Soon after, the players selected by the Azure Knights entered the ninth floor one after another. Lin Zhao, as the captain, brought them into the team one by one. In less than five minutes, the 50-person team was assembled. All ten members of the Scarlet Moon Knights were in the team, and the Azure Knights were mostly elites. Among the few heavy armor users, Li Canghai and Bu Su Liren were both present, serving as the second echelon.
"Be careful!"
Chen Xue shouted, "Ranged players, dodge the trajectories!"
As she spoke, she suddenly sank and charged out, directly crashing into Lu Li and Qing Ning, two ranged female players from their own side, pushing them forward. They narrowly dodged the straight trajectory of the celestial sword energy. Lin Zhao's body sank, and he once again activated his sword aura for protection. This Flowing Gold Boss was truly difficult to handle. If it were just the ten members of the Scarlet Moon Knights tackling it, he wouldn't be able to stand his ground; it was too hard!
The members of the Scarlet Moon Knights dodged and blocked one after another, but the Azure Knights' reactions and basic attributes were slightly inferior. On the spot, three ranged players and one heavy armor user fell, perishing under the Boss's wave of attacks!
"Be careful!"
Chen Xue said solemnly in the Scarlet Moon Knights' chat group, "We need to guard not only against Li Canghai's group but also against the Boss, which is a major concern. Be extremely careful and cautious. If the HP of the front-line heavy armor users drops below 60%, or if they don't have sword aura protection or their Holy Knight's Shield cooldown is not ready, retreat from the Boss's area. Safety first!"
"Understood!"
Everyone nodded.
Meanwhile, the Azure Knights were replenishing their forces. For every player who died, another was brought in and applied to join the team. Li Canghai, who was serving as vice-captain, approved every applicant. The vice-captain's authority only allowed him to approve new members, not kick anyone out. This was his greatest concern, but there was nothing he could do. They had to defeat the Boss first, otherwise, all their plans would be like flowers in a mirror or the moon in the water.
...
Time ticked by, and the HP of Chaos Sword God Jian Chen also steadily decreased. However, he had too many ultimate skills, attacking wildly. On several occasions, even Ding Chi and Rong Xing were nearly instantly killed. Fortunately, they were lucky, and Qing Ning's group heal was effective, just barely pulling them back from the brink of death.
Five minutes later, the Boss's HP was only 10%!
At this moment, everyone's hearts were in their throats. At this rate of progress, the Boss should fall within 30+ seconds. Although the Bosses in "Tianxia" were powerful, their HP wasn't outrageously high, so the combat time was generally not too long, especially in the early stages. Even a Flowing Gold-grade Boss wouldn't have excessively high HP.
"Be careful!"
Chen Xue said in the Scarlet Moon Knights' chat channel, "Rong Xing, Ding Chi, Zhang Jun, and Roman, if your HP is low, retreat. Let Lin Zhao and me take the damage. Lin Zhao, you also need to be careful. The Boss's main aggro is on you, and it will use its primary single-target high-level skills on you. And you need to be especially wary of one other thing."
"Wary of what?" Lin Zhao was taken aback.
"They might suddenly stop focusing their healing on you. We can chat, and they can chat too."
"Understood."
Lin Zhao continued to hack away, frowning as he watched the Boss's HP bar. He said, "Brothers, everyone save your HP. Also, save the cooldowns for Heaven's Mandate and Enhanced Meteor Strike. We'll act based on the HP later. If the Azure Knights suddenly attack us, we should prioritize killing the Boss if the situation is right, and then grab the kill reward before we fight them. We'll kill as many as we can."
"Understood!"
Chen Xue said, "The Boss only has 2% HP left!"
...
Just then, a sudden turn of events occurred. As Jian Chen swung two swords to strike Lin Zhao, more than ten nomadic players from the Azure Knights suddenly seemed to be silenced. None of them healed Lin Zhao, causing his HP bar to instantly drop to critical levels. Fortunately, he could still attack the Boss to recover HP. Qing Ning also timely cast an Enhanced Heal plus a Healing Storm, instantly pulling his HP back to over 40%.
"Attack!"
Li Canghai's expression became ferocious. He roared, "You white-robed brat, you want to monopolize the Boss?! And you instantly killed our weakened Xiao Liuzi!"
"Ah!?"
Lin Zhao was shocked, "The villain cries foul first!? Who the hell is Xiao Liuzi!?"
In an instant, the Azure Knights attacked in unison, with more than ten ranged players locking onto Lin Zhao!
"Heal Lin Zhao!"
Chen Xue shouted.
Lin Zhao, however, had already saved his sword aura cooldown from earlier. In an instant, he activated his sword aura, popped a health potion, and continued to hack at the Boss, shouting, "Everyone, focus fire on the Boss, unleash your strongest output!"
Immediately, Chen Xue, Rong Xing, Ding Chi, Zhang Jun, and Roman all unleashed sword qi collisions and charges towards the Boss. Following that, skills like Heaven's Mandate, Sweeping Strike, and All Blades were unleashed indiscriminately on the Boss. Simultaneously, Qing Ning cast another Enhanced Heal and a group heal on Lin Zhao. Lin Zhao himself unleashed his strongest output sequence on the Boss, drawing back over 3000 HP. Coupled with Qing Ning's healing, his HP recovered to over 9000+. After enduring a wave of focused fire, he still had over 3000 HP left; he didn't die!
At the same time, he directly initiated a player kick with one click. The players he wanted to kick had already been pre-selected, and in an instant, only the ten members of the Scarlet Moon Knights remained in the team. Furthermore, the Boss's ownership was still with Lin Zhao, so the Azure Knights' group had essentially lost any claim to the Boss's kill rights.
"Kill them all for me!"
Li Canghai roared. Immediately, two swordsmen's sword qi collisions locked onto Lin Zhao, and Li Canghai followed suit, readying his Sword Qi Collision cooldown.
However, the moment the two swordsmen charged out, Lin Zhao directly drew his sword and slid horizontally to the other side of the Boss. He turned and unleashed a sword light that enveloped the Boss and the two swordsmen, hitting three targets with one strike!
"Charge their nomadic players!"
Jiu You Huang Quan's dual blades shot straight towards Qing Ning, while simultaneously shouting, "Li Ren, what are you waiting for?! Use Sword Qi Collision to instantly kill that Lu Li! Don't let their mages have any more room to output!"
"But..."
Bu Su Liren, holding his long sword, gritted his teeth. "Aren't we... aren't we allies with Bai Yi and the others!?"
"Are you an idiot!?"
Li Canghai, while pursuing Lin Zhao, turned and roared, "Didn't you see Lao Liu strike Bai Yi with his sword!?"
"Really? I didn't see it..." Bu Su Liren was confused.
"Hurry up!"
Jiu You Huang Quan roared, "Are you still a member of our Azure Knights?! Your own brother was killed, and you're still defending the other side? Deal with them first!"
"Oh..."
Bu Su Liren turned and locked onto Lu Li, the sole mage of the Scarlet Moon Knights, with a Sword Qi Collision.
"Ah?!"
The next second, Lu Li sent the last Enhanced Meteor Strike towards the Boss's head, and was then instantly killed by Bu Su Liren's skill combo!
...
"..."
Lin Zhao saw Lu Li being killed from afar. He gritted his teeth, "Kill the Boss first, don't worry about anything else!"
At this moment, the Boss's HP showed 1%, with only a sliver of health remaining!