Chapter Twenty-One: The Brewing of the Archbishop

Once again stepping into the resting hall where the Hunters gathered, Liu Zong was immediately surrounded by them before he could utter a word. Shaman, who was on good terms with Liu Zong, asked anxiously, “How did it go?”

Unlike the last time he returned, this time Liu Zong’s eyes gleamed with a smile and the wild joy of a gambler who had just won big.

He clasped Shaman’s hand and said, “What luck! The first three all took the Lucky Emperor’s Pearl and didn’t claim the real item, so all the good fortune accumulated. When it was my turn to open the box, I hit the jackpot.”

“You got a lot of gear?” Shaman asked, excitement rising in his voice.

“Only half a piece of equipment,” Liu Zong replied with smug satisfaction.

All the Hunters were seasoned players; they immediately understood what Liu Zong meant. “Ah, a quest-guiding item? That’s a rare find. With your level rising, just do an upgrade quest and the equipment level will rise with you.”

“Not quite,” said Hunter, ever the observant one. “Quest-guiding equipment usually requires you to complete a difficult mission and forge it with a ton of specific items. In that sense, it’s not as valuable as the Lucky Emperor’s Pearl. If that’s all you got, you wouldn’t be grinning like this.”

Liu Zong nodded, confirming, “It’s a Titan Relic.”

At the mention of this, the Hunters ceased their questioning and began to gather their things. Every player knew what a Titan Relic signified.

In the game, anything with the word “Titan” or “Pangu” was related to the items of creation. Put simply, these were remnants of the forces that shaped the grand map, the instance, or the planet itself. Though the power within was faint, it was still a thing of the gods, and could only be described as extraordinary.

For players, obtaining a Titan Relic was tantamount to unlocking the path to Level 4. The road up to Level 4 would be smooth sailing thereafter.

After a moment of envy, the Hunters quickly composed themselves. Druid opened the final door and led everyone into the core research lab of the Black Hand Organization’s underground facility.

Inside, they found three enormous specimen tanks, each thirty meters tall. One tank, filled with red liquid, contained a Behemoth stripped down to the bone; another, with blue liquid, held a purple zombie octopus; the last, with yellow fluid, contained a two-headed hound stitched together from countless corpses.

Below the tanks stood a machine bristling with wires, before which stood a scrawny old man, no more than a meter sixty in height. He was draped in a black robe; his large bald head was utterly hairless, and his skin was wrinkled like a walnut.

When the Hunters entered, the old man did not seem the least bit nervous. Instead, in a sharp voice, he cried, “You’re too late! I have already discovered the secret of soul transfer and found the perfect body for myself. Now, become nourishment for my new form!”

With that, he pressed several buttons on the instrument. Suddenly, a yellow tube shot down from above and sucked the old man inside.

Liu Zong watched as the old man was drawn into the specimen tank filled with yellow liquid. Whatever that liquid was, the moment he entered, his body began to dissolve, while his head slowly drifted upward, finally settling between the two heads of the hound.

When the old man’s head fused completely with the two-headed hound, all four of the beast’s eyes flashed yellow.

A pair of sharp barks rang out, and the specimen tank’s glass shattered. The yellow liquid burst forth like a flood, surging toward Liu Zong and the others.

[Chimera Archbishop Lield – Two-Headed Hound Variant]

[Race: Modified Humanoid Creature]

[Level: Lv1 (10-star) BOSS template]

[Stats: Strength 9, Agility 9, Constitution 9, Spirit 7]

[Description: The two-headed hound, cobbled together from flesh by Lield, is under his full mental control. It possesses formidable combat and control abilities, and can devour enemies or other creatures during battle to further strengthen itself.]

The first to act against the hound was not the Druid, who had taken the form of a giant bear and was braced to strike the moment the beast landed.

Instead, Shaman moved first. He planted a water totem into the ground, guiding the yellow liquid to sweep past the group and flow off to the side.

The laboratory was not large, however, and the redirected liquid quickly splashed onto the other two specimen tanks. Fine cracks began to appear in the glass.

“We have ten minutes. Hold aggro and attack with everything you’ve got,” Hunter commanded loudly as he drew a long arrow.

Liu Zong recognized this arrow from when Hunter fought the Murloc boss; it was meant to interrupt enemy skills. Yet Liu Zong knew its attack power was low, and wondered why Hunter would use it now.

He soon understood. As the final boss, the Chimera Archbishop had more skills than the earlier mini-bosses, and with two heads, the hound effectively had two sets of cooldowns.

During the fight, its skills would trigger far more frequently. If they couldn’t interrupt its attacks and let it unleash its full power, none of them would survive. So, Hunter had to focus on crowd control while his leopard delivered the main damage.

Fortunately, the leopard was no weakling, and together with Rogue’s support, they made up for Hunter’s split focus. Soon, the two-headed hound was battered and torn, chunks of its stitched flesh flying off.

Seeing the hound’s patchwork hide being beaten away, the old man’s head between its shoulders suddenly let out a shrill scream.

“My body! I need more strength!”

With that, the hound ignored their attacks and barreled straight into the specimen tank containing the Behemoth corpse, smashing into it with full force.

The tank toppled, spilling red liquid everywhere. Deprived of its preservative, the Behemoth’s remains began to rapidly rot.

But the hound had achieved its aim. Standing atop the decaying corpse, it absorbed a red vapor, its body swelling in size.

When it charged again, even Druid, who had managed to hold it off before, was knocked back several steps.

It was clear that the red vapor had significantly bolstered the hound’s strength.

Seizing the opening, the hound lunged at Shaman. Rogue instantly flashed in front of Shaman, intercepting the blow.

At that moment, Hunter’s arrow struck, forcing the hound back a step. Druid quickly moved in to block, but Rogue had already been knocked to the ground—he was clearly out of the fight.

The others reacted instantly. Hunter let out a piercing cry, and his leopard roared in tandem, its body swelling to twice its size as it charged to the front lines.

Shaman immediately began healing the leopard, while Druid reverted to human form, produced an oak seed, and whispered an incantation over Rogue.

At Druid’s magic, the fallen Rogue rose once more, full of life, as if freshly entered into battle.

With the resurrection complete, Druid swiftly resumed bear form to face the hound again. But in that brief exchange, Hunter’s leopard had nearly spent its strength and would need at least a minute’s rest before it could fight again.