Chapter 2: New Century (Epilogue)
“Practice more when you get back.”
The old man’s calm voice and receding footsteps echoed in their ears.
Nobody Does Human Things (M) and the other players’ vision went black as they were forcibly teleported out of the dungeon.
“Ah, another team’s out. Judging by their expressions, they didn’t make it, but at least they lasted ten minutes.”
“This dungeon is too hard… only slightly easier than the Behemoth.”
“Yeah, I was completely lost when it entered the second phase…”
The players shook their heads and sighed as they watched Yan, the most handsome among them, and his team emerge with grim expressions.
They had already seen four or five similar teams, all confidently challenging Clemon only to be beaten so badly by the old man that they didn’t recognize their mothers.
Yan, the most handsome, ignored the surrounding players’ taunts. He composed himself and planned to wait at the dungeon entrance for a while to assess the situation.
Perhaps due to disappointment, Brother Miao Yan Xin Sen had already left the team.
With a flash of light, another team of players emerged with mournful faces. The player who was the captain immediately began venting his frustrations as soon as he left the dungeon:
“I’m so done, guys. I used to hear the beta testers from Dawn Town bragging about how amazing Xi Wei was, but I didn’t truly understand until today when I entered this dungeon.”
“The word ‘perverted’ was practically tailor-made for him!”
A beam of light flashed across the dungeon’s teleportation gate: [Trial of the King of Winter Challenge Failed].
Good heavens.
The surrounding players looked at each other in disbelief and then burst into laughter:
“66666 I don’t even know what to say. I can only say you’re truly brave, bro~”
“Buddy, I suspect you have some psychological issues. Want to join our 01 club? My brothers and I can take a good look at you?”
“Bro, you’re too bold. Didn’t you see those big words spelling ‘HELL’?”
“And Lord of Eagle Territory is now the King of Winter. You guys must have seen him holding the Maid version, right?”
“Yeah, yeah, holding the Maid,”
The captain player said, covering his face and speaking bitterly:
“It was unbelievable. 2% HP regen every second. He even stood there motionlessly for five minutes while we attacked, but we couldn’t bring his HP down. Then that BOSS got impatient and smashed us with one sword, like an explosion of TNT, killing us all.”
“Hahaha, that’s normal. I was there back then, really. Not only was the damage immense, but it was extremely humiliating. You guys don’t know how desperate Brother Fan, one of the player representatives, was. He just told us to wait for death.”
The interrupter was a beta player who had their account deleted and then got a spot back. With an expression of understanding, they chuckled and advised:
“So, I won’t even touch this fourth dungeon until I’m level 60. Take it from a beta tester’s advice, don’t go there to humiliate yourselves~”
…
After listening for a while, Yan, the most handsome, had a rough idea of the current dungeon situation.
First, the easiest dungeon was to surround and kill the Behemoth.
Besides high damage, the Behemoth was nothing special.
Its movements were clumsy, and its attack methods were very simple, mainly involving lunging, stomping, biting, clawing, and roaring.
Clemon’s Trial was more difficult. Most strong teams got stuck in the second phase. The sudden, unexpected shockwave, coupled with the abrupt change in attack patterns, completely threw players off.
Black Sword and the Nun were even harder, and these two BOSSes were extremely aggressive. Players who entered often couldn’t last half a minute before being killed by their combined efforts.
The skills of these two BOSSes were more bizarre than the last.
Black Sword was elusive like an assassin. The Nun was even more terrifying. Just when you thought you had cleverly dodged Black Sword’s sneak attack and were congratulating yourself, a hand would emerge from behind you, wielding a spatial longsword and piercing your heart.
These two tricksters teaming up! Players exclaimed, “They really know how to play!”
As for the fourth dungeon, there was no need to even mention it. For a long time, it was just there for players to look at. They could only consider attempting it when they could consistently suppress the Maid’s HP regeneration under her buff.
[Congratulations to Player Call Me Arin (Male) for leading his team to complete the first clear of “Clemon’s Trial” on Normal difficulty. Title obtained: Clemon’s Recognition. First clear reward obtained: Equipment Summon Ticket x10, and Captain Call Me Arin (Male) individually obtained a Master Grade Equipment Coupon x1!]
As a system prompt flashed by, the players looked at the dungeon entrance in astonishment.
A group of players with completely uniform equipment colors, clearly organized, emerged from the dungeon swaggering with pride.
The player in the lead was none other than Call Me Arin (Male), clad in black armor, wielding a longsword and a shield, his gaze calm.
“Uh… they cleared it on the first day? On the first try?”
“Comparing ourselves to others makes us angry. I thought it would take at least two or three days for someone to achieve the first clear.”
“Big brother, are you selling that Master Grade Equipment Coupon? 50,000, and I can add more if it’s not enough!”
Call Me Arin (Male) didn’t answer the players’ questions. He glanced at everyone expressionlessly and said calmly:
“The Black Armor Barracks Guild welcomes all players to join. I will post the dungeon guide on the public chat and forums later. Lin has some matters to attend to, so I’ll take my leave.”
After speaking, Call Me Arin (Male) walked towards Enzo’s blacksmith shop without looking back, with a few persistent players still chattering behind him. But he had no time to pay attention; he was eager to exchange for Master Grade equipment.
However, he kept his word. After exchanging for Master Grade equipment, he quickly compiled his dungeon clear experience and posted it on the public chat:
[The BOSS’s first phase has two skills: Killing Domain Sword Array and Sheathed Instant Kill. The method to break the Killing Domain Sword Array is for everyone to spread out as much as possible. The BOSS moves at high speed during this time. The farther apart adjacent players are, the less sword damage each person will receive.]
[Sheathed Instant Kill is an unavoidable skill. However, if you follow my advice and dodge the Killing Domain Sword Array, the Healer only needs to cast a shield on themselves and heal. Warriors selected won’t die either.]
[When the BOSS is about to enter the second phase, have one Warrior attack while the others stand in the four corners to avoid being shaken.]
[We were also knocked back here, but I had the Priest stand far away from the start, so we stabilized later. Once the BOSS enters the second phase, its attack patterns change. If there are more than five players present, it enters Area of Effect Berserk Mode. If there are fewer than five players, it enters Single Target Assassin Mode.]
[The former is slow; watch the BOSS’s startup to easily dodge skills. The latter is fast; cast shields to protect the aggro target.]
[The BOSS’s third phase primarily tests survivability. Its output becomes terrifying. Each attack turns into a line of piercing damage. Therefore, make sure one player tanks the BOSS while the others attack from behind. Shields must be cast promptly, with at least three Priests casting them in rotation. In the third phase, a single normal attack from the BOSS can break a shield and deal a significant amount of damage to a pure defense Warrior.]
[When the BOSS is low on health, it will unleash a full-map shockwave ultimate skill called Killing Intent Soul Severing Strike. I barely survived with a +6 Fine Grade Greatshield and three layers of shields cast by the Priests, but I was left with only a sliver of health.]
[I am now considering that you can use a method of stacking people like a human ladder. This way, only the two at the very bottom will be instantly killed, while the rest can survive.]
…
In the private illusion, Xi Wei, who was outputting full power, was unaware that a player team had already cleared the second-most difficult dungeon.
If he knew, he would surely be shocked by the players’ intelligence.
After all, while the Clemon in the illusion was a weakened version, those skills were Clemon’s own, with no watered-down elements.
Although Xi Wei had made some adjustments to the skills to make them suitable for a dungeon, it had to be said that the players’ speed in clearing it was already remarkable.
Meanwhile, Loli was already nearing her peak and couldn’t stop. This illusion was completely controlled by Xi Wei. Her phantom had long since joined the battle and, under Xi Wei’s control, was helping him deal with her.
As for the phantom Xi Wei?
It had long since been deleted by the real Xi Wei…
