"Primal Species?"
Everyone in the hall stared at the half-serpent general Volenka, who now held a purple-blue trident, and their already confident expressions instantly dimmed several shades.
Inside the Thunder God secret realm, all players had been suppressed to Tier 0. The general limit they could handle was a High Lord — a Level 89 Superior High Lord was simply not something Tier 0 players could deal with.
It was only because they had the Thunder Demon Stones and the Thunder God Jewels that they felt they could stand a chance against a Superior High Lord. Add to that the Epic-grade weapons and equipment they carried, and they had believed they possessed the confidence to take down the first boss of the side hall.
But now the first boss was a Primal Species? What kind of joke was this?
Under normal circumstances, even outside the Thunder God secret realm, dealing with a Primal Species of the Superior High Lord tier would be extraordinarily difficult. Now, inside the Thunder God secret realm, having to face a Primal Species-level Superior High Lord — it was practically a death sentence.
"Could it be that the pioneering boss is different?" Shi Feng looked at Volenka and couldn't help but frown deeply.
This was completely different from the Volenka he had encountered in his previous life. The Volenka he had seen back then was merely a Superior High Lord, and the weapon in its hand hadn't been a trident — it had been a giant axe.
In the Divine Realm, when monsters wielded different weapons, their attack patterns changed dramatically as well. A giant axe's attacks tended to be rather monotonous, but their destructive power was immense. In Volenka's hands, a single swing dealt damage comparable to an area-of-effect spell — the main tank wouldn't dare block it head-on with a shield.
Now Volenka wielded a trident. Unlike the clumsy, devastating axe, the trident was more akin to a spear: its range of attack was broader, its movements more fluid and versatile, and it was far less vulnerable to being swarmed.
Moreover, Primal Species were the apex among bosses. Their base stats were simply incomparable to ordinary Superior High Lords. The trident's current power likely matched or even exceeded that of the giant axe Volenka had once wielded.
A boss that was both devastatingly powerful and agile — its difficulty would be at least twice as high, if not more.
Most critically, there was the boss's innate advantage. The normal Volenka had only had 180 million HP. Now it had a staggering 320 million, and its passive health regeneration alone was 3.2 million every five seconds — 640,000 per second. If the team's combined DPS dropped below that figure, they would accomplish absolutely nothing against Volenka.
"This boss is too strong," Yi Yun said, looking at Volenka with a bitter smile. "Even if it just stood there and let us hit it without fighting back, we probably wouldn't be able to take it down. Even if our damage output could exceed its health regeneration, with 320 million HP it would still grind us down and kill us through sheer attrition."
Their team was already small in number. Normally, killing a Superior High Lord was already a stretch. Now they were being asked to take down a Primal Species-level Superior High Lord — it was utterly hopeless.
"Do you really think we can do this?" Wei Yang Qianhen couldn't help but glance at Shi Feng and ask in a hushed voice.
They were all top-tier experts in the Divine Realm who had defeated countless bosses. They understood their team's combat limits all too well, and a Primal Species was already beyond what their party could handle.
She genuinely couldn't imagine any strategy that could take down this boss.
Shi Feng had already demonstrated astonishing combat strength, but the bosses inside a dungeon weren't something any individual could handle alone.
"Twenty to thirty percent, roughly. It depends on how effective the six Thunder God Jewels turn out to be," Shi Feng said after a moment of thought.
The boss's transformation had indeed exceeded his expectations, but they had gathered the key items needed to clear the dungeon. And among all the bosses in the side hall, Volenka was actually the easiest to deal with — its skills were the simplest, and the only clear requirement for the strategy was that the players had sufficient dodge capability and stats.
"Twenty to thirty percent?" Wei Yang Qianhen's eyes went wide in disbelief.
In her estimation, even a five-percent chance against this boss would be borderline miraculous. Yet Shi Feng was saying twenty to thirty percent? No matter how she looked at it, that sounded like a joke.
This was a Primal Species! It wasn't even a question of skill anymore — the boss could literally outlast them to death!
The rest of the team heard this and couldn't help but stare at Shi Feng with surprise.
If they truly had a twenty to thirty percent chance, then even at the cost of their lives they had to take Volenka down.
"Let's give it a try. Bing Ying, you go stand at the entrance of the hall. If things go wrong, retreat out of the hall immediately — the boss shouldn't chase anyone out," Shi Feng said.
"Understood." Bing Ying nodded and walked straight toward the hall's entrance.
That way, even if Shi Feng and the others were killed by the boss, she could revive them afterward. Death penalties inside a dungeon were already quite low, and with her resurrection skill, the penalty could be reduced even further.
Shi Feng then instructed Yi Yun to tank the boss while Lun Hui drew the aggro of the two Lord-tier half-serpent bodyguard captains. Shi Feng himself positioned himself not far from Yi Yun — which struck everyone as rather odd. Lun Hui was clearly stronger than Yi Yun, so why not have Lun Hui tank the boss instead? Putting the stronger fighter on the adds seemed like a waste.
But Shi Feng was the captain, so nobody raised any objections.
"Engage!" Shi Feng looked around and confirmed that everyone was in position, then gave the order.
The instant he spoke, six Thunder God Jewels were activated simultaneously. The Thunder Demon Barrier unfurled in a flash — compared to using a single Thunder God Jewel, the barrier's radius now encompassed a full four hundred yards, swallowing the entire hall within its field.
A terrifying wave of pressure crashed over them, and the boss's and the half-serpent bodyguard captains' stats began to plummet. In an instant, the boss's attributes dropped by a full thirty percent, while the two bodyguard captains' stats were reduced by an incredible forty-five percent.
"Incredible!" Shi Feng exclaimed, unable to hide his astonishment as he observed the Thunder Demon Barrier's effect.
He had originally thought a twenty-percent reduction in the boss's stats would be excellent. Now a thirty-percent drop had far exceeded his expectations — it was comparable to high-grade magical formations.
Shi Feng immediately had Bing Ying join the party while Yi Yun and Lun Hui split the boss and the adds apart.