Chapter 145: Soloing the Boss

The team stayed there for just a single day. Early the next morning, Lei Ming gathered everyone together.

"It is unlikely that any forces will come to attack the City of Scourge anytime soon. I plan to divide us into several squads to search for the Scourge Knights outside. Once we find them, we will contact everyone through the channel."

Everyone exchanged glances. Zhang Chaosheng spoke up.

"That's fine. I also feel we can't just sit around here waiting."

Lei Ming then looked at Chu Cheng and asked, "What about you, Chu Cheng? Will you stay here or lead a squad outside?"

Chu Cheng smiled. "I have no problem with it. I'll stay with the Third Squad."

"Very well. My First Squad will head east, Zhang Chaosheng's Second Squad will head west, and Chu Cheng's Third Squad will patrol between the City of Scourge and the Fortress of the Dead. It's possible the Scourge Knights might just return this way."

"Agreed!"

With the teams assigned, they parted ways.

"Let's move out too!"

Chu Cheng, Feng Lingxing, Yao Ning, Zhou Yufeng, Wang Ying, and Fang Xi made a total of six members, the largest of the squads.

Emerging once again from the canyon outside the City of Scourge, the team began wandering the vicinity, clearing out the nearby undead.

Since they had no fixed objective, they were not in a hurry. Whenever they spotted undead, they simply farmed them.

This area was located close to the City of Scourge, meaning undead were everywhere. The first batch of arrivals had already reached this place, but they had not yet begun the clearance operation, so the density of undead in the surroundings was extremely high.

With their twin swords sweeping horizontally, ordinary undead fell in rows like wheat before a sickle, with astonishing efficiency.

Over the past two days, they had already scoured a vast surrounding area completely clean.

The level gap was too wide, so their EXP hadn't increased much, but they had accumulated a considerable amount of various Soul Essences and Necrotic Essences. Combined, each person could net around a dozen gold coins.

When night fell, they found a cave halfway up a small hill, manually excavated and deepened it, and set up several small tents inside. He and Fang Xi shared one.

However, there was no ambiguous romantic atmosphere; inside the instance dungeon, everyone kept their armor on at all times.

Still, having a beautiful woman nearby was truly pleasing to the eyes, raising the quality of rest by a significant margin.

At least Feng Lingxing, Yao Ning, and the others were filled with envy.

When spending the night in an instance like this, the team always had members keeping watch in shifts. This was generally rotated among the melee classes, while the ladies and magic classes were exempt.

Four people took turns keeping watch. With an eight-hour night, each person only had to watch for two hours, which was quite relaxed.

As the team leader, Chu Cheng took the first watch.

Two hours later, Wang Jing relieved him. Returning to his tent, he saw Fang Xi lying on the soft mat.

Her jet-black hair fell across her face, contrasting sharply with her fair and tender skin. Her long, distinct eyelashes curled upward, giving her an exquisite and charming appearance. Curled up beneath a thin blanket, her delicate and graceful curves were still faintly discernible.

"She's so pretty, and her figure is great. If only—"

Just as he was gazing in fascination, the sleeping Fang Xi suddenly opened her eyes, locking gazes with him directly.

A faint blush immediately bloomed on her pretty face. She asked, "You haven't slept yet?"

Chu Cheng didn't look away and continued watching her, though not quite as blatantly as before. He calmly replied, "Just got back from sentry duty."

Pausing for a moment, he complimented, "Senior sister, you're really pretty."

"Don't talk nonsense!" Fang Xi muttered softly, pulling the blanket up to cover her head, a trace of delight and shyness hidden in her eyes.

Chu Cheng smiled slightly and lay down to rest as well.

They were not children. Since she had paid such a heavy price to leave her original team and form a party with him, she was definitely satisfied with him in all aspects.

The man was willing and the woman was agreeable; there was only a thin layer of window paper left between them.

After spending a bit more time together and properly displaying his capabilities to give her complete peace of mind, everything would naturally fall into place, and the spear would find its berth.

Some might wonder why she was willing to endure a penalty as heavy as -20% to all attributes just to leave Xu Mingli's team. Could it be that other men wouldn't covet her body?

The reason was very simple: it was a matter of willingness versus unwillingness.

In her eyes, Xu Mingli was absolute scum. When he still had a girlfriend, the way he looked at her was already wrong, and the moment his ex-girlfriend died, he tried to make a move on her—he was total trash through and through.

A woman's mind is both complex and simple; they are emotional creatures. When they develop a negative impression of a man, no matter how good he supposedly is, they won't care for him.

Conversely, when they harbor a favorable impression of a man, all of his flaws can be completely ignored.

Besides, he didn't really have any flaws.

He slept exceptionally soundly. Waking up early the next morning, he found she was already up. In front of her sat a pink basin filled with clean water, and she was wiping her face with a damp towel.

Chu Cheng took out a stainless-steel basin, placed it beside her, and said with a grin, "Still have water?"

She reached out and pressed her hand against the basin. Gentle ripples spread across her fair hand from left to right as clear water materialized and fell into the container.

Create Water, one of the universal mage spells, did not require occupying a skill slot.

There were quite a few such universal spells, like Mage Hand, Prestidigitation, Cleanse, and other non-combat spells.

In fact, a mage could completely remove all dust and sweat from their body using just a single Prestidigitation spell, but female mages were accustomed to washing up, primarily for moisturizing purposes.

Women were just like that, and female mages were no exception.

Chu Cheng was not a mighty mage and lacked these universal spells, so he could only rely on actual washing and bathing.

After spending so much time in an instance dungeon and going through so many battles, if he didn't wash up, the smell on him—

After a simple wash, he opened the tent and walked out. The others had already packed up. Seeing him and Fang Xi emerging behind him, they exchanged knowing winks and envious looks.

"Let's go, continuing today."

The team packed up and set out once more.

Cutting through dry weeds like a rotting tree, they swept all the way forward.

Charging all the way to the far right edge of the canyon, Zhou Yufeng, who was shooting arrows from a high vantage point, suddenly shouted, "There's a boss ahead!"

Chu Cheng immediately asked, "What boss? What level?"

"Wandering Black Warrior, level 43, terror template."

"Where?"

"Just ahead."

"Let me take a look."

Chu Cheng quickly dispatched a small group of skeletons in front of him, jumped onto a boulder, and saw an undead warrior clad entirely in black armor and carrying a two-handed greatsword on its back walking toward them.

Wandering Black Warrior (Terror): Level 43, 148,000 HP.

A bold idea arose in Chu Cheng's mind as he observed it for a moment. He said to the others, "You guys clear out the surrounding undead; I'll take the boss."

"I'm going to solo this boss this time. I'm not telling you not to participate—I mean I'm handling this alone."

Everyone was startled. "You're going to solo the boss?"

"Yes, I want to test my current capabilities and see if I can solo a boss."

Feng Lingxing, Yao Ning, and the others exchanged glances, all of them seeing astonishment in each other's eyes.

Ignoring their mental states, Chu Cheng turned to Fang Xi and said, "Buff me with Group Bull's Strength and Group Haste."

She nodded, raised her fair hands, and swiftly cast the spells on him.

With the two spells applied and a potion of potent defense swallowed down, he felt his attributes surge. Taking a deep breath, he drew his twin swords and charged forward.

He initiated with Berserk Charge, plowing straight through a line of enemies to slam directly into the Black Warrior.

However, the Black Warrior reacted with extreme speed, instantly pulling the black greatsword from its back and blocking it horizontally across its chest. With a deafening clang, the charge knocked the Black Warrior sliding back two steps, but it successfully blocked his assault.