Chapter 373 - 363: Role-playing a Game NPC 11

Meanwhile, Moira Lynch was submerged in the cold seawater, boredly playing with the fish that swam past.

She hadn’t expected the original form of the BOSS she was playing to be a sea conch. She could only revert to her human form upon being defeated; otherwise, she was stuck moving around in the conch’s shell.

’Why hasn’t anyone shown up yet?’

Bored, Moira Lynch controlled the BOSS, making it spit out the small fish in its mouth and then retreat back into its shell.

Because a BOSS was different from a regular NPC, the sea conch wasn’t Moira transformed, but rather a character she was controlling.

While waiting for players, Moira Lynch studied the BOSS’s skills and discovered a fun one.

This BOSS had a skill called Absorption. Activating it the moment an enemy was defeated allowed her to take one item from them.

So, to pass the time, Moira Lynch tested this skill on every player she encountered.

The sea conch’s movement speed was slow, so Moira Lynch relied on surprise attacks to take down her opponents in a single blow. Over the course of the morning, she had already collected a lot of good stuff.

Moira Lynch looked at the pile of equipment inside the shell. She’d just had Patience look it all up online, and if sold, it would fetch a huge amount of money.

Unfortunately, she was just an NPC now, and all these items would ultimately belong to the person who defeated her.

The distance from Verdane County to Little Fishing Village was considerable. If players were to travel on foot, it would take about two hours.

The path from Verdane County to Little Fishing Village was rugged and offered no other means of transport, leaving walking as the only option.

Of course, there was another route: by water.

Usually, people would choose the water route to save time.

But ever since the dark shadow appeared, the boats no longer dared to set sail.

To save time, Lily continuously used speed-boosting skills and items, finally arriving at the Little Fishing Village mentioned in her quest in just fifteen minutes.

Lily’s timing was perfect.

She hadn’t been in Little Fishing Village for long when she heard screams from nearby.

Following the sound, she saw a huge shadow drag several players into the water.

A moment later, the players were spat back out, but all of their items were gone.

The instant the monster appeared, Lily used her [Thousand-mile Eye] skill, so she saw clearly that the attacking BOSS was a sea conch with a vividly colored shell.

In Lily’s experience, shelled BOSSes like this usually had extremely high defense and were very difficult to damage.

However, that was only true for ordinary players, and she was no ordinary player.

Having spent years fighting all sorts of BOSSes, she had long since developed her own unique strategies for dealing with them.

But before that, she needed to carefully survey her surroundings.

The scenery around Little Fishing Village was beautiful. The beach was littered with a considerable amount of seafood left behind by the receding tide.

Previously, NPCs would have surely gathered it all up, but ever since the dark shadow appeared, no one dared approach this stretch of sand anymore.

If anyone did come, it was only players on a quest.

After all, players could resurrect even if they were killed, losing nothing more than some Experience Value.

Thinking of this, Lily suddenly realized that after swallowing the players, the sea conch BOSS had only taken their items and hadn’t actually killed them.

’It was hard to know what to make of that behavior.’

For an ordinary player whose equipment wasn’t worth much, losing it was no big deal. But for a player decked out in top-tier gear, like herself...

...if they encountered a situation like that, it would be better to just die.

After all, death only meant losing some Experience Value, but no amount of Experience Value could necessarily replace that kind of gear.

Meanwhile, Moira Lynch had also noticed Lily on the beach.

’This player seems different from the others. What is she doing?’

Due to her limited vision, Moira Lynch didn’t know exactly what Lily was doing, but she was certain of one thing: the player was here for her.

’As they say, the best defense is a good offense. She’s come right to my doorstep, so I can’t back down now. Time to get this over with.’

Okay, fine, she was actually just thinking about clocking out early.

Moira Lynch found a good angle and launched a fierce attack at Lily on the beach.

Lily reacted in a flash, dodging Moira’s attack.

Staring at the behemoth before her, she hadn’t even had time to read the BOSS’s name before it impatiently launched a second attack.

Due to its enormous size, every movement kicked up a massive splash of water.

A level 100 Azure Conch BOSS.

Normally, the level 80 Lily would be no match for it, but again, she was no ordinary player.

She twisted to evade the BOSS’s attacks, all while looking for the right moment to counter.

In truth, she could have counter-attacked immediately, but with other players lurking about, she had no intention of going through all the hard work of taking down a BOSS only to let them swoop in and reap the benefits.

She could handle this BOSS, but the other players were a nuisance.

After a moment’s thought, Lily decided to call her friends for help.

[Lily: Verdane County, Little Fishing Village. Level 100 Azure Conch BOSS. Hurry.]

A second later, a response appeared in the chat channel.

[AzureKite: Join my party.]

Lily quickly accepted and added a warning:

[Lily: There are other players here, so make sure to bring backup. Also, be careful—if this BOSS kills you, you drop your items.]

[Chestnut: I’ve heard about this one. The BOSS that steals player items. I was just talking about it on the forums. Didn’t think you’d find it already, Lily!]

Moira Lynch, meanwhile, was still trying to attack the player in front of her. Unfortunately, the Azure Conch’s movements were just too slow. It was built for defense, not offense.

Sitting in front of her screen, Moira Lynch watched the player jump and dodge in front of her, even making taunting gestures from time to time. Infuriated, she began maneuvering the giant body up onto the beach.

Its massive body rose completely from the sea, towering like a small hill.

The other players nearby were stunned by the Azure Conch’s massive frame. Some turned and fled, but many chose to stay, hoping to swoop in and claim the spoils after the two main combatants wore each other out.

Lily, however, wasn’t about to give them that chance. She baited the Azure Conch BOSS, luring it to attack the other players.

For these players, a level 100 BOSS was an overwhelmingly powerful opponent.

It didn’t even need to use any skills; its sheer size was enough to crush swaths of players.