Chapter 23: Chapter 23: Freeloading Two Treasures!_1 Having completely reviewed the BOSS’s information, Chen Mo began to contemplate his strategy. The first step, naturally, was to diminish the BOSS’s divinity. However, he couldn’t diminish too much, or there might not be enough time. BOSS divinities are truly overpowered. If others encounter this, the best tactic would be to eliminate them completely. However, doing so would greatly shorten the duration of the instance dungeon, leaving insufficient time to clear it, which would be a waste of effort. Fortunately, I chose the corpse poison trait for the Skeleton Monster. With corpse poison as a safety net, as long as I can stack over 100 layers on the BOSS, I won’t need to worry about its healing effects. That way, the ’Immortal Self-Healing’ and ’Bloodthirsty Heart’ divinities become irrelevant. That leaves four divinities. ’Deified Body’ is far too potent; this one must be eliminated, no matter what. Eliminating this one will leave me with less than 12 hours. But just eliminating ’Deified Body’ clearly isn’t enough. The ’Thorny Body Guard’ divinity absolutely cannot remain either. Otherwise, my Skeleton Monsters will die too quickly from the reflected damage, making it impossible to stack poison. That one must go too! The last defensive and offensive divinities don’t really matter. Instead of relying on direct damage, it’s better to pin my hopes on corpse poison! Chen Mo quickly finalized his plan. He felt that given the BOSS’s strength, neither his own damage output nor that of his Skeleton Monsters was particularly high. If he only eliminated the ’Deified Body’ and ’Thorny Body Guard’ divinities, the BOSS, still possessing the ’Unbreakable Golden Body’ divinity, would remain an impenetrable fortress. However, the presence or absence of this divinity made little difference to Chen Mo. With that divinity, his and the Skeleton Monsters’ damage would be practically nil. Without it, it wasn’t as if he and his Skeleton Monsters could unleash astonishing damage in a short period anyway. In the end, it’s likely to become a very long war of attrition. And if it’s a war of attrition, won’t the final damage still have to come from stacking corpse poison? After all, even if Deified Body is removed and the BOSS’s attributes are reduced fiftyfold, its Health will still be a hundred million. Possessing a high Health pool is a hidden characteristic of BOSSes. The higher the rank of the BOSS, the more absurd its Health. As a god-grade BOSS, having a hundred million Health is naturally nothing extraordinary. But for a solo challenge, that one hundred million Health is a terrifying figure. Without specific tactics, it’s simply impossible to defeat. The so-called SSS-level difficulty isn’t just because the BOSS’s damage output is monstrous; what’s even more monstrous is its Health pool, thick enough to make ordinary people not even dare to entertain the thought of challenging it. Of course, the content of SSS-level assessment missions for other classes might not be the same as Chen Mo’s, but damage-focused classes generally involve challenging a BOSS. The difficulty probably isn’t much easier. As for healing and support classes, they would have other extremely difficult tasks designed to torment them. No SSS-level mission can be completed easily. And no SSS-level mission can be completed by an ordinary person. If one wants to challenge it, without some special abilities that ordinary people don’t possess, it’s best not to even think about it. After finalizing his strategy for dealing with the BOSS, Chen Mo immediately began to wander around the square. Soon, he spotted an old man next to the village well. "Young warrior, are you here in the Town of Hope to help us defeat the Pseudo-God Incarnation?" the old man asked in a hoarse voice upon seeing Chen Mo. "Yes, elder. Do you have any information on how to deal with the Pseudo-God Incarnation?" Seeing the old man initiate the conversation, Chen Mo immediately stepped forward and asked. "The Pseudo-God Incarnation stole the Divine Source kept in our Town of Hope’s Shrine of Hope and now possesses power approaching that of a God. We mortals are likely powerless against it. If you wish to fight it, you might need to visit the Shrine of Hope. The nuns there may have some clues." "Elder, where is this Shrine of Hope?" "Well, just follow the road behind you to the end. Leave the village, cross the forest, and walk another five hundred meters; you’ll find it there," the old man said, pointing behind Chen Mo. "That far!?" Turning his head to look at the long road out of the village, Chen Mo was somewhat speechless. The assessment mission had a time limit. If the tasks were all about rushing from place to place, he had no idea how much time would be consumed just eliminating two divinities, let alone starting the BOSS fight. "Take this. It might be of some use to you." Just as Chen Mo, reluctant to waste a single moment, was about to turn and head for the shrine, the old man suddenly handed him a necklace. "What is this?" Chen Mo asked, taking the seemingly ordinary, even somewhat shabby, necklace. "This is a Life-saving Charm Necklace. When I was young and went on adventures, I relied on it to save my life. Although it’s unusable now, it can still work one more time. Take it." A Life-saving Charm Necklace? Chen Mo bid farewell to the old man and examined the necklace’s effects as he walked. [Life-saving Charm Necklace - Damaged]: When you suffer fatal damage, this necklace will negate it and grant you an Invincible State for 10 seconds. Due to its dilapidated condition, it can only activate once more. (Dungeon-specific special equipment; will be reclaimed upon leaving the dungeon.) If only I had three of these, I could combine them. Maybe they’d become brand new! However, it was clear that such treasures were not easily found. Chen Mo put the Life-saving Charm Necklace around his neck and immediately accelerated towards the village exit. As he reached the entrance of the village, a little girl suddenly jumped out to stop him. "Heroic big brother, wait a moment!" the little girl called out. The little girl looked to be only five or six years old, her voice still sweet and childlike. "What is it, little sister?" Although Chen Mo cherished his time, he knew that NPCs in the assessment instance probably each had their purpose. So, he patiently stopped, squatted down in front of the little girl, patted her head, and asked. "Are you going to fight the big bad guy who destroyed the Shrine of Hope?" "Yes, that’s right. You’re so young; how do you know about the big bad guy?" "Boo hoo hoo... it’s all that big bad guy’s fault! He caused my daddy’s body, which was almost healed by the God of Hope, to worsen again! This is what he left behind before he... he left. I hope it helps you." The little girl finished speaking, crying, wiped her tears with one hand, and fumbled in her pocket with the other. She then extended her small hand and offered Chen Mo a ring. [Weakness Treasure Ring - Special]: Charges: 3/3. Consumes 1 charge to reduce a target’s attack power to 1 for 5 seconds. Requires charging at the Shrine of Hope. The Shrine is currently dilapidated and cannot be used for recharging. (Dungeon-specific special equipment; will be reclaimed upon leaving the dungeon.) It can directly reduce attack power to 1, and it can be used three times in a row! Sweet! Man, I haven’t even started the mission yet, and just by running a few steps, I’ve already obtained two amazing treasures! Although the items he obtained were good, they all had limited uses. This meant they would only marginally reduce the difficulty, without significantly impacting the overall challenge. However, for Chen Mo, the appearance of these two items already gave him more confidence to clear the instance. "Big brother will definitely help you defeat that big bad guy and avenge your father." "Thank you, big brother! May your journey be smooth!" The little girl waved goodbye to Chen Mo. Watching Chen Mo’s back as he entered the forest, the little girl silently clasped her hands and prayed, Big brother, you absolutely must defeat the big bad guy! After leaving the village, Chen Mo didn’t encounter any more freebies. He sprinted into the forest and ran through it for a full half an hour before finally getting out. Seeing how much time he had wasted just traveling, Chen Mo felt a strong sense of urgency. After exiting the forest, he ran nonstop for a while longer before Chen Mo finally saw a shrine that had been reduced to rubble. Although the shrine was dilapidated, two nuns were still nearby, sweeping. Chen Mo panted for a moment before quickly running to the front of the shrine. Hearing Chen Mo’s rushing footsteps, the two nuns turned their heads simultaneously. "Are you the hero spoken of by the God of Hope?" one of the nuns asked upon seeing Chen Mo. The God of Hope? Chen Mo was stunned for a moment, then realized this must be an identity fabricated for him by the Heavenly Dao. He immediately went along with it, "That’s right." "That’s great! Then you’re here to help us defeat that Evil Pseudo-God, right? Our Shrine of Hope finally has a chance to be rebuilt!" The two nuns exclaimed, then happily hugged each other. Watching their exuberant embrace, Chen Mo quickly coughed lightly and said, "Ladies, don’t be happy just yet. To defeat the Pseudo-God, we need to dispel a part of his Divine Power. Did the God of Hope leave you any instructions?" Upon hearing this, the two nuns immediately nodded and said, "Yes, the God of Hope said that there is a forbidden land beneath the Shrine of Hope. Within the forbidden land, there are six altars. Each activated altar can eliminate a portion of the Evil Pseudo-God’s Divine Power. However, each altar is guarded by an ancient Forbidden One. To activate an altar, you need to pass their trial. For the specific details, brave hero, please go to the forbidden land yourself. We cannot enter that place." "I understand. Thank you. Please lead the way." "Brave hero, you’re too kind. We should be thanking you for coming. Please, come this way with us." The two nuns together led Chen Mo to a cave entrance behind the shrine, which was hidden by a pile of rocks. "Below this is the forbidden land."