080 The Legendary Beast God!

"Rhino Knight!"

Hearing the Data Emperor utter the name of the legendary beast-god, Morning Wind felt his hopes vanish. The Rhino Knight was notorious for its high defense, massive health pool, and incredible burst damage; it was utterly impossible for Morning Wind to kill it. Furthermore, legendary beast-gods possessed extremely high intelligence, making it difficult to predict their next attacks using mere data. Trying to kill a legendary beast-god using the same method he had used to slay the Demon Butcher was simply out of the question.

"Wait! Let's go take a look." Morning Wind suddenly thought of a possibility. Legendary beast-gods could be considered neutral or destruction-leaning entities. Why would it choose to help the Horde besiege the city this time? Given the special timing, the legendary beast-god must be after certain items inside the Alliance capital, right?

What on earth could the Alliance capital possibly possess that would attract the Rhino Knight?

Arriving near the city gates where the battle was fiercest, Morning Wind saw the ten-meter-tall Rhino Knight charge through a breach in the city wall. With a shield slam from its off-hand, it sent more than a dozen players flying, and a sweeping strike from its main-hand broadsword instantly annihilated numerous players. This was the power of a legendary beast-god—even more terrifying than hostile heroes. If this legendary beast-god were allowed to wreak havoc here, the capital would surely fall.

With a single charge, the Rhino Knight sent all players and NPC soldiers blocking its path flying. When its shield crashed into the Paladin hero, the Paladin was instantly knocked a hundred meters away, shattering a stone pillar that had stood in its path. This vividly demonstrated just how ferocious the Rhino Knight's impact force was. It was no wonder the Acid Rain organization had managed to slay a Steel-Armored Mantis; they undoubtedly possessed a massive power system, and spending half a month hunting down a legendary Steel-Armored Mantis beast-god was definitely a profitable venture.

"With a body that massive, it's simply not something players can contend with!" Facing such a super boss, the Data Emperor was completely at his wits' end. Legendary beast-gods could never be rivaled by players, regardless of their level. At lower levels, slaying them offered some advantages, but if gear failed to keep up, it was entirely impossible to even scratch a legendary beast-god.

Sahario, the Barbarian King, also appeared upon the Rhino Knight's arrival. He used his Titan Growth ability to swell his own stature into a ten-meter-tall barbarian warrior, finally allowing him to go toe-to-toe with the Rhino Knight.

"Sahario, hand over the Beast King's Heart, or this trash capital of yours will be destroyed today." Possessing high intelligence, the Rhino Knight had come this time precisely for Sahario's Beast King's Heart.

"Exchange it with your life!" The barbarian warrior charged forward, slamming into the Rhino Knight and forcing it back several steps. A battle between bosses of this caliber was definitely not something players could participate in; the best course of action was to avoid it whenever possible.

Morning Wind switched to his shapeshifter alt. Perhaps this alt had a chance of intercepting the Rhino Knight, whereas his warrior main was absolute toast against a legendary beast-god. The traces of legendary beast-gods were extremely elusive, making them very difficult to track down. Coupled with their overwhelming power, they were simply not entities that players from one or two guilds could slay. Now that a legendary beast-god had appeared during a special event, Morning Wind certainly wouldn't miss this opportunity.

Among the siege battles across all national regions, aside from the Chinese region where the Rhino Knight legendary beast-god had appeared, the Mexican region had also seen the emergence of a Killer Rogue legendary beast-god. The refreshing of legendary beast-gods should be random; this time, they had fallen upon the Chinese and Mexican regions. It remained to be seen whether players possessed the capability to make the legendary beast-god stay.

The appearance of a legendary beast-god wouldn't overly impact the siege, as NPC heroes would certainly step up to resist it, leaving players with very little to do. However, once the legendary beast-god attempted to flee later on, opportunities would arise. Perhaps they could manage to intercept the legendary beast-god, and if they managed to loot a Beast Core, the payoff would be astronomical.

[Dragon Form]: Hero Skill. Passive Effect: Increases maximum health by 30%, defense by 20%, and received healing effects by 20%. Active Effect: Transforms the user into a dark dragon, boosting all attributes for 30 seconds. Negative Effect: For the following 1 minute, you become completely immobilized, take 500% increased damage, and suffer tenfold bone-crushing pain effects. Cooldown: 2 days. Cost: None.

The Fourth Treasure Throne Morning Wind had conquered previously granted him the Dragon Form skill, and the shapeshifter's 30-second super state was Morning Wind's guarantee for trading blows toe-to-toe with the Rhino Knight. He could only use those 30 seconds in the most critical moment, and he had to be certain he could kill the Rhino Knight; otherwise, Morning Wind would be dead for sure afterward.

"Keep watch and notify me if anything happens. I'm going to go have some fun!" Seeing Cheng Xue, Lin Shanshan, and the others slaughtering Horde elite soldiers, Morning Wind transformed into his giant bear form and headed over to help. His primary target right now was the legendary beast-god Rhino Knight, so he wouldn't bother with other hostile heroes for the time being. Since he was currently no match for the Rhino Knight, he could only farm minor mobs on the periphery.

The Horde's elite orc soldiers were fiercely aggressive, and it wasn't easy for tank warriors to hold them off. These elite orcs charged in groups, making it rather difficult for Cheng Xue and her team to handle them. They had to rely on the mages' freezing spells to delay the advancing orc elites. Yet, even when the front-row orcs were frozen, those in the back would simply skirt around them. While the tanks' gear was decent enough, taking the brunt of these elite orc shock troops still proved somewhat troublesome.

Morning Wind's Dragon Form granted a 30% health bonus, 20% defense, and 20% healing received, making his bear tank persona significantly sturdier when holding the line. With so many elite orcs present, relying purely on evasion to tank them would indeed be quite difficult. However, bear tanks possessed thick skin and massive health pools, making it relatively easy to absorb attacks. Besides, with healers backing him up from behind, Morning Wind wouldn't feel much pressure.

"Let me help you guys tank for a bit!" Charging in, Morning Wind immediately unleashed a Swipe to establish threat. The damage provided by the Storm Serpent's Claws was quite substantial, making it very easy for a bear tank to build aggro. Morning Wind quickly snatched the threat of a fresh batch of elite orc shock troops.

"Little hoodlum, aren't you supposed to be hunting hostile heroes? How do you have the spare time to come help us kill small fry?" Wang Xiaodie knew Morning Wind had a special class alt. Seeing such a giant bear charge over to grab aggro with such immense damage and solid threat, it could be no one other than Morning Wind.

Earlier, Cheng Xue and the others had watched the television broadcast showing Morning Wind fighting the Demon Butcher, assuming he would spend all his time hunting hostile heroes rather than wasting time on these foot soldiers. A single hostile hero was worth 20,000 contribution points—far more than slaughtering several hundred elite orcs. In Cheng Xue and her companions' eyes, Morning Wind was the kind of high-end player who only hunted bosses, completely looking down on ordinary mobs.

Once his rage exceeded 60 points, Morning Wind activated Savage Defense, which absorbed 60% of physical damage to withstand attacks. Bear tanks boasted high defense, massive health pools, and exceptionally high healing reception. Morning Wind could easily tank eight elite orc shock troops without issue, and activating his routine damage-reduction skills made things even more effortless. "Can't kill them for the moment, so I'm helping you guys tank," he replied.

Contributions for slaying Horde soldiers were split evenly within a party or raid group. Morning Wind hadn't joined their team to tank, nor would he deliver any final blows; he was purely offering his services to assist them. For Morning Wind, these meager contribution points meant little. Even killing a few hundred wouldn't match the yield of a single hostile hero, so he might as well let Cheng Xue and the others rake in more contributions.

With Morning Wind acting as the primary tank, the pressure on the other tanks decreased significantly. The mages could finally unleash Blizzard or Flamestrike for heavy area-of-effect clearing. Although the elite orcs had massive health pools, they could not withstand sustained group output. Originally, Cheng Xue's group had been overwhelmed by the sheer number of elite orcs, but ever since Morning Wind joined, the mobs were cleared out rapidly. Morning Wind even frequently dashed off to other areas to pull monsters over for slaughter. No one would ever curse this kind of kill-stealing; in fact, they wished Morning Wind would pull even more monsters so they wouldn't need secondary tanks guarding the flanks, making grinding much more convenient.

With a literal sea of monsters during the Horde siege, there was never any fear of running out of targets to kill—the only worry was having too many monsters, failing to tank them, and killing them too slowly. Now that Morning Wind was holding the line and slaughtering foes at such a brisk pace, many players began dragging their monsters over for Morning Wind to tank. While he originally tanked eight mobs, activating Savage Defense allowed him to comfortably handle twenty. Savage Defense negated 60% of damage with no cooldown, meaning it could be kept active indefinitely as long as he had sufficient rage.

A bear tank generated rage primarily through landing attacks, with a minor supplement from taking damage. Morning Wind kept his rage consistently above 60 points; the moment Savage Defense expired, his rage reserves would fill right back up, allowing for a seamless cycle. Coupled with his truly impressive damage output, once the elite orcs dropped below 20% health, Morning Wind didn't even need to attack to maintain threat—at which point he left them for Wang Xiaodie and the others to finish off and claim their contributions.

"Morning Wind, with you helping us tank, our contribution points are skyrocketing!" Lin Shanshan hadn't expected their experience and point gains to accelerate so wildly; Morning Wind's monster-pulling and output techniques were simply top-tier. Holding the Magic Ring, Morning Wind enjoyed a 25% chance to completely negate all incoming attacks, and whenever those triggers chained together, he didn't even need to activate any skills.

For a tank to be strong, their attributes and equipment had to be strong first. At a time like this, everything came down to a pure clash of stats and gear, where technical skill was difficult to leverage unless one wanted to cut their clearing speed in half. With Morning Wind's attributes and equipment, backed by four dedicated healers, he could afford to trade blows head-on with these monsters.

The immense importance of a high-end tank was now being fully demonstrated. At the very least, Lin Shanshan's group was clearing mobs six times faster than everyone else—that was the sheer magnitude of the gap.

After grinding for roughly twenty minutes, the Data Emperor sent a voice message: "Morning Wind, the Rhino Knight and the Barbarian King are locked in an all-out death match. Both of their health bars are plunging rapidly—get back here fast!"

Having fought the strongest barbarian boss for twenty minutes, one could easily imagine just how monstrously powerful the Rhino Knight truly was. Morning Wind's primary goal had always been to see if he could slay the Rhino Knight. Now that the opportunity had finally arrived, he finished off his current wave of monsters, told Cheng Xue he was heading off to hunt hostile heroes, and left them to grind at their own pace.

Without Morning Wind pulling and tanking, their clearing speed plummeted instantly. The other tanks struggled to adapt, committing frequent errors, though fortunately no one died this time—otherwise, it would have been a disaster.

Reverting to his human form, Morning Wind arrived beside the Data Emperor. At this moment, the Rhino Knight and the Barbarian King were locked in a brutal brawl, both of their health pools dipping below 20%. The outcome now depended entirely on whose ultimate skill proved more formidable and who could endure to the end to claim the opponent's life.

Aside from a few players with low combat utility who had the leisure to spectate, only Morning Wind and the Data Emperor were casually watching. Not a single person present dared to voice any intent to kill the Rhino Knight; no matter how good their gear was, facing the Rhino Knight was a recipe for tragedy. Even with a Paladin's invulnerability, they would likely still perish before the Rhino Knight.

"Keep an eye on me and cast Hand of Protection when the situation calls for it. Once I unleash my ultimate, I only have 30 seconds, followed by 1 minute of paralysis. Watch my back!" Morning Wind wasn't afraid of being killed by the Rhino Knight while in his dark dragon form. Such a ferocious dragon couldn't possibly be instantly obliterated by the Rhino Knight—plus, the Barbarian King was still keeping the beast-god busy! What Morning Wind truly feared was the helpless vulnerability of that one-minute paralysis period once the transformation ended.