Fierce Battle at the Underground Research Lab

Norton, the Voodoo Alchemist, is an unconventional boss with a high Mental Specialty. His strength and agility are relatively low, but his spirit attribute reaches an astonishing 80 points.

Furthermore, 53 points of Constitution should not be underestimated; among magic-based bosses with Mental Specialty attribute, it's quite exceptional. For a boss, every point of Constitution translates to one point of armor and magic resistance. Moreover, Norton, as Advanced Boss, already has an additional 400 points of Life Value. This brings him to a powerful Boss Tier with a staggering 930 points of Life Value and over 50 points of both physical and magical resistance, making him very difficult to kill quickly.

Bai Xiaowen quickly analyzed Norton's skills. Skill 1, Toxin Toss, and Skill 3, Super-Strong Antibody, were both decent, one primarily offensive and the other primarily defensive. What was more unusual was Skill 2, Potion Mutation, which caused the user to mutate and reconfigure their attributes! This was the first time Bai Xiaowen had ever seen a boss with such an ability.

These thoughts flashed through Bai Xiaowen's mind in an instant. He raised his hand and quickly summoned his creature.

At this moment, the alchemist Norton was still rambling on with questions. "Your Corpse Monster is quite special. It doesn't look like a typical Stitched Monster of the Undead Species. Instead, it seems to contain elements of Voodoo Cult... If you're willing to offer this Corpse Monster to me for research... well, I won't let you go either. Anyway, after you die, everything you own will be mine."

Norton answered his own question, "So what should we do first...? Hmm, let's kill you first and use this Corpse Monster as experimental material."

Bai Xiaowen didn't say much. The six Skeleton Sword-and-Shield Soldier and shieldmen, the Rageclaw, and Li Shuyi all rushed forward.

Norton pulled a bottle from under his dirty robe, shook it a few times, and then tossed it away with a whoosh.

Crack!

With a loud bang, the bottle exploded, and a cloud of white mist spread out. Li Shuyi and her summoned creatures, who were Sprint forward, all stopped abruptly.

"Your summoned creature has been affected by Toxin Toss - Frost Potion Venom, with its movement speed and attack speed reduced by 50%. This effect will dissipate 5 seconds after leaving the Frost Potion area."

This is where the power of the dash skill becomes apparent. Li Shuyi immediately activated the Savage Charge skill, increasing her speed and charging directly at Norton. She quickly escaped the Frost Potion area, brandishing her dual swords and unleashing a flurry of slashes and thrusts at Norton, beginning her attack.

Summoned creatures like the Rageclaw and Skeleton Sword-and-Shield Soldier are in a sorry state, moving forward as if they're wearing shackles.

Norton, having taken two sword strikes from Li Shuyi, let out a strange cry and pulled out another bottle.

The instant he made that move, the Skeleton Champion swung his greatsword and unleashed the Whirlwind Slash skill, charging straight through the Frost Potion area and knocking Norton back, causing the potion bottle to fall to the ground.

Like Li Shuyi, Skeleton Champion possesses the Whirlwind Slash dash skill, which allows him to escape the slow effect of Frost Potion immediately. However, Bai Xiaowen didn't use it right away because he valued Whirlwind Slash's knockback effect, and Norton's strength was lower than Skeleton Champion's, placing him within the Whirlwind Slash's knockback range.

However, Bai Xiaowen overlooked one point: Norton's "Toxin Toss" skill has a unique feature.

Norton's skill was interrupted, the poison in his hand fell to the ground, the bottle shattered with a crack, and a strange green mist spread out from beneath Norton's feet.

"Your summoned creature is affected by Toxin Toss - Choking Toxin, taking 25 poison damage every 3 seconds. This effect will dissipate 5 seconds after leaving the Choking Toxin area."

"Holy crap..."

The special thing about the Toxin Toss skill is that the poison Norton throws is all prepared in advance. The Skeleton Champion's Whirlwind Slash just now only interrupted Norton's "throwing" casting action, preventing Norton from throwing the poison.

However, once the prepared poison is released, it will only remain in the same spot, creating a poison zone!

Of course, this poison isn't magic in the conventional sense; the resulting cloud of poison is indiscriminate, and Norton, caught in it, will also suffer damage. However... Norton has a 75% reduction in poison damage!

The Choking Toxin enveloped him, but instead of feeling uncomfortable, he took a deep breath and squinted his eyes in a slightly intoxicated manner. The poison damage he suffered was reduced to only about 4 or 5 points every 3 seconds (calculated first based on magic resistance, then based on the poison damage reduction), which was negligible.

Norton, who was often immersed in voodoo experiments, wasn't affected much, but Li Shuyi and her summoned creatures were a different story. Their magic resistance was lower than Norton's, and they had no mitigation skills. They could withstand the Choking Toxin for a short time, but they definitely wouldn't be able to keep up in the long run.

"Shu Yi, get out of the poison zone!"

While talking to Li Shuyi, Bai Xiaowen also withdrew his summoned creatures.

"Ha ha... you foolish, lowly mortals, why are you running away?" Norton laughed triumphantly, deliberately standing in the Choking Toxin area and not coming out, while taking out a new vial of the agent.

Although Norton is a bit of a chuunibyou (a person with delusions of grandeur), he is a Boss Tier with high combat intelligence. Since the enemies are all melee fighters and are afraid of Choking Toxin, his best option is to stand within the poison's area of effect. Although he will suffer about 5 points of poison damage every 3 seconds, it is much more worthwhile than enduring the enemy's melee attacks head-on.

Bai Xiaowen took a breath, put away the "Whispering Grimoire," held the gun with both hands, and fired a shot.

The first shot was a 100% Critical Hit, with a Piercing effect that ignored armor, and the amplification of the Headshot effect. It went straight Piercing Norton's eye socket, bringing out a large spray of blood! This one shot alone took away 131 points of Norton's Life Value!

The instant the bullet was fired, Bai Xiaowen's Dark Gold Tier accessory, Absolon's Blood Essence Stone, warmed slightly, and a rugged Orcs phantom Pounce out. The Blood Essence Stone's skill, Killing Thirst, was triggered, dealing true damage equivalent to 10% of Norton's maximum Life Value!

Following the number "-131", another number, "-93", appeared.

This terrible shot blinded Norton in one eye, causing permanent blindness! Of course, Norton still has his other eye to use; it's only partially blind, not completely lost.

Norton let out a painful roar, and the potion in his hand flew out, landing on the ground two or three meters in front of him and Burst. This time it was a black cloud of poison, the type of toxin unknown—unless Bai Xiaowen's summoned creature walked into it and suffered poisoning, Bai Xiaowen would not receive a notification from the Spirit Realm Rules.

Of course, Bai Xiaowen had no intention of letting his summoned creatures test the poison. After firing the first shot, he immediately switched to Rapid-Fire Mode. Although the attack power decreased by 20%, the attack speed doubled, and bullets whistled out one after another.

"Damn bastard, maggot, rat!" Norton cursed, covering his eyes. "I'll turn you into a specimen! Come out, my servant, and tear these damned creatures to pieces!"

Heavy footsteps echoed, and the several Mutated Giant Corpse standing against the wall slowly opened their cloudy eyes at Norton's summons. They walked out step by step, mechanically and stiffly, muttering, "Obeying... the master's will..."

Spirit Realm Rules Message:

"Norton's skill: Summon Mutated Giant Corpse activated! Based on your Insight Talent, you will receive the following combat information."

[Mutated Giant Corpse: Norton uses Voodoo Alchemy to modify the corpses of the dead and force them into battle. The Mutated Giant Corpse possesses abilities such Bloat and Toxic Miasma.]

Amidst his busy schedule, Bai Xiaowen cast an Insight on the Mutated Giant Corpse.

"Abnormal..."

Bai Xiaowen squeezed out two words through gritted teeth. He was shocked to discover that although these Mutated Giant Corpse only had two passive skills, their physique was outrageously high, and their health bars were incredibly long, not inferior to Norton at all! As for the Toxic Miasma skill, he had already encountered it before, which would cause continuous poison damage to surrounding melee targets.

There are three such Mutated Giant Corpse in total. In other words, three mobile poison gas emission machines suddenly appeared in this Underground Research Lab. Combined with Norton's Toxin Toss skill, the already not spacious battlefield became even more crowded, greatly compressing the standing space for Bai Xiaowen, Li Shuyi, and the summoned creatures.

The three Mutated Giant Corpse slowly approached Bai Xiaowen's direction.

"Shu Yi, lure those three Mutated Giant Corpse to a corner!" Bai Xiaowen said. Based on experience, these Mutated Giant Corpse don't have much combat intelligence.

Li Shuyi agreed and charged towards one of the Mutated Giant Corpse, enduring the pungent poisonous fumes emanating from it, and unleashing a series of sword flashes.

However, the Mutated Giant Corpse surprisingly raised its arms in a very human-like manner, attempting to Block Li Shuyi's movements while moving closer to Bai Xiaowen —its attention was not drawn to Li Shuyi at all, its target was entirely on Bai Xiaowen.

Norton's eyes were still bleeding, but his face was flushed, as if he were insane. "This is my masterpiece! Through my efforts, these Corpse Monster have developed rudimentary consciousness and thinking abilities; they can even effectively use weapons... Watch, soon I will have an army of intelligent Corpse Monster! I will conquer the entire Black Tide Continent, making everyone bow down at the feet of this new god, praising the light of this new god..."

"And you, you who dare to harm God, I swear I will kill you with the cruelest methods, and then turn your corpse into a specimen so that everyone knows what the consequences of offending God are!"

While yelling, Norton continued to throw out potion bottles, restricting Bai Xiaowen and the others' movement space.

"Late-stage chuunibyou (middle school syndrome)..."

Bai Xiaowen muttered something, firing and retreating simultaneously, triggering the Blood Essence Stone's Killing Thirst skill again during this time. Norton's Life Value had been reduced by more than 400 points in just a few dozen seconds, which was enough to show that Bai Xiaowen, after acquiring the Dark Gold Tier Blood Essence Stone accessory, could indeed achieve a terrifying level of output when firing his pistol in Rapid Fire.

When his Life Value dropped to 465 points, or 50%, Norton made a new move. He pulled out a clear potion bottle and gritted his teeth, saying, "Damn it, this is my latest research result..."

Bai Xiaowen received a notification about the Spirit Realm Rules:

"Based on your Insight Talent, you have obtained the following combat information."

"Norton's skill: Potion Mutation Activated..."

At this moment, Bai Xiaowen had been cornered by the three Mutated Giant Corpse, completely blocking his firing angle.

"Now..." Bai Xiaowen breathed a sigh of relief, suddenly activated the Swooping Flight skill attached to the Gold Equipment, turned around, stepped on the wall and took two steps, then pushed off with all his might, rushing towards Norton like a rocket!

The force of this kick was immense, causing spiderweb-like cracks to spread across the stone wall. Of course, this was mainly due to the double damage effect of the Swooping Flight skill's kick.

Using the recoil, Bai Xiaowen leaped over the heads of the three Mutated Giant Corpse. He was about three meters off the ground—luckily, the dome of this Underground Research Lab was high enough for Bai Xiaowen to do this; otherwise, he definitely wouldn't have been able to jump.

Of course, there's a reason the dome is so high; just look at the size of those Mutated Giant Corpse. Anyway, Norton was digging this Underground Research Lab by using the Mutated Giant Corpse. He didn't have to do any work himself, just supervise. And since the Mutated Giant Corpse wouldn't resist, he could just dig as hard as he could.

Bai Xiaowen shot forward for ten meters in the air before gradually beginning to fall. He immediately activated the Gliding skill attached to his cloak to reduce his descent speed and allow himself to glide a greater distance.

Of course, the speed of Gliding is about the same as the speed of running on the ground. However, Bai Xiaowen's use of Gliding was not superfluous. At this time, the ground was filled with poison mist. If Bai Xiaowen ran after landing, he would inevitably step on slowing zones such as Frost Potion, making it impossible for him to quickly approach Norton.

As Bai Xiaowen activated his Swooping Flight skill and leaped into the air, the Bone Warlock also made a move, unleashing Lightning Strike.

The Bone Warlock was not the main force in this battle, mainly because Norton was not Undead Species or Fiend Species creature, and he also had a passive skill [Super-Strong Antibody] that reduced magic damage by 30%. The Bane of Evil effect of the Lightning Strike skill could not be triggered, and his inherent damage was reduced by 30%, which was quite a disadvantage.

The lightning Lightning Strike was primarily intended to create a brief stun effect, interrupting Norton's [Potion Mutation] action.

Bai Xiaowen would never allow Norton to "transform".

For Bai Xiaowen, who possesses the Insight skill, the mental-type BOSS Norton is not scary, because mental-type BOSSes are known for their unpredictable and ever-changing spell effects, and Bai Xiaowen's Insight is precisely the counter to this.

In Bai Xiaowen's plan, the initial ranged shooting was just a means of whittling down the boss's health. It would be ideal if the boss's health bar could be completely depleted, but now that three Mutated Giant Corpse have appeared, it won't be so easy. In the end, the battle will have to be ended with a burst of close-quarters combat—even with the Choking Toxin's effect of dealing 25 points of poison damage every 3 seconds, it won't matter in the short term.

If Norton takes the drug and successfully transforms, regardless of what type of BOSS he becomes, it will be detrimental to Bai Xiaowen's plan.