Jiang Bai had expected the airborne Hellhound to unleash a third breath attack, Thunder Breath, but to his surprise, it suddenly folded its wings and landed again.
It must've hit its energy limit after casting two consecutive skills.
If this boss could unleash those breath attacks without limit, not even a forty-man raid group would survive.
"Since it landed, there's still hope!"
As the Hellhound descended, Jiang Bai immediately raised his bow and fired a double shot.
"-642!""+32 HP"
"Only 1,200 HP left!"
Technically, Jiang Bai only had time for a single attack during this opening, but thanks to the +10% attack speed buff, he managed to squeeze out a second shot in time.
Without hesitation, Jiang Bai dashed along the cavern wall. "Just need to stall a bit longer—wait for the cooldown on Explosive Shot!"
Behind him, the furious Hellhound quickly caught up, raising a wing for a wide sweep.
This time, Jiang Bai was ready. The moment its wings lifted, he nimbly dove under its belly, dodging the attack perfectly.
He retaliated with an upward shot to its underside:
"-321""-60""+16 HP"
"Under 1,000 HP now!"
As the Hellhound roared in rage, Jiang Bai once again slipped out from beneath it. A quick glance at his skill bar:
[Explosive Shot cooldown: 6 seconds]
"Just six more seconds!"
Jiang Bai figured he could kite it for that long—but the Hellhound, now enraged from dropping below three-digit HP, suddenly took to the sky again.
This time, the leftmost head sparked and crackled with lightning as it reared back.
"Crap!"
Jiang Bai checked his own HP—just 420 left.
The air crackled as thunder energy gathered, and in a deafening roar, lightning began raining from above, flooding the entire cave.
In an instant, the previously dim cave lit up like daytime. The brightness was so intense that Jiang Bai couldn't even keep his eyes open.
"Another goddamn full-screen AoE!"
There was no way to dodge it now. But just as the lightning surged down, Explosive Shot came off cooldown.
Jiang Bai steeled himself—bathed in divine thunder, he looked like a god of war. He slowly drew back his glowing blue bow.
"Screw it. All or nothing!"
Three arrows screamed through the air, targeting the Hellhound's heads.
"-410!" (damage from the lightning)
But the lightning wasn't over—there was a second wave coming.
However, just as the second wave formed, all three of Jiang Bai's arrows pierced the Hellhound's heads at once.
"-385""-60""-417""-60""-481""-60"
In mid-air, the Hellhound froze—then crashed to the ground.
And just before the final lightning bolt struck Jiang Bai, it vanished.
"You have slain [Hellhound] (Abyssal Boss). Gained EXP: 10,000!""[Plunder] skill activated. Gained +3 Agility!"
The system voice echoed in his ears, and Jiang Bai collapsed to the ground, panting heavily.
"Holy crap... I barely made it out alive…"
With just 20 HP left, his health bar blinked red furiously. His heart was pounding like crazy.
"If I'd died just now, I'd have lost the boss and a whole level!"
Just as Jiang Bai was about to stand up and claim his loot, the global server announcement rang out:
"Player 'EmptyCityOldDream' is the first on the server to slay the Abyssal Boss [Hellhound]. Reward: 20,000 EXP, 10 Gold, 100 Fame, and exclusive title [Demon Hunter]."
"WTF?! Why's 'EmptyCityOldDream' getting all the OP first-kill rewards?!""20k EXP? Damn, that's like three levels straight up!""You morons! 10 gold is worth 100k real money!""Forget gold—do you guys even understand what an exclusive achievement title means?!"
…
Players weren't new to first-kill announcements—Genesis was a massive game. Jiang Bai couldn't monopolize every boss, and system-wide announcements happened often. But Jiang Bai's bosses were clearly higher quality, so his rewards were always exceptional.
The global chat was still going wild when another system-wide message stunned the entire Genesis continent:
"Player 'EmptyCityOldDream' has slain Abyssal Boss [Hellhound]. Game progression accelerated. [Abyssal Invasion] event has been triggered early. The system will enter maintenance in 10 minutes for 30 minutes. Afterward, all players can log in. In 3 hours, all starting zones will activate the [Abyssal Invasion] event. All players, prepare yourselves!"
The entire world was stunned.
BeautifulTomorrow: "???"LagLikeHell: "Wait… killing a boss accelerates the game's storyline?!"YouCallMeDad: "What the hell is 'Abyssal Invasion'?!"PostAscension: "Something huge is coming…"
…
While the curious spammed chat, some sharp-eyed players noticed a new [Abyssal Invasion] event icon in the top-right corner of their interface.
It had a countdown timer and a brief description:
[Abyssal Invasion]: In 3 hours, the Abyssal Legion will attack all beginner towns under the command of their leader, [Slaughterer Gonzales]. If the town NPC [Elder Celt] is killed, the event is considered failed. Successfully defeating [Slaughterer Gonzales] before the Elder dies will mark the event as a success. Victorious towns unlock the level 2 City Teleport Gate and enter Chapter 2 of Genesis. Failed towns must retry the event in 24 hours. Rewards: top 3 towns that kill Gonzales earn +3, +2, +1 Free Attribute Points for all players. No gear or EXP loss during the event.
"So Chapter 2 is finally starting?""Class advancement! Class advancement must be coming!""I haven't even figured out what hidden class to go for yet…"
As more players realized the full implications of the Abyssal Invasion, excitement swept across the entire globe.