The Battle Finally Ends

This is a very special piece of equipment—just pick it up and you can breathe freely underwater!

"Beautiful! Haha, this thing is way better than any Purple Gear."

Sun Busong held the Water Vine, unable to put it down, but there was no water here, or he'd have jumped in to test it already.

"Hey! Dwarf, hurry up and get over here—there's still a third task to finish."

"Right, there's still a task left." Sun Busong suddenly remembered the third task Mordok had given him: retrieve the universal mechanical components.

After backtracking to Duanxian, he asked eagerly, "Do you know where to do the third task?"

"Of course I do, but to get those mechanical parts, you'll need to go to the factory dormitory and find someone to make you Small Salt Bombs."

"Salt bombs? Like this?" Sun Busong had a fresh memory of that name and quickly pulled a small bomb from his Backpack.

Duanxian glanced at it and nodded firmly. "Yeah, that's it! It can blow open those locked cabinets, and then you can take out the mechanical parts inside."

"Heh, those guards did me a solid after eating my barbecue—not bad, not bad." He then started searching his Engineering skill for this Salt Bomb.

Since it was a bomb, his Grandmaster Level Engineering couldn't possibly lack it, and he found it quickly.

The materials for crafting Small Salt Bombs were easy to get, and he'd already gathered plenty. Crude Gunpowder dropped from the monsters here, Cool Spring Water could also be looted here, and Light Leather he'd gotten from killing those level 15 beasts in Loch Modan.

"No idea how many parts each box holds, but more is better. I'll make 10 Small Salt Bombs first."

"Our technicians can help you make bombs if you have the materials, but you'll need to do some things for them."

Amy Duanxian was still explaining what tasks were needed to get the technicians to make bombs when Sun Busong started crafting explosives.

"Just help them with the data cards for those advanced robots... Huh! What are you doing?"

Sun Busong didn't look up, busy with his work. Amy Duanxian felt he wasn't listening, so she turned to check—and what she saw shocked her.

Sun Busong replied, "Making Salt Bombs!"

Amy Duanxian stared with her round white eyes, watching Sun Busong craft a Salt Bomb from start to finish without blinking.

"So you really can make them! Great, no need to bother the technicians in the dormitory now."

"Alright, with this one, that's 10 total. Let's go, take me to the cabinets, and we'll finish the third task quickly."

These cabinets were easy to find. Before meeting Amy Duanxian, Sun Busong had run into plenty, but back then he didn't know they needed to be blown open.

After blasting open the first cabinet, Sun Busong pulled out 3 mechanical parts—more than he'd expected. After another half hour of moving around, the third task was smoothly completed.

"Alright, all of Mordok's tasks are done. Now I just need to kill the three bosses and the remaining mobs. So, what do you think?" Sun Busong looked at Amy Duanxian and asked.

By now, it was evening, and the lights in Gnomeregan were blazing. Sun Busong didn't want to waste too much time here, but he had to ask for the volunteer's opinion.

"I have no problem at all. We volunteers follow the trial taker's will. If you don't want to rest, I can take you to the boss right now."

"Then I'll trouble you—thank you so much!"

The two passed through the dormitory area and headed straight for the boss's location. Inside the dormitory, Sun Busong saw many researchers and medical staff, but this wasn't the time to show kindness.

Soon, they reached the first boss, the Electro-Executioner Model 6000.

This guy was tough—an enhanced version of the Mechanical Flame Walkers. Besides stronger defenses, its mechanical body was equipped with attacks like Frost Ray and Lightning Beam.

And the cover on its back had been modified, so he couldn't toss bombs in there anymore. Sun Busong burned through over a thousand Health Points before taking it down.

The boss was stingy, dropping only a Green Equipment piece and a Workshop Key.

The green gear was boots, better than what Sun Busong was wearing, so he swapped them on immediately.

"Let's go! Next!"

After regrouping, Sun Busong urged Amy Duanxian to move on to the next boss.

"Wait, I have something to say."

Sun Busong turned back, puzzled.

"It's like this. There are two paths here—one leads to the boss Group Striker 9-60, and the other to your Dwarf race's Black Iron Master. Only by killing him can you reach the final boss."

"No problem, even if he's Master Bronzebeard, I'll still kill him. I'm ruthless with enemies—I don't care about racial ties."

"Oh, that's not what I meant. The Nightmare Trial only requires killing four bosses and wiping out all the mobs. I'm saying we could skip the Group Striker 9-60 and just go for the Black Iron Master and the final boss."

Sun Busong felt a bit awkward and asked, "Does that Striker drop Blue Gear?"

"It does!"

"A Champion with my overflowing sense of honor—how could I leave an enemy unchecked? Kill it, I must kill it!" Sun Busong couldn't hide his excitement, saying the fiercest words while grinning ear to ear.

On the path to Group Striker 9-60, several new mechanical monsters appeared: Walking Tanks, Mechanical Guardians, and Caster Bane X-21.

These three types were all level 25 elites, no challenge to kill—just use the terrain wisely and avoid aggroing too many at once.

After taking down five groups of enemies, Humar reached level 20, and the third random skill appeared.

Skill Three: Charge (Movement Speed increased by 80% for 15 seconds, usable while in Stealth.)

Looking at this big cat that had grown to waist height, Sun Busong felt like he'd been screwed over.

Cower, Stealth, Charge—none of these three skills were offensive.

"What a waste of your cool name and looks. You're such a coward! All three skills are purely for survival—were you a Survival Hunter in your past life?"

Level 20 Humar seemed to have wised up a bit. After Sun Busong scolded him a few times, he lowered his head, whimpering as if wronged.

Amy Shortline couldn't stand it anymore. She stood under Humar's neck, stretching out her arms to shield him: "Shorty! Don't bully Humar—he's still a child!"

Sun Busong glanced at them and muttered under his breath: "Child my ass, you're not even as big as his head."

When they reached the area near the Group Striker boss, Humar actually dared to follow behind Sun Busong this time, looking like he wanted to help out.

But Sun Busong just smiled at him. This was a boss fight—he'd have to wait until Humar leveled up a few more times.

The boss wasn't difficult. It was an Automatic Robot, basically an oversized S.A.F.E. robot with insane attack power, insane defense, and a massive health pool.

Sun Busong ground it down for three full minutes before draining its HP bar, but nothing dropped at all. This was a boss, damn it. When he turned his dark face toward Amy Shortline, she quietly hid behind Humar's rear. And honestly, that head was just the right size to conceal her.

"Lead the way. We're going after the last two bosses. If they don't drop any Blue Gear this time, you can forget about eating my barbecue."

"Don't worry. The Black Iron Master is a Silver Elite boss—he'll drop at least one blue item. And the final boss won't drop less than two pieces. Whether you get Blue Gear depends on luck."

"Fine. Let's move."

On the path to the last two bosses, they ran into Chariot Soldiers of the Black Iron Dwarf race, all Level 25 elites. Sun Busong showed them no mercy—they were all enemies now.

After killing 27 Blackrock Soldiers in one go, Sun Busong finally spotted the Silver Elite boss, the Black Iron Master.

"Humar, come here. You and I are taking this boss together. Don't charge too far ahead."

Since Humar's growth required killing Silver Elite monsters, he had to join this fight. Though his legs trembled a bit at the sight of the boss, he could now lift his head and face it instead of cowering and whimpering.

"I'll go first. You sneak in and take a few bites at his rear. Dodge his area attacks."

Black Iron Master.

"Who dares to make trouble on my turf?"

The moment he saw Sun Busong, the Black Iron Master charged over with his weapon raised.

But for a Silver Elite boss like this, Sun Busong treated him like any elite mob. Compared to the two mechanical bosses before, his attacks were too weak.

After blocking three consecutive strikes from the Black Iron Master, the boss got enraged. He started swinging wildly at Sun Busong's lower body, targeting his groin relentlessly, forcing Sun Busong to jump and dodge frantically.

That's when Humar found his opening. He bit down hard on the boss's head. Though he was timid and cowardly, his attack was no joke—one bite took off nearly a tenth of the boss's HP.

"Run!"

Seeing Humar land the hit, Sun Busong stopped defending and swung his axe a few times to pull the aggro back to himself.

After the fight, the Black Iron Master dropped two blue weapons.

Glass Gun (Blue Gear): Item Level 28 | Firearms | 36-68 Damage | Speed 2.90 (Damage Per Second 17.9) Equip: Chance on hit to deal 120 Flame Damage to the enemy. Required Level 24.

Royal Diplomat's Scepter (Blue Gear): Item Level 28. One-Handed Hammer | 37-69 Damage Speed 2.30 (Damage Per Second 23.0) +12 Stamina +7 Strength Required Level 30.

Honestly, neither piece was impressive. They were far worse than the Blue Gear Sun Busong had crafted himself, but they'd still sell for a few Gold Coins.

"Behind this door is the final boss. I can only take you this far. You'll handle the rest yourself. Once the boss is dead, you'll be teleported out."

Amy Shortline hugged one of Humar's hind legs, reluctant to let go. Humar licked her back with his pink tongue.

"Thanks for sticking with us. I've got some barbecue and beer here. When I passed the dorm earlier, I saw everyone looking gaunt and pale. Take these as a token of my gratitude."

With that, Sun Busong started pulling things out of his Backpack, including some Green Gear.

"Take these Green Gear too. Hope it helps speed up your progress in clearing Gnomeregan. You've all worked hard."

"Thank you, Shorty!" Amy Shortline said, tears welling in her eyes, her gratitude sincere.

After seeing Amy Shortline off, Sun Busong led Humar into the final boss's lair: the Artisan Council Hall.

Inside, he spotted all kinds of normal and elite monsters—the same types he'd already killed. At a glance, there were 30 to 40 of them.

And the final boss stood in the center of the hall, which was hundreds of meters wide.

As mentioned before, to complete the Nightmare Trial, he had to kill four bosses, 180 normal monsters, and 230 elite monsters.

In this trial, he'd actually killed over six bosses. Besides the four required ones, he'd also taken down Grubis and the Viscous Radiation Dust.

He hadn't kept a precise count of how many minor mobs he'd killed, but seeing this scene now, Sun Busong understood: these were all the monsters he hadn't finished off.

He and Humar worked their way along the edge of the hall, clearing waves of monsters one by one. After eight waves and an hour, all the minor mobs were wiped out.

Only the boss remained.

The moment the last minor mob fell, the boss stirred.

"Come out, usurper! Gnomeregan is mine!"

With a loud shout, the boss precisely located Sun Busong's position and charged over in an oversized mech.

This mech was the largest Sun Busong had ever seen, towering over ten meters high. Its golden outer shell, forged from some unknown metal, was incredibly tough.

Its arms were thicker and longer than normal. One arm was made of five massive steel spears—anything metallic it grabbed would be crushed instantly. The other arm was fitted with a huge impact drill, its powerful force capable of destroying anything in its path.

Its feet were no longer tracks but two tank hulls. The shortened cannon barrels had lost their long-range attack capability, but their close-combat firepower was formidable.

The massive body had four types of nozzles: flame, frost, laser, and poison.

And there was a mechanism on its back whose purpose Sun Busong still couldn't figure out.

The battle was about to begin.

"Humar, go! This is the last fight—let's take him down together!"

Though Humar was still a bit confused about what his master meant, he understood the words "take him down."

Man and pet charged forward for the final battle.

The mech piloted by McNeil Theramplug had an extremely high health pool, reaching forty thousand points, and its attack power was no joke. Sun Busong drew its fire, standing at the front to tank the damage, while Humar attacked from behind the mech.

But the mech's steel body was far too tough for Humar to bite through—he'd already chipped several teeth.

Sun Busong fought while encouraging his pet.

"It's fine, it's fine. Your teeth will grow back when you level up next time. Just use your claws on him—it's the thought that counts!"

"Awoo!"

Even though Sun Busong's armor was under a thousand points, his health was nearly matching the boss's. With his maxed-out Basic Shield Defense, the boss's health kept dropping steadily while his own had only fallen by 1%.

"Keep it up, Humar! He's down to 40% health—don't slack off!"

Each of Humar's attacks only dealt a little over sixty damage to the mech, but it added up nicely.

Just as Sun Busong was thinking the boss wasn't so tough, the hatch on the back of the mech slowly opened.

Sun Busong quickly moved, and then he saw small Self-Destruct Robots emerging from that compartment!

"Humar! Get out of here—run!"

But Humar ignored his shouts, stubbornly biting and clawing at the mech.

"This dumb cat!"

Seeing Humar deaf to his calls, Sun Busong was speechless. Now his only options were to lead the boss in circles or draw the Self-Destruct Robots toward himself.

Just as he was about to use his own body to tank the bombs, Humar suddenly did something unexpected.

Each of these small Self-Destruct Robots was only fist-sized. Once they rolled out of the compartment, they headed toward all nearby hostile targets. When they reached their target, they would self-destruct, but there was a three-second delay.

And now, Humar stopped attacking the boss and started chasing these Self-Destruct Robots on the ground, like a cat chasing a ball of yarn.

He caught up to one, swiped it with his claw, and sent it flying dozens of meters away—these robots were round, after all.

Humar's Strength Value had already reached 70 points, so batting away an iron ball was easy. And he didn't just focus on one—he swatted this one, then that one, having a blast!

"That actually works!"

Sun Busong was impressed. The usually cowardly Humar, just for fun today, had done something so unexpectedly right.

With no more worries about the Self-Destruct Robots, Sun Busong went all out on damage. The mech's health was nearly down to 10%.

"My machines represent the future—they will destroy you all!"

Seeing his mech's health about to hit zero, McNeil Theramplug refused to give up.

"Explosion! More explosions! I need more explosions!"

"My machines represent the future—they will destroy you all!"

When the boss's health reached the last 5%, he shouted this and turned his own body into a self-destruct bomb!

The giant mech immediately blared an alarm, echoing through the Artisan Hall. Its body parts began to shake violently, and cracks appeared in the golden shell.

"Self-destruct! Self-destruct! Self-destruct! 10... 9..."

Sun Busong dropped McNeil Theramplug and ran, shouting as he went: "Humar! Run—it's gonna blow!"

Humar, having a great time playing with his ball, looked up at the sound and saw his master running away without him!

How could this be?

Was his master abandoning him?

Humar dropped the toy at his feet and activated his newly learned skill, Charge!

His speed shot up by 80%. Three seconds later...

Seeing Humar had activated his skill and was already ahead of him, Sun Busong couldn't help but curse.

"Damn it!"

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