It Seemed Easier Than Expected
Su Mu nodded. "The number of refreshes is limited, we should try a higher difficulty. Besides, we're already level 15."
Ye Qingxue opened her mouth.
Level 15 is indeed the minimum requirement for Hell Lair. But who would normally enter Hell at level 15? Especially two people. Even she, the SSS-level Snow Queen, wasn't entirely confident.
But when she looked at Su Mu, remembering the strength of Little Drill Wind and White Bone Spirit, she felt much more at ease.
The first wave of monsters surged out from the crack.
Su Mu unleashed an Appraisal.
[Monster Identification]
[Name: Hell Buried Bones Skeleton Soldier]
[Rank: B]
[Level: 20]
[Blood: 88000/88000]
[Attack: 5200]
[Defense: 3200]
[Agility: 680]
[Combat Index: 46200]
[Skills: Bone Blade Slash, Undead Shell, Bone Shield Block (reduces damage by 60% for 5 seconds), Will of the Dead (increases attack power by 50% when health is below 30%), Fire of Hell (attacks are accompanied by dark red flames, dealing additional burning damage)]
[Note: Basic monsters in the Land of Buried Bones. Formed from elite skeletons tempered by hellfire, their bones are extremely hard and they possess complete tactical coordination capabilities.]
One hundred and eighty.
Level 20.
Ye Qingxue's heart sank. The first wave consisted of level 20 elite monsters, and there were nearly two hundred of them. This level of strength was equivalent to the tenth wave in the Nightmare Lair.
But she still chose to believe Su Mu.
After a brief moment of distraction.
The battle begins.
The Snow Queen stepped out of her replica, her long, icy dress sweeping across the bone-powdered ground, spreading a frosty white hue.
This time, however, the area covered by the ice was noticeably smaller than before. The environment of the Hell Lair was inherently hot, which suppressed the Snow Queen's ice power considerably.
In the first five waves, Ye Qingxue's Snow Queen was able to coordinate attacks.
Ice walls and ice shards, while less effective, at least stabilized the flanks.
By the tenth wave, the situation had changed.
A hellish-level boss emerged from the rift.
It was a Burial Corpse King over eight meters tall, its entire body burning with dark red hellfire. The Soul Flames surging from between its bones were no longer eerie green, but a dazzling dark red.
It wore a crown made of solidified lava on its skull and carried a giant scythe forged from its spine and hellfire.
Ye Qingxue unleashed her Appraisal, and her fingers tightened slightly when she saw the string of numbers.
But she did not back down.
The Snow Queen continued to unleash ice walls and ice shards; although the control duration was getting shorter, they were still effective. Little Drill Wind and White Bone Spirit maintained their consistent damage output, one focusing on melee attacks and the other on ranged area-of-effect attacks.
Wave 11, Wave 12, Wave 13, Wave 14.
Starting from the eleventh wave, Ye Qingxue only dared to have the Snow Queen release ice spikes and ice walls from a distance.
She dared not let the Snow Queen approach the battlefield; the attack power of the hell-level monsters was too strong, and a single blow could take away Snow Queen's health.
She could only have the Snow Queen stand at a distance, using ice spikes to slow down the monsters and ice walls to block their flanks, trying to buy as much time as possible.
By the fifteenth wave, the situation had worsened.
A hellish elite monster broke through the White Bone Spirit's fire barrier and charged towards the Snow Queen.
Ye Qingxue's expression changed, and she immediately ordered the Snow Queen to retreat. But the monster was too agile; before the Snow Queen's ice wall could rise, it had already rushed in front of her.
The Snow Queen was forced to unleash her ice spikes, but the monster charged forward despite the spikes, slamming a claw into Snow Queen. Her health dropped by half instantly.
Ye Qingxue gritted her teeth and commanded the Snow Queen to continue retreating while simultaneously releasing ice walls to block her.
She had to retreat the Snow Queen to the furthest distance, only daring to release ice shards from afar.
As for Little Drill Wind and White Bone Spirit, although the Hell-level monsters were much stronger than those in Nightmare Lair, their attributes were sufficient to handle them.
Little Drill Wind can't kill it with one strike, it will follow up with a second or third strike.
The White Bone Spirit's fire curtain no longer burns in patches, but repeatedly. It's more about level suppression; otherwise, given their attributes, fighting here wouldn't be too difficult.
Ye Qingxue clenched her fists as she watched this scene.
She remembered what Su Mu had said before.
"Your Snow Queen has taken control of the flank."
"It will take me a few more minutes without her."
Do I really have that much influence?
In the twentieth wave, the BOSS fell.
Wave 21, Wave 22, Wave 23, Wave 24.
Little Drill Wind and White Bone Spirit Demon are becoming increasingly skilled at killing these monsters.
They seemed to be learning, adapting to the bone hardness and attack rhythm of the hellish monsters. After twenty waves, things actually became a bit easier.
Su Mu, however, looked at the monsters in the dungeon and frowned slightly.
The hellish lair doesn't seem as difficult as I imagined.
And right now.
Wave 25.
The rift no longer spewed forth a large number of small monsters as before. From within the dark red mist, five figures slowly emerged.
Five bosses.
Each one is a boss guarding every five levels, enormous in size and terrifying in presence. They stand side by side in the center of the graveyard, their hellfire intertwined, turning the entire sky a dark red.
There are no mobs, only bosses.
Su Mu glanced over and simultaneously unleashed his Appraisal five times.
On the far left stands a colossal skeleton over eight meters tall, its skull topped with three rusted Iron Crowns, its shoulder blades flared out like wings, and dark red Soul Flames burning within its chest cavity.
It held a spear in each hand, crafted from a spine, the tips of which gleamed with a sinister green light.
[Name: Iron Crown Bone General (Hell Gatekeeper)]
[Rank: SS]
[Level: 25]
[Blood: 980000/980000]
[Attack: 16500]
[Defense: 12800]
[Agility: 1050]
[Combat Index: 428000]
[Skills: Bone Spear Throw (Throws a bone spear at a distance, dealing 2.5x damage and inflicting a piercing effect), Iron Crown Command (Increases the attack power and defense of nearby undead creatures by 20% and 10% in a 100-meter radius), Barrier of the Dead (Raises a bone spear to block, reducing damage by 60% for 8 seconds), Soul Chain (Links the target to the caster, sharing 50% of the damage dealt for 15 seconds)]
[Note: The fifth wave of the Hell-level Land of Buried Bones guards the boss. In life, he was a battle-hardened general of the Undead Legion, possessing extremely high tactical skills and command abilities.]
Remote output type.
The second one was shorter than the Iron Crown Bone General, but its skeleton was more robust, with ribs arranged tightly like iron bars, and the surface of the bones covered with a layer of dark golden metallic luster. It had no weapon in its hands, but a half-meter-long bone blade extended from the end of each arm, the blade edge gleaming with a dark red burning light.
[Name: Golden Bone Guardian (Hell Gatekeeper)]
[Rank: SS]
[Level: 25]
[Blood: 1,250,000/1,250,000]
[Attack: 13800]
[Defense: 18600]
[Agility: 820]
[Combat Index: 462000]
[Skills: Bone Blade Sweep (Melee area attack, deals 2.0x damage and inflicts burn), Steel Skeleton (Passive, reduces physical damage taken by 35%), Guardian's Oath (When health is below 50%, defense is increased by 50% for 20 seconds), Taunting Roar (Forces surrounding enemies to attack the user for 5 seconds)]
[Note: The tenth wave guardian boss of the Land of Buried Bones. Formed from the remains of hundreds of elite skeletons, its bone density is comparable to refined iron; it is a purely defensive unit.]
Tank type.