He continued to climb in altitude; below was a blur of chaos, but judging by the blood seeping from the murk, that Fish Spirit was likely swallowed whole.
"This creature... seems hard to solo."
Su Yu was well aware of his capabilities. Taking on such a high-level BOSS solo was extremely risky, especially underwater where the BOSS held the advantage. The moment the water clouded, he was practically blind, making combat nearly impossible.
However, not engaging a BOSS when found would be foolish. After a brief hesitation, he opened communication and sent a message in their team's group chat:
"A BOSS is here, come quickly!"
Then he shared the information he'd just gathered, to which Zhuang Zhuo immediately responded:
"Coordinates!"
Su Yu quickly surfaced, breaking through the water:
"Base's 10:30 direction, about 320 kilometers."
"Received."
"On our way."
In less than five minutes, a Cyan Wood Boat arrived, and four people jumped off, shouting:
"Where is it?"
"At the bottom."
"Can you lure it out?"
"Not really, the creature seems to be some kind of soft-bodied worm, hiding in the mud at the bottom. We'll have to engage it directly down there."
"Hmm..."
The team hesitated for a moment, then Zhuang Zhuo waved his Hundred Gu Banner with a grin and said:
"What's there to ponder? Just charge in. Anyway, we have our own Gu swarm, even if we suffer losses, we can recover quickly."
"Agreed."
Having made their decision, the five of them jumped into the water together.
They dove down quickly, reaching the bottom, where Su Yu pointed to a patch of water still murky:
"Right at the bottom here."
Zhuang Zhuo immediately unleashed the Hundred Gu Banner, releasing waves of Red Flame Flying Centipedes.
Beside him, Shi Ning summoned a hundred Crimson Serpents.
Similarly, Meng Chen also summoned a hundred Red Flame Flying Centipedes.
The Gu insects Gu Zhiqiu commanded were Blood-bearded Mosquitoes. Though not as powerful as the Crimson Serpents and Red Flame Flying Centipedes, he had amassed over four hundred of them.
Once the Gu insects were summoned, Shi Ning directed the five to six meters long Crimson Serpents to spread out and explore the lakebed.
"Bang!"
The murk on the lakebed exploded again, and Shi Ning immediately shouted:
"Two of my Crimson Serpents are missing."
"Attack!"
The myriad Gu insects swarmed into the murk. Soon, a dark current surged, and a massive shadow sprang forth.
It was the two segments of worm body with a near two-meter diameter, stretching and retracting over thirty meters as it maneuvered through the water. It had a gigantic open mouth, within which layers of densely packed teeth were clearly visible.
From the worm's body, rings of expansion rapidly ascended towards the mouth, releasing invisible air waves that burst in the water tens of meters away like air cannons, shattering the Gu insects caught within.
"Now's the time."
Su Yu drew out the Seal of Mountains and Rivers, channeling a burst of mana-infused energy into it. The seal flew, rapidly enlarging to the size of a villa, crashing down like a meteor into the lake.
"Boom!"
The chaos erupted in all directions, rendering visibility impossible. All that was visible was an immense damage number of 1500.
Su Yu decisively activated the additional Daoist Skill: Mountain and River Seal on the Seal of Mountains and Rivers, attempting to pin down the Mutated Two-headed Worm.
But the worm's level was too high, and its power too great. After just two seconds, it overturned the seal, releasing an air cannon blast. Su Yu's protective energy shield shuddered violently, its defense reduced by 4700 in an instant.
Luckily, the thirty-third layer of the Qi Refining Heart Skill's protective energy shield had a defense of 9900, bravely withstanding this bombardment.
Dodging to the left to leave his current position, he reached out and retrieved the Seal of Mountains and Rivers, then raised his hand to release a wide purple energy palm, infused with Purple Essence Qi Strength, slamming down.
-2450
A giant damage number exploded from the murk as Su Yu unhesitatingly pointed his sword, launching the Ice Soul into the fray.
The flying sword weaved through the murk, soon finding the worm's body, and estimating its size and shape in his mind, he maneuvered the sword along it by feel.
-124
-123
-131
A series of damage numbers rose, but they were lower than he had anticipated.
The defense was too high; even without thick carapace or scales, the tough skin still absorbed a significant amount of damage.
Meanwhile, Zhuang Zhuo and the others directed their Gu insects into the murk. Though they had located the target, breaking through its defenses proved difficult, resulting in nothing but single-digit damage numbers.
However, the murkiness did not affect the Mutated Two-headed Worm. Its massive body stirred around, with each of the two heads continuously spewing energy blasts, taking down one Gu insect with every attack.
The level difference was too vast, whether it was the two to three meters long Red Flame Flying Centipede or the fist-sized Golden-bearded Mosquito, all ended up being instantly killed.
If it were in the past, they certainly couldn't have held on.
Now, there's enough Gu insects, no matter how many die, it wouldn't hurt at all.
Countless Gu insects surrounded the twin-headed worm, drawing its attention, while the Ice Soul Flying Sword cut back and forth at the base. Amazingly, even though he couldn't see inside, he could accurately find the target by intuition.
Every fifteen seconds, Su Yu unhesitatingly raised his palm to release a Purple Essence Qi Strength.
-2460
This entity stayed in one place without moving; as long as he found its core, every strike was bound to hit.
This move, as his Qi Refining Skill level increased, had become increasingly terrifying in power, becoming his strongest burst technique.
Every fifteen seconds, as the magic cooled down, it was another unhesitant palm strike down.
In three short minutes, he had struck twelve times, constantly activating the Seal of Mountains and Rivers, and during the interval threw down five Celestial Thunder Pearls from his hand, delivering around 51,000 damage. Combined with the accumulation from the Ice Soul and the bites from numerous Gu insects, nearly sixty thousand Qi and Blood had been consumed, with over twenty thousand remaining.
"Bang!"
Nearby, the lake water around Shi Ning exploded violently, and the blue Treasure Pearl suspended above his head flickered, with the protective Treasure Light on his body twisting almost to the point of breaking.
He immediately channeled Mana into the magical treasure to replenish defense, prepared to reposition, but just as he moved, the surrounding lake water exploded once more.
The protective Treasure Light shattered directly, and the blue Treasure Pearl atop his head cracked and fell.
"Damn, the boss has gone berserk."
Shi Ning, left with almost no health, quickly turned to flee, shouting a warning.
But he didn't need to say anything; everyone else could sense that the Mutated Two-headed Worm, once severely injured, had dramatically increased its speed of spewing air cannons. Su Yu reminded:
"Keep moving, don't stand still."
He finished speaking and turned to deliver another Purple Essence Qi Strength.
Coincidentally, just as the Mutated Two-headed Worm's energy blast came, the purple Qi Palm exploded in midair.
Just after sidestepping, the place where he was standing erupted in a watery burst.
He took out a Top-grade Spirit Recovery Elixir to restore his mana, then once again cast the Seal of Mountains and Rivers, quickly activating the Mountain and River Seal.
This time, it lasted only a second before being overturned.
He unhesitatingly withdrew the Seal of Mountains and Rivers; the Ice Soul turned close to the boss's base, and six points of damage instantly skyrocketed.
"Bang! Bang!"
A Red Scaled Snake and a Red Flame Flying Centipede both exploded into lumps of flesh.
A second later, two more muffled sounds echoed as more than twenty Blood-bearded Mosquitoes gathered together burst into mincemeat.
"Damn it, the losses this time are huge."
In the boss's berserk state, the attack speed was too fast, with two energy blasts every second, mostly resisted by the insects' lives.
Fifteen seconds later, another Purple Essence Qi Strength followed by a Seal of Mountains and Rivers delivered four thousand damage.
Without hesitation, he withdrew the magical treasure and dashed away, relocating and continuing to wear it down, and when the time came, another combo.
Repeating this cycle, finally, in one round, a Purple Essence Qi Strength slammed down, and a warm current surged into his body.
32,000 killing experience, 11 points of Dao Achievement.
"Finally dead."
Shi Ning, Meng Chen, and others withdrew their Gu insects, cursing quietly:
"Damn it, the losses this time are severe."
"Let's go down and see what loot there is."
A group of people flew down, feeling around in the murkiness for a while before finding the body.
"Oh my, how can there be no loot?"
Even Su Yu was stunned:
"How is this possible, how can an 82-level boss have no loot?"
"It can't be, right?"
"It's true, there's no loot orb in sight."
"Could it be underneath?"
Meng Chen pointed to another section of the twin-headed worm's body extending deep underground and said:
"Let's collect the body first and see."
"I'll do it."
Shi Ning reached out, placed his hand on the body, and stored it into the Sumeru Space, immediately leaving an empty hole in its place, causing the lake water to pour in, only to rebound a second later, a thick burst of spiritual energy spewed forth, prompting everyone to take a deep breath.
"Such rich spiritual energy."
"Looks like there's something special underneath."
"Let's dig down and have a look."