If his strength could reach that of a formal first-tier Swordsman, dealing with the Lord-tier Scorching Serpent Woman would be far easier.
500,000 HP, combined with a Lord boss's incredible combat recovery — it could heal roughly 10,000 HP every five seconds. Without a damage output of over 2,000 per second, the Scorching Serpent Woman was essentially invincible to players.
This was one of the reasons even Elite teams of hundreds could never grind down a Lord boss.
Not to mention the Scorching Serpent Woman's terrifying attacks and formidable skills.
Trying to take her on head-on, even a thousand-man raid would be annihilated without fail.
But with the Book of the Blazing Sun, the situation would be entirely different.
Before obtaining the Heart of the Scorching Serpent, Shi Feng had barely any confidence at all — he'd only wanted to give it a shot, since there was nothing to lose. Now, however, he actually had a shot at killing the Scorching Serpent Woman.
The power of a Pseudo-Transcendent weapon — though Shi Feng had never witnessed it firsthand — by his own estimates should bring him to at least the strength of a formal first-tier Swordsman.
Without hesitation, Shi Feng retrieved the Pseudo-Transcendent throwing weapon Starflame Ember from his inventory and equipped it.
Starflame Ember. Throwing weapon. Dark-Gold tier. Requires 120 Strength and 140 Agility.
Attack Power (based on the player's total Strength ×2) Strength +50, Agility +65, Endurance +10.
Attack Speed +5.
Maximum throwing range: 45 yards.
Ignores monster level +8. Attack speed increased by 15%. On attack, 35% chance to ignore defense, 30% chance to trigger a Fourfold Phantom effect — each phantom dealing 50% fire damage, 10% chance to trigger a knockback effect, and 5% chance to trigger the Burning Flames effect, dealing 200 points of fire damage per second. Lasts 10 seconds, stacks up to 5 times.
Comes with the skill Wrath of the Flame God. Deals physical and fire damage in a 40×3 yard area, dealing 900% damage to the first target, then decreasing by 10% for each subsequent target, with a minimum of 500% damage. Cooldown: three minutes.
Starflame Ember was forged by the Grandmaster Artificer Celuola. Due to material limitations, it was a Pseudo-Transcendent item that granted its wielder the peak strength of a mortal. If epic-tier fire materials could be gathered, it could be reforged into an epic-tier item. Restricted to Shi Feng alone. Cannot be dropped, cannot be traded.
With the weapon equipped, Shi Feng's stats skyrocketed instantly — Strength reached 174, Agility reached 206. The only things keeping him short of the Legendary item fragment Heaven Dragon's Sacred Breath were 200 Strength and 120 Intelligence.
With the Pseudo-Transcendent weapon's boost, Shi Feng's attack power with the throwing weapon came to 696. His two-handed melee attack power was 444 and 426 — his ranged base damage was significantly higher. On top of that, Starflame Ember ignored monster level +8, so Shi Feng wouldn't suffer massive damage reduction from level suppression when fighting level-25 monsters.
Moreover, since Shi Feng's Agility had reached 200, he'd activated the hidden agility-type passive skill Initial Traceless, boosting his movement speed and attack speed by 20%. His stamina consumption during movement-based combat was greatly reduced, allowing him to walk on water, leap 10 yards in a single bound, and gain a 10% evasion bonus.
With all these enhancements, Shi Feng felt considerably more confident.
"Time to start clearing them out," Shi Feng said, shifting his gaze to the Elites and Special Elites in the distance.
Since ranged combat was now far superior to melee, there was no point continuing with that exhausting and inefficient fighting style. He could simply employ the same kiting tactics a Ranger would use to take down the Flame Half-Serpents — not only faster but far safer.
Forty-three yards away, two level-25 Elite Flame Half-Serpents and one Special Elite Flame Half-Serpent Warrior were chatting amongst themselves, completely unaware of Shi Feng wreathed in deep blue flames. Meanwhile, Shi Feng drew the slender, fiery needles of Starflame Ember and launched an attack at the Flame Half-Serpent standing in the center.