Show Me the Money

Chapter 250 - Tentacle

In the middle of the vast hall, the fountain that was ten-odd meters in diameter sprinkled water over twenty meters up in the air. The falling droplets reflected a variety of colors from the crystals around, looking beautiful and luxurious like a wonderland.

There were no other objects in the hall aside from the fountain, which made the party even more cautious. A place where Sallip had poured in tremendous effort to set up traps and mechanisms was certainly no simple place.

Hesitating a moment, Fatty summoned the crystal scorpion. Upon its appearance, the little fellow scurried around Fatty with waggly tail, looking extremely cute.

"Go." Fatty pointed at the fountain. His scorpion was only level 10, so its level could be easily gained back even if it died.

In the past, Wheat had been the one in charge of this sort of mission. However, Wheat was now a temporary mount and couldn't level up.

The Crystal Yao Scorpion skittered towards the fountain on its speedy little legs.

Fatty tightly fixed his eyes on the scorpion, who crawled all the way to the fountain without any incident.

"Am I too paranoid?" Fatty muttered to himself.

At another side, Han Shen also commanded his pet to crawl over. The pet also safely reached its destination.

"Go." After exchanging glances with Han Shen, Fatty summoned Wheat and rode to the fountain.

The four players gathered next to the fountain.

"There's nothing here." Han Shen tried reaching out with his hand. Water splattered on his palm into several petals, reflecting the colors of the rainbow.

"Well, that's strange." Fatty circled around the fountain and thrust his hand into it as well. "Sallip wasted so much effort for such a useless fountain?"

"There are bones in the water." Liu Lan pointed at the fountain pond.

It was hard to tell how deep the pond was, but everyone could vaguely make out a pile of bones underneath.

Rumble… The water suddenly swirled. One after another, pieces of bones floated up and bobbed about in the pond.

Some were stark white bones, while some still had rotten meat attached to them. Everyone felt their stomachs churn at the sight.

"The Celestial item shouldn't be hidden there, right?" Han Shen peered into the pond, looking like he wanted to get to the depth of it.

"You can go down there and take a look," suggested Xiao Jian.

Han Shen was actually tempted by the idea. However, after long and hard consideration, he decided against it.

"Something's off," Liu Lan carefully pondered. "Sallip must have been at least in his 5th or 6th class enhancement when he came here. A monster that could make him retreat, or beat him away to be exact, definitely isn't simple. But why haven't we seen any sign of it at all?"

"Maybe the monster is hiding under the fountain?" Everyone came to the same conclusion.

Rumble! The fountain water violently surged as if to verify their idea. A bucket-thick, over ten-meter-long tentacle, stretched out from underwater and swept at the party.

"Move back!" Fatty hurriedly smacked Wheat.

BOOM!

The tentacle viciously smashed on the floor. Instantly, the smooth surface ruptured into a roughly three-meter-wide and ten-meter-long crack.

As the group retreated, the tentacle reached out of the water further and further. In the end, it reached fifty meters in length, just enough to attack every corner of the hall.

Bam! A white light flashed as Fatty tossed Appraisal.

Terrible Wang Zhang's Tentacle

Yao boss

Level: 60

Attack: 120 - 145

Defense: 130

HP: 10000

Notes: A tentacle of Terrible Wang Zhang.

A single tentacle is already a Yao boss?! Everyone gasped, appalled. What rank is this Terrible Wang Zhang monster then? A Celestial boss?

If it was, then they could just pack up and go home and forget about this Celestial item.

"No wonder Sallip didn't dare to return here even after he ranked up." Liu Lan wrinkled her brow.

"It seems that this place isn't the center of the maze," Fatty solemnly said.

"Yeah. From the looks of it, there should be several other halls like this one," Xiao Jian concluded.

"What now?"

The four discussed for a bit and decided to keep going. They had come this far and were unwilling to give up just like that.

Whew! The tentacle swept at them again. Everyone quickly dodged. Without Cheng Xiong to heal them, they had to be on constant alert.

Bang! Bang! Every place that the tentacle hit instantly crumbled. The hall shook as if it was on the verge of collapse.

"Hah! Underworld Fire Blade!"

Han Shen moved so fast that his legs blurred as he slashed at the tentacle. Pitifully, he wasn't so lucky this time as a MISS popped up.

"Deadly Poison." Fatty attacked right after him. Another big MISS floated up.

"Windbreak Strike!" Xiao Jian's sword skill connected and dealt a large amount of damage. However, it didn't even amount to a sliver on the tentacle's health bar.

As a knight, Liu Lan fared badly. It was impossible for her to tank without a priest's constant healing. Also, her damage was much lower than the rest.

Bang! The tentacle made a sudden turn mid-air and smacked down. The force was so strong that it brought about a violent gale, piercing everyone's eardrums.

Fatty closely followed the movement with his eyes. The moment that it struck down, he drew his Elemental Sword at lightning speed and gently tapped the tentacle.

Paralyze!

The tentacle trembled a little, then completely stopped.

Good chance! The other three all moved at once. A barrage of attacks ensued.

Blood splattered all over the place as everyone cast every skill in their possession during the three seconds of Paralyze. The boss's health bar finally dropped a sliver.

Fwish! The tentacle suddenly made a sweep and sent the players flying.

"Fatty, use the ballista," said Xiao Jian as he landed and took several steps back.

"The bolts are already too corroded. If we use it now, it's gonna be hell when we see the main body." Fatty hesitated.

The tentacle was different from the bosses they met earlier. It only needed a sweep to knock everyone away. Moreover, its health regen speed was extremely quick. If they dozed off just a little, all of their earlier efforts would go down the drain.

That was why Xiao Jian suggested using the ballista.

"It's but a Yao boss. Not like we haven't killed one before." Han Shen stamped his leg and leaped forth.

"Frozen." Fatty took out the Elemental Skill Book and pointed his finger. A creaking sound echoed, and a layer of ice appeared on the tentacle. While the skill couldn't completely freeze the boss, it successfully slowed its movement.

"Underworld Blood Blade!" Han Shen moved like a ghost of the underworld. In a flash, a blood-red light gleamed. The huge tentacle instantly trembled as a series of number indicators floated up from the wound.

"A Trip with No Return!" Xiao Jian became one with his sword and turned into a white light that blasted at the tentacle.

The tentacle shuddered. A huge number popped up and the boss's health bar dropped a visible chunk. As for Xiao Jian, his health went below half.

"Poison Dragon Drill!" Raising her spear, Liu Lan spurred the Fire Cloud Panther. Like a dragon leaping to sea, she jabbed the spear at the wound Xiao Jian caused earlier and tore it open.

Alongside their masters, the pets were even fiercer and more fearless, especially the Lightning Bird.

The bird turned into a lightning streak and zigzagged in the air. A soft physique like this tentacle was just suitable for the Lightning Bird's only offensive attack. It lodged deep into the boss with every single strike, and had to put in a huge force to pull itself out after.

Bam!

The tentacle heavily smashed down. Inky knocked it up with Mental Breakdown. Despite its pitifully meager damage, the Dark Sacrificer was perfect as a supporter.

The four players ruthlessly attacked with their pets. The process was full of risks, but they successfully wiped out half of the boss's health.

"It sucks without a priest." Xiao Jian managed to find a gap to comment.

The rest repeatedly nodded. When Cheng Xiong was still here, they could attack without care. Now, they had to keep track of their HP.

Booom! The tentacle seemed to go berserk. It swept and smashed at a much higher speed and rate, kicking up currents of wind all over. The entire hall creaked as crystal shards flew in all directions, causing quite a bit of trouble for the players.

Shadow Kill! Fatty and Han Shen activated the skill in unison. They transformed into silhouettes and submerged into the tentacle's shadow.

Puff puff! Blood sprayed beautifully. The tentacle whipped more fiercely but had no way to hit the two players hiding in its shadow.

After ten seconds passed, the rogues emerged at the same time and tacitly retreated in opposite directions.

The tentacle lashed at Fatty. He rolled on the spot and dodged the attack.

Bursting Bullet. Lying on the floor, Fatty snapped his fingers. Instantly, a fireball smashed on the tentacle and exploded.

Burned by the fire, the tentacle shrank back a little. The burnt spot emitted a thick aroma of BBQ meat.

"Damn! How could I forget about the relationship between the five elements!" Fatty held the Elemental Skill Book in his left hand and pointed with his right. Fireball, Fire Bullets, Fire Blade, all kinds of fire magic spells blotted out the sky as they struck the tentacle.

Such an intense series of attacks naturally pulled the majority of the boss's aggro. It began to chase after Fatty.

"Combo Chop!" Xiao Jian repeatedly hacked out six wounds on the tentacles.

Whoosh!

The tentacle abruptly twisted and coiled around Xiao Jian. Then, it tightened, wanting to strangle him to death.

"Humph! Heavenly Divine Sword!" A ball of light exploded at the tip of Xiao Jian's sword. A huge sword illusion descended from above and merged with his sword.

Riiip!

Very easily, Xiao Jian tore loose the tentacle and nimbly jumped out.

"Impressive!" Fatty gave him a thumbs-up.

"24-hour cooldown." Xiao Jian smiled wryly. Virtually every skill that required a day cooldown would be one's trump card.

After Xiao Jian's epic slash, the tentacle's health sharply dropped to below 20%.

Hoo… The tentacle abruptly stopped mid-air, where four illusions of it appeared and hurtled at the four players respectively.

At the same time, the fountain sprayed out a huge amount of water that permeated the hall. The party felt their bodies go stiff as their speed was reduced by a lot.

Waterwalk!

Amidst the crisis, Fatty got below the tentacle with Waterwalk and fiercely stabbed out his Elemental Sword.

Boom! The illusion that went for Xiao Jian turned into droplets of water and fell.

Xiao Jian wiped his forehead. With his less than half-full HP, that illusion would have insta-killed him if it got to graze him just a little.

"Hah!" Unable to evade in time, Liu Lan let out a cry and raised her shield. With a bam, the tentacle illusion burst, leaving Liu Lan with only several dozens of health points left. It had been an extremely perilous situation.

On Han Shen's side, it was actually very peculiar. His body distorted into a blurry and twisty shadow figure. The tentacle penetrated through him and rammed on the floor without dealing any damage.

Whoosh.

After the illusion attack, the tentacle shivered all of a sudden and quickly retracted back into the fountain pond. In the blink of an eye, it completely vanished.