Chapter 188: Crunchy Shell
From a purely combat standpoint, Yuliya had a tiny edge.
She was pretty sure the Nightmare God couldn’t use golden-rule-related abilities, and the Golden Eyes were still a mystery.
After all, they were currently gold-colored too.
However, in close combat situations, most of the golden rule abilities were rendered useless due to the pre-casting delays. The only thing that worked better was a short-range blink.
So her little advantage was absolutely not enough to turn into a win.
The Nightmare God looked at Yuliya with a cold indifference, void of any emotion, a stark contrast to its previous wild antics.
After yet another clash, both fighters staggered back, taking a moment to catch their breath.
This feeling of battling your own self was something else—strange and torturous.
Whoa! This is too tough for me!
If only I had a World Boss panel, these divine beings and demons are just bullying me!
In the next heartbeat, the duo sprang into action again.
The Nightmare God charged toward the player direction.
But Yuliya was just a hair too slow, falling behind.
They exchanged blows, with sword energy fluctuating and swords singing their deadly lullabies.
Meanwhile, the players were totally panicking.
What’s happening? The Wind God didn’t stop it?!
They were already trying their hardest to retreat, but their speed was no match for those two, especially with so many of them—there was no way they could run too far!
Hey, big shots! Go ahead and fight it out among yourselves; pay attention to us little shrimp!
As the two figures drew nearer, everyone in the vicinity felt a chill of dread.
Once they approached, even if still focused on their swordplay, any accidental attacks could be fatal!
Of course, the players were overthinking it because… the BOSS’s target had always been them!
Seeing the distance closing, the Nightmare God braced itself against the massive recoil and forcibly shoved Yuliya away, then took a stance with its longsword raised.
Like a pair of telepathic buddies, Yuliya mirrored the action, raising her own sword.
“Golden Technique — Moonlight Slash!” *2
The Nightmare God swung horizontally in a spin.
A silver light ring flew towards the player group, slicing through trees and stone walls like they were cheese.
Upon witnessing this, many players seemed resigned to their fate.
If the BOSS had been targeting them from the start, they’d already be toast.
At least now they were getting something out of it, call it a bloody bargain.
The silver moonlight was like a blade, the cold gleam a deadly threat in the dark night.
But it could also be a shield from afar!
A bright light suddenly appeared, just like the moon, but incredibly sturdy.
It devoured the killing intent and continued to wrap around the center.
The Nightmare God froze, glancing over at Yuliya.
However, Yuliya had already appeared in front of it, smiling as she said, “Something that’s stolen will never belong to you. And some things can’t be taken by just sneaking.”
Since Yuliya knew the BOSS had its eyes on the other players, she thought to use that to bait it, to verify a little something.
But Yuliya had professional ethics—she had to ensure the bait and hook wouldn’t fail.
The BOSS couldn’t use the golden rule, and the other abilities had pre-casting delays.
Perfect! That pre-cast delay was just the opportunity the BOSS served up on a silver platter.
Yuliya raised a leg and kicked the Nightmare God away.
Simultaneously, the returning moonlight slash crashed down hard onto the BOSS.
Yuliya watched the damage closely.
-4597!
Over four thousand! Such high damage?!
Just as expected!
She then shouted loudly to the players still in retreat, “The BOSS is soft now! Stop running! Counterattack!”
Hearing this, the players froze, their fleeing halted.
“Soft? What’s soft?”
“The BOSS has basically copied my panel! And my level is 30, with not much defense! It’s just pretending to show three question marks to scare us!”
Level 30 meant no level suppression—whatever damage they dealt was what they got!
All players could pose a threat to the BOSS!
And because of this, the BOSS had been fixated on the other players instead of Yuliya.
It preferred to clear them out before tackling the solid wall that was Yuliya!
After Yuliya’s explanation, the players exchanged glances.
Finally, the fiery conflict’s verdict was announced loudly: “Listen to the Wind God! Hit it! Hit it hard!”
Kailona joined in, “Yeah! Hit it like it owes you money!”
With the commander’s order given, everyone cast caution to the wind and just started throwing out their attacks!
Just as the Nightmare God had shaken off a fierce hit and got back up, it was bombarded with a barrage of ranged attacks.
It instantly began dodging, but the familiar taunting voice rang in its ears.
“Where do you think you’re going!”
Yuliya dragged the Nightmare God along, showering it with attacks.
“Don’t hold back! Hit it hard!”
After all, she was a player—damage didn’t faze her; it felt like nothing!
But the BOSS was different—it was taking every hit head-on.
Although most of the attacks missed, a few found their mark.
The players gasped at the damage.
Holy cow! Hundreds?!
They knew that before, they had only dealt dozens of points to this BOSS!
“Seriously, there’s no level suppression now! We can really hit it!”
“Finally, we have output! I’ve finally contributed! I was about to lose all my confidence!”
“Let’s get it!”
The players had been stifled for too long, crushed under the weight of that infernal level suppression—they hadn’t even dared to breathe.
Not only had they been herded for ages, but they also felt like useless spectators at the back!
But now, all that pressure could finally be released!
“Even if I d*e here today, I’m hitting my quota!”
“With the Wind God here, I won’t d*e! Just keep hitting it!”
“Yeah! So what if the BOSS hits hard? We’ve got our big shots backing us up!”
For real! The Wind God had said they could go all out, so they would!
Now, with the Wind God as support, they were the main characters!
Left here were the elite players they’d pulled together, mostly rangers and archers.
This class was meant to be a single-target C. The combined output of so many rangers was explosive.
The number of players was just about right, so they wouldn’t interfere with each other—a perfect output group.
Even though the BOSS had shrunk by about half and was faster, it didn’t matter. Once I rain arrows down, it’s bound to take some hits.
The BOSS’s health was plummeting like crazy.
The live room commentators and the audience let out a long sigh of relief.
“Thank goodness the Wind God was sharp enough to see through this BOSS’s tricks.”
“Now it’s even better; the BOSS turned itself into a stepping stone for us. The level suppression we thought was the biggest problem? It just sorted that out for us!”
