Chapter Seventeen (Reset): The Swarm

In an instant, the battlefield was engulfed by surging magical elements unleashed by the mages—crimson fireballs, sapphire ice shards, emerald wind blades, golden earth spikes, and flashes of white lightning. Though these were merely basic spells, under the hands of the players they swept across the field like a storm, raining down upon the loathsome black beetles.

Rows of archers released their arrows, filling the air like a downpour. The archers hardly needed to aim—the swarm was so dense that every shot found its mark. Warriors and summoners, accompanied by their summoned wolves, tigers, and leopards, held the very front of the formation. Not only did they hold the line, but they were also ready to intercept any beetles that managed to slip through, eager to display their prowess.

Countless damage numbers floated above the black beetles, painting the air with their relentless assault. Despite their great numbers and sturdy defenses, the beetles stood no chance against the combined onslaught of nearly a thousand players. Most crucially, these creatures possessed no ranged attacks and their primitive AI could only drive them to swarm mindlessly forward, making them easy prey for the well-prepared players. Beetle after beetle was seared by flames or sliced apart by wind blades, each contributing a generous sum of experience points.

I sat upon a rock, watching the furious battle unfold before me. I had no intention of rushing into the fray, content to gain experience from a safe vantage—such opportunities were rare. The Roc lounged comfortably beside me, lazily puffing on his favored cigarette. He exhaled a long plume of smoke through his nostrils and said, “This is just the appetizer, I suppose. The real challenge is yet to come.”

I nodded in agreement.

The one-sided slaughter lasted little more than ten minutes before the beetles finally ceased to emerge. The ground was layered thick with the bodies of the slain and the scattered copper and silver coins they dropped.

“Brothers, the boss could appear at any moment. Stay sharp and prepare to attack again!” The male warrior’s voice betrayed his excitement; to defeat the boss so easily was cause for celebration.

As the wave of monsters was cleared, many players surged forward to scavenge the spoils, quickly sweeping the battlefield.

A brief calm settled over the field. The mages sat to recover their mana with potions, the warriors sharpened their blades with whetstones, and the summoners recalled their cherished beasts to tend to their wounds—everyone was busy with their own tasks. Most, however, fixed their gaze on the dense black mist ahead, their nerves stretched taut in anticipation of the boss’s arrival.

Some among us had faced the boss at the start of the battle and warned that it possessed a highly advanced AI and was exceptionally ferocious.

Yet no one expected the calm to last less than five minutes. Without warning, the earth began to tremble once more. From below, jet-black insects burrowed their way up—creatures the size of a man, not unlike the cockroaches we see in daily life, though these could only crawl while the previous beetles could fly. Nevertheless, these creatures tunneled up from beneath the players’ feet, catching more than a hundred who were scavenging completely off guard, making them the first victims of the ambush. Their fate was grim.

Cockroach, Level 30, Elite Beast! The real battle was only just beginning. Despite the name, these things only faintly resembled common cockroaches. At that moment, Fire Phoenix unhesitatingly loosed an arrow, which flew a hundred meters and struck a cockroach squarely in the head—a wise choice, as insect monsters often have their weak spot there.

A damage value of -50 popped up above the cockroach’s head, to everyone’s astonishment. Even more confounding, the cockroach managed to retract its head, dodging a fatal blow, its thick shell absorbing the attack. At the same time, the cockroach, now vengeful, charged at Fire Phoenix. Though she fired several more arrows, each did little damage. Still, her relentless assault eventually wore the cockroach down, and on her tenth shot, the heavily armored insect exploded.

Six hundred experience points flashed across my view—shared among the three of us, no less. It was clear these cockroaches were worth a fortune in experience. As Fire Phoenix finished off one, the battlefield below had already erupted into chaos. The new cockroaches were slow but heavily armored, and although players launched attacks from every angle, the cockroaches marched straight through the withering fire, breaking into the player lines and unleashing carnage.

From their mandibles, the cockroaches spewed a stream of green liquid, which instantly corroded any player it touched, melting them into puddles of green sludge. Panic spread—summoners fell with a single hit, warriors lasted only two. The air was thick with overlapping damage numbers; the party channels descended into chaos, leaders barking contradictory orders, and the general channel filled with curses and pleas for help.

Players with weak defenses fell in droves to the cockroaches’ vile spit and savage claws. Armor and flesh alike were corroded to tatters before the final blow was struck. It was a severe test of mental fortitude—no wonder the Second World featured multiple sensory settings, recommending players with fragile nerves lower their sensitivity and warning minors against combat classes, disclaiming all legal responsibility for any mishap.

Only warriors with strong defenses, shields, and sturdy armor could withstand the onslaught, while summoners and their beasts fought desperately to hold back the tide. Mages and archers, terrified, retreated while hurling spells and arrows, their attacks proving effective—clearly, these cockroaches had high physical but low magical resistance.

The calm under pressure displayed by some players inspired others to regain composure. After a brief withdrawal, most organized a disciplined counterattack.

The male warrior, now attacking alongside his comrades rather than commanding, fought with a peculiar style. He slid beneath the cockroaches like a soccer player tackling, his blade flashing blue as he slashed deep into their underbellies. A cockroach let out an agonized scream, green blood pouring from a gash as it writhed and died.

More and more players regained their cool, employing creative tactics—some would swarm a cockroach in groups to batter it to death. Among them, I noticed a strikingly handsome warrior whose sword crackled with blue-white lightning, marking it as at least a rare blue-grade weapon. His attacks were powerful—where others’ blades bounced off the armored shells, his sword cut through effortlessly, slicing open the exoskeleton and piercing the soft innards within, each kill feeding him more experience.

In the brief moments since players had noticed him, he had already felled three cockroaches.

“Watch out, more bugs coming up!” the Roc shouted. I stared intently ahead and saw ten more cockroaches burrow up from underground. At the same time, from the black mist ahead, a horde of grotesque, bulbous insects tumbled forth, their heads tiny and bodies bloated like balls, their legs so short and bodies so fat they could only roll across the ground in a heap.

Using the cockroaches’ advance as cover, these obese insects rolled desperately toward the players. When one reached the midst of the crowd, it suddenly exploded, dousing the area with green liquid. The self-destruction obliterated the bug but inflicted massive damage on nearby players—white flashes of death blossomed everywhere, and disfigured corpses collapsed in droves.

Toxic Bomb Bug, Level 10, Ordinary Beast. “Damn it, toxic bombs?! The system is too cruel—they’re trying to wipe us all out in one go with these!” I cursed loudly.

The toxic bomb bugs rolled into the ranks, exploding one after another. Though the player army responded swiftly and scattered, their speed could not match the tumbling bugs. Agonized screams rose as countless players were blasted back to their respawn points.

Yet, amidst the chaos, the players managed to rally. Though the combined attacks of the toxic bomb bugs and cockroaches had claimed nearly a thousand lives, the black mist ceased to produce new monsters. Gradually, the tide turned, and the players began to exterminate the remaining bugs.

“Come on, everyone! Victory is within reach!” a player cheered in the channel. But his optimism proved ill-timed, for as soon as he spoke, a cataclysmic change erupted from the black mist.

Those still fighting the cockroaches and those fleeing the toxic bomb bugs all heard a deafening roar, followed by a violent tremor beneath their feet, as if an earthquake of magnitude seven or greater had struck. Many players, caught off guard, were knocked flat.

A vast fissure, nearly three meters wide, split open the ground. With a terrifying roar, a massive head, attached to a long, sinuous body, surged from the depths—an awe-inspiring sight.