Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish!
Ah Li, light as a swallow, leaped among the surrounding bushes.
Using her claws as blades and combining various skills that increased attack speed, allowed consecutive attacks, and pursued targets, she unleashed normal attacks on the venomous snakes in the trees at an extreme attack speed.
A large number of white true-damage numbers appeared above their heads...
-45225!
-45225!
-45225!
Although Ah Li had almost no burst-type skills, to better suit her talent and maximize its true-damage effect, nearly all the skills she had learned were ones that allowed consecutive attacks, pursuit, or increased attack speed.
As a result, almost all of her damage came from normal attacks.
But with five or six normal attacks per second, each dealing white true damage, the extreme burst damage she could dish out in a short period was more than these level-70 venomous snakes with 400,000 HP could withstand.
One venomous snake every one or two seconds.
From Lin Mo and Ning Xi's perspective, the venomous snakes on the surrounding trees seemed like ripe beans, dropping to the ground one after another without end.
All Ning Xi and Lin Mo could hear were continuous battle notifications...
[Ding~ Your pet Six-Tailed Demon Fox · Ah Li killed the level-70 monster Greenleaf Snake. EXP +1,000,000!]
[Ding~ Your pet Six-Tailed Demon Fox · Ah Li killed the level-70 monster Greenleaf Snake. EXP +1,000,000!]
[Ding~ Your pet Six-Tailed Demon Fox · Ah Li killed the level-70 monster Five-Step Snake. EXP +1,000,000! Congratulations, while killing monsters, you triggered the Divine Artifact Fate Tablet · Heavenly Might effect. Reputation +1,000 (100x talent bonus has been triggered)!]
Watching the scene of "spicy strips" raining down from the surrounding trees, Lin Mo couldn't help saying, "She's only Rare rank, yet her killing power is already this strong. If she grows to Ancestral rank, her strength will be simply unimaginable."
"No wonder she's a divine pet."
Looking at Ah Li's stat panel, Ning Xi said happily, "Although Ah Li's talent doesn't have a high blood-cutting ratio with each attack, combined with the bonuses from her two exclusive pieces of equipment, her additional true damage is already quite impressive."
Lin Mo glanced at the Ah Li stat panel Ning Xi had shared.
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[Heavenly Flame](Six-Tailed Demon Fox Exclusive Talent):
Quality: Rare
Effect 1: Every time Ah Li deals damage to an enemy, she releases a heavenly flame that burns the enemy's soul, dealing additional true damage equal to 3% of the target's maximum HP (this damage cannot exceed 50% of Ah Li's Attack)...
Effect 2: Enemies damaged by Ah Li have their HP recovery reduced by 30% for 3 seconds (cannot stack)...
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It was indeed just as Ning Xi had said: Looking at the talent alone, a 3% HP-cutting effect was indeed not very high.
It had no particular advantage against low-HP mobs.
Against high-HP bosses, there was also the 50% Attack true-damage limit.
However, after adding the bonuses from the two exclusive pieces of equipment awarded by the system for completing Ah Li's first- and second-stage growth quests, her true-damage effect became quite impressive.
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[Heaven-Slaying Blade](Six-Tailed Demon Fox Exclusive Weapon)
Contract Equipment: Level 68, Tier 5 Purple · Bloodsucking Blade
Physical Attack: 7860
Additional Attributes: Agility +600, Strength +600
Exclusive Effect: Every time Ah Li uses the Heaven-Slaying Blade to deal damage to an enemy, it additionally triggers 50% of the talent's damage effect once.
Note: This equipment is bound to Ah Li and cannot be dropped or traded.
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[Heaven-Slaying Boots](Six-Tailed Demon Fox Exclusive Boots):
Contract Equipment: Level 65, Tier 5 Blue · Extreme Shadow Boots
Agility: 1180
Additional Attributes: Agility +550, Endurance +550
Exclusive Effect: All of Ah Li's true-damage thresholds are increased to 50% of Attack.
Note: This equipment is bound to Ah Li and cannot be dropped or traded.
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The Heaven-Slaying Blade was equivalent to increasing the true-damage effect of Ah Li's [Heavenly Flame] talent from 3% of the target's maximum HP with every attack to 4.5% of the target's maximum HP.
As for the Heaven-Slaying Boots, they effectively increased the talent's true-damage threshold from no more than 50% of Ah Li's Attack to no more than 100% of Ah Li's Attack.
"Ah Li is only Rare rank right now. After that, she still has four ranks to advance through: Epic, Legendary, Mythic, and Ancestral. Her talent can also undergo four stages of growth."
"The effects of her exclusive equipment will also increase as the quality of the contract equipment improves. Right now, they're only at Tier 5 effects, so there's still a lot of room for improvement later."
Lin Mo said to Ning Xi, "Ah Li still has a lot of room to improve overall. When I get some time, I'll specifically boost Ah Li and directly raise her to Ancestral rank in one go."
Ning Xi nodded, "Mm-hmm!"
Thus, with Ah Li clearing every obstacle in her master's path as she advanced, Lin Mo and Ning Xi practically made their way to the center of the forest without encountering any resistance.
Here, a huge white curtain of light quietly flowed.
This was precisely the entrance to the level-75 dungeon, Serpent Demon Hinterlands.
It was worth mentioning that the minimum level requirement for entering each of the five major Snake Clan dungeons surrounding Snake King Island was level 70.
Lin Mo and Ning Xi were both exactly level 70, meeting the requirement.
Aside from that, there was no player-count requirement.
At least one person could solo the dungeon, while at most five people could form a party.
The only strict requirement was rank.
The rank requirement for the Serpent Demon Hinterlands dungeon was Gold I.
Thus, relying on their Gold II rank, Lin Mo and Ning Xi formed a party and stepped into the curtain of light without hesitation.
Whoosh!
Their vision shifted, and the system teleported Lin Mo and Ning Xi into a dark, damp place.
The soil beneath their feet was soft and loose, as though they had stepped into a swamp.
Looking around, the ground was covered with huge "spicy strips," making their scalps tingle.
They flicked their tongues and stared at Lin Mo and Ning Xi.
At the same time, a system notification sounded in their ears.
[Ding~ Players Rulebound and Liuli, welcome to the level-75 dungeon Serpent Demon Hinterlands. The dungeon quest has been issued. Please complete the quest according to the quest prompts to clear the dungeon and obtain rewards!]
Lin Mo casually opened the quest panel and took a look.
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[Slay the Demon Snakes](Exclusive Quest for the Level-75 Serpent Demon Hinterlands Dungeon):
Difficulty: 5110
Description: This place was originally a hunting ground used by the people of the Beast Clan's Inferno City for hunting, but it was occupied by the Snake Clan. Large numbers of venomous snakes killed the Beast Clan hunters here and took over the area. Players are requested to slay the demon snakes here and reclaim the hinterlands for the Beast Clan...
Quest Progress: 0/300 (Venomous Snakes)
Quest Rewards: EXP +200,000,000, Gold Coins +10, Reputation +800, Random Tier 5 Equipment +1 (guaranteed Purple quality or above, only available to the first 1,000 players to clear the dungeon; rewards for subsequent clears will be reduced to Tier 4 equipment)...
Quest Time Limit: None (Exiting the dungeon before completing the quest will be considered quest failure)
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As a dungeon with a level as high as 75, the difficulty of this quest wasn't high. It was within the normal range, quite average.
Killing just 300 venomous snakes was simply too easy for Lin Mo.
Just as Lin Mo was thinking that this dungeon was so simple, the difficulty arrived.
[Ding~ System Reminder: Killing 300 venomous snakes will complete the quest and clear the dungeon. If you wish to obtain the Snake Clan Mark, your individual kill count must reach 1,000.]