83: Chapter 83 The Blood-Locking Beast Endures the Berserk

Xu Qin put away his smile and looked back at the Sand Rat's perspective.

The Source Essence Giant Beast was still running around inside the ore vein cavity.

Its twenty-meter-plus body rampaged through the cavity, each step making the ground tremble.

But the ore shell restricted it tightly, like a trapped beast in a cage.

Xu Qin stroked his chin and said, "Tian Ming."

"Here."

"Open all eight tunnel entrances."

Tian Ming's soul fire paused.

"Take Chuan Yun and all the Ranged Troops, along with the Lich Legion, and disperse them into the eight tunnels."

"Each tunnel should have about two hundred and fifty Ranged Troops and two hundred and fifty Liches."

"Everyone stay inside the tunnels; no one is allowed to step out."

"Wait until it nears the tunnel entrance and enters range before firing."

"Also, send out the Sand Jackals to lure it. The Sand Jackals are fast; once they attract its attention, they must immediately run back to the nearest tunnel."

Tian Ming replied, "Yes, Master."

The order was transmitted.

The Elite Troglodytes opened the sealed earth at the eight tunnel entrances.

The 1,970 +40 Ranged Troops and 2,000 +40 Liches were evenly divided among the eight tunnels.

Subsequently... each of the eight tunnels sent out a small squad of Elite Sand Jackals.

Over a hundred Sand Jackals crawled out from the tunnel entrances and ran through the ore vein cavity.

The Source Essence Giant Beast was loitering near the fifth tunnel entrance.

Three Sand Jackals rushed out from the fifth tunnel entrance, baring their teeth and hissing at the giant beast.

Upon seeing this, the giant beast... Awoo!!! The roar shook the heavens and the earth.

Keng keng keng!!! The giant beast lunged forward on its articulated limbs.

Seeing this, the three Sand Jackals turned and fled, sprinting toward the third tunnel entrance.

Just as they entered the tunnel, the giant beast chased them to the entrance.

Its massive figure blocked the entire tunnel entrance.

At that very moment, inside the tunnel.

Two hundred and fifty Ranged Archers and Musketeers opened fire simultaneously.

Swish swish swish! Bang bang bang!

Arrows and bullets poured out from the ten-meter-wide tunnel entrance, all hitting the giant beast's exposed abdominal carapace.

-87! -87! -87! -2! -2! -2!

Xu Qin looked at those damage numbers. His expression stiffened.

"... 2?"

The true damage from the +40 Archers was fine, but the +40 Musketeers only dealt 8 damage to this thing?

Xu Qin hurriedly checked the command panel. There was no data, only question marks.

"Fine then." Xu Qin let out a long sigh. "2 is 2. As long as it deals damage, it's fine."

"Even if this thing has tens of millions of HP and can regenerate, it doesn't matter... I'll just slowly whittle it down."

He sat back in his bone chair and crossed his legs.

"Anyway, my troops don't need to eat or sleep. Can you hold out?"

"Oh, you're an elemental type, never mind then."

Following Xu Qin's instructions, Tian Ming commanded the troops in the eight tunnels to take turns dealing damage.

Whichever tunnel entrance the giant beast rushed to, that tunnel would fire fiercely.

After attacking, it would turn to chase the Sand Jackals that ran out from other tunnels to lure it.

Once it got there, the Ranged Troops on that side would also open fire.

It ran back and forth, roaring incessantly.

But it couldn't touch a single undead. There was no way; the tunnels were too narrow.

Time flew by in the tense process of whittling down its health.

Over half an hour later. Xu Qin sat on the bone chair, watching the giant beast's health bar on the command panel. Finally... about one-tenth had been whittled away.

"Although it's a bit slow," Xu Qin yawned, "it's steady."

Time reached the early morning hours. The Source Essence Giant Beast stopped chasing the Sand Jackals back and forth.

It stopped in front of the third tunnel entrance and began digging with its articulated limbs.

Crackle! The sealed earth at the tunnel entrance was dug away, revealing the ore shell wall inside.

It stabbed with its articulated limb again! Creak! Cracks appeared on the surface of the ore shell.

"It's widening the hole!" Xu Qin stood up.

In the Sand Rat's perspective, the giant beast was focused on digging at the third tunnel entrance. At this rate, in just over ten minutes, it would be able to widen the entrance enough for one of its legs to reach inside.

Xu Qin didn't panic. "The other seven tunnels... attack!"

The order was given. The Undead Army inside the seven tunnels charged out of the tunnel entrances simultaneously, bombarding the giant beast's sides and back.

Nearly two thousand Ranged Troops fired in unison, combined with the Liches' area-of-effect spells. -87! -87! -87! -2! -2! -2!...

The damage per shot was indeed low. But with nearly two thousand shots hitting simultaneously, the total damage per round approached one hundred thousand.

The giant beast felt the pain, roared angrily, and gave up digging. It turned and lunged toward the nearest first tunnel entrance.

The undead in the first tunnel turned and ran, quickly ducking back into the tunnel. The giant beast chased them to the tunnel entrance and slammed into it. Bang! Another tremor.

Seeing that its targets had disappeared, it turned back again, wanting to find the little things that had just attacked it. But it found that the seven units that had been following behind had all retreated back into their respective tunnels. The cavity was empty.

The giant beast stood stunned in place. Meanwhile, at the third tunnel entrance, the Elite Troglodytes had already begun repairs. Five minutes later, the tunnel entrance was restored to its original state.

The giant beast had no choice but to start digging at the fourth tunnel. Xu Qin gave the order again, and the other seven tunnels attacked.

The giant beast was interrupted again and had to chase those undead soldiers. It couldn't catch them, so it had to keep digging. But after digging just twice, it took another beating.

The terrifying giant beast that could crush everything was being toyed with by the tiny, untouchable undead. This went back and forth, repeating countless times.

Xu Qin leaned back in his bone chair, watching the giant beast's health bar on the command panel drop bit by bit. "Before five o'clock, I can definitely kill it!"

Time flew by in the long, drawn-out battle, reaching two-thirty in the morning. Fortunately, the undead didn't need sleep or rest, so there was no need to worry about replenishment.

Just then, suddenly! The warning box of the command panel popped up violently. [Warning! Source Essence Giant Beast's HP is below 35%, entering "Crystallized Berserk" state!] [Movement speed increased by 60%, Attack power increased by 150%!]

The sleepy Xu Qin sat up straight abruptly. He switched his perspective over... only to see that inside the ore vein cavity, the giant beast that had been slamming into the tunnel entrances was now rushing toward the seventh tunnel entrance.

The Ranged Troops there still had one squad that hadn't finished retreating. Xu Qin pulled up the map, checked the remaining distance, and calculated the giant beast's speed.

"... Not good." He stood up, his face serious. The giant beast's every step covered over a dozen meters. That group of Archers was still fifty meters away from the tunnel entrance, and at their walking speed...

From tunnel one to eight, the only ones left outside were that squad at tunnel seven. There were over thirty Elf Archers, and they couldn't outrun it. Once the giant beast slammed down with an articulated limb, the Archers would surely turn into bone dust. Bone dust could only be used as building material and couldn't be repaired.

"Bone Beasts." Inside the eight tunnels, one thousand Stitched Bone Beasts raised their heads simultaneously. "Attack!"

In the ore vein cavity, the giant beast was accelerating toward the seventh tunnel. Suddenly, it caught a glimpse of the swarm of Bone Beasts pouring out from the tunnel.

Awoo!!! The giant beast switched targets directly and lashed out with an articulated limb. Bang! -540! (Maximum HP limit reached)

The Bone Beast at the very front was sent flying. Pfft! Crack! The Bone Beast tumbled seven or eight times in the air, and after landing heavily on the ground, a piece of its carapace shattered and flew off.

But it propped itself up with its front limbs and climbed back up. Then, it continued to charge!

Before the giant beast's articulated limb had fully retracted, three more Bone Beasts had already closed in from the side, biting onto its leg bone and refusing to let go.

It smashed the second Bone Beast away with another articulated limb! Bang! -540! (Maximum HP limit reached)

That Bone Beast flew even further, and after doing a somersault, it also climbed back up, circled behind the giant beast, and bit onto it again.

"Awesome!" Xu Qin watched the screen and gave a thumbs up. The 15% health lock from Multi-Source Resonance was truly a bug in this kind of situation.