"Hiss—!!!"
A shriek sharp enough to pierce eardrums, like the most venomous curse, exploded in the dark and silent Howling Cave!
It wasn't just the alarm of a single Venomous Banshee, but a death chorus of dozens of elite monsters, filled with resentment and killing intent!
"Buzz—!"
Lin Mo felt his brain rumble, as if struck by an invisible, immensely heavy hammer. Everything before his eyes twisted and spun violently. The area-of-effect crowd control from [Sharp Howl] instantly plunged him into a 1.5-second [Dizziness] state!
His body was out of control.
His vision was a blur.
The shadow of death, at this moment, surged in like cold seawater from all directions, completely engulfing him!
Below, the dozens of disturbed Venomous Banshees displayed ferocious and greedy expressions on their pale green faces. Their hair, made of venomous snakes, writhed wildly, and their eyes, filled with resentment and hunger, locked onto the motionless figure in mid-air, like a living target!
The next second, an overwhelming barrage of [Venomous Arrow]s, glowing an eerie green, rained down like the fiercest summer storm from all directions, targeting Lin Mo's position!
Where the arrow rain passed, the air corroded with a "sizzling" sound, and even the rocks on the cave walls were eroded and peeled away by the terrifying poison.
This was a certain death trap!
There was no space to dodge, no possibility of survival!
[Mission Remaining Time: 12 minutes 05 seconds]
In the upper right corner of his vision, the blood-red countdown continued to tick mercilessly, as if offering a final farewell to his brief yet brilliant gaming career.
Is it over?
No.
Just a split second before the overwhelming arrow rain was about to turn him into a porcupine, in the last 0.1 second of the 1.5-second dizziness, Lin Mo's pupils, which had been unfocused due to the dizziness, suddenly re-condensed with a terrifying glint!
His brain was still in a state of Chaos, unable to control his body. However, his will, his battle will, tempered like ten-thousand-year-old profound iron through countless near-death experiences, at this moment, surpassed the system's restraints and forcefully issued a single command!
"[Poison Shadow Shift]!"
Buzz—!
An imperceptible shadow ripple suddenly spread out, centered on Lin Mo's body!
His body, at that critical moment, just 0.01 seconds before the first Venomous Arrow was about to pierce his heart, suddenly transformed into a pure, insubstantial shadow, silently merging into the shadow of the stalactite beneath his feet!
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The next second, hundreds of Venomous Arrows slammed precisely into the spot where he had just been!
Terrifying poison energy exploded, and the violent blast almost collapsed the entire cave! The hard stalactite that Lin Mo had used as his last foothold, in the face of this destructive power, was as fragile as a biscuit, instantly blasted into a sky full of dust!
- MISS!
- MISS!
- MISS!
...A dense stream of "miss" notifications frantically flooded Lin Mo's vision.
He was like the calmest reef in the eye of a storm; no matter how the world outside crumbled, he remained unharmed.
Five seconds of invincibility felt like an eternity to him at this moment.
He could clearly "see" the Venomous Banshees below, after losing their target, letting out confused and irritable shrieks. They scurried around madly like headless flies, turning the area into a death zone with indiscriminate [Venomous Arrow]s.
Five seconds later.
When the invincibility of [Poison Shadow Shift] ended, Lin Mo's figure had forcibly entered [Stealth] mode, and silently appeared in a shadowy corner on the other side of the cave.
The crisis was temporarily averted.
Lin Mo's back was completely drenched in cold sweat. He leaned against the cold rock wall, his chest heaving violently, gasping for breath.
Those few short seconds were the closest he had come to death since entering "epoch"!
If his reaction had been even a hair slower, if his understanding of the divine skill [Poison Shadow Shift] had been even slightly shallower, he would have already triggered the terrifying tenfold death penalty, waiting in the Shadow Sanctuary for his soul's Wither with endless regret.
"Hoo…"
Lin Mo slowly exhaled a long breath, gradually suppressing the lingering tremor of surviving a catastrophe. His eyes regained absolute calmness, even colder and more dangerous than before!
He slowly raised his head, his gaze piercing the darkness, looking down at the group of "prey" still frantically searching for him, a death god's smile playing on his lips.
"Did you… have fun just now?"
"Then now…"
"It's my turn."
He did not rush to reveal himself, but like the most patient hunter, he reined in his aura to the extreme. He watched the mercilessly ticking countdown in his vision, his brain rapidly analyzing the current situation.
[Mission Remaining Time: 10 minutes 33 seconds]
Only ten minutes remained.
Forcing his way through was no longer possible. These Venomous Banshees had an extremely wide perception range and were interconnected; once discovered, it would be an endless siege.
The only way was to kill!
To carve out a bloody path!
To clear away all these "obstacles" in front of him in the shortest possible time!
A crazy and daring plan quickly formed in his mind.
His gaze, like the most precise radar, swept over the dozens of wandering banshees below, clearly imprinting their positions, distances, and gaps between them into his mind.
Immediately after, his figure moved.
He did not choose to attack the lone banshees on the periphery; instead, he ghost-like, silently, Stealthed towards the densest, most central area of the monsters!
Fortune favors the bold!
He was playing a game of thrills!
Soon, he silently Stealthed to the intersection of three Venomous Banshees' patrol routes. This was an extremely dangerous position; if any banshee's orientation changed even slightly, he would be instantly exposed.
But this was also precisely the perfect "stage" for his plan!
Lin Mo half-crouched in the shadows, slowly pulling out a bottle of the cheapest "Inferior Burning Oil" from his backpack, which he had bought on his way here.
He unscrewed the cap and carefully poured the viscous oil onto the ground beneath his feet.
After doing all this, he glanced at another wave of five banshees approaching in the distance, a cold arc forming on his lips.
Now!
"[Poison Blade]!"
"[Poisoned… Poisoned Weapon]!"
With a thought from Lin Mo, his bronze dagger was instantly covered in a deadly dark green glow.
Immediately after, he made a move that even his mentor, Karsas, who was observing in the dark, couldn't understand.
He didn't attack any of the banshees; instead, he fiercely stabbed the poison-laced dagger into the puddle of burning oil on the ground!
"Pfft!"
The dagger entered the ground without a sound.
But the next second, an invisible ripple, centered on the dagger, suddenly exploded!
[Poison Burst]!
What he detonated was not the poison on any enemy, but the [Poisoned Weapon] effect he had just applied to his weapon!
Boom—!!!
The puddle of inferior burning oil on the ground was instantly ignited by the terrifying poison energy impact of [Poison Burst]! A ball of flames mixed with dark green poisonous fire shot skyward, forming a huge ring of fire that instantly enveloped the three wandering Venomous Banshees, as well as the five others who had just approached!
"Hiss—!!!"
Screams of extreme agony instantly echoed throughout the entire cave!
The scorching of the flames, combined with the Corrosion of the poisonous fire, instantly sent these eight Venomous Banshees into a berserk state!
-150! (Flame Damage)
-50! (Poison Fire Damage)
-150! (Flame Damage)
-50! (Poison Fire Damage)
...A series of damage numbers cascaded like a waterfall from above their heads!
This was Lin Mo's plan!
Using the hidden mechanism of [Poison Burst] to detonate any poison effect, he forcibly created a chaotic battlefield, gathering all the previously dispersed banshees together!
"It worked!"
Lin Mo's figure had already retreated into the safety of the shadows the moment of the explosion. He looked at the eight banshees frantically struggling in the sea of fire, their hatred firmly locked onto the center of the flames, his eyes gleaming like a hunter's.
But this was not enough!
His goal was to clear the entire area!
"[Venom Spray]!"
Lin Mo didn't pause for a moment. Streams of dark green venom, like the most precise guided missiles, flew over the wall of fire, accurately hitting one burning banshee after another.
-88! [Poison -41!]
-92! [Poison -41!]
-85! [Poison -41!]
...Every attack of his was adding a deadly "seasoning" to the real "feast" that was to come.
One layer, two layers, three layers... Eight Level 25 elite banshees, in that small circle of fire, endured the double torment of fire and Deadly Poison, their Health rapidly dropping. And the layers of the gray [Endless Poison Source] icon on them were stacking up at a terrifying speed!
Five layers!
Ten layers!
Fifteen layers!
When the poison on all the banshees stacked to the twenty-layer limit, Lin Mo knew the time for reaping had come.
[Mission Remaining Time: 08 minutes 12 seconds]
He slowly emerged from the shadows, looking at the gradually extinguishing sea of fire and the eight Venomous Banshees within it, whose Health had already fallen below one-third and whose Defense was greatly reduced due to the [Corrosion] effect. A death god's smile played on his lips.
He slowly raised his hand and, once again, softly snapped his fingers.
"Then, taste despair."
[Poison Burst]!
Buzz—!!!
A destructive ripple, many times more powerful than the one in Moonlight Forest before, exploded outwards, centered on the eight Venomous Banshees!
-2550!
-2610!
-5200! (Critical Hit!)
-2588!
...In an instant, eight devastating four-digit damage numbers, like eight nuclear bombs exploding simultaneously, bloomed brilliantly in the cave!
Those eight arrogant Venomous Banshees didn't even manage to let out a final Wailing before their ethereal bodies were instantly torn apart, vaporized, and turned into the purest experience points and a sky full of flying loot in the face of this irresistible terrifying power!
Instant kill!
Another instant kill!
And it was an area-of-effect instant kill!
[System Notification: You have killed [Venomous Banshee] (Elite) x8, gaining 25600 experience points!]
[System Notification: Your level has increased to 18!]
A golden light flashed, and Lin Mo's body was filled with even greater power. He glanced at his greatly increased experience bar, then at the front, where the ground was covered with loot of various colors from the area-of-effect instant kill, but there was no joy on his face.
His gaze calmly cast deeper into the cave.
He knew the real test was yet to come.
Without the slightest hesitation, Lin Mo didn't even bother to pick up the drops. His figure flickered, activating [Stealth] again, and rapidly Stealthed towards the unknown darkness.
He wanted to finish this race against death as quickly as possible!
The rest of the journey became exceptionally smooth.
The Venomous Banshees on the outer perimeter of the cave were almost all wiped out in that brilliant "setting oneself on fire" combined with "chain Poison Burst" strategy. Lin Mo proceeded unimpeded and soon reached the depths of the cave.
This was a natural grotto even vaster than the entrance hall. From the ceiling hung countless crystals glowing an eerie green, illuminating the entire space like a bizarre emerald palace.
And in the center of the grotto, there was a lava pool with churning magma. In the center of the pool, on a dark, unknown rock, a plant burning with dark red flames and shaped like a lotus was quietly blooming.
That was the [earth fire stamen]!
A hint of joy flashed in Lin Mo's eyes.
But the next second, his pupils suddenly constricted!
Because, in front of that [earth fire stamen], a figure was quietly suspended.
It was also a Venomous Banshee, but her size was a full circle larger than ordinary banshees. Her pale green skin now strangely showed dark red patterns like flowing magma. The snake eyes in her long, venomous snake hair no longer burned with an eerie glow, but with scorching flames!
A pressure several times more terrifying than all the previous banshees combined descended like a physical mountain!
[Wailing Queen Medusa] (Rare Lord)
Level: 28
Health: 50000 / 50000
Skills: [Queen's Shriek], [Molten Venomous Arrow], [Petrifying Gaze], [Blazing Snake Hair]
Description: A Venomous Banshee that has guarded the [earth fire stamen] for years, she absorbed the energy of the earth fire, underwent an unknown mutation, and became the unique ruler of this cave!
A Level 28 Rare Lord!
Lin Mo's heart instantly sank to the bottom.
He never expected the Guardians in the depths of this cave to be a BOSS of such high level and rank!
[Mission Remaining Time: 05 minutes 12 seconds]
Time was running out.
And the enemy before him was the strongest being he had faced since entering the game!
"Intruder…"
Wailing Queen Medusa slowly turned around, her flame-burning eyes locking onto the Stealthed Lin Mo, her voice hoarse and malicious.
"Offer your soul… for your greed!"
The moment her words fell, her head full of fiery venomous snakes suddenly let out a hair-raising hiss, and an overwhelming barrage of [Molten Venomous Arrow]s, like a volcanic eruption, shot towards the shadows where Lin Mo was hiding!
The battle was about to begin!