Luo Chen's arrival gave everyone on the field hope.
"Holy crap! Vice Guild Leader Luo Chen finally came! If he hadn't shown up, I'd already be dead meat!"
"Thank god he didn't give up on us…"
But hope only lasted for a fleeting moment.
The next second, everyone thought of a very realistic question.
"Between Vice Guild Leader Luo Chen and Vice Guild Leader Overlord Blade, who's stronger?"
"Of course Luo Chen's stronger! I mean, he's got a Legendary-class profession, while Overlord Blade's only Epic-class. There's already a huge difference just in job tier."
"But I remember last time the two of them PKed, Overlord Blade won, didn't he?"
"Yeah, but that's because Sword Emperor is better at team fights. His sword shadows are insane, sure, but he's not great at one-on-ones. Meanwhile, Martial Saint is the king of duels! The longer the fight goes, the stronger he gets. His damage stacks infinitely when targeting a single enemy."
"Ah… then doesn't that mean if Overlord Blade couldn't handle the larva, Vice Luo Chen definitely can't either? So even if he's here, we're still screwed?"
While everyone inside the insect nest worried about the situation…
Those outside were discussing the same question.
"Vice Luo Chen went in alone. Can he really handle that larva?"
"No way. That thing's a Emperor-tier boss. It's not something you can just 'handle'."
At that moment, Ouyang Ling'er, standing in the crowd and looking at the nest's entrance, said meaningfully, "This time, we can choose to believe in Luo Chen."
"Because tonight, he's not the same as before."
Her words made everyone around her puzzled.
"What do you mean, not the same as before?"
Ouyang Ling'er didn't explain much, she only said softly, "Let's wait and see."
———
[Inside the Insect Nest]
Because the Sword Shadow Storm swirling around Luo Chen was so eye-catching, the moment he stepped in, the larva's attention instantly locked onto him.
Sensing the enormous threat radiating from Luo Chen, the larva let out a furious roar.
Luo Chen showed no fear. Surging with the sword-shadow storm, he gripped his sword tightly and charged straight toward the larva.
ROAR!
The larva hissed, flicking its tongue and spitting venom in a long-range attack.
But the Sword Shadow Storm not only automatically attacked nearby enemies, it also formed a protective barrier, shielding the Sword Emperor effectively.
Thus, the larva's venom never reached Luo Chen; it was completely blocked by the storm of blades.
The next instant, as he entered attack range, the surrounding sword shadows slashed at the larva.
Luo Chen moved in close and expanded the storm's radius, intentionally trapping the larva inside it.
Of course, his goal wasn't to rely on sword shadows to deal damage.
Though their damage wasn't low, against a Emperor-tier boss like the larva, they weren't enough to deal heavy blows.
Luo Chen's real aim was to use the Sword Shadow Storm to isolate the outer poison bugs.
He had already seen through the trick, the smaller bugs outside served as the larva's "nutrient fluid."
During battle, the larva could devour those poison bugs to recover its HP and status.
So, to defeat the larva, the first step was to stop that recovery method, to prevent the poison bugs from getting near it.
Overlord Blade had thought of that before, trying to cut off its supply before fighting the larva.
But the poison bugs were simply too many, and Overlord Blade couldn't find a way to execute that plan.
Luo Chen, however, was different.
Right now, using the Sword Emperor's unique attack traits, his Sword Shadow Storm perfectly sealed off the surrounding swarm.
Because each sword shadow's damage was high enough to instantly kill level 155 poison bugs, the outer bugs couldn't even approach the storm, they were shredded before they got close.
This way, Luo Chen could focus completely on the larva, without any distractions.
The larva struck first.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
It spat multiple beams of deadly light from its mouth, blasting toward Luo Chen.
While dodging the attacks with nimble footwork, Luo Chen pressed forward.
His sword swung down.
SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!
A series of SSS-grade single-target skills landed on the larva's body.
The resulting damage was shocking.
The larva's HP bar visibly dropped, by a full one percent, and outside the nest, Wu Haotian and Marquis of Eternal Night were both stunned.
"Damn! When did Luo Chen's damage get this high?"
"He's cutting through the larva's defenses like butter, how's that even possible?"
"Something's off, really off!"
"He changed his gear!"
Finally, someone noticed the change in Luo Chen's equipment.
But they only assumed he'd swapped to a slightly higher-tier set compared to before, no one imagined anything beyond that.
The larva was built for group fights.
That massive mountain-sized body, just a single movement could deal devastating area damage to an entire group.
Its weakness was one-on-one combat.
Especially against someone like Luo Chen, a player who thrived on precision control and mechanical skill.
Exploiting the larva's sluggish movement, Luo Chen danced around it within the Sword Shadow Storm.
The larva's attacks were mostly large-scale AOE skills. Though their damage was high, the charge time was long, and the wind-up animation obvious.
As long as one observed carefully and reacted fast enough, avoiding the larva's attacks wasn't hard.
Luo Chen's maneuvers remained razor-sharp.
Everyone who knew him knew this was just like him, but what stunned them was how drastically his damage had increased.
After one full combo, the larva's HP dropped by three percent.
To put that in perspective, even when the larva was deliberately holding back before, the hundreds of archers and mages from the Temple of Destiny combined could only shave off two percent of its HP in a full volley.
By comparison, Luo Chen's damage was downright absurd.
"I don't get it. We all have golden gear and SSS-grade skills, why is Vice Luo Chen's damage so high?"
"Yeah! Even if his equipment's one or two tiers above ours, and his profession's a bit stronger, it shouldn't be that big of a difference."
As the crowd's voices died down, Overlord Blade, after carefully observing Luo Chen for a while, seemed to realize something.
Looking thoughtful, he muttered, "Isn't it possible… that his equipment is more than just one or two tiers higher than ours?"
Everyone around him froze in shock.
"But the highest-tier equipment possible in the 28th world is only around 25 stars! Our gear is already near top-tier, 23 to 24 stars! His might be 25 at most, right? Could it really go higher?"
Overlord Blade nodded, "It can."
On the battlefield, Luo Chen unleashed combo after combo,
his relentless attacks pounding into the larva.
With damage dozens of times higher than normal, he shredded its HP bar mercilessly.
No one noticed that, at that very moment, Luo Chen's body was radiating a strange, unfamiliar aura.