That Was Her Opponent

Inside the Nightmare Lair.

The dark purple sky hung low like a congealed curtain of blood. Thick, viscous fog flowed slowly along the ground. Tombstones rose from the ground, each over three meters tall, covered with twisted runes that glowed with a ghostly green light. Bone dust spread even deeper, sinking half a foot with every step.

The first wave of monsters emerged from the mist. Su Mu cast an Appraisal.

[Monster Identification]

[Name: Nightmare Goblin Warrior]

[Level: 15]

[Blood: 28000/28000]

[Attack: 1650]

[Defense: 980]

[Agility: 280]

[Combat Index: 14200]

[Skills: Heavy Axe Slash, Berserk (Attack power increased by 40% when HP is below 30%), Battle Cry (Increases the attack power of nearby goblins by 15%)]

[Note: Basic monsters in Nightmare-level Goblin Camps. Composed of elite goblin warriors, possessing complete tactical coordination capabilities.]

One hundred. Level 15.

Su Mu glanced at the White Bone Spirit Demon. She stood beside him, her gray-white bone whip slightly raised in the mist, the Soul Flame patterns on the whip gleaming with a cold light.

"Go."

The White Bone Spirit stirred.

With a flick of the bone whip, a grayish-white curtain of fire spread out.

But this time, the level 15 Goblin Warriors did not fall in droves like in Normal Lair.

They rolled and roared in the flames, their bones cracked from the fire, yet they still managed to struggle to their feet.

The monsters in Nightmare Lairs have a much denser skeleton than those in Normal Lairs. While the damage from the gray-white flames is still considerable, it is no longer an instant kill.

The White Bone Spirit didn't stop. With a flick of her wrist, her bone whip drew an arc in the air, and the flames narrowed into a thin line of fire, precisely sweeping across the struggling goblins. Wherever the fire passed, bones snapped cleanly, and swarms of goblins finally fell.

However, it's slower than Normal Lair.

Su Mu wasn't surprised. Even for the White Bone Spirit, a level 15 Nightmare Monster would take a few seconds longer to defeat.

Little Drill Wind swept down from Lion Camel Ridge and cut into the monster horde. One strike took one down, occasionally finishing with a second. With two SSS-level and SS-level combatants working together, their monster-clearing efficiency remained extremely high.

One wave after another.

The fifth wave, the tenth wave, and the fifteenth wave.

By the fifteenth wave, Su Mu had reached level fifteen. Little Drill Wind also leveled up to level fifteen, and White Bone Spirit had reached level thirteen.

Su Mu glanced at the time.

The first to the fifteenth waves took longer, more than twenty minutes.

But throughout the entire process, he kept observing the White Bone Spirit.

He discovered something very interesting.

The White Bone Spirit's fighting spirit is even stronger than Little Drill Wind's.

Little Drill Wind's combat instincts come from hundreds of years of experience patrolling the Lion Camel Ridge, a combination of "wildness" and "agility." White Bone Spirit's combat awareness, on the other hand, leans more towards "calculation" and "prediction." She anticipates the monsters' movements and lays out a curtain of fire where the monsters are about to arrive, rather than where they are currently.

Each swing of her bone whip carried a precise rhythm, like a chess player placing a piece on a chessboard.

Su Mu nodded inwardly.

The demon kings in the Journey to the Journey to the West world are indeed not to be judged by common sense. Although the White Bone Spirit's combat power was not top-notch in the original work, her "transformation" and "scheming" were ingrained in her. This kind of combat awareness is more valuable than simple stats.

He felt more at ease.

Meanwhile, outside the nest.

The dark purple light curtain remained standing silently.

The crowd outside the entrance was much larger than before; many people had heard the news that "F-level core cards could enter the Nightmare Lair" and had come specifically to see what was going on.

A white figure emerged from the difficult light barrier on the other side.

Ye Qingxue.

Her face was paler than before, her breathing was slightly rapid, and a thin layer of sweat beaded on her forehead.

She had just emerged from the Nightmare Lair, reaching the twentieth wave, almost clearing the level, but was ultimately defeated by the boss.

She felt a little regretful, but she also knew that this was her current limit. She needed more levels and better cards.

She scanned the crowd outside the entrance but didn't see Su Mu. She frowned, guessing that Su Mu might still be inside the instance.

She walked to the rest area, found a corner to sit down, and prepared to meditate and recover.

But as soon as I sat down, I heard the whispers around me.

"That Su Mu has entered the Nightmare Lair. He's been inside for over twenty minutes."

"More than twenty minutes? That's impossible. How could a Rank F core card last more than twenty minutes in Nightmare mode?"

"Who knows? Maybe they're hiding inside, stalling for time."

"But more than twenty minutes is too long. Even if we stall for time, the monster will probably destroy all the terrain by now, right?"

"I heard that he only spent a few minutes clearing Normal Lair and Hard Lair before."

Upon hearing this, Ye Qingxue frowned even more deeply.

How many minutes does it take to clear Normal Lair and Hard Lair?

She knew Su Mu. He was a man who always acted with discretion and never wasted time for no reason.

If he can complete Normal Lair and Hard Lair in a few minutes, there's only one possibility... he actually beat the game, and at an extremely fast speed.

But the Nightmare Lair... she had just come out of it.

She Taiqing the strength of the Nightmare Lair. Level 15 monsters, numerous, well-coordinated, and with high stats.

Even though she was an SSS-level Snow Queen, it took her more than twenty minutes to reach the fifteenth wave, and she was still just a little short at the end.

How could Su Mu have stayed inside for more than twenty minutes?

Just then, a voice rang out from the front of the crowd.

"You really believe he can stay in a nightmare for more than twenty minutes?"

Wang Hao leaned against the wooden stake, his tone carrying a confident sarcasm, "Let me tell you, Su Mu's Dungeon Space particularly large, with several mountains inside. When he was designing dungeons at school, he liked to create all sorts of fancy terrain. Now that he's entered the Nightmare Lair, he'll definitely find a corner to hide in and let the monsters circle around in the mountains. He'll only come out when he can't drag it out any longer."

Those around him nodded in agreement.

"Indeed, even with a special theme, an F-rank core card can't directly defeat Nightmare Lair."

"So they were just stalling for time inside. No wonder they could stay for so long."

"But being able to last more than twenty minutes in a nightmare is quite an achievement. After all, monsters need time to dismantle the terrain."

"But ultimately it's still a matter of taking a shortcut. If a real fight breaks out, he'll have to come out in the first wave."

The discussion gradually reached a consensus, and everyone accepted Wang Hao's explanation. The only explanation for a dungeon master with an F-rank core card being able to stay in the Nightmare Lair for twenty minutes was that he was hiding and stalling for time.

Ye Qingxue listened to these comments, her fists slowly clenched.

Deep down, she also felt that it would be difficult for Su Mu to endure the nightmare for so long.

After all, she was an SSS-rank, and she knew how terrifying the Nightmare Lair was. Although Su Mu's rank might be higher than hers, his core card was an F-rank stone, which was an insurmountable weakness.

But believing is one thing.

She wouldn't allow these people to slander Su Mu like that.

That was her rival.