While Carlos was thinking, more Fierce Bugs came charging out from the iron door, their monster legs launching them toward the Purple Thornblade Skeleton Guards.
Corrosive spit dripped non-stop from their razor-sharp mandibles, eating away at the ground and leaving small craters wherever it splashed.
"Form two rows!"
Four Purple Thornblade Skeleton Guards stood up front as the first line of defense, with four more positioned behind them to mop up any stragglers.
Two stayed glued to Carlos's side on bodyguard duty.
"Squeak! Squeak!"
"Creak! Creak!"
"Slash!"
The Purple Thornblade Skeleton Guards formed a rock-solid wall, stonewalling the charging Fierce Bugs.
Every upward slash dropped another Fierce Bug.
[Spiritual Essence +1]
[Spiritual Essence +1]
...
Even though fewer and fewer Fierce Bugs were showing up, Carlos didn't drop his guard.
Suddenly, the Fierce Bugs acted like they'd gotten marching orders—they all beat feet back through the iron door.
"The Agony Beetle has woken up."
Carlos called it.
Low-level monsters didn't know jack about retreating—from the moment they hatched, they were bloodthirsty nutjobs.
Even facing a powerhouse that could easily massacre their buddies, they'd charge in guns blazing.
Only under the command of a big-brain boss Agony Bug could they pull off what looked like a smart retreat.
[Spirituality: 6 (Spiritual Essence: 4395/6000)]
On his status screen, the Fierce Bugs had coughed up 270 Spiritual Essence total—about 1 point per Fierce Bug.
Carlos did some quick number-crunching.
"Already smoked around 270 of them. The remaining Fierce Bugs definitely won't top 100."
The headcount of various monsters in the Agony Bug node bubbled up from his memories.
"#9 and #10, go check it out."
Two Purple Thornblade Skeleton Guards, greatswords in hand, walked inside.
No sounds of fighting came back, and the soul link didn't ping any danger alerts.
Only then did Carlos go in, covered by his eight Purple Thornblade Skeleton Guards.
The second he stepped inside, everything went pitch black. He whipped out a Glow Stone to light up the secondary hall.
It was totally empty with no monsters in sight, though the air reeked of something nasty.
The floor was pockmarked with corrosion craters, proof that tons of Fierce Bugs had once hung out here.
"Pretty slick—commanding the leftover Fierce Bugs to bail, trying to stack all their firepower."
As for where these Fierce Bugs were now, Carlos figured nine times out of ten they were babysitting the Agony Beetle.
"It woke up fast. If it had woken up earlier, wouldn't it have rounded up all the Fierce Bugs, maybe even the Wandering Beetles?"
Carlos wasn't sweating it. Thanks to his insane clearing speed,
He'd wiped out all the Wandering Beetles and three-quarters of the Fierce Bugs before the boss Agony Beetle even opened its eyes.
Now the entire node only had that one boss Agony Beetle and less than 100 Fierce Bugs.
Four Purple Thornblade Skeleton Guards could gang up on the Agony Beetle while four others mopped up the remaining Fierce Bugs.
No matter how he sliced it, Carlos had this thing locked up.
"No rush, no rush. Let's get back to 100% first!"
Carlos's eyes were sharp as he glanced toward another iron door at the far end of the secondary hall.
The door was history, showing off the entrance to a dark passage.
That was the boss Agony Beetle's crib.
And from the thick cluster of corrosion craters on the floor in front of the doorway, it was obvious
The remaining Fierce Bugs had definitely gone in there!
"The Agony Bug boss's bedroom—this is the only way in, and the only way out..."
"#9 and #10, watch that passage!"
Carlos wasn't about to give the monsters any shot at escaping.
...
You had to hand it to monster bosses with some brains—they were seriously patient.
It only sent out a few Fierce Bugs for recon, then went completely radio silent.
"Pretty much back to fighting shape."
Carlos recalled this boss Agony Bug's bag of tricks and decided he wouldn't go in with the Purple Thornblade Skeleton Guards.
Agony Beetle: Spirituality 16, Strength 5, Constitution 10, Speed 4, Mental 20.
A whopping 20 Mental points—that meant it was packing serious Psionic Energy reserves.
Especially its most devastating skill: Agony Strike.
Based on distance, it could dish out bone-crushing mental damage to enemies.
Making them experience unbearable agony, losing all fight and becoming sitting ducks.
The Agony Beetle also had a passive aura skill that continuously dished out pain to all creatures in its kill zone.
This type of monster was what most players from his past life absolutely hated going up against.
Often, before you could even get within spitting distance of the Agony Beetle, you'd be in too much pain to think straight, unable to use even a sliver of your strength.
But monsters with such obvious attack patterns also had glaring weak spots.
Low Strength and Speed—in theory, if you could tough out that incredible pain, you'd have a shot at taking it down.
Carlos was feeling good:
"Purple Thornblade Skeleton Guards don't feel squat—they're the perfect hard counter to this type of monster."
Then he laid out the game plan for his Purple Thornblade Skeleton Guards.
"#7, #8, #9, and #10, focus on jumping the boss Agony Beetle!
#3, #4, #5, and #6, clean house on those Fierce Bugs!
#1 and #2, watch the exit—don't let any monsters slip through!"
No fancy footwork needed. With ten Purple Thornblade Skeleton Guards at the top of the Withered Lands food chain,
Carlos was confident no boss could stand up to them, especially one that his Purple Thornblade Skeleton Guards countered perfectly.
"Creak! Creak!"
The eight Purple Thornblade Skeleton Guards filed in, and soon the sounds of war rang out.
[Spiritual Essence +1]
[Spiritual Essence +1]
...
#1 and #2 held down the exit, occasionally chopping down a Fierce Bug that tried to make a break for it.
Carlos waited patiently for the results, greatsword in hand, staying sharp.
With his strength now beating his Purple Thornblade Skeleton Guards, Carlos himself was the ace in the hole.
About half an hour later, a ear-splitting insect screech came from the passage. Carlos zeroed in on the passage entrance, feeling a little pumped.
"The boss Agony Beetle is making its last stand."
Sure enough, after the screech, the kill notification rang in his head:
[Defeated Dark Mist Node Boss: Agony, Spiritual Essence +2000, Fantasy Equipment +1]
[Spiritual Essence accumulated to 6000, Spirituality +1, current Spirituality 7]
[Gained Attribute Points +1, Skill Points +1]
Carlos smoothly dumped 1 point into Strength and 1 point into Skeleton Revival, bumping his revival slots up another +1.
As for the Fantasy Equipment, he wasn't planning to gear up with it yet. He could only rock 2 earrings max, and there wasn't any decent equipment to copy right now.
After distributing his points, Carlos still didn't budge, keeping his eyes glued to the passage entrance.
The fight wasn't over yet—his mind kept getting Spiritual Essence pings, which meant the Purple Thornblade Skeleton Guards were finishing off the last Fierce Bugs.
Finally, the Spiritual Essence notifications went quiet.
[Spirituality: 7 (Spiritual Essence: 463/7000)]—he'd racked up another 463 Spiritual Essence.
Eight Purple Thornblade Skeleton Guards came out, their bodies splattered with corrosive blood.
Monster blood dripped from their greatswords.
Especially the four that had ganged up on the boss—their soul fires had dimmed a bit.
They must have taken some hits from the boss Agony Beetle's final death throes!