One Polluter was killed.
The pressure on Wang Meng's back line eased considerably.
The pretty girl holding a staff had excitement shining in her eyes. "An expert's here to help us! Could it be Dark Shadow from the rankings?"
Actually, it was impossible to tell whether she was pretty anymore. Her face and body were covered in sludge, and she had barely any health left.
Only her fine figure was still apparent, making it hard not to steal a few extra glances.
Her legs kept moving as she nimbly repositioned, looking full of energy...
"Hold on."
Wang Meng's skill came off cooldown.
With a grim expression, he activated Holy Barrier!
Golden light enveloped his burly body, granting him three seconds of invincibility and allowing him to hold out against the Sprinter a little longer.
The others now had room to dodge as well.
With one less Polluter, the ranged threat had diminished considerably.
Nearly half a minute later, Qin Feng appeared behind another Polluter.
He struck in an instant, without warning!
Another Polluter was killed in one hit!
No Evolution Points...
"Greedy Hand!"
Huh, a skill book dropped?
Qin Feng picked up the skill book the Polluter had dropped.
He inspected the skill book in his inventory:
--
[Deadly Poison Dart (Common): Assassin skill. Throws a highly poisonous dart with a maximum range of 12 meters. Adds 40 attack damage on hit and inflicts "Deadly Poison." Cooldown: 5 seconds. Learning requirement: level 2.] [Deadly Poison: Deals damage equal to 30% of attack power every second, without weak-point bonuses. Lasts 5 seconds. Cannot stack.]
--
At last, an attack skill-and a mid-range damage-over-time skill at that!
Even an ordinary player who learned a skill like this early on would see their progression speed skyrocket.
But...
Normal monsters had a very low chance of dropping skill books.
Qin Feng had killed so many normal monsters, yet only two had dropped skill books.
The first was the first Crawler, which had dropped the magic skill "Ice Spike."
The second was this one, and he had only gotten it through Greedy Hand.
Bosses still have better drop rates for equipment and skill books...
But without a foundation of equipment and skills, ordinary players have no chance of killing a boss, even the weakest Bronze Grade boss.
Qin Feng pondered this.
Without hesitation, he spent his remaining 3 Evolution Points to evolve Deadly Poison Dart twice!
--
[Deadly Poison Dart (Common → Bronze → Silver): Assassin skill. Throws a highly poisonous dart with a maximum range of 12 → 13 → 14 meters. Adds 40 → 80 → 120 attack damage on hit and inflicts "Deadly Poison." Cooldown: 5 seconds. Learning requirement: level 2.] [Deadly Poison: Deals 30% → 40% → 50% damage over time every second, without weak-point bonuses. Lasts 5 seconds. Cannot stack.]
--
After two evolutions, the skill's total damage had more than doubled!
Qin Feng moved quickly.
He picked up the skill book, learned it, and evolved the skill in one smooth sequence.
The last Polluter had only just turned around and was about to spit sludge at Qin Feng, but he was faster.
He raised his hand, sending a Deadly Poison Dart flying.
It instantly struck the Polluter in the head!
No other new player could possibly match his accuracy.
But Qin Feng had spent nine grueling years in the Godforsaken Game in his previous life. His proficiency with ranged attacks was already etched into his bones...
With a casual toss, his Deadly Poison Dart struck the head's weak point!
-237 (Weakness Attack)!
The damage number did not look high because he had neither broken stealth nor landed a back attack. The enemy had even spotted him, preventing Dark Shadow's class passive from activating, so there was no double damage...
But right after attacking, Qin Feng vanished into stealth!
After being struck by the Deadly Poison Dart, the Polluter turned entirely green.
Two damage numbers popped up above its head in succession.
-158! -158!
After taking two ticks of Deadly Poison damage, the Polluter finally died.
This damage over time is pretty high.
And when I enter stealth after attacking, the damage over time actually benefits from my class passive and doubles?
Qin Feng had a keen eye for damage.
He noticed it immediately.
Dark Shadow's third class passive doubled his damage whenever he was outside an enemy's field of view.
Since he was invisible, he naturally did not count as being in the enemy's field of view.
So it made perfect sense for the damage over time to double!
Unfortunately, this last Polluter dropped nothing either.
Only the Bronze Grade boss, the Sprinter, remained. This was the main event!
By now, Wang Meng was drenched in sweat. "I can't hold on much longer."
The middle-aged female priest in the party kept casting healing spells on him, but their effect was limited.
Wang Meng's health bar continued inching toward empty.
Clearly, although the party had reached level 2 by killing ordinary monsters, they had not obtained any useful equipment or skill books, leaving their combat tactics very basic.
Just then.
A figure suddenly appeared behind the Sprinter boss.
Timing his attack for the instant the Sprinter struck at Wang Meng, he sent a Deadly Poison Dart flying toward its head!
It struck the head with pinpoint accuracy!
-845 (Weakness Attack)!
Breaking stealth, a back attack, and a weak-point hit-he reaped the full benefits of all three.
One shot, right on the mark!
Wang Meng and the others were on edge when they saw the boss's health bar drop by almost half in an instant. Their eyes widened.
"Holy shit!"
Wang Meng could not help swearing.
Their entire party had spent ages fighting the Sprinter, only to shave off less than 10% of its health.
Yet this mysterious figure had taken away half the boss's health with a single skill?
And that was only Deadly Poison Dart's initial damage!
The truly terrifying part came next.
-324! -324! -324! -324!
As the Sprinter's body turned green, four damage-over-time numbers popped up in succession. Without even a chance to struggle, the Sprinter collapsed right in front of Wang Meng!
Of course.
Wang Meng and the others could not see anyone else's damage numbers.
They could only see the health bar above the boss's head.
Each tick took another chunk out of that bar, making their hearts pound in time with it!
They watched as the Bronze boss that had nearly wiped their party was poisoned to death before their eyes!
"Holy crap, that damage... is he even human?"
"Wait, did this guy really enter the game at the same time as us?"
"You're missing the point. He hit the boss right in the head with a dart while it was moving all over the place!"
"Exactly. We struggle just to hit the boss with our ranged attacks, but he casually hit its weak point..."
All six members of Wang Meng's party sucked in a sharp breath.
They watched the boss drop a pile of loot, but it was clear they had no permission to pick it up.
In the Godforsaken Game, loot dropped by a monster belonged to the party or individual who dealt the most damage.
Qin Feng had taken away 90% of the Sprinter's health.
Naturally, all the loot belonged to him!
Before you continue