Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Under the relentless barrage of Lin Mo's full set of SSS-rank skills and Ning Xi's S-rank skills enhanced tenfold, the damage numbers popping above the Blood Ghoul King's head were a huge disappointment.
-93,698!
-90,136!
-66,358!
-71,119!
Lin Mo spotted the problem immediately.
"The Boss's resistances are too high."
As a level 75, Tier-6 Boss, the Blood Ghoul King not only had extremely high critical resistance, preventing even Lin Mo, with over 3,000 Agility, several times higher than an ordinary third-turn Assassin at this stage, from landing critical hits, it also possessed exceptionally high armor penetration resistance and piercing resistance.
Under normal circumstances, with his set skill active, Lin Mo had 50% armor penetration, plus another 30% from Siya's SSS-rank Berserk: War Stomp.
A total of 80% armor penetration, nearly true damage, enough to fight almost any opponent.
But against the Blood Ghoul King, Lin Mo's damage had dropped dramatically.
"Its armor penetration resistance is at least 50%."
His attacks had gone from nearly full armor penetration, to only a small amount of penetration.
Even Lin Mo was struggling to hurt the Blood Ghoul King now.
At the same time, the Blood Ghoul King slammed Strong-Maned Pig backward with a heavy punch.
It then activated Blood Slaughter once more.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Wave after wave of crimson light burst from the Blood Ghoul King's body, continuously eating away at Lin Mo and Ning Xi.
Even with 90% damage reduction, both of their HP bars were dropping rapidly.
The problem was, they couldn't summon Siya to heal right now.
She couldn't withstand the Blood Ghoul King's damage. The moment she appeared, the crimson light would kill her instantly.
Lin Mo and Ning Xi quickly retreated out of Blood Slaughter's range, avoiding the Blood Ghoul King's attack.
Fortunately, the Blood Ghoul King didn't pursue them.
It seemed obsessed with something, remaining stationed in front of the cabin and refusing to leave it.
Constantly using Blood Annihilation had also cost the Blood Ghoul King a considerable amount of its own HP.
But at that moment, numerous Blood Ghouls approached from every direction, each offering its own blood to the Blood Ghoul King.
In an instant, the Boss's HP surged from around 80% back to over 90%.
The speed of that regeneration made Lin Mo's scalp tingle.
Seeing how troublesome this Boss was, Ning Xi sighed.
"If only I were level 70 already. Then I could equip the Yama Set, and maybe I'd have a chance."
'That's right!'
'The Yama Set!'
Ning Xi's words reminded Lin Mo.
Ning Xi had tenfold damage.
Tenfold casting speed.
Her "software" was far stronger than Lin Mo's.
The problem was her "hardware."
Her mismatched collection of fourth-tier purple to orange-quality equipment was completely beneath someone worthy of the title of Empress.
As a result, her damage had always lagged behind.
Lin Mo had long expected that once Ning Xi reached level 70 and switched to the level 70, Tier-6 full-gold Yama Set, her overall strength would soar.
She might even become powerful enough to kill the Blood Ghoul King outright.
At that moment, Ning Xi said, "Brother Lin Mo, I'm not far from level 70 anymore. How about I go outside and level up first? Once I reach level 70 and equip the set, we can come back and try fighting the Boss again."
"No need to go through all that."
As he spoke, Lin Mo took a magic scroll out of his backpack.
That's right, exactly, lightning Strike again.
It wasn't particularly good for killing Bosses.
But when it came to clearing normal monsters, nothing could compare.
At present, Lin Mo had only stacked fewer than ten layers of the permanent passive effects on several essential SSS-rank magic scrolls.
He was still a long way from his goal of maxing them all out at one hundred layers.
He also urgently needed a large number of Scroll Evolution Points to evolve the essential SSS-rank scrolls and continue improving their permanent passives.
But right now, killing the Blood Ghoul King and rescuing Mo Chen so he could repair Siya's Heart of Eternity took priority.
Lin Mo wanted to finish this as quickly as possible.
He had no time to drag it out.
Without hesitation, he spent 127 Scroll Evolution Points, evolving the E-rank Lightning Strike into the SSS-rank World-Destroying: Heavenly Thunder.
Including the one he'd used against the seven guilds before entering the underground city, this was already his second Heavenly Thunder scroll.
It hurt to use it.
But Lin Mo gritted his teeth.
At worst, yesterday afternoon's effort collecting magic scrolls would have been for nothing.
The effect of the SSS-rank World-Destroying: Heavenly Thunder was to summon heavenly tribulation lightning that attacked every enemy within a 1,000-yard radius, dealing true damage equal to 3,000% of the user's Attack.
To maximize the scroll's effect, Lin Mo summoned Siya and had her cast the SSS-rank Light: Holy Blessing on him.
Pushing his Attack to its peak.
Crack!
The instant Lin Mo crushed the SSS-rank World-Destroying: Heavenly Thunder...
Rumble!
Lightning flashed across the sky.
A world-destroying lightning tribulation instantly swept through the entire underground city.
Every level 75 Blood Ghoul scattered throughout the city's streets and alleys was struck by Heavenly Thunder.
Huge white true damage numbers appeared above all of their heads.
-1,060,920!
-1,060,920!
-1,060,920!
The level 75 Blood Ghouls, with their 600,000 HP, had no way of surviving the damage from an SSS-rank magic scroll.
In a single instant, every Blood Ghoul in the city was wiped out.
[Ding~ You killed Level 75 Blood Ghoul ×685. EXP +1.6029 billion!]
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Golden light descended over both Lin Mo and Ning Xi at the same time.
[Ding~ Congratulations! You've leveled up! All five attributes +1, Free Attribute Points +3! Current Level: 70. EXP required for next level: 1.5 billion!]
Ever since obtaining the Yama Set by defeating the Hellfire Phoenix, the Boss of the Tenth Hall of Yama Hall, the equipment had remained in Ning Xi's backpack because her level was too low.
Now, seeing Ning Xi finally reach level 70 and meet the equipment requirements, Lin Mo was even more excited than she was.
"Xiao Xi, equip the Yama Set and let's see."
"Mhm," Ning Xi eagerly took the level 70, Tier-6 full-gold Yama Set Chest out of her backpack.
She selected the Elementalist class.
And obtained the complete eight-piece Yama Set.
The next moment, right in front of Lin Mo, Ning Xi changed into the equipment.
Before this, Ning Xi's equipment style had always been fresh and elegant.
The Yama Set, however, was completely different, carrying a hellish, dark aesthetic.
Yet, when the dark crimson mage robe settled onto Ning Xi, combined with the black bat effects swirling within the shadow aura surrounding her, it didn't feel out of place at all.
The two completely different styles blended together.
Like a white lotus blooming from hell.
Contrasting, yet perfectly harmonious.
It gave off an elegant beauty, unstained by the mud, yet never overly ornate.
So, when Ning Xi finished changing into the Yama Set, Lin Mo suddenly felt as though everything about her had become brand new.
"Not bad. I didn't expect you'd pull off this dark style so well."
Looking at Ning Xi, Lin Mo couldn't hide his admiration.
"The contrast is the best part."
He had been so focused on how she looked, that he had almost forgotten the true purpose of the equipment was to strengthen her, not make her prettier.
Pulling himself back to reality, Lin Mo asked expectantly, "So, how are your stats now?"
"This set gives such a huge boost!", Ning Xi exclaimed as she shared her simplified status panel with Lin Mo.
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
World-Renowned · Liuli (Lv.70 Third-Turn Elementalist)
Magic Attack: 43,600
Physical Defense: 15,980
Magic Defense: 15,800
Mana: 42,000
HP: 114,000
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
Looking at Ning Xi's current stats, even Lin Mo couldn't help being amazed.
Her base stats alone were already incredible.
Combined with the exclusive effects from all eight Tier-6 gold equipment pieces, and the Yama Set skills, Lin Mo couldn't even imagine the kind of world-shattering damage Ning Xi's S-rank Fireball, amplified tenfold by her talent, would deal.
"Perfect."
Lin Mo turned his eyes toward the Blood Ghoul King standing guard in front of the cabin.
He said to Ning Xi, "Let's use it to test the Yama Set's combat performance."