"This won't be an easy fight."
Jiang Bai glanced at the cooldown for [Resurrection]—still 13 hours left. No help from that skill anytime soon.
"If I just had a healer, any priest at all, this boss would be as good as dead."
After thinking it through, Jiang Bai decided to give it a shot solo.
He opened with [Concussive Shot], hoping to land a 2-second stun.
With a whoosh of fierce wind, a string of red numbers floated above the head of the slumbering Hellhound.
"-353"
"-60"
"Raaawr!"
With a roar that shook the entire cavern, Jiang Bai's hope was shattered.
The stun didn't land.
Seeing the massive Hellhound struggle to its feet, Jiang Bai immediately moved along the wall without hesitation.
While on the move, he released [Explosive Shot], which had been ready and waiting.
"-385"
"-60"
"-417"
"-60"
"-1202"
"-60"
"Holy crap!"
Jiang Bai shouted in excitement, "Finally landed a crit!"
Normally, Jiang Bai's critical hits didn't reach four digits, but thanks to his +50% crit damage bonus, this one packed a terrifying punch.
"Don't tell me all those failed crits before were just buildup for this moment?"
Right after the crit landed, the fourth bonus hit from the skill followed up.
"-546"
"-60"
"One Explosive Shot dealt 2,790 damage! That's a whole quarter of its HP!"
"Damn, this S-rank single-target skill is insane!"
Jiang Bai shouted in exhilaration. But right then, the Hellhound, reeling from the pain, let out another roar and swept its massive wings toward him.
With an attack that large, dodging was impossible. The wings slammed Jiang Bai straight into the wall, and another damage number popped up.
"-488!"
"Ouch!"
Without thinking, Jiang Bai chugged a high-grade potion, pushing his HP back up to just over 1,000.
"Damn it! I've got 145 defense, and it still dealt over the damage cap. Just how high is the multiplier on that skill?!"
Still running, Jiang Bai fired off a quick [Multi-Shot] without looking back, shaving off another 257 and 60 HP from the boss.
Instant-cast skills are all about keeping the damage flowing during cooldown downtime. Power isn't everything—timing is key.
Even with his movement speed buff, the Hellhound wasn't falling far behind. Despite the slow debuff, it still kept up, only trailing by about 10 yards.
Jiang Bai turned and fired a basic attack.
With a 10% attack speed bonus, his auto-attacks felt noticeably faster.
"-321"
"-60"
" 16"
(The weapon's true damage doesn't factor into the 5% lifesteal.)
As he struck, the Hellhound's fangs came flying at him. Jiang Bai rolled in place, narrowly dodging the bite.
Since he spent most of his time waiting on cooldowns—and because the Hellhound's attacks were so relentless—he hadn't gotten many auto-attacks in. By the time [Concussive Shot] was off cooldown, he had only landed three.
And that was with the 10% attack speed bonus—without it, it might've only been two.
The boss still had 5,600 HP left, but Jiang Bai had just taken another regular hit, bringing his own HP down to 805.
"Still hurts!"
Groaning, Jiang Bai turned and fired another [Concussive Shot].
"-353"
"-60"
" 18"
This time, the stun finally landed—2 seconds. Jiang Bai capitalized with a quick double shot.
"-321"
"-60"
" 16"
"-802"
" 32"
"-60"
…
Gotta admit, that 10% crit rate really hits hard.
The boss's HP dropped below 5,000. At this point, the Hellhound stopped chasing Jiang Bai.
It beat its massive wings and began to slowly rise into the air.
"What's it doing now?"
As Jiang Bai raised his longbow to keep shooting, the Hellhound's center head—the red one—suddenly swelled up.
Then, an explosive cone of flame burst from its mouth.
Jiang Bai tried to dodge by putting away his bow, but to his horror, the flaming dog head spun in a full 360-degree circle—an inescapable area attack!
"-330"
Area attacks typically have lower multipliers, but this one had a nasty burn effect. Flames ignited all over Jiang Bai, and a new debuff icon appeared above his head.
[Burn]: Lose 1% of max HP every 2 seconds, lasts 30 seconds.
"-13"
"-13"
…
The HP drain made Jiang Bai sweat bullets. With only 470 HP left, he couldn't afford much more.
Thankfully, [Explosive Shot] was finally off cooldown after 15 seconds. Without hesitation, Jiang Bai drew his bow and fired his strongest skill once more.
"-385"
"-60"
" 19"
"-417"
"-60"
" 21"
"-481"
"-60"
" 25"
Then he followed up with an instant-cast [Multi-Shot].
"-257"
"-60"
" 13"
This combo shaved another 1,780 off the boss and restored nearly 80 HP to Jiang Bai.
Clearly, [Explosive Shot] caused massive pain to the Hellhound. With only 3,063 HP remaining, it gave Jiang Bai no time to breathe. The red dog head had just finished attacking, and now the green head surged forward.
Another 360-degree, no-blind-spot attack—this time black breath. It hit Jiang Bai for another 340 HP.
Now he was barely hanging on, down to 182 HP!
"Damn!"
Just in time, his potion cooldown finished. Jiang Bai popped another one, bringing his HP up to 382.
At the same time, a golden light flickered around his body, and his health began to slowly regenerate.
" 7"
" 7"
…
It was the [Blessing] passive from his armor—restores 0.5% HP per second for 20 seconds.
Using the lull after the Hellhound's attack, Jiang Bai fired off another [Aimed Shot].
"-385"
"-60"
After that hit, the boss had less than 2,000 HP left.
The problem? All of Jiang Bai's skills were now on cooldown.
If they weren't, one lucky [Explosive Shot] might've finished it off right there.