Delay (Third Update)

"... Do you have a way?" Glandis experienced another human-shaped drift, the giant sword almost brushing against the back of her head. She was so frightened that she nearly screamed, but thankfully she managed to hold it in.

Bai Xiaowen smiled, took out a scroll from his Storage Space, and tore it open.

[Withering Mist Scroll: S-Tier item. Creates a mist with a radius of 10 meters equal to the user's spirit. All enemies within the mist will accumulate "Withering" stacks over time. Each stack of Withering reduces all attributes by 10%, up to a maximum of 5 stacks.]

This scroll was Bai Xiaowen obtained back in the Kane Plane; it requires the Meditation Specialty to advance to level 7!

Previously, due to insufficient Meditation Specialty level, it had been gathering dust in the Storage Space. Now, it's time to put it to good use.

With Bai Xiaowen's current Divine Might, the Withering Mist could easily cover the entire underground space.

The mist spread rapidly, soon filling the entire underground space. All enemies within the mist's range began to accumulate layers of Withering.

One floor, two floors, three floors...

Glandis cried out in alarm and anger, "Dio! What are you doing? Why are Carlisle and I also affected by this!"

Melda and Sanya were also somewhat panicked.

Bai Xiaowen coughed and said, "Sorry... Let's focus on the main point. I was mainly dealing with these colossi. You were just collateral damage."

In fact, these large-scale magic scroll items distinguish between friend and foe based on the user's subjective will. If the user does not make a deliberate distinction, the default faction relationship will prevail, and only the targets of the opposing faction will be affected.

After killing the mage Kevin and submitting the seal to Glandis, Bai Xiaowen essentially broke away from the Resistance Army. Although he hadn't officially joined the Imperial Army, Glandis, Carlisle, and the others were already considered "neutral" to him, and he was implicitly deemed unaffected by the Withering Mist.

The fact that all four Boss Tier were affected by the Withering Mist was, of course, due to Bai Xiaowen's deliberate differentiation, temporarily classifying Glandis and the other three as hostile targets.

In the arena, apart from Bai Xiaowen and Li Shuyi, all other individuals rapidly weakened under the effect of the Withering Mist.

After stacking five layers of the Withering effect, the Divine Colossus's power has dropped from 100 to 50, and its pitiful agility has dropped to 15.

Their constitution has been reduced to 150 points, but their maximum Life Value remains unchanged at 3000 points. It should be noted that the maximum Life Value is 10 times the constitution attribute, but the maximum Life Value will not Transformation when the constitution attribute is reduced by the enemy's debuff spells.

The only thing that changes is that the natural armor and resistance brought by one's constitution will decrease along with one's constitution.

Of course, 150 points of armor is still rock solid, not to mention 3000 points of Life Value. Bai Xiaowen also did not have the wishful thinking of using the Withering Mist Scroll to destroy these Divine Colossus —under the influence of the Despair Aura, he and Li Shuyi simply did not have enough survivability.

Bai Xiaowen decided to save his limited skills, physical strength, and Divine Might for dodging the attacks of the Divine Colossus. He would continue to employ delaying tactics until the energy source of the Divine Colossus —the seven Sealing Incantation— was completely burned out.

The good news is that with 15 points of agility, the Colossus's attacks can be described as slowed down. With its strength reduced to 50, the power of the Stone Sword's basic attacks is also greatly reduced, with each hit only dealing a few dozen points of damage. Bai Xiaowen and Li Shuyi can easily withstand this, significantly increasing their margin for error.

The Withering Mist Scroll's power stems not only from its inherent strength as S-Tier item, but also from Bai Xiaowen's choice of a suitable battlefield.

Under normal circumstances, no enemy would be foolish enough to remain within a kilometer radius of the Withering Mist — Bai Xiaowen's mental strength is 69 points, which means the diameter of the Withering Mist is 1380 meters.

This distance is easily traversed by a powerful Spirit Realm Boss Tier, without waiting for the Withering effect to accumulate. And once they leave the range of the Withering Mist, the Withering layers will quickly dissipate.

But in this battlefield—the underground space—it is an enclosed area spanning a kilometer in radius, with all areas shrouded in mist, leaving no escape!

As for the four Boss Tier, including Glandis, although they were also affected by the five-layered Withering effect that reduced all their attributes by 50%, they were able to dodge the weakened Divine Colossus much more easily than before, and their margin for error had also increased significantly. Even if they were hit by three, four, five, six, seven, or eight swords, they could withstand it thanks to Boss Tier high Life Value.

Li Shuyi asked in a low voice in the Team Channel:

"Xiao Wen, should we take this opportunity to kill these four Boss Tier? If we succeed, we can use Glandis's head to take down the Resistance Army, which should offset Kevin's negative impact, not to mention the four treasure chests." Li Shuyi murderously.

Bai Xiaowen sighed, "Don't be too greedy. Our primary goal is to complete the two S-Tier Elite Tier side quests. Under the Despair Aura and Sluggishness Aura, our combat power and stamina are both in serious trouble. Although the attributes of the high-level bosses have been halved, their high Life Value are still there, making them not so easy to kill. Especially that Sword Saint Carlisle. I 'Insight his skills; his strength is less affected by attributes, and he can be very dangerous when he unleashes his full power."

To put it bluntly, their strength was still insufficient. Bai Xiaowen and his companion needed to conserve their energy and try to avoid the attacks of the Divine Colossus.

"If the effects of the Withering Mist are still present after the mission is completed, could we consider it?" Li Shuyi asked.

Bai Xiaowen shook his head and smiled bitterly, "By the time the mission is completed, the unique aura skills of the Divine Colossus will be gone, especially the Spatial Lock Aura... Glandis has teleportation items, so she can still escape if we push her too far, but we will have to offend the Imperial Army again."

Glandis, as the Highlord of the Northern Frontier, did not actually reach the Lord Tier in terms of strength. However, Bai Xiaowen speculated that killing Glandis would probably be no easier than killing Usok. Given the nature of the Spirit Realm Rules, Glandis's main strength was likely her ability to survive.

It would be better to get into trouble if you failed to catch the fox, rather than just doing the quest honestly, to avoid ending up with nothing.

Time ticked by, and finally, the Sealing Incantation on the first Divine Colossus burned out, and its movements ceased. The effect of the Holy Frost Aura also dissipated.

As if triggering a chain reaction, the second, the third... one after another, the Divine Colossus stopped moving as the Sealing Incantation disappeared.

When the sixth Divine Colossus ran out of energy, the Withering Mist also ended. Only the last Divine Colossus remained. Although it had temporarily recovered its full strength, it was only one and powerless to turn the tide. After chasing for a few steps in vain, it ran out of energy and stood motionless.