mesbooks Chapter 77 The Illusion of Echidna
Chapter 77 The Illusion of Echidna
The golden mist that followed the disappearance of the serpent of greed receded as quickly as the tide.
The team members who had just been struggling frantically in their hallucinations stood still, their faces a mixture of bewilderment at surviving a disaster and unspeakable shame.
Lei Zhan silently picked up his shield, the crack on the shield surface, scorched by the Eye of Judgment, was clearly visible.
He glanced at the spot not far away where he had been hugging the stone and grinning foolishly, and the muscles on his old face twitched involuntarily.
"Instead of wasting time reflecting on life here, you should be thinking about how to fight the next one," Lu Yan's voice broke the silence.
He toyed with the legendary necklace he had just acquired, then casually tossed it to Su Yunqing, saying, "Take this; it restores mana."
Su Yunqing caught it instinctively, the icy touch making her shiver. She glanced down at the attributes and her eyes widened in surprise.
The core attribute of this [Tranquil Heart] necklace is "15% chance to not consume mana each time a healing spell is cast." For a healer like her who is constantly running out of mana, this is a lifesaver.
"This... is too precious." Su Yunqing wanted to return it.
"Take it, you can't spill it." Lu Yan waved his hand, not giving her a chance to refuse.
His gaze swept over the members of Teams Seven and Eight. "Heads up, Hydra is dying! Give it your all!"
His words were like a shot in the arm, rousing the previously dejected crowd.
Hydra's health had dropped below 30%. Its remaining three heads writhed uneasily, as if sensing the impending doom.
Without much tactical adjustment, the battle resumed.
The 20% health threshold was breached. The seventh head was severed.
The clone that landed this time was a giant python covered in crystal scales, the [Crystallized Guardian].
Its mechanism is simple and brutal: pure high physical defense. The scales are as hard as diamonds; even Zhao Lei's all-out, savage charge could only leave a shallow white mark on them.
"Switch to magic damage!" Xiao Qianyu made a quick decision.
Lin Chuxue's blizzard once again covered the entire area. Ice shards struck the crystal scales, producing a crisp clanging sound, dealing negligible damage. However, this high-frequency impact successfully coated the joints of the giant python's scales with layers of frost, effectively slowing down its movements.
Wen Yue switched to a crossbow bolt that dealt elemental damage, and each arrow was aimed precisely at the joint gaps covered by frost.
The battle turned into a drawn-out drag. All physical damage dealers retreated to conserve their stamina, leaving only magic users and a few members with elemental attacks to slowly wear down the crystal turtle. It took a full five minutes before the crystal turtle shattered in a series of explosions.
Lu Yan stepped forward and searched through the scattered crystal shards for a long time before finally standing up and shaking his head.
No fragments were found.
"It's alright, there are still two left," Xiao Qianyu comforted them, but a shadow fell over everyone's hearts.
Hydra's health is approaching the final stage of 10%.
The eighth head shattered before everyone's eyes, transforming into a slender Shadow Predator. This clone had no physical form, being entirely composed of shadow energy, and darted back and forth across the platform, constantly launching sneak attacks from various treacherous angles.
Its attack power is low, but it is extremely annoying. Each attack inflicts a "blind" effect on the target for 30 seconds, greatly reducing the hit rate.
For a time, the platform was filled with players waving weapons and shooting at thin air.
"Stop chasing! Stay in place and defend!" Lu Yan's command rang out again. "Su Yunqing, cast shields on everyone. Lin Chuxue, unleash Blizzard across the entire area, don't stop!"
If we can't hit it, we might as well not shoot at all.
Everyone retreated to a defensive posture, relying on Lin Chuxue's indiscriminate area-of-effect attacks to wear down the elusive shadow.
The Shadow Predator weaved through the blizzard, its health slowly dwindling. Finally, it let out a final, resentful cry and vanished into thin air.
Lu Yan went forward to search again.
The result was still disappointing. Apart from a few scattered legendary materials, the crucial fragment was still nowhere to be found.
The atmosphere grew somewhat heavy. Nine heads, now only one chance remained.
If the last head still doesn't shed any fragments, then this "unknown" quality item will never be able to be pieced together.
"Stay calm, fight for the last 10%." Lu Yan's voice was devoid of any emotional fluctuation, as if the two previous failures had no effect on him.
Lei Zhan and Zhao Leiguang exchanged a glance and then stepped up again.
They played more cautiously than ever before, and every block and every movement was textbook precise.
The health bar, at an almost stagnant pace, slowly but steadily slid towards the finish line.
1%...
0%!
The anticipated collapse did not occur the moment the health bar was completely depleted.
Instead of collapsing, the massive main body of the Hydra raised its last head.
A mournful cry echoed throughout the entire temple.
It wasn't the roar of a wild beast, but a cry filled with sorrow and resentment, piercing straight to the soul and making the hearts of everyone present clench.
A blinding yet not scorching pure white beam of light suddenly shone down from the fifty-meter-high dome of the temple, from the area cracked by the mountain collapse and the giant python.
The beam of light precisely enveloped Hydra's body, and gentle energy surged into its withered form like a tide.
Within the light, the Hydra's form began to undergo a dramatic change.
The enormous serpentine body gradually melted away under the beam of light, replaced by the slender, graceful upper body of a woman.
Her lower body was still a thick snake tail, but the scales had lost their original bluish-black color and shimmered with a holy silvery-white luster.
Her long, cascading hair danced in the beam of light, her face bearing a divine compassion, her eyes closed as if she had been asleep for millennia.
Everyone was so shocked by this sudden scene that they were speechless.
The Phantom of Echidna
【quality:???】
【grade:???】
A series of question marks is more alarming than any specific number.
"Everyone! Form a tighter formation! Protect Lu Yan!" Xiao Qianyu was the first to react and shouted sharply.
Without hesitation, Zhao Leiguang and Lei Zhan crossed their two heavy shields and placed them in front of Lu Yan.
The other members of the first squad quickly returned to their positions, surrounding Lu Yan completely and forming an impenetrable fortress.
Everyone aimed their weapons at the half-human, half-snake female phantom in the beam of light, as if facing a formidable enemy.
This aura far surpassed any legendary boss they knew. It was an absolute suppression emanating from life itself, as if ants were gazing up at the heavens.
Could this be the final boss of the "Lost Temple"?
The entire temple fell into a deathly silence, with only the beam of light shining silently.
In the distance, a rainbow bridge stretched from the sky to the ground, forming crystalline beams, but they had no time to admire its magnificence.