Chapter 53: I Don’t Know, We Just Got Here Too

The massive body burst through the ice layer, resembling a mountain of flesh rising abruptly from the mire.

Its main body resembled a bloated giant toad, its skin a dark green covered in pustule-like bumps that constantly oozed foul-smelling mucus.

Yet on its back grew eight thick, slippery tentacles that danced wildly like giant pythons.

Most terrifying of all was its giant mouth, split all the way to its ears, containing no teeth, only rings of horn-like layers resembling a meat grinder.

Kraken's single eye, scarlet and turbid, locked onto the two tiny figures on the ice surface.

The next second, it opened its mouth.

"Gua——!"

A harsh roar transformed into a visible dark green sound wave, sweeping over them.

Immediately after, the eight tentacles on its back plunged fiercely into the mire below, and when pulled out again, they had already coiled up eight giant spheres mixed with venom and silt.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

The eight venom-mud bombs, like eight whistling cannonballs, tore through the sky, sealing off all avenues of retreat for Yasuo and Gandalf.

However, Yasuo's figure had long since vanished from the spot.

[Lightning Rush]!

His entire person transformed into a Z-shaped bolt of lightning, easily shuttling through the dense barrage without getting stained a single bit.

Gandalf's movements were completely different.

He did not possess Yasuo's swift footwork, merely stepping leisurely to the left the instant the barrage closed in.

Just a single step.

A venom-mud bomb flew past the edge of his robe, exploding at the spot he had previously stood, corroding a sizzling deep pit.

He took another half-step back.

Another venom-mud bomb slammed into the ice surface practically brushing against the edge of his hood.

Every step was just right, as if undergoing the most precise calculations, always finding the sole path of survival in the split second before the attack arrived.

This was the terrifying aspect of the smart core ai, transforming combat into cold mathematics.

"It's our turn."

Zhou Huai issued his mental command.

Amidst the gaps in his dodging, Yasuo's figure suddenly soared upward, the longsword in his hand blazing with lightning!

"[Thunderous Strike]!"

A massive thunder Sword Qi up to ten meters long, carrying the Aura of destroying everything, slashed fiercely toward Kraken's massive body!

At the same time, Gandalf stopped moving.

He raised his staff.

"[Forbidden Spell: Meteor Fire Rain]!"

Three burning meteors appeared out of thin air.

Dragging long tail flames, they accurately smashed toward Kraken's head!

Boom! Rumble——!

The sounds of thunder and explosions intertwined, vibrating the entire cavern with a buzzing noise.

"Awo——!"

Kraken let out an extremely painful shriek.

The Thunder Sword Qi left a charred wound deep enough to see bone on its body, and the Meteor Fire Rain blew its skull into bloody mush.

A series of astonishing damage numbers floated up from above its head.

"Gua!"

The Lord of the Swamp let out a painful howl.

Its health points dropped by a third instantly.

It inhaled sharply, its abdomen bulging high, then spewed out a fan-shaped venomous breath!

The dark green poison fog instantly enveloped a range of nearly a hundred meters ahead.

The ice surface was rapidly corroded, making a harsh sound and sending up wisps of white smoke.

At the same time, its body began to slowly sink, seeming to want to submerge back into the swamp.

This was precisely what made Kraken the most troublesome.

Countless adventurer teams had been worn to death by its rogue tactic of running away when it had low health, recovering to full health, and coming back out to ambush.

Unless the team had water-type or flight-type Professionals, there was simply no way to deal with it.

Yet today, it met its nemesis.

"Time's up."

Gandalf's serene voice sounded.

He raised his staff once again.

"[Forbidden Spell: Thousand Mile Ice Seal]!"

Hum——!

The extremely cold fluctuation swept through this underground space for the second time.

The toxins in the air, along with the water vapor, were instantly frozen into countless tiny, ghastly green ice crystals, falling to the ground with clattering sounds.

And Kraken's massive body was also frozen by the once-again surging cold Qi, its sinking motion coming to an abrupt halt.

Its lower body had already completely fused with the ice layer below, unable to move a muscle.

"Right now!"

Yasuo's figure appeared beside Kraken as if teleporting.

[Thunder Blink Seal]!

The Wildman Longsword in his hand lit up with dazzling lightning, outputting frantically toward Kraken's bloated body!

-1150!

-1201!

-1188!

…

A series of damage numbers floated up from the BOSS's head like a waterfall.

Kraken let out a painful roar, its eight tentacles wildly whipping the surrounding ice surface, attempting to attack Yasuo.

Yet Yasuo's figure continuously flickered on its massive body. Every time a tentacle swung over, he was able to use [Thunder Blink Seal] a step ahead to transfer to another mark, causing all of ক্লাshes of the BOSS's attacks to miss completely.

It was like a clumsy giant, bitten all over by a nimble mosquito, yet unable to even catch a shadow of its opponent.

"Gua!!!"

When its health points dropped to half, Kraken's single eye suddenly turned blood-red!

The pustule-like bumps on its back began to writhe violently, then burst open abruptly!

Puff! Puff! Puff!

Countless dark green venom splattered in all directions like a rainstorm!

This was an indiscriminate large-scale attack!

Yasuo's brows slightly furrowed, instantly activating Feral Surge, his speed surging by another notch as he perilously wove through the venom rain.

Meanwhile, Gandalf had long since run out of the attack range.

Right now, all his Forbidden Spell skills had entered cooldown.

He could only watch Yasuo perform.

When the venom rain stopped, Kraken's Aura also withered by a section.

Yasuo seized the opportunity and closed in once again!

Five stacks of Thunder Mark were instantly maxed out and detonated!

Boom!

A thick bolt of lightning descended from the sky, fiercely hacking onto Kraken's head!

-3540!

The BOSS's body trembled violently, falling into a brief paralysis.

"It's over."

Yasuo's figure leaped high into the air, gripping the sword with both hands, its tip pointing downward as all the power of lightning within his body converged onto the blade!

"[Thunderous Strike]!"

Hiss——!

The lightning-shining longsword radiating an Aura of destruction, like a divine punishment, pierced through Kraken's huge skull from top to bottom!

-5899!

A bright red critical damage number slowly floated up from above the BOSS's head.

Its massive body twitched violently a few times, the light in its single eye rapidly dimming before it finally collapsed with a boom, turning into countless dots of light across the sky.

[Killed Lord of Shadow Swamp · Kraken LV20, obtained 15000 points of EXP!]

Clatter!

A large pile of loot exploded out, covering a full layer on the ice surface.

Zhou Huai merely glanced at a few rare equipment items flashing with blue light before losing interest.

Equally of rare quality, the equipment crafted by Ou Yezi still far surpassed these mortal items in attributes.

Instead, among the pile of Materials, a few things emitting a special luster caught his attention.

[Kraken's Venom Sack], [Swamp Heart]…

"Pretty good luck."

Zhou Huai's heart stirred.

These few items were precisely the rare Materials needed to craft the Star-Moon Set.

This BOSS was not killed in vain.

The two quickly packed up the loot and continued advancing deeper into the cavern.

The subsequent journey could be called a smooth sweep.

Any exotic beasts daring to rear their heads faced only one end before Gandalf's earth-shattering Forbidden Spells.

Either dead or crippled.

Yasuo didn't even need to do much; most of the time he just followed behind, responsible for picking up Materials.

Gandalf's Rank also skyrocketed under this monster-grinding method that could be called cheating.

LV7!

LV8!

When he rose to Level 8, his Mental Energy had already easily broken through the one-thousand-point mark!

The fireballs of [Forbidden Spell: Meteor Fire Rain] went from three to five!

The range was wider, and the power was even greater!

Often with a single Forbidden Spell going down, there were no survivors left in the area ahead.

Ordinary teams, even when challenging normal difficulty, had to spend at least a whole day's time walking from the dungeon entrance to the final BOSS area.

Yet they had used less than an hour.

The only drawback was that Gandalf's mana consumption was extremely fast, nearly bottoming out before he had to chug a bottle of Advanced magical recovery potion looted from Young Master Mo.

It consumed way too much mana.

When they walked to the end of the cave, the view suddenly opened up before them.

There was no longer a swamp here, but rather an extremely spacious circular grand hall.

At the end of the grand hall stood a rustic stone door over ten meters tall, carved with intricate and eerie patterns.

No one knew what was behind this door.

It was said that quite a few top-tier teams had tried before, exhausting all sorts of methods, yet were unable to shake it by even a fraction.

Just as Yasuo's gaze fell upon the stone door.

"Hiss hiss——"

A teeth-aching friction sound came from overhead.

A massive shadow silently hung down from the pitch-black dome.

That was a giant spider comparable in size to a heavy truck.

Its eight limbs, covered in black bristles, were like eight sharp spears.

Its abdomen was a bloated, constantly writhing ghastly white flesh ball, covered all over with densely packed scarlet spots resembling human eyes.

[Shadow Swamp Webweaver · Arachne LV22 (Calamity-grade BOSS)]

[Health Points: 150000 / 150000]

[Skills: Venomous Web, Spider Swarm Summoning, Embrace of Death…]

Without waiting for the two to react, Arachne launched an attack first.

The flesh ball on its abdomen shrank abruptly, and a giant web covering the entire grand hall hooded down from above!

At the same time, it opened its hideous mouthparts, spewing out countless small white spheres.

Those spheres exploded mid-air, transforming into over a hundred slightly smaller venomous spiders, hissing as they surged toward the two.

Gandalf's staff lifted gently.

"[Forbidden Spell: Meteor Fire Rain]."

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Five huge fireballs, dragging long tail flames, descended from the sky!

Fire was the nemesis of all spider-type creatures.

That giant web was burned into ashes the moment it contacted the fireballs.

As for those fearless small spiders, without even having time to let out a shriek, they turned into charred carbon in the towering sea of fire.

This final BOSS was even easier to deal with than Kraken encountered halfway.

Clearing away the interference of the small spiders, Yasuo had no more scruples.

"[Feral Surge]!"

He let out a low shout, his muscles instantly bulging, and a wild Aura erupted outward.

The longsword danced into a dazzling blur of afterimages in his hands, frantically pouring damage onto Arachne's massive body!

Gandalf's second Forbidden Spell had also finished chanting.

[Thousand Mile Ice Seal]!

The extremely cold frost instantly covered the BOSS's entire body, making its movements extremely sluggish.

With one waxing and the other waning, this arrogant Calamity-grade BOSS's 150,000 health points actually seemed so fragile in front of the two.

It was barely five minutes before and after.

Accompanied by an unwilling hiss, Arachne's massive body collapsed to the ground with a boom, bursting out a floor full of loot.

What a pity, there was still no blueprint for the Star-Moon Set.

Zhou Huai was not discouraged either; anyway, they were destined to grind this dungeon until they got sick of it.

Before exiting the dungeon, he controlled Yasuo to come before that huge stone door and tried to push it.

The stone door did not budge an inch, as if integrated with the entire mountain body.

"It seems some special trigger condition is needed."

Zhou Huai had a plan in mind, and without lingering further, he quickly exited the dungeon with Gandalf.

Outside the Shadow Swamp Demon Cave.

When the two figures reappeared before the teleportation stone, the surrounding atmosphere was clearly not right.

At this moment, another batch of new adventurers had arrived at the dungeon entrance.

They were gathered in a circle, pointing and gesticulating at the corpses of the Sword of Azure Sky members on the ground, their faces full of shock and horror.

"Oh my god! The people from the Sword of Azure Sky actually all died here?"

"Who did this? So ruthless?"

"Now there's a good show to watch; the Sword of Azure Sky is definitely going to go crazy!"

A sharp-eyed adventurer saw Yasuo and Gandalf just coming out of the dungeon and hurriedly ran over.

"Brother! Do you know what happened here just now?"

He pointed at the corpses on the ground, full of gossip.

"Who killed these people?"

Zhou Huai controlled Yasuo to spread his hands, the corners of his mouth beneath the mask curving into a playful arc.

He shook his head with an innocent expression.

"I don't know."

"We just got here too."

Having said that, he no longer paid attention to that dumbfounded adventurer.

[Ding! Dungeon 'Shadow Swamp Demon Cave' has been reset!]

The cold System prompt tone rang out.

Yasuo and Gandalf turned around, and amidst the astonished gazes of the crowd, stepped once again into that bloody light gate.