A Successful Takeover

Although Mark Bokuai's location didn't allow PK, certain skills could still forcibly displace the mechs around him.

For example, when Lin Qimeng's Dragon Princess mech used her special skill, Rising Dragon.

Flames spiraled around the mech, taking the shape of a dragon before soaring into the air and attacking enemies from above.

When the skill was used, the circling fire dragon knocked back everyone nearby. She used that effect to help Wang Qianduo dodge the boss's attacks.

Sword of Miracles and the others were doing much the same thing, but they didn't have a special skill like Lin Qimeng's. They could only make use of the effects of their smaller skills.

That was when the gap between professional players and ordinary teams became clear. With the others protecting him, Wang Qianduo never had trouble dodging.

By contrast, the surrounding teams were in complete disarray. They were fine as long as the boss didn't attack them, but if it did, they were practically wiped out.

Even though Wang Qianduo's group was being extremely careful, an accident was still inevitable.

Since Wang Qianduo was so high on the damage rankings, the boss, Mark Bokuai, had inevitably set his sights on him.

Mark Bokuai lumbered toward Wang Qianduo under a barrage of attacks. The group could no longer keep him under control.

"Only 3% left. When it hits 2%, get ready to start casting on my command. For now, run back!"

Sister Cat watched the battle and called out to Wang Qianduo.

At this stage, the boss's damage reduction had reached a terrifying level, but it couldn't hold out much longer, and the players were going all out.

So its health started dropping quickly again.

Then she glanced at Sword of Miracles. The two exchanged a nod, and seven high-level mechs suddenly burst out from the surrounding area, charging at Mark Bokuai with everything they had.

Mark Bokuai swung his giant axe, taking out three mechs in one blow. The remaining four tried to restrain him, but he took out two more with a single strike.

But the delay from all those attacks had brought Mark Bokuai's health below 2%.

"Fire!"

As soon as his health reached that point, Sister Cat shouted to Wang Qianduo.

Wang Qianduo immediately began casting. One second later, just as he threw the Blast Bomb, Mark Bokuai's health hit 1%.

Boom!

The Blast Bomb landed, and a mushroom cloud erupted beneath Mark Bokuai's feet.

-10000

A massive damage number rose above the boss's head, and Mark Bokuai dropped to his knees!

Flames engulfed half the hillside, and countless players were caught in the fire from the Blast Bomb's explosion.

Wang Qianduo hadn't expected the Blast Bomb to be so powerful. An idea suddenly occurred to him: What if I used this thing to grind levels...?

But it was a shame he hadn't had this bomb during the last beast tide.

There was no need to think about that now. He should deal with the situation at hand first.

The explosion had been terrifying, but this was a no-PK area, so it couldn't hurt the players.

Even so, the players on the scene fell silent. What had just happened? What was that? Had the boss blown itself up? Why hadn't the skill dealt any damage?

"Grab the loot first!"

As Wang Qianduo was still stunned, trying to process Sister Cat's prediction, she and the others called out to him.

Sister Cat's prediction had been incredible. When the Blast Bomb exploded, Mark Bokuai's health had been just under 1%.

No wonder Sword of Miracles and the other player, despite belonging to a different guild, had followed her orders the whole time. Her ability to read the situation was amazing.

At their urging, Wang Qianduo stepped forward and picked up the three drops, then withdrew under their protection.

The world boss had dropped only four items in total. All the other items awarded based on damage rankings were sent directly to the players' mailboxes.

After Wang Qianduo and the others withdrew, they quickly flew back to camp and started discussing how to divide the spoils.

One of the four drops was the quest item, proof of killing Mark Bokuai. There was no need to divide that.

The remaining three items were impressive: the [Mountain-Breaking Mech Evolution Guide], the level-ten perfect-grade equipment blueprint [Earth Energy Shield Type I Blueprint], and a legendary material called [Earth Elemental Energy Crystal].

Wang Qianduo had no real use for any of the three. He already had a level-ten perfect-grade shield, and this one was for a strength-type mech.

His current build was an agility-type mech, so he had no need for it. And he had better elemental energy crystals already.

As for the Mountain-Breaking mech?

Forget it...

Although the Mountain-Breaking mech was also a hidden special evolution type, Wang Qianduo wasn't interested.

There was one reason: the Mountain-Breaking mech was far too limited!

It was a pure tank mech, with almost no ranged options and poor mobility. All it had going for it was its sheer durability and close-combat strength.

For Wang Qianduo, it really wasn't a good choice.

What about the boss's wide-area clearing skills? Those were the result of system enhancements.

How could a player's skills possibly reach that level? Even a tenfold reduction would be lenient.

"What should we do with these items?" Wang Qianduo asked the others.

The group had carried most of this quest. Without them, who knew how long it would have taken him to finish it? Of course he had to consider their opinions when dividing up the loot.

"Let's auction them!" Sword of Miracles declared.

Everyone nodded. An internal auction was the arrangement they were most comfortable with.

"Then let's start with the mech evolution guide. I'm guessing you're all interested in this one?"

The Mountain-Breaking mech might not appeal to Wang Qianduo, but it meant a lot to a guild.

A powerful MT mech like this was something every guild could use more of.

"I bid 500 gold," said Sword of Miracles.

"530," said Sister Cat.

"560." Lin Qimeng immediately offered the maximum she could afford. Even though the game had been out for a year, Gold Crystal was still in short supply.

In this game, Gold Crystal wasn't just used as currency. It was also a key resource needed for mech evolutions and all kinds of enhancements.

"Pass," said Sword of Miracles.

"I'm out," said Sister Cat.

Lin Qimeng and the two people behind her pooled their resources and scraped together 150 Gold Crystals to pay the others.

Lin Qimeng knew she had taken a big hit this time. Gold Crystal sold for far less at auction than it was worth in cash.

But its price kept climbing, and even if you had money, you couldn't necessarily find any to buy.

Everyone present except Wang Qianduo was a guild elite. None of them would stoop to what they considered the "wasteful" act of selling Gold Crystal for cash.

Old Wang clearly understood that, so he tactfully kept quiet. Otherwise, he would have seemed very "unprofessional."

If he needed money, he could just quietly sell some gold coins. Though selling coins obviously didn't bring in money as quickly as selling equipment or materials.

"All right! Second item: a level-ten perfect-grade strength-type mech shield blueprint. Place your bids!"

"500," said Sword of Miracles.

"Pass!"

"Pass!"

Sword of Miracles had immediately pushed the price to the limit, and the other two didn't hesitate to drop out.

"That leaves the legendary material. I'll bid 50 Gold Crystals. Otherwise, I'll look like I'm refusing to contribute at all." Wang Qianduo looked at the elemental crystal.

Everyone fell silent.

"Old Wang, do you actually want it, or are you just bidding on something so you don't feel like you're taking advantage of us?" Sister Cat asked, looking at him helplessly.

"What do you mean? It's a legendary material, but we don't know what it's used for. Fifty Gold Crystals shouldn't be a low price, right?"

"If you just want to give us money, there's no need to waste your coins.

"If you want the material, this is your quest. We'd have no objection to giving it to you.

"Materials with unknown uses are usually something only guilds like ours can afford to store. You don't know when you'll be able to use it, so keeping it yourself is too risky. You might as well let us have it.

"Then you can save your money for when you evolve your mech." Sister Cat explained.

High-grade materials weren't too risky, but their prices took too long to rise, so they weren't really profitable.

"Oh! It's fine. I just like this thing. I don't mind if it's no use to me, and you can still bid against me as usual!"

Wang Qianduo wanted it because he was worried that one of his pieces of equipment might need it for an evolution someday. Better to have it on hand.

He already had better materials, but this was a consumable, and once it was used up, it was gone. It was important to keep a spare.

"Okay, the spoils are divided. Let's go turn in the quest!

"By the way, what was going on with those people at the end?" Wang Qianduo asked Sister Cat and Sword of Miracles.

He had been paying attention during the boss's final phase. Without those high-level mechs, it was hard to say how things would have turned out!

"Oh, they're high-level players we invited from the guild. We'd originally planned to help you get the first kill, but after seeing that item of yours, we pretty much gave up on the plan."

"Thanks! I really appreciate it!" Wang Qianduo said sincerely.