The only skill that Fang Zhou currently masters with clear destructive effect should be the Skeleton Flying Spear.
Seeing this, Fang Zhou simply dismissed the Skeleton Army to conserve Spiritual Power.
Now, after consecutive fierce battles, his Spiritual Power is less than 30%.
And under the relentless frenzied attacks of the Horned Demon Boss, the originally large and stable pit trap is about to collapse, which means this Horned Demon is nearly free from its constraints.
In fact, if not for the Skeleton Flying Spear that Fang Zhou previously ambushed in the trap piercing through the Horned Demon Boss’s foot by chance, and then severely injuring its legs in the subsequent explosion, the Horned Demon Boss would have probably crawled out of the trap by now with its strength.
Fang Zhou seized this dwindling window of time, condensing his Spiritual Power into a barrage of Skeleton Flying Spears, bombarding the Horned Demon Boss that had no choice but to be a sitting target.
At this moment, Fang Zhou couldn’t help but feel grateful that he had previously exchanged for the skill [Touch of Corrosion], which, when fused with the Skeleton Flying Spear, imparted an additional Corrosive Poison Damage attribute.
The Undead Mage’s Corrosive Poison Series skills not only have damaging effects on living flesh but also exhibit considerable corrosive effects on metal-forged weapons and armor.
Coupled with the original Armor-Piercing attribute of the Skeleton Flying Spear, under Fang Zhou’s continuous attacks, this Horned Demon Boss at an impasse was forced to make the same choice as its predecessors.
It hurled out its Abyssal Giant Axe in a final desperate attempt to fight.
But having anticipated this, Fang Zhou naturally would not let it succeed.
Under the light wings of bone, the whistling Abyssal Giant Axe brushed past, thoroughly taking away the Horned Demon Boss’s last hope of a comeback.
At this point, it was only a step away from escaping the trap.
But even this last step was completely sealed off by Fang Zhou’s Skeleton Shackles.
In the end, despite its formidable strength, the Horned Demon Boss couldn’t display an ounce of it, tragically dying in the trap.
"Mission completed, time taken: 45 minutes 20 seconds, clearance evaluation: [Perfect], clearance reward: 12 contribution points."
"First clearance of [Horn Demon Outpost] Abyss Difficulty, first-clear reward: 16 contribution points."
"Congratulations Junior Sergeant Fang Zhou, your team is the first in your grade to clear [Horn Demon Outpost] Abyss Difficulty. All team members receive grade-first-clear ranking rewards: 40 contribution points, and achievement blessing: Simulation Battlefield loot drop rate +1% (cumulative 9%)."
"Congratulations Junior Sergeant Fang Zhou, your team’s clearance of [Horn Demon Outpost] Abyss Difficulty took 45 minutes 20 seconds, ranking 39th on the historical speedrun leaderboard. This month, expected leaderboard reward: 13 contribution points."
"Triggered loot drop, obtained [Apprentice-level Mental Potion] *1, exchangeable for 50 contribution points."
"Wait 5 minutes, then you can challenge Abyss Difficulty again."
Fang Zhou looked at the Horned Demon Boss’s unresigned corpse in the trap, completely relaxing.
His Spiritual Power had been completely exhausted. If he couldn’t kill this Horned Demon now and let it successfully climb out of the trap, he would have had to rely on his superior mobility, slowly kiting it to death.
This method, however, would take even more time, and would certainly be more torturous for the Horned Demon—it was better to die in the trap quickly.
Although the Simulation Battlefield rated Fang Zhou’s performance as perfect, Fang Zhou wasn’t immensely satisfied with his own performance.
The demons in the [Simulation Battlefield], though lifelike and vividly simulated, were after all just programs without real intelligence.
Compared to real Abyssal Demons, these dungeon demons are much more rigid.
Ultimately, Fang Zhou’s current clearance was a clever exploitation rather than a testament to his true strength.
Fang Zhou was acutely aware that if made to face the 38 demons head-on, he probably wouldn’t last long before being eliminated.
He longed for the day in the near future where he could face and swiftly resolve these demons with genuine strength.
Coming back to his senses, Fang Zhou sorted through his gains.
A bumper harvest! An unprecedented bumper harvest!
For almost an hour, he painstakingly came up with various clever maneuvers, and it was not in vain.
Completing the dungeon took a full 45 minutes and 20 seconds, which was reasonable.
After all, whether commanding Skeletons to dig traps or luring all the demons from the outpost into the depths of the Thick Fog Jungle, these were extremely time-consuming tasks.
However, even though it took so long, Fang Zhou’s historical speedrun ranking was higher than that of the previous three difficulties.
Out of curiosity, Fang Zhou checked, only to find that the top 100 of the Abyss Difficulty [Horn Demon Outpost] history speedrun leaderboard were not even filled.
Among them, there were quite a few teams like Fang Zhou’s, exploiting the environment and the stiff demon programs to bypass the difficulty.
Because of this, he was able to rank 39th.
Excluding admission fees, Fang Zhou’s net gain of contribution points this time amounted to as much as 73, far richer than any previous dungeon.
Not to mention, the loot drop from this first-ever clearance was an [Apprentice-level Mental Potion].
Although Fang Zhou didn’t know what exactly this Mental Potion was, seeing its value of 50 contribution points, he understood it must be a precious resource.
He exited the Simulation Battlefield, lay back in the Simulation Pod, and opened his personal terminal to review information about the [Mental Potion].
These types of secret potions are refined from the essence of Heaven and Earth in the Mythical World and can significantly improve the corresponding Four-dimensional Attributes of the user.
This is also one of the few methods mastered by the Human Alliance that can directly improve a professional’s Four-dimensional Attributes.
The Apprentice-level Mental Potion, as the name implies, can enhance the Spirit Attribute of Apprentice-level professionals.
Fang Zhou was slightly moved in his heart, knowing that each stage of these four attribute secret medicines can only be taken once.
Now that he obtained the Mental Potion, he must find opportunities to acquire the strength, physique, and agility secret potions next.
This, besides the feedback from the Skeleton Clone, is a rare opportunity for direct attribute improvement that he absolutely cannot miss.
However, as an Apprentice-level attribute secret medicine, a precious resource worth 50 contribution points, it also requires E-level permission to exchange for. Fang Zhou wasn’t in a hurry.
Once the dungeon cooldown ends, he entered the Abyss Difficulty [Horn Demon Outpost] again, employing the same old tricks, achieving another smooth clearance.
"Mission completed, time taken: 42 minutes 20 seconds, clearance evaluation: [Perfect], clearance reward: 12 contribution points."
"Triggered loot drop, obtained [Level 1 Refining Stone] *1, exchangeable for 10 contribution points."
"You have used up your challenge attempts for today, please come back tomorrow."
This time, with experience, Fang Zhou optimized his strategy, successfully reducing the clearance time by three minutes.
What pleasantly surprised him was the loot reward triggered during this dungeon sweep. He obtained a [Level 1 Refining Stone] valued at 10 contribution points.