Chapter 112: The Troublesome Stake Monster

Zhang Shan immediately proposed a modest sales target, but Boss Wu couldn’t comprehend it at all.

“Can it really sell that much? Impossible. No family, no matter how wealthy, would spend like that. Selling it for a few million would already be impressive.”

Zhang Shan wasn’t sure either. This ultimate skill book had no prior transaction records, so its true market value was unknown.

The only comparable item they knew about was another book, “Archer’s Wrath of the Stars,” which dropped during their first battle against the Wolf King and was rolled away by a lucky archer from the Storm Guild.

As for whether anyone else had obtained an ultimate skill book, Zhang Shan had no clue. All he knew was that it was definitely a hot commodity.

He decided to list the price high. If it didn’t sell immediately, it was no big deal; it could be sold slowly over time. Skill books like this wouldn’t depreciate quickly.

“Who cares? If we don’t know the market, let’s just price it high. Those big spenders won’t worry about the cost; they just want good items. There are plenty of wealthy players in the New World.”

If they only sold it for a few million, they might as well call on “Heart Follows My Movements,” the grinder, who would definitely buy it since money was no object to him.

The ultimate skill book for the Magic Swordsman was perfect for him; why would he refuse?

Right now, Zhang Shan just wanted to test the waters on the auction house to avoid selling at a loss.

System notification: Due to the massive casualties among the demon race’s elite warriors, the Warlord Commander has descended to patrol the second level of the Demon Suppression Platform.

Coordinates for the boss guarding the checkpoint were provided.

After defeating the last orange boss, the final checkpoint boss finally appeared. However, this Warlord Commander didn’t seem to be a magic user.

Surprisingly, it was a stationary boss guarding the area. Could the second-level dungeon be easier to clear than the first?

Zhang Shan felt a surge of excitement.

Originally, he planned to casually attack the checkpoint boss and then retreat, but since it was just a stationary monster, it was worth trying.

“Are we going to fight the Warlord Commander?”

“Let’s go, give it a few hits.”

“If we die, will we lose anything? It’d be a huge loss if the skill book dropped.”

“No, players don’t lose experience or drop equipment upon death in dungeons.”

“Are you sure?”

Boss Wu still felt uneasy.

That question stumped Zhang Shan. He couldn’t be 100% certain since the dungeon description didn’t explicitly state that players wouldn’t drop items on death.

It was just an assumption: if experience isn’t lost, then items probably wouldn’t drop either.

“Here’s the plan: I’ll test the boss’s attributes and skills, and you take the skill book back to town.”

After trading the Invincible Slash skill book to Boss Wu, Zhang Shan said.

Better to be safe. They could fight the boss anytime, but an ultimate skill book wasn’t easy to come by.

“Alright, I’ll head back to town and wait for you at the auction house.”

“Okay.”

Boss Wu took the skill book back to town first, leaving Zhang Shan alone to scout the demon race’s Warlord Commander.

He had hoped to see if they could defeat the boss outright and clear the dungeon.

But to be cautious, he reconsidered. Even though it was just a stationary monster, they only had two people. Whether they could kill it was uncertain.

Following the system’s coordinates, Zhang Shan found the final checkpoint boss—the demon Warlord Commander.

It resembled the warriors they had fought before but was several times larger.

Just the massive hammer it wielded looked intimidating.

Oh well, he was going to die soon anyway. Might as well land a few hits.

Zhang Shan didn’t even bother summoning his panda cub, simply opening fire on the boss.

The demon Warlord Commander swung its huge hammer twice, knocking him down. First attempt failed.

His resurrection skill went to waste—what a pity.

But Zhang Shan managed to observe the boss’s attributes and skills, realizing he had underestimated it.

Turns out even stationary monsters could be terrifying.

Demon Warlord Commander (Red), HP: 10 million; Attack: 5,000; Skills: 1. Enhanced Charge; 2. Storm Hammer; 3. Smash; 4. Stomp.

Enhanced Charge: Rapidly rushes the target, dealing damage, stunning for one second, and slowing for three seconds.

Storm Hammer: Throws its hammer at the target, dealing double damage and stunning for three seconds.

Smash: The hammer’s attacks have a crushing effect, doubling damage.

Stomp: Swings the giant hammer and stomps the ground with both feet, knocking back all nearby targets and dealing five times damage within a 20-yard radius.

Lying on the ground waiting to respawn, Zhang Shan could only sigh at the boss’s overwhelming power.

The passive Smash effect doubled damage, making each attack theoretically deal 10,000 damage, twice that of the regular demon warrior.

A critical hit would mean 20,000 damage—who could withstand that?

Not to mention the ultimate skill, which knocked back all targets and dealt fivefold damage.

Anyone caught would be dead instantly. The ultimate dealt 50,000 damage per second—terrifying.

Fortunately, the Warlord Commander’s ultimate only affected a 20-yard radius, posing little threat to ranged fighters like Zhang Shan.

But melee players were in for a rough time. Probably like fighting the Vanguard Officer, once the boss hit half health, melee fighters would be sidelined, unable to deal damage.

The problem was that when melee players were knocked back, ranged players couldn’t attack either, or else aggro would get messed up.

For example, if Zhang Shan’s panda cub got knocked back, the boss might target Zhang Shan himself.

This boss seemed extremely troublesome.

And this was only the normal difficulty. On hard or extreme modes, the demon Warlord Commander would be even more brutal.

Well, let others worry about that later. Zhang Shan just needed to quietly serve as a damage dealer.

Ten seconds later, his resurrection skill activated. Standing up again, Zhang Shan was quickly killed by two hammer blows.

He revived back in town, ending this dungeon run with significant gains.

After respawning at the guild base, Zhang Shan immediately teleported to the auction house.

Boss Wu was still there with the Invincible Slash skill book, waiting for him. Whether they could strike it rich depended on this moment.

Zhang Shan arrived, and Boss Wu transferred the skill book back to him. Although it didn’t matter who listed it on the auction house, Boss Wu was a man of principle.

Though they had earned the item together as a team, Zhang Shan had taken the lead.

Naturally, he would handle the sale.

They would split the profits, but roles had to be clear; after all, this wasn’t a small sum.

Besides the skill book, they had also obtained six pieces of level-30 purple equipment.

Though purple gear wasn’t particularly valuable, six pieces combined should fetch at least two to three thousand gold.

Zhang Shan handed three of the purple items to Boss Wu.

“Six purple items total, three each. None of them are usable for us, so we’ll auction them off for some gold.”

“No need to split these. Just sell them and give me a cut later,” Boss Wu declined politely.

“Cheap stuff should be split and sold separately; valuable items we’ll split after selling.”

Even with new brothers, clear accounts were necessary. Boss Wu was his sworn brother—no questions there—but Zhang Shan also had a wife to consider.

Getting Boss Wu some money would at least let him boast to his wife.