My Computer Leads to an Instance Dungeon-Chapter 144 - 119: The Strongest Enemy

Maticvia emerged from the depths of the Underground Cave, roaring with fury.

Fang Zhen narrowed his eyes.

Maticvia could speak. That meant it was conscious and capable of thought.

Language is the vessel of thought.

The ability to think meant it could transcend animal instinct, possessing human-level reasoning and judgment.

Combined with the creature's enormous size and its mastery of combat techniques and seals...

'This won't be easy.'

The thought flashed through his mind.

As if he hadn't even seen Maticvia, Fang Zhen continued to wind his compound crossbow, refusing to waste a single second.

'Easy or not, we have to fight. And we have to fight on our own terms, not let the enemy dictate our rhythm and rob us of the initiative.'

Maticvia was incredibly intimidating. At the forefront, Jilenna frowned at the sight of the colossal enemy, while Gwendolyn instinctively shrank back.

Maticvia scanned the Underground Cave, its gaze immediately locking onto Jilenna and Gwendolyn.

"So it was you insects who disturbed me?"

"Let me tear you to pieces! Death is the only end you deserve!"

Maticvia roared, charging wildly toward Jilenna and Gwendolyn.

With its eight-legged insectoid body, it ran with the fury of a charging warhorse. The strange, goat-like hooves on its insect feet pounded the ground, creating the illusion that the entire Underground Cave was trembling.

Jilenna's body trembled slightly, not out of fear, but in preparation.

"ROAR!" Suddenly, Jilenna let out a great shout.

In an instant, Fang Zhen felt his Spirit surge.

There was a strange power in Jilenna's roar. It stirred Fang Zhen's emotions, bolstering his will to fight while diminishing negative feelings like fear, hesitation, and self-doubt.

It was clearly a combat support skill.

Under the influence of Jilenna's roar, Gwendolyn's hunched form straightened, her confidence seemingly restored.

Jilenna charged toward Maticvia, and Gwendolyn followed close behind.

Jilenna and Maticvia ran headlong toward each other. In less than seven seconds, they clashed.

As Madici ran, it swung its massive Double-Bladed Scythe of Death in a full circle overhead, building centrifugal force before sweeping it horizontally at Jilenna.

Jilenna didn't even try to dodge.

It seemed the Highland Female Knight was preparing to meet the attack head-on.

Jilenna roared, and her greatsword instantly began to glow with a white light.

This wasn't a reflection, but an incandescent radiance, more like she was using some kind of combat aura ability.

The greatsword collided with the Double-Bladed Scythe of Death.

"CLANG!"

With a tremendous crash, Jilenna and her greatsword were sent flying by the scythe. The force of the impact lifted her off her feet; if not for the greatsword blocking the blow, the Female Swordsman would have been sliced in half at the waist.

Even with her greatsword to parry, Jilenna was still thrown four or five meters, tumbling across the ground.

However, Jilenna used the momentum to roll and get back to her feet.

'God knows how she can be so agile in a full suit of armor.'

Jilenna stood up again. Her scale mail was covered in dust, but she herself was unharmed.

Fang Zhen saw it all clearly.

'Jilenna did that on purpose. She was testing Maticvia's strength.'

Fang Zhen recalled Jilenna's strength attribute was 13. For Madici to send her flying in their first exchange, even with the leverage of a long-handled weapon, its strength had to be at least 16, maybe even 17 or 18.

'Facing that kind of strength head-on is foolish.'

Madici's insectoid body ran like it was mounted on a warhorse. Fighting it was like being an infantryman against cavalry—cavalry with a long-reach weapon, at that.

'There's no advantage in close-quarters combat, not unless you can get right up against it for an assassination, or attack from a distance. Only then would we have a real threat and a relative advantage against Madici.'

At that moment, while Madici's attention was still on Jilenna, Gwendolyn had already closed in.

Gwendolyn thrust her Single-Edged Sword viciously at Madici's insectoid body.

The Single-Edged Sword was coated with Blood Burst Ointment. If it struck Maticvia, the creature would be severely wounded, if not outright blown apart.

"BOOM!"

A wave of invisible yet tangible force radiated out from Madici.

Gwendolyn, who had closed in for the kill, was struck by this formless power and thrown back.

The invisible wave had a large area of effect; loose stones were blown away in a five-meter radius around Madici.

'The Gang Zan Seal!'

Fang Zhen recognized the move instantly.

'It's definitely the Gang Zan Seal.'

'But it's a variation.'

Fang Zhen had suspected before that the Gang Zan Seal could be cast silently, maybe even without hand signs, but he'd never tested it.

Now, it seemed his theory was correct.

Madici had used the Gang Zan Seal without any incantation or hand gesture and still activated it.

And it was the most powerful version of the Gang Zan Seal Fang Zhen had ever seen.

With Gwendolyn repelled, Madici immediately charged.

Madici's insect legs were powerful; in less than a second, it was already upon Gwendolyn.

It swung its Double-Bladed Scythe of Death, slashing swiftly at Gwendolyn.

Suddenly, a crossbow arrow shot toward Maticvia, cutting through the air.

Madici's instincts were sharp. As the crossbow arrow approached, it once again cast a silent Gang Zan Seal.

The Crossbow Arrow entered Madici's close range, abruptly slowing five meters out. It pushed forward another meter before losing all momentum three meters away from Madici, where it was violently flung aside.

This broke Madici's concentration, and the re-activated Gang Zan Seal also blasted Gwendolyn away.

Gwendolyn was an extremely experienced fighter. She used the force of the blast to somersault to her feet and quickly hopped back, putting distance between herself and Madici.

It was Fang Zhen.

While Madici was engaged with Jilenna and Gwendolyn, Fang Zhen had finished winding his compound crossbow and loaded an armor-piercing bolt.

He had been ready for a while, but he hadn't fired, waiting for the right moment.

'A one-shot kill would be ideal, but that's unrealistic.'

'Maticvia's instincts and abilities make it nearly impossible to kill with a single crossbow arrow.'

'At least, not until its stamina is depleted and it can no longer cast the Gang Zan Seal.'

Fang Zhen hadn't planned on it anyway.

His goal was to disrupt Maticvia's attack rhythm, create openings for Gwendolyn and Jilenna, or, at a critical moment, draw its attention to save a teammate.

Having its attack interrupted by Fang Zhen was infuriating. Madici let out a furious roar.

At that moment, Jilenna charged forward again.

As she ran, Jilenna held her greatsword to her right side, dragging the tip along the ground and kicking up sparks.

When she was within two meters of Madici, Jilenna swung her greatsword horizontally, unleashing a bright white arc of light aimed at Madici's insectoid abdomen.

Madici didn't use the Gang Zan Seal. Instead, it brought its Double-Bladed Scythe of Death down hard, like a shovel.

The Double-Bladed Scythe of Death smashed against Jilenna's greatsword, the clash of their weapons sending a shower of sparks into the air.

The greatsword was knocked aside, failing to cut into Madici.

Madici seized the opportunity, flicking the Double-Bladed Scythe of Death upward, trying to catch Jilenna with the other sharp blade on a line from her groin to her chest.

If it connected, Jilenna would undoubtedly be split in two.

Jilenna pulled back her greatsword to parry the upward slash of the Double-Bladed Scythe of Death.

"CLANG!"

Jilenna's strength was still no match for Maticvia's. Although the parry was successful, the immense force still drove her back several steps.

Maticvia swung its Double-Bladed Scythe of Death, advancing and spinning it simultaneously, pressing its attack on Jilenna, intent on killing her with the advantage of its long weapon and superior strength.

"Kun Sha!"

An incantation rang out.

Gwendolyn had somehow gotten behind Maticvia again. She formed a sword sign with the index and middle fingers of her left hand and pointed it at Madici.

Madici's steps faltered. It staggered a few paces, and its attack with the Double-Bladed Scythe of Death failed to do any real damage to Jilenna.

Jilenna charged forward with her sword, while Gwendolyn prepared to strike from behind.

Suddenly, the air around Madici began to distort.

Gwendolyn immediately sensed something was wrong and shouted, "Get back!"

Gwendolyn aborted her attack and dove into a side roll.

Even before Gwendolyn shouted, Jilenna had done the same thing, rolling to the side to evade.

A ring of fire erupted from Maticvia's body.

The ring of fire expanded to a radius of three or nearly four meters, its temperature so high that the very air seemed to warp.

Fang Zhen closed his left eye.

In his thermal scope's vision, Maticvia had become a massive, torch-like source of light.

Jilenna had reacted quickly and wasn't caught in the blast, but it had been a close call.

Gwendolyn also dodged the flames, but her white hair was singed and curled, leaving her looking rather disheveled.

"A new seal?"

Seeing the flames, Fang Zhen naturally associated them with a seal.

Madici recovered from the impact of the Kun Sha Seal, brandished its scythe, and charged Jilenna again.

Jilenna hadn't yet regained her balance.

Fang Zhen, having finished reloading, loaded a Blue Elf Crossbow Arrow, raised his crossbow, and fired at Madici's back.

"SWOOSH!"

As if it had eyes in the back of its head, Madici once again stirred the formless waves around it.

The Blue Elf Crossbow Arrow flew to within three or four meters of Madici but couldn't penetrate further. It was repelled by a powerful force.

'The Gang Zan Seal again.'

Fang Zhen hadn't expected this shot to be fatal to Madici either.

He was just disrupting Madici's attack rhythm.

With Madici's rhythm broken, Jilenna had already adjusted. Using the repulsive force of the Gang Zan Seal, she leaped up, regained her center of gravity, and put some distance between herself and Madici.

Having its rhythm broken twice, turning its killing blows into nothing, made Madici furious.

Madici whipped its head around, its face a mask of pure evil, and snarled at Fang Zhen.

Fang Zhen was unmoved.

He lowered his compound crossbow.

The original plan had been to exhaust Maticvia's stamina and then, once the monster could no longer cast the Gang Zan Seal, finish it off with a Liquefied Gas Cylinder or some other method.

But now, it was clear the plan wasn't going smoothly.

Maticvia was even stronger than anticipated, the most powerful enemy Fang Zhen had ever faced.

Madici's stamina was formidable.

At this rate, Gwendolyn and Jilenna would run out of stamina long before Madici did.

'We can't let this go on.'

"Mark, Molotovs!" Fang Zhen yelled, tossing his compound crossbow behind him.