081 Dark Giant Dragon!

The Rhino Knight failed to obtain the Beast King's Heart, which in itself demonstrated the strength of the Barbarian King. This time, the Rhino Knight came to assert his dominance but failed to gain much advantage; both were injured after a fierce clash. However, the Rhino Knight was not foolish enough to fight to the death with the Barbarian King here—if he couldn't get the Beast King's Heart today, there would still be opportunities in the future. If other Bosses became free and headed this way, the Rhino Knight would be in serious trouble.

With only 18% health remaining, the Rhino Knight didn't have much HP left, but if he wanted to leave, no one could stop him. Yet, just as he was about to flee, a colossal dragon covered in pitch-black scales suddenly appeared beside him. This dark dragon disregarded everything, slamming the Rhino Knight to the ground and unleashing a torrent of black flames from its maw to scorch him.

The Barbarian King had no idea what was happening, but seeing the dark dragon attack the Rhino Knight made it clear that the creature was on the Alliance's side. If the Rhino Knight managed to escape, it would spell trouble for the future. As the Rhino Knight used brute force to kick Morning Wind—now transformed into the dark dragon—flying, the Barbarian King brought his two massive axes down onto the Rhino Knight's back, carving a gaping wound that sprayed dark blood across the ground.

The Barbarian King's execution skill triggered a critical hit, instantly dropping the Rhino Knight's HP to 5%. Having been kicked away, Morning Wind didn't hesitate for a second, lunging forward once more to completely cut off the Rhino Knight's escape route. While the Barbarian King alone certainly couldn't have pinned down the Rhino Knight, with a dark dragon blocking the way, escaping became an arduous task. Now that the Rhino Knight was low on health and had sustained another severe wound, fleeing was exceptionally difficult.

"No way? He can turn into a dragon?" Data Emperor had considered numerous ways Morning Wind might prevent the Rhino Knight from escaping, but he never imagined that Morning Wind could actually transform into a dragon. Outside of the arena, Morning Wind in dragon form was practically a Boss; his health pool soared to a massive three million, meaning the Rhino Knight's two slashes barely scratched him.

"A dragon has joined the fight too? Are you kidding me? Is that a player?" The emergence of the dark dragon was undeniably shocking. No one expected a dragon to participate, and what amazed them even more was that this dragon was actually transformed from a player.

"This is unbelievable. There's a real chance the legendary Beast God Rhino Knight might actually get killed this time. Could this guy calling himself Jungle King be using the Barbarian King to take down the Rhino Knight?" Many people began to feel tempted, wondering if they could swoop in for some easy loot later. Items dropped by a legendary Beast God were likely to be purple-tier equipment, and with a bit of luck, obtaining a Beast Form Core would mean striking it rich overnight.

...

"Go to hell!" The Rhino Knight's single-handed sword erupted with a dark aura, piercing straight into the dark dragon's shoulder. In an instant, Morning Wind's HP plummeted by two million. Had the dragon's scales not been tough enough, Morning Wind likely would have been killed outright on the spot. By this point, there was no turning back for Morning Wind; he continued to block the Rhino Knight while the Barbarian King's attacks rained down rapidly. Combined with Morning Wind's flame breath, the damage output was quite substantial.

60,000 HP remaining!

Just as the Rhino Knight was whittled down to a sliver of health by the Barbarian King's execution, Data Emperor immediately cast Hand of Protection on the Rhino Knight. This was a skill that granted immunity to physical attacks; however, because the Rhino Knight had been heavily wounded and was suffering from a bleeding status, his HP continued to tick downward. Data Emperor was hidden amidst the crowd of players, and even the Barbarian King couldn't tell who had cast the Hand of Protection. Data Emperor would not incur the charge of treason unless the Barbarian King actually witnessed him casting it.

Dark Burst!

The dark dragon's most powerful breath skill possessed outdoor damage bonuses against NPCs. It struck the Rhino Knight directly, blasting away the vast majority of his remaining health. The Rhino Knight had thought he could escape by gaining immunity to physical attacks, but he hadn't anticipated that Data Emperor's Hand of Protection was merely meant to preserve his life so that Morning Wind could deliver the final blow.

Dark Breath!

Morning Wind's Dark Breath also dealt immense damage, classified as magical attack. The Rhino Knight was already on the verge of death and had no major ultimate skills left. Furthermore, during the duration of Hand of Protection, the Rhino Knight was unable to attack unless he manually removed the effect. Yet, the moment he canceled the protection, a single strike from the Barbarian King would instantly obliterate him. In the end, he was incinerated and killed by Morning Wind's flame breath.

Ignoring the six consecutive system prompts, Morning Wind looted all the items dropped by the Rhino Knight and immediately landed beside the Barbarian King. Data Emperor came sprinting over at the same time.

"Ah, ah, ah... It hurts... It hurts..."

The thirty-second duration passed in a flash, and before Morning Wind could even land beside the Barbarian, he collapsed heavily to the ground. Morning Wind felt as though every bone in his body had shattered, his muscles torn apart, and his internal organs completely pulverized. Yet, he couldn't die. The pain was so excruciating that tears welled up in his eyes, and his entire body curled inward into a ball. Morning Wind desperately wanted to log off, but the system prompted that he was in a state of intense pain and unable to log out. If he chose to force a logout, his character's attributes would be permanently reduced by 5%.

A permanent 5% attribute reduction? He might as well delete the character! For someone like Morning Wind who pursued ultimate optimization, suffering such a massive drop in stats meant he would rather abandon the character entirely. Thus, Morning Wind endured the agony. This one minute of pain was far more excruciating than any training he had ever undergone in the past.

Seeing that Morning Wind had collected the drops from the Rhino Knight and reverted to his human form, several surrounding players desperately wanted to charge forward and kill him. However, with the super Boss Barbarian King standing right beside Morning Wind, anyone who dared attack him would be branded a traitor. Even if they managed to kill Morning Wind and loot the items, they wouldn't live long enough to escape with them.

One minute later, Morning Wind finally snapped out of the agonizing pain. He was drenched in sweat from head to toe. The torment he had just experienced was enough to drive someone half-mad. Unless absolutely necessary, Morning Wind vowed never to transform into dragon form again; the side effects were truly life-threatening, and he wasn't playing games to subject himself to torture.

100,000 contribution points! Morning Wind never expected that killing the Rhino Knight would net him 100,000 contribution points. Data Emperor had struck gold as well; teaming up with Morning Wind earned him an equal 100,000 points. It was safe to say that in this tribal siege event, Data Emperor's contribution score would easily rank in the top hundred.

Seeing how bravely Morning Wind had clung to the Rhino Knight and eradicated a major threat to the Alliance, the Barbarian King awarded Morning Wind an additional 30,000 contribution points. This was an individual reward for Morning Wind, which Data Emperor could not share. However, because he killed the Rhino Knight, Morning Wind also acquired a debuff status—Wrath of the Legendary Beast God. Any legendary Beast God that laid eyes on Morning Wind would stop at nothing to hunt him down and kill him. He would need to exercise extreme caution whenever he went out from now on.

Raven Form!

Seeing that Morning Wind was fine, the Barbarian King offered a brief greeting and departed. With his main city currently facing a crisis, he had very little time to waste chatting with Morning Wind. The moment the Barbarian King left, Morning Wind immediately transformed into a raven and flew up to the roof of a towering building. Only then did he feel a sense of safety. Even stealth could potentially be seen through and ambushed by others, and since he was carrying items dropped by a legendary Beast God, a horde of players would be eager to kill him for the loot.

"This Duan Chengfeng is such a coward. If the big Boss hadn't been right next to him, I would have killed him long ago." Wu Hai, a sharp-eyed professional thief from the Furious Thunder esports team, was itching to ambush Morning Wind. But no sooner had the Barbarian King departed than Morning Wind flew up to the high rooftop. No matter how skilled Wu Hai was, without a flight skill, he couldn't reach him.

Wu Hai had failed to retrieve his stolen Magic Ring from Morning Wind last time and had even been swindled out of his Stealth Ring. This grudge had to be settled. He had originally planned to claim the items dropped by the Rhino Knight as interest, but Morning Wind had calculated things even better than he anticipated, flying straight to the side of the Barbarian Boss before reverting to human form. No matter how formidable Wu Hai was, he didn't dare approach; doing so would trigger treason charges and get him instantly one-shot by the Boss, leaving him with nothing to do but weep.

Data Emperor felt that Morning Wind was clever for thinking of such a tactic and sent him a voice message: "Morning Wind, what did the Rhino Knight drop?"

"The legendary Beast God only dropped four items..."

Before Morning Wind could finish, Data Emperor interrupted in mild astonishment, "Only four items? No way? Such a powerful Boss only dropped four pieces of loot?"

"Four top-tier items. Take a look." Morning Wind shared the items dropped by the Rhino Knight in the chat.

[Rhino Knight's Armor]
Legendary, Leather Chestplate
Equipment Requirements: None
(Temporary Level: 40)
Defense: 576
Critical Resistance +30%
10% Physical Damage Immunity
+100 Physique
+80 Agility
Additional Effect: For every 7% decrease in your health, your physical and magical damage reduction increases by 1%
Additional Effect: When attacked, no single instance of damage can exceed 30% of your maximum health. This effect can trigger at most once every 10 seconds.
Description: The outer armor of the legendary Beast God Rhino Knight, the strongest defensive leather armor in history.

The experience gained from killing the Rhino Knight directly propelled Morning Wind to Level 40. A legendary Beast God had dropped orange-tier equipment, and the defense of this leather armor surpassed even legendary-tier plate mail—without a doubt, this was the chestplate with the highest defense among all leather armor. Providing 10% physical damage immunity along with an additional damage reduction mechanic, if Morning Wind were to transform into a bear tank to hold monsters, he likely wouldn't face much trouble even against physical-type Bosses.

[Rhino Knight's Shield]: Synthesis Equipment. Can be fused with another shield to grant that shield the additional effects of the Rhino Knight's Shield.

Yet another orange-tier item. Legendary Beast Gods dropped very few items, but every single one of them was top-tier. That saying was undeniably true. No wonder so many people used to hunt legendary Beast Gods; the drops were shockingly rich. Merging the Rhino Knight's Shield with the Shield of Darkness—wonder what kind of effect that would produce?

[Replication Stone (Accessory)]: Equipment Prop. Can duplicate an accessory of legendary grade or lower. Certain special accessories cannot be duplicated.

Without exception, this was the most expensive item in the entire game. Replication Stones only had a chance to drop upon killing a legendary Beast God, with weapon replication stones and ring replication stones being the rarest. Accessory replication stones weren't bad either; at the very least, Morning Wind would be able to duplicate an orange accessory in the future. The number of legendary Beast Gods in the game was strictly limited, meaning the quantity of Replication Stones was equally scarce—they were definitely not something that could be farmed repeatedly. Besides, the strength of a legendary Beast God was outrageously overpowered; even in his dark dragon form, Morning Wind wouldn't have been able to withstand many blows. One could only imagine how difficult it was to slay a legendary Beast God.

Very few people currently knew that slaying a legendary Beast God would yield such top-tier props. Those who did were likely just Morning Wind, the Acid Rain organization, and a player in the Mexican server who had just killed the Serpent Man Thief. That thief was a professional player for a well-known Mexican esports team called "Octopus," and his class was a thief. His method of killing the Serpent Man Thief was similar to Morning Wind's—waiting until the NPC fought the Serpent Man down to critical health before striking. However, he had numerous teammates helping him, whereas Morning Wind had relied entirely on his dragon form to secure the Rhino Knight!

The final drop from the Rhino Knight was the most precious item of all—the Beast Form Core!