Chapter 43: Earth-Shattering Damage! Slain, Yan Gaojie!

"Boom!"

A formidable force impacted his face, causing Li Yao's feet to sink deep into the ground. A cloud of shattered stones and dust erupted, and the earth itself trembled.

"Isn't that guy a Summoner? Why didn't he summon a beast to block the front?"

In the distance, Shang Ziqin, crossing her arms over her voluptuous chest, frowned and muttered in a deep voice.

If there was even a sliver of a chance, she still hoped Li Yao would win.

After all, if Li Yao lost, the first-clear chest would fall into Yan Gaojie's hands, leaving her with zero qualification to covet it.

Even Qin Xuehou's expression turned somewhat unsightly.

"Someone capable of defeating a Lord-tier entity shouldn't be unable to even break free from Yan Gaojie's [Flame Prison], right?"

Shang Ziqin: "Perhaps we overestimated him. Not all Purgatory-tier dungeons are this difficult."

Amidst the swirling dust and smoke, Yan Gaojie still maintained his punching posture.

"Too weak."

"No matter how powerful a Summoner is, they are ultimately just clowns relying on summoned beasts..."

? ? ! !

The next second.

Yan Gaojie's pupils violently contracted.

Li Yao's figure gradually emerged within the raging flames.

An unknown energy had intercepted Yan Gaojie's fist-strike. His body was slightly arched, and his feet had sunk into the ground.

Apart from that, he was completely unharmed.

Shackles?

No!

Yan Gaojie stared at the scene before him in disbelief.

Even with shackles, and even if he possessed extraordinary endurance stats, there should still have been damage!

Even if it were forced minimum damage!

Where were the damage numbers?!

"Clang!"

Giving Yan Gaojie no time to think.

The white jade bone blade sprang from its sheath.

Swish!

With a clean and decisive slash, a praying mantis phantom dyed the blade's edge a deep, dark purple.

[-0]

[-0 (Poison)]

"What the fuck!"

Looking at the damage prompts on his panel, Yan Gaojie felt his soul leave his body!

His Blazing Sun Scorching Shield had a massive chunk of its durability directly shaved off by this single slash!

Not even having undergone his second advancement, yet his damage value breaks ten thousand?!

Are you fucking telling me you're a Summoner?

Li Yao watched the damage numbers popping up on his opponent's body without changing his expression.

He had never doubted his own strength; if the inflicted damage was zero, the reason could only lie with the opponent.

It had to be said, he truly lived up to being an SS-tier class holder.

To actually possess a shield-type skill as well.

"Void Mantis."

Yan Gaojie had long been on guard against Li Yao's summoned beast.

The very moment the Void Mantis appeared, he whipped around, threw a punch, and simultaneously utilized a displacement skill to put distance between them.

Two damage numbers popped up simultaneously above the heads of Yan Gaojie and the Void Mantis.

[-0]

[-1054]

The Void Mantis only managed to land its Shadow-Breaking Strike; its second move, Feast of Fear, was evaded by the opponent's displacement skill.

Whether in skill potency or combat prowess, Yan Gaojie was far beyond the likes of Yang Junfei.

Li Yao swung his blade, cleaving apart the walls of fire entangling his surroundings.

Since that was the case, he would treat this with a bit more seriousness.

Li Yao equipped a piece of gear that had been gathering dust for a long time.

[Goblin's Proof of Courage]

Under the [Shackles] state, his strength stat had already become sufficient to equip this item.

At the same time, he activated the equipment skill [Courage].

An indistinct, flickering red light suddenly washed over both Li Yao and the Void Mantis.

Their strength stats both broke through the threshold of three thousand.

Even without wearing this piece of gear, he possessed a hundred-percent certainty of defeating Yan Gaojie.

However, having already developed a killing intent, he needed to completely eliminate Yan Gaojie before that old fogey could react!

Seeing Li Yao in such a state.

Yan Gaojie's entire back was drenched in cold sweat.

He slowly backed away, his brain spinning at breakneck speed as he frantically racked his brain for countermeasures.

That mantis's strength stat was also terrifyingly high.

The opponent was definitely in the [Shackles] state!

As long as he could drag it out for twenty minutes...

No.

He must have activated this state inside the primordial dungeon; as long as he could stall for a few minutes, or even just the next second, it might end.

There's a chance!

Don't panic!

Yan Gaojie secretly hyped himself up.

Even Yan Gaojie himself hadn't noticed.

The oppressive aura Li Yao was currently projecting onto him was far greater than even that of Qin Xuehou and the others.

And this was still with Li Yao's summoning capabilities being restricted.

Meanwhile.

Li Yao advanced, brandishing his blade and closing in aggressively.

"Dragon Flame Shield!"

Yan Gaojie bellowed.

"Clang!"

A burst of fire materialized before him, colliding with Li Yao's long blade and producing a crisp ring.

[-2381]

A smile curved the corners of Li Yao's lips.

Regardless of how much damage that shield had blocked.

He only knew one thing: that turtle shield was gone.

Yan Gaojie lashed out with a counter-punch.

Li Yao's agility was not high, making dodging impossible.

To minimize the risk of exposing his Chessplayer talent, he cast [Sanctuary] upon himself.

[-0]

Simultaneously, his figure vanished.

Within the shadows, Li Yao converged with the Void Mantis, appearing simultaneously in front of and behind Yan Gaojie.

Yan Gaojie felt an unprecedented chill envelop him, yet he could not locate a single trace of any figure.

Blade light flashed.

Li Yao held nothing back.

[-19841]

[-20461]

"Gasp!"

"How is this possible!"

Cries of shock erupted from all directions.

Damage exceeding ten thousand—even third-advancement class holders could only hope to achieve such numbers when utilizing their core skills.

Since when could a Summoner who had changed classes only a few days ago casually dish out this kind of damage?

Yan Xinghong watched with eyes so wide his liver and gall felt like they were splitting apart.

He immediately prepared to dive forward, but two figures intercepted his path.

Yan Xinghong stared menacingly at the two.

"Wu Yuanqu! Are you going to just stand by and watch Yan Gaojie die here?"

Hearing this, Wu Yuanqu's movements paused.

If it were merely a sparring match, he would have blocked him, and that would be that.

If Li Yao actually killed Yan Gaojie here, however, the person the Yan family would send next time wouldn't just be this Yan Xinghong.

Even he wouldn't be able to protect Li Yao then!

No.

On second thought, Wu Yuanqu firmly blocked Yan Xinghong's path once more.

This kid's terrifying strength was unprecedented; Yan Gaojie was nothing more than a baby chick in front of him.

If he kills him, he kills him.

When the time comes, if the Yan family dared to touch a single hair on his head, the higher-ups would be the first to object—when had it ever been his place to block them?

"Affairs between juniors should be handled by themselves. Would it look proper for old fellows like us to interfere?"

"You motherfucker!"

Two terrifying instances of damage dealt a fatal destruction to Yan Gaojie's physical body.

The long blade cut straight through from his shoulder down to his waist.

The Void Mantis, meanwhile, directly lopped off Yan Gaojie's right arm.

The excruciating pain caused Yan Gaojie to black out instantly.

"Not dead yet?"

Seeing a sliver of health remaining on his opponent's health bar.

Even forty thousand points of damage hadn't been enough to kill him.

Li Yao refused to believe Yan Gaojie's endurance stat could reach eight hundred.

As expected of a scion of a prominent noble family, life-saving measures came one after another.

Without a moment of hesitation.

Extracting the long blade from Yan Gaojie's body, he thrust it directly toward the center of his brow.

"You bastard! How dare you!"

Yan Xinghong's voice echoed out, but Li Yao remained unmoved.

That voice proved that the old man had indeed intercepted him.

"Plop."

The blade sank into the space between his brows.

[-2741]

Yan Gaojie's vital signs completely dissipated.

Li Yao hadn't used any skills for this final strike, allowing him to deduce that Yan Gaojie's endurance stat was roughly around five hundred.

"Truly terrifyingly strong."

Li Yao muttered, bending down to strip the equipment off Yan Gaojie's body.

An endurance stat of five hundred at just level twenty-something meant he was definitely decked out entirely in Platinum-tier gear.

Just at that moment, a violent gale swept past.

Li Yao only managed to grab Yan Gaojie's weapon before the corpse vanished entirely.

Simultaneously.

Yan Xinghong's furious voice resounded in Li Yao's ear.

"You bastard, remember this."

"The Beijing Yan Family has set its sights on you!"