When the first guard swung his curved blade, Lin Yuan finally saw the entire hall clearly.
A gigantic kobold stands in the center, flanked by three axe-wielding guards. Players are divided into several teams; shield-wielders catch curved blades, sword-wielders rush in when the kobold pauses its attack, and then retreat before the next strike.
This style of play is not fast, but it is very stable.
Lin Yuan leaned against the door, observing. The blue-haired youth constantly adjusted the formation's positions; as shield bearers retreated, others filled in. On the flank, a black-haired swordsman and a cloaked rapier swordsman worked together to eliminate the guards attempting to flank them.
No one noticed that there was an extra person by the door.
The long red line above the kobold's head shortened segment by segment. Its curved blade was quite powerful, but its initial attack was very large. After watching two rounds, Lin Yuan knew that if he stood on the inside, the blade wouldn't even touch his shoulder.
What truly stopped him in his tracks was the way the Boss was walking.
Before each swing of its blade, it stomps its other foot on the ground, causing its massive body to suddenly shift forward. Players only raise their shields when they see the blade, but the attack range has already expanded by that single step.
Another rotation has ended.
As the boss entered the final red line, its scales suddenly turned red. It dropped its curved sword and drew a long, narrow nodachi from its back.
Lin Yuan raised his head.
The knife has changed, and so has the stance.
The shield bearer, who was originally preparing to catch the sword, remained at the same angle. The blue-haired youth, however, had already charged forward, seemingly wanting to end the battle before the boss could complete his move.
The black-haired swordsman on the flank suddenly shouted, "Don't go any further!"
It's too late.
The red light on the nodachi suddenly extended, and the blade slashed from an unexpected direction from which the blue-haired youth had not anticipated. He raised his sword to block, only to find that his sword had been deflected by the opponent's first movement.
The second cut was aimed straight at the chest.
Lin Yuan made a move.
He stepped into the battlefield from the side of the door, grabbed the blue-haired youth's armor from behind, and flung him aside. The nodachi grazed the opponent's shoulder, and his health bar plummeted into the red zone, but didn't empty.
Lin Yuan's black short sword immediately struck the back of the blade.
boom!
The two weapons emitted a piercing clang. The Boss's massive body staggered back three steps, its sword-wielding arm raised high.
The nearby shield bearers, holding their shields, forgot to step forward.
The attack that required two people to withstand was deflected head-on by a strange young man wielding a short sword.
Diabel fell several meters away and immediately pulled out a potion, but couldn't open the cap because of his injured right shoulder. His teammate took the potion, made sure the Boss wasn't pursuing him, and then treated his injury.
When they looked up, Lin Yuan had already taken over the position that was originally occupied by the entire main attacking team.
The boss lowered the nodachi again.
Lin Yuan watched as its front paws landed.
The first slash came from the upper right. He stepped to the side of the blade, lightly touching the Boss's wrist with the hilt. Before the second slash could be raised, Lin Yuan had already kicked its knee.
The stone slab made a dull thud, and the Boss knelt on one knee.
It roared and tried to sweep across. Lin Yuan did not retreat. He used his short sword to deflect the nodachi from below, a movement very similar to the starting move of the sentry skeleton, but his next move was much faster than that skeleton's.
The sword's edge struck the kobold's neck.
The last section of the red line suddenly disappeared by more than half.
The cloth on the short sword's hilt was loosened by the impact, but Lin Yuan didn't check its durability. He only let the blade touch the part that needed to be cut each time, without using the entire weapon to collide with the Boss's power. That monster, powerful enough to crush a shield array, couldn't even disrupt his footsteps.
Chaotic footsteps echoed all around. Some tried to help, but found no way to intervene. The black-haired swordsman had just finished clearing out the guards with his companions when he turned around and saw the Boss's nodachi being pressed down inch by inch by a short sword.
There is no light without the system's sword skills.
There was no stun after the attack ended.
The Boss swung its sword for the third time. Lin Yuan slid along the back of the blade to get close to it as it made its move, and pushed the elbow of the sword-wielding hand with a palm strike. The nodachi was knocked out of the hand, spinning in mid-air before falling to the ground.
Lin Yuan caught the hilt of the knife.
Compared to a short sword, this knife is the perfect length.
Before the Boss could even regain its footing, Lin Yuan had already moved forward in the same stride it had used earlier. The nodachi in his hand drew the same diagonal line, but without the fixed trajectory that required it to reach the end. After the blade grazed the breastplate, it immediately retracted and turned to slash down on the neck a second time.
The last red line is cleared.
The massive body shattered from the knife wound, and blue fragments swept across the entire hall.
From the moment Lin Yuan stepped onto the battlefield until the Boss disappeared, the shield bearers didn't even have time to complete their next rotation.
Lin Yuan released the hilt of his sword. The Boss's weapon vanished along with its master, leaving nothing behind.
Some members of the raiding team cheered, but most were still looking at him.
The blue-haired youth stood up, clutching his shoulder, and asked, "What level are you?"
"No ranking."
He thought Lin Yuan didn't want to answer and was about to ask again when the black-haired swordsman beside him noticed something else.
All players have an identifiable marker above their heads. The player who just single-handedly defeated the boss has no marker above their head.
There's not even a health bar.