Chapter 686 - Tattered Old Treasure Chest
“They summoned a companion?” Shi Feng frowned as he saw the Lord ranked One-horn Lion King.
Monsters at the Top of the World were already much stronger than monsters one normally found in Star-Moon Kingdom. In addition to the environmental effects, dealing with these monsters would be quite challenging.
In the current God’s Domain, there had yet to be a single player capable of soloing the Level 45 Lord ranked One-horn Lion King.
Even if Shi Feng activated Twofold Berserk, he would not have a shred of hope of defeating the Level 45 Lord.
Aside from its 4,000,000 HP, Shi Feng also had no information on the Boss’s Skills. If it summoned another Lord, it would even be difficult to escape with his life.
The One-horn Lion King gave Shi Feng no opportunity to consider his situation. Lifting one of its massive paws, the Lion King suddenly transformed into an afterimage as it dashed towards Shi Feng like a gust of wind; its speed could match Shi Feng’s when he had Windwalk activated. It took only an instant for the massive Lion King to cross more than 20 yards, its paws sending dirt and snow into the air.
So much destructive power. Shi Feng immediately used Abyssal Bind, not daring to be careless.
After the Abyssal Blade had evolved, all of its Skills had reached Tier 1. A Lord ranked monster was the equivalent of a Tier 2 class. With only a difference of one Tier, Abyssal Bind could exert a large fraction of its effects.
Xiu… Xiu… Xiu…
Twelve pitch-black chains appeared out of thin air, instantly binding the One-horn Lion King’s limbs, forcing the Lord to halt its charge. The Lion King bellowed in rage as it struggled against its bindings.
If Shi Feng had taken on this fight before the Abyssal Blade had evolved, the One-horn Lion King would have easily freed itself from Abyssal Bind. However, no matter how much strength it exerted, it could not move an inch. The most it managed was cause the chains to tremble slightly. Although the chains showed signs of breaking, it would still be some time before they would shatter.
“I can finally use Abyssal Bind again.”
Shi Feng was quite satisfied with this outcome. The stronger the monster was, the weaker the effects of Abyssal Bind would become. Hence, he rarely used Abyssal Bind in his fights anymore. Now that the Skill had regained its usefulness, he would have another card against powerful monsters.
However, Shi Feng did not dare to tarry any longer as he activated Windwalk and fled.
Initially, Abyssal Bind could prevent a target from moving for four seconds. Against the One-horn Lion King, however, he’d be lucky if the Skill lasted two seconds. If utilized properly, he could put quite some distance between himself and the Lord.
Sure enough, two seconds after Shi Feng activated Abyssal Bind, the One-horn Lion King broke free from its restraints. Without hesitation, the Lion King chased after its prey.
Like so, one man and one beast ran through the snowy forest.
Although Shi Feng had attracted the attention of several monsters during his escape, he easily threw them off with his speed.
The only monster he could not shake off was the One-horn Lion King. Fortunately, the Lion King was not a speed-type Lord. After activating Windwalk, Shi Feng’s speed was roughly equal to the Lion King’s. Hence, the Lion King could not close the distance he had created during his two-second head start.
It won’t do to continue running like this. I haven’t seen any flying-type monsters so far, so it should be fine to use Wind Rider. While Shi Feng fled, he searched for any movement in the air.
The ability to fly was a massive advantage against monsters. However, as players reached higher levels, many high-level maps would also contain flying-type monsters. If players encountered such a monster, escape would not be an option. They either defeated the flying monster chasing after them or said monster claimed their life. It would take a miracle to escape from a flying monster.
The Top of the World was known for being an area that only experts could challenge. One would find it difficult to survive even the low-level regions of this place.
Fortunately, Shi Feng also had the Seven Luminaries Ring. He considered himself to be someone who was quite good at escaping.
However, even Shi Feng did not dare to use his Skills at the Top of the World casually as a single misuse might get him killed.
After confirming that he saw no threat above him, Shi Feng activated Wind Rider and soared into the sky. Meanwhile, the One-horn Lion King could only roar in frustration as it watched its prey escape its clutches.
Although Shi Feng was only Level 32, the 220% increase in Movement Speed that Wind Rider provided made him faster than even a Level 45 Lord.
The location marked on the Elemental Core showed that Solomon’s Treasure was in Mount Sogar’s core area. Taking advantage of Wind Rider’s effects, Shi Feng flew towards the map’s core.
As Wind Rider only had a duration of 24 seconds, but a Cooldown of 2 minutes, Shi Feng was forced to stop every once in a while during his flight.
Shi Feng did not have the courage to brave the path on foot.
During his 24 seconds in the air, he had spotted at least three Lord ranked monsters. In addition, there were also plenty of Chieftains and Elites roaming around the snowy forest. Even if he used an Isolation Scroll, he would not escape detection from so many powerful monsters.
After more than an hour of flying and hiding, Shi Feng arrived at the base of Mount Sogar’s core area.
Luckily, I can fly. Otherwise, I really might not have made it here alive. Shi Feng could not help but inwardly celebrate as he looked at the snowy forest at the foot of the mountain.
On his way here, aside from Lords, Shi Feng had even spotted a Level 50 Great Lord.
With Shi Feng’s current standards, without flight, he would never escape a Great Lord.
After arriving at the foot of the mountain, Shi Feng refused to use Wind Rider to fly up the mountain itself.
The top of the mountain was flying-type monsters’ territory. If he accidentally caught the attention of one of these monsters, he would be in trouble big-time.
Following which, Shi Feng used an Isolation Scroll and carefully proceeded along the stone steps up the mountain.
After arriving at Mount Sogar’s heart, the monsters he encountered were Level 50 at the very minimum. Shi Feng was merely Level 32. With such a huge difference in levels, monsters could easily perceive his presence from a long distance away. Although he could reduce his presence with an Isolation Scroll, if he wanted to avoid detection, he would still have to maintain a distance of roughly 80 yards from these monsters. Fortunately, that distance was still well within his range of sight, so he could easily hide.
The path up Mount Sogar was very narrow and surrounded by steep cliffs. Not only was it very difficult to hike up the mountain, but there were also groups of Stone Apes patrolling the path. Unfortunately, there was only a single path up the mountain.
[Stone Ape] (Elemental Being, Elite Rank)
Level 50
HP 300,000/300,000
By itself, the Stone Ape was no threat to Shi Feng. In fact, he could easily handle three or four of these Elite Stone Apes simultaneously. However, when a Stone Ape Guard accompanied the group, the situation was largely different.
[Stone Ape Guard] (Elemental Being, Chieftain Rank)
Level 50
HP 2,800,000/2,800,000
On his way up the mountain, in order to avoid the patrolling Stone Apes, Shi Feng hurriedly hid inside a small cave on the steep hillside.
“Oh? A Secret-Silver Treasure Chest!” A light shone in Shi Feng’s eyes.
The small cave was only the size of a room. Meanwhile, a tattered Treasure Chest sat in the deepest part of the cave, giving off a faint silver glow from on top of a thorn- and moss-covered stone platform.
In God’s Domain, even Common Treasure Chests were a rare sight, not to mention Secret-Silver ranked ones.
The loot one could obtain from a Secret-Silver Treasure Chest was much better than even the loot from a Lord ranked Boss.
He was truly lucky to stumble upon one by accident shortly after arriving at Mount Sogar.
However, as a precautionary measure, Shi Feng activated Omniscient Eyes to search for traps inside the cave.
In the past, countless players had lost their lives by triggering a trap due to their momentary excitement of discovering a Treasure Chest.
Under the probing of Omniscient Eyes, Shi Feng noticed a magical fluctuation from beside the stone platform. Taking a closer look, he discovered a magic array carved into the cave wall. Only, the thorns and moss covering the wall had obscured the magic array. Fortunately, under the perception of Omniscient Eyes, these simple obstructions were no different than transparent glass.
“Sure enough, there’s a magical trap.” Shi Feng laughed as he activated Phantom Kill.
He then had his doppelganger stand at the cave’s entrance while he ran towards the Treasure Chest.