Chapter 215-2: Infiltrating the Enemy’s Nest, Already a Big Shot (2) |
In less than a minute of fighting, the Ecstasy assassin group had completed the crystal theft.
They rapidly retreated in different directions.
Their figures leaped between the high-rises on both sides of the street and vanished without a trace in short order, leaving only the player squad standing there dumbfounded.
What shocked them was not the Ecstasy players’ strength, nor their seamless teamwork.
It was a parsed screenshot shared in the chat channel by one of their team.
[Yang Mei Tuqi (Player)]
Panel Information: Target player has blocked display information (overhead name display, attribute panel display). Only the player faction mark is visible.
They had thought running into pirated players was already absurd.
They never expected that among this group of pirated players, there was actually an authentic player from their own faction mixed in.
“Damn it, we got screwed by one of our own?”
“Bastard, I will remember you. Do not let me run into you next time.”
Just as the squad raged, a voice suddenly sounded in the regional chat channel.
“Brothers, my bad. I finally cleared the stage and came to Monster World as an Ecstasy Player. My life is worth 200,000 sacrificial power right now and still has room to appreciate. I can only carry out the idiot Lord God’s orders. I owe you an apology. When I get back to the starter village I will send you a red envelope to say sorry.”
Hearing the apology in the regional voice channel, the squad players were first stunned, then scolded one after another.
“Beast, you pocketed 200,000 sacrificial power, and you even formed your own squad in Death Space. Are you rebelling? No more appreciating. Send gold bars in the village. Return immediately.”
“Two crystals, remember you owe us ten thousand sacrificial power, plus fifteen thousand for mental anguish. I will note it down first.”
“I am jealous to death. Although the Death Space quota issued daily has risen to 500, it is like clocking in every day and basically impossible to grab. You are seriously awesome, actually cleared and entered Monster World. Also, your teammates are all so fierce.”
Listening to the voices in the regional voice channel, Yang Xiu led the squad back to the top of the tallest building and rendezvoused with Black Serpent.
Standing at the top, gazing at the tiny player squad at the end of his sightline, waves rippled in Yang Xiu’s eyes.
As one of the authentic players, he had not expected he could make it this far in the Death Space instance.
The squad he formed had eight members in total.
Their codenames were taken from the Inherited souls in the player legion, shortened by one character.
His codename was Owl-Head. The only Berserker in the team had the codename Gargoyle.
The only sniper had the codename Black Serpent.
The rest were all assassin-type players, each with their own Inherited soul codename.
As a veteran player, he had originally been a member of the God Temple Guild, part of the assassin group in the warband.
More than half a month ago, the Death Space instance quotas were issued at dawn.
He had not thought much of it at the time. The odds of drawing a quota were too small, so he treated it like a daily check-in.
When he opened the drawing function and tapped the lucky bag with his consciousness, he unexpectedly and very luckily drew an instance key for Death Space.
The sudden surprise left him stunned, then ecstatic.
There were a large number of discussion posts about Death Space on the forum, and among them was mention of the reward mechanism.
Even just completing the first round of the Death Trial would earn a handsome settlement reward.
This was one of the few Monster World playstyles that could yield a high sacrificial power return.
To make this rare instance experience produce more sacrificial power, before entering Death Space, he read a large number of guides posted on the forum and made thorough preparations.
It could be confirmed that in constructing Death Space, the Lord of Ecstasy referenced the multi-space scenes of the Cavern World.
The first member of the veteran squad to enter Death Space also discovered a new entrance to the Ecstasy space in the Cavern World, and was thus drawn into the Death Space scene, becoming one of the first players to eat the crab.
The difference was that the scenes of the Cavern World truly existed.
But Death Space was an illusory scene under a consciousness-experience mode, and only the rewards granted by the Lord of Ecstasy were real.
In that space, players could not use Inherited soul abilities, nor did they have any attribute bonuses, and could only participate as the most ordinary mortals.
So even as players, they had no advantage in strength within the Ecstasy space.
They might not even be able to beat the Ecstasy players recruited by the Lord of Ecstasy, who like them were in the initial scene.
Everyone’s starting point was about the same.
But the players had one huge advantage, guide posts left by predecessors on the forum.
By great luck, for his initial trial he drew a scene with a detailed guide, and there were 21 Ecstasy players participating in the trial with him.
For this trial, he chose to stand out as the ‘team’s sage’ to guide the team in completing the mission.
Yet even with the guide’s help, four Ecstasy players died during the trial mission.
But his excellent performance also made him the leader of this newbie Ecstasy squad.
After returning to Death Space for strengthening, he started the second trial, the third trial… aside from the fifth trial lacking a guide, the other trials all had guides available on the forum that could help him clear the trial scenes quickly.
In his teammates’ eyes, he was a sage whose resourcefulness bordered on the uncanny, the absolute core of the team, and also one of the top three in combat power within the team.
But only Yang Xiu himself knew that the only thing that was truly his was his combat power.
Being able to join the God Temple Guild and enter the assassin group that demanded the highest level of combat technique was all due to skill.
As for the so-called ‘divine stratagems’ his teammates mentioned, he relied on the path to success that the ‘predecessors’ on the forum had carved out with their lives.
In this process, he found himself growing rapidly.
At the beginning, relying on guides, he spoke confidently before his teammates, as if the Death Trials were fully in his grasp, immersing himself in the sage aura shaped by the guides and basking in the admiring looks of his teammates.
However, guides could not solve every problem.
There were also version updates within the Death Trial space. The Lord of Ecstasy would patch BUGs in the illusory scenes, and each trial required confrontation against squads from enemy factions, with many unknown variables.
At critical moments, there had even been instances where guides failed, and he fell into panic, realizing that the guides he had depended on were not omnipotent.
Yet it was precisely the pressure brought by desperate straits that forced him to calm down.
Before this, as a veteran player he had always fought under God King.
There were not many times he needed to think independently; the most important thing was to follow orders in battle.
But in Death Space, having already positioned himself as a sage, he could only rely on himself to solve problems.
The expectant gazes from his teammates weighed on him.
He began racking his brains to think of ways to solve problems.
As one idea after another surfaced, he moved from a pseudo-sage toward a true sage.
He regained the sense of control he had when he studied guides thoroughly, no longer fearing failure.
At this point his mindset was already one of going all out. At worst, he would just return to the starter village to settle rewards.
But under this mindset, he came up with solutions to problems multiple times in dire situations.
This success brought him a strong sense of achievement, rather than the false sense of strength from relying on guides early on.
He felt he had truly acquired the ability to cope with hardship and a way of thinking to solve problems.
He also gradually shifted from a research-party player to a true team leader.
Coupled with the command rhythm he learned from God King, he united the squad members and broke through one difficult trial predicament after another.
In this process, some teammates died and left the field, and new teammates joined.
Until now, only seven teammates remained to clear the Death Trials with him and descend into Monster World.
It could be said that every teammate by his side was a super warrior who had used all their strength to wrench free from the vortex of death.
More importantly, they all possessed the opening ‘talent’ ability bestowed by the Lord of Ecstasy.
They were the absolute elite among the Ecstasy player group.