Chapter 17：Crisis

One minute, two minutes...Xiao Ling had been restraining his attacks, keeping the damage just under twice as much as Luan Ying's. But, what he did not know was that Luan Ying and Yu Xue were terrified by that very fact.

His attacks often caused 200 to 300 damage. On several occasions, Luan Ying and Yu Xue both thought the maggot king was about to shift its target and hurriedly increased the frequency of their attacks, only to discover that the monster had always taken them as the target.

After being frightened several times in a row, the two finally realized that Xiao Ling had been restraining his attacks, and all his attacks had been calculated! Although the damage they caused seemed to be a lot, they were, in fact, the result of careful calculation!

The conclusion surprised Luan Ying and Yu Xue. Although the damage of each of their attacks was only a few dozen points, their attack speed was quite fast. It was not a simple task to mentally add up all the damage caused by each attack and then calculate the damage he should generate with each of his attacks. Although many people who could calculate mentally at high speed could do that, how many of them would really do this?

And he had to calculate such complicated things mentally while casting his skills to attack the monster. How did his brain even work? Luan Ying and Yu Xue wondered if he actually had two brains in his head.

'He has a very promising future! If possible, we must establish a good cooperative relationship with him, so that we can have a strong helper for missions or whatsoever in the future,' Luan Ying and Yu Xue decided secretly. Moreover, they could see that Xiao Ling was very easy to get along with, which would definitely make things easier.

In fact, it was quite simple for Xiao Ling to add up these double digits. What was difficult was that he had to distinguish which number was Luan Ying's damage and which was Yu Xue's. If truth be told, he was already dazzled by all the values that kept jumping out over the monster.

When the maggot king's health dropped to 20%, it suddenly squeaked, and its flesh began to squirm rapidly as a large number of small maggots poured out from the joints between its hard shell, rushing toward Luan Ying and Yu Xue like a tide.

These small maggots were only level 5, and their defense and health were not high either. However, their dps was quite high, and they came in numbers; there were about fifty to sixty of them.

Even Luan Ying and Yu Xue could not hold on for long if all fifty to sixty small maggots attacked together.

They cursed under their breath, as they did not expect this maggot king to have this skill. No wonder several teams that had tried to kill it had all failed. The most outrageous thing was those players never telling anyone that the maggot king could summon minions.

"Let's go!" While defending themselves against the attacks, Luan Ying and Yu Xue retreated toward the exit of the cave while the small maggots followed them closely. Xiao Ling and Fei Yu also moved toward the exit.

Bam! Xiao Ling casually threw a Shadow Bolt on a maggot, causing more than 200 damage and instantly killing it. These small maggots were only level 5, and their health was very low, only slightly over 200. Nevertheless, they were extremely fierce, as they kept attacking Luan Ying and Yu Xue while squeaking.

Fei Yu's Heal and Holy Renew kept falling on both of them. She was afraid that they would be killed by the monsters if she missed even once.

However, her spells still failed to recover their health in time. Seeing that his health almost bottomed out, Luan Ying gritted his teeth and drank a bottle of minor health potion, which restored his health to half and allowed him to hold on for a few more seconds. Then Fei Yu's Heal finally fell on him and saved him from the brink of death.

Force Blast!

If Luan Ying and Yu Xue died, Xiao Ling and Fei Yu would soon be killed as well. So, when Xiao Ling saw both men fall into danger multiple times, he threw all his worries to the wind and jumped to a more appropriate position, from where he used an AoE skill. The Force Blast exploded within a five-yard radius and inflicted more than 100 damage to each of the fifty to sixty maggots, dazzling all eyes with the numbers that jumped out over the maggots at the same time. For Xiao Ling as a spellcaster, using an AoE spell in this situation was equivalent to courting death, because he had made all the maggots shift their hatred toward him as they began to circle him. Without uttering another word, he turned and ran.

If he had two AoE spells that could be cast instantly, perhaps the battle would be over by this time. But the problem was that Force Blast was the only AoE spell he knew.

Xiao Ling glanced at the cooldown of Force Blast and saw twenty seconds. He had to survive for twenty seconds!

He ran back and forth in the empty space of the cave. The speed of those little maggots was extremely fast. Even after being slowed down by the Force Blast, they did not move much slower than him.

Two seconds, four seconds, six seconds…All of a sudden, the maggots started moving faster because the slowdown effect from the Force Blast was gone.

'This is not good.' Looking at the approaching maggots, Xiao Ling counted the time in his head. Meanwhile, Luan Ying and Yu Xue were stunned by the sudden change, and a thought flashed through their minds, 'Xiao Ling is dead! He did this to save both of us!'

Their eyes turned red as they shouted and rushed at the little maggots, hoping to save Xiao Ling by turning the maggots' hatred on them. However, their skills were all single-targeted. Melee classes such as rogues and druids did not have AoE skills until they changed their professions for the first time at level 30. Even if they did, such AoE skills could only lure up to five nearby monsters. They could never lure so many maggots!

The key to Xiao Ling's survival lay in whether he could avoid the attacks of so many maggots himself!

The little maggots swooped at him like a swarm of grasshoppers. No one knew how they moved; although they had no limbs, their speed was still incredibly fast.

Xiao Ling counted the time as he ran. Ten seconds had passed, and he could cast another Force Blast in another ten seconds. At that time, most of the maggots would be dead and his crisis would be relieved. But, the remaining ten seconds were the most dangerous ones!

He casually cast a Shadow Bolt and a Searing Pain, killing the two maggots closest to him. However, at the moment when he cast the spells, the other maggots rushed up and surrounded him, constantly attacking him.

One second, two seconds...

Just when Xiao Ling's health was about to bottom out...