Melee players swarmed toward Kalis like a tide. Crowd control skills like Shield Bash, Leaping Slash, and Shadow Bind landed on his shield one after another.
But the truth was, very few melee players could even touch Kalis. At Level 41, he was a full 16 levels higher than the average Shadow Claw player.
The Level Resistance mechanic in Eternal Realm Online kicked in to full effect: against players 15 or more levels below him, crowd control accuracy plummeted by 70%.
Even if a stun somehow landed, it would automatically end in 0.8 seconds, far too short to interrupt his casts.
Puff puff puff—
Skills hit the shield repeatedly, making the earth-yellow glow flicker. The shield's HP dropped slowly, but at less than half the previous rate. Thanks to Kalis's AOE clearing, the area covered by Meteor Shower had become a vacuum.
Most ranged damage dealers were wiped out, and the remaining players were blocked by the melee crowd, unable to form effective focused fire. Damage taken per second plummeted from 160,000 to 80,000—easily enough to last until the shield's 30-second cooldown expired.
"Magmar, are you done yet? Get down here and rotate with Legion 2 immediately!" Zevran's voice in the guild channel was laced with impatient urging. In his eyes, taking care of a solo player should be effortless; no need to waste time on it.
Magmar's face twisted with frustration. He gritted his teeth and replied, "Guild Master, this Kalis is too tough! His shield has at least 3 million HP. We've hit it multiple times but can't break through! And his damage is ridiculously terrifying. Meteor Shower covers 50 meters—wherever he targets, players die in droves…"
"That's enough! No more excuses!" Zevran cut him off, his tone turning colder. "Finish him in 1 minute. Don't you have an Epic Scroll? Use it to one-shot him! The BOSS's ultimate is coming; we can't get distracted!"
"Roar—! Damned adventurers!"
At the bottom of the crater, Wraith General Nethalos's roars grew more frantic. Dark gray undead energy gathered at the tip of his spear, and the death aura swirling around him grew thicker by the second, a clear sign that his skill was about to erupt.
Nearly 15,000 Shadow Claw players formed a tight circle at the crater's base, spamming skills at the Wraith General frantically. Most attacks dealt only -1 forced damage, with misses happening occasionally, but sheer numbers prevailed, four to five hundred skills hit per second, chipping away roughly 30,000 of the Wraith General's HP every minute.
His counterattacks, however, were devastating. A casual normal attack could impale a tank instantly, and his skill, Armor-Piercing Thrust, could wipe out all players within 50 meters in a flash. The only difference was between killing one or a whole group.
Above and below the crater, two intense battles echoed each other eerily.
Below, the Level 108 Mythic BOSS Wraith General Nethalos was besieged by ten thousand players.
Above, the Level 41 Celestial Mage Kalis was besieging ten thousand players.
"Everyone, go all out! Use all your skills, don't delay the guild master's BOSS fight!" Magmar's eyes turned red with urgency.
To save face, he pulled out a precious Scroll of Umbral Direwolf. The moment he tore it open, a translucent 3-meter-tall direwolf phantom roared and charged toward Kalis.
Awooo—!
The direwolf's claws tore at Kalis's shield, but they passed right through the defense, landing a red damage number of -5500 on him!
"Huh? True damage that ignores shields?" Kalis raised an eyebrow in surprise. With his current 6,500 HP, this hit took away 80% of his health—definitely dangerous. He immediately pulled out a Potion of Sacred Radiance. The golden liquid slid down his throat, and his HP bar filled up instantly.
"Damned it! How does he have so much HP!" Magmar was left speechless. Even the Epic Scroll's true damage couldn't one-shot him; this Kalis was simply a monster!
Fortunately, after 28 seconds of continuous attacks, Kalis's 3 million HP shield was finally nearly depleted, with only 120,000 HP remaining.
"Quick! Focus fire! His shield is about to break! One-shot him!" Magmar roared, urging everyone on. All players poured out their skills without hesitation, as if they were free.
"Come on! Try to one-shot me if you can!" Kalis taunted cheerfully, swinging his staff even faster:
Lightning Bolt sniped ranged players accurately!
Thunder Chain bounced to finish off low-HP targets!
Fireball bombarded dense crowds!
Crystal Barricade finished its cooldown, summoning a new shield instantly!
He didn't have many skills, but his cast speed was increased by 6% thanks to the Gauntlets of Lunar Glow. With plenty of MP potions, he had no mana worries; his skills connected seamlessly with almost no gaps.
While one wave of attacks took down dozens of players, a new earth-yellow shield formed, protecting him completely once again.
Magmar had been waiting for the shield to break to launch a fatal strike. Seeing the new "turtle shell" appear out of nowhere, he snapped and roared in frustration: "What kind of damn skill is this? How can a Divine-tier skill with a 3 million HP shield have such a short cooldown?!"
In his understanding, skills that provided million-level shields must be Divine-tier, with cooldowns measured in hours. Using one per day was a luxury—he'd never seen such an absurdly fast cooldown!
But even more devastating things were yet to come—
Kalis had waited 30 seconds precisely to chain two large-area skills with 60-second cooldowns, minimizing the damage he took. At that moment, the cooldown of Stellar Wind finally ended!
"[Star Wind]!"
Whoosh—!
Stellar energy and wind elements swirled wildly around Kalis, forming a rotating blue hurricane. In just 1.5 seconds, it expanded to a 100-meter radius, raging in place like a giant meat grinder!
Immediately after, thousands of six-digit damage numbers burst forth like a volcanic eruption.
"Ah!"
"Damn it!"
"What's happening?!"
Within a 100-meter radius, every player was instantly killed without any chance to fight back.
And that was just the first second!
"Goodbye, scumbags!" Kalis grinned, pulling out a Potion of Swift at the same time. The moment he drank it, his movement speed soared to 6 times that of an average player. This was the "harvest item" he'd prepared in advance!
With a quick step, Kalis's figure darted forward like a ghost. To everyone's horror, the 100-meter-radius stellar hurricane moved forward in sync with him!
"No! Stay away from me!"
Shadow Claw players standing 100 meters away watched in terror as their teammates were torn apart by the hurricane, dissolving into white light. Then the terrifying cyan hurricane surged toward them.
They panicked and tried to run, but were blocked by the dense crowd. The legion formation was already tight, and with Kalis's 6x movement speed, there was no way to dodge!
"Vaelen! I'm here to send you to hell! Hahaha!"
Kalis laughed loudly, covering 200 meters in just 4 seconds. Wherever the stellar hurricane passed, players fell like wheat under a scythe.
Damage numbers like -289,512, -312,678, -345,891 flooded the screen. Over 2,500 players died in the hurricane, and Shadow Claw's legions outside the crater collapsed completely.
Magic Missile took down the last few blocking players. Kalis finally reached the edge of the crater and looked down—
"Whoa, that's a lot of people!"
Nearly 15,000 players formed a massive circle, spamming attacks frantically at a 5-meter-tall humanoid BOSS. He was clad in tattered black iron armor, covered in rusted holes and dark black bloodstains. In his hand, he gripped a massive rusted spear. Beneath him stood a skeletal warhorse with eerie green ghost fire flickering in its eye sockets.
A faint miasma of death swirled around him, exuding a suffocating aura of dominance, none other than the Level 108 Mythic BOSS Wraith General Nethalos!
The BOSS's status panel briefly flickered before Kalis's eyes:
[Wraith General Nethalos]
Level: 108 (Mythic Boss)
HP: 3,600,000/12,000,000 (30% remaining)
Skills: Armor-Piercing Thrust, Wraith Summon, Black Light Crescent Slash, Nether Spear Fall (Ultimate Skill)
(Target level too high—remaining attributes unreadable)
A total of 12 million HP, even higher than that of a Level 120 Legendary BOSS!
"All of you die! The glory of the War God shines forever!"
As Kalis watched, Nethalos suddenly threw back his head and roared. His skeletal warhorse reared up, pawing the ground with its front hooves.
He raised his rusted spear high, and dark gray undead energy condensed into a massive orb at the spearhead. Thick black mist erupted from his body—clear that his ultimate skill, Nether Spear Fall, was about to be unleashed!
"Fall back! The BOSS is using its ultimate!" Zevran shouted frantically in the guild channel. Nearly ten thousand players scrambled to retreat, trying to escape the skill's range.
But it was too late—Nethalos hurled the spear with all his might. The black mist-shrouded weapon soared into the sky, then plunged downward, slamming into the center of the crater!
Boom!!!
After the deafening explosion, within 100 meters of where the black mist spear crashed, every player was instantly killed, dissolving into streaks of white light. A large area at the bottom of the crater was emptied in an instant.
"Great BOSS! This momentum is almost on par with mine!" Kalis nodded in satisfaction. Such a powerful BOSS would definitely drop amazing rewards, especially the Guild Residence Token. He was determined to get it!