Before Lila lay a swarm of ants, each one the size of a young bull. They were clustered around the massive carcass of a locust-like creature, tearing away at its flesh with powerful mandibles.
[Carrion Ant]: Level 30
HP: 500,000
Physical Attack: 6,200
Magical Attack: 8,500
Physical Defense: 4,200
Magical Defense: 6,300
...
[Elite Carrion Ant]: Level 32
HP: 15,200,000
Physical Attack: 8,900
Magical Attack: 12,200
Physical Defense: 6,500
Magical Defense: 8,500
...
Technically, Carrion Ants weren't combat units. Their primary function was to sanitize the area around the nest, devouring corpses before they could rot and spread disease to the queen. Individually, they weren't much of a threat.
But they never traveled alone. They moved in perfect squads of eleven: ten regulars led by a single, larger elite. Given these stats, any player lacking a full set of Level 30 gear was on a suicide mission. A single nest like this one would require a full raid party of at least fifty players to clear. If you ran into a larger swarm of several squads at once, you might as well just lay down and die.
It was no wonder that even after a week inside the new dungeon, players were still stuck in the outer zones. There were fewer than a thousand level-30 players in all of Thaloria, and half of them were aligned with House Myrden. To make matters worse, the damn things seed to respawn.
Outside the swarm's periter, Kael jerked his chin toward the ants.
Lila nodded, hefted Dragonbane, and launched herself forward.
[Earthshatter Leap]
The impact sent a shockwave through the ground, stunning the entire cluster. Seizing the window where they took 1.5x damage, Lila swung her greatsword.
[Dragon Slash]
Three waves of blade energy surged from her weapon.
-109,872 (primary target, hit by all 3 waves)
-32,485
-31,785
…
At the sa instant, Kael’s [Phantom Barrage] rained down.
-75,871
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-234,513 (Critical Hit)
...
One of the ants reeled as Kael’s shot landed a critical hit, its health bar plumting by nearly half. Another one in the back rank was even unluckier. It was struck by two piercing procs and the skill damage, with all three strikes triggering triple-damage crits for a total of 680,000 damage—a clean one-shot.
Lila’s breath hitched at the sight of Kael’s damage numbers. She’d thought with Dragonbane and the Inferno Striders, she was finally catching up to him. She was wrong. The gap between them was still a fucking chasm.
She raised Dragonbane, deflecting the swarming ants' attacks, and flowed into her next skill.
[Bladebound]
Lila beca a blur of motion as she charged into the fray. Since neither of them had any skills that generated extra threat, the ants’ aggro was determined purely by damage output. Kael’s insane numbers from that one [Phantom Barrage] had instantly drawn the attention of the entire squad.
However, as Lila landed, her Inferno Striders triggered their passive ability, [Seismic Slam], slowing all enemies within a twenty-yard radius by 25% for five seconds. Their frenzied charge slowed to a crawl.
Kael, unruffled, picked them off with casual precision. His upgraded Galeharrow now loosed three [Splintering Arrow]s instead of two, aning each shot hit four targets including the primary arrow.
Just as the slow effect wore off, Lila activated [Blazing Charge], the skill from her Inferno Striders. The sudden movent triggered [Seismic Slam] again, reapplying the slow and locking down the ant squad.
Together, they made short work of the regular ants, leaving only the Elite standing. With 15 million HP, it wasn't going down in a few hits. Its aggro was locked firmly onto Kael. The surrounding man-high grass was a perfect hiding spot for other ant patrols, so Kael didn’t dare reposition.
In fact, he didn’t need to.
The Elite Carrion Ant was completely immobilized, bound tightly where it stood. This was the work of Kael's upgraded skill. The old [Silkbind Shot] just rooted an enemy’s feet for two seconds. The new version from his Galeharrow bound their entire body for three, preventing them from moving or attacking.
At first, Lila cautiously kept Dragonbane raised, ready to defend herself. But after a few seconds of observation, she relaxed. The bound Elite couldn't move a muscle, its mandibles just clicked open and closed as it hissed in frustration.
But the Elite was still a miniboss, and its arsenal wasn't limited to physical attacks. Suddenly, it let out a piercing shriek.
So, [Silkbind Shot] didn’t interrupt spellcasting.
In response to the cry, the ten ant corpses they had just dispatched began to stir, lurching back to their feet. Their eyes were hollow, devoid of life.
[Undead Carrion Ant]:
HP: 200,000
Physical Attack: 11,000
Physical Defense: 8,200
...
It was a necromancy skill, sothing like [Raise Undead]. Who knew how long the resurrected ants would last. They had less health, but their attack and defense stats were even higher than before. They imdiately focused their aggression on Kael, charging him with the single-minded purpose of tearing him apart.
Kael couldn't have cared less. His defense was high enough to ignore them; he’d just let the splash damage from his [Splintering Arrow]s deal with them as collateral damage while he focused on the Elite.
-60,875 (Kael’s auto-attack)
-19,781 (Lila’s auto-attack)
-199,872 (Kael’s critical hit)
…
Against the immobilized Elite, the two top players on the server burned it down with ruthless efficiency.
System: You have slain Carrion Ant. 200,000 EXP gained.
System: You have slain Undead Carrion Ant. 100,000 EXP gained.
System: You have slain Elite Carrion Ant. 2,000,000 EXP gained.
A single nest, and they'd netted five million experience points. The leveling speed was even more insane than in the Land of the Behemoth. Of course, for the average player, just surviving here was next to impossible.
Thanks to their high Luck stats, the Elite dropped two level 30 legendary items and two socketable gems.
[Moonstone]: Level 30 Uncommon
Increases Water-type magic damage.
[Sapphire]: Level 30 Uncommon
Increases maximum mana, reduces casting cost.
Gems that were nothing special here would cause a bidding war back in the Mythrosia Empire. Gem drops there were incredibly rare, and a single level 30 Uncommon gem could sell for $20,000 on the open market. Certain rare attributes, like a resistance-boosting level 30 Uncommon Diamond, could go for $50,000 or even $100,000.
Players hesitated to socket their level 25 gear, but level 30 was a different story. Even Kael was only level 34. The average player would be stuck in the 30-35 level range for a long ti, making gems a fantastic power boost.
After looting the corpses, Kael and Lila pressed onward. But as they moved through the tall grass, a dark shadow detached itself from the gloom and began to tail them.
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