Chapter 2: New Century (Epilogue)
Chapter 625: Strange Spider Monster
As the entire Tantinger City was plunged into crisis by contamination, a group of players finally arrived nearby, following the map.
They crossed a hill and saw their destination. However, it was different from what they had imagined. This city, once hailed as the most beautiful in Andor’s borderlands, was now spewing black smoke. The roars and cries for help were clearly audible even across the grassland.
“Something’s happened to Tantinger City!”
Hezi narrowed his eyes.
He felt that the disaster unfolding in Tantinger City was linked to Bryant. It was a strange intuition, accompanied by a suffocating sensation he had never felt before, warning every cell in his body to stop.
“What are you thinking? I’m a player, I can’t die…”
Hezi chuckled self-deprecatingly, muttering to himself.
He attributed this fear to his recent comfortable life; it had been a long time since he had fought magical beasts.
“Hezi, you’re too uncanny! They should rename you ‘Detective Conan’! Wherever you go, trouble follows!” Jie Kun said incredulously, gazing at Tantinger City in the distance.
“Alright, enough talk. Let’s go see what’s going on in Tantinger City first!”
Under Hezi’s lead, the players continued on. Upon reaching the fortress gate, everyone couldn’t help but gasp. It hadn’t been clear from afar, but up close, they saw that the gate and fortress of Tantinger City had been reduced to ruins, leaving only crumbling walls.
The middle section of the city wall had been almost leveled. The ruins were littered with debris from collapsed buildings and the charred corpses of soldiers. There were traces of plasma everywhere, and the air was filled with the smell of ozone. The aftershocks of plasma dragon breath had not yet dissipated, and many areas were still enveloped in electric fields. As soon as they stepped in, their hair stood on end.
“So, Bryant was behind all of this. But why did he suddenly attack this city? Did the humans inside provoke him, and he attacked to vent his anger?”
Jie Kun couldn’t understand. The soldiers’ corpses were horrific; many were even carbonized, turning into ash that scattered with the wind at the slightest touch.
“Let’s go in and see…”
Hezi pursed his lips. He hadn’t seen Bryant in the sky above the city, suggesting Bryant was in human form within the city. The sounds of fighting and crying were gradually diminishing, replaced by increasingly strange roars from within the city, making him intensely alert.
Something felt wrong.
The surroundings gradually grew quiet. The group followed the ruins into Tantinger City, but after taking only a couple of steps, one player’s leg was grabbed.
“Whoa, what the heck is that!”
The novice player from the second test only managed a startled cry before being bisected by a sharp blade-leg, leading to death and resurrection.
Hezi and Jie Kun saw the attacking monster at the same time. It was a spider!
No, it was less like a spider and more like a human transformed into a spider monster.
Its head and back were inverted. Its back sprouted eight spider legs, allowing it to crawl like a spider, but its body faced the sky. Its pale head was twisted at a bizarre angle.
But that head might have just been a crude disguise.
The monster’s true mouth was on its chin.
It was a dark, venomous, sharp maw resembling that of a spider.
Hezi warily cast an appraisal technique.
[Name: Malvi (Contaminated)]
[Identity: City Lord of Tantinger City]
[Strength: Sky Knight (Contaminated by Atrakh Nakya into a subordinate)]
“Atrakh Nakya, is that the game’s evil god?” Hezi’s mind raced with questions. In the next second, the strange spider monster screamed and launched an attack on the players.
Since there was only one enemy, they weren’t too panicked despite the unfortunate player’s death.
Hezi, a Holy Shield Warrior, immediately charged forward, shield and weapon raised, and landed a Taunting Shield Bash at point-blank range.
however, the spider monster was exceptionally agile.
With a “whoosh,” it leaped away.
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Its numerous eyeballs swiveled, finally focusing on the team’s only two Priests before it shrieked and pounced towards them.
But how could the other melee classes allow the spider monster to approach the Priests?
Sword and shield players and Crusaders blocked the spider monster’s attack route, while Mages raised their staves, chanting spells to slow it down.
“Whoosh—”
A whirlwind appeared behind the spider monster. Jie Kun’s eyes were cold as he gracefully delivered two slashes, instantly depleting the spider monster’s health by 10%.
At this moment, Hezi, somewhat sluggish, approached again and used a Holy Shield Taunt to fix the spider monster in place, creating an opening for other players to deal damage.
This battle was not easy.
The spider monster constantly repositioned itself, possessing extremely high mobility and casually executing high-difficulty dodges, giving Hezi the illusion that it could break aggro at any moment.
“I’ll feign an opening to lure it later. You guys try to break its hind legs and restrict its movement.”
Hezi broadcasted his plan on the team channel.
Then, as if suddenly tripping, he lost his balance and seemed about to fall to the ground.
The spider monster indeed couldn’t resist and lunged at Hezi.
“Now!”
With Hezi’s roar, Jie Kun, who had been waiting for the opportunity, first severely wounded himself with a slash and then unleashed a Gale Breath Slash, completely blowing the spider monster into the air.
“Whoosh, whoosh!”
Two Flame Burst fireballs appeared out of thin air, whistling as they slammed into the spider monster. The fireballs emanated terrifying heat, and the shockwave from the explosion sent even Hezi, who was closest, flying.
Blown away along with the spider monster.
The other players seized the opportunity, swarming it and finishing off the half-dead creature with a few sword strikes.
“As expected of a monster transformed from a sixth-tier Sky Knight… so damn troublesome!”
Hezi sighed, looking at the thoroughly deceased spider monster.
He and Jie Kun were at similar levels, both sixth-tier professionals, yet it had taken so much effort to kill this creature.
The main issue was that without controlling the spider monster, they couldn’t effectively utilize their strengths.
Mages and Archers, in particular, found it a Common occurrence to miss their skill shots.
That Flame Burst just now…
If it had deviated slightly, it would have been him, not the spider monster, who was blown away.
“That’s why I’ve always admired players who play games without system assistance. Their skills are always accurate. We’re getting old, so we’ll just rely on assisted casting and retire. No need to compete so hard,” Jie Kun said with a wistful smile.
“Strange… such a powerful monster didn’t give much Experience Points…”
“And it didn’t drop anything…”
“Hey, hey! Look!”
One of the Priests in the team exclaimed.
Everyone looked up and saw the city filled with countless spider monsters, their crimson compound eyes exuding madness and killing intent. They had locked onto them and were now surging towards the city gate like a roaring wave!
