Though Marni's death was not a big deal, it was a warning to the other Players who had intended to enter the Valley of the Tragic Dead. They understood that even if they had the miasma-dispelling torch, the murky purple fog that kept churning was not as harmless as it appeared.
There were monsters that could instakill Players of their level even at the fringes.
In fact, it wasn't just the Players — even Xi Wei, who was watching the livestream in his Divine Kingdom was shocked.
He promptly used divine energy to activate his Divine Eye to look at the spot where Marni had died.
The Valley of the Tragic Dead was once a battlefield of the gods, and there were many places that were left with barriers or turbulences of divine power that even Divine Eye could not penetrate.
That was also why Xi Wei had sent the Players to explore it instead of returning to the mortal realm to retrieve it himself.
It was fortunate that there were no such things at the fringes where the Players were, and Xi Wei's Divine Eye easily saw through the fog to find the monster hiding in the miasma of death.
It was a magical creature called the Skeletal King Spider. It appeared to be a giant spider made out of bones, but it was no different from the lowly forest spiders when it was born. However, as it matured, it would search for the bones of other creatures and use spider silk to arm itself, with the skulls of giants or other colossal magical creatures glued to their vulnerable abdomens to strengthen their defenses.
Their strength was surprisingly great. Even though they were carrying skeletons that were several times heavier than themselves, their movements were still very fast. Relatively speaking, their appetite was also very large. Every day, they needed to eat at least two-thirds of their own weight. Their individual territorial awareness was very high, and they were very fierce. They would take the initiative to attack intruders that were larger than themselves. In addition to their sharp claws, the venomous stingers on their chelicerae also carried quite a strong poison.
Marni had been pierced by one of its chelicerae when he was caught off guard, and turned into a puddle of pus not long after he died!
In the illustrated handbook of magical creatures compiled by the Continental Adventurers Association, the Skeletal King Spider was classified as' Highly Dangerous', and was recommended to be taken down by a party of over thirty experienced adventurers.
"So the Valley of the Tragic Dead isn't full of undead …" Xi Wei touched his chin with his tentacles, realizing that he had made another error of empiricism.
Still, such a small mistake was not a big deal to Xi Wei — aside from Marni losing another level if he was killed and his corpse couldn't be recovered.
Under such circumstances, if the Players continued to follow the original plan of taking turns to enter the fog, it would be akin to the Calabash Brothers saving their grandfather. They would only be sending themselves to their deaths one by one.
It was easy to help — Xi Wei didn't even have to do it himself. All he had to do was make an illustration of the Skull King Spider and send it to the Players as a hint. With enough information, the players would definitely be able to come up with a strategy.
However, he did not intend to help.
After all, this was the first time the Players took the initiative to explore, and in many cases, the first experience was an important start to forming a habit.
Perhaps Xi Wei could help them once or twice, but there were many things in the mortal world that Xi Wei couldn't interfere with. If the Players became reliant on Xi Wei's help and developed a habit of seeking information from the gods when Xi Wei couldn't help them, they would be at a loss, and the Players' faith in Xi Wei might even decrease.
Since the Players wouldn't die anyway, it was fine to let them gain some experience.
"Do your best, don't let me down …" Hence, Xi Wei, who had decided to watch from the sidelines, stayed in his divine kingdom and watched the livestream.
It was fortunate that Edward and the others were no fools. They realized that there must be some monster in the fog after Marni was instakilled.
Hence, they simply stood outside the fog where Marni was instakilled, and called out to the other Players to unleash a barrage of long-range attacks.
The damage that the Players, who were level seven or eight on average, could deal against normal magical beasts was considerable.
Nonetheless, the Skull King Spider retreated deeper into the fog of the Valley of the Tragic Dead after a layer of its skeletal shell was knocked off by the random sword qi, arrows, and other random skills.
At the same time, the four Players who were in the vanguard entered the fog and saw Marni, who was now a puddle of pus.
After a few seconds of silent mourning for their companions, they continued forward.
Interestingly, all they could see from the outside of the death miasma was a wall of purple fog, and nothing inside could be seen.
However, after walking into the interior with the torch in hand, the fog that pervaded everywhere became much thinner. It felt as if a layer of light purple filter had been added to it, and it was not a problem to see more than ten meters away at a glance.
Hence, the quartet followed the tracks left behind by the Skull King Spider, and soon found the giant spider that was digging a hole in the ground nearby!
The Players did not hesitate to attack the instant they saw the HP bar over its head, and the battle was about to begin.
Being a warrior, Joe was the first to charge ahead, and without even drawing his sword, he simply grabbed the Skull King Spider's thigh and threw it into a suplex.
The people from other churches would definitely be amused at the sight, believing that Joe was an idiot who overestimated himself.
Logically speaking, Joe's strength was not enough to throw the Skull King Spider — its body weight, including its bones, was over five tons! In front of the Skull King Spider, Joe was not even as tall as one of its legs.
And yet, the truth left the people from other churches gaping — the Skull King Spider had really been thrown into the air by Joe's suplex!
That was where the difference between the Players' fighting style and that of the mortals of this world must be mentioned.
Although this Fantasy world had supernatural powers in the first place, as evidenced by the various sacred arts and magic, those powers were not originally systematic.
In other words, there was no such thing as skill in this world.
That gave him a chance to exploit a loophole.
Using his Divine Order as the God of Games that encompassed everything, he directly created a new rule: the Rule of Skill.
It was a very low-level rule and would not work against gods, Legendary champions or Epic creatures. Even so, it was still a rule no matter how low-level it was!
If you were hit by Sword Skill, Upward Slash, you would be knocked into the air. If you were hit by Hellfire, you would be burned. If you were hit by Back Throw, even if you were Godzilla, you would still have to take a German-style back throw …
Of course, while this rule was applicable, it was also restricted by 'skill damage' and 'Super Armor'.
For example, a muscular man who could really kill a Skull King Spider with a German-style suplex would probably throw the spider so hard that its legs would be broken.
However, aside from a brief moment of confusion, the Skeleton King Spider didn't receive any damage from Charle's throw. This was because the Skill's damage wasn't enough to deal a heavy blow to the Skeleton King Spider's HP.
Moreover, the Skeleton King Spider would have a brief moment of 'Dominating Form' after taking a Back Throw and rising again. That was why the Players could not wear down an enemy they could not defeat with a relay of CC skills such as infinite levitations and Back Throws.