Alyssa's Lair(1)

Thousands of kilometers away, a young man was sitting in a dimly lit room. In front of him was a dark cauldron in which a liquid was just starting to boil. He was wearing casual clothes and looked very carefree.

"Hehe! I wonder what kind of face they are all making! It is a pity I can't wait any longer..." said the man.

"Well, I doubt they'll find the tricks to the Time Attacks anyway and me obtaining all the prizes should not affect the future that much... I wasted 20 seconds on purpose so that he would still be able to get first place in the world ranking, I just hope he won't give up upon seeing the huge gap in time."

A few seconds later, when the mixture was finally starting to emit a lot of vapor, the man's expression changed to a serious one.

"Anyway, this does not concern me anymore, let's just focus on these Grade two potions for now... I need to get stronger quickly to meet with the others... When we'll all meet, I'll have to show them that I deserve to be the number one."

...

Back at the Hall of Fame of Algate City. Upon seeing the new records, Li Wei could not help but feel even more depressed. When Bright Sun previously told him about the rewards accompanied by these records, he was naturally interested and wanted to aim for at least one prize. He knew that obtaining a prize would not be that easy but now, that task seemed almost impossible especially when he saw that one person alone completely crushed all the records.

There was no way for him to know that person. However, he could guess that the player made use of some exploits of some sort and that was precisely the threat. Considering that many people already had inside information about the game, wouldn't that mean that all the records would become like that? If even Bright Sun had some information, then what about the higher-ups of the sect or even the other guilds?

As a single player without any information, there was no way for him to beat these times!

"Let's not waste any more time! We should start with Alyssa's Lair and if we have more time after we used up our entries for this Time Attack, we can try the Graveyard of Longsoul" said Bright Sun.

Her voice quickly woke up her teammates who were still looking in a daze at the rankings. The party of five slowly made their way towards the painting of the cavern. The surrounding players were slowly getting themselves together as their respective captains called them out.

Many players were dispirited but they still listened to the orders. The entire sect quickly started to move towards the paintings they wanted to attempt. Due to the high number of players present for the event, the parties needed to queue up to enter in an orderly manner.

It was soon going to be Li Wei's turn to enter when he suddenly heard a voice coming from the side. It felt familiar but also extremely irritable.

"What a coincidence to meet here, Cai Die! How have you been since last time?"

The party immediately turned around only to see a tall player coming towards them. Li Wei immediately recognized that annoying face. It was the pro player: King of Champions.

"King of Champions... It is the weekly event. Of course, we'll all be here, and you should stop calling me by my real name," politely answered Bright Sun. Although she was polite, her body language easily betrayed her real thoughts; all she wanted was to get rid of that guy and enter the painting as soon as possible but she could not simply skip the queue in front of her and still needed to behave herself since she was in public.

However, King of Champions did not seem to mind her behavior: "What King of Champions? You should call me Adrian! I have some great news. I recently became an inner member of the sect, that means we'll get to see each other more often!"

Completely ignoring what he just said, Bright Sun answered: "We should act professionally during these events so please go back with your team! I also need to lead mine!"

"Haha! About that, how about I join your party this time? I am sure we'll achieve an excellent time by working together," continued King of Champions. As he spoke, his eyes turned towards Li Wei and the others. His intention was clear; he wanted one of them to step down and allow him to take their place.

However, no one did so. Bright Sun was visibly getting more frustrated. Even after successfully getting rid of the marriage arrangements, that guy did not simply leave the guild. Instead, he claimed that he would stay there and slowly conquer her heart. Since then, he had been constantly trying to initiate conversations or meet her, but she tactfully declined, saying that she needed to practice her cooking.

Now that he finally got the chance to be so close to Bright Sun, King of Champions naturally did not want to let go of this opportunity. Thinking that his intent was not clear, he looked at Li Wei; "Young man. Would you mind trading your spot with me? I have a great team and we coincidentally need a warrior! It will be a great opportunity to learn from them! What do you think?"

"Oh, if so, why don't you team up with your friends? You are also a warrior!" drily answered Li Wei. He was already in a foul mood and now, that hateful guy came to annoy him. He naturally not oblivious to King of Champions' aims, but he had no intention of teaming up with strangers again only to be bossed around.

"Cough cough. That's true but I and Cai Die have an extremely good synergy together. If we are together, we might even grab the record and so, I thought of giving you this opportunity!"

"No thanks! I am just a casual player. Learning from professionals does not interest me!" answered Li Wei. He made his position clear; he would not give up his spot in the party and all the other members quickly followed through. They were all members of Bright Sun's family to begin with and they knew the circumstances.

"If you don't mind, we need to go now. It's our turn! We cannot block the queue!" said Bright Sun and without even waiting for an answer, she walked through the painting.

As soon as she disappeared, King of Champions frowned for a second, before returning to his usual expression. Many of the surroundings players were already looking at him, he could not act as he wanted. He only sent a glare at Li Wei and the other three before disappearing into the crowd.

"Hmmp that guy! Who does he think he is?"

...

"Fiouff! That guy really sticks to you Cai Die!" said Silent Day as soon as she appeared in front of the cave.

"That's nothing... If I did not block him, I would receive loads of messages every day! So annoying... Even Wang Lin at least does not send messages like that."

"The main branch should have already kicked him out! Even if he was a pro player... He did not do anything worth his title yet!" said the mage.

"Well. Let's focus on the Time Attack for now... We can talk this over lunch. For now, let's beat that spider queen!"

In front of the party was the entrance to a cavern covered with spider's webs. The entrance was not very large; it had a similar appearance to the Sealed Mine of Little Root Town. The main difference was that a thin web was sealing the entrance.

A few droplets of water could be seen on the spider web, looking like morning dew. The setting of the time attack was such that the sun was rising at the horizon. Unfortunately, the players would not be able to appreciate that scene since they would have to enter the lair.

Like the Graveyard of Longsoul, Alyssa's Lair also housed a boss that needed to be defeated to complete the Time Attack. The boss was a level 15 Spider Queen who was protecting its eggs deep inside the cavern. Although it looked like that of the Graveyard of Longsoul, there was a slight difference when it came to the win condition; to win, defeating Alyssa was not enough, what they needed to do was to kill all the spiders inside this cavern!

For the Graveyard of Longsoul, what happened to the mob monsters was irrelevant to the win condition. As long as Lich Longsoul was dead, it would be the players' victory. But this Time Attack was different, defeating Alyssa did not necessarily end the Time Attack. They needed to kill every single mob which could prove to be a hassle but as a result, the monsters there were fewer in numbers.

To help the players, the game developers added a special functionality for this type of Time Attack; the players could consult their interface to look at the % completion of the Time Attack. This was especially useful since, after a few attempts, they would learn the % that each monster represented and could track down if they missed one.

"Good! Let's quickly go in, we wasted a few seconds already!" declared Silent Day as she stabbed her spear into the cobweb covering the entrance. The web was easily sliced open, revealing the inside corridor.

It was dark and looked like the corridors one would see at the dungeon. The difference was again the signature spider webs that were everywhere. They were literally everywhere; on the walls, on the floor and even on the roof, they all looked like a single giant web! A few animal bones also lay here and there adding to the already grim atmosphere.

"Just be careful of the falling spiders and shout if you need my healing or my cure," said Bright Sun.

Although she was the leader of the party, she was also a priest and as a result, she had to stay near the back where it was safer. Her role was critical to the success of this Time Attack as it was easy to be poisoned.

Li Wei was silently quietly next to Silent Day in the formation. While following Titan, he was looking at his surroundings, looking for a possible exploit he could use. Besides his duty towards the guild, this was the one and only incentive he had to attempt this Time Attack. While it was highly improbable he would find any, it was worth keeping an eye open.

The floor of the lair was not flat, it was slightly inclined, making it easy to enter the lair. They carefully looked at the walls and roof covered with spider webs in case spiders were hiding there.

Not even ten seconds went by before spiders started appearing. They immediately reminded Li Wei of the horrible experience he had when the Forest Spider jumped on his back. While they actually had different physical features, to him, all the spiders looked exactly the same except for their color. It was not to the point that he was scared of the spiders but if he could avoid direct physical contact with these insects, he would definitely take it.

Titan quickly engaged battle with his shield. Compared to the Forest Spiders, these ones actually actively tried to attack and bite off Titan, they moved their multiple legs as if they were short blades trying to scratch his shield, but Titan was quite skilled at keeping them at bay. After fighting with this party countless time, Titan already became very proficient at baiting monsters and positioned himself to allow his teammates to attack while diverting the attention of the monsters.

Li Wei and Silent Day quickly grabbed their weapons and after a quick eye contact, they charged forward.

...

20 minutes later, the party was now standing in front of the last room of the cavern, the one where Alyssa was! 20 minutes for a first try was quite impressive but that was mainly due to Li Wei and his party all being at level 14.

At that level, they could easily kill their way through the normal spiders. Only Alyssa could prove to be a problem. But Bright Sun was here; it was thanks to her that they did not waste any antidotes or even Health Potions. Everyone was prepared for the Time Attacks and brought several antidotes but thanks to [Cure], they could save a few gold.

The final room was still decorated just like all the previous ones; it was covered with spider webs. At the back of the room, a few Giant eggs could be seen lying in nests made of spider webs while a few cocoons of the size of a human were hanging from the roof.

Everyone was on alert as they slowly walked to the center of the room. It was pointless to wait at the entrance; Alyssa would only appear when all the players still alive would have completely entered the room. That was something they already knew. In fact, as long as they did not enter the room, nothing would happen, it was an opportunity given to the players to refill their HP and MP.

There was another way to summon Alyssa and that was to attack her eggs that were resting in the nest of Spider Webs. They were harmlessly resting in the corner of the room; their greenish color made them very noticeable.

A few seconds later, an expected sound came from above. Li Wei quickly raised his head only to see an ugly silhouette looking at the party.