In berserk state, the Heaven-Defying Demon Dragon's strength increased by a large margin.
On top of that, [Dark Summon] gathered all the Death Guards from the entire secret realm area.
At this moment, even Lin Mo was already struggling.
"The berserk state lasts three minutes. Avoid the Boss while it's berserk, then kill it!"
There was still half an hour left for the secret realm challenge.
So there was definitely enough time. No need to worry.
Under Lin Mo's suggestion, Ling Xue followed him as they broke out from the Death Guards' encirclement and retreated away from the Boss.
The Heaven-Defying Demon Dragon had escaped death at the hands of the Black Dragon Emperor and finally gained a chance to survive.
Its strong desire to stay alive made it fear death.
It seemed that only staying inside the Dragon Hall gave the Heaven-Defying Demon Dragon a sense of safety, so it did not risk chasing the enemies personally. Instead, it ordered the Dead Servant army to continue pursuing Lin Mo and Ling Xue.
Looking at the huge army of Death Guards chasing from behind, Lin Mo and Ling Xue took the chance to run into another nearby hall.
After killing all the dozen or so Dark Demon Dragons inside the hall, they hid there.
After all, even if the Heaven-Defying Demon Dragon itself did not chase them, facing the siege of so many Death Guards at once was still more than even Lin Mo could handle.
But after entering the hall, they could use the terrain advantage to block the Dead Servant army outside.
Clang!
Black Gold · Strong-Maned Pig held the nine-toothed rake like a divine general guarding the heavens, standing at the hall entrance and blocking the Death Guards trying to rush in from outside.
Fortunately, Strong-Maned Pig's durability was high enough.
With 7700 physical defense, combined with the 50% final damage reduction effect from his talent, even these Death Guards with over 10,000 attack power only dealt tiny amounts of damage when their greatswords struck Strong-Maned Pig.
-1325!
-2115!
-2246!
-1311!
To Strong-Maned Pig, who had over 450,000 HP, it barely mattered at all.
And Strong-Maned Pig's SSS-grade passive skill Bloodbath · Copper Wall and Iron Fortress automatically restored 1% of his max HP every second.
Another SSS-grade passive, Iron Bones · Unbreakable, also automatically generated a shield equal to 10% of his defense every second.
With both providing sustain, the Death Guards' attacks not only failed to hurt Strong-Maned Pig, they were practically charging him up instead.
So, relying on Strong-Maned Pig to guard the hall's only entrance and keep the Death Guards from entering, Lin Mo stood inside the hall and turned into an arrow turret with this perfect attack environment.
Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish!
Raising the Venom Crossbow, he unleashed full firepower, shooting down the Death Guards outside the hall that looked like a zombie siege.
'This works out well. I can use this chance to clear out these Death Guards first.'
'Otherwise, even after the Heaven-Defying Demon Dragon's berserk state ends, dealing with it while these Death Guards keep interfering will still be difficult.'
Just as Lin Mo was thinking this, Ling Xue suddenly handed him a bottle of advanced mana potion from beside him.
"Recover your status a bit."
Using SSS-grade skills so often had indeed consumed a huge amount of Lin Mo's mana.
So Lin Mo took the mana potion from Ling Xue and drank it in one gulp, restoring over seventy percent of his mana bar!
"Thank you, President Ling."
"It's only one bottle of potion. Is it really worth being this polite to me?", Loss showed in Ling Xue's beautiful eyes.
Because she understood that Lin Mo was keeping his distance from her.
In his eyes, she was always an outsider.
Ling Xue stood beside Lin Mo.
Turning her head, she looked at the side of his face that made her feel drawn to him.
Suddenly, she asked, "Lin Mo, do you also think someone like me, who'll use any means to achieve my goals, is cold-blooded and heartless, and not worth getting close to?"
Lin Mo kept shooting one arrow after another at the Death Guards blocked outside the hall by Strong-Maned Pig, without taking his eyes off them.
"Different positions naturally lead to different ways of thinking."
"As the president of Ling Group and guild leader of Divine Nation, President Ling naturally has to put the development of the company and guild first and focus on the bigger picture. Sacrifices when necessary are unavoidable too."
"Really?", Ling Xue gave a bitter smile, "If only you truly thought that way…"
"But you don't know what I've been through, and you don't understand my suffering."
At that moment, Ling Xue suddenly gathered her courage and said to Lin Mo with a red face, "Lin Mo, can you… be my boyfriend?"
Before Lin Mo could speak, Ling Xue continued, "I know you already have Liuli now, but that's okay. I can wait for you! I'm willing to wait however long it takes!"
"I can give you everything, power, status, identity, background, anything you want, I can give it to you!"
"As long as you're willing to be with me, I can give everything I have for you and help you reach the peak of Divine Oracle."
Ling Xue's sudden confession did surprise Lin Mo a little.
Whether it was looks, figure, identity, or status, Ling Xue had always been a proud daughter of heaven surrounded by admiration.
At this moment, no normal man could possibly reject Ling Xue.
After all, having Ling Xue meant having everything.
But Lin Mo completely dismissed it.
Because he understood, how could someone like Ming Yuexin possibly know love?
If there was only one person she truly loved in this world, it was herself.
She just wanted to keep Lin Mo by her side in another way so he could serve her forever.
Lin Mo did not even look at Ling Xue.
He said lightly, "I already have a girlfriend. In this life, I will never betray or abandon her."
"President Ling, please respect yourself."
The light in Ling Xue's eyes slowly disappeared.
She said in disappointment and sadness, "Okay, I understand."
Putting character aside, the conditions Ling Xue possessed really were perfect.
But it was also true that Lin Mo had no feelings for her.
At this moment, there was only one thing in Lin Mo's mind, 'Ning Xi is outside the secret realm, risking her life to resist the invasion of the five guilds and guard the secret realm entrance for me.'
"Hold on a little longer, Ning Xi. Once I finish this battle as quickly as possible, I'll come out and support you.'
Finally, the Heaven-Defying Demon Dragon's three-minute berserk state ended.
But Lin Mo now faced an even bigger problem, he was completely trapped inside this hall and couldn't get out.
At first, he thought they could leave once they dealt with the Death Guards outside.
But more and more Death Guards kept getting teleported in from outside the secret real.
As a result, no matter how many Death Guards Lin Mo killed, the number gathering outside the hall only kept increasing. There were now so many that Lin Mo and Ling Xue were completely sealed inside the hall and unable to leave.
Although Strong-Maned Pig's defense kept the Death Guards outside from breaking in, as time passed second by second, the remaining challenge time for the secret realm had already dropped to only ten minutes.
If they still could not get out and kill the Heaven-Defying Demon Dragon within these ten minutes, the secret realm challenge would fail.
Even though this was the first time in her life that her confession had been rejected, and Ling Xue's mood was extremely low, her thoughts were still on Lin Mo.
Ling Xue knew that there was only one way to break through now.
That was to wait for the full set of tier-5 equipment she spent a huge amount of money to forge for Lin Mo to be completed.
'The equipment Lin Mo is wearing right now is still only tier 3. It's not enough to overpower these Death Guards.'
'If he changes into a full set of tier-5 equipment, then with his new strength, he'll definitely be able to break through easily, kill the Boss, and clear the secret realm.'
Just as Ling Xue was thinking this, she happened to receive a game message: ["President Ling, all the equipment has been completed and sent to your mailbox."]
Looking at the flashing mailbox icon in the upper right corner, Ling Xue was delighted.
'It came at the perfect time.'