Just as Xia Yun was rushing toward the pond with the Detox Pearl in hand, a sudden surge of green toxic mist spread violently! Accompanied by a strange "gurgling" sound coming from deep underground, Mu Anqi and the others came to a halt.
—The seal on the other side of the pond had been broken by another player team.
"It's the five-person team we encountered on the first day." After all, the other players were still in the apartment. Somehow, they had broken another seal, and no boss-kill notification sound had gone off. "Head to the cave!"
They couldn't let other players recklessly break seals anymore! That would only make the game harder for no reason. The quest required sacrifices, and the sacrificial materials had to be obtained from unsealing and killing bosses. With this game's logic… in the end, each player would hold different quest items, which would either lead to a fight or a "win-win cooperation." Only the latter… had a rather small chance.
The Detox Pearl emitted a faint glow, dispersing the very light green toxic mist in the air. Mu Anqi and the others immediately changed direction and rushed toward the cave.
As for the pond…
"Immune to control?" The female player in the team gritted her teeth. "The moment the seal is broken should be when this boss is at its weakest, yet my psychic power has no effect? Temporary invincibility…? Then how did that other team manage the first kill?" They had cleared their way through the zombies that inexplicably crawled out of the ground, only to arrive at the pond, finally unseal the boss, and prepare to kill it—only to encounter this situation?
"Don't rush, don't rush." The buzz-cut boy rubbed his earlobe, and in the next moment, pulled out a small silver rod from his ear. He threw the rod into the air. "Area purification, disperse the poison!"
The rod, about the length of a pinky, was tossed into the air. Weak silver waves rippled outward from it, layer upon layer, dispersing all the toxic mist in the air. "Area confinement, no escape!"
As soon as he spoke, the pinky-length rod kept expanding as it fell, finally transforming into a silver pillar that slammed heavily into the ground! Even more obvious silver ripples spread outward from the pillar layer by layer, covering the entire pond area. And with this skill unleashed, the toad demon, still in an immune-to-control state, was actually stopped by the area!? This is confinement—doesn't confinement count as control? Why isn't immunity working!?
It let out a "hahaha" wheezing sound, green, thick slime spilling from the corners of its mouth. Its belly bulged high, and in the next moment it sprayed a cloud of poisonous gas, enveloping the area—only to be continuously dispersed by the two layers of ripples from the silver pillar.
"Humans…" it whispered, its belly making a "gurgle gurgle" muffled sound.
"Prepare to die!" With a shout, another female player in the team activated her skill. Black iron armor covered her body, and a pair of massive black hammers appeared in her hands. She slammed the hammers together with a thunderous clang, then stomped the ground, leaving a deep footprint, and shot forward like a cannonball—
"I said, stop!" The female player who had previously failed to control it with psychic power raised her arm again, claws forming in the void. In the invisible air, it seemed as if she truly grasped something! The air around the toad demon warped slightly, as if an invisible giant hand was gripping it. One control, one attack.
The massive black hammer slammed into the toad's huge belly—like a hammer hitting a water-filled balloon—"BOOM"! Dark green viscous liquid splattered everywhere. As the hammer was lifted, the toad demon's skin sack was driven into the ground. The soil mixed with the liquid seemed almost assimilated, transforming into a "living" swamp capable of devouring people, swallowing that layer of flesh entirely.
"…Something's wrong." The female player who had smashed the toad demon with the hammer quickly retreated. She moved fast and carefully avoided further attacks, but the corner of her clothing was still splashed with the liquid. What puzzled her was that the liquid didn't corrode her clothes; instead, it resembled "mud clumps" or "flesh balls." It wriggled and shook on her clothing, then fell to the ground, forming another patch of dark green swamp.
"I still have one final area skill I can use, but it probably won't work on this 'swamp.'" The buzz-cut boy looked at the silver pillar in the center of the battlefield and the spreading swamp along the pond's edge, his expression serious.
"…Will fire make it explode? Forget it, I'll try ice…" The tall, thin man closed his eyes and raised his right hand. He traced incomprehensible symbols in the air, and beneath his feet, a faint ice-blue magic circle began to glow. As he waved his fingers, the magic circle gradually took shape.
At that moment, a basketball-sized chunk of black "mud" suddenly leaped from the swamp. It shot into the air and burst open at the top, rising like some insect breaking out of a cocoon. From it, the dark green toad suddenly leapt out, splashing poisonous dark green liquid as it barreled straight toward the male player who was closing his eyes to draw the magic circle.
—"BOOM"
A muffled thud, like a heavy object hitting glass.
The male player, who had been silent at the back of the team, raised his arm at some unknown moment. Nothing appeared, and the air remained unchanged. Yet the toad seemed to collide with something. No cracks, nothing at all—the liquid naturally fell downward, and the toad hovered in the air, slowly dripping along with the viscous liquid.
A flake of snow drifted down, quietly landing on the dark green swamp, like a white feather falling into a black lake. Ripples spread outward, layer upon layer… freezing everything under a layer of frost.
"Thousands of miles frozen, ten thousand miles of snow drifting." The tall, thin mage sighed in awe, spreading his arms to embrace the sky, forming a world of ice and snow.
"Crack, crack…" From each icy patch of the swamp, countless cracks spread outward—the sound of something striking beneath the ice. Just three seconds later, countless shards of ice and snow were flung into the air, and black "mud" clumps broke through the ice, bursting from the swamp, transforming into toads "breaking out of cocoons" midair!
The magic circle still glowed, and snowflakes continued to drift. With the twitching of the tall male player's fingertips, one toad after another was frozen in midair. The black hammer was swung in tandem, smashing the frozen toads. Meanwhile, the female player with psychic abilities repeatedly made crushing motions in the air; the toads not smashed by the hammer were held in place by invisible force and pinched until they exploded.
"Are these clones or something? Will killing them harm the original…?"
Toads in the air died one by one, but no one knew what was happening beneath the swamp. The magic circle still shone, snowflakes still fell, and the toads launched into the air were frozen and killed. However, at that moment! The silver pillar suddenly tilted and began sinking downward!
The swamp was spreading?! A massive toad mass from the base of the pillar slammed against the silver column, knocking it sideways. The buzz-cut boy reacted immediately, "Area amplification, range expan—"
The moment the skill activated, the range of the silver pillar expanded—but just as it tilted and was knocked aside, a dark green bubble at the edge of the swamp burst out and escaped.
"Damn it!" The black hammer was swung with all his strength, yet it couldn't catch the toad fleeing at lightning speed.
"…That's my mistake." The buzz-cut boy hung his head in frustration. If only he had realized the toad's plan earlier. This final skill… he shouldn't have hesitated to use it for fear of unexpected results. That oversight had turned into the biggest surprise.
"It's not just you—we didn't account for this ability," the psychic female player comforted him. "Even if you had expanded the range from the start, that thing would have still hidden its core at the edge… Clone or egg-laying? This toad demon…"
"It still managed to escape."
How strong must the player team that successfully killed a boss be? Which team was it exactly…
…
Mu Anqi and her companions were unaware that the Boss had been secretly buffed by the dog planner, nor did they realise that without this buff, the poisonous toad would have fallen to another team of players.
They rushed toward the cave. On the way, the silver bell rang frequently, and each time a notification appeared, zombies would emerge from underground the next moment to ambush them.
Of course, these were just small zombies—no match for a boss. With Mu Anqi's demon blade in hand, it was like one slash per little one, hardly an obstacle. Moreover, the more zombies she killed, the more "nourished" her blade seemed to become, growing even sharper.
They finally reached the cave entrance, but even at the entrance, a strong sense of discomfort struck them—like someone had grabbed their throat, leaving them on the edge of life… dangerously close to death.
Mu Anqi took out the glowing emblem and fastened it to her chest, holding the demon blade as she led the way. The light illuminated the pitch-black cave, and countless pairs of upside-down eyes gleamed in the darkness. The moment the light revealed the bats, they went wild, flapping their wings and swarming out! Mu Anqi's demon blade danced in her hands; although the narrow cave passage limited her sword techniques, she could still fend off the bat onslaught. Xia Yun directly activated her sword formation within the cave, and amidst the chaotic sword shadows, countless black shapes fell.
Stepping over bat droppings and corpses, Wu Sansheng put on her robe, while Mu Anqi held the talismans and the substitute paper doll tightly in her palm. She tossed an artificial mini-sun toward the high interior of the cave, instantly illuminating a section.
"Those inside this cave… aren't they bat demons?"
In such a narrow space, hand grenades and other weapons were difficult to use, and as for bullets… they should be sufficient.
Ten special bullet cards in reserve… not quite enough. Next time, she'd need to buy more. But after this game ended, the special shop would unlock; she could assess the situation then.
After startling the bats, they swooped outward in waves, attempting to attack the players. However, under the protection of the demon blade and the sword formation, the slower bats were all killed, and it was difficult for them to harm the players. Even when a bat dove at Zhao Guogu trying to bite her, it inexplicably tilted, collided with the wall, and fell dazed.
The deeper they went, the wider the passage became. After reaching a certain depth, Mu Anqi and the others found themselves in a relatively open space. Further ahead, a massive coffin stood in place. The only notable difference from the coffin back at the apartment was the cross pattern on it—it looked… distinctly Western.
Bat demons, vampires? There was no need to force such roles. No candelabras, no candlelight. Mu Anqi's artificial mini-sun lit the entire space as if it were daytime. She stood before the coffin and glanced at Zhao Guogu: "How do you feel? Shall we open it?"
Zhao Guogu stood in front of the coffin. She placed a hand on the lid, then suddenly stepped back with a strange expression, looking at Mu Anqi: "I feel… some danger. A stronger sense of danger than the time with the Crow Taoist."