MMORPG: The Elementalist

Because of Burning Rose’s and Dinosaurcerer’s hesitation, the summoning tragedy had allowed the Earth-Enchanted Spider to be freed temporarily, and this almost caused the annihilation of the entire team…

However, it was also due to this unexpected tragedy that everyone was now in full alert. After Violetmoon Devilite resurrected Burning Rose, the ten-man party focused their effort in the fight and dared not slack for even the slightest.

Qin Ruo first condensed yet another three Frostramparts as a precaution, and then released his offensive spell against the spider. At the same time of exhausting the Boss MP through Mana Drain, Qin Ruo also used physical attacks on the monster using Darkfrost Sting and Compressed Frost Bullet. Slayer’s Heart remained focused and prepared to repress the Earth-Enchanted Spider whenever it attempted to retaliate. He would not allow the Boss to charge its spell under his watch. Little Apple’s and Brother Da’s attacks were not very effective against the Boss, so they could only serve as the supporting attacker. They also remained on high alert to prevent something like Summon Gate from happening again.

On the other hand, while Dinosaurcerer maintained a constant Magic Attack output, Burning Rose and Little Arrow stopped attacking from range and stood far behind Qin Ruo. Both of them locked their sight on the Earth-Enchanted Spider at the center of the battlefield and stood by with full concentration. Meanwhile, they entrusted the Bandit Gold Digger Babe to guard the rear end of the gallery.

Once they heightened their vigilance, the Earth-Enchanted Spider did not stand a chance against them!

Time elapsed slowly as the fight carried on…

Although the Earth-Enchanted Spider summoned Blackjaw Spiders several times throughout the battle, the cautious Little Apple, Brother Da, and others at the peripheral had prevented the minion monsters from damaging the Frostrampart Formation.

As soon as they would see Blackjaw Spiders, they would immediately unleash thunderous Magic Scrolls and attacking skills!

Qin Ruo also helped to block the Blackjaw Spider by manipulating the Frostramparts…

After five minutes, the humongous body of the Earth-Enchanted Spider flattened like a deflated balloon under the watch of the ten astonished players! Its flat body kept shrinking and shrinking…

To their surprise, the internal part of the Earth-Enchanted Spider was actually nothing but air.

The giant drill hung on the spider’s back, which seems to penetrate any mountain at this Mythical Battlefield, had now lost its support and squashed its body.

As the Earth-Enchanted Spider’s body deteriorated and its life lapsed away, its eight metal-knife-like legs lost its sparkle too. The legs fell flat on the floor as the heavy metals on its back squashed its body. Stinky body fluid flowed out to the surrounding floor and quickly dried up.

***

Upon receiving the notification on killing the Earth-Enchanted Spider, Slayer’s Heart withdrew his Pazuzu’s Warhammer and crouched down on the gold coins that dropped all over the place. He picked up the equipment dropped by the Boss and shouted to his comrades, “Pick the items dropped from the Boss first, be quick!”

Since Scarlet Bauhinia lasted two waves of spider attacks and did not experience the third wave, they could only logically deduce that the third round of attack was going to appear soon right after the end of the second one! There was not much time left, they had no choice but to prioritize the most valuable items.

As Slayer’s Heart finished his sentence, the other nine members joined in to gather their loot.

At such moment, Qin Ruo used his Elemental Perception to scan the location of the loot. He dashed near the spot where the Earth-Enchanted Spider’s drops were at and collect the reward while he instructed Dinosaurcerer to go further back for more equipment and the Mana Core hidden within them…

Suddenly, Qin Ruo was accidentally scratched by a row of sharp spurs that were protruding from the spider’s crushed body.

“Eh?”

Though he was not injured, Qin Ruo stopped what he was doing while his eyes fell on the flatted back of the spider. He then reached out his hand to touch the spurs he had just come in contact with.

‘It feels hard and cold!’

An idea popped in his mind urging him to knock the spur with his Frostburst Staff. To his surprise, the resulted resonance sounded very much metallic ….

‘This is made from metal!

‘The more than a hundred spurs that line the outer body of this Earth-Enchanted Spider are all metal!’

Qin Ruo was greatly startled by this discovery and his eyes burned with spirit. Without further delay, he climbed up onto the back of the spider’s corpse and reached to the front of the giant, heavy black drill.

Qin Ruo’s action immediately attracted other’s attention.

“Little Qin?”

None of them intended to stop Qin Ruo, though. Slayer’s Heart frowned and recalled Qin Ruo’s subconscious action and realized something. He, like Qin Ruo, took a quick examination on the spider’s corpse, including the eight “robotic legs” that were as sharp as a sickle, albeit it had lost most of its sparkle now.

Brother Da also acted on a whim and took his gold longsword to knock on the Earth-Enchanted Spider’s leg.

Clang!

The leg vibrated with a metallic echo. Brother Da, Slayer’s Heart, and Violet Orchid were all pleasantly surprised and understood the true intention behind Qin Ruo’s action.

“Who has learned Gathering? Come gather fast. This body is full of treasures,” Slayer’s Heart shouted.

Unfortunately, besides Qin Ruo, Violetmoon Devilite was the only one left in the party who knew Gathering. Moreover, Devilite’s Gathering was only at Novice Rank. After trying a few times, the system notified that her skill level was insufficient to harness such high-grade materials.

As a result, they could only let Qin Ruo do the Gathering by himself. In the meantime, they hurried to retrieve as much loot as possible.

***

Acquired Grade 4 Metal, Ancient Darksteel, 10-point Quality

Acquired Grade 4 Metal, Ancient Darksteel, 10-point Quality

“…”

Qin Ruo was able to extract a large piece dark steel from the drill at the spider’s back every fifteen seconds, and the same system notification would then appear. He was joyful and excited, but at the same time he was also let down.

‘The Earth-Enchanted Spider itself is indeed a big piece of treasure!’

Qin Ruo had a keen observation. This drill was definitely the most valuable material on the spider’s body. Due to its giant size, it was impossible to extract it in such a short span of time.

The Boss’s respawn time was merely five minutes. Based on this rate, he could only manage to gather twenty Darksteel at best while the rest of the materials would be gone.

‘Sigh…’

The spur lining of the spider’s body must be at least a Grade 5 Metal. Not to forget the sickle-like metal legs; this would yield a lot of high-grade materials as well.

If only everyone else had Gathering at Master Rank. Even though it’s impossible to completely harvest the Earth-Enchanted Spider’s corpse, at least we would be able to gather most of it. We can only helplessly watch as the system recycles these untouched materials soon.

‘Ugh! Such a waste!’

***

Five minutes had since passed…

The spider’s corpse finally disappeared together with the materials Qin Ruo greedily desired. In Qin Ruo’s hand laid the very last Ancient Darksteel, 10-point Quality.

“Such a waste.” Qin Ruo sighed.

“Waste? Let me see… Damn! Grade 4 Ancient Darksteel! You are such a greedy brat! You’ve looted so many Grade 4 Metals and still grumble! Be contented my Ruo Ruo! Don’t be such an ungrateful being.” Brother Da took away the Darksteel from Qin Ruo’s hand and criticized him as he furrowed his brows.

Brother Da came to an abrupt stop and raised his sluggish fat face toward Qin Ruo.

“Ruo Ruo…” His voice was rather shaken and it crept Qin Ruo out.

“Hmm?”

“The spurs on the Earth-Enchanted Spider, and those legs… Could those be Grade 3 Metals?”

Brother’s Da delusion almost made Qin Ruo fumble…

‘Grade 3?

‘What kind of stupid joke is this?

‘The spider is just a Tier 4 Elite Boss. The twenty pieces of Grade 4 Ancient Darksteel were the best it could offer thanks to the extra drop rate at this Underground Chamber. If there was a Grade 3 material, this place will definitely already be wiped clean by players!’

Nevertheless, Qin Ruo still replied using a despicable tone, “Perhaps.”

Just as he spoke…

“Ah!!!” An extremely tragic shriek was heard coming out from Brother’s Da mouth…

‘Take that!’

Qin Ruo gloated over Brother Da’s regret with a sarcastic prayer as the latter was banging his head against the wall.

‘Heheh. Who asked you to criticize me just now? Now you know what regret tastes like.’

As he laughed at his close friend, Slayer’s Heart tapped his shoulder.

“Let’s return to the city.”

“Oh?” Qin Ruo was stunned by the command, but then he quickly came back to his sense.

“In these past few minutes, luckily not a single spider has appeared to disrupt us. The only thing is why did everyone stop collecting the dropped items? There are still a handful of equipment lying on the floor!”

After he raised his doubt, Slayer’s Heart replied with a broad smile, “Most of us have used up our potions. Plus, our backpack can no longer fit in more stuff… Let’s get back to the city.”

Violet Orchid also came over and said with a nod, “The difficulty of this Underground Chamber seems to have increased by a great margin. We will surely encounter a Tier 5 or greater Boss in the next wave, which could be a Tier 4 Overlord. We can’t fight a Boss with such limited resources. Let’s come again next time, since we already had a fruitful trip this round!”

Speaking of this, she looked meaningfully at Slayer’s Heart’s direction with a smile. The latter burst into laughter and took out a Pet Egg out of nowhere. He placed the egg in front of Qin Ruo and said, “Look, Little Qin…”