Chapter 1274: Spider's Nest

Chapter 1274: Spider's Nest

An overwhelming amount of spiders appeared from all directions. In the blink of an eye, they surrounded Rhode and the rest. A huge spider trembled as it 'squeaked' and spat its breath. Just the look and sound of it numbed one's scalp. If one were caught off guard by such a large cluster of spiders, the outcome couldn't be any worse. Fortunately, after learning the true identity of the BOSS in front of them, the group had already prepared their response. Even though the Chaos Lord's wouldn't cast skills as regularly as a BOSS of Order, at least the specifics of its skills were clear to everyone. At that moment, when they saw those spiders surging in, the players also responded immediately.

"Maius! AI!"

Celestina raised her right arm and bellowed. Along with her yell, a huge scarlet magical ritual emanated on the flat ground. The spiders who stepped onto it let out wretched screeches. Their massive bodies swayed and crumbled onto the ground, shriveling rapidly. In the blink of an eye, the huge spiders with the round bodies shrunk like deflated balloons, turning into piles of dried, rotten corpses.

While Celestina was occupied in her attack, Rhode wasn't idle either. The moment he witnessed the spiders, he took two steps back instantly. He was nothing more than a peak level 85 player now and didn't have any advantageous resistance against physical attacks, which was why he maneuvered around the rear. As the spiders swarmed ahead, Rhode pulled himself together, gripping his sword and extending his arm immediately. Along with this action, an ocean blue card flickered and shattered in his hand. Shortly after, the little mermaid appeared behind him.

Upon witnessing the overwhelming mass of spiders, the little mermaid was so bewildered that she flipped around in the round water ball. But shortly after, she knew that her master was facing extreme dangers, which was why she stretched out her arm, widened her mouth, and blew.

"Phew..."

A strong gust of blue, chilly wind whistled across the pitch-black land, freezing the ground. In an instant, the land and massive spiders were covered in layer upon layer of white frost. Not only that, but transparent crystals also formed in midair one after another, freezing the spiders entirely within. Meanwhile, Rhode swung his arm and two mages beside him quickly raised their arms. They chanted under their breath, and the flattened ground ruptured. Razor-sharp, stone pillars burst skyward from the ground, like the teeth of ferocious monsters ripping apart the frozen spiders. Along with a string of loud cracks, the punctured spiders were torn apart and fell onto the ground in chunks of flesh.

However, Lapis and Lesa were the ones who surprised everyone the most. Rhode initially had no intention of sending them into battle. That was because players had their own unique style of battle. Although they seemed like a puddle of loose sand when attacking the BOSS and unlike unified armies in this world, which attacked in an orderly and serious stance, as a matter of fact, every player stood in the position that they were the most familiar with, which allowed them to unleash their most powerful strength at the BOSS. Moreover, Rhode was leading the elites of the elites, and all had strong camaraderie. On the other hand, Lapis and Lesa didn't have such comradeship. If they were to get involved, it might even be counterproductive instead. Furthermore, their strength also wasn't as powerful as the players, which was why Rhode didn't intend to let them join the battle. However, he still received a huge surprise from them.

"O' Stars..."

Gazing at the cluster of spiders, Lesa didn't say a word. Her adorable face also didn't change at all. She hovered in the air, raised the silver staff in her hand, and pointed ahead. Shortly after, hundreds of meteorites fell from heaven and landed on the spiders, enfolding the battlefield in explosions, rumbles, and glaring brilliance. Not only that, but Lapis also attacked at the same time.

"Watch this!"

Looking at the clutter of spiders, Lapis shivered instinctively. But what surprised Rhode was that this terrifying scene didn't scare her witless. On the other hand, she returned to her senses quickly, retrieved several rice ball-like, metal spheres from her cloak pockets, and tossed them ahead with force.

For Lapis, who basically had no arm strength to speak of, the metal spheres she threw naturally didn't fly very far. Judging from her shaky movements, Rhode expected the metal spheres to only land several meters away. But what happened next exceeded his imagination.

Swish———!

The instant the metal spheres left her palm, they let out the strange sounds of jets. The metal spheres spun, flying in completely irregular trajectories like failed tiny rockets, and landed straight into the cluster of spiders. The moment they struck the ground, something unbelievable happened.

Boom!

Along with this loud explosion, a flame column burst into the sky. Rhode witnessed scarlet rings rippling across the land with an enormous flame column in the middle. The squeaking and dashing spiders were instantly devastated by the red fire rings. They were neither blasted nor burnt to death, but were entirely shattered completely instead. Facing the ring of flames that swept across the land, the massive spiders were as though sand, annihilated in a puff of smoke!

"..."

Looking at this scene, Rhode couldn't help but twitch the corner of his eye. Even though the spiders weren't powerful, they were level 60 at the very least. Lapis wasn't even level 50 yet, so logically speaking, she would definitely lose in a one-on-one battle against one spider. But now... Lapis merely swung her arms and the damage she caused wasn't inferior to the AoE spell of a peak level 85 player?

Even though Rhode knew that Lapis was talented in making explosives, the sight of her hurling the round flying bombs in excitement reminded him of the Plane Destruction Bombs she produced. For some unknown reason, he felt like this innocent young lady was like a mad scientist...

Is it really true that geniuses are always alike?

"How dare you hurt my children!"

Julia blew her top at the sight of her spider army annihilated in the blink of an eye. She raised her head in wrath, bellowed, and spread her arms apart. A spiritual green light emanated on the surface of her massive body. In a loud boom, bursts of green fog erupted and engulfed the surroundings, catching Rhode's group off guard.

"Go to hell, all of you! Wahahaha!"

Looking at their plight, Julia couldn't help but burst into an evil laughter. That wasn't just an ordinary fog, but was poisonous fog coalesced from her essence! Any living creature would die after being shrouded by the poisonous fog as it entered their body. Their life essence would slowly enter her body and they would eventually turn into her possessions!

Lowly inhabitants of Order! It's time to die! And I will become your...

"Huh? How did that happen?!"

But just as Julia guffawed, she widened her eyes in disbelief at the green fog around her. At that moment, the poisonous fog had enfolded the entire garden. At a glance, the place was like an ocean of clouds. Logically speaking, inhabitants of Order had no chance of resisting and would die instantly from this attack. But Julia was bewildered because she didn't feel any energy surging into her body!

That's impossible. The flesh and blood of anyone who dies in my poisonous fog will heal my wounded body and restore my strength. But why...!

What exactly is...

"———!"

At that moment, Julia felt an immense pain in her hind leg. She let out a squeal and her huge body tumbled onto the ground. But what shocked her was that one of her hind legs was chopped off entirely!

How is that possible? In my poisonous fog, how are they able to move about freely and even attack me?

While Julia was flabbergasted, the green, poisonous fog had already scattered. The scenery revealed itself before her eyes once again. Looking at this scene, Julia couldn't help but widen her eyes in shock.

There were three flickering, defensive barriers that merged to form a gigantic pyramid, with Rhode's group leisurely standing in it. The rolling green fog was kept out thoroughly. No matter how hard it slammed onto the barrier, it just couldn't break through the defense.

What... What is going on?

Looking at this scene, Julia's mind went blank.

They have clearly used some way to stop my poisonous fog from infiltrating, but how did they know? There are warning signs before I release the poisonous fog. Even if their reactions are quick, it is impossible for all of them to avoid my attack!

"Go! Give your all and blast her to death!"

Rhode couldn't be bothered with what Julia was thinking. This wasn't their first time fighting her. The moment they witnessed her skin changing color, they retreated immediately, while clerics at the back released a poison-immunity enchanted field to envelope them. Rhode had to admit that this attack from Julia was indeed powerful. Many players became her victims when they challenged her. After all, not only was the green, poisonous fog devastating, but it could also replenish her health. Players often took out more than half of her health, only to suffer a heavy loss after she emitted the green fog. Not only that, but the more people died, the more her health replenished. In a single attack, Julia was able to recover 70 to 80 percent of her health. Facing such a BOSS, players faced the fate of being demolished. Although Shira and Little Five didn't avoid the poisonous fog, they were an undead and specter respectively, after all, and couldn't be more dead. That was why the poisonous fog didn't affect them at all.

Despite all that, there was still a way against this poisonous fog, just like how Rhode activated the poison-immunity enchanted field and gathered everyone to avoid this deadly attack. Not only that, but after releasing this ultimate skill, Julia would also enter a cooldown period. And now, she wasn't able to absorb the vitality of anyone and grew more exhausted instead. There wasn't a much better chance than this for Rhode!

"Everyone, go all-out!"

Rhode commanded, raising his sword high in the air. Shortly after, a card spun as it appeared at the tip of his blade.

Shatter!

The spirit bird expanded its wings and cried, metamorphosing into a bolt of lightning that attached to Rhode's blade. Rhode gripped the hilt and slashed from above.

Boom———!

A lightning blade ray exploded from his blade, striking Julia heavily. Electrical currents erupted, wrapping the humongous spider. Julia, who was struggling to stand to her feet, let out a scream and became paralyzed again. At the same time, Shira laughed heartily and raised the longsword with both hands, penetrating Julia's huge abdomen!

"Ahhhhhh!"

Along with Julia's blood-curdling screech, the scarlet longsword slashed a deep gash on her abdomen. Putrid blood spurted out of the wound as Julia suffered agonizing pain. Julia turned around, fluttered her arms, and grabbed the unbridled Undead Puppet. Julia squeezed her hands tight and in a loud crack, Shira was crushed like a ball of mud. Shortly after, Julia tossed the Undead Puppet aside abruptly and raised her arms again...

But at that moment, Icy Snow also lifted her arms and aimed at Julia's chest. A large light arrow coalesced and took shape in her hands. At the next second, Icy Snow released the arrow, and it punctured the enormous spider.

"———!"

The mighty impact blasted Julia backward, disrupting her next move. As she roared in a futile struggle, the overwhelming glow of blade rays and magic enveloped her completely.

Crack!

After a few moments, Julia plunged to the ground. Her body was riddled with scars from top to bottom. Under the relentless attacks by Rhode's group, Julia, who couldn't replenish her strength and failed to summon her children again, collapsed completely.

"No... I can't die... My nest... My children!"

Along with her hoarse snarl, Julia struggled in despair. But at that point, she was no longer a threat. Her useless struggles were meaningless to everyone. Looking at this scene, Rhode shook his head and sauntered toward her. Upon witnessing his approach, Julia's dimming eyes glinted once again.

"It's you! Inhabitants of Order! All of you shall die here! I will curse you with all my life...!"

But before Julia finished her sentence, Rhode's shimmering holy sword ruthlessly punctured her skull.

Immediately after, Julia let out a horrified shriek and her body faded like evaporating water, exuding a turbid, cloudy fog. In just a few moments, the huge spider was gone without a trace. All that was left before Rhode was a pile of white ash. But looking at the ashes, Rhode, however, gave a subtle look. He stared at the ashes for a moment, before turning to his group.

"Alright, who's gonna loot the corpse?"

Rhode asked.