Chapter 149 Guo Xuemin's Astonishment

As the man unleashed several consecutive sword auras, the strings of red damage numbers popping up above the Boss's head instantly elicited gasps of astonishment from the crowd.

"Good grief, what kind of damage is that?"

"How is such a high number possible? Exactly what level is he?"

"Damn it, that's forty or fifty times higher than my attack!"

...

Previously, although the crowd's output had finally started yielding results thanks to the Boss having a large portion of its defense reduced, their damage had still been in the single digits. Even the stronger hits or critical strikes would occasionally yield a dozen or twenty points of damage at most, which was already considered high.

Yet now, this man had casually dealt hundreds of damage. In particular, the final red critical strike number was nearly five hundred!

This was a figure they could scarcely imagine. Forget about the Boss; even when hunting ordinary low-level monsters in daily life, they had never seen damage exceed one-fifth of this number.

Who on earth was this person? Where did he pop out from?

An expert as powerful as this should, by all rights, have already made a great name for himself within the base. At the very worst, securing a position as a faction leader would have been a breeze. Yet, why did it seem like no one had ever seen this person before?

This was a shared confusion in everyone's minds, especially among the several regional bosses, who paused their attacks at this moment and furrowed their brows as they interrogated their subordinates for information about this individual.

Logically speaking, such powerful Awakened ones would immediately register upon entering the base, and their profiles would be delivered straight to the leaders, who would then rush to recruit them.

However, to their shock, not a single person recognized him.

Forget knowing him; his information couldn't even be found on the registry at the checkpoint. This meant the man had not entered the safety zone through normal means.

Unlike the confusion of the other three leaders, Guo Xuemin naturally knew about Kong Zhe. He knew a bit more than the others, yet he still couldn't claim to understand Kong Zhe thoroughly.

Watching the young man below, who was engulfed in flames and engaged the Boss without a moment's hesitation, Guo Xuemin was utterly shocked. Although he had previously known the other party was a hidden class holder, he had never expected his strength to be this formidable.

Previously, unable to discern the man's level, he had assumed their strengths were roughly comparable. But judging by the battle prowess the man was currently displaying, he had left Guo Xuemin far, far behind.

To put it bluntly, if that young man had been dead set on turning hostile and killing him back in that private room, he and his subordinates definitely wouldn't have been able to stop him.

During their negotiations earlier, he had even harbored thoughts of launching a surprise attack on the fellow. Thinking back on it now broke him out in a cold sweat.

He had always positioned himself in safety; that was his philosophy for survival in this world. Yet, he had actually shut himself in a room with such a dangerous entity and haggled with him—the mere thought of it was terrifying.

Fortunately, nothing bad had happened earlier. The young man kept his word and showed no malice toward him.

On the contrary, the two of them were allies now. Guo Xuemin rolling his eyes in thought, he glanced sideways at the other three leaders, a malicious grin instantly spreading across his face.

Now that they had all witnessed the young man's strength, having such a powerful ally in his pocket meant that if he didn't properly leverage this relationship to secure some benefits for himself, he would be failing terribly as the East District leader.

Moreover, another thing that surprised Guo Xuemin was the hooded woman. He had previously assumed she was just an ordinary person, but who would have thought she was also a hidden class holder?

Since when did hidden classes become so cheap?

A combination of two hidden class holders! And judging by their dynamic, they might even be in an intimate relationship like lovers, which involuntarily elevated Guo Xuemin's estimation of Kong Zhe to a higher tier.

An ally like this—no, this shouldn't even be called an ally anymore; it was a thigh worth clinging to.

A thigh of this caliber had to be firmly grasped.

They would be leaving afterward anyway, so it wouldn't affect his status within the base. Since he had managed to leave a fairly decent impression on them, he should seize this opportunity to cement a good relationship. That way, he would have a steadfast and powerful ally in this man-eating apocalypse from now on.

"Quick, what are you all gawking at? Keep attacking!"

Guo Xuemin roared, pulling everyone's focus back to the battle.

With Kong Zhe acting as the sharp blade at the front, the Boss's attack rhythm was severely disrupted, and the lava fields on the ground shrank considerably.

Regaining their composure, the Awakened seized the moment to re-position themselves and resume their respective offensives. After all, every additional strike landed now meant a larger share of contribution points later.

Kong Zhe was oblivious to what Guo Xuemin was plotting; he was fully immersed in assaulting the Boss.

Upon the battle's commencement, he had immediately used the Samadhi Fire to amplify his attacks. Soon, he discovered a pleasant surprise. Whether it was because the Boss was a fire-type magical beast or not, the Samadhi Fire imbued in his Apocalypse Sword was actually dealing bonus damage to it, and the extra damage didn't seem low at all.

In truth, his base attack power wasn't much higher than that of the other Awakened. The reason he was able to deal such massive amounts of damage to the Boss was entirely due to the bonus conferred by the Samadhi Fire's additional damage.

Furthermore, when Kong Zhe coated his feet and legs in Samadhi Fire and stood upon the lava layer, the continuous damage he suffered was drastically reduced, while the fire toxin was completely negated. Combined with Xiaolei's Mantra Shield still active on him, he could stand fearlessly in the lava zone and battle the Boss without any reservations.

The combination of these two factors led Kong Zhe to a hypothesis.

The Samadhi Fire was evidently a very high-tier flame even among fires, possibly ranking among the absolute highest-grade flames in existence.

As for the flames on the opposing Boss, while seemingly ferocious, they still belonged to ordinary fire.

Just as a magical beast would be suppressed by the aura of a higher-grade beast, flames operated under the same principle. Facing the superior Samadhi Fire, the fire enshrouding the giant deer was heavily suppressed, allowing Kong Zhe to hold the absolute advantage in both offense and defense.

Noticing Kong Zhe spearheading the assault, many Awakened with support capabilities prioritized casting their various buff skills on him.

In a short while, over a dozen status icons accumulated on Kong Zhe.

Skills like Lifesteal Aura, Brilliance Aura, Assault, Sacrifice, and a whole slew of others—though all low-level buffs—stacked together to elevate his output and sustainability to a grander scale.

Of course, the most crucial buff of all was the skill Xiaolei had cast on him. Following the past two days of leveling up, Xiaolei had reached level five and mastered two new skills.

One of them was called 'Superhuman Strength'. The name sounded simple, but its effect was quite formidable; a mere level-one skill increased Kong Zhe's attack power by nearly fifty percent.

The Raiment of Heaven class truly lived up to its reputation as the ultimate support class, with matchless utility. Buffing defense, attack, and healing—one could say her skills alone rivaled those of ten other people.

It was precisely because of Xiaolei's presence that he had been able to dish out such astronomical damage right from the start.

However, such a dazzling performance was not without its drawbacks. For one, because of his overwhelming damage, the Boss quickly singled him out from the crowd, and a flurry of attacks began heading his way.

At this moment, the One-eyed Giant Deer seemed thoroughly provoked by Kong Zhe's assault. It whipped its claws, raised its massive head, and spat out a giant, fiery-red sphere of light from its mouth.

"Watch out! Dodge!"

Kong Zhe shouted at the top of his lungs. Without wasting a breath, he pivoted, scooped Xiaolei up into his arms, and leaped aside. The surrounding crowd, alerted by his warning, felt a jolt of panic and hurriedly imitated his movement, jumping out of the way.

The fiery-red light sphere traveled at incredible speed, but thanks to Kong Zhe's advance warning, everyone had scattered completely by the time it crashed into the ground.

Immediately following, the light sphere exploded. With a deafening boom, amid a sky full of blazing light and smoke, the impact site looked as though a massive bomb had detonated, leaving behind a terrifying crater that drained the color from everyone's faces.

It was a good thing they had dodged quickly; otherwise, taking that hit head-on would have meant instant death.

As the crowd exhaled in relief, they cast grateful glances toward Kong Zhe, only to find that he had already vanished from his spot and dashed forward without a moment's hesitation to re-engage the giant deer in combat.

His ferocious performance injected confidence into everyone present. Spurred by Guo Xuemin's loud commands, the crowd raised their weapons once more and surged forward, launching coordinated attacks on the giant deer's body, head, abdomen, and flanks.

Bizarrely, after unleashing that powerful area-of-effect attack, the giant deer seemed suddenly drained. Facing the fierce onslaught of the Awakened, not only did it lack the time to counterattack, but it even hunched its body into a defensive posture.

Kong Zhe naturally understood why. He was well-acquainted with this type of One-eyed Giant Deer, knowing that after releasing any powerful skill, it would fall into a brief state of weakness. During this short window of a dozen or so seconds, its defense would plummet drastically, making it the absolute prime opportunity for an attack. How could he let such a chance slip by? Thus, the moment he dodged its attack, Kong Zhe began unleashing the fiercest offensive he could currently muster without a second word.

The other Awakened clearly realized this as well, prompting them to attack with even greater zeal.

Following this wave of fierce assault, by the time the Boss finally recovered its normal state, its health bar had plummeted to just over a third.

Meanwhile, on the high platform of the plaza, Guo Xuemin began directing the rotation of the next batch of fighters.

"Those falling back, use this opportunity to quickly restore your health and mana!"

Guo Xuemin shouted through a megaphone. In truth, he didn't need to remind them; most of the rotated-out players were already near death's door, and upon stepping back, they frantically clamored for the priest units to heal them.

After all, living beings could neglect many things, but everyone valued their own skin above all else.