Even the multi-piece sets available at Level 20 paled in comparison to the Treant Set. Collecting 10 pieces triggered its first effect:Set Effect (10/13): Restore 50 HP per second. Cannot be interrupted by damage.In the early game, this effect was downright broken.Collecting all 13 pieces unlocked the second effect:Set Effect (13/13): Reflect 10% of all incoming Physical Damage.Combined with the set's core stats, this created a Shieldbearer nightmare: high sustain, passive damage, and immense tankiness. For ShieldMountain, the 300k price tag was an absolute steal.
Ding! "Your relentless slaughter of Twisted Treants has drawn the ire of the Treant King. It arrives in 5 minutes. Flee or face its wrath!"Both Tianhao and ShieldMountain received the system warning."Finally!" ShieldMountain exclaimed, instantly pumped. "Boss spawn, Emperor Snow! We taking it?"Tianhao nodded. Then...Ding! "You have been removed from the party by Emperor Snow."FloatingPagoda_ShieldMountain: ?!?!"Emperor Snow?! What the hell? Boss fight and you kick me?!"Tianhao just nodded again. "Don't get in the way. Back off.""Seriously?!"ShieldMountain felt deeply wronged. Is this how you treat your sugar daddy?!"This... this isn't cool, man!""My deal was getting you to Level 10," Tianhao replied flatly. "Sharing a Boss wasn't part of it."All Boss First Kills carried unique rewards. Solo First Kills? Even richer. ShieldMountain was dead weight Tianhao didn't need.ShieldMountain started to protest but choked on his words as a colossal presence lumbered into view.
Twisted Treant King (Obsidian Boss): Level 10
HP: 116,800 / 116,800
Attack: 325
Skills: Treant Summon, Renewal, Vine Bind, Thornshield, Vine Prison
"HOLY MOTHER OF—" ShieldMountain gaped. "Eleven thousand HP?! Three hundred attack?! Who the hell can fight that right now?!"Even if Tianhao hit for 500 per shot, it would take over two hundred shots."This is... insane." ShieldMountain scrambled back, a sliver of schadenfreude creeping in. Good luck with that! The Treant King was a caster monster; its hidden Spell Power dwarfed its Attack stat. With two hard CC skills? Solo was suicide.Just as ShieldMountain expected Tianhao to retreat...Thwip!An arrow slammed into the King's glowing core.-501 (Weak Point!)"Zero Crit Rate... hitting the weak spot doesn't force a crit," Tianhao muttered, frowning slightly but unflinching. He sidestepped fluidly, already nocking and releasing another arrow.-501The damage was solid, but the Treant King moved faster, attacked faster, and its reach was terrifying. A thick vine lashed out like a whip, striking Tianhao before he could fully dodge.-319!ShieldMountain stared, dumbfounded. At Level 6 with gear, he barely had 700 HP. That one hit would chunk over half his life. Then he saw Tianhao's health bar.It dipped... by a fraction so minuscule it was almost invisible."What the actual— Are you KIDDING me?!"ShieldMountain's vocabulary failed him. If he didn't know Godslayer's Twilight's ironclad anti-cheat, he'd scream hacks. This felt worse than hacks.Tianhao ignored him. He'd deliberately taken the hit to gauge the damage. Basic attacks? Barely tickled. Skills, however... those would hurt. No need to waste time dodging basics.Decision made, Tianhao planted his feet. He stopped dodging the King's vine lashes and traded blow for blow.ShieldMountain's jaw hit the virtual floor. Tanking a Boss?! What kind of deity IS this?! He frantically resumed recording. The boss needs to see this. The WHOLE WORLD needs to see this!But the true spectacle was yet to come.The Treant King reared back, thick vines coiling around its massive limbs – the telltale sign of Vine Prison charging.ShieldMountain smirked. Game over. That CC is brutal, and the damage after...Thwip!An arrow, impossibly fast, punched through the writhing mass of vines and struck the exact joint where the King's "wrist" met its arm.The spellcasting animation stuttered. The coiling vines froze, then dissipated harmlessly."Precision Shot?! Skill Interrupt?!" ShieldMountain gasped. He knew the theory: hit a casting mob's specific casting point to disrupt the spell. But executing it? Against a Boss's flailing limbs, amidst a storm of vines? It demanded impossible accuracy. Olympic archers would weep.Thwip! Thwip! Thwip!Tianhao's rhythm never broke. His stutter-step was pure, deadly ballet.Every time the Treant King gathered energy – for Vine Prison, for Treant Summon, even for Thornshield – an arrow found its mark. A joint. A glowing rune on its bark. The base of a coiling vine. The spell fizzled. Again. And again.What... what kind of monstrous god walks among us?!High stats? ShieldMountain could rationalize that – insane luck, hidden quests. But stats plus this level of transcendent skill? It defied logic.The mighty Obsidian Boss was being toyed with, utterly helpless. Its powerful strikes barely registered on Tianhao's gargantuan health pool – over 25,000 HP now. Even tanking every hit, it could survive hundreds. And Tianhao wasn't tanking everything; his kiting was still flawless, minimizing the damage further.This... this is the ultimate weapon. ShieldMountain's resolve hardened. We NEED him in Floating Pagoda. He wasn't just core raid; he was the guild heir.The Treant King's health bar dwindled steadily under Tianhao's relentless assault. 10%... 7%... 5%...Then, abruptly, Tianhao stopped firing.ShieldMountain blinked, confused. Why stop?! It's almost dead!He watched, bewildered, as Tianhao pivoted and fired a single arrow... not at the Boss, but into the empty air behind it.Thwip!The arrow sliced through the gloom.CLANG!A dagger materialized from thin air, deflecting the arrow in a shower of sparks."HOLY— ASSASSIN!!" ShieldMountain screamed.