Chapter 11: Hell Difficulty — The Nine-Headed Serpent Cypress!

Vine Spin was not a hard-control skill — it was a targeted cast.

In other words, it could be dodged by repositioning.

The reason Lin Tianhao had been hit by it earlier was largely due to carelessness, and also because three Treant Commanders had simultaneously unleashed Thorn Bind, cutting off his retreat.

Now, with his full concentration, the moment he spotted the wind-up animation for Thorn Bind, he would reposition and create distance in advance.

Combined with his massive damage output and the Lightning Leap proc damage, the number of Twisted Treants was steadily dwindling.

As the Twisted Treant count dropped, Lin Tianhao found grinding them easier and easier.

Finally, every last Twisted Treant in the room was slain.

"Ding — you have reached Level 9. You have gained 5 free attribute points."

One level per room — that leveling speed was truly terrifying.

And with the Rejuvenation skill sustaining him, Lin Tianhao's HP had already recovered to full.

At that moment.

Futu Club!

Offline conference room!

A video was playing on the large screen.

It was footage of Lin Tianhao solo-clearing the Twisted Treant King.

A young man stood at the head of the conference table.

"You've all watched this video. Shenlang, you're an archer too — give us your take."

Futu Shenlang immediately rose to his feet. "The damage numbers are impressive, but his mechanics — those are what's truly terrifying."

"Even if his damage were lower, his skill alone would be enough to solo that boss."

Futu Dunshan's subordinate, Berserker Blade, chimed in from the side: "Young Master, what's your point in showing us this video?"

"I want you to help me figure out what it would take to recruit him. I already offered ten million a year, and he turned it down without a moment's hesitation."

Futu Shenlang frowned. "With mechanics like that, he's definitely not some unknown nobody. He was probably already earning ten million a year — or more — back in the PC gaming era."

After all, there had once been a legendary marksman in PC gaming who earned over eighty million a year.

"Given Ragnarok's current popularity, with his mechanics and his stats, a hundred million annually wouldn't be unreasonable."

"If you also factor in the overall influence he'd bring to our guild and his ability to drive early-game momentum, the annual salary could go as high as one hundred fifty to two hundred million."

Futu Shenlang's assessment was entirely measured.

He himself, as guild master of Futu Guild, only earned a little over twenty million a year.

But Lin Tianhao's skill had genuinely won him over.

"Understood."

Futu Dunshan nodded. "Guild Master Shenlang, organize the members still in the novice villages and have them run the Twisted Jungle dungeon. Also, if possible, every player in each novice village should go grind the Level 10 Twisted Treants."

Futu Shenlang nodded. "Got it."

With that said, Futu Dunshan cleared his throat. "One more thing — let me show you my current stats."

With a hint of pride, he pulled up the attributes of his Treant Set for everyone to see.

Futu Shenlang's eyes went wide when he saw the set's stats.

"Total HP increased by 5,800, armor and magic resistance both boosted this high, and then there's the set bonus on top of that..."

Futu Shenlang couldn't help but draw a sharp breath. "Young Master, how much did this gear set cost you?"

"Four hundred thousand, plus getting me to Level 10."

"It was originally three hundred thousand — I added those two Iron-grade pieces."

Futu Shenlang was stunned. "That cheap?"

Indeed — that cheap.

A single Level 10 Elite-grade piece of equipment was worth around twenty thousand on its own.

All thirteen pieces sold separately would fetch four hundred thousand total.

And this was a full set, on top of which came the service of being carried to Level 10.

"Snow Emperor sold it to you?"

"Yeah."

"Seems like he doesn't need the money. Otherwise he definitely could have gotten a much better price."

Futu Shenlang instinctively assumed Lin Tianhao was simply wealthy and didn't care about the money.

Little did he know, Lin Tianhao had been in a rush to get cash — which was exactly why he hadn't bothered to negotiate.

Besides, five years from now, when the Great Calamity began, real-world currency would be worthless anyway.

Twisted Jungle!

Lin Tianhao entered the third room.

Here, there were a full four Twisted Treant Kings.

Twisted Treant King (Iron-Grade Boss): Level 10.

HP: 186,800.

Attack: 598.

Skills: Summon Treants, Rejuvenation, Vine Bind, Thorn Shield, Vine Cage.

The skills hadn't changed, but the stats had increased considerably.

And there were four of them.

Lin Tianhao glanced at his current HP, then immediately made his move.

Whoosh!

Critical hit!

-1,685.

As expected of an Iron-Grade Boss inside a hell-difficulty dungeon — the defense was high. Even with the +300 Attack from the Thunderstrike Bow, a critical hit still didn't deal all that much damage.

At this point, the bulk of his damage was still coming from the Hand of Divine Punishment.

Also worth noting: the Twisted Treant King's Vine Bind was nothing like the ordinary Treant's Vine Spin.

It was a skill that bordered on a hard control, because the binding vines erupted directly from beneath the player's feet — nearly impossible to react to in time.

At his current attack speed, Lin Tianhao could interrupt at most two Twisted Treant Kings simultaneously.

But right now he was facing four.

The battle erupted in an instant.

The four Twisted Treant Kings, possessing a degree of intelligence, began to encircle him.

At the same time, the Vine Cage skill activated.

Unfortunately for them, Vine Cage had the slowest cast time of all their skills — and was the easiest to interrupt.

Lin Tianhao broke the Twisted Treant Kings' casts with ease.

However, all four of them released their skills simultaneously, sealing off his escape routes.

Rather than retreating, Lin Tianhao pressed forward — which was exactly what they had hoped for.

-598.

-597.

-598.

The moment Lin Tianhao advanced, he stepped into the Twisted Treant Kings' basic attack range.

All four Twisted Treant Kings struck at once, dealing over two thousand damage to Lin Tianhao.

Once the Twisted Treant Kings' skill effects faded, he retreated again, creating distance.

Then he resumed kiting.

As long as he didn't let them chain Vine Bind onto him, with his current HP pool and the Rejuvenation skill, the odds of being burst down were negligible.

He kited on, and finally, the first Twisted Treant King fell.

The rest of the fight became considerably easier.

Before long, all three remaining Twisted Treant Kings were down.

In Ragnarok, dungeon rewards were settled upon clearing — before a clear, killing monsters only yielded experience, not item drops.

That saved Lin Tianhao the trouble of looting corpses.

He stepped into the fourth room — the final room of the Twisted Jungle dungeon.

The moment he entered, Lin Tianhao saw a massive tree standing nearly one hundred meters tall, its countless vines swaying in the wind.

It didn't look like a boss — just a tree.

Nine-Headed Serpent Cypress (Bronze): Level 10.

HP: 1,528,000 / 1,528,000.

Attack: 1,358.

Skill: Dead Wood Blooms Again.

Lin Tianhao's eyes narrowed slightly. This boss only had a single skill!