Without a doubt, there was absolutely no way that such a creature could have been hidden in the coffin before. Brand immediately thought of those Crystal Fragments. However, he’d never encountered such a BOSS in Amber Sword before, and he couldn’t help but feel a bit intrigued. After all, there were very few monsters below Level 40 that he didn’t recognize.

At that moment, the creature had completely crawled out of the coffin. Although made entirely of Crystal, its movements weren’t stiff. Brand estimated that its agility was at least around seventy, only half of his, but the sound of the Crystal Spear cutting through the air earlier still haunted him. Its Attack Power was at least on par with Veronica without using Elemental Power—this thing was a strength-type monster.

Moreover, it was adept at Spiritual Attacks.

Brand felt a chill in his heart as these data suddenly reminded him of something.

It had only been a year since he crossed into this world, and he could still clearly remember the last version before he came over, the version following the ’Night of Despair’ was called ’Earth Awakening’. As per usual, this expansion had no introduction, but in the latter stages of the Stone Plate War, after the Head Wolf Aisis perished, Fanzan and Madara clashed violently, and the eyes of the whole world were focused on the life-and-death struggle between the two major faction players.

The war he participated in within the Oerqashi Mountain Range was merely the tip of the iceberg of this massive campaign.

The true cause of this battle was, plainly speaking, the competition for resources. A never-before-ventured area was discovered by adventurers in the wilderness to the East, sparking hostilities. Brand still remembered that legend about the East, those rumors about newfound life forms atop the wilderness.

Crystal Clusters.

An Alien Spirit with Life Force hundreds of times more resilient than Humans, mastering powerful mental forces.

But how could there be Crystal Clusters here? This was neither a hundred years in the future nor in a distant exotic far Eastern land; this was Erune, within the boundaries of civilization.

Although Brand couldn’t be sure if there were Crystal Clusters in Vorn over a hundred years ago, especially within Erune—if they existed, then the game designers laid this line way too long, this being the game’s first version—that spans nearly ten years in real time. But carrying this doubt, he still drew the Earth Sword, because that Crystal Monster had reached out towards him, and another Crystal Spike was whistling towards him.

In that instant, Brand already saw that the spikes were shot from the monster’s back, and he struck it down in mid-air. Yet, this strike made his arm slightly numb, suggesting that even though he hadn’t used the Frenzy ability of the Dark Dragon or enhanced the Crystal, this was already telling enough.

This monster’s Attack Power was indeed not inferior to the average status of Veronica, which further confirmed his previous guess—it was at the Peak level of a Level 40 BOSS.

Brand quietly sensed that this was going to be tricky. Under normal circumstances, encountering such a BOSS would be delightful, as the spoils of war were already in hand. Nonetheless, a BOSS’s Experience was generally much more than an Ordinary monster’s, not to mention BOSS usually carries some special alchemy materials, which are usually uncollectable. But just not now, as the tomb was shaking violently and could collapse at any time, and the opponent didn’t seem to want him to leave peacefully.

Brand knew this was part of the dungeon’s design, but given this monster’s strong Attack Power and decent dexterity, if it wanted to leave him stranded, that would be unpleasant. Even though the Mind Attack against him was ineffective, dealing with this monster wouldn’t be an easy task to finish swiftly.

Moreover, judging from the monster’s previous performance, it wasn’t dumb either.

"Please don’t mess with me, you would get crushed too, right?" he couldn’t resist muttering to the monster while cautiously retreating along the shaky corridor. Just as the door to the burial chamber was within reach, and he was about to breathe a sigh of relief, unexpectedly, the monster suddenly lunged at him as if gone mad.

"Damn it!"

Brand couldn’t resist activating the Charge Skill, turning into a meteor shooting out of the burial chamber. Yet, the monster seemed to have anticipated it, suddenly stopping to emit a resonating hum that made the entire underground lair quiver. Brand saw a flash of white light before him; a thick Crystal Wall appeared on the burial chamber door.

His heart sank, already understanding that to escape from here, he still needed to take out the opponent first. Brand cursed inwardly, turned back to face the monster obediently, but was surprised to find that the monster, after casting a spell, unexpectedly stopped and looked at him—

Brand was certain that the monster was looking at him, even though it had no head or eyes, he felt a sense of being watched. The monster glanced at him and then retreated, and Brand saw it climb back onto the Stone Coffin, and then leap down.

The entire body leaped down.

Then disappeared.

Brand was sure the depth of the Stone Coffin was inadequate to completely cover the monster. Seeing such a scene, he couldn’t help but be stunned for a second and then suddenly realized: "There’s a secret passage!" 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Brand instantly realized what the monster intended to do—it actually wanted to trap him to death here. Of course, this wasn’t the first deceitful BOSS he had encountered, but the fact that the monster tried to outsmart him—this he couldn’t accept. Did it think he was a Newbie?

...(To be continued. If you like this work, feel free to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets on Qidian (qidian.com). Your support is my greatest motivation.)