Chapter 11: The Boss Is Kiting the Player
"Something's really off about this boss."
Dao Shan stared at the Undead Archmage standing motionless in place, momentarily stunned.
Was the other side waiting for him to make the first move?
Where was the Dark Veil?
Where was the undead legion?
Just throw a skill already!
Having learned his lesson the hard way, Dao Shan didn't dare rush in for the first strike this time. A Rogue's health pool was paper-thin — earlier, without even using a single skill, the boss had blasted away nearly half his HP with nothing but basic magic attacks.
As the two stood locked in a standoff, the Undead Archmage finally moved.
Layers of dark mist began rolling off the figure — the Dark Veil.
The tendrils of fog did nothing to obstruct Dao Shan's vision. As mentioned before, Rogues had a passive immunity to blindness.
He could see clearly: the boss was casting a spell to summon Undead Soldiers.
This was his chance.
Summoning spells had an enormous cast time — and that was exactly what Dao Shan had been waiting for.
Without another moment's hesitation, he gripped his dagger and charged straight into the mist at full speed.
"Thrust!"
One of the Rogue's starting skills — it launched the user forward in a burst of movement to close the gap on a target faster, with a thirty percent chance to deal critical damage.
Xia Er watched the incoming figure, a faint smile tugging at the corner of his lips.
Hooked.
The moment he saw Dao Shan charge into the mist, Xia Er immediately cancelled the Undead Summoning cast and switched to his third skill.
Ember Fire!
A pale white ring of light materialized on the ground ahead, making Dao Shan flinch. He tried to dodge — only to find that every other spot around his feet was also covered in glowing rings.
His movements had been predicted!
Boom!
Pillars of flame erupted skyward. In that single hit, Dao Shan's health bar dropped to half.
Xia Er gave him no time to recover, immediately unleashing Undead Summoning.
One by one, pale white hands burst up from the earth, clamping around Dao Shan's ankles.
"Fuck!"
"What the hell kind of boss is this?!"
He slashed through the grasping undead hands with his blade and stared at the Undead Archmage retreating to a safe distance. His entire worldview felt like it was being rewritten.
If he was reading this right, the boss had deliberately left an opening earlier when using the Dark Veil.
That was an extremely common technique in player-versus-player combat — Dao Shan himself had used it countless times. But...
Why is a boss pulling this move?
Undead Soldiers swarmed in one after another like maggots on bone, leaving Dao Shan absolutely no room to reposition or maneuver.
Meanwhile, the boss stood just outside the mist, continuously casting Ember Fire, steadily compressing his survival space.
[Holy shit, looks like the streamer's about to lose!]
[You're telling me this is a starter-village boss?]
[Unless I'm seeing things... is the streamer getting kited by the boss?]
A stream of bullet comments drifted past, dripping with mockery.
As much as he hated to admit it, the facts spoke for themselves — the chat wasn't wrong.
As a player, Dao Shan was currently being kited by a boss.
Both times he'd gotten close, the boss had deliberately baited him in. His health was down to a third. Chugging a potion might buy him a little more time...
But there wasn't much point anymore.
As the pale white rings materialized beneath his feet once more, Dao Shan's body was completely consumed by the flames.
[You have been slain by Undead Archmage Xia Er.]
After respawning in the starter village, he didn't immediately check what gear he'd dropped or how much experience he'd lost. Instead, he opened the chat window and fired off a message to his employer.
Dao Shan: [Sorry, I got a bit too cocky just now. Something urgent came up at home — let's call off this commission.]
Qiu Yue: ....
......
......
[You have defeated player — Dao Shan.]
[Experience +5,000]
With the System notification chime, his experience surged once again. Xia Er's level had now reached thirty-five.
He dispersed the Dark Veil and walked slowly to where his opponent had fallen. This time there was no gear drop — instead, a massive pile of monster materials scattered across the ground, clearly the contents of Dao Shan's inventory.
"Just how many bosses did this guy kill?"
Xia Er clicked his tongue at the mountain of materials. They were almost all drops from level-thirty bosses — no wonder the man had come to solo-clear the dungeon.
He gathered up the spoils and opened his personal status panel.
After multiple top-ups from [Player Experience Packs], his panel no longer looked as bare as it once had.
[Name: Xia Er]
[Level: 35]
[Class: Undead Archmage]
[Identity: Western Continent Border Domain Lord]
[HP: 3,200]
[MP: 4,000]
[Overall Assessment: You now possess the stats of a level-40 Boss. This may allow you to survive a while longer — but only a while longer.]
[Remaining Skill Points: 2]
Compared to the panel he'd had when he first arrived in this world, his stats had grown by roughly two-thirds. Not a bad rate of progress.
He returned to the castle.
A raven glided slowly toward him as if it had been waiting for some time, a letter clutched in its beak.
Xia Er paused, then quickly realized what this meant.
The Witch had written back?
He took the letter and hurriedly opened it, reading all the way down — only to find a single-character reply beneath his lengthy message.
[Noted.]
Xia Er: ......
Truly worthy of the Witch of Pride. Even in a single character, he could feel the overwhelming condescension radiating off the page.
But that was fine.
As the saying goes, every beginning is difficult. The fact that she had read the letter and bothered to reply — even with just one word — meant his plan was viable.
As long as he kept at it persistently, he was confident that Lady Witch would eventually take notice of him.
He tucked the letter away and immediately sat down at the desk, wasting no time in beginning his next letter.
[Dear Lady Witch,]
[The adventurers have grown increasingly brazen of late, their strength rising at an alarming pace. A considerable number have already completed their job advancements.]
[Just now, an adventurer who had advanced to Rogue infiltrated the Undead Territory. I slew him, and among his belongings I discovered the soul cores of many Domain Lords...]
[As your subordinate, I will do everything in my power to defend this territory.]
[Signed — Your most loyal servant, Undead Archmage Xia Er]
As with the first letter, Xia Er stuck to the loyalty-pledging strategy he had devised from the start.
It was a bit simp-like, he had to admit, but there was no helping it. He would have loved to be a sigma male about this — but killing that Rogue streamer meant his abnormal level of intelligence would inevitably draw the attention of the players.
If he ended up getting flagged as some kind of "Easter egg boss," and players got fired up and assembled an elite raid group to take him down like a world boss, no amount of skill on his part would save him.
He needed to break free of the Soul Contract as soon as possible.