Kiting the Impossible

Even the multi-hour, Level 20 gear sets paled in comparison to the Treant armor pieces Highreach Guard now held in his inventory. As he eagerly equipped the newly acquired items to his character, he carefully reviewed the potent set bonuses. The first passive ability unlocked the moment ten pieces were assembled, granting a constant fifty health regeneration per second that took effect even through enemy attacks. Completing the full thirteen-piece collection triggered a secondary bonus: a ten percent physical damage reflection aura. Combined with the base defensive stats of the items, this created an unstoppable, self-healing wall of a guard warrior. Checking his rapidly rising attributes, Guard realized his massive three hundred thousand dollar investment in Varek was an undisputed bargain.

Just as Guard stood there, marveling at his skyrocketing defenses and dreaming of dominating his peers, a harsh system notification chimed across the immediate forest clearing.

*Ding!* "Due to your relentless hunting of the Warped Treants, you have angered the Warped Treant King. It will arrive on the battlefield in five minutes. Please evacuate immediately."

Both players received the blaring alert.

"Finally here?" Guard grew visibly excited, gripping his heavy weapon tighter. "Glacial King, the boss has spawned! Are we fighting it?"

Varek offered a curt nod, his expression unreadable. Before Guard could celebrate the impending battle, another prompt flashed across his user interface, accompanied by a sharp rejection sound.

*Ding!* "You have been kicked out of the party by Glacial King."

Guard froze in his tracks. He stared at the floating red text, stunned by the sudden ejection. His shock quickly morphed into deep indignation. "Glacial King, what's the meaning of this? Taking down a boss without me?"

Varek did not even bother to turn his head. His cold gaze remained fixed on the trembling treeline ahead. "Stay out of this one."

"But... isn't this a bit unethical?" Guard demanded loudly, feeling incredibly insulted. "Is this how you treat your financial backer?"

"I only promised to get you to Level 10," Varek replied smoothly, his tone casual and indifferent. "I didn't say I'd share the boss with you."

Varek's intentions were selfish but strictly calculated. All boss first kills offered special server-wide rewards, and securing a solo first kill yielded a massive spike in lucrative bonuses. Keeping Highreach Guard in the party would split the system recognition, lower his personal contribution score, and ruin his chance at those exclusive solo drops. Varek needed those specific resources to accelerate his own growth, and he refused to compromise his progression for a client.

Guard swallowed his angry arguments the moment the forest canopy forcefully parted. A towering, corrupted monstrosity lumbered into the clearing. The ground trembled beneath its heavy, root-like feet. Thick, venomous sap dripped from its bark, sizzling as it hit the grass. Guard instinctively cast a basic inspection skill.

*Warped Treant King (Black Iron Boss): Level 10*

*HP: 116,800*

*Attack: 325*

*Skills: Summon Treants, Revival, Vine Bind, Thorn Shield, Vine Cage*

"Whoa!" Guard gasped, taking a quick step backward. "This is the boss? Over a hundred and sixteen thousand HP with that kind of base attack power. Who in their right mind could take it on right now?"

He quickly did the mental math. Even if Varek managed to deal five hundred damage per shot, he would still need to land over two hundred unbroken hits to drain that massive health pool. The beast was a magic-type boss, meaning its hidden magic attack stat undoubtedly dwarfed its base physical damage. Combined with its wide-area control abilities and lethal skill set, the encounter seemed mathematically and mechanically impossible for any solo player at this early stage of the game.

Retreating to the safety of the treeline, Guard secretly gloated. He wanted to see his arrogant guide fail and beg for assistance.

Unbothered by his client's doubts, Varek stepped forward into the aggro range. He raised his bow, drew the string taut, and fired his first arrow.

*Whoosh!*

The arrow struck the massive boss squarely in its glowing core.

*-501*

A solid damage number floated into the air.

"No critical hit?" Varek muttered, his expression unchanged. He quickly repositioned his footing and prepared another shot.

The Warped Treant King roared in fury. Its movement and attack speed far surpassed the normal monsters they had hunted earlier. A thick, thorny vine lashed out, whipping through the air like a steel cable and striking Varek dead-on.

*-319*

Watching from afar, Guard’s eyes widened in pure shock. A single basic attack dealt over three hundred damage! At Level 6, even with his premium defensive gear equipped, Guard's maximum health barely scraped seven hundred. That massive hit would decimate a normal squishy archer player in two rapid strikes.

Yet, to his utter bewilderment, Varek’s health bar barely registered a budge.

Guard's jaw dropped open. "Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap!!"

If he did not know the strict, flawless anti-cheat mechanics of Dusk of Divine Lords, he would have screamed that Varek was hacking. But this reality was far more terrifying than simple cheats. Varek possessed a talent-stacked health pool exceeding twenty-five thousand points.

Realizing his massive health pool could effortlessly tank the heavy hits, Varek made a seamless tactical shift. Evading basic attacks meant losing precious seconds of attack time and resetting his stance. To maximize his stationary damage output, Varek chose to ignore the boss's physical strikes. He stood his ground, firing arrow after arrow, taking the heavy damage hits as if they were minor scratches, and transitioning into a flawless kiting rhythm only when the boss stepped too close.

This mechanical execution shattered Guard's expectations. Kiting a boss while intentionally soaking its physical strikes defied all conventional gaming logic.

Then, the true display of mechanical dominance began.

The Warped Treant King stopped its relentless advance. Its wooden body began to pulse with a sickly green light as it prepared to unleash a devastating magical area-of-effect skill.

Guard smirked from the sidelines. The magic damage would bypass physical defense.

Varek drew his bowstring. Amidst a flurry of thrashing vines shielding the boss, he released the arrow. The projectile threaded the needle, soaring past the defensive branches and striking the creature directly in its wrist joint.

The green glow fizzled out instantly. The spell cast broke.

"Is that a Precision Strike?!" Guard gasped out loud.

As a high-level veteran, Guard immediately understood the technique. To hit a moving, obscure joint mid-animation to cancel a skill required Olympic-level reaction time and complex spatial geometry. Understanding the underlying theory was one thing; executing it flawlessly in live combat against a massive boss was downright monstrous.

*Whoosh!*

Varek maintained his relentless pace. His fluid, rhythmic technique was a mesmerizing sight. Whenever the Warped Treant King attempted to channel a spell, Varek fired a hyper-accurate arrow into a critical joint, instantly interrupting the cast time.

Guard swallowed hard. High stats were understandable for a lucky player who stumbled upon early-game exploits or hidden rewards. But this insane mechanical mastery proved Varek's skill was just as monstrous as his talent-inflated numbers.

The mighty Black Iron boss was rendered powerless. Its massive attack power meant nothing against Varek's absurd defenses, and its lethal magic skills could never finish casting.

Guard hastily opened his user interface and activated his video recording function once again. He was not just a paying client; he was the secret heir to the massive Highreach Guild.

"A monster... this kind of monster... I must recruit him into our guild!" Guard vowed, his unyielding determination solidifying. He no longer cared about the financial burden. Highreach needed this god-like player at any cost.

In the center of the clearing, Varek relentlessly whittled the massive boss down. Arrow by arrow, chunk by chunk, the colossal health pool steadily drained.

The beast staggered, its dark bark splintering under the sustained assault. Its health bar finally flashed red, dropping to the critical five percent threshold. A flawless solo victory seemed assured.

Guard leaned forward in the bushes, eagerly anticipating the final blow and the resulting explosion of first-kill loot.

Instead, Varek abruptly halted his onslaught.

Without any warning, he pivoted sharply on his heel. He turned his back to the staggering Treant King, drew his bowstring to its maximum tension, and aimed his weapon at the seemingly empty, thin air behind him.

Guard blinked in confusion.

Varek released the string. A heavy arrow tore through the open space.

*Clang!*

A sharp, metallic ring echoed forcefully through the forest. A dark dagger materialized out of the void of stealth, slicing cleanly through the wooden shaft of Varek's arrow. The severed halves tumbled into the dirt, revealing a cloaked figure stepping out from the shadows right where the projectile had aimed.

Guard's jaw dropped in sheer disbelief at the sudden, high-tension ambush.

Varek narrowed his gaze at the intruder and cursed aloud. "D*mn, an assassin!!"