Bai Qiu frowned slightly.
There wasn’t just one aura—there were multiple.
That meant that at the edge of his perception, there were at least two Monarch-class monsters.
He informed Li Zhongjun of his discovery and warned that creatures at the Transcendent level could cause destruction beyond a 300-meter radius.
“You’re saying that even observing from 300 meters away isn’t safe?” Li Zhongjun asked with a frown.
Though Bai Qiu had phrased it tactfully, he understood the implication.
He didn’t believe that, against Monarch-class monsters, the group could safely spectate from that distance.
And two Monarch-class beings—those were on the same level as the black skeleton and the true dragon’s remains they had encountered in Zone 2225.
In other words, they would be facing at least two opponents of that caliber.
That made him uneasy.
It wasn’t that he doubted Bai Qiu’s strength, but while Li Qingshan could barely manage against King-class monsters, fighting a Monarch-class opponent would be a stretch.
“If Qingshan holds one of them off, and you take the other solo… can you win?” Li Zhongjun asked Bai Qiu.
At this point, the dungeon’s exploration and kill percentages were already high enough for everyone to leave safely.
But leaving like this felt like a waste.
He wanted Bai Qiu’s opinion—whether he was confident.
“I’ll win.” Bai Qiu answered with certainty.
Not to mention that he had already killed four Monarch-class monsters in the Tower, and after that his Mana attribute had advanced to B-, and he had forged a Transcendent weapon—the Dragon-Slaying Star Breath Spear…
In the end, Bai Qiu, Li Qingshan, and Li Zhongjun finalized their battle plan: maintain the current pace and let the main force continue advancing.
Bai Qiu would constantly monitor the movements of the Monarch-class monsters.
If they made any unusual moves, he would immediately notify the main force to retreat.
Meanwhile, he and Li Qingshan would act as the vanguard, charging into battle.
If King-class monsters appeared during this time, Li Qingshan would conserve his strength and not engage—Bai Qiu would handle them instead.
The main force was leveling up rapidly.
After all, the monsters they killed were at least level 30, with some even reaching level 40.
As a result, the team’s average level had already surpassed level 25.
While level 25 might still be below the minimum level of ordinary monsters in this dungeon, compared to Zone 2233—where, just that afternoon before entering the dungeon, only about ten people had barely reached level 25—this team now had 149 people surpassing that level.
In other words, once they cleared this dungeon, Li Zhongjun might not only reach Level 5 Sanctuary—even Level 6 or 7 could be within reach.
However, while their average level and attributes had improved, their equipment and skills hadn’t kept up.
These soldiers above level 25 would actually struggle in one-on-one fights against others of the same level from different safe zones.
Because they were killing higher-level monsters and gaining more experience, the total number of skill usages during that time was reduced.
As a result, although most of their base attributes were now close to C-rank, very few of their skills had reached C-rank or higher.
As for equipment and weapons…
But that wasn’t Bai Qiu’s concern.
All of his attention was focused on the Transcendent auras more than ten kilometers ahead.
After advancing about five kilometers—passing several smaller ore veins and clearing out some cave-dwelling creatures—the two Transcendent beings within Bai Qiu’s perception range began to move.
He immediately signaled everyone to stop.
After exchanging a glance with Li Qingshan, the two of them dashed forward separately.
Bai Qiu moved along the edge of the cave wall under concealment—if possible, he wanted to catch those Transcendent creatures off guard…
Creatures at the Transcendent level far surpassed King-class monsters in perception.
Once at the Monarch level, even without detection-type skills, they could instantly sense the disturbance in mana caused by the sudden appearance of over a hundred humans.
As for someone like Bai Qiu, whose perception had been specially enhanced, he could detect abnormal fluctuations in mana from twenty to thirty kilometers away.
After he and Li Qingshan had each advanced about 1,000 meters, they stopped.
Li Qingshan looked around in confusion—Bai Qiu had suddenly disappeared and was nowhere to be seen.
“They’re coming. Get ready. You handle the one on the left—the Strength-focused one. I’ll take care of the Mana-focused one first, then come help you,” Bai Qiu said through the party channel.
Li Qingshan immediately understood.
As he spotted the incoming monsters in the distance, he activated several long-duration buff skills, then triggered Berserk!
Once the targets entered his field of vision, Bai Qiu also activated his detection ability to inspect their attributes.
Star-Iron Dragon Worm — Level 40, Monarch-Class
Strength: B-
Magic: C
Endurance: B-
Agility: C+
Skills:
- Meteor Charge: Activates the Star-Iron power within and on its body, transforming into a meteor. Sprint speed reaches C++ for 30 seconds.
- Reinforced Carapace: The outer shell absorbs a portion of physical damage and can increase its hardness by up to 100%.
- Iron Consumption: Consumes iron-containing ores to restore its condition; higher-quality ore yields better recovery.
- Dragonblood Boil: Activates true dragon blood within, greatly boosting all attributes for a short time, followed by a significant drop afterward.
- Sonic Burst: Emits a destructive sonic wave forward, dealing damage and applying strong crowd control—the lower the target’s toughness, the stronger the control effect.
The Star-Iron Dragon Worm was straightforward—strong raw stats with a skill set covering charge, resistance, healing, buffs, and AoE damage…
Overall, solid but not exceptional.
Star-Silver Dragon Worm — Level 40, Monarch-Class
Strength: C+
Magic: B-
Endurance: C++
Agility: C+
Skills:
- Meteor Beam: Consumes mana to condense energy in its mouth and fire it as a beam, dealing massive damage.
- Mana Shield: Forms a barrier over its body that blocks all incoming damage, but prevents the use of other skills while active.
- Silver Consumption: Consumes silver-containing ores to restore health and mana; effectiveness depends on ore quality.
- Dragonblood Compression: Compresses the true dragon blood within, greatly enhancing mana output for a short duration.
- Mana Field: Emits sound waves that resonate with its own mana, creating a field centered on itself that strengthens it while weakening all other targets…
Although inferior in raw stats compared to the Star-Iron Dragon Worm, the Star-Silver Dragon Worm was clearly superior in terms of skill mechanics.
Moreover, from their behavior, it was evident that the Star-Iron Dragon Worm treated the Star-Silver Dragon Worm with great deference—clearly it had suffered under it before.
Bai Qiu placed the trembling little Black Iron Worm into the contract space card where Ah Yuan resided.
Since Ah Yuan was still asleep, it was safe for the little creature to hide there for now.
He didn’t immediately draw his Dragon-Slaying Star Breath Spear.
Instead, he charged forward wielding his Purgatory Darkflame Spear.
His speed was so great that he could no longer conceal his presence, and he was quickly detected by both the Star-Silver and Star-Iron Dragon Worms.
They hadn’t paid much attention to Li Qingshan—but Bai Qiu’s sudden appearance immediately put them on guard.
They could sense that this seemingly insignificant human radiated the unique aura of the Transcendent realm—and faintly, it even made them feel a sense of dread.
Their instincts were warning them: the figure before them was extremely dangerous.
“Ha!”
Li Qingshan, looking like the Hulk, charged at the Star-Iron Dragon Worm.
He swung the Mountain-Crushing Spiral Sword with full force—yet not only did he fail to injure it, the recoil left his arms numb…
Even so, the Star-Iron Dragon Worm’s attention was drawn to him.
It was surprised to find that this tiny creature actually possessed considerable strength.
But for someone who dared to challenge it purely with brute force, the Star-Iron Dragon Worm had no reason to show mercy!
It glanced at the Star-Silver Dragon Worm and let out a cry.
After receiving approval, it charged straight at Li Qingshan!
Before activating Berserk, Li Qingshan had already used various methods to enhance his base attributes.
After the buffs stacked, both his Strength and Agility broke through to C++.
Meanwhile, Bai Qiu closed in on the Star-Silver Dragon Worm and thrust his spear forward.
To his surprise, a blinding white light erupted from the surface of its carapace.
The Purgatory Darkflame Spear couldn’t penetrate the defense at all—under Bai Qiu’s full-force strike, it only produced a burst of mana sparks.
In terms of sheer size, Bai Qiu and Li Qingshan together weren’t even comparable to two of the dragon worm’s legs.
The Star-Iron Dragon Worm stood about ten meters tall and nearly a hundred meters long, with lumps of iron protruding across its back.
From the outside, they showed no obvious dragon features—but they truly possessed the bloodline of real dragons.
Otherwise, they couldn’t have grown to such enormous proportions.
From that initial exchange, Bai Qiu had already confirmed that without stacking his release passive or using his Noble Phantasm, the Purgatory Darkflame Spear couldn’t break through the Star-Silver Dragon Worm’s mana shield to deal effective damage.
Against B- tier monsters, a C-tier weapon simply lacked the necessary power.
Including Li Qingshan, neither of them could actually injure the opponents they were facing…
They could only rely on superior agility to kite and counterattack.
From the party channel, it was clear that Li Qingshan had only one trump card left—activating his Noble Phantasm…
Bai Qiu continued his aggressive assault, spear afterimage flickering as he suppressed the Star-Silver Dragon Worm.
He had perfectly seized on its weakness—while the protective shield was active, it couldn’t use any other skills.
This gave Bai Qiu enough leeway to split his attention and observe Li Qingshan’s side.
At this rate, Li Qingshan could maintain his agility advantage for at most another minute.
Once Berserk ended, he would likely be crushed in a single blow…
So… he had no choice but to reveal it?
After a brief hesitation, Bai Qiu withdrew the Purgatory Darkflame Spear and took out the Dragon-Slaying Star Breath Spear instead.
The reason was simple: to deal with the Star-Silver Dragon Worm, he either had to reveal his ability to cast a Noble Phantasm without incantation—or reveal the Dragon-Slaying Star Breath Spear .
And the people of Zone 51 already knew he possessed a B- tier weapon.
After all, being ranked first on the weapon leaderboard was no small matter.
Compared to that, his hidden trump card—casting a Noble Phantasm without incantation—remained completely unknown to others…
— The end of the Chapter–
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