Clang!
Sparks flew everywhere as metal clashed deafeningly against metal. A huge damage number appeared above He Yi's head—784!
“What? Impossible…”
Blue Sky Scar was astonished. He wasn't expecting his full power to deal so little damage to He Yi. Back in Spirit of Grief, the same strike could've one-shot two He Yis with ease. Had their fates been reversed after they moved to Heavenblessed?
In fact, He Yi had become much harder to kill after she obtained the Azure Wolf Wristguards and the Abyssal Chestplate. Her Abyssal Sword was also pretty good. With powerful Gold–grade items at her disposal, it wouldn't be wrong to claim that her equipment was overall better than even Blue Sky Scar's. Besides that, Rock s.h.i.+eld was a super powerful pa.s.sive defensive skill that turned her into walking a fortress. It would be stranger if Blue Sky Scar still managed to pierce her Defense after all the ma.s.sive upgrades.
Unafraid of anything because of her tankiness, He Yi moved closer to Blue Sky Scar and thrust the Abyssal Sword forward!
Puchi!
Not only did her Blaze break through Blue Sky Scar's Defense, it even left behind a b.l.o.o.d.y hole at the center of his chest. It was a critical hit!
1852!
Blue Sky Scar's HP dropped below one-third of his health bar. Slightly caught off-guard by the unexpected series of events, he beat a hasty retreat and regrouped with his allies.
I wasn't going to let him get away, but Lin Yixin rushed up to me and caught my cloak before I could charge forward. She said angrily, “Stupid, it's almost time to enter the Devil Spirit Hall! If we don't go now it'll be too late!”
I relented and allowed her to drag me toward the two NPC guards. Of course, I caught He Yi's hand and pulled her with me as well. I checked the time and realized that there was only ten seconds left in the clock!
Practically everyone was running toward the entrance. Even Blue Sky Scar, Tempest Shadow and Transient Smoke and Clouds had given up on showing off and ran in a straight line to the NPCs!
A player must be within three yards of the NPC guards to initiate dialogue with them. Right now, the area around them was completely devoid of players if you exclude the hundreds of bodies littering the ground.
Roaming Dragon's eyes bulged excitedly. “Go go go! We need to claim at least three spots for ourselves!”
Dominating Heaven Blade was also charging like a madman. It was almost as if the burly guards were naked ladies.
It was at this moment Blue Sky Scar ran over and raised his sword decisively, shouting, “Out of the way, or even better, die! Origin Energy Slas.h.!.+”
Boom!
The magically enhanced slash was an AoE skill!
A rain of deadly aura blades started raining from the sky. The indiscriminate attack dealt a ton of damage to everyone.
764!
842!
771!
……
Clearly, Blue Sky Scar was past the point of caring about his professional reputation. Everyone was going all out because they know exactly how valuable a Divine Martial Token was. Who cared about mere t.i.tles when there was in-game profit to be made, one that could be easily turned into cold, hard cash?
Lin Yixin swung the Moonlight Sword casually and cut down two Mad Dragon players to her left and her right. Just like that, we were now the closest people to the NPC guards.
Still holding He Yi with my left hand and wielding the Ghost Ice Soul with my right, I ran my target like the wind. We absolutely must have the best spot possible!
It was at this moment Lin Yixin called out to me. “Lu Chen, turn around and use Thousand Mirage Slash now!”
I had never doubted her judgment, and I didn't plan to start now. I did as she said and unleashed my Thousand Mirage Slas.h.!.+
Boom!
The ridiculously powerful AoE skill spread out and descended on top of the group of players behind us. They were mostly Mad Dragon, G.o.ds of Destruction and Peach Garden players. Some warriors were lucky enough to survive the skill with a sliver of health or avoid most of the energy blades. Some mages also survived because their Magic s.h.i.+elds were active. However, most non-metal armor couldn't withstand the rain of destruction and died without so much as a squeak.
That one skill caused a gulf to appear between us and the next group of players. At this point, there were only three seconds left on the clock!
Blue Sky Scar and Tempest Shadow were planning to tackle the NPC guard on the right, but Lin Yixin, He Yi and I were able to get there first. Three seconds were hardly enough time to get rid of us, so they gave up and charged toward the NPC guard on the left instead. Just like us, they cut down around four to five players blocking their way before they reached their target.
3!
2!
1!
It was time!
I let go of He Yi's hand and shouted, “Eve, talk with the NPC now! Sis, move faster! I'm going in…”
That was all I managed to get out before I finished speaking to the NPC and paid 1000 gold!
Swhoos.h.!.+
My vision darkened all of a sudden. When I came back to my senses, I was inside a pitch black map already. The name of the zone was: “Devil Spirit Hall, Underground First Floor”!
Yes, I got in as expected!
There was no such thing as an entrance in this zone. Instead, the players were teleported into random locations. I brought up the map screen and realized that the first floor of the Devil Spirit Hall was shaped like a rectangular coffin. Right now, I stood at one of its ends!!
Meanwhile, it was chaos all over the party channel.
Chaos Moon: “Waaaa, I'm too late! Why can't I talk with the NPC…”
Moonlight Stone: “Aaaaah, that's because it's me you're trying to initiate dialogue with, stupid~~”
Xu Yang: “Oh no, I'm too late…”
Gui Guzi: “f.u.c.k, stop hogging the way, Chaos Moon!”
Beiming Xue: “OMG, I can't even get close because of you all!”
He Yi: “Wuuu, forgive me G.o.d, I was the closest player to the guard and I still couldn't get in…”
……
Seriously? What happened?
I asked her with a dumbfounded expression, “Eve, how did you not make it in?”
“I forgot I didn't have enough gold. I dumped almost all of it into the guild's warehouse just this morning…”
“...”
GG, neither of our magic knights managed to make it in.
Suddenly, I heard Murong Mingyue speaking to me. “Lu Chen, are you inside yet? I'm at the westmost area of the map. What about you?”
“Ah? You managed to get in, sis?” It was a pleasant surprise for sure.
“Mn!”
“Thank goodness! A priest will be mighty helpful!”
I said happily, “Hang in there, I'm coming right away. I think Lin Yixin got in as well, so we should form a party after we meet up with each other.”
“Okay. But come quickly, there are monsters around me. I'm scared…”
“Mn!”
A priest's offensive power was incredibly limited. Discipline and Flaming Touch might be effective against Big-eared Rabbits, but high-level mobs were a completely different story.
He Yi said through the party channel, “Take good care of Mingyue, Lu Chen. Gui Guzi, Beiming Xue and I are going away to grind some levels. Leave the party anytime you want!”
“Got it~”
I left He Yi's party and created my own. Then, I sent a party invitation to both Murong Mingyue and Lin Yixin. Several seconds later, they appeared in my party list and showed up as two orange dots on my mini map. The good news was that Lin Yixin and Murong Mingyue were very close to each other.
Pleasantly surprised, I immediately sent Lin Yixin a private message: “Yiyi, do you see Murong Mingyue's coordinates? Head over there and protect her, will you? It shouldn't take too long for me to reach you both!”
But Lin Yixin teased me. “f.u.c.k, why should I take care of your mistress?”
“What mistress?? I don't even have a girlfriend yet…”
“Fine, fine, I see her already, so hurry up. I was thinking of ambus.h.i.+ng her from behind and killing her, you know?”
“...”
“Anyway, hurry up. We still don't know who the other seven players are, and it'll be unwise to let them group up with one another. I doubt we'll be able to fight seven players by ourselves!”
“Yeah!”
……
I summoned my Dark Wasp and pulled out the Ghost Ice Soul. It's time to grind!
I checked my surroundings first before I began. The Devil Spirit Hall was dark and humid. Not far away, I spotted a couple of armored skeleton guards shambling their away across moss-covered stone floors. The way their tattered boots barely made a sound even though they were dragging their feet was both unsettling and eerie.
Spirit Hall Skeletal Soldier (Common)
Level: 60
Attack: 420~550
Defense: 370
HP: 5500
Skills: Death Cry
Introduction: The border guardian of the Devil Spirit Hall.
……
It was incredibly weak. So weak, in fact, that I didn't want to kill them. They gave very little EXP, and they weren't challenging to fight at all.
I pa.s.sed them right through the center before moving on. The radius of aggro was reduced when a mob was of lower level than the player. For a Level 60 mob, I would need to get within 4 yards for it to attack me. It was a good thing for both of us.
The spirit hall was incredibly dark, and my vision range was reduced to just 10 yards or so. Anything beyond that was blurry and unclear.
Crunch...
I saw a figure running past a stretch of land in front of me. The crunching noise was probably due to their boots crus.h.i.+ng the human bones on the floor. I didn't know who they were, nor did I care when there were two beautiful women waiting for me.
The good news was that the map was pretty small. I could run around the whole area in a minute at most.
Swhoos.h.!.+
I suddenly saw a sheen of moonlight in front of me. Lin Yixin's beautiful face emerged from the darkness, and Murong Mingyue was right next to her. The two girls seemed to be having a great time chatting to one another.
“You're here!”
“Yeah. Did you see someone running just now?”
“We did. It was Dominating Heaven Blade. He seemed to be searching for the entrance to the next floor!”
Murong Mingyue asked, “Should we clear out the mobs on this floor?”
“No, we should search for the entrance to the next floor too! Let's go straight to the ninth floor and take out the boss!”
“Got it!”
……
Suddenly, Lin Yixin let out a cry of surprise, “Guys, look. There's a small head icon on the map screen. If you click it, it shows you everyone's information and coordinates in the spirit hall!”
“Oh?”
I did what she said and was greeted by a list of players:
Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand LV-71
Current Location: Devil Spirit Hall First Floor (124, 417)
Wind Fantasy LV-71
Current Location: Devil Spirit Hall First Floor (125, 419)
Murong Mingyue LV-71
Current Location: Devil Spirit Hall First Floor (127, 415)
Dominating Heaven Blade LV-71
Current Location: Devil Spirit Hall Second Floor (73, 55)
Blue Sky Scar LV-72
Current Location: Devil Spirit Hall Third Floor (4, 91)
Tempest Shadow LV-71
Current Location: Devil Spirit Hall Third Floor (9, 112)
Transient Smoke and Clouds LV-72
Current Location: Devil Spirit Hall Third Floor (12, 99)
Dominating Knight G.o.d LV-69
Current Location: Devil Spirit Hall Second Floor (66, 287)
Not A Fish LV-65
Current Location: Devil Spirit Hall Second Floor (67, 224)
Indigo Collar LV-69
Current Location: Devil Spirit Hall Second Floor (70, 217)
……
I sucked in a deep breath before voicing my astonishment, “f.u.c.k, Blue Sky Scar, Tempest Shadow and Transient Smoke and Clouds are so fast! They're on the third floor already!”
Lin Yixin said, “Dominating Knight G.o.d, Not A Fish and Indigo Collar are very close to each other on the second floor as well. Maybe they've decided to party up with each other?”
But Murong Mingyue giggled and corrected her. “Try refres.h.i.+ng the player list again.”
“Ah?”
Lin Yixin did as she said and realized that Not A Fish's ID had turned gray. Someone had killed him!
“Who's the killer?”
“Who knows?”
I walked at the front of our party, avoiding the mobs while searching for the entrance to the second floor. In less than half a minute, Dominating Knight G.o.d's name also darkened as well. At this point, it was clear that Indigo Collar was the killer of both players. Man, that guy is ruthless!
