chapter 15

Alden had never faced a Yellow-Furred Weasel before, but he knew enough about its abilities.

Ultimate Body and Rage Mode were basic skills that didn't need much explanation—every boss in the main city had these two.

Ultimate Body removes all crowd control effects except for curses and suppression skills.

Rage Mode sacrifices a certain amount of physical and magical resistance to greatly boost damage output.

Some powerful bosses even increase their damage output by ten times while in Rage Mode.

Then there was Yellow Mountain Mirage, a hallucination-based skill that's tied to mental resilience. The more mentally tough you are, the less you're affected by the illusion.

Soul Absorption and Soul Control were the real game-breakers, though.

Soul Absorption forcibly takes a portion of an enemy's soul. The affected enemy unit enters a weakened state and continuously loses health.

The absurd part? This damage lasts for a full 24 hours!

The enemy will keep losing health for a full day as long as the Yellow-Furred Weasel isn't killed. To survive, they'd have to stay in a revival altar to heal.

Soul Control was even more overpowering. It could potentially control an enemy's soul, taking control of their actions in battle for 24 hours.

Totally ridiculous.

But since Alden had decided to engage, he was set on taking down Yellow-Furred Weasel.

The creature hovered in the air, and without using Ultimate Body, it couldn't come down.

Most bosses would activate both Ultimate Body and Rage Mode when their health dropped low, then attempt a desperate counterattack.

But this Yellow-Furred Weasel was different. It was a humanoid monster, usually more intelligent than your average wild monster bosses.

Its intelligence was on par with an average adult.

Earlier in the game, players made the mistake of treating NPCs like simple AI, which cost them dearly.

Twilight of the Gods was no ordinary game.

Ultimate Body!

Just as Alden predicted, when the Yellow-Furred Weasel's health dropped to one million, it immediately activated Ultimate Body.

With Ultimate Body active, the knockback effect from Alden's arrows was nullified, and the creature landed, freeing itself from the crowd control.

As soon as it landed, it raised its hand to cast a skill at Alden.

But then it lowered its hand again.

Why? The casting range was too short!

Most monsters, even bosses, have a skill casting range about the same as an archer's basic attack range.

Alden's basic attack range was 10% longer than a normal archer's, thanks to his Basic Attack Amplification skill.

This extra distance allowed Alden to precisely control the casting range, keeping the Yellow-Furred Weasel's attacks from reaching him.

This kind of tactic wasn't new. Experienced players in the PC era could also manipulate attack ranges to maximize damage output.

However, Alden's movement speed was weak, and the Yellow-Furred Weasel quickly closed the distance in just two seconds.

Alden's eyes narrowed as the creature raised its hand again, ready to cast a skill.

With Ultimate Body active, there was no way for Alden to interrupt its casting.

The real threat was Soul Absorption. This skill was a lock-on ability that couldn't be dodged through positioning.

Nearby, Shadowrend was grinning. "Finally, you're going to take a hit?"

But in the next instant, Shadowrend's smile froze.

Alden quickly swapped to his main weapon—shield and all—and activated the full Black Iron Treant Set.

With the new gear, Alden's resistance and health both increased.

Additionally, the set bonus of the Black Iron Treant Set is even more outrageous than that of the Elite Treant Set.

It restores 200 HP per second, and on top of that, the damage reflected is 20%.

Moreover, there is a third set effect, which is a 10% increase in toughness.

The Soul Absorption skill of the Yellow-Furred Weasel, which has a weakening effect, can be somewhat mitigated by the stronger toughness against this debuff.

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A bright red number appeared above Alden's head.

-102

-102

Then, the forced health drain began.

Alden switched back to his main weapon and resumed his attacks.

Without the Black Iron set weapon, his healing dropped from 200 per second to 100.

But thanks to his Revival skill, he could recover 150 health per second in total.

On top of that, the Black Iron Treant Set itself had a healing effect, boosting his recovery to 180 health per second.

This was more than enough to withstand Soul Absorption.

However, the weakening effect was still crazy.

Alden's attack speed dropped from 3.63 to 2.41, a decrease of almost a third.

This was all because he had swapped weapons.

Seeing the healing numbers popping above Alden's head, Shadowrend was once again stunned.

More than 100 health per second healing?

And the damage from Soul Absorption barely even touched a tenth of Alden's health!

"I'll help you," Shadowrend said suddenly as if struck by a thought.

He stopped watching and appeared behind the Yellow-Furred Weasel.

With a kick to its back, he leaped into the air and slashed at its throat.

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Bleeding.

-25

-25

Alden was a bit surprised by Shadowrend's sudden move.

But the Yellow-Furred Weasel still had over 900,000 HP. It didn't seem like Shadowrend was trying to steal the kill.

"Let's talk later. I'll back off once it hits 10%, don't worry about me stealing the boss."

Alden raised an eyebrow, wondering if his one-shot had intimidated the assassin earlier. Was this player backing down?

But Alden didn't dwell on it. As long as the assassin drew aggro, the fight was under control.

Ultimate Body had a limited duration. Although Alden wasn't sure how long it lasted for the Yellow-Furred Weasel, he knew its Ultimate Body wasn't too broken for a Rookie Village boss.

After Shadowrend's sneak attack, the Yellow-Furred Weasel roared in rage and turned to swipe at him.

It seemed that Shadowrend had anticipated this. He leaned back just in time to narrowly dodge the sharp claw.

Then, he even managed to slash across the creature's wrist with his dagger.

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This damage was much lower, and there was no bleeding effect.

Alden seized the opportunity, unleashing his arrows.

Three arrows per second!

Each arrow struck with great damage, all targeting the creature's weak point at the back of its head.

"D*mmit!" the Yellow-Furred Weasel roared.

In the next instant, a ghostly light erupted from its body.

And then ...

The Yellow-Furred Weasel vanished from in front of Alden.

In its place stood a stunning woman draped in a sheer dress, her figure graceful with long, slender legs and fair skin.

Every glance and smile carried an almost hypnotic charm. She beckoned at Alden with a finger.

"Gentleman, come play with me!"