Lin Yiyi watched, completely dumbfounded.
Facing such a terrifying giant enemy, Annan charged forward with a feint and then there were three flashes of silver light, one second per slash.
Karni had an arm and a leg chopped off.
Such a huge figure, such fearsome strength... even engulfed in flames, he seemed to have no ability to counterattack at all. As soon as they engaged, he lost a leg and toppled forward due to his unstable center of gravity—
"—Holy cow, awesome!"
"—Is this what CG-level combat power looks like..."
"—Are you the Swordsman, or am I the Swordsman?"
"—I’m done for, now I kind of want to get in there and have a go..."
The players knew more or less that "Tan Juan Geraint" had the professional rank of a Swordsman.
But now, he was using Arthur’s body!
Although Arthur was an adult, strong and robust.
He was a pure Wizard!
"—How does he dare to charge in wearing cloth armor?"
"—No, does armor even matter in front of a boss this size..."
"—Light armor is like paper, heavy armor is folded paper. It’s all the same; one swipe and you’re dead, no difference."
"—There’s a difference, cloth armor weighs a little less..."
"—So cool, I’m in love."
"—Clarify, are you in love with Arthur or Tan Juan?"
The barrage was exceptionally joyful.
But only the four players who felt Karni’s terrible pressure up close knew what kind of combat power this little lord had.
They even vaguely thought:
The little lord brought them here to advance, seemingly in need of help.
But if it’s an enemy that even he felt pressured by...
What was the point of having the four of them help out?
While the players were still marveling and spectating everything, Annan had already dismantled all four of Karni’s limbs.
Taking advantage of the momentum, Annan thrust the holy silver sword into Karni’s back, nailing him firmly to the ground.
After doing this, Annan paused for a moment, bent down, and carefully checked...
Good, he’s still surprisingly alive.
Though he had completely lost his sanity, his Curse Binding ability seemed to have further improved.
...Could it be that he needed this to land the finishing blow?
Annan looked at the three poisoned daggers in his embrace, pondering.
He turned back and called out, "You can come over now."
Except for Tasty Goose, who hadn’t run too far, the other three obediently came running from behind the carriage.
"Have you all decided?"
Ignoring the giant struggling on the ground after losing his limbs, Annan turned and asked the players, "What professions do you all want to advance to?"
"...Eh? We can choose?"
Lin Yiyi was somewhat surprised.
Annan raised an eyebrow, revealing a very sunny smile, "Of course, why else would I tell you to think about what you’re suited for?"
Wandering Child and Tasty Goose exchanged a glance.
Then the goose spoke, "The child and I want to become Swordsmanship Instructors."
They instinctively felt that it was probably the most orthodox technical profession transition.
Of course, their specific reasons for choosing this profession were a bit different.
Tasty Goose chose it because he was quite skilled at technical sword fighting.
Whereas Wandering Child simply recalled the man from a game who carried five swords on his back.
"I want to advance to Guardian."
Lin Yiyi timidly raised her hand, hesitantly glancing at the demon, "Of course... anything else is fine too."
Jiu’er answered without a second thought.
No one seemed surprised by her answer.
Then he extended his hand to Jiu’er, signaling for her to hand over her sword.
Jiu’er hesitated for a moment, glanced at the demon sealed to the ground by the silver sword, then obediently handed over her sword.
—Therefore, Annan plunged the sword into Jiu’er’s abdomen.
Jiu’er’s eyes suddenly widened.
Although she had a rough idea of what Annan was about to do, she felt that if she really tried to dodge or parry, she seemed unable to escape this sword.
As the merciless blade was pulled out, she saw her health instantly drop to 22%, and it kept slowly declining.
Then Annan turned to Lin Yiyi and said slowly, "I’ll attack at a slow pace... you try to parry."
No sooner had he spoken than he struck with his sword.
This was a very standard Winter Sword Technique.
But when Annan broke down the movement and slowed it down, parrying it seemed not so difficult.
Lin Yiyi instinctively made a parry.
Even though Annan was using all his might to attack, Arthur’s strength wasn’t that great. Given her preparedness, Lin Yiyi could easily and accurately block most of Annan’s attacks, although she was hit at times.
Just in case, Annan continued his assault more than thirty times until Lin Yiyi had successfully blocked his attacks eleven times consecutively, then he slowly withdrew his stance.
Is there really such a maneuver?!
The onlooking players’ imaginations went wild at once.
But what they didn’t know was that even Annan himself didn’t know if this would work...
However, he was very clear.
From the previous battle with the Delicious Wind Goose, they probably wouldn’t get the chance to be "on the brink of death" and "parry" when fighting this boss who had entered its second transformation. Annan felt his strength exceeded twenty points... If they were to face the enemy head-on, probably only Annan himself wielding an axe could fight him.
That’s the only thing to try.
Anyway, it costs nothing. Why not give it a shot...
Annan said, handing back the weapon to Jiu’er and signaling the other three to attack the demon, "Kill him."
As he spoke, he pulled out a throwing knife from his bosom.
He casually tossed it, striking the demon in the eye.
Immediately the spell on the throwing knife was triggered.
The demon let out an agonizing scream unlike any before—his many wounds began to deteriorate rapidly.
The three players exchanged glances, deeply feeling the thrill of riding the coattails of a powerful NPC ally in dungeon raids...
—Tan Juan is awesome! (Voice break)
But even as they wielded their swords trying to sever the demon’s head, they were nearly unable to penetrate its defenses. The head was incredibly hard, only the places that had been recently cracked by sudden heating and cooling could be breached by the sword.
Watching the demon being nearly cruelly dismembered, the bullet comments criticized:
"—Is this really a simple dungeon? Why do I feel it’s harder than the gallery?"
"—Obviously it’s much simpler than the gallery... You face the boss right away and it’s done after you beat it."
"—Easy for you to say, if Tan Juan wasn’t so badass, would it be this easy to beat?"
...No, actually, it really was easy.
Annan glanced at the bullet comments, saying nothing more.
The difficulty of this dungeon lay in how to work with your teammates to find Karni and then how to persuade the Wizard Arthur to kill the demon while ensuring that you don’t die in the process if you entered here solo.
Arthur’s magic orbs could use "Scorching Gaze" for reveal, and its attached power was enough to bring Karni to the brink of death with just one hit; the throwing knife enchanted with "Amplify Pain" could deal immense damage to the demon covered in wounds. And with the boost from his armband, Arthur’s own spell power was far more formidable than Annan’s...
From the very beginning, Karni stood no chance.
He knew this himself.
Even if he had his peak condition from when he was alive, wielded countless cursed relics he wouldn’t have been able to hold at his peak, and even managed to get a great resistance to fire, his not-so-remarkable physical qualities and combat skills had been further improved. Even after his invisibility was removed, he could fill his erosion meter to transform a second time...
...But even with a second transformation, he still couldn’t kill Arthur.
Both were of bronze rank, yet their strengths were worlds apart.
This was the most painful truth that Karni could never deceive himself about, yet didn’t want to confront—
The fact that "he was a waste."
"... ’Witch-hunter,’ huh."
But in this nightmare, who was hunting whom?
As the players peeled off the demon’s skin layer by layer, dismantled its ribs, and shattered its heart—the nightmare finally ended.
In the last moment of the nightmare’s end, Jiu’er, with a very swift reaction, turned her sword around and stabbed herself in the abdomen with all her strength—
Due to the Curse Binding of the Berserker, they were required to die together in the final battle.
This requirement was quite difficult.
But if stabbing oneself also counted as dying together, then it became somewhat simpler...
Jiu’er, with exceptional ferocity, ran the sword through her abdomen, piercing to the hilt, almost impaling herself, even stirring it around.
Annan, watching from the side, even felt a twitch in his eyelids.
...Why did this stab feel more substantial than the one he made?
What’s the deal with this woman...
The next moment, the whole world twisted inward around the demon.
They looked on, somewhat apprehensive and uneasy, while Annan calmly closed his eyes, waiting for the nightmare to end.
In a very intense sensation of dizziness, the players lost consciousness.