Chapter 179: Medium
When the clearing time rankings were opened, they couldn’t help but believe it.
The team led by Captain—Shui Ge ranked first with a time of 19 minutes and 47 seconds.
They pulled ahead of the second team by more than 5 minutes.
However, they were somewhat used to this kind of thing, and after a few sarcastic comments, they honestly went back to doing their own thing.
…
“So next, medium difficulty? We’ve already gone through ‘easy difficulty,’ if we go for it again, the drop rate will definitely fall to a heartbreaking level; it would be better to explore the new map.”
“Medium…” Brother Shiu opened up the record for medium difficulty.
“So far, only two teams have cleared it. The first place is the team led by Huahuaxiu, with a time of 85 minutes and 36 seconds. The second place is… the Worm’s Bone… team, with a time of 16 minutes and 16 seconds. That name sounds a bit familiar.”
He thought for a moment and opened a search engine.
Moments later, he remarked sarcastically, “This guy is a player from the Beast Race!”
“The Beast Race? Isn’t the inter-race teleportation still not open?” Chen Chen asked in confusion.
“That’s true… maybe they walked over? I remember that there are several maps just between the Human Race towns, let alone different races. Forget it, that’s not our concern.”
Brother Shiu shook his head, “Medium is different from easy. At the start, there’s a high-damage attack; if we can’t block it, it’s just free damage.”
“Can the Knight not withstand it?”
“The Guardian’s Shield can work, but if all the teammates are dead, then it doesn’t mean much. Anyway, we should at least give it a try.”
“Alright,” everyone nodded.
…
Black Flag Club.
A group of people was sitting in a large hall, gathered in a forbidden circle.
A multimedia projection showed scenes from Dream of the Mists.
A deadly duel was unfolding.
Thud.
The man standing in the corner straightened up and lightly knocked on the wall, causing the projected image to freeze.
It paused at the moment of the second flash.
“This is the battle recording of Fengchen Yanhua; does anyone have anything to say?” he said casually.
“Nothing to say, just a clown copying gear from the noobs got blacklisted.”
A cold voice sneered.
“Yuyuan, put away your arrogance; you should know that Dream of the Mists is no longer our solo show.” Another male voice spoke.
“Hmph.” Yuyuan snorted and fell silent.
The man continued, “Boss, this Fengchen Yanhua is very strange. Since the server opened, he hasn’t class-changed, but from the battle footage, he seems to have continuous flashing capabilities, and his awareness is not that of a newbie. I guess…”
“No one interrupted him; the man continued, “he might have a truly hidden class.”
“What do you mean? Isn’t the leaderboard showing that he hasn’t class-changed?” Someone raised a doubt.
“If… I’m saying, what if there’s a class that can disguise as unclassed?”
“That’s not important at all; if you ask me, that Chen Chen is a lot stronger than him. What we should think about now is how to counter them. As solo players, their growth is too rapid; if this continues, they might disrupt our development.”
At that moment, the man standing in the corner spoke again, “Wang Ning is right. We have been maintaining this position for too long; we need to keep an eye on the surrounding changes. Someone must watch over Yunshui City.”
He paused and suddenly called out, “Menghua!”
“Ah!? I, I’m here, Boss!” A timid young boy suddenly stood up.
“No need to be so nervous; I think… you might be the right choice.”
“N-No, I can’t do it; I’m so clumsy… I’ll definitely mess it up.”
“Hehe,” the man couldn’t help but laugh, “It’s decided, you’re the one!”
…
Clang!
With a sword, Chen Chen struck down the Cold Crystal Soul, looking at his low health, terrified.
Unlike easy mode, the moment everyone entered, the incoming frost breath instantly killed four teammates, leaving even Starry with less than 1k health.
What a inhumane welcome this was!
Then Starry was also hit by a series of arrows and fell; Chen Chen was left all alone, unable to recover his health, and was worn down by the little monsters.
Clearly, the intent behind the dungeon design was for players to first clear easy mode to get the Cold Crystal set, significantly increasing their survival ability before attempting medium mode.
This was already the second round. This time, Chen Chen was smarter; as soon as he entered, he activated Fire Curtain and used the Elemental Horn to cast another before the fire wall broke.
Just enough to withstand the frost breath.
Then it followed the same process as easy mode, except the Cold Crystal Soul’s attributes were slightly buffed.
But for Chen Chen, it was still a slaughter.
By the way, the frost breath appeared every minute.
Which meant rapid consumption of mana and special skill points under Wishcaster status.
He began to understand why the record showed such a long time.
After exiting the cave, everything felt similar to before, but there were slight differences.
In the center stood a massive Cold Crystal Mine, softly glowing, with cold air surging out from time to time.
“The frost breath should be coming from there, but I wonder if we can mine it?” Chen Chen said while looking back.
“You’re thinking too much; it looks like you need to be a level three miner to mine cold crystal, and with such a large chunk… one swing might break the tool first.”
“Okay, Brother Shiu, how about you toss a fire sea and see? If we can burn this thing down, otherwise, at this rate, we’ll wipe out soon.”
“Alright.” Brother Shiu nodded, and as flames were poured down, upon contacting the cold crystal, a long, flexible strip jumped out.
99%
Good, as long as this frost breath sneak attack is taken care of, the subsequent process should go much smoother.
While he thought about this—
“Ow—!”
A familiar sound.
Crack, crack, crack! The blue Cold Crystal Giant rushed in with a shocking momentum; the ground completely froze, and the boss’s speed skyrocketed. Goodness, is this skating!?
“Get back! Hurry!” Chen Chen panicked. If he came crashing down with a blow, it would be disastrous!?
Cute Orange was at the back, pale with fear, immediately fleeing back, while You and Jiangxia quickly followed; Brother Shiu also turned to leave.
“Wish—Earth!”
A muddy puddle formed on the ground, but the boss’s freezing priority seemed higher; the ice layer above was unaffected.
The Cold Crystal Giant was rapidly approaching them, raising its iron fist, gathering energy, “Ow—”
Given the attribute difference between both sides, if they took the hit, they shouldn’t be instantly killed.
But… such a destructive attack usually comes with a knockback effect. If they were staggered, the boss could definitely wipe them out instantly.
In the thirty-six strategies, retreating was the best! First, retreat back to the cave!
Roar!
It seemed… his feet were feeling a bit immobilized.
Pull!
Hey— not moving an inch.
What’s going on? Chen Chen looked down; he was shocked to see that the ice layer had spread to his feet, freezing everything below his calves.
Starry was similarly affected.
A terrifying shadow rapidly descended, and Chen Chen looked at the gray flashing icon, at a loss.
