He had wanted a good night's sleep, only to receive a notification that his death was approaching.
Fine, forget sleep. Time to stay up fighting monsters!
For now, Xiao Hao didn't dare provoke the packs of lesser monsters.
Shadow Transformation lasted a few minutes per use. Although [Undying Body] let him recover quickly and use the skill again, the interval was more than enough for the lesser monsters to swarm him.
If he panicked now and went looking for trouble with those packs, he might only die sooner.
He picked off a few Low-Level Thorn Shrimp and stopped after collecting sixty Spirit Pearls, just enough for another upgrade to the Coral Shell Room.
He needed to be well rested to face the boss. Xiao Hao didn't dare grind monsters all night.
The next morning, the game's alarm woke Xiao Hao.
Day or night, the seabed remained pitch-black.
Xiao Hao switched on the Coral Shell Lighting and jumped at the ghostly face that suddenly appeared outside the floor-to-ceiling window.
The Deep-Sea Ghost!
The Deep-Sea Ghost wore a horrifying grin like the slit-mouthed woman. Looking closer, he could even see several parasites wriggling inside her hollow eye sockets.
With only scraps of flesh clinging to her skull, it was impossible to tell whether she was smiling, but Xiao Hao had a powerful gut feeling that she was!
It felt like the excitement of a hunter about to claim her prey!
The Ghost pressed her two sticky palms against the floor-to-ceiling window, flush with the glass. The tips of her ten scythe fingers, each over ten centimeters long, dug into it.
With her palms pressed against the glass, Xiao Hao could clearly see parasites burrowing beneath the corpse-spotted skin.
Perhaps she had pressed too hard. The Ghost abruptly pulled both hands away from the window, tearing off the skin of her palms!
The skin remained stuck to the outside of the window, the parasites squirming on it so disgusting that Xiao Hao nearly threw up everything in his stomach!
An arm like a withered branch slowly rose, then clawed viciously at the window. The scythe fingers even struck sparks against the glass, and five scratches abruptly appeared on its thick outer surface.
That gave Xiao Hao quite a fright.
Fortunately, the window slowly returned to normal, the scratches sealing themselves. The Ghost's scythe fingers glowed red like lava, with bubbles constantly rising as they cooled.
Xiao Hao checked the magic gauge. Of its maximum capacity of 5,000 L, only 4,250 L remained.
He immediately began running through the Coral Shell Room's figures in his head.
He had upgraded the Coral Shell Room to level five the day before yesterday. Accounting for the room's passive magic consumption and the magic spent on Exploration Bubbles, that swipe had cost the room roughly 20-30 L of magic.
One of the Ghost's hands was glowing red, but the other was perfectly fine.
Another swipe sent sparks flying.
Magic: 4,225 L.
About half a minute later, the Ghost's claws had cooled.
Another swipe. Only 4,204 L remained.
His estimate was right, but at this insane rate of consumption, the Coral Shell Room's magic would last a few hours at most!
Xiao Hao hurriedly checked every usable card in his space slot.
Besides the Slowdown Card he had traded for, there were also several cards generously provided by the Deep-Sea Ghost.
Rebound Card: When a wild monster attacks the base, use the Rebound Card to reflect its attack back at it. (Uses: 3) Shield Card: An invincible defensive barrier. If the base's magic falls below 100 L, it will be locked at 100 L and cannot be reduced by any means. (Duration: 1 minute) Double Card: When the base is attacked, the guardian's attack power and the power of all forms of attack skills are doubled. (Duration: 1 hour) Maintenance Card: When the base is attacked, restores the base's magic at a rate of 1 L/s. (Duration: 8 hours) Silence Card: A wild monster attacking the base will be forcibly silenced and pinned in place for 3 seconds, unable to move. (Uses: 1) Calm Card: When a wild monster attacking the base uses an attack skill, it will be forcibly interrupted. (Duration: 3 hours)
Including the Slowdown Card, he had seven cards in total.
While he was dawdling, the Ghost knocked off another 25 L of magic.
He looked at the Ghost, then at the cards.
Xiao Hao felt as though he were playing a game called Lie Flat and Develop: Haunted Dorm.
But the problem was, players in that game could earn gold just by lying down. Xiao Hao couldn't earn Spirit Pearls that way!
Huh?
Why had it gone quiet outside?
Xiao Hao looked up and saw energy spilling from the Ghost's scythe fingers, forming an enormous purple-black claw.
The energy claw resembled a gigantic eagle's talon. It easily enclosed the Coral Shell Room, making the room look like a toy in its grasp!
Was she using her ultimate?
Xiao Hao hurriedly clicked to use the Calm Card!
The energy claw, just about to detonate, suddenly dissipated. The Ghost turned her head, seemingly puzzled. Then she saw Xiao Hao holding a card inside the Coral Shell Room and let out an enraged shriek.
The female Ghost's shriek even frightened the parasites in her eye sockets, sending them burrowing toward her brain.
Wasn't that her fucking stuff?!
This bastard was actually using her own stuff against her!
Ignoring the Ghost's impotent rage outside, Xiao Hao hurriedly put away the Calm Card.
The Calm Card now had 2 hours, 59 minutes, and 55 seconds remaining.
Xiao Hao's smile grew increasingly twisted.
He could exploit a bug with this Calm Card!
By using it the instant a wild monster unleashed its ultimate, he could keep interrupting that ultimate!
If that was the case...
Could he exploit bugs with the other cards too?
Cards with limited uses definitely wouldn't work. But cards with time limits...
He probably couldn't exploit the Double Card, since his guardian's skill was continuously active. If he stopped using the card, the power of Darkness Erosion would immediately drop.
The same went for the Maintenance Card. It was essentially the room's "backup health bar."
But exploiting the Shield Card would be much more satisfying.
If he used the Shield Card just before the room's magic reached zero, not only would it become invincible, but its magic would also be locked at 100 L. That effectively restored nearly 100 L of magic to the Coral Shell Room!
If he timed the Shield Card well, he could stretch its one-minute duration to an hour, or even dozens of hours!
Outside the room, the Ghost was beside herself with fury.
She was clawing at his window, yet he was ignoring her!
He actually...
Ignored! Her!
Ten black scythes abruptly lengthened, looking strikingly similar to the giant scythes wielded by reapers in Western fantasy films.
No one had ever dared humiliate her like this!
If she caught this damned human, she would subject him to every form of torture she could devise!
Each massive Reaper's Scythe blade was at least two meters long, and there were ten of them.
If those raked across the Coral Shell Room, it would take hundreds of liters of magic to counter the damage!
Xiao Hao reacted instantly and used the Calm Card.
Before the giant Reaper's Scythes could strike the Coral Shell Room, they shrank back again. Once more, the Ghost's furious attack accomplished nothing.
The expression on Xiao Hao's face seemed to say, "Calm down! Just calm down!"
The Ghost seethed with anger but had nowhere to vent it.
The ultimate she had forced out had been forcibly shoved right back down!
Who could stand that?!
What she didn't know was that Xiao Hao wanted to shove not just her ultimate back down, but her straight back into her mother's womb.
Even without her ultimate, her ordinary attacks could break through the Coral Shell Room!
Ignoring the pain in her scythe fingers, the Ghost forced herself to attack faster!
But soon, she sensed something was wrong.
It felt as though time had slowed.
Raising her head, with its few remaining scraps of flesh, the Ghost aimed her eye sockets at the card in Xiao Hao's hand.
He had to be using her cards against her again!
She remembered having six cards like those!
That damned bastard. Unforgivable!
Even with cards, he could forget about surviving her!
She had fought players with cards before. She knew these cards had limits. They couldn't be used indefinitely!
The Ghost calmed down, and her steady attack rate made Xiao Hao frown.
If she lost her temper completely, Xiao Hao would still have a chance.
But if someone as powerful as her kept dealing steady damage, he would run out of cards no matter how many he had!
The game shouldn't have such a glaring flaw!
There had to be another way!
Perhaps the live comments could give him a hint.
Before you continue