Stealth, Flank, Backstab!
A massive number -927! erupted from the Rabbit Leader's head. A health bar appeared above it, a feature that only displays for Professionals and monsters after they've taken damage.
The Boss roared, turning to smash its club toward Thalia. She shifted her feet, nimbly dodging the attack, and countered with another slash to its hand.
421!
The damage was lower without a skill, but seeing a visible segment of the Boss's health drop, Thalia visibly relaxed. It was killable!
Immediately, Thalia transformed into a shadow, her movements fluid and deadly. The Boss roared, smashing wildly, but it couldn't even touch her. When its health dropped to one-fifth, Thalia's health bar hadn't lit up even once.
Just then, the Boss roared, and a wave of sound instantly swept out, causing Thalia's flickering figure to freeze in place. Vincent, who had been watching, narrowed his eyes. "A strong control skill?"
The Boss's club smashed directly toward her head. Thalia's face showed panic as she struggled violently, her body trembling and unable to move.
Just as the club was about to strike, a black shadow appeared behind the Boss. A brilliant blade light instantly tore through the air.
Critical Hit!-5598!
The impossibly huge golden damage number soared. The Boss's health instantly cleared, its raised club falling limp as its body collapsed. A large number of light clusters burst from it.
Vincent appeared behind the Boss, his relief palpable as his dagger shattered into pieces. "Good," he breathed.
"Brother..." Thalia said, her voice still trembling with lingering fear.
"Are you okay?" Vincent asked, nodding. He knew her consciousness had been clear even when she was frozen.
Thalia's complexion gradually returned to normal, and she shook her head. Even if she had been hit, the damage likely wouldn't have been fatal. Her Epic Assassin profession gave her a Physique coefficient of 4, almost equivalent to a normal tank's main attribute. Her health and resistance were surprisingly high. Most normal dungeon bosses were high health and low attack, making it impossible to be instantly killed. If they weren't, how could ordinary Professionals ever survive?
"Good that you're fine," Vincent said. "The Boss is down. Let's pick up the items."
Thalia's eyes lit up. She ran over to collect the light clusters, her excited shouts echoing through the air. The best part of a Boss fight was the loot.
She quickly tallied their haul. The Boss had dropped eighteen gold coins, instantly skyrocketing their family's assets. There were also several common pieces of equipment, unfortunately for other professions, though they would bring in a good income when sold.
Most importantly, the Boss had dropped four passes: two normal passes and two Rabbit Paradise - Hard Passes.
With all the items gathered, Thalia looked at Vincent. "Brother, shall we continue? To Hard mode this time?"
Vincent smiled and nodded. "Okay."
They chose to exit the dungeon, returning to the entrance to select Hard mode. The Boss's drop had given them two passes, one for each of them. With a seamless transition, they entered Hard Rabbit Paradise.
The Hard mode dungeon looked the same, but the monsters were clearly much stronger. They were enveloped in a faint black mist, and each wave had six monsters instead of three. Thalia could still instantly kill monsters up to Level 3, but anything higher took two or three slashes. Monsters above Level 4 had over a thousand health and higher defense.
The monsters' attack frequency and aggression were also much stronger. Thalia accidentally got hit by a carrot from a Level 4 rabbit, which knocked off 45 points of her health. It was the first time her health bar had lit up. Given her Physique coefficient was close to a tank's, a single hit that took off 45 health was terrifying. For other squishy professions, it might have been an instant kill.
It was true, the difficulty increased terrifyingly. But for Vincent and Thalia, it was still a matter of quick kills. It just took an extra slash or two. While other Professionals would have to carefully manage their fights, the siblings' speed was a complete sweep.
Level 3, Level 5, Level 7... They killed their way through the dungeon.
Hard mode offered a much richer experience. Even Level 1 monsters gave forty to fifty points, and monsters above Level 5 gave over two hundred each. Unconsciously, the two were now less than a thousand experience points away from leveling up.
When they reached the final chamber, they saw the Boss: the Rabbit Leader, still wearing its mushroom hat, but now radiating a black mist that made it look far more menacing than its Normal mode counterpart.
"I'll take this one," Vincent said.
"No, I'll do it," Thalia quickly refused. "You cover me! I want to try a skill." She had been itching to test her Professional Ultimate Skill. The smaller monsters hadn't been worth the energy, but the Hard mode Boss was a perfect target.
Vincent thought for a moment, then agreed. He was also curious about the true power of an Ultimate Skill.
"Then be careful," he said.
Thalia immediately became happy. She took a deep breath, nodded, and went into stealth.
Soon, a brilliant blade of light flashed.
- 648!
The damage erupted from the Rabbit Leader's head, lighting up its health bar. Both its health and defense were far higher than in Normal mode. The Boss roared, swinging its club wildly, its attack frequency much higher than before.
But Thalia's speed was still a notch faster. She became a blur, nimbly dashing and swinging her dagger around the over-4-meter-tall Boss.
Pfft, pfft…
- 517! -524! -439!
Red damage numbers flickered one after another. The Boss's health steadily declined, while Thalia's health bar never lit up.
After three minutes, its health dropped to one-fifth.
The Rabbit Leader suddenly let out a fierce roar, and a wave of sound swept out.
"Strong control skill!" Vincent's eyes narrowed, preparing himself.
But at that moment, a layer of shadow surged around Thalia. Her figure seemed to vanish into the void as she charged, transforming into a Void Shadow.
A Void Slash over twenty meters long appeared out of thin air, a clear sign she had used 'Shadow Void Slash!'. The shockwave spread, but it did not affect her.
As the first slash struck the Rabbit Leader, a damage number appeared: -517! The next instant, a second Void Slash cut out, followed by a third, fourth, and fifth.
- 568!
- 624!
- 673!
- 723!
The Rabbit Leader stood bewildered as Thalia's figure emerged from the void behind it. A final, blood-red number flickered.
- 1552!
The final burst of damage wasn't enough to kill the Boss, but as it erupted, two huge blood-red characters appeared above its head: Execute!!! The Boss's remaining health—nearly one-seventh—instantly cleared. Its body fell with a final Bang!, and a large cluster of light burst open.
Vincent's eyes narrowed. The Execute effect was triggered.
"Brother, this Void Slash is too powerful!" Thalia shouted, ecstatic.
Vincent nodded in admiration. The skill was terrifyingly strong. During the slashes, she was untargetable, meaning the opponent could only take the hits. The damage was explosive, with stacking slashes and a final burst. The Execute effect was truly astonishing, and this was only a Level 1 skill.
As Vincent was about to speak, a "ding" rang out, and both of them stared at their panels in blank astonishment.
[Congratulations, your team has broken the speedrun record for 'Rabbit Paradise - Hard' dungeon. Reward: Experience +1000, Gold Coins +1000, one Tier 0 Equipment Blind Box (Fine Quality). Your speedrun record will be officially recorded for future generations to admire.]
[Please decide your team name and whether to disclose your name, Profession, level, and other information.]
The prompts left them stunned. They looked at each other, speechless. They hadn't even thought about breaking records. They had just been playing, and now they were record-holders.
Thalia, still in a daze, asked, "Brother... what should we do?"
Vincent was about to answer when he noticed other text prompts had appeared on his panel...