’Damn.’

Marcus had not expected the Wailing Wandering Soul King skills like Wraith Teleport and Wraith Shadow. Either skill alone would have been troublesome, but together they turned the boss into something far more dangerous than he had planned for. This was not a fight he could afford to approach casually.

"Pebble, push forward!"

Marcus surged ahead with Pebble at his side, their attacks landing in steady rhythm. The Wailing Wandering Soul King’s health had already dropped to 9,800. Two more clean exchanges, maybe three at most, and the boss would fall. The key was pressure. If he gave it even a moment to breathe, it might unleash another unknown ability and drag the battle into chaos.

Unfortunately, luck chose that exact moment to turn against him.

His Adamant Shield Wall buff had only three seconds remaining.

Once it expired, every strike from the bosses would hit for more than six hundred damage. Two bosses attacking at the same time meant over twelve hundred damage per round. Marcus did not even bother running the numbers in his head. No amount of Super Health Potions could outheal that punishment.

These were level 50 bosses, not ordinary monsters. Without the Adamant Shield’s divine ability reducing incoming damage by seventy percent, he simply could not stand in front of them and survive.

Fortunately, the skill could be activated three times per day.

"Adamant Shield Wall!"

Marcus lifted the Adamant Shield again without hesitation. Golden light erupted outward, bathing him and his companions in radiant brilliance. The Divine Artifact responded instantly, restoring their protection and allowing them to continue fighting head-on without fear.

He tightened his grip, ready to finish the job.

But the Wailing Wandering Soul King had other plans.

After being relentlessly carved apart by Marcus’s Triple Surge and driven down to less than ten thousand health, the boss finally recognized the gap between them. In the brief instant when Marcus reactivated Adamant Shield Wall and could not attack, the creature seized its opportunity.

Its assault stopped abruptly. The ghostly chains binding it to combat shattered, and its body flashed with pale light.

Wraith Teleport activated and the boss vanished.

Marcus’s eyes narrowed.

’Oh no you don’t.’

He had been waiting for exactly this.

"DESPERATE STRIKE!"

The moment the Wailing Wandering Soul King reappeared five meters to his left, Marcus and Pebble launched their Bat Dragon Cloud Swords simultaneously. The twin weapons cut through the air like streaks of lightning.

Yet just as the attack flew, the boss spun sharply, wrapping itself in its Wraith Cloak. Black mist swallowed its figure as another skill activated.

Wraith Shadow.

Its body faded, dissolving into invisibility.

Teleport followed by invisibility was the boss’s signature escape pattern. Melee fighters usually had no answer to it. The ghost would vanish, strike from unexpected angles, retreat again, and slowly grind opponents down through attrition.

The Wailing Wandering Soul King clearly believed victory was still within reach.

What it did not understand was Marcus’s skill.

Desperate Strike carried a special effect written plainly in its description: 100 percent accuracy.

The cloak fluttered, darkness swallowed the ghost, and even as the invisible boss began moving away, Marcus’s sword adjusted its path mid-flight. Like a predator that had already scented its prey, the Bat Dragon Cloud Sword curved through the air and pursued the hidden target without hesitation.

The Wailing Wandering Soul King faltered in confusion.

Invisibility concealed the body. It did not grant invulnerability.

If the boss had vanished before Marcus locked onto it, the attack would have failed. But the moment Desperate Strike was activated, the target had already been marked.

There was nowhere left to run.

BOOM!

The sword struck with explosive force, smashing directly into the invisible ghost. The impact shattered Wraith Shadow instantly, forcing the boss back into visibility seven meters away from Marcus.

Despite its resistance to physical damage, the multiplied attack power combined with a Critical Hit produced a massive yellow number above its head.

-9,500

The blow stunned it as well.

Left with only three hundred health, the Wailing Wandering Soul King hovered motionless in midair, its expression frozen in disbelief. A heartbeat later, Pebble’s Bat Dragon Cloud Sword arrived.

BOOM!

Another Critical Hit.

-7,200

The ghost released one final mournful scream as its health reached zero. Its form destabilized, turning into a drifting mass of fading spiritual light. The knockback effect from Pebble’s strike sent the already defeated boss flying backward, its robe and cloak fluttering almost peacefully before the corpse finally dropped beside the fallen Frenzied Digger Corpse King, scattering loot across the cave floor.

Another boss down, one remaining.

While Marcus had focused on eliminating the Wailing Wandering Soul King, his pets had already wiped out every lesser monster in the cavern. The massive underground chamber now stood nearly silent, occupied by only a single enemy. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

The Bent Back Bricklayer King.

Alone, it continued releasing its eerie Miserable Call, swinging its oversized shovel while launching wide-area magical attacks from roughly ten meters away. Under normal circumstances those strikes would have been dangerous, but beneath Adamant Shield Wall’s protection each hit dealt barely more than a hundred damage. It felt closer to an annoyance than a threat.

The problem was its defense.

Bricklayer’s Shadow Sand surrounded the boss in swirling black grains, granting noticeable magic resistance. Even with Marcus’s three pets attacking relentlessly, their combined damage hovered around twenty-five hundred per round.

The fight stalled into an awkward stalemate.

Marcus exhaled slowly, silently grateful that Lethal Strike had instantly eliminated the Frenzied Digger Corpse King earlier. That monster had clearly been the most dangerous of the trio. Triggering a one-in-a-million instant kill on it still felt unreal. Without that stroke of luck, he would probably still be struggling through a brutal three-boss battle.

’No point standing still now.’

"Coming through!"

He urged Blackie forward, riding toward the Bat Dragon Cloud Sword embedded in the ground from his previous attack. As he moved, he activated Insight on the remaining boss to examine its information.

—

Shovel Bricklayer Ghost

Level 50 Intermediate Silver Boss

HP: 4,200 / 13,000

Once the foreman overseeing the bricklayers who constructed the Four Spirits’ tombs. In life he abused his authority, driving laborers to exhaustion while enriching himself. Even death failed to bring repentance. His resentment transformed him into the Shovel Bricklayer Ghost, now guarding the entrance to the Mystic Turtle Tomb’s third level.

Skills: Shadow Sand Shield, Bricklayer’s Shadow Sand, Miserable Call.

---

Marcus skimmed the data and nodded.

Despite its intimidating name, its abilities were nearly identical to ordinary Bent Back Bricklayers. Compared to the other two bosses, this one was clearly the weakest link.

’No problem at all.’

He retrieved his sword, signaled Pebble, and charged. The two unleashed a continuous chain of Triple Surges, their blades flashing in relentless succession. The Shovel Bricklayer Ghost possessed magical resistance, but against pure physical damage it stood little chance.

Realizing its disadvantage, the boss attempted to retreat and create distance, but it never got the opportunity.

After only two rounds of concentrated attacks, the thirteen-thousand-health boss collapsed beneath Marcus’s blade.

Ding!

[Congratulations. Player Stonehaven has leveled up. Current Level: 39. Health +10, Mana +10. Five attribute points available]

Marcus laughed under his breath.

Boss experience really was absurd. Clearing all three bosses in one run had pushed him up another level. He distributed his attribute points quickly, then turned his attention to the loot scattered across the ground.

Two pieces of Golden equipment lay among the drops: the Shadow Sand Staff, a Warlock weapon, and the Shadow Sand Robe, also designed for Warlocks. Neither suited his class, and since his basic Identification skill could only be used five times per day, he decided to save those uses for later.

Next came a skill book; Summon Bent Back Bricklayer.

The skill allowed a Necromancer to summon level 50 Bent Back Bricklayers, with a maximum number equal to one-tenth of the caster’s level. At level fifty, that meant commanding five summoned monsters simultaneously. Marcus clicked his tongue in appreciation. Mage classes really could become terrifying once they acquired the right abilities.

Two Dreamland Gems followed. Marcus’s mood instantly improved.

Counting these, he now possessed twelve Dreamland Gems in total, highly sought-after items that sold for excellent prices on the market. Definitely worth the effort.

The remaining drops were mostly minor materials. After casting Gathering on the corpse, he obtained two portions of Black-Pattern Shadow Sand.

An intermediate forging material capable of granting weapons a shadow sand effect, slowing an enemy’s attack speed and movement speed upon impact.

Marcus nodded approvingly. For a boss guarding the Mystic Turtle Tomb, the rewards were undeniably generous.

"Too bad I didn’t get that giant shovel," he muttered while organizing the loot. "Walking around with that thing would’ve looked incredible."

Still smiling, he moved toward the fallen bodies of the other bosses to collect their drops.

The Shovel Bricklayer Ghost had been the weakest of the three, so what treasures were the other two hiding?

His heartbeat quickened as anticipation began to build.