I have an Apocalypse City

Chapter 893: Chapter 894 Flame Essence_1

Song Jian’s damage had become terrifying, and no one could survive under the Thousand Swords Art, except for those monsters that the system had bestowed with elite and lord templates. Their ultra-high Vitality Points allowed them to withstand Song Jian’s attacks. These were monsters that normally required the cooperation of forty dedicated players to have a chance at killing, yet now, in front of Song Jian, they couldn’t last even half a minute.

The damage of the Thousand Swords Art was extremely high, and its cooldown was short, but during the ten-second cooldown period, Song Jian found himself in a weak phase of attack, limited to using ordinary sword techniques to deal with the monsters. At this time, his damage to the monsters was just from ordinary attacks, as Song Jian hadn’t yet developed a skill set that allowed for an unending chain of attacks.

“Just having Thousand Swords Art is really too simplistic!” Song Jian glanced at his skill bar and shook his head slightly.

Because the attack range of the Thousand Swords Art was vast, Song Jian rarely used the Mysterious Moonlight Sword as an opening move; otherwise, the Mysterious Moonlight Sword would be his most commonly used sword technique, much like the charge ability of regular warrior players.

The critically injured Cerberus of Hell kept letting out roar after roar. Each of its three massive heads continuously tore at Song Jian, but its large body always hindered its attacks. If it were facing a group attack, its size would be an advantage, capable of causing damage to a group with just a random move, but when the target was reduced to just one person, the Cerberus could only resort to close-range attacks to deal any damage to Song Jian.

Even Song Jian’s regular slash attacks inflicted incredibly high damage. Although the Sky-breaking Sword was only an epic-level weapon, its power was no less than that of legendary-level weapons. A base damage of five to six hundred meant it could easily break through any monster’s defense. Coupled with added effects like damage amplification and life-steal, the two alone made the Cerberus incredibly uncomfortable. Critical hits, Armor Break, and elemental damage caused the Cerberus’s Vitality Points to drain away like floodwaters through a breached dam.

In less than ten seconds, the Cerberus of Hell collapsed with a thunderous fall. The scorching magma from the cracks on its body began to seep out slowly, quickly covering the massive body of the Cerberus.

“Indeed worthy of a level 40 instance, any of these lesser monsters, if let loose in the wild, would possess the strength of an elite BOSS!” Song Jian couldn’t help but shake his head and sigh.

The monsters within the Abyssal Shadow were at least a third stronger than the outdoor elite BOSS of the same level. Vitality Points exceeding a hundred thousand were the credentials of a lord BOSS of equivalent level.

“If these monsters were to break through the Time-space Barrier and enter the human world, it would be a colossal catastrophe!” Song Jian thought to himself. He also decided to speed up the campaign for territorial expansion, hoping to clear all the Abyssal instances within Doomsday City and then destroy them before the outbreak of the final war.

The Cerberus of Hell dropped several materials of white quality and one blue-quality Flame Essence. Flame Essence was also a forging material but acted as an additive; it could be added to the forging of any item. If used in weapon forging, it would endow the weapon with flame damage, and if added to defensive gear, it would increase fire resistance.

To clear the Abyssal Shadow, high fire resistance was essential. As a result, the price of fire resistance potions and all equipment that provided fire resistance had increased by over a third in the auction house.

The Flame Essence in hand, if sold under normal circumstances, would be just an ordinary material, but now, it was at least worth a level 40 silver-quality item.

Beyond its use in forging, Flame Essence could also be used on combat pets, but it could only be used on combat pets with fire attributes, enhancing the pet’s fire elemental damage.

Song Jian considered his options and tried tossing it into the Pet Space. Surprisingly, it went in smoothly. If a combat pet couldn’t use an item, there was simply no way it could enter the Pet Space.

Once inside the Pet Space, the Flame Essence, originally like a crystal, suddenly ignited in flames, making it look like a small flame.

Sensing that an item had appeared in the Pet Space again, the Earth Elemental Gulu extended a finger-thick strand of mud, intending to repeat its previous action of enveloping the Flame Essence and then drawing it into its own body;

However, as soon as the muddy tendril touched the Flame Essence, the water inside it evaporated instantly, turning into a crisp ball of earth, and the Flame Essence fell directly to the ground.

The Earth Elemental Gulu slowly opened its eyes and stared at the Flame Essence on the ground for a moment before lunging forward, pinning the flame beneath its body;

Gurgle-gurgle~

The body of the Earth Elemental Gulu undulated continuously, and fine cracks appeared all over its surface. Song Jian’s heart suddenly trembled, feeling that giving the Flame Essence to the earth elemental might have been a mistake; it could very well kill Gulu, considering that this was an item dropped by a monster of level 42, and Gulu was just a combat pet of level 35, no, level 38;

While Song Jian was worrying, the surface of the Earth Elemental Gulu’s body suddenly turned a fiery red, as if something was roasting inside. But soon, the burning red hue slowly faded away, and Gulu returned to its original appearance.

However, Gulu now seemed to have become tougher; it looked taller, and not only had it gained some strength, but its lines had also become more fluid, seemingly transitioning towards a more human-like physique;

With its eyes full of confusion, Gulu muttered to itself, producing the syllables “gulu gulu,” while looking at its two palms;

Boom!

A burst of Flame erupted from Gulu’s right palm, enveloping the entire hand. Startled, Gulu instinctively started to shake its right hand, trying to throw off the flame, but no matter how much it shook, the flame wrapping around its palm refused to leave its body;

Glancing at Gulu’s attributes, its level had increased by one, reaching level 39, with minor improvements in other attributes, but it had not undergone a qualitative change and remained a level 39 elite BOSS.

It seemed that devouring a Flame Essence hadn’t caused any harm to Gulu, so Song Jian relaxed and closed the Pet interface, continuing to move forward;

Along the way, Song Jian encountered quite a few lesser monsters. These demons were a common sight in Abyssal Hell. Some roamed in groups of three or five, while others were solitary, living in these labyrinthine caves;

An increase in the difficulty level of an instance wouldn’t affect the terrain, and the map of the Abyssal Shadow instance had long been charted by others, so Song Jian was very familiar with this place. After more than half an hour, Song Jian arrived at the location guarded by the first BOSS.

…