A valley blanketed entirely in ice and snow. A six-person party was currently battling a Level 48 High Lord — an Ice Fang Tiger.
Ice Fang Tiger. Elementalist creature. High Lord. Level 48. 31 million HP.
And this Ice Fang Tiger, standing over five meters tall like a small apartment block, was utterly helpless against the Level 45 Shield Warrior before it, who wielded a crimson longsword in one hand and a small azure round shield in the other.
The Ice Fang Tiger's razor-sharp claws lashed out frantically, but every single strike was deflected by the small round shield. Not only that, the Shield Warrior consistently landed skills on the Ice Fang Tiger's body, dealing six to seven thousand points of effective damage with each hit — not falling behind at all.
The surrounding players were equally impressive. Every one of them was above Level 44. Their skills slammed into the Ice Fang Tiger for over ten thousand points of damage each, while even basic attacks dealt three to four thousand.
"Everyone, pick up the DPS. This boss is about to go down. Watch out for the AoE skills," the calm and composed Shield Warrior, Gu Jiuji, said flatly while parrying.
"Don't worry, Party Leader. It's not like this is our first time killing this Ice Fang Tiger," laughed a Level 44 male Summoner in white robes not far away.
The others all nodded, unfazed.
The moment the Ice Fang Tiger's HP dropped below 30%, it went berserk. Its snow-white skin turned bluish-red, its body swelled by several sizes, and its attack speed visibly surged. Ice spikes began raining down from mid-air, blanketing a 50-yard radius around it.
The lead Shield Warrior Gu Jiuji let out a low shout, activated Shield Wall, dodged the falling ice spikes, and focused on defense.
Even though the Ice Fang Tiger's strength and speed had increased dramatically, it still couldn't breach the Shield Warrior's dedicated defense. Blow after blow hammered against the small round shield, draining the Shield Warrior's HP chunk by chunk. Meanwhile, the female Druid in the back row swung her deep-green wooden staff and cast Healing Wind, prioritizing the Shield Warrior while the rest of the party still received over 1,500 HP per second in healing, keeping everyone's health safely above the danger line.
As the party cranked up their output, the Ice Fang Tiger's HP began draining rapidly — from 30% it quickly plummeted to 20%… 15%…
When it finally hit the last 10%, the party went all out, preparing to finish off the still-raging Ice Fang Tiger.
Just as its HP fell below 2%, a volley of searing flame lances suddenly shot in from the distance, slamming into the Ice Fang Tiger and instantly devouring every last point of its remaining HP.
Five items dropped.
The six-person party that had been fighting the Ice Fang Tiger stared in surprise, each of them turning toward the direction the flames had come from.
At some point, a twenty-person team had materialized on the icy ground. A male Elementalist holding a Tier 2 magic scroll was smiling at the six-person party.
"Di Yufeng, what's the meaning of this?" Gu Jiuji asked, his expression darkening.
"What's the meaning?" Di Yufeng, the Elementalist, replied with a grin. "Isn't it obvious? We're stealing the kill, of course. Our Guild Leader has had his eye on you for a long time. He already told you — either you bring your entire adventurer party to join our Gaishi Family, or you and your Aurora Sword party won't last another day in Cold Wind City!"
"You're going too far! Brother Gu already said he wouldn't get involved in the war between your two guilds. He certainly wouldn't join either side," the female Druid
It was because of the Gaishi Family's constant harassment that they had left Cold Wind City in the first place, fleeing to this godforsaken place to level up. Now, having traveled this far, the Gaishi Family was still coming to steal their boss. It was simply too much.
"Too far?" Di Yufeng scoffed. "The victor takes all. Cold Wind City is at a critical juncture right now, and our Guild Leader has made it clear that no mistakes will be tolerated. Naturally, we hold someone of Brother Jiuji's caliber in very high regard. As long as Brother Jiuji joins our Gaishi Family — forget everything else — becoming the main tank of our flagship raid party is a done deal."