"As expected of a boss—it even has a phase two," Yu Xian remarked grimly upon witnessing the spectacle in the sky.
Originally, Bafentang had been entirely green, looking as though it were clad in a green military uniform. Now, however, its entire body had turned a vivid red, and the mantis scythes in its hands had altered their form, growing longer and bristling with razor-sharp barbs.
In Red Mantis Mode, Bafentang's power increased exponentially, and its elemental attribute shifted from pure wind to dual wind and fire.
Moreover, its skill set was fully unlocked. Several techniques unusable in Green Mantis Mode were now at its disposal.
Overlimit: Fire Pinwheel Slash!
Glaring down at Yu Xian shielded by the Great Tree King, it crossed its scythes and unleashed an X-shaped burst of blade energy.
One side of this blade energy was white while the other was red, thoroughly unstable as it hurtled forward. Mid-flight, the two halves spiraled into each other; wind and fire fused and then violently burst open, transforming into a massive crimson pinwheel that crashed downward.
The moment Bafentang struck, Bolaiye swept out a Blood Shadow Soul-Reaving Claw. Yu Xian, the Great Tree King, Xielina, Mengmeng Fortune Cat, and Little Nora also unleashed their respective skills.
Yet against the Fire Pinwheel Slash, their abilities were like mantises trying to stop a chariot—every single technique shattered in an instant.
Unable to evade in time, the Great Tree King could only retract its branches, wrapping Yu Xian in protective layer after layer. Given the durability of its foliage, it was bound to suffer damage, but Yu Xian, sheltered at the core, would undoubtedly remain unharmed.
Boom!
The red pinwheel slammed down, instantly triggering a colossal explosion.
Bafentang fixed its gaze on the center of the blast. The moment it laid eyes on Yu Xian, it had deduced that he was the leader of the attacking class users.
After all, the aura of a commander was entirely distinct from that of an ordinary soldier.
From a single lock of eyes, it knew that to break this assault, it had to make quick work of things and eliminate Yu Xian.
It had clawed its way up with great difficulty from a lowly minion to the position of branch base commander. If the base fell, even if it survived, it would never again be trusted with major responsibilities by the Class Hunter Society.
Therefore, it had to fight with its life on the line. It had to kill Yu Xian, and even turn the tables to wipe out his entire crew.
*Not dead?*
Bafentang observed for a moment, and seeing that the Sparkle Troupe's offensive remained fiercely aggressive, it couldn't help pondering internally.
Once a leader fell, the morale of the class users would suffer a devastating blow, typically leading to a swift rout. Since the other class users showed no signs of panic, it could deduce that Yu Xian had not been killed by the strike.
It immediately began wildly slashing arcs of blade energy toward the dust cloud. Whenever the red and white slashes collided, they fused into even more devastating strikes.
Under its relentless bombardment, the ground shuddered violently until a massive fissure tore open, triggering an immediate landslide.
The sheared portion of the cliff tumbled toward the valley below. The class users battling underneath scattered in panic, while many monsters were crushed to paste by the cascading boulders before they could even react.
Boulders weighing dozens of tons were far beyond what ordinary monsters could withstand; a graze meant severe maiming, and a direct hit meant death.
The class users were far sharper than the monsters, sprinting for cover the moment they saw the stones begin to roll. Although a few unfortunate souls were crushed to death on the spot, the vast majority managed to escape.
Watching the mountainside collapse left many class users shaken, but then everyone noticed a tree still standing on the fallen earth.
The Great Tree King was rooted into the displaced rock face. Its body was crisscrossed with countless gashes, and more than half its foliage was stripped away, leaving it looking practically bare.
Some of its branches were even blazing with fire.
Yet at that moment, Yu Xian emerged from the tree hollow within the Great Tree King, completely unscathed.
Yu Xian looked up at Bafentang in the sky, while Bafentang, panting for breath, glared back at him. That flurry of rapid attacks had consumed a considerable amount of its stamina, and it needed a brief respite before it could resume its assault.
Chaos Missile!
Yu Xian recognized Bafentang's taxed condition and naturally would not let such an ideal opportunity slip away. The very second their eyes met, he launched a Chaos Missile into the sky. At the same time, a pinch of poison appeared in his other hand, which he offered as a sacrifice to cast Chaos Curse on Bafentang.
In truth, from the moment he had first laid eyes on Bafentang, he had been casting Chaos Curse on it repeatedly, but he simply hadn't rolled any favorable negative statuses.
Bafentang's resistances were far too high.
Ordinary debuffs had virtually no effect on it, unless it happened to be the specific affliction Yu Xian was angling for.
Under the Enhancement +1 state, Chaos Curse was no longer entirely random.
For instance, if Yu Xian used snake venom as the sacrifice, there was a certain probability that the cursed target would be afflicted with poison.
To this end, Yu Xian had specifically asked Fang Qinghao to brew a batch of exceptionally lethal poisons for him to use on targets when necessary.
In the sky, Bafentang had just evaded the Chaos Missile when an excruciating agony flared within its body, as though a blade were carving through its innards.
Although Fang Qinghao suffered from social anxiety, was an airheaded beauty, and was an unabashed foodie, her class abilities were remarkably potent, and the poisons she brewed were shockingly lethal.
The only flaw was that she possessed no antidote for the poisons she brewed herself. One had to exercise extreme caution when handling them; if someone coated a blade with the concoction and accidentally took a lick, dying that way would be an absolute joke.
As the commander of a Class Hunter Society branch base, Bafentang was built with a definitive boss template. Ordinary toxins had little effect on it, but Fang Qinghao's brew was anything but ordinary.
Afflicted by the poison, Bafentang swayed in midair and began plummeting toward the earth. Just before slamming into the ground, it gritted its teeth and beat its wings, barely saving itself from a fatal impact.
*Nice!*
*The roll hit!*
Seeing this, a wide grin broke across Yu Xian's face.
As long as Bafentang had succumbed to Fang Qinghao's poison, it was basically done for.
To this day, Yu Xian had never seen anyone survive after being tainted by her toxins.
Down on one knee on the ground, Bafentang coughed up a mouthful of pitch-black blood. It realized it was poisoned—and the toxin was terrifyingly virulent, spreading rapidly throughout its entire body like countless tiny blades flaying its flesh from within.
It was doomed.
"Despicable class users!"
Fury blazed within Bafentang, and murderous intent erupted all at once. If it was going to die, everyone was going down with it! At worst, once it revived, it would still be a formidable warrior.
Overlimit: Great Harmony Slash!
With Bafentang at the epicenter, countless arcs of blade energy erupted in an instant.
This was an indiscriminate onslaught. Wind-attribute and fire-attribute blade slashes merged, collided, and ricocheted in wild directions; no matter where one stood, anyone could become a target.
Down in the valley, Cheng Jian raised his shield and roared, "Everyone get behind the shield tank squad to take cover! Hurry!"
*Swoosh!*
Barely had the words left his mouth when a razor-sharp flaming arc grazed right past him. A shield-bearing class user was hurled through the air on the spot, crashing to the ground entirely incapacitated.
Countless class users scrambled toward the shield tank squad, while the monsters fled in equal panic.
The Elbow Bear that Bafentang had tried to recall earlier had not even reached a cave for shelter when a red blade arc severed its waist. Its body was cleaved cleanly in two, the cauterized wound giving off a rich, roasted aroma.
The moment Bafentang went berserk, Yu Xian swiftly ducked behind the Great Tree King. The Great Tree King concentrated all its branches forward, weaving a buckler out of its symbiotic vines to fend off the barrage.
Even so, Bafentang's assault was simply too overwhelming this time. Every blade arc that struck the Great Tree King carved a deep gouge into its bark.
If the same spot were struck three times in succession, not even the Great Tree King could endure it.
Branches snapped and fell in heaps, and a massive slash appeared across its main trunk. If this continued, it would likely be hacked to pieces alive by Bafentang.
Great Harmony—this was Bafentang's suicidal final technique.
When Bafentang realized it was poisoned, it understood that survival was out of reach. If it did not want to die permanently, it had to kill as many class users as possible.
The Great Harmony Slash was designed precisely for this.
By staking its very life, it would slaughter as many class users as it could to harvest enough revival points.
Chapter 465