How should the Phantom Knight be fought?
After several days of searching, Galen Yu finally arrived at the Dark Forest.
The trees here were different from any other Twilight tree species he had seen before.
The black trees had dense foliage and massive canopies, with iron-like branches interlaced so tightly they could even block out the sunlight.
Monsters like the King Spider ran rampant beneath the forest floor. Due to the lack of light, almost only saprophytic fungi like glow mushrooms could exist there.
The Knight Stronghold and the Dark Tower were both located in such places.
The entrance to the stronghold was protected by a barrier that could be unlocked simply by placing any boss trophy inside.
Many monsters resided here, such as Slime Beetles, Fire Beetles, Red-Capped Goblins, Red-Capped Gnomes, and Goblin Knights...
One had to bypass them to earn the right to seek out the Phantom Knight.
"I've finally found the location of the new boss!"
"This forest is truly terrifying; it's dark everywhere!"
"It's so dark you can't see your own hand. If it were me, I'd probably be scared to death."
"I'm looking forward to seeing what the fifth boss looks like!"
"In theory, it should be stronger than the Hydra. Can the great Galen Yu handle it?"
"It has to be unlocked with a trophy, and there are so many minions. It seems really powerful!"
"Even the room is constructed from obsidian?"
Following Galen Yu's perspective, the audience witnessed the horrors of the Dark Forest.
The darkness obscured the vision, and the sun-blotting black trees everywhere made it feel like a horror game.
Among the monsters living here, the King Spider—with a body twice the size of a normal spider—made many players scream in terror.
After finally getting past the minions, he found the boss room.
The entrance was surrounded by iron bars and encased in obsidian, looking quite imposing.
He broke through the bars and entered, triggering the spawn. A total of six Phantom Knights awakened.
The ancient and powerful knight civilization was once the most glorious branch in the Twilight Forest, but they had now fallen into ruin.
The restless souls of the knights wandered, waiting for intruders in the empty tomb.
The six knights wore deep green armor, their knightly swords emitting a dim, glowing green light, as if unwilling to accept their buried past.
They were like ghosts, symbols of a bygone glory.
Their weapons were made of Knightmetal Ingots, which dealt extra damage to armored enemies and bypassed armor to deal true damage!
Players who had accidentally wandered in before, wearing max-level Protection diamond armor, were still insta-killed because of this.
With their numbers, superior equipment, and ability to fly, they were not easy opponents by any means.
To everyone's surprise...
Galen Yu didn't even bring the Peacock Feather Fan; he only had a bucket of lava.
This was even more rudimentary than the weapons he used against the Hydra!
"He didn't even bring a sword. Does he look down on the boss?"
"I think he's getting arrogant. Does he think killing the Hydra with weapon mechanics means he's actually that strong?"
"With an epic weapon in hand, even Soren Park from our Stick Nation could insta-kill the boss!"
"This isn't the Hydra. There are six bosses! The Mace is a single-target weapon, so it's useless here!"
"Oh God, bless Mark, and let the Phantom Knights punish Galen Yu severely!"
As everyone competed for the first-clear rewards, viewers from the Freedom Nation and Samurai Nation appeared most frequently in the bullet chat.
They were dying to see Galen Yu's sudden death so they could divide the rewards from Sky Island and the Twilight Forest.
The facts disappointed them once again.
The moment the Phantom Knights spawned, Galen Yu immediately placed the lava in the center.
Sizzle!
The scorching heat spread, and sparks flew.
No one could understand how such a bucket of lava, which was always searingly hot at thousands of degrees, could be contained in an iron bucket.
But once the lava was out, Galen Yu ran a circle around the tomb, knocking back the six Phantom Knights as he went.
The knights were all pushed into the lava, and their bodies began to burn intensely.
Besides their weapons, the Phantom Knights were actually very 'tanky'.
It wasn't that their HP was high—at thirty-five points each, they were at the bottom among the bosses.
Wearing Knightly Armor, their armor value was a full thirty points!
This was quite high, making normal physical damage very low. Combined with their true-damage-dealing swords, one needed to find an alternative way to break through quickly.
One could use magic, ranged chip damage with bows, or even certain exploit techniques...
Lava was the most simple and crude method Galen Yu employed.
He just had to circle the perimeter of the tomb, watching for the Phantom Knights' charging state and ensuring they didn't hit him.
He seized opportunities to knock them back into the spreading lava, and in a few moments...
Amidst a series of explosions, the knights' souls returned to the heavens.
[APPARITION ARBITRATOR!]
[Lay the phantoms of the Knight's Tomb to rest, after which you will be able to control the Carminite mechanisms in the Dark Tower.]
Perhaps considering the difficulty, the achievement that normally required two kills in the game was unlocked with just one kill here.
Effortlessly, the Phantom Knight kill was complete.
The viewers who had been talking big just now were speechless.
"Didn't they say it would get harder according to the order?"
"Why does the Phantom Knight look even weaker than the Hydra?"
"Is there a possibility that this boss's strength actually isn't that great?"
"You don't say, you really don't say!"
"The Hydra at least required the Mace, but for this thing, he didn't even need to bring a weapon!"
"No wonder they designed so many minions outside; it was all to cover up the boss's incompetence!"
"Go tell Mark that aside from the Hydra, which needs careful strategy, the subsequent bosses are all very simple. Hurry up and come!"
Seeing Galen Yu handle it so easily, many viewers developed an arrogant attitude toward the Phantom Knight and Minoshroom.
Just constant slashing and a bucket of lava—it required even less skill than fighting the Naga!
They all couldn't wait to return to their own perspectives to experience the thrill of the slaughter.
After killing the Phantom Knights, Galen Yu casually searched for resources in the chests.
There were many items, but none were valuable.
They seemed to provide extra damage and defense buffs, but in reality, they were inferior to Fiery or Yeti gear. At most, they were for a collection.
Organizing his backpack, he dug straight through the blocks back to the surface.
[DAY 10, TRIGGERING THE FIRST CRISIS.]
As soon as he reached the surface, a voice rang in his ears.
'Has it already been ten days?'
Galen Yu's heart tightened.
In the Twilight Forest, there was no day or night. He hadn't realized so much time had passed!
'Traveling took too much time. I need to speed up now.'
He looked up at the nearby tower standing tall in the darkness.
There, the most brutal and terrifying monsters in the Twilight Forest resided.
Taking a deep breath, he set off toward the tower.
The Research Institute.
Headmaster Quill knew he hadn't guessed wrong.
"Zombies really do get stronger over time!"
In other words, the Blood Moon situation was no accident.
It would even become an inevitability to deal with every day as they grew stronger later on!
Recalling the scenes of the Blood Moon, he couldn't help but gasp.
That level of zombie was enough to deal a devastating blow. If they continued to grow stronger...
Would the players even be able to leave their homes?
No, if they truly evolved to have abilities like humans, perhaps they would no longer have 'homes'...
Realizing the same problem, experts around the world broke into a cold sweat.
They began passing information to their respective players through various means.
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