The players, already locked in a bitter struggle, lost their composure at Di Nian Bully's taunts.
These were gestures they had originally used to mock Di Nian Bully, yet now he was turning those very gestures against them.
Watching the Dark Tide drift back and forth at the edge of their vision, switching between a thumbs-down and a raised middle finger, the players pictured Di Nian Bully hiding in the shadows, snickering sinisterly.
"Brothers, ignore Bully. Focus on dealing damage."
Divine King spoke up then, trying to reorganize their forces against the Lord.
As the Withering Marks continued to stack, visible dark purple Spirit Runes appeared on the Lord's body.
The rate at which it lost health kept increasing as well.
Seeing that the players were ignoring him, Di Nian Bully shaped the Dark Tide into a gigantic megaphone and switched on his taunting mode:
"Well, well, if it isn't the Player Race. Giving the monster a pedicure?"
"Since when did the Player Race start offering back-scratching services? Looks pretty interesting. When do I get a session?"
"Even my low-level Evil Spirits scratch harder than you hit. Did you put all your skill points into the space bar? Can you actually do this? Call me Daddy if you need help, and I'll come lend a hand."
"Stop hitting it, stop! Keep this up and I'm afraid the monster will fall asleep."
As Di Nian Bully added fuel to the fire and kicked them while they were down, the players unleashed a torrent of curses in the voice channel.
Their current predicament looked remarkably like Di Nian Bully's own moments of helpless frustration.
The players, already in trouble, completely lost their cool, but Di Nian Bully showed no intention of leaving and kept pulling stunts at the edge of their vision.