Chapter 148: Fighting the Corpse King to the Death

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"Bro, are you okay?" Lin Jia watched from the corner for quite a while, noticing that the Taoist player was still lying on the ground with a pile of Zombie Kings standing over him, and finally couldn't help but speak out.

"Huh? Someone came in?" The Taoist player said in surprise, "Where are you?"

Lin Jia paused for a moment before realizing: because he had a full-screen torch effect, he could see the crowd of Zombie Kings in the very center of the Zombie King Hall and the fallen Taoist player from this corner; however, the other player, likely equipped only with a candle, probably couldn't see him standing in the shadows of the corner.

"I'm in the corner! Did you bite the dust? Are you the only one here?" Lin Jia asked.

"Damn it! I was swarmed the moment I dropped in! I can't fight back, I don't have random teleport scrolls, and I don't have escape scrolls, so I can't run either! Oh man, I dropped my Jiangmo sword!" The Taoist player, whose ID was "Isolated Paper Crane," was beyond depressed. No wonder he was reluctant to log off; the Jiangmo sword he dropped was probably a top-tier premium item. Lin Jia wouldn't dare to go out and pick it up; if he went out into that massive crowd of Zombie Kings, he'd probably end up in an even more miserable state than the Taoist.

"How did you get in here?" Lin Jia tried to strike up a conversation, wanting to see if the other guy knew the secret to entering this hidden map.

Isolated Paper Crane said miserably, "I have no idea either! It seems like when you're killing zombies in the mine pits, a random teleport might drag you in here? I was just leveling up peacefully on the first floor of the mining area when I suddenly fell right in! What about you?"

"You fell in from the first floor of the mining area?" Lin Jia paused. So there was more than one place that led to the Zombie King Hall? "I fell in from the eastern part of the mining area while killing zombies too. How do you get out of here?"

"If you didn't bring any escape scrolls or town-portal scrolls, just wait to die and get sent back like me! Why don't you try logging out? I was trapped in a mob, so I didn't dare log off!" Isolated Paper Crane kindly offered advice, though he clearly assumed Lin Jia was also a Taoist. Perhaps he thought only a Taoist could type and chat while surrounded by so many Zombie Kings.

"A buddy of mine told me he fell in here once too, but it was in the Serpent Valley mining area. I guess anywhere with zombies might have a random chance to teleport you in here?! Figure it out yourself, I'm heading out!" With that, he depressedly logged off to resurrect. Losing a weapon that fit just right would make anyone unhappy.

Seeing that the Taoist Isolated Paper Crane had logged off, Lin Jia didn't immediately start fighting the Zombie Kings. Instead, he checked his own situation. Right now, he was in the bottom-left corner, inside the semi-enclosed angle formed by his summoned pets. Meanwhile, the Zombie Kings that Isolated Paper Crane had lured to the center of the hall seemed to be beyond their alert range and hadn't noticed him yet. They were quietly standing in the center, shaking the iron chains on their bodies, occasionally letting out low, monster-like roars, and shifting their positions slightly. He wouldn't be in danger for a short while.

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If he used Lightning spells to lure them over and kill them one by one, it shouldn't be too big a problem. However, the enclosure formed by his pets wasn't very tight right now; the angle created by his four pets didn't completely block him off. If a Zombie King came over and squeezed through that gap, he would find himself trapped like a turtle in a jar. A little wizard like him couldn't take two chain-whips from a Zombie King; Lin Jia still had vivid memories of how ferocious the Zombie Kings were back in the Xiangshi Tombs.

Still, remaining in this stalemate indefinitely wasn't a solution. If worst came to worst, he would just let his pets loose and team up five-on-one to swarm it! At worst, he would just chug HP potions and tank the damage! He couldn't do large-scale positioning movements in this place—if he accidentally lured the Zombie Kings over, the consequences would be disastrous!

Lin Jia opened his inventory and neatly arranged his potions. Then, aiming at a Zombie King he could see from where he stood, he unleashed a lightning bolt to start the fight!

The attacked Zombie King let out a miserable shriek, dragging its thick iron chains with a loud clatter as it charged toward Lin Jia's corner. Although every lightning bolt that struck it caused it to flinch and momentarily freeze, slowing down its advance, this Zombie King seemed far tougher than the ordinary wild zombies spawning outside!

From the moment Lin Jia cast the first lightning bolt until the monster reached the outer perimeter of his pet enclosure, he had blasted it with well over a dozen spells, yet there was no sign of it collapsing! The current Lin Jia was no longer the novice wizard who struggled in the Xiangshi Tombs; a dozen lightning bolts now carried far more power than twenty-odd bolts did back then, yet this Zombie King, pacing just outside the pet wall, remained full of life and vigor.

Carefully, he cast a Wall of Fire right over the gap surrounded by his pets, hoping the Zombie King would retreat from the flames. But the monster didn't care about the fire at his feet at all. Although it flinched repeatedly from the burning, it simply strolled back and forth across the flames as if nothing was wrong.

Lin Jia hardened his heart. Since this Zombie King didn't fear fire like the rare monsters in Legend that would actively dodge away from it, he simply threw a few more Walls of Fire outside the pet wall, making the Zombie King take damage with every step it took. Combined with the relentless barrage of lightning bolts, the tenacious Zombie King finally let out a loud roar and collapsed to the ground!

This Zombie King didn't drop a massive explosion of loot as Lin Jia had imagined; instead, it only dropped a few large piles of gold coins, some regular potions, a few Sun Water potions, and a Taoist Soul-Binding Robe! Lin Jia opened his inventory to check—there were still a dozen empty slots left, space he had freed up by consuming magic potions earlier. He swallowed a few strong magic potions to replenish his consumed MP, then cautiously slipped out through the gap in the pet circle to loot the spoils on the ground.

Picking up seven or eight strong sun potions boosted Lin Jia's confidence significantly. He cast another lightning bolt to lure over another Zombie King, repeating his previous strategy step by step. Lao Si and Mei Mei, who was sitting nearby, were both drawn over by the earth-shattering monster roars coming from Lin Jia's speakers. Lao Si cried out, "What the heck! Madman! How did you end up in the Zombie King Hall? How did you get in?"

Hearing this, Lao Si immediately sat back down in his seat, his hands flying across the keyboard to type a message to Boss downstairs, while shouting, "We're in the Bignose Worm Cave in Mengzhong! We're coming right now! Hang in there!" Seeing Lao Si so excited, Mei Mei leaned over, resting her body on the armrest of Lin Jia's sofa chair to curiously watch him fight the zombie boss. She wondered aloud, "I was in this place for a moment earlier! But how come I got teleported to the southern part of the abandoned mine? Lin Jia, I'm coming to find you!"

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Lin Jia didn't have time to explain things to Mei Mei. He nervously operated his wizard, frantically clicking to loot the items dropped by the killed Zombie King. Just like before, there was no massive 8x8 explosion; it merely dropped slightly more gold coins, potions, and a small amount of equipment compared to ordinary monsters. Lin Jia harvested a few more level-22 professional garments and accessories like Black Crystals, and it even dropped a Prayer Helmet!

However, Prayer Helmets weren't valuable anymore; Lin Jia and the others had a whole pile of them sitting in their warehouse!

Lin Jia didn't even have the time to check the item stats because he was afraid another player might drop down from the mines at any moment and ruin the current favorable situation. If another player came in and ran around randomly, they would likely scatter the Zombie Kings everywhere, and that would end up getting everyone killed!

According to Isolated Paper Crane's earlier account, the known entrances to the Zombie King Hall included the first floor of the mining area, the eastern part of the abandoned mine, and the Serpent Valley mining area. This meant the probability of players accidentally falling in was significantly increased. Although they hadn't yet figured out the exact trick to entering the Zombie King Hall consistently, Lin Jia didn't want such a great opportunity to solo the Zombie Kings to be ruined. Therefore, even though he was temporarily safe, Lin Jia remained somewhat nervous and excited.

Whenever players fought bosses while playing Legend, they couldn't help but feel a surge of excitement, which deeply fueled their desire for boss monsters—after all, bosses meant equipment, experience, and high-level skill books!

After spending nearly half an hour luring and electrocuting eleven Zombie Kings, Lin Jia finally triggered the legendary 8x8 torrential explosion. A massive array of potions, equipment, and gold coins carpeted the corner like a thick rug. To pick up everything on the ground, Lin Jia had no choice but to throw some scattered potions onto coordinate points inside the pet enclosure, stacking them into a long, dropdown-menu-like list of items. When he hovered his mouse over it, the list stretched from the chat box position all the way to the very top of the screen!

After making several trips back and forth, Lin Jia finally managed to collect all the 8x8 loot from the ground. To clear up inventory slots, he had to discard four or five bundles of Super Magic Potions. However, because he rushed to grab a pile of gold coins on the outermost edge, he accidentally aggroed three Zombie Kings at once. Terrified, Lin Jia scrambled back behind the pet enclosure, locked onto the fastest-moving Zombie King, and blasted it frantically, hoping to take it down before the other two could close in.

Yet the Zombie King's tenacity withstood Lin Jia's fierce, intense firepower! By the time all three Zombie Kings reached Lin Jia and his pets, he still hadn't managed to kill that single target. Lin Jia had no choice but to cast a few Walls of Fire around his pets to protect them from being attacked by the Zombie Kings. Ignoring the fact that a Zombie King had squeezed through the gap and was actively swinging its iron chains to beat him down, he kept his focus locked entirely on the original Zombie King he had been electrocuting. Based on his experience from killing over a dozen Zombie Kings just now, this one was probably on its last legs; eliminating one to reduce the threat was far wiser than trying to damage every single one of them at once.

Every single attack from the Zombie King shaved off over a third of Lin Jia's health pool, but Lin Jia stood his ground without moving an inch, unblinkingly tanking the damage. The moment a Zombie King struck him, he would pop a Sun Water or Strong Sun Water, combining it with regular healing potions to keep his health bar perpetually maxed out. This was the safest method. Lin Jia wasn't worried about running out of potions right now; his inventory was packed with Strong Sun Waters, and right under his feet lay a massive pile of red, blue, and yellow potions stacked all the way to the ceiling. Even if he just survived by chugging sun potions, he could outlast them!

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