MMORPG: The Elementalist

*Whoosh!*

The centipede’s tail almost struck the tip of Qin Ruo’s nose when it swung past him. The sound of the cold, moving air fleeted by his ears and he could clearly feel the goosebumps popping up all over his body. He held his breath, too afraid to make even a single sound.

At that moment, Qin Ruo suddenly recalled an extremely dangerous thing…

The Stygianlock Centiking was a Tier 4 Overlord after all. It would definitely be capable of sensing his presence in the area. At that time, if the Stygianlock Centiking decided to command and alert its spawns to Qin Ruo’s presence in the corner, he would be dead for sure!

When he thought about that, beads of sweat instantly dripped down from Qin Ruo’s forehead. The sweat then fused into his body.

Hmm… this is really salty…

Fortunately, the party over there made a change in their plan. They sent down several Elementalists who were in charge of activating barriers to replace the Summoners, who had been tasked to lure the monsters.

The AoE Spells of the Tier 4 Elementalists were much more effective than the summoned monsters that were sent forward by the Summoners.

A brief moment after they approached the area, the Stygianlock Centiking swayed its antennae and launched two balls of dark, black flames. Along with a “pop”, the barrier cast by one of the Tier 4 Electromancers was directly shattered into pieces. A type of Thunder Element Defense Magic called the “Mirror Shield”, which was levitating right outside the barrier, shattered into the void as well.

The Electromancer trembled as the venom that was carried along with the black flames directly spread across his entire body. If the Radiant Priest at the rear of the formation could not cast Purification Aura and Sacred Heal on the Electromancer in time, there would be a casualty in the first round of official contact with the Boss!

At the same time, as the Stygianlock Centiking was taunted, the rage of the Tier 4 Overlord was completely ignited. It lifted the first half of its body a few meters high up into the air (like half of its body stood up straight). Along with an unpleasant hiss, a thin, earthy-yellow light screen descended upon the body of the eight-meter giant centipede and blanketed it. Under the light of the Illuminating Crystals, a regal magical color was refracted from the light screen—the Boss’ Defensive Barrier had been activated!

In the cave, over ten newly-respawned, giant centipedes were behaving as though they had received a command from the Stygianlock Centiking. They scurried across the ground in the dark, crawling straight towards the several Elementalists, who had been daring enough to taunt their boss’ demeanor.

However, the Ironback Centipedes were obviously unable to get closer to the Elementalists. They were destroyed by the party’s firepower from the rear of the formation while they were only halfway towards their targets. Only the Chromatic Centipedes, Thousand-legged Centipedes, and Level 44 “Silverstream Centipedes” were capable of posing a threat to the Elementalists by launching their ranged Magic Attacks.

But the monsters were completely powerless before the party after all…

With the Radiant Priests supporting at full strength, the amount of damage that the Tier 4 monsters were able to cause on the Elementalists was the bare minimum. It did not take long before they were wiped out clean.

At that time, the Stygianlock Centiking had finally begun to wriggle its gigantic body as it moved away from the Potion materials.

The several Elementalists and Summoners down below quickly turned around. But a few Earthramparts suddenly rose from the ground in an instant and their escape routes were completely sealed off! Soon after, sharp rocks shot up from the ground beneath their legs in the form of spikes. The whole thing looked like a bamboo forest.

The gray rock spikes came and went very quickly as they returned back to their original form in the ground, leaving behind blood stains that were unpleasant to the eyes. The several Elementalists, Summoners, and even Summoned Beasts died under the Stygianlock Centiking’s AoE Spells.

The immense power of the attack instantly calmed the battlefield, which was just beginning to heat up. The players from the party who were within dozens of meters away from the Boss remained dead silent. They were completely stunned by the Stygianlock Centiking’s battle power.

On the contrary, Qin Ruo was much more relaxed. He did not pay too much attention to the battle in front of him. The moment a couple of the Ironback Centipedes left the area, he did not say a word. He turned his head around, “grabbed” the last two bunches of Black Dragonfly Herbs, and put them into his backpack. He then activated his Aquamorph and headed eighty meters toward the corner on the right-hand side.

Hehe, take your own sweet time in the battle. I’ll dig up all of the Potion materials in your place.

Four bunches of Black Dragonfly Herbs and two pieces of Earth Essences should at least be worth 4,000 gold coins. This trip of his turned out to be very lucrative!

However, a human’s desire was endless. Not to mention, Qin Ruo was currently trying to raise a sum of money he urgently needed. He would naturally not pass on any opportunity that could earn him money. While he was running madly towards his next destination to begin his second round of gathering herbs and materials, he had also begun to reason if he should risk trying to “steal” the Potion materials that were being guarded by the Stygianlock Centiking.

Of course!

The Stygianlock Centiking was right beside the item, so obviously he did not stand a chance to get it.

Even if he could wait until the Stygianlock Centiking engaged the Clan party in an all-out battle, that group of Bandits would also probably be ready to cook up a scheme to obtain it… so that… sounded insane!

***

Just as Qin Ruo hid in the darkness to gather the Potion materials again, there was a huge change in the party’s movement a distance away. This time, they sent ten Beastblood Berserkers, most of their Elementalists, and most of their Bowmasters down to the surface of the ground, seemingly ready carry out their mission by force!

The Stygianlock Centiking, which had remained in a “peaceful state of mind” seemed to be aware of the danger that was bound to come. It commanded the centipedes that had just respawned to launch their assaults on the party from all directions, while it took the initiative to leave the spot it was entrenched in. It looked like a giant python that was swimming in the water as it rapidly charged forward in an ‘S’ pattern, right at the row of Beastblood Berserkers, who were at the forefront of the party’s formation.

The players instantly noticed the movement of the Boss.

“Buffs!”

“Berserkers! Charge!”

Several types of positive Buffs were cast upon the Beastblood Berserkers immediately. Soon after, they were cast with the Aeromancers’ Aeromorph (It increased Movement Speed and Attack Speed by 5 %).

The 10 Beastblood Berserkers moved about in neat fashion. After they let out a raging roar, they activated their Berserk. Without any hesitation, they brought their shields up as they charged at the Stygianlock Centiking. Their brave, death-defying spirit matched the Stygianlock Centiking’s imposing manner.

The Beastblood Berserkers who were all dressed alike did not possess immense attack capabilities on their own. Their Class was also deemed to be a very “cash-burning” Class. Nonetheless, Beastblood Berserkers had tremendous amounts of HP, and their Defense Attributes were extremely high as well. So, they were sought after by many Clans in the game.

Almost every powerful Clan would specially train a group of players from that Class, forming a bunch of Tier 4 Beastblood Berserkers. If they were equipped with equipment made especially for the Beastblood Berserker Class, their HP could reach more than 3,000 points. During Boss battles, as long as they had enough Radiant Priests supporting them from the rear, they could be treated as moving meat shields—while the Priests were alive, it would be very difficult to kill them.

Although the Stygianlock Centiking had strength close to that of a Tier 5 Boss, it would not be possible for the Stygianlock Centiking to kill the Beastblood Berserkers with an attack or two. They had over 3,000 HP and were being supported by the Radiant Priests after all.

The ten Beastblood Berserkers were divided into two groups as they locked themselves in the middle of the Stygianlock Centiking’s attack route. They used their own bodies and armor to “forge” a meat shield. Under such circumstances where the Priests continuously cast their Healing Spells upon the Berserkers as the Berserkers themselves also gulped down large bottles of HP Potions, the Beastblood Berserkers were able to firmly tank against the Tier 4 Overlord’s assault.

Excluding some of the players who were annihilating the nearby monsters in the area, most of the Elementalists on the rear focused their firepower on the barrier outside the Stygianlock Centiking’s body in an orderly manner. The Stygianlock Centiking got bombarded with attacks until it swayed left and right non-stop. The progress of suppressing the Boss seemed to be progressing smoothly… as if laying siege to a Boss was just the same as an ordinary situation…

Qin Ruo had only dug up two more herbs before he saw that the boss had gotten involved in an all-out battle with the party. He could not help but subconsciously set his eyes on the plant, which was located by the border of the area where the Illuminating Crystal was.