“Damn, that fucking thing is ugly! Stall it, keep it at bay, and focus on the guards first! When it’s alone, we can surround and kill it easily!” Alex screams loudly. His plan isn’t exactly thought-through or foolproof, but it’s the best he can come up with on the spot.

    Alex immediately uses Magoroth’s Rage Arrow lvl 4 with 5 Rage Illusion stacks, combining it with Shu and Fire Arrow lvl 4 to unleash 26 fiery arrows onto his enemies—his strongest attack with devastating potential.

    The spiders stare at Alex’s arrow, which looks easy to dodge, but immediately panic as it splits into a broader storm of arrows—less deadly individually but impossible to avoid.

    Despite their extreme instincts, Alex’s arrow storm hits them all, dealing decent damage.

    The group desperately unleashes all their ranged attacks and abilities, but the Acromantula Champion, accompanied by four of the strongest-looking Acromantulas Alex has ever seen, manages to break through their defenses.

    Alex sees one of the women from Alicia’s team wielding his [Sword of Pluto] and [Shield of Pluto], managing to block one of the Acromantulas.

    Tereza loudly screams, “Stupefy!” which manages to stun one of the Acromantulas. She follows up with a Flipendo and an Incendio, then quickly transforms into her full animal form, turning into a monstrous bat. She grabs the stunned and burning Acromantula and pulls it high into the air.

    The soldiers and the youth group manage to engage the other two Acromantulas in combat, leaving only the Champion.

    The Champion rushes at Alex, who curses, clearly unhappy to be dealing with the boss.

    “I’ll back you up!” Ben screams as he stands beside Alex, wielding a double-barrel shotgun.

    “Fuck! Get it to move away. If it backs off, I’ll use my secret weapon!” Alex shouts, activating Sealion’s Icewing Embrace lvl 4 and drawing his [Enchanted Runeblade]. He rushes to engage the Champion.

    Alex casts Thunder Sword lvl 4, mainly to activate his [Nimbus Cloak], unwilling to get hit even once by the enemy’s bites, slashes, or spear-like thrusts.

    The Acromantula Champion tries to bite Alex, but Alex swiftly steps back. It then swipes its legs at him, but Alex dodges again, even jumping over a sideways slice.

    Seeing a small opening, Alex quickly steps in and, right before the magic on his sword disappears, manages to stab it briefly into the Acromantula’s face, dealing minor damage. The frost aura damage barely has any effect on it.

    “Alex, it’s not taking much damage. There’s a heavy layer of corruption on top of it. It’s working like a shield,” Rishi yells, unleashing a Fire lvl 4 that damages it slightly.

    Ben, also helping out, fires his shotgun at its face, causing it to shriek in pain.

    “Your instincts are correct, just stall! We can only overwhelm it, don’t take any risks! Time’s on our side,” Rishi cautions from behind.

    At the same time, Jewel unleashes Thornback Poison Spit lvl 3, followed by Thornback Web Shoot lvl 3 onto the Champion.

    Seeing it back off slightly, Alex decides to risk it and grabs two Annihilation Grenades, sets the timer to just one second, ignites them, and throws them at the Champion with all his might.

    The grenades explode just before making contact, detonating directly in the spider’s face.

    …

    Instead of backing up, the Acromantula Champion unleashes a painful, shrieking roar. A cloud of corruption erupts from its body, shrouding it in darkness, and it shoots the entire mass of corruption toward Alex.

    Alex jumps to the side, managing to dodge the initial blast, but the corruption explodes where he stood, unleashing a massive wave of corrupted energy. The explosion hits Alex and Ben, while Rishi, standing further back, barely manages to avoid it.

    Alex stares at the Acromantula-Champion, which is now seizing up and twitching.

    “THAT TOOK A LOT OUT OF IT! GET BACK, EVERYONE!” Alex screams, pulling out more grenades as the group backs up. He throws them at the momentarily stunned spider.

    BOOM

    …

    BOOM

    …

    BOOM

    …

    BOOM

    …

    Alex desperately throws his grenades at the enemy, the explosions echoing through the forest.

    Slowly, the other group members also direct their attention to the Champion as the other Acromantulas are quickly vanquished.

    Tereza transforms back into her hybrid form, using basic attacks and various spells from the air to focus on the Champion. She also casts Episkey on Alex, slowly healing him.

    The soldiers fire at the Champion, while Rishi casts one Fire spell after another, giving up on trying to control an enemy of that level with his mind abilities.

    Jewel continues to stay away from the Acromantula-Champion but repeatedly bombards it with webs and acidic poison.

    The Acromantula-Champion struggles to move, overwhelmed by the combined attacks of dozens of players.

    Alex sighs in relief.

    The Acromantula suffers, being bombarded by various attacks from all sides. It struggles on the ground, bleeding profusely. Alex’s grenades have also severely crippled its legs.

    “Careful! If this thing’s going down, it might unleash a wave of corruption! Those with low HP, stay back. Use anything you have to shield yourself!” Alex screams, worried not only about himself but also the group.

    As 18 players and 1 spider unleash their combined attacks against the Champion, it slowly succumbs to its wounds.

    Alex decides to use all his Aura, conjuring another Magoroth’s Rage Arrow lvl 4 and combining it with Fire Arrow lvl 4. He pours his entire Aura into the arrow combining Ko and Shu and unleashes it onto the dying spider.

    Suddenly, Rishi yells—a rarity for him: “It’s detonating now! Get away!”

    Every single player runs as fast as they can. Tereza, being kind, carries one of the younger girls, flying away with her.

    The Champion detonates, and a massive wave of corruption explodes outward, hitting the players.

    Alex heaves a sigh of relief, the damage easily tolerable. As he looks around, he sees wounded players, but none are seriously injured.

    The players regroup, and Tereza casts Episkey on everyone, as it’s such a cheap spell to cast.

    Everyone looks at her, as if she were an angel, despite her bat-wings, making her look more like a succubus.

    Alex looks toward the center of the explosion, the dust slowly settling. He and the other players stare at the torn corpse, spotting a large chest glowing with a purple spark.

    He tries to calm down, but greed is clearly visible in his eyes, he nods at Rishi, who predicted a situation like this.

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