No longer feeling as confident as it had when it first terrorized the young Catkins, the jumping spider decided to play smart and jumped toward the forest, using the trees to hide itself from its targets.
"Don’t follow it!" Leo ordered, surprising the Catkins because they didn’t know that golems could talk.
Ignoring the teenagers’ dumbfounded looks, the first Oathkeeper hurried to release the Catkins who had been trapped by the monster’s sticky web.
Using brute strength, he freed the captives, allowing them to rejoin the battle.
Alex listened carefully to Dim Dim, who knew perfectly well where the Boss Monster was hiding.
The young man was waiting for his Taunt to finish its cooldown before provoking the monster to get out of its hiding place.
The scary part about Alex’s Taunt skill was that he didn’t need to see his target. As long as he had used it on his target once, it would become susceptible to further Taunts as long as it was within his range.
After Leo freed the last Catkin, he ordered them all to stand at the center of the clearing so he could protect them if the monster suddenly attacked from its hiding place.
Lavinia glanced at Alex, who was looking at her as if he had something on his mind.
"Do you need me for something?" she asked.
"Do you have anything that can deal a lot of damage to that Boss Monster?" Alex asked back.
"I do have something," Lavinia answered. "But I need to get close to it."
"Good." Alex nodded. "I’ll create an opportunity for you."
The young man then explained his Skills to the young lady. She quickly understood what he wanted from her.
"Very well," Lavinia said. "As long as you can give me an opening, I can make it happen."
Suddenly, Lioren, who had been listening to the two of them, appeared beside Alex.
"I still don’t like you," the Catkin admitted. "But I’m thankful that you arrived to help us at this time. I’m sorry if I did something to offend you in the past. All I want you to know is that I plan to fight alongside you in this battle, so you can trust your back to me."
Lioren glanced at the shield on Alex’s left arm and remembered the stories of the first Oathkeeper.
The drawing of Everguard was something every Catkin had seen when learning about their tribe’s history.
Although no Oathkeeper had appeared for the past hundreds of years, the legacy he left behind was still passed down from one generation to the next.
"Very well." Alex raised his fist towards Lioren. "I’ll entrust my back to you."
Lioren nodded and fist-bumped the person he hadn’t expected to come to their aid when they needed it the most.
Dim Dim’s shout reminded everyone that the Boss Monster was about to make its move.
Almost as soon as the Catkins heard the Dim Sum God’s warning, dozens of web balls descended from the sky, forcing them to separate from each other.
"Careful!" Leo shouted. "It plans to cover the ground with sticky webs to limit our movements."
Alex had no plans to let that happen. With Dim Dim’s help, he ran closer to the spider’s hiding spot.
"Come out, you cowardly spider. Face us like a Boss!"
< Taunt [EX] activated! >
An angry screech answered his Taunt. A few seconds later, the Mutant Boss descended upon him after jumping from its hiding spot.
Lavinia, who was in on the plan, also ran alongside Alex the moment he made his move.
Now that the monster had finally reappeared, she took out a monster core from her storage ring and hurled it at the spider without hesitation.
The moment the monster core left her hand, it glowed bright red until it reached its limit.
A loud explosion sent reverberations through the surroundings, forcing Alex to dodge to the side before the Boss fell on top of him.
White smoke swiftly blanketed the area, preventing Lavinia from seeing if her attack had worked.
"Dim Dim!" Dim Dim pointed inside the white smoke, and Leo fired Stone Bullets in that direction.
He hoped his attacks would land on the monster’s body and deal extra damage to it.
Suddenly, from within the white smoke, eight eyes glowed bloody red. Everyone could now tell where the spider was.
But for some reason, Alex had a bad feeling. He trusted his gut and backed away with Lavinia.
"Everyone, be careful!" he shouted. "Something doesn’t feel right!"
The words had barely left his lips when he saw something move from within the white smoke.
A moment later, the guardian golem standing near him was blown away.
Alex instinctively raised his shield in front of him. Right after, the sound of something hard hitting his shield spread through the surroundings.
The young man then coughed out a mouthful of blood because the impact from the blow rattled his entire body.
His Knockback Immunity prevented him from being pushed back as long as he stood on something solid like the ground.
But that also meant that he had to tank much of the aftershock. He felt like he had been hit by a truck and wished that he could have been blown away instead.
"Dim Dim!" Dim Dim jumped high before throwing two brittle vials at the monster.
Just as the brittle vials were about to land on their target, the Dim Sum God was slapped away by the Boss Monster’s foreleg and sent flying through the air.
"Dim Dim!" Alex shouted when he heard the little one’s pained cry after it was hit by the monster.
A split second later, a screech filled with anguish and frustration reached his ears. The brittle vials had broken on the spider’s head, and its eyes were now in stinging pain thanks to the chili and pepper mix.
Alex finally understood why Leo had been blown away by the Boss Monster’s attack earlier.
The red-striped zebra jumping spider’s body had turned completely black. It also glinted like it was made of metal.
Blinded by Dim Dim’s attack, the monster was now recklessly waving its forelegs, as if trying to deter those who wished to take advantage of its weakened state and come closer.
It didn’t take long for Lavinia to realize that her magic core grenade hadn’t caused as much damage to the monster as she had hoped.
"Lavinia, do you have a healing potion?" Alex asked with a pale expression.
His question snapped her out of her daze. She promptly took a healing potion from her storage ring.
"Here," she said as she handed the bottle to him.
"Thank you." Alex didn’t hesitate to gulp the potion down and recover from his injuries.
When he was done, he once again looked at the monster. It was still attacking randomly and screeching in pain.
"Do you have any more tricks up your sleeve?" Alex asked hopefully.
"I have one more magic core grenade with me," Lavinia answered. "But, as you can see, my first attempt didn’t deal any damage to it."
"If its exoskeleton is protecting it from external attacks, then we should detonate your grenade inside its body," Alex stated.
"I have thought of that, but how can we do it?" Lavinia asked. "The spider is faster and stronger than before. I’m not confident I can accurately throw the core into its mouth."
Just as Alex was about to reply, he heard a determined voice.
The Dim Sum God had returned with a red bruise on its white cheek.
Its body was also dirty from crashing into the ground, but its eyes were filled with fighting intent.
"Dim Dim!" it continued.
"Are you sure?" Alex asked after hearing Dim Dim’s plan. He wasn’t sure if the strategy was feasible because he didn’t know if the buff of Colossal Break would apply to the Dim Sum God.
"Alright, I understand." Alex nodded. "Lavinia, please give Dim Dim the magic core grenade."
The Catkin princess agreed and handed the core to the little guy, who gratefully accepted it.
Dim Dim then jumped on Alex’s head, hyping itself up for a revenge showdown with the mutant spider that had dared to slap it away.
Despite his uncertainty, Alex trusted Dim Dim, so he agreed to do little one’s plan even though it seemed like a suicide move that could potentially end their lives.