"RAAARGH!"
The Kobold King let out a furious roar, and shockwaves rippled outward in every direction. Damage numbers of sixty and seventy points kept popping up over everyone's heads, while the magic classes were staggered backward by the sound waves, forced to press themselves against the walls.
"Insolent insects! You dare profane this sacred place? Then accept death's judgment!" The Kobold King — a full head taller than before — stomped one foot into the ground, and an entire five-yard radius of stone tiles shattered and flew into the air.
The two main tanks broke into a cold sweat at the terrifying display of destructive power. If they hadn't retreated a step earlier, the consequences of that stomp would have been catastrophic.
Just as the two were still counting their blessings, the Kobold King gripped its greatsword with both hands and swung hard at the two distant main tanks. A crescent of black sword energy tore through the air and slashed across both of them, dealing over six hundred points of damage each.
"Sword energy with AoE?"
Bai Qingxue's delicate brows furrowed. She hadn't expected that when its HP dropped to thirty percent, the boss would change its attack range. And the damage from its ranged attacks was absurdly high — especially considering the two tanks had already activated their survival skills, reducing incoming damage by fifty percent. The difficulty of conquering the Kobold King had just skyrocketed, becoming far harder to deal with. If even a Leader-rank Kobold King fought like this, then her earlier estimate of a ten percent success rate was probably generous.
"All healers, focus on keeping the two tanks alive! Everyone else, stay away from the tanks' positions! Tanks, watch your positioning — don't let it get close! Other warriors, prepare to charge and interrupt!" Shi Feng immediately issued orders.
Before Shi Feng had even finished speaking, the Kobold King was already moving.
One step forward and the stone tiles cracked beneath its feet as it charged straight at the first aggro holder — Guardian Knight Ke Le.
In the blink of an eye it was right in front of Ke Le. The greatsword came sweeping down, trailing a gust of wild wind. Ke Le had already taken over six hundred points of damage, leaving him with less than half his HP. If he took a melee hit, he was dead for certain.
The greatsword fell. A thunderous boom echoed through the hall as a blast of wind swept across the entire chamber.
"Huh? How am I still alive?" Ke Le opened his eyes to find that everything hadn't gone pitch black. Standing in front of him was a familiar silhouette. He blurted out, "Feng-ge!"
"Run!" Shi Feng had managed to parry the blow with his twin swords, but the Kobold King was already winding up for a second swing — and this time he had no parry left. He had no choice but to activate his survival skill, Sword Control Return to Heaven.
Ke Le didn't dare linger and scrambled away. Meanwhile, four healing spells finally landed on him, restoring him to full HP.
Just as Ke Le had moved a yard or two away, the sound of stone tiles exploding erupted behind him, and dust filled the air.
Shi Feng burst out from the cloud of dust, not daring to stay even a fraction of a second longer. A berserk Kobold King had the power to one-shot him.
The moment Shi Feng cleared the dust, the Kobold King followed right on his heels — but its target wasn't Shi Feng. It was the fleeing Ke Le.
"Charge and block!" Shi Feng wasn't about to let the Kobold King have its way.
At his command, the three Berserkers who had been standing by launched their charges one after another. The first charge only made the Kobold King stagger for a moment. The second forced it back a step, and the third knocked it back two more. None of them inflicted a stun, but a knockback was enough.
After the charges, the Berserkers immediately scattered. One of them was a beat too slow, caught by the sweeping sword energy, and instantly dropped to zero HP, collapsing to the ground.
The Kobold King's sword energy dealt more damage the closer the target was. At just two or three yards' distance, a single hit could one-shot a full-HP main tank — let alone a Berserker whose defense and HP were far inferior.
Still, the sacrifice was well worth it. It had bought precious time, giving the two main tanks a better chance at survival.
The other magic classes with crowd-control skills also began pulling the Kobold King's aggro, keeping the two tanks alive by the skin of their teeth. The most effective of them was Hei Zi's Evil Thrash — the Kobold King had to waste valuable time tearing through the thorny vines. The other casters' Frost Novas had no freezing effect at all; at best, the Ice Balls could slow it down slightly, but the effect was negligible.
Time trickled by. Ke Le and Ghost Slash were chased up and down the hall, scrambling desperately — but they both managed to stay alive.
Finally, the Kobold King's berserk phase ended and it returned to its normal state. However, during the frenzy its HP regeneration rate had surged significantly. Its current health had recovered to over fifty percent — roughly sixty-plus thousand HP.
"Switch attack rotation!" With the berserk phase over, Shi Feng showed no mercy and immediately launched a counterattack.
The four of them attacked in rotation, once again forcing the Kobold King into a disadvantageous position. Their coordination grew smoother and smoother. A few minutes later, they had hammered the boss down to twenty percent HP once more.
This time the Kobold King didn't go berserk. Instead, it discarded its greatsword and summoned two blood-red, rune-etched single-handed longswords, spinning them in a frenzy like a tornado that devoured everything in its path. Anything it touched was instantly reduced to ash.
This was the Kobold King's ultimate move — Blade Storm.
"All warriors, charge in, then pull back immediately! Magic users, use crowd-control skills and watch out for the tornado — stay at least ten yards away!" Shi Feng shouted.
At this point, everyone had absolute trust in Shi Feng. Without a moment's hesitation, they charged.
One by one, the warriors — including Bai Qingxue — rushed forward and slammed into the Kobold King. The magic users launched Ice Balls while Hei Zi used Evil Thrash, and seven thorny vines latched onto the Kobold King's legs, drastically slowing its rotation and weakening its momentum.
Although the Blade Storm was spinning much slower and its power was reduced, it still caught several people in its vortex. In less than two seconds, they were ground into mincemeat.