Chapter 139: The Terrifying Outburst of Chu Cheng

Once everyone was ready, the group surged forward, chasing down the Plague Knight’s retinue.

The Death Knight stopped and wheeled around quickly. Beneath the Plague Knight, a green plague aura rapidly expanded, and a low, powerful voice resonated:

"Death and plague are eternal. Mortals, you seek your own destruction!"

His nightmare steed reared high, and he leveled his lance—the prelude to a charge.

Just then, the team leader, Thunder, decisively pulled out a strangely shaped longsword and held it high. Pointing it directly at the Plague Knight, he unleashed a transparent, palpable wave of light that struck the enemy. The surging green energy of the plague surrounding the knight suddenly dimmed, as if doused with a bucket of cold water.

Plague Knight Sivalian (Lord): One of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Level 50, 880,000 HP (Sealed).

"Feng Lingxing, Astral Labyrinth!"

Feng Lingxing, who had been prepared and casting in advance, immediately pointed a finger. The space around the Plague Knight twisted, and his form rapidly faded. After two seconds, only a faint, phantom-like silhouette remained, running in place, unable to escape.

"It worked."

Thunder shouted loudly:

"Take your positions according to the original plan! Each of the three tanks must hold their targets!"

With that, he charged directly into one of the Death Knight leaders. Zhang Chaosheng also launched a charge at another Death Knight leader, colliding with force before quickly deploying several combat skills to firmly secure aggro.

Chu Cheng’s approach was much simpler. He first activated "Stalwart," then charged up a "Thunderous Strike," descending into the group of Death Knights like a bolt of lightning. He followed up by activating "Phase Dash," circling quickly to draw the aggro of all the Death Knights.

"Mages, prepare for AOE!"

"Be careful not to hit the tanks."

"Group Bull's Strength!"

"Group Haste!"

Senior Fang Xi immediately cast two buffs on everyone: +75 Strength and +75 Speed.

Then, Fireball, Chain Lightning, and Ice Storm—a series of classic area-of-effect spells rained down simultaneously. Combined with the melee and ranged combat skills unleashed by the others, the firepower was ferocious.

With "Stalwart" active, Chu Cheng’s physical damage reduction exceeded 95% for fifteen seconds, allowing him to steadily withstand the siege of twenty elite Death Knights, all between levels 30 and 40. He brushed off their repeated lance thrusts and "Death Strikes" with ease.

"Stalwart" lasted for exactly fifteen seconds, and these elite monsters could not endure the team's onslaught for even that long.

Between the successive rounds of wide-area AOE bombardment and Chu Cheng’s own talent for reflection—which dealt 1,000 points of true damage ignoring all defense every second—he was dealing 10,000 true damage to all ten targets every ten seconds. Truth be told, even without the others' assistance, he could have wiped out this squad of elite Death Knights alone, given enough time.

At the seventh second, the first elite Death Knight fell.

That was only the beginning. Like dominoes, the other elite Death Knights fell in rapid succession; within four seconds, half were down, and the remainder were left with only slivers of health.

At the thirteenth second, Thunder’s shout suddenly echoed from behind:

"The Plague Knight is breaking out! Fang Xi, prepare the second Astral Labyrinth!"

Chu Cheng instinctively looked over and saw the transparent form of the Plague Knight slowly solidifying, meaning it was breaking free from the Astral Labyrinth and returning to the material realm. Its BOSS-level resistance was too high; it was breaking free earlier than expected.

Fang Xi chanted and cast quickly. Three seconds later, she pointed her staff, and the spell struck the Plague Knight, causing its solidifying form to fade once more. Fortunately, it was a heroic-tier spell, which held higher priority than standard magic and was difficult to resist.

"Bang!"

An Ice Lance exploded in front of Chu Cheng. The final elite Death Knight was blasted several meters away, the soulfire in its eye sockets extinguished in mid-air before it hit the ground, silent and lifeless.

Thunder, who had been monitoring the entire battlefield, immediately shouted:

"Chu Cheng, go support Zhang Chaosheng immediately! I can still hold on here for a while."

"Got it!"

He pulled out a potent health potion, drank it to restore his status to full, and targeted the Death Knight leader held by Zhang Chaosheng with "Nether Strike." He vanished into the Ethereal Plane, reappearing behind the leader a second later to land a heavy, devastating blow.

After casting "Nether Strike," one could instantly appear beside any target within a 200-meter range to launch an attack; it was a burst-damage and repositioning skill that required an anchored target.

Upon taking over, he unleashed a "Divine Critical Strike" and began a frantic flurry of dual-sword stabs. By the second second, he successfully triggered "Time Lock," dealing tens of thousands of damage in just a few seconds and successfully seizing the Death Knight leader’s aggro.

"You recover your status; I'll take over."

Zhang Chaosheng didn't stand on ceremony, quickly retreating to pull out a bandage.

"Clang! Clang! Clang!"

Three crisp sounds rang out in succession as Chu Cheng heroically blocked three basic attacks from the Death Knight leader, then countered with a sword strike that triggered "Time Lock," freezing the enemy in place.

"Wild Strength, activate!"

His twin blades blurred into shadows, stabbing repeatedly. Seven strikes in one second erupted for a terrifying 18,000 damage.

To an outside observer, the Death Knight leader, who had been raising his lance to strike, suddenly froze. Then, Chu Cheng’s hands moved with such blurred speed that a second later, as the leader’s lance finally fell, over twenty dense damage numbers floated above its head, and its health bar plummeted.

"That's just plain perverted!"

Zhang Chaosheng, standing nearby to recover, clearly saw how outrageous Chu Cheng’s burst of damage had been.

"He’s not even level 30 yet. Once he hits level 30, promotes, gains a new specialty and a new heroic skill, and has his physique adjusted..."

"A tank’s health and defense, combined with top-tier DPS output, and that kind of speed... tsk tsk."

At that moment, Zhang Chaosheng was absolutely certain that in no time at all, this kid would soar to the heavens and become a powerhouse he would have to look up to.

"Zhang Chaosheng, come to my side and swap positions."

After five seconds of recovery, Thunder was finally reaching his limit.

Zhang Chaosheng responded immediately, turned, and charged into the back of the other Death Knight leader. He raised his hand to stun the BOSS with a "Storm Shield Bash" and quickly applied a set of slow and armor-shredding debuffs.

"Ice Lance!"

"Power Strike!"

"Charged Heavy Strike!"

"Time Lock!"

In an instant, seven strikes in one second dealt another 18,000 points of damage, firmly locking the Death Knight leader’s aggro.

"Give me a shield."

Fang Xi pointed, and a magical shield settled firmly around him.

The Level 10 Magic Shield had a defense value of 21,000. Bolstered by her "Arcane Supremacy," the defense was far higher than others of the same tier.

With this, Chu Cheng could forgo defense and trade blows with the BOSS without a shred of hesitation.

"Time Lock!"

Seven strikes per second. Even with a low base trigger probability, the sheer speed made the actual trigger rate remarkably high.

Every time it triggered, it meant a stable 18,000 points of high damage.

Although this elite Death Knight leader had a staggering 180,000 HP, it couldn't last long against such exaggerated burst damage.

Less than ten seconds after Chu Cheng took over, the BOSS was focused down and obliterated.

"Immediately support Zhang Chaosheng and finish off the last one!"