"Lily, watch the boss’s slow debuff. Reapply the moment it expires. Clear?"

"Yes!"

All four of them were on high alert now, every movement careful and deliberate. A single mistake could be catastrophic.

Don maintained a strange posture, walking backward. The Rat King had a rear-attack skill, and if he turned his back and it caught up, its current buffed attack power could destroy him. The 20 percent increase didn’t just add a flat bonus to damage, when factored against physical defense calculations, the effective increase was significantly higher.

In the early game, mages had limited control options. One Binding Spell lasting three seconds, one Ice Arrow with a five-second slow. Both frequently missed against a boss this high in level and rank.

Lily was even more frustrated. Of all her available skills, only Wind Arrow provided reliable crowd control, and it kept missing at crucial moments. Everyone was pushing maximum damage. Between the Rat King’s 1,000-HP-per-second bleed and their combined output, the math was straightforward: the safest boss was a dead boss.

But everyone made mistakes under pressure. Don was experienced, not superhuman. As he retreated, his foot caught on a beautiful little stone, and he went down hard on his back.

The Saber-Toothed Rat King seized the moment and lunged, its razor fangs driving into his shoulder.

The pain was no less than being pierced by a sword, especially with his perception set to 100 percent. His central nervous system screamed, and he jolted to his feet, immediately activating Evasion to neutralize the second attack. But it wasn’t over. The boss no longer had any debuffs displayed above its head.

Out of the corner of his eye, Don saw both Lily and the Debtborn wearing identical expressions of helplessness. Both of their control skills were on cooldown.

The enormous rat threw its entire body at him, its two front paws slashing with blinding speed, as though it wouldn’t be satisfied until it tore him apart.

There was nowhere to run. Don roared and thrust his dagger toward its neck.

But just as the killing blow was about to land on him, a warm golden halo swirled around his body. The Saber-Toothed Rat King’s attack connected, and instead of pain, Don felt warmth flood through every fiber of his being. A beautiful green number appeared above his head.

[+4,058]

Across from him, Kira stood with her face drenched in sweat, panting heavily. "So Divine Absorption can be used on allies too. Not bad. Not bad at all."

Don felt the warmth. But the Rat King sensed something far worse, the approach of death. The blade of Don’s Huron dagger was already buried diagonally in its throat, and blood was pouring freely.

Don realized what was happening. With a flick of his wrist, he dragged the blade across, slitting the creature’s throat wide open.

An absolute weak point. The Saber-Toothed Rat King’s shriek was so shrill it was chilling, and the damage number that appeared was nothing short of insane.

[Critical, 339,852!]

Its health bar plummeted like mercury spilling across the floor, crashing toward zero. On the verge of death.

Even so, the creature unleashed its final frenzy. Its massive head slammed downward like a battering ram, razor fangs hurtling toward Don’s skull. Too fast to dodge.

But just as the fangs were about to connect, a black hurricane struck from nowhere. With a single clean whistle of steel through air, the fangs froze, an inch from Don’s forehead.

A perfect cut appeared at the Rat King’s neck. The giant rodent’s head separated from its body in an instant. After the headless corpse crashed to the ground, blood erupted from the bowl-sized wound in rhythmic, weakening pulses.

"Told you I could squeeze some experience out of this." Elias Finch sheathed his sword, a wicked smile playing across his lips.

Lily stared blankly at the enormous corpse, then looked at Don. "Is it over?"

"Yeah. It’s over."

Several golden beams of light descended from above their heads in rapid succession.

Don’s level jumped from 25 to 27, a total of 34 percent gain, while everyone else gained a single level. Elias Finch’s level also climbed to 30, continuing to dominate the rankings.

Don then realized that in the heat of the moment, he, as team leader, had completely forgotten to adjust the experience distribution. It had defaulted to DPS-based allocation. And his two devastating strikes had taken down more than half the Rat King’s total HP, making him the undisputed damage king of the fight.

Elias Finch laughed. "Not bad. Ten minutes of travel for a 21 percent gain on my experience bar. Well worth the trip."

Lily pouted. "You jerk, Don, I didn’t even level up! How am I supposed to face that boss looking like this?"

Without missing a beat, Don replied, "How much more do you need? I’ll take you leveling later."

"No need. I think Sister Kira will be wrapping up this quest soon anyway."

At that moment, a voluptuous figure appeared in the distance.

Elias Finch shrugged helplessly. "The priest is too slow. Come on, let’s not wait. Don, you start the boss."

Don shook his head. "Brother Finch, hold on a moment. It won’t take more than a minute."

Elias Finch said nothing, just gave a slight thumbs up.

It wasn’t long before Snow Fox arrived. Don couldn’t help but wince watching her run. The word magnificent didn’t quite cover it anymore, imposing was closer, and everything jiggled accordingly.

Elias Finch called out, "Don’t run so fast. Careful you don’t fall."

A hint of shyness colored Snow Fox’s round face. She reached over and slapped Finch’s backside. "You’re so annoying, Brother Finch. You always bully me."

"Alright, alright. Don’t tease me in front of the students," Elias Finch said, suddenly serious.

Everyone was speechless. That old rascal Finch really did love performing for an audience.

With the full team assembled, Don walked up to the decapitated Saber-Toothed Rat King, kicked its stiff corpse aside, and revealed the loot beneath.

The moment a chilling weapon came into view, a beautiful woman beside him let out a sudden scream. "Oh!"