Chapter 129: Slaying the Boss and Distributing the Spoils

Just as they thought victory was within their grasp, the tattered robes of the Necromancer, whose health had dropped to the brink of death, suddenly exploded, revealing a massive soul gem embedded in its chest.

The soul gem shattered, and a shield formed of intangible soul energy enveloped the boss entirely.

"What the hell? A hundred-thousand-point shield?"

Chu Cheng glanced up, his expression calm as he said, "Ten seconds left. It’s not a problem."

However, he soon realized there was a slight complication. While spell-based shields lack physical defense, they are immune to special effects and cannot trigger critical hits. Time Lock would still take effect, but with the shield blocking the way, the defense-ignoring and magic-resistance-piercing critical hits wouldn't trigger; everything would be reduced to normal attacks.

Fortunately, their previous onslaught had been so intense that the boss was already in a weakened state, relying solely on this hundred-thousand-point shield to cling to life.

The ten members of the two squads launched a frantic assault, and the soul shield’s value plummeted by over ten thousand points per second.

"No problem!"

By the seventh second, the hardened soul shield was forcefully shattered, exposing the dying Necromancer. Five attacks struck simultaneously, wiping out the remainder of its health.

"Nineteen seconds in total!"

Green necrotic flames ignited on the fallen skeleton mage, and once they burned out, a treasure chest glowing with purple light remained.

"It’s just... dead like that!"

A major boss had fallen without any real ability to fight back, which was beyond their expectations.

Chu Cheng immediately checked his attribute panel. As expected, he had earned another 4 attribute points and 5 skill points. Although this boss was higher level than the Death Knight—meaning more total free attribute points and skill points were available—he had dealt over ninety thousand damage, which technically should have yielded more. But the key factor in killing the boss was Leiming’s anti-magic scroll; Leiming took a large portion of the credit, so naturally, his share was smaller.

But that wasn't a problem at all. If he could, he would prefer every boss to be this easy.

Just then, Leiming’s voice came over the channel: "Stop daydreaming. Come down here and clear out the remaining undead."

Chu Cheng put the treasure chest away for the moment and joined the others on the second floor to help the first squad mop up the remaining undead.

Five minutes later, the last undead was destroyed. Invisible ripples converged toward the center, forming a massive treasure chest on the first floor of the Necromancer Tower.

This was the trophy vault of the Cursed Fortress, which only appeared once the fortress had been completely conquered.

Leiming opened the chest and collected everything inside, and Chu Cheng handed over the boss’s treasure chest to him as well, so they could open them together.

"Wow, we’re going to be rich after this haul."

The group sat in a circle on the first floor of the Necromancer Tower. Leiming tallied all the loot and listed it in the channel.

"Not many soul shards, just 6 sets at 150 silver per set. If you want them, post your bids below."

"The trophy vault had plenty of soul essence—20 sets in total, 4 gold per set, 80 gold total."

"There are 24 necrotic essences, 2 gold per set, 48 gold total."

"There are also 56 units of mithril ore in the vault, 2 gold each, 112 gold total."

"A large amount of copper, silver, and tin ore. I’ve tallied it up; the market value is 48 gold. If anyone wants it, take it for 45 gold."

"Not many blue or green items, I’ve posted them all in the channel. If you want them, bid."

"There’s only one rare-tier item. I’ve posted its stats; bid as you see fit."

"There are three purple-tier items: two pieces of equipment and one accessory. Besides those, there are 3 purple soul gems, 11 rare-tier soul gems, one 'Eye of the Death God' war spell scroll, one 'Corpse Poison Nova' war spell scroll, and one 'Necrotic Water' recipe."

After double-checking that nothing was missed, Leiming laughed: "We’ll auction off these good items separately later. Let's sell off the previous items first and distribute the money to make bidding easier."

Everyone laughed, filled with anticipation.

Four minutes later, the miscellaneous items were all sold, totaling 322 gold.

"I’m taking 60 gold first as compensation for the anti-magic scroll. Chu Cheng dealt 52,480 damage to the boss and took down 32,560 worth of shields, for a total output of over eighty thousand. Since it’s under one hundred thousand, he gets 5 gold in compensation."

"The remaining 257 gold, divided among 15 people... heh, it’s 17 gold each again."

"Let’s trade."

In a cheerful atmosphere, the trades were completed, and Chu Cheng received another 22 gold.

"Now for the main auction."

Leiming picked up an item and displayed its stats to everyone: "Enchanting Recipe—Necrotic Water. It can convert necrotic essence into water essence. Starting bid is 10 gold. If you need it, make your bids."

"12 gold."

"13 gold."

Three people bid, one of them from Leiming’s squad. They went back and forth until the price hit 20 gold, where they stopped, meaning that was its market value.

"Corpse Poison Nova war spell scroll. You saw the effect earlier. While its direct damage isn't high, the duration is very long, and the total damage is massive. Starting bid, 20 gold."

As soon as he finished speaking, someone immediately bid: "25 gold."

"30 gold."

"40 gold."

"Pass."

Chu Cheng was still hesitating whether to place a bid, but a few mages had already driven the price to the limit in just a few words.

"Eye of the Death God war spell scroll. No need to introduce its power. Starting bid is also 20 gold."

"40 gold."

"45 gold."

"Pass."

"Rare-tier soul gems, 11 total. 5 gems in a bundle for 23 gold, 6 gems in a bundle for 27 gold. Fixed price for those who want them."

"50 gold for all of them."

"Epic-tier soul gems, 3 total. Unit price is 25 gold each."

"75 gold for all."

"Damn, I’ll bid 76 gold."

"77 gold."

"It's yours."

The items were sold in less than a minute, leaving Chu Cheng dumbfounded.

"Next is the main event: three epic-tier items, two pieces of equipment and one accessory."

[Death Rune Hood (Epic/Light Purple)]

Equipment Type: Head/Cloth Armor
Requirements: Level 35, Spirit 120, Intelligence 100
Bonus Attribute: Physique +15
Bonus Attribute: Intelligence +15
Bonus Attribute: Spirit +15
Bonus Attribute: Spell Damage +150
Description: Death magic infused into rune patterns, granting mages greater power.

[Vampire Cloak (Epic/Purple)]

Equipment Type: Back/Cloak
Requirements: Physique 80, Agility 80
Bonus Attribute: Physique +15
Bonus Attribute: Strength +15
Bonus Attribute: Agility +15
Bonus Effect: Life Steal—converts 10% of physical damage dealt to enemies into self-healing.
Description: Blood.

[Undead Death Knell (Epic/Deep Purple)]

Equipment Type: Accessory
Requirements: Spirit 150
Bonus Attribute: Spell Damage +225
Skill/Passive: Soul Devour—recovers mana equal to the level of the killed undead unit for every undead killed.
Skill/Active: Toll the Death Knell—controls all undead within a 50-meter radius with a level below 50. Control duration depends on the undead's level and template; maximum 1 hour, minimum 5 minutes. Mana cost 1,250, cooldown 24 hours.
Description: A bell sound from the Grim Reaper, capable of commanding death.

"First item, the Death Rune Hood. Starting bid 120 gold."

Feng Lingxing immediately bid: "120 gold."

"Pass!"

Everyone looked at the other female mage in the team in surprise. She waved her hand: "My current hood is already epic-tier."

"Oh!"

Everyone realized and said nothing more. Leiming asked a few routine questions to see if anyone else wanted it, then announced that Feng Lingxing had won the gear. Since the market price for light purple gear was around 130 gold, she hadn't gotten a huge bargain, so no one tried to outbid her.

Once the trade was done, Leiming took out the second item, the cloak. Chu Cheng could see the glint in the eyes of the many physical melee classes.

"It’s over..."