlord, this monster is much more powerful than the Sub-Legendary Boss Thunder Silver-Feathered Eagle that appeared in the game before! Every piece of its scales has 200,000 HP on its own, and unless someone destroys all of its scales, the Dark Waters Kingsnake’s main body will not receive any damage! Furthermore, every piece of its scales will hatch a baby water snake once it falls off, and all of them are Gold Bosses, which have 200,000 HP each! No matter how powerful Lone Wolf is, do you think he can kill thousands of Gold Bosses by himself? That’s why I said that he’s dead meat—there’s simply no escape for him!”

At this moment, he received a notification from his Friends Column: Eighteen Massacres had rushed over with more manpower, and he was coming straight for Lone Wolf!

Demon Robe narrowed his eyes and ordered in a low voice, “Go get a few of our own men, and kill Eighteen Massacres.”

After all, Demon Robe had sacrificed hundreds of his subordinates to let Lin Jie gain a high Evil Score and even resorted to using the Dark Waters Kingsnake to trap Lin Jie. How would he want to share his gains with Eighteen Massacres?

‘All the stuff spawned shall be mine! No one can fight with me!’

Yet after a few moments, he received a piece of bad news: Eighteen Massacres disappeared suddenly!

“What’s wrong?” fumed Demon Robe. “That good-for-nothing’s not even at Level 20 now, how could you all let him escape?”

“Oh, of course, I was able to escape. Demon Robe, did you think I didn’t know that you were going to ambush me?” A voice was heard just behind Demon Robe—it was Eighteen Massacres!

No one knew what skills he had used to get there. He looked at Demon Robe’s shocked expression, scoffed, and dumped hundreds of Random Teleportation Scrolls in front of him.

“Since I am already here, I have no use for these anymore. I shall be kind and give you all of them!”

Correct, he used the Random Teleportation Scroll—the ultra-rare item which Lin Jie had used before! This Enchanted Scroll could allow its user to teleport to any maps, and he or she might even be able to enter the rumored secluded places in the game. However, Enchant Masters could ‘downgrade’ Random Teleportation Scrolls such that they would only allow their users to teleport to any spot within the map they were on! This was something no one would normally do though because it would be such a waste to ruin the precious Random Teleportation Scrolls in this manner.

“The Random Teleportation Scrolls? Fine, fine, you are indeed ruthless! No wonder you’re willing to drop tens of levels just to have a chance to kill Lone Wolf. I bet these Random Teleportation Scrolls are all of what the Kingdom of Glory has left, correct?

“No, wait, however strong a guild may be, no one can gather so many pieces of the Random Teleportation Scrolls! You must have spent at least 100,000 or more gold coins on them!” Demon Robe couldn’t help but admire Eighteen Massacres’ guts. He added, “You’re burning all your bridges just for this, such courage! However, I assure you—you are never going to achieve what you want today!”

Eighteen Massacres had a savage look in his eyes. Ever since his terrible defeat to Lin Jie at the Ancient Wilderness Temple, all he could think of was how to kill Lin Jie. Now that he had the chance to do so, he would spend any amount of resources to do it! After all, he had been lusting after Broken Blade for so long, and now that it might really be spawned by Lin Jie, he vowed to get it at all costs!

“Demon Robe, hand Lone Wolf to me! I can give you all of the Kingdom of Glory’s shares, manpower, resources, and everything else in exchange for him.” Licking his lips, Eighteen Massacres made this ridiculous offer to Demon Robe.

Demon Robe’s pupils constricted, but while he marveled at the extents Eighteen Massacres would go to, he shook his head and commented, “What great conditions. With your shares, I may even have control over some of Baili Xuanyuan’s manpower. But why would you do that? I suppose there’s only one reason for it—Lone Wolf must own something that’s higher in value than all of that. Well, I am interested to see what’s that.”

“You mean… there’s no other way around then?”

“No, there’s always room for negotiations. Let’s observe what was spawned, and after I take my pick, I will give the rest to you. Meanwhile, you will still give your shares to me. How’s that?”

Looking at Demon Robe’s strange smile, Eighteen Massacres’ face darkened—he felt as if he was made to swallow a whole cockroach alive! He gritted his teeth and fumed. “Demon Robe, don’t you push it too far!”

“Hahahahaha, me, pushing it too far for you? Eighteen Massacres, do you really think you are as highly esteemed as in the past? Let me tell you, all Dark Shrine’s players will become losers once the general players’ community get to Level 40 and above. Xuanyuan was only making use of the Dark Shrine’s advantage to gain more power previously, but you, obviously, have been of no help to us! Do you think we still want you? Do you really dare to fight with me? If you are clever enough, scram now! I have sacrificed hundreds of my buddies’ levels to get this chance of killing Lone Wolf. You want me to share the gains with you? What wishful thinking! Don’t you know that you can gain nothing in the world without paying a heavy price for it?”

Eighteen Massacres looked like he could shred Demon Robe to pieces on the spot. His chest moved in and out rapidly, and he took in several deep breaths. After a long moment, he seemed to regain his energy. He stepped forth and sneered. “I don’t dare to fight against you? Hehehehe, don’t you forget, I am now just a low-leveled player. I know you’re powerful, but can you take my Self Destruct effects? If I kill you because of this, I am sure your losses will definitely be greater than mine. How many times can you evade me? From what I know, you have learned the Peculiar Bandit’s skills—but how many times can you use it, three, or five times? Even if you can use it countless times, so what? There’s bound to be somewhere and sometime when I will get you!”

Demon Robe’s pupils constricted. He had forgotten that Eighteen Massacres still had this trick up his sleeves! Correct, the Self Destruct Skill, which only members of the Blood Sub-Shrine could learn, was a threat for him!

Though Eighteen Massacres would have to pay with his levels to use this skill, they were worth nothing now. Furthermore, the damage caused by his Self Destruct Skill would be 100 times of his health bar’s value. Eighteen Massacres was, no matter what, a Paladin, and he was just a Bandit. If Eighteen Massacres really resorted to these means, he would not be able to escape unscathed!

As Eighteen Massacres stepped nearer, Demon Robe went through several plans to stall for time in his mind. At this moment, the Arcane Cage suddenly exploded—pieces of the wall flew about everywhere!

“Hahahaha, I didn’t expect to watch such a dramatic dogfight after killing the Dark Waters Kingsnake. I really gained a lot this time round! Eighteen Massacres, since you are so generous, I shall help myself to all these Random Teleportation Scrolls then!”

A grown man’s figure was gradually seen. This person donned a pale-blue scaly armor, and water ripples surrounded his entire body, just like the Dark Gold NPCs seen at the City of Sea King. He grabbed all of the Random Teleportation Scrolls on the floor and kept them.

That person was naturally Lin Jie!

There were 100 pieces of the Random Teleportation Scrolls altogether—all those were precious items that could save lives! After months of gathering, Lin Jie could only get his hands on 15 of them. One could just imagine how much Eighteen Massacres had spent to get so many pieces of these!

‘However unlucky I am, surely I will be able to teleport to one secluded place in the game using one of them, right?’

“You’re courting death!” Shocked, Demon Robe screamed and threw a dagger across the air.

A Bandit’s flying dagger had about the same effects as a Warrior’s gun—they were basically techniques used more for luring monsters. Though the damage caused would not be high, they could still restrict their target’s actions.

Ding~

-120!

A tiny damage figure jumped up—but it jumped up above Lin Jie’s hand instead of above his head!

If one observed closely, they would see that Lin Jie’s palms were covered with pale-blue scales. The moment the flying dagger touched him, one small scale had dropped off.

After killing the Dark Waters Kingsnake, Lin Jie’s Enchanted Scaly Armor had new attributes—it was now upgraded to the Sea King Scaly Armor!