Gamers Are Fierce-Chapter 751 - 749: Payment Received (6K)
The red-cloaked old woman's chest continuously spurted out noxious sludge and Evil Qi. The flesh on her body writhed and roiled, as if trying to spontaneously coalesce and heal itself, but within that ghastly wound remained an abundance of frost-like, snow-like energy flames. One end connected to the Nine Chime Sword in Wanli Fengdao's hands behind her, while the other extended copious amounts of Sword Qi, locking down the red-cloaked old woman's torso and limbs. This not only firmly sealed the wound, preventing her from healing, but also rendered her hands and feet immobile, firmly nailing her in place. Using the sword as a lock and Qi as pillars, he turned the ground into a prison.
"Saintly Swordsmanship: Sword Nine"
"Ahhhhhhhhhh!"
The red-cloaked old woman, her hands and feet bound, roared in rage, violently tugging at her arms. The violent shift in aura pulled at Wanli Fengdao behind her, causing him to vomit a large pool of blood. His scalp had already been dissolved by the foul blood; his sizzling, melting hair mixed with large amounts of unidentifiable substances, streaming down his cheeks. The reasonably good quality of his clothing was also corroding and dissolving at a visibly rapid pace.
TAP. TAP. TAP. TAP.
Li Ang's feet tapped rapidly on the ground as he, grasping the Soul Reaping Bronze Scythe, quickly closed in.
"All of you are going to die!!"
The red-cloaked old woman's eyes were filled with bloodshot veins. The desire for life, the fear of death, and her self-loathing unleashed a power even greater than before. Her arms and legs swelled once again, her tattered red cloak bursting apart. The number of pitch-black ice crystals dancing around her surged again, driven by the hurricane of Evil Qi. Like sharpening knives, they scrubbed and sliced at the Sword Qi bound around her neck.
CLANG!
The whitish, flame-like Sword Qi suddenly snapped. The red-cloaked old woman twisted her neck, moving her head toward her left arm. She opened her cavernous mouth wide and viciously bit into her left elbow. CRACK! She bit off her forearm. Only half of her left arm still hung in the cage of Sword Qi flames.
SWOOSH—
The sound of a blade piercing the air suddenly rang out. Li Ang's original Strength and Agility Attributes were 11 points each. After expending Divine Power to remove his muscular limitations, they soared to 14 points. The Mastiff-style Anti-Theft Tracking Chip left by 13MARK required an Intelligence score of at least 13 points to equip. Li Ang had three unallocated attribute points. Apart from adding one point to Intelligence to meet the Tracking Chip's equipment requirements, he invested the remaining two points into Strength and Agility. With both attributes at fifteen points, along with the enhancement of the Ripple Breathing Method, Li Ang moved like an afterimage, skimming across the corridor, his scythe slashing down diagonally.
CLANG!!!
The deafening sound of dull metal clashing echoed through the corridor. The red-cloaked old woman, now barely recognizable as human, used the squirming, rotten flesh that had sprouted from her severed left arm to firmly grasp the Long-Handled Naginata, blocking the Soul Reaping Bronze Scythe.
Blocked... really?
The red-cloaked old woman felt an overwhelming force travel up the Naginata's handle, and her massive body involuntarily stumbled backward. Instinctively, she used her rotten feet, which had burst through her shoes, to grip the ground. The red carpet rippled, dragged by her feet. As the red-cloaked old woman finally managed to stop, she left two ten-meter-long trails of blood and flesh on the carpet.
She had actually blocked it.
Wanli Fengdao squinted, his eyes filled with unwillingness. He first ignored the pain and tore the tattered, corroded clothing from his body. Using a white cloth meant for wiping his blade, he quickly wiped the foul blood from his head and body. Before he even finished, he retrieved a Miniature Life Potion from his inventory and downed it, managing to staunch the bleeding.
Saintly Swordsmanship: Sword Nine had consumed too much of his energy. If Li Rising couldn't deliver a fatal blow, then I'll have to use *that* move...
Once the foul blood was wiped away, the corrosive effect stopped. The Miniature Life Potion caused Wanli Fengdao's scalp to heal quickly, but the dissolved hair did not grow back as fast. Wanli Fengdao, only a few messy tufts of hair remaining on his head, wore a resolute expression. He held two Longswords, their tips crossed and pointing towards the ground, as he slowly began to trace out a sword technique.
The red-cloaked old woman felt a chill at the back of her neck, as if a blade hung over her, causing her hair to stand on end. But she couldn't spare the effort to deal with Wanli Fengdao, who was accumulating energy. Amidst the cracking sounds, the Naginata and the scythe, locked in their struggle, both developed cracks simultaneously. The scythe's blade was the first to shatter, breaking into countless fragments. The Soul Reaping Bronze Scythe, after all, was only a Rare Level weapon; it couldn't match the durability of the Ghost of Hidden Eye's Naginata.
"Kill him quickly!" The Black Holy Son roared from above. His form shuddered, splitting into ten avatars, each holding a dull golden Magic Artifact: Short Daggers, daggers, pentagram badges, skulls, withered arms, miniature fetuses, and the like.
These Magic Artifacts, all sourced from the private collection of the Higan Organization, each one had undergone numerous Ritual Tracks and received the worship of countless believers, making them no less inferior to high-grade equipment from the game world's shop. If Liu Wu Dai and Mule were considered wealthy, then the Black Holy Son and his backing Higan Organization, in addition to vast wealth, also possessed power and manpower.
The ten avatars engaged Bai Haozheng's Nen, the Mechanical Statue's Light Cannon, Liu Wu Dai's arrows, and Yuyi Xinzhong's thunder sword. The Black Holy Son's true form turned into black smoke, shifting back and forth among his ten avatars, chanting all manner of obscure and sinister Spells, conjuring up acid rain, rivers of blood, and weapons out of thin air. He hindered Mule and the others, forcing them into a stalemate and preventing them from coming to Li Ang's aid in the distance.
Just as Yuyi Xinzhong and the others had suspected, the Black Holy Son was indeed cooperating with the red-cloaked old woman, partly due to his connection with the Ghost of Hidden Eye, but more so for simple mutual benefit. The Black Holy Son knew that the red-cloaked old woman was Danfei reincarnated in a new body. He knew that as long as she existed, the players, now short on numbers, would inevitably fail to meet the condition that "each floor must be occupied."
Once the players broke the rule, the tall, thin man in the bamboo hat would begin to cull them. And now the Black Holy Son faced two options.
First, tell the other players the truth. They could then collectively search for the red-cloaked old woman in the hotel, find a way to take her to the eleventh floor, and kill her.
Second, keep the truth from the other players. He could conceal the reality and cooperate with the red-cloaked old woman, allowing her to continue posing as a mere anomaly and kill one player each night.
Should he choose the former, the rules wouldn't be broken, and everyone would continue relying on their own abilities to survive and be the last one standing. However, the Black Holy Son couldn't guarantee that others, like 13MARK, wouldn't believe that staying on a floor where someone had died would make them safe. Such players might enter the tenth or eleventh floor at night, spend it safely, and thus shift the risk of being culled by the tall, thin man in the bamboo hat onto others. The Black Holy Son, putting himself in their shoes, felt it was likely some remaining players would do this. If he followed the rules and stayed in his room, he risked being betrayed. If he himself went to the tenth or eleventh floor and was discovered, his companions would likely execute him for selfishness.
Cooperating with the red-cloaked old woman, however, presented far fewer risks. Firstly, the red-cloaked old woman was a semi-anomaly. She knew the hotel's secrets, could move freely within it without being attacked by other anomalies, and could help him deal with the notes appearing in his room, greatly reducing his risk of death. Secondly, by devouring others, the red-cloaked old woman would grow increasingly powerful, steadily widening his advantage over the other players. Thirdly, her existence would help him identify anyone like 13MARK attempting to shift risk. As Bai Haozheng had guessed, the hotel's agitation increased with each depopulated floor; the more floors left vacant, the more agitated the hotel became, and the fiercer the anomaly attacks grew. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦
His earlier agreement to Li Ang's suggestion to "gather everyone" was partly to dispel suspicion that he was the mole, and partly because the Black Holy Son had full confidence in the red-cloaked old woman's strength and "loyalty."
"Shut! Up!"
The red-cloaked old woman found the Black Holy Son's urging unbearably loud and grating. Her eyes were blood-red. Beneath her tattered red clothes, masses of rotting flesh uncontrollably proliferated and spread. Her barely formed hands gripped the Naginata's handle (her self-devoured left hand having regrown) and swung it downwards.
"DIE!!"
A foul stench accompanied her roar. Li Ang, facing the stench, remained unfazed. He released the broken handle of his scythe, sidestepped the slash, and simultaneously kicked the blade of the incoming Naginata, sending it flying into the wall.
"DIE!"
The corpulent red-cloaked old woman simply released the Naginata's handle. Her chest and abdomen abruptly burst open. A multitude of human arms sprouted from the wounds, intertwining and surging towards Li Ang like a grotesque bouquet, attempting to drag him into the fissures in her torso.
Li Ang remarked, "Don't fall for me, it's futile, unless your flower-hands can out-sway me." Then, from under his white coat, a vast number of vines shot out like lances, pinning the reaching arms to the wall. He himself, instead of retreating, advanced and threw a punch.
An ordinary-looking punch, devoid of any Special Effects, slammed into the red-cloaked old woman's chest.
BOOM!
The red-cloaked old woman, intending to counterattack, found her movements inexplicably stalling. Li Ang's punch landed. Her tall, burly figure arched like a cooked shrimp. The cloth on her back burst open. Beneath her dark bluish-green skin, the vague outline of a fist emerged.
「 」
A sinister, abstruse chant echoed down the corridor.
BOOM!
The Mechanical Statue's blazing red beam took aim at the chanting avatar and shot forth. The Black Holy Son, in his smoke form, utilized a skill that allowed him to foresee death. He reacted in advance, directing the avatar he inhabited to hastily adjust its position, narrowly avoiding vital areas. The Light Cannon skimmed past its torso. The avatar's right arm didn't last even a second before it vaporized completely. The Ghastly Skull it held also eroded to nothingness under the blast of pure energy, turning into wisps of white smoke that dispersed and vanished.
The Black Holy Son's heart sank. The souls of twenty twins, tormented for days before dying grievously and resentfully, wasted just like that. A pity. How infuriating!
Malice surged from the depths of his heart. The Black Holy Son, still in smoke form, ordered the avatar, now deprived of its Magic Artifact, to dive towards the Plague Doctor below. This forced Yuyi Xinzhong, who had been charging him, to turn back and defend the Plague Doctor. He himself leaped out, transferred into another avatar, and resumed chanting his spell without a moment's pause.
These puppet avatars of the Black Holy Son were also precious treasures created by the Higan Organization. Their composition was neither metal nor wood, iron nor stone, yet they possessed exceptional toughness, comparable to special alloys. They were extremely light, agile, and precise to control. Each puppet contained a fragment of the Black Holy Son's soul, making them akin to his remote incarnations. Moreover, each puppet required daily nurturing with the Black Holy Son's heart's blood to achieve telepathic connection and move as an extension of his will.
Under his control, these remote incarnations cooperated seamlessly. They activated their Magic Artifacts at any cost, consuming the Soul Energy the Higan Organization had accumulated over a long time. They wove a flawless net of encirclement, preventing Bai Haozheng and the others from breaking free for a long time and keeping the situation deadlocked.
This wasn't to say the Black Holy Son was far stronger than Mule, Bai Haozheng, and the others combined. Rather, the Higan Organization's moral bottom line was on par with that of Datura—practically non-existent. They kidnapped vagrants no one would miss, detained stowaways attempting to cross oceans in small boats, and in chaotic, lawless regions of Africa, they established hospitals under the guise of NGOs and NPOs to secretly fake patient deaths and imprison them. These kidnapped or deceived individuals were locked in dungeons. Through various unspeakable and horrific methods, they were tormented until, at the moment of death, they released an extraordinary amount of Soul Energy saturated with resentment and despair. This energy was then channeled into containers, serving as "batteries" for players affiliated with the Higan Organization. Compared with the Higan Organization, some members of the Demon Scientist Alliance could only be considered innocuous tech nerds.
Each of the Black Holy Son's avatars contained the Soul Energy of at least a hundred people. This energy was not only quantitatively far greater than that of ordinary intelligent beings but also qualitatively far superior to the Nen used by Bai Haozheng. Furthermore, expending this negative Soul Energy also had a corrosive effect, capable of easily breaking through other players' restraining abilities. Thus, these ten puppets, though not agile or adaptable enough to win in single combat against any player present (except perhaps the Plague Doctor), were able to maintain the stalemate. They held back their opponents, buying the Black Holy Son crucial time before their inevitable defeat.
In conflicts between Transcendents, the side that first casts aside moral boundaries and resorts to any means necessary might not always win in the end, but they will undoubtedly gain an advantage in certain aspects. Bai Haozheng and the others weren't just fighting the Black Holy Son alone; they were battling the resource pool of a significant portion of a large organization.
"Wen na ta ba la mi sa ah xi heng wu wa—"
The Black Holy Son's chanting grew louder. The lights in the maze-like corridor suddenly dimmed, and a dark cloud slowly coalesced in mid-air. Within the cloud, countless despairing faces flickered in and out of existence. No one can escape my Ten Splendid Killing Array!
The dark cloud continuously drew energy from the ten avatars. The Black Holy Son's mind gradually settled. He took shelter behind one avatar while continuing his chant, and commanded another avatar to speak aloud, "Actually, there's no need for us to fight to the death. This mission brought us together as strangers; we have no prior ties or obligations to one another. Kafei, Danfei, and Bob belonged to the Voodoo Black Witch Clan. 13MARK and Ω—one a gang's think tank, the other a member of the Demon Scientist Alliance—were hardly saints. Their hands were all stained with blood. My killing them could be considered a service to the Mortal Realm. Why should you all fight to the death for a few scumbags? Why not set aside our disputes and coexist peacefully? Relying on Mister Bai's corridor maze, we can all survive tonight, and even tomorrow."
Yuyi Xinzhong, treading on invisible steps in mid-air, pursued the Black Holy Son's true form. She swung her sword, shattering the Magic Artifact in one avatar's hand, forcing the Black Holy Son to transfer again. Coldly, she said, "I couldn't care less whether they live or die. What I care about is that you would kill others for such a slim possibility. If no one dies tonight, the tall, thin man in the Bamboo Hat will undoubtedly appear and begin his culling. The corridor maze might block external anomalies, but it may not be able to stop him. And you... you would never commit suicide to save others, would you?"
"In that case," the avatar housing the Black Holy Son stated, its expression cold and voice calm, "then go..."
Bai Haozheng's pupils abruptly contracted. His ten fingers formed a hand seal, causing the Black Holy Son's vision to blur for an instant, preventing him from uttering the word "die." Beside him, Yuyi Xinzhong also swung her thunder blade, calling down lightning upon the Black Holy Son, momentarily stunning him.
BANG!
A bamboo spear materialized, streaking through the air as a high-speed blur, and pierced through the avatar. The puppet was sent flying. The anomalies constituting the corridor maze possessed unique properties; everything within the maze was as difficult to destroy as the corridor itself. Thus, the moment the bamboo spear pierced the avatar and struck the wall, its tip exploded, embedding itself firmly and pinning the puppet.
The Black Holy Son, in his black smoke form, was startled. Looking down, he saw that the red-cloaked old woman had vanished, replaced by a large sphere woven from vine ropes, with Wanli Fengdao standing guard beside it. And Li Ang... was still holding the posture from which he'd thrown the spear.
Has the red-cloaked old woman been dealt with? No, impossible. Not only is her vitality tenacious, making her extremely difficult to kill, but even if it were possible, Li Rising wouldn't do it. This isn't the real eleventh-floor corridor. Killing the red-cloaked old woman in this maze won't stop the tall, thin man in the Bamboo Hat from appearing.
Thoughts raced through the Black Holy Son's mind. While maintaining his chant, he dispatched several avatars, prepared to sacrifice their Magic Artifacts, to desperately hold back Yuyi Xinzhong's impending attack. Simultaneously, he silently recited another spell, attempting to teleport again. He had previously confirmed that the corridor maze could absorb energy from a certain distance—which was why he had kept at least one puppet avatar guarding beneath the dark cloud. This bamboo spear, though carrying immense force and some residual Divine Power, was insufficient to bind his black smoke form and prevent his escape.
Hm? Wait... what's that shiny thing?
The Black Holy Son suddenly noticed a glowing object embedded in the butt of the bamboo spear. Is that... a piece of glass? A mirror?
In the next instant, Li Ang abruptly traversed several hundred meters, appearing directly in front of the puppet housing the Black Holy Son.
[Name: Abyssal Magic Mirror]
[Type: Magic Tool]
[Quality: Perfect]
[Special Effect 3: Mirror World Travel. Activate by touching the frame of the magic mirror, and randomly transport to the side of a mirror object within a radius of one kilometer]
The Abyssal Magic Mirror, which had always been used as an auxiliary logistic item, finally found its use in this massive and endlessly looping corridor maze. There were no mirrors installed in the corridors of the Dolphin Hotel. The corridor maze's length, width, and height all exceeded one kilometer, ensuring Li Ang wouldn't be transported elsewhere. Therefore, the Mirror Fragment he had attached to the end of the spear before throwing it (crafted via Alchemy) became the sole designated teleportation point.
SNAP.
Li Ang's palm grasped the butt end of the bamboo spear. Within a ten-meter radius, Divine Power surged forth. The bamboo spear sprouted, blossomed, bore fruit, and grew vine-like threads, forming a cage that tightly bound the Black Holy Son's smoke form. Using his Divine Power as a barrier, Li Ang severed the Black Holy Son's connection to his remote incarnations and also cut off his link to the dark cloud overhead. With most of his energy concentrated in that cloud, the Black Holy Son's true body had ironically become the greatest weakness of his so-called Ten Splendid Killing Array.
「 」
It's over.
Li Ang, holding the swaying bamboo cage, descended and nodded to Bai Haozheng and the others. Without Bai Haozheng and Yuyi Xinzhong using their control skills just then, the spear likely wouldn't have hit the Black Holy Son.
"The clouds have dispersed," Liu Wu Dai said. She withdrew her gaze from the drifting, dissipating dark cloud and looked at Li Ang, who held the bamboo cage. She asked faintly, "How should we deal with them?"
"Of course, we eradicate them completely," Li Ang shrugged. "He who kills shall himself be killed. It's not even 3:30 yet. We'll take the Black Holy Son and Danfei to the actual thirteenth and eleventh floors to finish them off. Everyone else returns to their respective floors to calm the hotel's agitation and satisfy the condition of having an occupant—living or dead—on each floor. That way, the tall, thin man in the Bamboo Hat won't appear. By the way, where's that bottle of yours?"
Liu Wu Dai produced the Glass Bottle covered with Talismans. Li Ang stepped forward, covered the bottle's mouth with the bamboo cage, and slowly poured the Black Holy Son's smoke form into it before sealing the lid. The bottle, made of some unknown material, perfectly adapted to the size of the creature trapped within. The black smoke at the bottom of the bottle coalesced into the Black Holy Son's face. He stared out at everyone—morose and venomous—his mouth continuously opening and closing, forming silent words, as if issuing threats or pleas.
"Phew, finally got him contained," Li Ang exhaled a turbid breath. This mission had truly taken its toll; his accumulated Divine Power was depleted once more. Replenishing it would take who knows how long.
...
Bai Haozheng massaged his sore shoulders and glanced at the giant Plant Tendril Ball Wanli Fengdao had dragged over. Inside that, presumably, is the red-cloaked old woman, he thought. Even the red-cloaked old woman, who devoured so many players, was defeated by Li Rising... It seems the Bureau's assessment of him might still be too low.
"The Black Holy Son might not be so easy to kill," Bai Haozheng stated, his expression calm. "The Higan Organization may be lacking in other areas, but they've never been short on insidious and malevolent Spells. The Black Holy Son is their Young Master. Killing him might trigger a blood vengeance curse. Even after returning to the Mortal Realm, there's a chance of being located and hunted by the Higan Organization."
"Oh?" Li Ang raised an eyebrow, his peripheral vision catching Mule, who gave an almost imperceptible nod.
"Well, that is troublesome," Li Ang frowned slightly. He wasn't particularly bothered by the prospect of being hunted by the Higan Organization. In fact, after learning he ranked fifty-sixth on the individual combat strength leaderboard, his confidence had grown considerably. However, he did care about his "Li Ang" identity. Unnecessarily drawing the hostility of a mid-sized organization... that wouldn't be good. He still wanted to finish high school and get into university.
"If none of you object," Bai Haozheng said, looking around at his companions with a faint smile, "I'll dismantle the corridor maze shortly. We can take the elevator shaft to the thirteenth floor, and I'll take responsibility for killing the Black Holy Son."
Yuyi Xinzhong glanced at him. "Aren't you afraid of the blood vengeance curse?"
"It's just a blood vengeance curse, not an instant death spell," Bai Haozheng said nonchalantly. "If they have the guts, let the Higan Organization cross the ocean and come find me at the Special Affairs Bureau headquarters. The Pacific Ocean doesn't have a lid on it. My colleagues from the Mobile Detachment and I will be ready for them."
Bai Haozheng's brazen, "dead pigs don't fear boiling water" attitude not only shattered his usual image as a refined, suit-wearing gentleman but also earned him the admiring gazes of the other players. With a snap of Bai Haozheng's fingers, the maze corridor retracted. Everyone took the elevator shaft to the thirteenth floor. There, Bai Haozheng killed the Black Holy Son, who had been incessantly babbling threats and pleas for mercy. To prove he had indeed killed the Black Holy Son, Bai Haozheng generously displayed his player information, allowing the others to see his Experience Point and Game Coin balances suddenly increase by 500 each. (These points couldn't be used during the current mission scenario but served as a notification; they would be factored into the evaluation coefficient and finalized after the mission's completion.)
After confirming the Black Holy Son's death, the group once again took the elevator shaft, this time to the eleventh floor, ready to kill the red-cloaked old woman bound within the Plant Tendril Ball. During this, they noticed hardly any anomalies were left wandering the corridors. It was unclear whether the elevator's safe period had arrived, causing the anomalies to hide to protect themselves, or if killing the Black Holy Son had significantly quelled the hotel's agitation.
The mission rewards stipulated that killing any living entity granted 500 Experience Points and 500 Game Coins. Five hundred Game Coins wasn't much, but 500 Experience Points, amplified by a high reward coefficient, were quite substantial. The right to "harvest" the red-cloaked old woman naturally fell to Li Ang.
"Well, nobody wants things to turn out like this," Li Ang muttered. "The most important thing in life is to be happy. I hope that after you die, you can settle your grudges and seek your revenge—just don't come after me. May you be reborn into a good life next time, and grow up healthy and happy..."
Li Ang placed the Plant Tendril Ball in the eleventh-floor corridor and activated his dwindling Swamp God Power. Numerous spears grew within the ball, piercing the red-cloaked old woman, who was already limbless and unconscious.
DING.
Five hundred credited. Li Ang, hearing the notification in his ear, nodded in satisfaction. Just as he was about to use the vines to tear the red-cloaked old woman to shreds and use Alchemy to break her down into basic elements, thus eliminating any future trouble, he heard a deep male voice from within the Plant Tendril Ball.
"Hold on! Don't do anything yet!"
