TSA Chapter 33

Night Owl’s Glacier created a frozen area that successfully slowed the boss’s movements. Four Seasons immediately seized the opportunity to pull the aggro back, while Coke desperately vied for the second-highest aggro.

The little black dragon’s Curse of Doom triggered again, putting the Cat Demon boss into a weakened state, instantly reducing its health bar by 2%.

Though 2% didn’t seem like much, the Cat Demon boss had nearly a hundred thousand HP, far more than the bosses of the previous stages and nearly a hundred times the players’ HP. Even at level 30, with full equipment, players only had about 1,000 health.

“This boss is vulnerable to control skills!” Ran Qi finally found a chance to speak up. “Just now, I noticed Plume Ink’s Triple Strike interrupted the boss’s skill chant. The boss’s body lit up as if it was about to use Fire Arrows, but Plume Ink’s Triple Strike stopped it!”

“Huh?” Plume Ink hadn’t noticed that his skill had interrupted the boss’s chant, as he’d been too busy fighting and dodging the Cat Demon boss’s attacks.

Night Owl’s eyes lit up. If the boss was susceptible to control skills, then things could be much easier!

He quickly reviewed his team members’ skills in his mind. Most of his teammates, except for a few with terrible luck, had learned new skills through skill books, many of which included control effects.

For example, his own skill [Glacier] had a slowing effect that reduced the boss’s speed; Smoke’s [Flying Sand] had a blinding effect that could disorient the boss; Blossoming’s [Mist Spell] also had a blinding effect; and Plume Ink’s [Triple Strike] was designed to knock down enemies—though a boss of such massive size obviously couldn’t be knocked down, so the weakened effect manifested as a knockback instead.

There’s also Soul Chaser’s [Air Kick], which was meant to launch enemies into the air for attacks, but since the Cat Demon Boss couldn’t be lifted, the weakened effect manifested as stiffness; Windstorm Jiangnan’s [Aerial Critical Strike], which involved leaping and striking with force, came with a knockback effect. Additionally, both Raphael and Thousand Mechanisms also had [Triple Strike].

Calculating this way, the skills of Plume Ink, Soul Chaser, Jiangnan, Raphael, and Thousand Mechanisms were all instant-cast with relatively short cooldowns, making it entirely possible to achieve seamless chaining and significantly increasing the chances of interrupting the boss’s skills.

The mages in Night Owl’s group had control skills that required chanting. These were particularly effective for restraining the boss’s physical attacks, like pounces and claw strikes.

Night Owl’s [Glacier] had a slowing effect that lasted 6 seconds and a cooldown of 1 minute. Smoke’s [Flying Sand] caused blindness for 5 seconds and had a cooldown of 40 seconds. Blossoming’s [Mist Spell] also caused blindness for 3 seconds with a cooldown of 30 seconds. While these couldn’t achieve seamless chaining, with proper coordination, they could still be highly effective.

Night Owl said, “Everyone, follow my command! Do not use control skills randomly until I give the signal!”

“Got it!”

“Feng Tian, use your Armor Break skill as soon as its cooldown ends on the boss.” Armor Break could reduce the boss’s physical defense, potentially increasing the chance for physical professions to interrupt its skills.

“No problem!”

Like other bosses, the Cat Demon had clear signs before casting its skills.

If its body leaned forward, it meant it was about to use a claw strike. At this point, Glacier could be used to slow its movement, giving everyone time to quickly escape its attack range. If it arched its back and scraped the ground with its hind paws, it was preparing to pounce—a high-damage, wide-range attack that needed to be interrupted immediately. If the interruption failed, Flying Sand or Mist Spell could be used to delay its movements and provide time for escape.

When it tilted its head back to inhale, it was preparing to use [Thunderstorm]. If its body emitted white, fiery, or lightning-like light, it was about to cast Ice Arrows, Fire Arrows, or Lightning, which also required direct interruption.

“Plume Ink, Raphael, interrupt the pounce!” Night Owl consistently assigned two people to handle interruptions, increasing the success rate.

“[Thunderstorm], Jiangnan, Soul Chaser, interrupt!”

Under Night Owl’s direction, the team gradually grasped the attack rhythm. The boss’s skills were rarely executed, significantly reducing the defensive pressure on the team. With their sustained control and output, the Cat Demon’s HP began to steadily drop, soon reaching less than half.

Initially, the boss’s minor skills could still be interrupted smoothly. However, once its HP dropped below 30%, it started casting large-area attacks like Flame Storm and Blizzard, which were much harder to interrupt.

The first time the Cat Demon used Flame Storm, the group tried to run, but the attack’s range was so vast and carried a burning effect. Even if they ran across the entire field, they couldn’t escape its reach. Instead, running might result in deaths due to sustained damage. For instance, Soul Chaser and Shura both died because they ran out of the healers’ range.

Fortunately, Ran Qi had a resurrection skill and quickly revived them.

Realizing they couldn’t outrun it, the team decided to stand their ground.

They grouped up for damage output and relied on the two priests alternating their Holy Light skills to endure the boss’s attacks. However, some unlucky members still occasionally died due to mismatches between the damage and healing timing.

Every time, the group surrounded Ran Qi, protecting him at all costs. As Night Owl had said before, anyone in the team could die except Ran Qi. If Ran Qi died, not only would they lose a powerful healer, but no one else could be revived. In a scenario with dwindling numbers, surviving the Cat Demon’s attacks would be an impossible dream.

Their determination to withstand the damage head-on gave the scene an almost tragic air. But by this point, they had to persevere. No matter how hard it was, they couldn’t afford to fail at the final moment.

Finally, the Cat Demon’s HP dropped to zero. With an unwilling roar, it collapsed, leaving behind a golden treasure chest on its body.

[System Announcement] Astounding! Congratulations to players [Night Owl], [Soul Chaser], [Plume Ink], [Sword at Fleeting Time], [Coke], [Bai Ran], [Windstorm Jiangnan], [Feng Tian], [No Happiness], [Four Seasons], [Raphael], [Smoke], [Shura], [Blossoming], and [Thousand Mechanisms] for defeating the final boss of the Abyss-level Cat Demon Lair, the Night Cat Demon, and achieving the first kill! Rewarded with the title [Cat Demon Slayer] and [Physical Exchange Coupons *2].

[System Announcement] Congratulations to players [Night Owl], [Soul Chaser], [Plume Ink], [Sword at Fleeting Time], [Coke], [Bai Ran], [Windstorm Jiangnan], [Feng Tian], [No Happiness], [Four Seasons], [Raphael], [Smoke], [Shura], [Blossoming], and [Thousand Mechanisms] for clearing the Abyss-level Cat Demon Lair in 5 hours, 21 minutes, 8 seconds, and 43 milliseconds with an S-grade rating.

“We did it! We cleared it!” The group hugged each other and cheered.

After nearly five and a half hours of intense battle, they finally conquered the dreaded dungeon. However, since many members had died near the end, their score was dragged down, resulting in only an S-grade rating. Still, their luck held—they were rewarded with a golden treasure chest.

[World] A Lone Boat: That was so difficult!!! Truly too hard!

[World] Clear Sky: I almost cried watching the Cat Demon boss fight! So epic! Everyone, type ‘tearful’ on the public screen!

[World] Jia Tu: Tearful! While it was clearly a heated battle scene, why does it feel like that black-robed priest took the role of a melodrama heroine? Sacrificing everything to protect others…

[World] Big Orange: Enough, stop! Now I have mental images! This touching moment is ruined by your nonsense!

[World] Unbreakable Mountains and Rivers: Why didn’t the Cat Demon boss drop any gear? Isn’t the final boss supposed to guarantee drops?

[World] Endless Night: The Cat Demon’s corpse hasn’t disappeared. It probably needs to be looted. Whatever drops, it’s up to luck…

Shura couldn’t help but urge, “Captain, loot the gear already!”

“Let Brother Ran do it!” Soul Chaser loudly objected.

“Not letting the captain do it?” Blossoming was surprised. Normally, in team dungeons, it was customary for the captain to loot the boss.

“Our Brother Ran is a certified lucky charm!” Plume Ink, mindful of maintaining some dignity for his leader in front of outsiders, didn’t expose Night Owl’s notoriously poor luck. However, letting Night Owl loot the boss and potentially pull out a white-tier item during a server-wide livestream would indeed be embarrassing.

Night Owl: “…Let Bai Ran handle it.”

Seeing no objection from Night Owl, the group took it as an endorsement of Bai Ran’s luck, so no one raised further disagreements.

“Go for it, Ranran! It’s your time to shine!” Gu Le laughed, patting Ran Qi on the shoulder.

Ran Qi didn’t disappoint. Looting the boss, he successfully retrieved a purple-tier weapon and an S-tier material, Feline Fang.

[System Announcement] Player [Night Owl], leading a team of courageous warriors, defeated the vile Dark Night Cat Demon and claimed [Explosive Longbow].

[Explosive Longbow]

Restriction Level: 30 or above

Limited Profession: Archery Master

Grade: A

Durability: 200/200

Attributes: Hit +81, Strength +66, Critical +40, Constitution +22

The livestream ended there. The contents of the treasure chest wouldn’t appear in system announcements, so Night Owl decisively ended the broadcast. With upcoming guild wars and arena matches, it was better not to reveal too much to potential rivals.

[World] A Few Words: Ahhhh! Why did they stop the stream at the most critical moment?!

[World] Twilight: I’m crying. I want to know what else they got!

Loot distribution followed DPS rankings, so the longbow went to Plume Ink, the top-performing Archery Master.

Ran Qi opened the golden treasure chest next, pulling out another purple-tier weapon and a skill book for the Venom Blade class.

[Blazing Sword]

Restriction Level: 30 or above

Limited Profession: War God

Grade: A

Durability: 200/200

Attributes: Strength +88, Agility +41, Critical +30, Constitution +30

[Poison Black – Skill Book]

Can Learn Level: 30

Limited Profession: Venom Fang

Description: Open it to learn the skill [Poison Blade]. Coats weapons with deadly toxins that poison and occasionally stun enemies. Poison damage increases by 30%, scaling with skill level.

Pulling two purple weapons and a skill book in a row left everyone stunned. Even Thousand Mechanisms couldn’t help but ask, “Did you rig the RNG on your hand?”

“Hahaha, now you’ve seen how amazing Brother Ran is!”

Since there was only one War God(Windstorm Jiangnan) and one Venom Fang (Sword at Fleeting Time) in the group, they each received their respective items.

The run had been exceptionally fruitful for everyone. Even those who didn’t get gear were satisfied, as they secured the coveted first clear and rare Physical Exchange Coupons.

When it came to materials, the group unanimously agreed to hand everything to Bai Ran, knowing he had learned the forging life skill and had been instrumental in their victory.

“Looking forward to teaming up again,” said Shura, Blossoming, and Thousand Mechanisms as they added Ran Qi as a friend before leaving the party.

Once the outsiders left, the others swarmed around Ran Qi, trading him all seven Physical Exchange Coupons they’d obtained from the run.

Ran Qi: “What are you guys doing? I can’t accept this!”

Sword at Fleeting Time replied earnestly, “If not for you, we couldn’t have cleared the dungeon. You also supplied us with so much. If you don’t take it, we won’t accept your contributions in the future.”

“Exactly! You must take it!” Even Windstorm Jiangnan’s group shared the same sentiment.

Ran Qi looked to Night Owl for help.

“Take it. We still have the coupons given by the live broadcast.” Night Owl said, ruffling Ran Qi’s hair. “Buy more snacks.”

Under their insistence, Ran Qi reluctantly accepted, his heart swelling with gratitude.

His teammates were genuinely good people.

“Let’s head out!”

But as soon as Ran Qi left the dungeon, he received a system health alert.

[System] High mental strain detected. For your health, please log off within 30 minutes to rest.

Ran Qi: “…”

Should he be grateful the game didn’t force him to log out mid-dungeon?

It wasn’t entirely surprising. The Abyss-tier dungeon had been grueling, keeping his focus sharp for hours. Now that it was over, exhaustion caught up with him. A break was indeed overdue.

“I think I’ll log off and rest for a bit.” It was only around 1 a.m., so using school as an excuse wasn’t plausible. He decided to be honest.

“Go ahead and rest well.” Everyone was understanding—Abyss dungeons were genuinely exhausting.

“Oh, by the way, does my resurrection skill affect your death penalties?” Ran Qi finally remembered to ask. Did resurrected players still incur full death penalties?

“Yes. After being resurrected, death penalties count as only 0.5,” Night Owl replied with a light laugh. “The system even prompts that staying alive for the next seven days cancels it entirely.”

The death penalty system aimed to protect players’ health, so it wasn’t overly strict.

“That’s a relief.” With peace of mind, Ran Qi logged off to rest.