Chapter 76

After dealing with a few minor characters, Alphaso decided to go with Ziyuan Qianwu and the other three to take on the blacksmith. Although Alphaso wanted to challenge himself, the kids were particularly eager to see the "waste guy" in action, so Alphaso decided to do them a favor.

Surprisingly, the five kids, led by the one who did nothing, were quite good. They kept their word and didn't call anyone for revenge.

Alphaso also had to be cautious, so he and Ziyuan Qianwu wandered around the entrance of the military camp for a while. Seeing no one come, they felt reassured. The five of them, like on a spring outing, sang and hummed as they went up to beat up the blacksmith.

Alphaso's attacks were as impressive as ever, with various powerful strikes aimed at vital points, even with controlled internal energy.

"Waste uncle, you're really strong."

"Hideyoshi is also pretty tough," he said with a smile, holding up his shield to block the blacksmith's hammer.

The blacksmith, standing at 2.5 meters tall, roared, "There are no weaklings in the Halifcek family!" He then pressed down, and the hammer glowed with a bloody light, clearly a powerful skill.

Sure enough, Hideyoshi, who was still laughing, trembled and knelt... though only half-knelt.

This hammer and press was the blacksmith's ultimate skill, [Crushing Combo], dealing over 1200 damage. Normally, a successful shield block would reduce the damage by half, so this one hit took away over 500 of Hideyoshi's health.

Hideyoshi's equipment was average, with only about 600 health, so this was quite dangerous.

Although the blacksmith's [Crushing Combo] had a low frequency and was relatively easy to block, making it hard to instantly kill someone, the real danger was the burst that followed.

After [Crushing Combo], the blacksmith's next three attacks had a 30% critical hit rate, which was the most terrifying part.

Many tanks could withstand the first two hits of [Crushing Combo], but they often died from the critical hits that followed. For Hideyoshi, who wasn't very sturdy, being reduced to low health by [Crushing Combo] made it hard to survive the subsequent critical hits.

Despite the tank being in a precarious situation, this didn't cause panic in the team.

Alphaso wasn't worried at all. From the previous battle, he had a good sense that the blacksmith wasn't that strong. With his high speed, high evasion, and [Internal Energy Shield], he could easily take him down.

However, it was strange that Victor and Kaoside 12 didn't care about Hideyoshi's well-being. In fact, the only one who took action was Ziyuan Qianwu.

Ziyuan Qianwu immediately cast [Minor Rejuvenation] and [Heal Light Wounds] on Hideyoshi as soon as he lost health.

The [Minor Rejuvenation], known for its strong continuous healing, combined with [Heal Light Wounds] to restore just the right amount of health, just in time before the blacksmith's next attack, effectively canceling out the first critical hit.

Ziyuan Qianwu then paused, timing the second critical hit and casting [Heal Light Wounds] again. [Minor Rejuvenation] also kicked in, repeating the same scene...

The blacksmith's next three attacks all critically hit, but Ziyuan Qianwu's precise timing saved Hideyoshi three times.

"... Is it really necessary to call me uncle..."

Alphaso, extremely dissatisfied with being called uncle by Hideyoshi, muttered under his breath while giving Ziyuan Qianwu a thumbs up for her excellent performance.

—This girl's skills are truly impressive, at least in gaming, she's a talent.

A healer who can make the team feel secure is rarer than a tank who can do the same, especially for female players (this is not gender discrimination...). No wonder Victor, Kaoside 12, and even Hideyoshi himself didn't care about the situation.

"We are 18, Hideyoshi is 17, and you are at least 25."

Ziyuan Qianwu said with a smile. She was not only delicate, with a pair of crescent eyes that made her look very pretty when she smiled.

But her mouth was too sharp. Her earlier comment, "Antaril, why don't you dominate..." made the "League of Legends" group tremble with anger. Now, after a long silence, she hit Alphaso's sore spot again:

Indeed, Alphaso, a second-year graduate student, was exactly 25, making him a clear uncle compared to the 17-18 year old teenagers.

"..."

Alphaso pretended not to hear, focusing on firing short crossbow bolts at the blacksmith without using internal energy— not because he was stingy with internal energy and [Basic Light Energy Arrows], but because Hideyoshi's equipment was average, and he was afraid that if he went all out, Hideyoshi wouldn't be able to handle it.

Actually, fighting soulless bosses like the blacksmith and Bloodbird was quite mechanical.

As soulless zombies, these bosses were fundamentally different from highly intelligent ones like Corpse Fire and King Ranos, especially in combat.

For example, if players dared to gang up on King Ranos in Blackwater Marsh, the Fish King would definitely kill the healer first before dealing with the rest. Despite King Ranos' low intelligence, he was still very different from soulless bosses.

The blacksmith and Bloodbird, on the other hand, had no consciousness, so they could only follow the most instinctive hate system. In other words, they were like traditional bosses in traditional MMORPGs.

Therefore, traditional MMORPG elements like hate and tanks were useful here, making the fight relatively easy.

For example, when the blacksmith shouted, "There are no weaklings in the Halifcek family," it was important to heal the tank well. There wasn't much else to pay attention to—clearly, this was when the terrifying [Crushing Combo] would be used.

Of course, if a tank like Hideyoshi, who wasn't very sturdy, faced such a crisis, it would require a skilled healer like Ziyuan Qianwu to handle it.

By the way, the surname "Halifcek" sounded familiar to Alphaso, but he couldn't quite place it.

The subsequent fight wasn't too troublesome. With the boss being defeated smoothly, the kids had time to collectively tease Alphaso, the "uncle":

"Uncle, are you married?"

Victor, while casting [Frost Dagger], asked. Alphaso was taken aback, wondering why they were prying into his personal life:

"Ah? No."

"Then I'll give you Qianwu."

"Little Dazi, have you forgotten about the pedophile uncle who groped you?"

Before Alphaso could spit out a mouthful of blood, Ziyuan Qianwu, with her eyebrows raised and a sinister look, said:

"Didn't we agree not to mention it?"

Victor's face fell:

"Qianwu is the most venomous in our class, even more so than Cai Ming."

As soon as Kaoside 12 finished speaking, he saw Ziyuan Qianwu's fierce gaze, stopped casting spells, and fell to the ground:

"Master, spare me! I was also groped that day, I confess."

"Oh, come on! Qianwu, heal!"

Ziyuan Qianwu, who seemed to have been distracted by teasing Victor and Kaoside 12, calmly waved her hand, and a pre-cast [Heal Light Wounds] instantly covered Hideyoshi, restoring over 200 health and bringing his health back up.

"What's with the shouting, like you wet your pants?"

"Hideyoshi wet the bed until he was 10."

Kaoside 12 quickly shared Hideyoshi's dark history with Alphaso. Hideyoshi, being beaten by the boss, didn't have time to refute Kaoside. As for Ziyuan Qianwu, who had dug up this dark history, Hideyoshi didn't have the courage to resist...

Alphaso thought this girl was ruthless, always hitting the sore spots.

Fighting and joking with the kids made Alphaso feel younger, and he couldn't help but sigh, "Being young is great." He wondered why he didn't have as much time to chat with Lancelot or why he couldn't talk much with Bella.

Was he really getting old? Alphaso couldn't quite figure it out:

"Should... not be the case..."

...

...

The blacksmith finally let out a wail as Alphaso's [Sleeved Arrow] infused with internal energy hit his head:

"I despise myself, the only failure in the Halifcek family!"

He fell to the ground, dead. Again, "Halifcek," what was the relationship between this guy and Halifcek?

Alphaso's final headshot infused with 100 points of internal energy dealt 589 damage.

At that point, the blacksmith had very little health left, so Alphaso went all out, starting to use internal energy with his [Sleeved Arrow]. Actually, continuing to use the non-internal energy arrows wouldn't have been a problem, but perhaps because he had forgotten himself while playing with the kids, Alphaso wanted to show off his damage.

The [Arrow Skill] dealt over 500 damage, which was higher than [Frost Blade] and [Scorching Ray], exciting the kids for a while.

It also piqued Victor's interest in Alphaso's build, but when he saw Alphaso's 7 intelligence points, he lost hope.

The blacksmith was defeated, but like everyone else's experience, he didn't drop the legendary forging hammer [Heraldic Malleus].

Alphaso thought it might be a matter of approach. It couldn't be that the drop rate was so low, considering how many times the blacksmith had been defeated, probably millions. Not dropping it once was hard to believe.

Perhaps [Heraldic Malleus] wasn't dropped by a monster at all?

They tried four more times with the four kids. The blacksmith generously dropped one piece of equipment for each of them except Alphaso, but [Heraldic Malleus] still didn't drop.

"Maybe it just doesn't drop?"

Knowing Alphaso needed the hammer for a quest, Hideyoshi scratched his head and tentatively suggested. Alphaso nodded.

"Some people say that [Heraldic Malleus] might not be on the blacksmith at all," Victor added...

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