Universe Infinite Canteen

Not just the Hellhound, the other three witches also didn't waste this rare opportunity, all outputting their damage at full force.

By the time the Bolete Manipulator snapped back to reality, it had lost over two hundred more HP, leaving only half of its health bar left.

The pace of its health depletion was comparable to the 2008 Shanghai Stock Index.

Moreover, after reaching half health, the Hellhound's passive was triggered, increasing her damage by 20%, making each attack do an astonishing 42 points of damage, and speeding up her attack rate by 30%.

Logically, the Bolete Manipulator would cast a wide-range mind control spell after entering the 20% critical health state, and Ma Lu was prepared for it.

However, it never got the chance to cast it and was directly taken down in a sweep.

The Hellhound alone dealt over 80% of the team's damage, with Yun Que ranking second on the DPS chart.

As for the Ouroboros Serpent, because it used water attribute attacks, it was naturally countered by the earth attribute of the Bolete Manipulator, narrowly falling behind Yun Que and taking third place.

The Bliss Bird, which came in last, provided support to the whole team by casting buffs and life recovery.

The entire battle lasted less than 5 minutes, and most of that time was actually spent dealing with the small mushrooms; the final boss fight took less than 1 minute.

Aside from the addition of newcomers and new equipment, the Bolete Manipulator's low base attributes were also a significant factor.

However, it did not skimp on the experience reward in the end, which was quite generous and about the same as the Thousand-Faced Konjac, it's just that the experience needed to level up after Level 10 started to increase steeply.

Even after consuming this wave of experience, Ma Lu still fell short by 76 points to reach Level 11.

Subsequently, he glanced at the Traveler's Bracelet, noting that there was still plenty of time left, and since the boss fight had been easy, the four witches were all in fairly good condition, with none except the Ouroboros Serpent having their Sin Value reach half of the limit.

Moreover, after Ma Lu used Hand of Reason on the Ouroboros Serpent, its Sin Value also dropped to below one hundred points.

What surprised Ma Lu the most was that the reward estimation for the Bolete Manipulator from the mission system was 36,000 Holy Silver Coins and 4,000 Atonement Points.

As a 4-star ingredient, this reward was roughly 1.5 times that of the Thousand-Faced Konjac.

It seems in the Church's evaluation system, the Bolete Manipulator was considered much more dangerous than the Thousand-Faced Konjac.

Tasting success, Ma Lu flipped through the Chessboard Map again, looking for the next target.

Soon he had found another 4-star ingredient with significantly weakened attributes, but with strong mechanics—the Volcanic Big-leaf Tomato.

But this one was a bit difficult to handle, mainly because its lava burst move was not as easily countered as the parasitic control.

In the past, Ma Lu had learned the severity of similar moves from those Lava Giant Lizards in another dimension.

In the end, however, he came up with a plan. Using the Weather Forecast, he changed the weather around the Volcanic Big-leaf Tomato to a blizzard.

In such extreme weather, the damage of fire attribute attackers would be significantly reduced, dropping by a full 70%.

Even if the Hellhound got all possible boosts and activated Hell's Roar, it would not be able to deal more than 10 points of damage in such weather.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

The good news was that the Volcanic Big-leaf Tomato's lava burst, which would have killed anyone else other than Ma Lu in one shot, could not now even finish off Yun Que who had only 32 points in maximum HP, leaving her with a sliver of health.

Additionally, before the battle began, Ma Lu also planted the newly acquired Ironwall Banner, giving the team yet another layer of protection.

Meanwhile, the stormy weather boosted the damage of water attribute attackers by 70%, with the Ouroboros Serpent taking over the main offensive role from the Hellhound.

First, she spent 20 Sin Points to summon two Water Elementals with 50 HP and 9 Attack Power each, who could also benefit from the Bliss Bird's blessing buff—May My Lord Look Over You.

As a result, their Attack Power increased to 11 points.

Following that, the Ouroboros Serpent equipped Ma Lu's Chef's Knife and cast the Giant Wave Spell.

She dealt 150 points of damage to the Volcanic Big-leaf Tomato in one go and also inflicted a drowning effect on it.

Under the drowning effect, when the target is hit by water attribute attacks, the damage received is increased by another 20%.

Although the Volcanic Big-leaf Tomato had an Attack Power of 22 points, its defensive power was only 7 points—one less than the Bolete Manipulator, and its HP was only 570 points.

Each attack from the two Water Elementals would shave off 7 points of its HP, while the Ouroboros Serpent's normal attack could cause 15 points of damage, adding up to 29 points of damage from the three of them, together with the efforts of Yun Que, the Hellhound, and others, the HP of the Volcanic Big-leaf Tomato dropped rapidly.

The Ouroboros Serpent then cast an Acid Rain Spell and, as soon as the cooldown for the Fury Wave Technique was up, she hesitated no further and released it again.

She swiftly reduced the Volcanic Big-leaf Tomato's HP to below 100 points, but her actions completely enraged the tomato, causing it to execute a group attack.

This skill's attack range covered all squares within a 15-meter diameter, but the Bliss Bird, alerted by Ma Lu, had already preemptively restored everyone's HP to full, absorbing this wave of damage and then consecutively casting a fast Recovery and a slow Recovery skill, pulling everyone's health back to a safe level.

The Volcanic Big-leaf Tomato, having released its thunderous blow, now entered a period of calm and didn't cast any more lava sprays, dying quietly.

It contributed 1000 Knight experience points to Ma Lu, allowing him to level up from Level 10 to Level 11, and with this upgrade, Ma Lu acquired a new formation—the Swallowtail Formation.

In this formation, the team's Sin Value cap could increase by 20%, their HP by 10%, and there would be no negative effects.

As expected, the good stuff was all hidden at the back.

The benefit of a 10% increase in HP goes without saying, as no one would complain about having too much health, and the 20% increase in Sin Value cap was also quite significant.

Especially for spell-casting professions like the Bliss Bird and the Ouroboros Serpent, the former could cast one or two additional healing spells, while the latter could cast three or four more spells.

They could play a significant role in a battle.

The Volcanic Big-leaf Tomato also provided Ma Lu with 32,000 Holy Silver Coins and 3,600 Atonement Points.

Ma Lu did a quick calculation and found that his earnings in Holy Silver Coins had already exceeded 100,000, and his Atonement Points were over 11,000.

It was truly a return loaded with fortune.

After defeating the Volcanic Big-leaf Tomato and as the time was about right, Ma Lu led Yun Que and the others back to their warhorses and set off to return to Holy Temple City.

As soon as he landed at the helipad, he saw a group of knights, clad in armor like him, leading their Witches out of The Great Tower, and they hurried past in front of him.

A flash of surprise crossed Ma Lu's eyes as he asked the Monk who came to greet him, "Where are they going?"

"To catch a traitor," the male Monk replied indifferently, "The Church recently executed a Fallen Witch by burning at the stake, but investigations revealed that she has remnants in Holy Temple City. Lord Li Wei is ordered to find the remnants. You've come back just in time, come with me."

"Where to?"

"The Tribunal."