Chapter 44: Golden Weapon, Bloodthirst Venomfang!

Second Floor of the Dungeon.

Jiang Chen and Hongsha Liusu walked through the dark ruins. The monsters on this floor were no longer undead soldiers, but native abyssal creatures—Abyssal Corpse Maggots.

[Abyssal Corpse Maggot]（Tier-1 Aberration）

Level: LV18

HP: 11,520

Attack: 410

Defense: 107

Skills: Agile Movement, Gnaw, Corpse Poison

Description: Scavengers of the abyss, capable of rapidly breaking down corpses with terrifying speed.

Just one glance was enough to tell—they were high-attack, low-defense monsters.

Stat-wise, they weren’t stronger than undead soldiers, but corpse maggots had small bodies, fast movements, and appeared in swarms, making them difficult to handle.

Their [Gnaw] skill was somewhat similar to Jiang Chen’s [Wind Infusion], stacking up to a 20% armor penetration effect—an absolute nightmare for shield warriors.

Additionally, [Corpse Poison] inhibited healing effects, which made players suffer even more.

When normal guild parties cleared this floor, they relied on isolated aggro pulling and point-kill tactics. Everyone had to cooperate with extreme precision. If a swarm of maggots was accidentally aggroed, it usually spelled doom for the team.

“Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh…”

Jiang Chen didn’t dare let his guard down. Swarms of small creatures like this were never easy to deal with, but he still opted to use [Thunder Infusion] arrows for this battle.

Corpse maggots had low HP and defense—he could take down one in less than three seconds, as long as he watched his positioning carefully.

Starting from the edge of the mob, Jiang Chen began to thin them out. The number of aggroed corpse maggots was limited to about twenty or thirty.

The attacked maggots let out screeching “zizizi” noises as they all rustled and surged toward him.

Hongsha Liusu’s pretty face flushed red—clearly flustered.

Her team had always point-killed one maggot at a time here, inching forward with extreme caution. Even so, they had suffered quite a bit from these things. Now, with dozens crawling toward them, saying she wasn’t nervous would be a lie…

“Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh…”

“Ding! You’ve slain Abyssal Corpse Maggot x1!”

“Ding! You’ve slain Abyssal Corpse Maggot x5!”

“Ding! You’ve slain Abyssal Corpse Maggot x9!”

“Ding! You’ve slain Abyssal Corpse Maggot x8!”

A large number of maggots struck by lightning arrows began collapsing en masse.

About five minutes later, the monsters on the second floor were all wiped out. Jiang Chen stepped over countless corpses as he explored deeper into the dungeon.

The boss of this floor was also a corpse maggot—just a larger one.

[Abyssal Corpse Maggot]（Tier-1 Aberration）

Quality: Bronze Boss

Level: LV20

HP: 395,100

Attributes: ……

Skills: High-Speed Movement, Piercing Barrage, Pounce, Skull-Crushing Gnaw

A level 20 bronze boss. Its stats weren’t extraordinary, but it had four skills—not to be underestimated.

“Be careful of its Pounce skill. If it gets close, it can easily one-shot you,”

Hongsha Liusu said, her beautiful eyes slightly trembling in concern.

Her team had failed at this very boss. Its rapid shift between high and low speed, along with Pounce, instantly took out their priest.

Without heals, relying solely on potions was no match for the boss, and they were swiftly wiped out.

Without knowing the boss’s mechanics, one could easily fall into its traps. She feared Jiang Chen might be too confident and get caught off guard.

But clearly, her worry was unnecessary.

The corpse maggot boss was fast, true—but only on par with Jiang Chen.

With Little Lava’s assistance, the boss trying to close in on Jiang Chen was nothing short of a pipe dream.

Three minutes later, the grotesque light-green creature collapsed beneath his bow.

“Ding! You’ve obtained loot: Corpse Maggot Carapace…”

“Ding! You’ve obtained loot: Poison Sac…”

“Ding! You’ve obtained loot: Corpse Maggot Blood…”

He reached out and looted—only to find all materials.

Continuing, a series of chiming notifications rang in his ears.

“Ding! You’ve obtained loot: 225 silver coins. Triggered [Hundredfold Reward] effect—you’ve obtained 22,500 silver coins.”

Not bad—equivalent to 225 gold coins, worth over a thousand yuan.

“Ding! You’ve obtained loot: Venom Blade (Silver-grade). Triggered [Hundredfold Reward] effect—you’ve obtained Bloodthirst Venomfang (Gold-grade).”

Gold-grade weapon?!

Jiang Chen’s spirit lifted—this must be the effect of his 200 Luck stat triggering an explosive drop.

[Bloodthirst Venomfang]

Quality: Gold

Type: Weapon

Attack: +310

Strength: +30

Agility: +25

Special Effect: Venom—Reduces target healing by 30%, lasts 15 seconds.

Level Requirement: LV20

Class Restriction: Assassin

Description: ……

For a level 20 gold weapon, its stats were terrifying.

With the base panel plus bonus strength, its total attack easily reached 400, more than an entire set of gear combined for most players.

Moreover, this dagger came with a special effect—reducing the target’s healing—a dream attribute for every assassin.

Everyone knew that if assassins wanted to stay competitive with top-tier classes, they had to take the risk of soloing bosses.

Qingfeng Beiqi, the top assassin on the leaderboard, must’ve done just that. Otherwise, an assassin couldn’t possibly keep up in levels.

Aside from damage and effect, the +25 agility stat made this weapon even more essential for assassins.

In short, this dagger was practically tailor-made for top assassin players.

Jiang Chen didn’t plan on selling it to Hongsha Liusu.

At this stage, if he announced he was selling a gold-grade item, countless rich players would scramble over each other to snatch it.

But Jiang Chen wasn’t the type to make enemies for a bit of profit.

He’d rather wait until his overall gear far outstripped everyone else’s—then slowly offload these gold weapons. Even if he earned less, it was worth it.

…

“Great, we cleared the second floor!”

Hongsha Liusu’s face bloomed into a radiant smile, as if she had just avenged a deep grudge.

At this point, the team’s exploration progress reached 60%—which meant there were likely two more floors.

With Jiang Chen’s strength, clearing up to 90% completion should be no problem.

And once that happened, the arrogant claims from the Korean forums would be self-defeating.

Thinking this, Hongsha Liusu felt incredibly happy.

When the name of ‘Lone Ranger’ spread far and wide, Hongsha Guild would also benefit from the publicity. Absolutely perfect.

Jiang Chen had no idea what schemes she was planning.

He simply turned around and walked straight into the dark passage to the third floor.