CH 10

Since the other party seemed certain to attack him, Murphy felt a sense of urgency. As he entered the company’s gates, he noticed that the supervisor was already waiting for him.

“Hurry up,” the supervisor urged, “they’re still wandering around at the entrance maze. They haven’t started attacking yet, so we still have time to prepare.”

“How do you know they haven’t attacked already?” Murphy asked.

“Their livestream is still on,” the supervisor replied. “The person who came here is from the Lanyu Group. Have you heard of Midnight Dharma God?”

“The elf mage? Let’s do it!” Murphy exclaimed.

Murphy immediately recognized Midnight Dharma God, a well-known game streamer who played as an elf mage from the royal family of Quel’Thalas. With his handsome appearance and high popularity, he had garnered many fans.

However, the product was not an anchor from the Xingyao Group, but rather a popular anchor from Lanyu’s livestream platform, which was Xingyao’s main rival.

Xingyao and Lanyu were currently the two most popular livestream platforms for computer games. Their livestream content overlapped greatly, and their competition was intense.

Since the release of the game “Firmament World,” the competition between the two platforms had reached a fever pitch. Both sides had invested huge amounts of resources. Now, one of Lanyu’s heroes had gone to one of Xingyao’s BOSSes to trigger a plot battle, obviously with the intention of killing him. This was a move by Lanyu to gain fame in the monster area.

After figuring out the stakes involved, Murphy realized that today’s situation was unlikely to end well. Negotiation and communication were not options. There were only two choices: life or death.

Following the supervisor into the company building, he immediately that the hall was full of people. Generally, there are only a few people watching live broadcasts in the second half of the night, and there are usually not many people left in the company. But now everyone gathered in the hall, and Murphy even saw Wang Shao mingling with the crowd with a cup of coffee. Everyone looked at Murphy expectantly, as if he was the hope of the whole village.

“Brother Long has arrived! It’s all up to you this time, Murphy,” urged the group.

Angered by the enemy, Murphy felt a surge of determination. Without saying a word, he pushed his way through the crowd and entered the live broadcast room. As he sat in his gaming chair, he noticed that the game helmet and seat were already prepared.

Without hesitation, Murphy donned the helmet and signaled for the supervisor to close the door. As the commotion outside was silenced, Murphy focused on the game, taking a deep breath before beginning.

The screen before him turned black, and he was transported into the game, finding himself in the dark and ominous Longmian Cave. As soon as he arrived, he heard the system’s prompt.

[System prompt: You have entered the area of ​​the plot battle [Song of the Dragonslaying Warrior], and your identity has been judged as ‘Story Villain/Final Boss’, please prepare to enter.]

“The situation is not good”, Murphy thought. The name of a plot battle is usually directly generated by the system, and the system will generate it according to the specific participants and relevant details.

If his strength was far stronger than the opponent’s, then the name of the battle would likely be something like [Elegy of the Dragonslaying Warrior].

If the opponent’s strength was far stronger than his, then the name of the battle would likely be something like [The Twilight of the Black Dragon Lord].

Judging from the current title, the system clearly judged that the opponent’s advantage is greater, but not by much.

In other words, he still has a chance to win, and the gap in strength could be made up for with better skill. When he created the dungeon, Murphy had already considered the possibility of being kicked out by surprise, so when designing the dungeon, the layout had some tricks in it.

He intentionally incorporated complex layouts and obstacles to impede any scouting team’s progress. The Dragon Fire Corridor, the first tunnel in the Dark Dragon Nest, was a labyrinthine passageway occupying nearly half of the inner area of the dungeon, filled with traps, monsters, and deciphered puzzles.

All of these obstacles had a single purpose: to slow down the intruders and buy Murphy enough time to prepare. His monitoring system showed that the team was still battling through mobs in the corridor, indicating that his plan had worked.

Despite the team’s impressive speed at clearing the monsters, the terrain’s constraints meant it would take them at least ten minutes to reach the No. 1 boss’s room. With this knowledge, Murphy confidently issued an announcement in the dungeon system.

The Black Dragon Lord declared, “Our territory has been invaded by shameless enemies. My loyal servants, stand your ground and do not let the enemy pass easily. Even if it costs you your life, you must hold your position. All monster leaders and elites above the monster bosses, gather for a meeting at Longmian Cave.”

Having issued the assembly order, Murphy proceeded to assess the opposing team’s lineup configuration, consisting of two 80th-level hero players – a dragon-slaying swordsman named Dawn Excalibur and the renowned Midnight Dharma God (Great Elemental Envoy). Both players were gold-level heroes, placing them on the same level as Murphy.

The hero players were set to occupy five territories in the dungeon. Their land reclamation team comprised forty individuals, including two heroes and 30 adventurers, all high-end players above level 50.

About half of the thirty people were caster occupations, and there was no shortage of various healing and auxiliary professions. More caster occupations meant more buffs. With sword in hand, they could charge into battle like a human meat grinder, relentlessly cutting down any monsters that dared to block their path.

Aside from the fifteen caster professions of various colors, the ten sharpshooters are the most prominent. Being a specialized profession, the sharpshooter trades off melee and survivability for the strongest ranged physical damage in the game.

Currently, the ten sharpshooters stood in a row, unleashing a round of arrows that turned any appearing monsters into hedgehogs.

The remaining five members consist of three thieves and two scouts. Their responsibilities include scouting and exploring the road, searching for hidden monsters and traps, looking for the correct path, and ensuring that the group is not ambushed by surprise. Thanks to their efforts, many monsters that could have successfully ambushed the group were discovered and neutralized beforehand.

Murphy’s expression turned serious. The opponent’s lineup was obviously tailored and their coordination was extremely skillful. It was apparent that they had rehearsed and planned for a long time. This battle would not be an easy one to win.

He can still vividly recall his first experience in a storyline battle. It was during the third dragon disaster initiated by Neltharion, or ‘Deathwing’, and the target was Branburg, an important town in the Kingdom of Lordaeron. At that time, he was just a level 35 young black dragon following the black dragon army into the city. Confused and unsure of what to do, he mindlessly hurled fireballs from the air, inadvertently bombing fleeing NPC civilians.

Then, without paying attention, he was struck by an anti-aircraft ballista on the city wall and was gravely injured within seconds.

Determined to survive, he fought back and took out each anti-aircraft ballista one by one, his face covered in blood. His heroism and bravery earned him great admiration from Deathwing, and he even earned over a thousand plot points, successfully advancing to the boss level. It was only later that he learned that dying in a plot battle meant permanent death, with the account being completely deleted.

Upon realizing this, he became frightened and began to treasure his life more. When constructing his dragon’s nest, he intentionally chose a desolate and eerie location in the dark plains, where he could easily escape if necessary. However, he did not expect to be specifically blocked off by someone.

As Murphy reminisced about the highs and lows of his journey, several dungeon monster leaders were already approaching, accompanied by a swarm of elite monsters and leaders. Despite the daunting scene below, Murphy felt more confident; these monsters were the wealth he had amassed over the past six months, as well as the boss team he had assembled. Although most of his recruits were unpaid laborers attracted by his notoriety, a boss was a boss, and they all had some combat power.

Among them were four bosses who could be considered group-level bosses.

Boss No. 1 – Hildeshanks (Black Dragon Wanderer)

Introduction: A young black dragon who roams around. Due to Murphy’s reputation, Hildeshanks is now under his command and obeys his orders. Hildeshanks possesses the standard attributes of a young dragon, with abilities in melee combat and dragon breath.

Exclusive Skill: Shadowflame.

Boss No. 2 – Borax (Dragon Warlord)

Introduction: A powerful and experienced dragon leader who excels at commanding and controlling. He has been assigned by the Black Dragon Legion to join Murphy’s team. Accepting Borax’s allegiance can improve the relationship with the Black Dragon Legion. Rejecting it, on the other hand, will decrease the Black Dragon Legion’s friendship.

Exclusive Skill: Domination Aura, which can increase the health of surrounding friendly units by 10%, with an additional layer for dragons and dragonmen.

Boss No. 3 – Santazak (High Priest of the Dragon Cult)

Introduction: The Dragon Cult is a unique religion that worships dragons. According to legend, the founder of the Dragon Cult once obtained a revelation from the Dragon God and thus established the sect. The Dragon Cult believes in the Dragon God and is dedicated to serving the powerful dragon clan. Priests of the Dragon Cult can be found in all major dragon clan forces.

Exclusive Skill: Dragon God’s Prayer.

Boss No. 4 – Duriel (Dragonblood Ogre Mage)

Introducing Boss: A Dragonblood Ogre, born of the union of dragons and ogres. Although his dragon lineage is not pure, he considers himself a descendant of dragons and holds his ogre brethren in contempt. When he heard that a mighty black dragon had taken nest in the Dragonfire Mountains, Duriel eagerly offered his allegiance.

Duriel is a formidable wizard who possesses both regular wizardry and dragon-language magic exclusive to the dragonblooded. Additionally, like many ogre mages, he is a skilled melee fighter.

Exclusive Skill: Lightning Storm.

After thinking for a while, Murphy decided how to arrange the bosses.

They definitely wouldn’t be able to stop the high-end players, but at least they can test the strength of the other party, and maybe kill a few adventurers to make the final decisive battle a bit easier. There’s no resurrection point in the entire Dragonfire mountain range, after all. The victims won’t have time to make a corpse run.

Murphy spoke. “Borax, as my powerful dragonman warlord, your mission is to guard the Dragon Fire Corridor and lead my dragonman army to hold back the enemy. Duriel, my wise advisor, I entrust the goblin pyromancer and ogre warriors to your command to fight the enemy in the Obsidian Hall. Santazak, my faithful servant, your mission is of the utmost importance. Lead my priests to the Hall of Sacrifice, use your dragon language magic to seek the aid of the great dragon god, and destroy our enemies at any cost. Go, my servants, and know that my will is with you.”

“Lord Morpheus, let me join the battle!” the black dragon Hildeshanks cried eagerly.

“No. I have other arrangements for you.”

Unfortunately, there are not enough BOSS slots available. When constructing the Dark Dragon Nest dungeon, Murphy only purchased a total of four BOSS slots, and had to use one for himself. Hildeshanks can only be an alternate.

It is regrettable that the game rules dictate that bosses can only be fought one at a time. If they were able to fight together, the combined force of so many elite boss monsters would surely ensure victory no matter the opponent.