'What about offense? What can I do?' Mahn Li mused after confirming the changes to his Strength and Coordination.

Using poison was out of the question: it only healed the Corruptor. Mana Bolts did not seem to help much, as the thing was more resistant to magical attacks.

His choices were physical attacks, or his dagger and crossbow bolts. The split-head bolts seemed to do the most damage while adding some bleeding on top. In addition, they were more difficult to remove, meaning he could use then to impede the Corruptor's movements.

He had wanted to keep the blessed water vials as a trump card but had changed his mind. The mini-boss was too keen on close combat, and he would need something to keep it at bay, else it would overwhelm him and wipe away his health in seconds.

When the timer ended, Manco respawned in a tiny nook. Checking his map, he found that he was in an alcove at the north edge of the boss' chamber. This was likely put in as a "preparation zone" for players who were stuck here with the boss. The developers were not cruel enough to spawn him right in the mini-boss' aggro range.

On the edge of his vision was a timer counting down from 5 minutes. It was another feature of this boss fight area. In five minutes, he would be automatically booted out of this preparation zone into the main chamber. He would not be able to camp here until the Tethered Soul status effects wore off.

Opening his inventory he retrieved one of the morning dew vials. He applied a quarter of it on the dagger and another quarter on five split-head bolts.

He stepped out of the alcove and instantly, the Corruptor let out an angry hiss and moved to confront him.

"You again!"

"Okay, smokey! Time for round two!" Manco said, readying the crossbow.

As the Corruptor began to recite an abridged version of its speech, Manco interrupted it with a 「Crippling Shot 」 to the face. To his dismay, he found out it was neither Blinded or Stunned.

Apparently, it was either immune to those status effects, or its stats were too high to be affected by a low-level weapon.

Enraged, it rushed in and attacked him in close combat. However, a few wounds made with a knife doused with blessed water immediately changed its mind. Squirming in pain, it immediately retreated out of striking range and glowered at him.

Ignoring the glare, Manco began shooting at it with his crossbow. He mixed up normal bolts with split-head bolts, some of which had blessed morning dew on them.

The first time it was hit by those bolts, the Corruptor let out an ear-piercing screech. While being lodged in the Corruptor's body, the blessed water on the bolt continuously chipped away at its health.

When about a quarter of its health was shaved off, the thing decided to reveal another card.

Retreating back to a far corner of the chamber, the boss plunged both its back limbs into its chest, then pull apart revealing a gaping hole. It then stuck its right arm into the wound and pushed in deeper and deeper until the whole forearm was inside its torso.

After a few seconds, it pulled its arm out along with a weapon. It was a wand, about as long as Manco's arm, with the form of a shriveled arm holding a skull.

Muttering bizarre chants, it began unleashing several spells at him. He frantically dodged the projectiles but was only partially successful.

「Rot 」 (Resisted!)

「Weaken 」(Resisted!)

「Blind 」 (Resisted!)

Happily realizing the curses were all nullified thanks to the Sacred Deer' blessing, Manco focused less on dodging and more on firing the crossbow and mana bolts at the Corruptor.

After a few exchanges, the half specter also realized its curses were ineffective. It immediately switched to using direct-damage spell types.

「Shadow Bolt 」!

「Dark fire 」!

「Dark Implosion 」!

The Shadow Bolt was similar to his own Mana Bolt, except it did small amounts of Dark damage. The other two, one was Damage over Time spell, and the other did Area of Effect damage. Manco could not dodge the fast Shadow Bolt, but the other two spells were easily avoidable, especially because the Corruptor heavily telegraphed when it was about to fire off a big spell. Just like that, he slowly chipped away its health.

When its HP bar was reduced to 50%, the Corruptor changed tactics. It temporarily turned the ground into a marshland with an Alter Terrain - type spell.

Instantly, the ground around Manco became a thick sludge, clinging to his shoes, making moving impossible.

Immobilized, he was helpless as the thing pelted him with spells from afar.

Eventually, it finished him off with a powerful spell from its wand.

〔 You have died. Cause of death: Killed by a Corruptor (unique variant) 〕

〔 Item destroyed: Fancy Hunter's Cap! 〕

…

In the Menu room, Mahn Li reviewed the footage captured by the recording function.

"Shit, I forgot about the cottage!" He shook his head. The place could have been used as a cover!

He checked the footage and sure enough, the place seemed unaffected by the Corruptor's Alter Terrain spell.

During the third round, wary of being hit with the blessed water, the boss kept a distance. It immediately pulled out the wand and attacked from afar.

The moment he saw the Corruptor begin the animation to retrieve the wand, Manco made his way toward the house. However, when he neared the house, the ground sunk below his feet. It was a quicksand trap!

"Shit!" he cursed. He was too careless!

"Is that all you've got, human?" Sneered the half-specter as it launched a barrage of spells at the helpless adventurer.

〔 You have died. Cause of death: Killed by a Corruptor (unique variant) 〕

…

At the beginning of the fourth round, Manco made it into the house. The cottage was sparsely furnished, with a bamboo bed and some other furniture he could not identify.

"Get away from there!" Shrieking in anger, the Corruptor rushed in after him. Without using the wand, it began using its limbs and attacked in close quarters.

Inside the cottage, it was quite cramped. The boss could not attack as wildly. In particular, the long and flexible back limbs frequently got hindered by the support pillars or the furniture. Coupled with his increased Strength and Coordination, Manco found it much easier to keep up with their movements.

Meanwhile, using his dagger doused with holy water, he slowly chipped away at its health.

50%!

With each stab and each slash, one more wound was made on the Corruptor's body. Its regenerative ability struggled to keep up with the damage dealt by the holy water.

Screaming with anger, it retaliated with a flurry of blows that were largely ineffective. Its powerful blows were either dodged, parried, blocked, or stuck on the furniture.

"I can do this!" Manco thought, his hand squeezing the dagger.

The moment the boss' health neared 25%, for some reason, his concentration slipped. His swing went wide and he stepped a little too close to the boss.

Immediately, the Corruptor used both of its hand to grab him.

With two snaps, the tips of its back limbs split open. The right limb had a long stinger. The left one had a powerful three-pronged mandible with countless blade-like teeth.

The stinger stabbed his neck, instantly paralyzing him. Simultaneously, the mandible clamped down painfully on his head.

「Devour」!

Manco felt his health draining. His head felt like it was going to burst. His vision narrowed to a tiny point, while the rest was obscured by pulsing red veins. All the sounds were drowned out by the deafening beats of his heart.

*Thump-thump *Thump-thump

"An instant-kill move!" was his last thought before everything turned black.

〔 You have died. Cause of death: Killed by a Corruptor (unique variant) 〕

…

In his fifth respawn, despite him being fully focused this time, the boss still managed to grab him when its health was down to 25%. Similar to before, it unveiled a stinger and a mandible from its two back limbs.

This time, however, Manco was ready for them!

His left hand caught the stinger, mere fractions of a second before it paralyzed him. His right hand intercepted the mandible, which swallowed it whole.

Gritting his teeth, he broke the vial held in his right hand.

"Devour this!" He said with a grin. It was half a vial of blessed water!

The Corruptor paused for a second as if to process what it just swallowed. Then it shuddered...

...and let out a long, shrill cry. The noise was so deafening that Manco felt like his ears were bleeding.

The half-specter began convulsing. Its skin and flesh began to liquefy and fall off, revealing a core at its chest.

Letting go of the stinger, Manco used his left hand to grab the dagger and stabbed at the core. With a sickening squelch, the dagger sank into the pulsing mass of flesh …

…and stopped only two centimeters in.

His heart stopped as he realized the holy water applied onto the blade had run out!

Then he felt something stab at his neck and his muscles seized up. Paralyzed, he fell flat on the ground.

Looming over him, the half-dead Corruptor growled between labored breaths: "Is that all you've got, human?"

…

〔 You have died. Cause of death: Killed by a Corruptor (unique variant) 〕

〔 Item durability decreased. Please avoid dying too often 〕

〔 Item destroyed: Belzhorian Light Crossbow! 〕

〔 No items dropped for characters below level 20 〕

〔 Time until respawn: 4m55s 〕

〔► To Menu 〕〔 Log out 〕

.

Mahn Li selected "Log out."

Removing his VR helmet, he noticed a headache that had been there since he was Devoured during the fourth try. He had assumed it was a bug of the system, but it turned out he was having a headache for real.

"What's happening to me?" He said, holding his head.