stonecrandall Chapter 73, First Head Severed, Tidecaller
Chapter 73, First Head Severed, Tidecaller
The moment Zhao Leiguang stepped into the Hydra territory, the darkness inside the temple's main gate came to life.
The nine snake heads attacked simultaneously, without any sequence of attack.
Three projectiles descended from above, slamming into the center of the platform like battering rams; the remaining six moved along the ground, flanking from both sides, weaving together a strangling net with no blind spots.
The wind howled, and a fishy smell filled the air, completely churning the air on the stone steps.
"Well done!" Zhao Leiguang roared, advancing instead of retreating.
He crossed his two heavy shields in front of him, and the Earth Pulse Set instantly shone brightly.
A thick wall of energy rose from the ground, precisely blocking the three falling snake heads.
The violent impact caused Zhao Leiguang's feet to plow two short scratches into the stone bricks, but he remained motionless.
Immediately afterwards, he activated the pulse core, and his whole body transformed into a blurry shadow, dashing left and right within the strangulation circle formed by the six snake necks.
Instead of retaliating, he used the impact and parry of his shield to firmly draw the hatred of all the snake heads to himself.
Su Yunqing's Gift of Yao Guang was already in full operation, and the gentle green light transformed into a visible shield, layering on Zhao Leiguang.
The snake fangs scraped against the shield, sending up a series of sparks, but they couldn't even budge the outermost layer.
"Don't rush the output, control the pace."
Xiao Qianyu's calm voice rang out in the channel. She herself was the best embodiment of this statement.
In her hands, the Crimson Lotus Goddess Spear was no longer a fierce, stormy attack, but a precise thrust like a venomous snake spitting its tongue.
She only struck during the brief moments when the snakes' necks intertwined and opened up gaps, each time the tip of her spear accurately struck the Hydra's massive torso.
Dark red withered marks lit up layer by layer, silently weakening the foundation of this legendary behemoth.
Hydra's health bar was slowly and steadily dropping towards the 90% mark at a rate that was visible to the naked eye but not particularly fast.
The moment the health bar precisely exceeded the 90% threshold, the snake head closest to Zhao Leiguang suddenly rose up, letting out a short hiss, before being actively severed off by the main body's claws.
The severed head tumbled through the air before crashing to the edge of the platform. There was no blood, only a large amount of slime splattering everywhere.
The snake's head, which had fallen to the ground, swelled violently like fermenting dough, its scales peeling off and its bones reorganizing, transforming into a completely new and independent monster in just a few seconds.
It was smaller than the original snake head, and its shape was more humanoid. It held a staff made of coral and bones.
Tidecaller
[Quality: Legendary - Clone]
[Level: 55]
At the same time, Hydra itself entered a brief three-second invincible state.
The Tidecaller raised his staff high, letting out a sharp hiss.
The dark red seawater on both sides of the temple moved in response, as if lifted by an invisible hand, turning into two giant waves that crashed onto the platform.
When the waves receded, countless crustaceans and other marine creatures were left behind on the platform.
Crabs, lobsters, and all sorts of unidentifiable shellfish swarmed towards the crowd, their claws snapping and making a "crackling" sound, like rocks coming back to life after the tide has receded.
"Seventh team, eighth team, push forward!" Lei Zhan gave the order and led two teams to meet the monster horde.
Amidst the flashing blades and the powerful bursts of newly donned equipment, the dozens of armored monsters at the forefront were instantly torn to shreds.
However, the summoning speed of the Tidecallers far exceeded their clearing efficiency, with a new wave of monsters surging onto the platform from the sea almost every ten seconds.
Soon, the formations of teams seven and eight began to be squeezed, and their space to move became smaller and smaller.
Lu Yan's gaze didn't linger on those little monsters at all.
On his terminal screen, two sets of data were rapidly updating—the Tidecaller's real-time health and the time interval between each time it activated its summoning skill.
He discovered a hidden pattern.
The Tidecaller is covered by a water-like protective layer, which dims slightly after each summon.
After four summons, the water film will completely disappear, revealing its unsuspecting true form. This interval lasts only three seconds.
"Everyone stop!" Lu Yan commanded in the channel. "Abandon clearing the mobs! Zhao Leiguang and Lei Zhan, you two hold all the mobs and withstand the pressure! All DPS, keep an eye on the Tidecaller and wait for my orders!"
The instructions were clear and decisive.
Without any hesitation, Lei Zhan immediately abandoned the enemy in front of him, turned around and stood back to back with Zhao Leiguang, blocking all the surging sea creatures in front of him.
The sounds of shields colliding and shells shattering filled the air, but the two people's health bars remained as stable as Mount Tai thanks to Su Yunqing's powerful healing.
"The fourth wave is coming, get ready!"
As the Tidecaller raised his staff once more, the fourth and largest wave of sea creatures surged onto the platform.
At that very moment, the water film covering its body shattered with a "pop," exposing its soft abdominal muscles to the air.
"Now!"
Before she could finish speaking, Xiao Qianyu's figure had already transformed into a streak of red lightning.
Flash Strike!
She instantly rushed into the summoner's arms, and the tip of the Crimson Lotus Goddess Spear thrust out seven times in a single second, instantly filling the seven layers of withered marks.
Wen Yue's arrow followed closely behind, and a high-explosive grenade exploded in the summoner's soft abdomen, the chain reaction of explosions tearing up large pieces of its flesh.
Shen Xinglin's ever-changing lance pierced through from behind, leaving a huge, transparent hole.
Three seconds later, concentrated fire erupted.
The Tidecaller didn't even get a chance to scream before its massive body froze in place and then collapsed with a crash.
With its death, all the sea creatures summoned on the platform, like puppets whose strings had been removed, stopped moving at the same time and then turned into pools of foul-smelling seawater that flowed down the stone steps.
"Huff...huff..." Lei Zhan leaned on his shield, panting heavily.
His brand-new dark gold armor was covered in dense white bite marks from the armored monster's claws, making him look somewhat disheveled.
The battle ended so quickly that he was still somewhat caught up in it.
Light burst forth from the wreckage of the Tidecaller.
This time, instead of the previous scene of equipment scattered all over the ground, there were a large number of legendary materials scattered on the ground, mixed with a few pieces of mythical equipment with a bright purple glow.
Just as Zhao Leiguang was about to go over and pick it up, Lu Yan walked over first.
His attention was firmly fixed on one inconspicuous thing.
It was a palm-sized fragment, made of neither gold nor bone, with incomprehensible spiral patterns engraved on its surface.
Most importantly, its quality section only displays two words—
"unknown".
Lu Yan bent down without making a sound, picked up the fragment, and tossed it directly into his storage space. The whole process was so fast that no one noticed.
He straightened up and turned to the crowd with a calm expression, as if he had just picked up an ordinary stone.
Let's find out what it is first. Apart from the first team, we can't completely trust the others for now.
Lu Yan decided to be cautious for now.
"Well done." He clapped his hands, gesturing for everyone to look at the eight snakeheads still entangled with Zhao Leiguang in the distance. "Don't just stand there, clean up the battlefield and prepare to welcome the second one."