Mu Yunshen, Qian Shengli, and Yue Zhongmian lunged forward to attack one after another. They had all broken out in a cold sweat; their palms were so slick that gripping the mouse felt slippery, yet there was no time to wipe them, and all stared wide-eyed, not daring to be careless in the slightest.
The battlefield steadied once more. The four, not daring to let their attention wander, had no leisure to reflect on what had just happened. Under everyone's sustained assault, the Spider Lord's health continued to fall. From one-third, to one-quarter, to one-fifth……
"Almost in red blood, everyone stay sharp," Ye Xiu reminded them.
"What do we do at red blood?" Tian Qi asked. A hidden BOSS always erupted when it hit red blood. He had read the guides: after the Spider Leader entered red blood, it would enter an Overlord Body state, during which it could not be staggered.
"Kill it through!" Ye Xiu said.
Hearing those two words, the four unexpectedly felt no nervousness—instead, they were thrilled. They had kept up the same operation for far too long; they'd honestly rather die than get to switch to a new playstyle and have some fun for once.
"It's red!" Tian Qi shouted.
"Mu Yunshen, step on a small spider," Ye Xiu called.
"Huh?" Though utterly baffled by this order, Mu Yunshen was already, even as he wondered, instinctively moving to meet a small spider pouncing at him—it really did look as if it had been reserved just for him.
The small spider bit down on Mu Yunshen, and he instantly lost the ability to act. The Spider Leader, meanwhile, twisted its body and lunged at him with its disgusting gaping maw, making Mu Yunshen shriek in terror.
And the result was……
The result was: nothing happened.
After being bitten, Mu Yunshen was forcibly locked into a three-second imprisonment state. Though he couldn't move, he was also in an invincible state—not even the Spider Leader could harm a hair on his head. Ye Xiu had actually used this very fact to buy the team three seconds to hammer the Spider Leader.
The Spider Leader raged on while frantically spraying eggs, and Ye Xiu continued clearing out the hatched small spiders, though he carefully observed their movements and left alone the ones biting Mu Yunshen. Mu Yunshen, for his part, had caught on, actively seeking out small spiders to get bitten by. Though they weren't experts, they were experienced players, and by now they understood the tactical intent behind this step.
Because the four of them had been ganging up on the Spider Leader earlier, they had each piled up enormous amounts of aggro. Of the four, Mu Yunshen had the highest attack, so his aggro was now the greatest. Ye Xiu's command exploited exactly this, turning the small spiders the Spider Leader birthed itself—originally meant to disrupt player coordination—into the most reliable protective umbrella.
This tactic couldn't be used in the early or mid stages, because only at the end would Mu Yunshen's accumulated aggro be stable enough. Moreover, it was only at this stage that the Spider Leader burned its reproductive capacity to the limit and produced enough small spiders. Mu Yunshen got bitten by them in an orderly queue, maintaining invincibility the entire time.
Though a small spider's bite did deal a little damage, it was very low. And over on Lord Grim's side, he would seize chances to slip him a heal, so it was no problem at all.
The Spider Leader spat webs and sprayed poison, using every organ its body could muster, but it was all for nothing. Only under this sustained assault did someone's aggro finally exceed Mu Yunshen's.
The Spider Leader switched targets, but Yue Zhongmian, now first in aggro, had long since learned from Mu Yunshen's example and gone looking for small spiders to get bitten by. And Lord Grim, in charge of clearing the small spiders, seemed to have foreseen this step in advance, having deliberately left behind spiders aimed at Yue Zhongmian.
The most perilous red-blood BOSS fight had now completely degenerated into a game. Everyone gleefully bullied the Spider Leader, finally teasing this strongest denizen of the Spider Cave to death.
First came the system announcement.
Lord Grim, Tian Qi, Mu Yunshen, Qian Shengli, and Yue Zhongmian had achieved the first kill of the Spider Cave's hidden BOSS, the Spider Leader.
"Awesome!!!" Tian Qi and the others howled with excitement. If they could have, they would absolutely have hoisted Lord Grim up and thrown him into the sky. They were certain that without this man, they never could have completed this fight. The pressure from their infinite-stagger lockdown of the Spider Leader had been heavy enough, but in truth, clearing the small spiders was the harder job.
Even more terrifying was his mid-fight clutch save, his precise control of aggro with the small spiders at the end, and then the entire strategy's design……
There was nothing left to say.
Tian Qi and the others truly could not find words to describe it. In all their time playing Glory, let alone seeing anyone like this, they couldn't even have imagined such an incredible player existing.
"Expert bro, four Strong Spider Silks dropped." Tian Qi ran over to look at the Spider Leader's drops and reported to Ye Xiu, then happily chose to pass.
The others said nothing either, honoring the agreement without so much as touching them.
"Thanks," Ye Xiu said, going over to pick up the four Strong Spider Silks into his inventory.
"You all take the rest!" Ye Xiu kept his word.
"Take it all, you take it all!!" A rare act of yielding over loot in the game happened without the slightest hesitation, out of their complete and utter admiration for Ye Xiu.
Besides the Strong Spider Silk, the Spider Lord had also dropped two vials of Spider Venom, a pair of level 15 Chestnut Long Boots—blue-text light armor with +3 Strength—and, beyond all that, had actually produced a purple-text weapon.
Peachwood Tachi, level 15.
Weight 2.6 kilograms, attack speed 8.
Physical attack 165; magic attack 178.
Strength +10, Intelligence +14.
Tachis belonged to the blade-type weapons, used by the Swordsman class, with magic-oriented attack. In truth, all weapons in Glory leaned either physical or magical. Myriad Manifestations Umbrella had both stats equally high—one look told you it was the handiwork of a self-made Silver weapon.
By comparison, this Peachwood Tachi's stats were exactly on par with Myriad Manifestations Umbrella. A level 15 purple weapon was equivalent to a level 5 Silver weapon. But this Peachwood Tachi had bonus attributes, and its attack speed was a tier above Myriad Manifestations Umbrella's—purely in terms of stats, it was already superior.
Seeing this tachi, Ye Xiu couldn't help admiring today's luck. Blue gear was a guaranteed BOSS drop, and hidden materials were a guaranteed drop from hidden BOSSes, but the earlier skill book and now this purple weapon were things you only saw by striking it very lucky.
Even if low-level equipment was quickly phased out, having such a purple weapon would still make one far mightier than most through the level 15 to 20 stretch, and since it was a purple weapon, it could be used all the way to level 25. For this blade alone, a player who hadn't planned on playing a Swordsman-class as an Unspecialized would find it worthwhile to switch to Swordsman just to level up first.
The four of them all swallowed hard—especially Mu Yunshen and Yue Zhongmian, who were both already playing Swordsman classes. This weapon truly suited them perfectly.
"Heh, this blade's no use to me. Whoever wants it, take it!" After a look, Ye Xiu decisively chose to pass. He also declined the Spider Venom and the Chestnut Long Boots, truly acting exactly as he had said he would.
"Expert bro, you should really take it all!" Tian Qi said earnestly. "If you hadn't carried us, we'd never have even seen these things!"
"Heh, if you all hadn't teamed up with me, killing the Spider Lord would have been difficult for me too!" Ye Xiu said.
The four froze.
Did you hear that? He hadn't said he couldn't kill it—only that it would be difficult.
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