Chapter 600-625
Killing one with every ten steps!
Showing no mercy for a thousand li, brushing one’s clothes once the matter concluded, a name that remained in hiding .
Furious rumbling emerged as a motorbike raced through the muddy tracks . The bright headlight ripped apart the curtains of rain ahead . In this chilling weather, Sheyan was presently riding the motorbike at about 80 km/hr . Bear this in mind, this wasn’t an even road, but a dirt road ladened with broken rocks and plowed ground!
At present, the rain had soaked the ground thoroughly, as splashes of mud soared 7-8 metres into the air from the motorbike!
This was a place at least 40 kilometres from Fang Cheng Gang . He was nearing the region’s checkpoint frontier guard post . Today, Huashan Fei was going to collect a batch of goods from this region’s pier .
After learning of this news, the audacious and skillful Sheyan rode the motorbike as he sped towards this area! One had to admit, the current him possessed bodily capabilities that could crush all else!
A contestant’s sensory organs were manifold superior to the average person . From a far distance, he could hear a rumbling nearby and could feel faint vibrations along the ground . Killing the engine, he executed an elegant drift before flinging his motorbike in the middle of the road; perfectly blocking off the road, while he himself laid hidden by the nearby shrubs .
Soon after, a Jeep Wrangler labouriously plowed through the muddy dirt road towards here . The driver then noticed a motorbike blocking the middle of the road .
Probably because Huashan Fei had been running amuck here for far too long, he didn’t feel particularly startled . The jeep then halted as fouled mouth individuals started acting within .
At this moment, Sheyan directly barreled out, and executed a front roll along the mud . Like a leopard, he seized the driver and released a cutting knee upwards, before grabbing the driver and flinging him towards the windscreen ferociously .
Bang! The driver landed on the windscreen heavily, shattering it into a cobweb mess! The minute shattered glass shards sprayed all over the ground instantaneously .
Knowing something was amiss, the jeep passengers immediately cocked their guns and fired . As fiery streaks bolted out haphazardly, how would they land on Sheyan? And even if they did, so what?
After gaining the upper hand with his first strike, Sheyan proceeded to race ferociously towards the left door of the jeep . His military bayonet then abruptly punctured through the driver’s door, stabbing a thug that wanted to drive off till he was limp . Blood gushed out from that thug’s waist, soaking the seat red in a flash .
Immediately after, Sheyan pounded his fist against the car window .
Piank! Shattered glass fragments scattered haphazardly as he gripped that thug’s neck and pulled him towards himself .
Meanwhile, gunshots resounded once again, prompting Sheyan to execute a somersault and smoothly leap onto the car hood!
After his impactful stomp onto the hood, the hood naturally distorted downwards; triggering the internal safety airbags to recoil out, shaking the three passengers at the back into a flustered escape . Soon after, Sheyan’s bayonet jolted again and stabbed one of the unlucky back passengers dead; the passenger who was carrying a silver code-locked briefcase . Naturally, Sheyan wouldn’t spare then and hauled it with him!
Right now, he had already glimpsed Huashan Fei, who was scrambling in panic away from the right door . Sheyan revealed a sinister smile, as he dragged that briefcase and detoured around the car’s rear in pursuit of him .
Yet at this instant, Sheyan’s heart shuddered faintly . A chill overwhelmed him which evidently indicated his safety was under threat .
In spite of that, he remained fearless as he continued chasing . From afar within the darkness of night, three fiery tongues spat out . Indeed, those were the unique gunfire of semi-automatic rifles! The gunshots were actually able to obstruct Sheyan’s charging momentum .
Strangely even with Sheyan’s indomitable innate, though those gunshots remained incapable of breaking his defense, it resulted in unceasing persisting damages! Though they were a trifling 1 point of damage over time, they could be stacked and lasted for 20 seconds! Which meant that with every bullet Sheyan received, 20 HP would eventually be shaved off him!
Furthermore, those three hitmen were employing semi-automatic rifles with relatively astonishing shooting frequency!
These bullets were probably Dumdum bullets that were banned by the state . Though they couldn’t break through Sheyan’s defense, their resultant damage over time was truly frightening .
To ordinary people, manufacturing such vile bullets weren’t complicated at all . If a human was struck by a Dumdum bullet within a 100 metre proximity……it was naturally a 100% death rate if one’s head was shot; 20% death rate if the limbs were shot; 70- 100% death rate around the chest area, and 70% death rate for the abdominal area . Therefore, such bullets were banned by the state!
It would be fine if there were only three hitmen, Sheyan wouldn’t have to expend much effort to take care of them . Yet while accelerating, he suddenly noticed beams of flashlight amidst the darkness nearby, alongside the yellings of Vietnamese .
A contestant’s eyesight already surpassed the ordinary human by many folds . Upon closer inspection, he noticed dozens of militants spewing a bunch of Vietnamese words . Although their rank epaulets and name tags had been removed, one could figure out they were active military personnel through their disciplined demeanor . Probably those Vietnamese hadn’t departed after delivering the goods and had rushed here to aid upon hearing gunshots .
Alone in the midst of unfamiliar territory, and facing dozens of trained militants who were fully armed to their teeth… . against bullets that could deal 20 accumulative damage, and most importantly, he wasn’t bolstered by his equipment . Not a single ability, no ‘Horn-Rage’, no ‘Ambition’, no ‘Zergling Rush’…
Sheyan then weighed his circumstances and decided not to handle this impulsively . He retained a certain confidence in eliminating these people, but he had to admit, his foes did possess sufficient battle capability to kill him as well .
Anyway, he had already stolen Huashan Fei’s batch of goods tonight, and could already count as leaving a heavy stomp onto his rival; a stomp which would cause him to feel an ache for several months .
After settling his mentality, Sheyan darted towards the besiding muddy and moist forest . Bullets continued volleying out splashes of mud where Sheyan previously stood, as leaves scattered about messily . After sweeping a profound glance through those Vietnamese militants, he hastily rolled away and drilled deep into the wilderness .
The present Sheyan was no longer that poverty-stricken and unlucky sailor of the Fuyuan, but instead a newly evolved human . Even in the face of military-grade weaponry and active personnel, he could come whenever he wanted to, and leave whenever he desired . His coming and going was seamlessly natural!
At this moment, a forty-year-old Vietnamese militant suddenly hoisted up his rifle and opened fire! It was as if his aiming process had been foregone, where a fiery bullet streak volleyed out! Such natural shooting skills appeared as if he wasn’t the least bit inferior to Brother Black .
After releasing fire from afar, the rapidly sprinting antelope liked Sheyan suddenly crashed head first to the ground, tumbling as he faded into the dense shrubs . That Viet issued a sly smile . In his hands, was an m700 sniper, analogous to the Scout sniper of counter strike . Although that sniper wasn’t well liked in the game, it was nonetheless extremely potent in reality .
Under the command of that middle-aged Viet, his troops rushed speedily and vigorously towards that direction . They held utmost confidence in their superior’s sniping skill, yet the cruel reality was served in their faces… . the place where that damned perpetrator had fallen, was now utterly empty . Two handprints had been pressed into the mud, which was evidently that perpetrator cushioned his fall while falling head first; before he tumbled and then successfully escaped!
Yet peculiarly, apart from a puddle of blood, there wasn’t a single trace of someone fleeing!
“Could that man be from the FBI? How impregnable is his bulletproof vest? But viewing his wrestling agility earlier, it contains a taste of muaythai . ” That Viet officer issued and frowned . “Could it be the Asia branch international criminal police organization… wait! That isn’t right as well!”
A flame suddenly flickered amidst the serenity, wavering slightly before the flame turned stable .
Someone had used a lighter to light up a candle .
This candle was placed in a corner and easily combusted with a bright candlelight . Nevertheless, the shielding wall prevented the light from leaking outside .
The dusty white wall was extremely filthy, with cobwebs suspended around . The area was in disarray, with recklessly abandoned junk like worn out shoes and types of furniture .
This was a place that Sheyan had frequently visited during his old days of selling fishes . Its exterior was vandalized with sporadic circles that had the word ‘tear down’ within it, representing its uninhabited state . If he had decided to retire to any accommodation in Fang Cheng Gang, he would surely have been discovered by Huashan Fei .
Sheyan obviously didn’t fear them, but that Huashan Fei was already like a bird that would be startled by the twang of a bow . He only needed to ponder a little before realizing the terrifying strength that Sheyan had displayed previously .
Huashan Fei would probably be fuming over his valuable goods, but without the adequate confidence of eliminating him, Sheyan wouldn’t wish to inadvertently alert his enemy .
Right now, there was a large purplish-black swelling the size of a steamed bun, at Sheyan’s left shoulder . It was oozing with a repulsive yellow pungent pus and another deep rotting depression . Sheyan then pulled out a sharpened knife and burnt it over the candlelight flame .
Following that, with the fire sanitized, sharpened knife firmly in his grip, he carved it into the swollen purplish wound with his trembling hand .
The carved wound very bluntly ruptured open, where it essentially appeared like a swollen bursting steamed bun!
Tiny snakes of maroon blood slithered down his skin . Sheyan faintly groaned but with a tinge of refreshing pleasure . The stinging pain of his swollen wound gradually diminished as the pus and blood drained away .
With a flick of his left wrist, the knife blade carved deep into his shoulder once again . Then with a nudge, black soybean sized bullet heads sprung out and landed ‘clink’ on the ground . Repeating this scooping technique, bullet frags sprung out consecutively until the bullet heads lodged within his back were all extracted out; where he lost much flesh along the way .
That Vietnamese officer’s snipe was akin to a coiled viper’s sudden devouring! Quick, violent, deadly and abrupt! Moreover, the bullet was a special dumdum bullet and manage to even break through Sheyan’s defense . If Sheyan didn’t deal with his wounds, he probably needed 1-2 days for a full recovery . Thus, he decided to settle them fast .
Pouring a bottle of white alcohol to composedly rinse his wounds, before squeezing out all remaining blood and pus . While his wounds were being dried by the wind, it issued both a contracting and loosening sensation; signifying the formidable regenerative capabilities of a contestant was at work .
After lighting a cigarette, he pulled out a mobile phone and dialed a long distance call .
After two consecutive rings, Sheyan was greeted by a rich nasal accent and an indistinct spoken language . Even through the handphone receiver, Sheyan could guess the presently drowsy-eyes of the opposite party, along with a breath stinking of alcohol .
“Gangmudada, Kesiwa, Xibeita* . ” According to an earlier agreement, Sheyan spewed out three awkward sounding words he had no clue of . Nevertheless, the receiver was stunned and placed him on hold for nearly 4 minutes, before a familiar voice transmitted over .
(TL:*I translated the direct hanyu pinyin)
“Hey! What a surprise, you’d actually phone this number!”
“… . . oh, you know I’m not almighty . Those Vietnamese apes with their dumdum bullets and automatic rifles are really a handful . Eliminating my target obviously isn’t a problem, but to wipe out his backers would be rather tacky . Cut the crap AK, will you assist me?”
“Sure, definitely! When the boss summons, so shall I appear . Isn’t there a saying of your Chinese people, something about stabbing one’s ribs with two blades? Say, wouldn’t it be better if it wasn’t just getting rid of the fella who offended you, but his backers as well?”
“Because my family misses their hometown……without eradicating evil completely, their safety would be compromised . Right, AK, if your circumstances aren’t stable I can phone Reef . He’ll settle your visas or whatever travel essentials . Hurry and get your ass here . Right, one final thing, one of the Vietnamese monkey officers was exceptionally fierce, and ruthless in execution . Did you beg him to be your master?”
I @#*&#&$!!!” Mogensha immediately released a string of incomprehensible foul words, probably his nation’s words of impact .
“Does the world even possess such a military instructor with such caliber? You sure he isn’t a contestant?”
Sheyan carefully reflected and answered .
“He shouldn’t be . Otherwise, that fella wouldn’t naively guess that I was from the Asia branch international criminal police organization . But if he enters the nightmare realm now, I estimate his ‘Basic long-range combat’ would at least be pegged at level 5, and his innate ability would substantially lean towards the category of shooting accuracy . ”
Brother Black impatiently scoffed .
“Regardless how strong he is, his head would explode from my ‘da da da da’ . Oh, right boss, your country upholds an extremely stringent surveillance for arms, I probably won’t be able to bring my ‘boys’ in . You can’t possibly expect me to stab them with knives eh?”
Sheyan chuckled .
“Don’t worry . Though I didn’t manage to kill him, I robbed him of a suitcase of goods along with a pistol and 20 bullets within . If you fail to seize a rifle even after finishing those 20 bullets, I will directly guard your escape route . ”
Brother Black’s dwelling location was frequently plagued with the chaos of wars, with poor living conditions . Even their tiny airfields were simple and crude, where planes were incapable of taking off under heavy storms .
In the end, after waiting for 2-3 days, Brother Black’s location had been engulfed by a consistent downpour for the same period, needing an additional day for the sun to finally dry the airfield .
Seeing that the 7 days checkpoint was approaching, Sheyan then pondered over the plausible contract with Zi and his party, and finally returned to the nightmare realm first .
After returning to the nightmare realm, Sheyan discovered there was a message for him .
The messenger was from none other, but Demondream .
Upon meeting up with Sheyan, Demondream cut to the chase and directly tendered a trade offer for three of Sheyan’s items – the divine stone ‘Odin’s Surge’, the Horcrux of the Elegant Hawksbill Turtle and that ‘+6 Chieftain’s Hobby’ .
After inquiring about Sheyan’s needs, Demondream blatantly revealed her bargaining chip .
Knowing that the trio urgently required utility points, she directly offered them that dark-gold grade shield along with 350,000 utility points and a load of medicinal products . Amongst those products were also several honorary dosages .
To Reef and Mogensha whose military rank resided in the reserve-duty realm, casually consuming those medicines traded with achievement points wouldn’t be a problem .
Honestly speaking, though accessory types of equipment were valuably sparse, the MT was still one of the most important cores of a party where the valuation of their equipment was sky high .
Excluding a freak like Sheyan, a shield was still an essential item for an MT . Although a +6 accessory that could boost intelligence and charm was hefty, a massive sum of 350,000 utility points could immediately eliminate the trio’s desperate emergency . What more with the addition of medicinal replenishments?
In the realm, regeneration products were hailed as hard currency! Because they were akin to gold or dollars in the realm, they were frequently employed as currency as well . Moreover, anyone could and would use it . Hence overall, Sheyan had received the better end of this transaction .
However, Sheyan’s expression remained solemn without displaying a trace of positivity from this transaction . Instead, he suddenly asked Demondream .
“Are you sure of this deal? Is this really Zi’s intention?”
Demondream cast an icy glance at Sheyan .
“What do you think?”
Sheyan’s eyes squinted faintly . This was an expression that frequently appeared at the most crucial of times . For example, when facing that Uruk-hai Lurtz back in the Lord of the Rings World, or Scarface Harry in the Pirates of the Caribbean World, or that redoubtable Little Lord Fokke… . Sheyan abruptly smiled .
“Fine then, I am truly expecting the next nightmare world . ”
Demondream’s eyes were filled with pity as she stared at Sheyan before she mocked .
“I really can’t tell where your ridiculous confidence comes from . ”
Sheyan laughed heartily and replied .
“It is pointless telling others about that . ”
At this moment, both Reef and Mogensha also entered the realm . Upon hearing their transaction, they couldn’t help but frown .
Such an advantageous deal to them wasn’t actually a good thing . It undoubtedly meant that Zi and her Illume-union weren’t planning to owe anything to the trio .
From another perspective, it represented the Illume-union deciding to terminate their cooperation with the trio . Their original path towards an alliance to defy the returning Metals Professor had now dissolved .
This also implied that the Illume-union and Zeus’s Glory Party had surely reached an agreement, possibly a temporary peace treaty between both parties .
With their current state, the wings of Sheyan’s party Ace hadn’t fully developed yet . They definitely couldn’t contest against the revived Metals Professor and her backing, Zeus . In this instance, Sheyan could capture the thought processes of the Illume-union .
It was without a question that the Metals Professor’s group possessed a contestant that could track the world entry of a particular individual .
Such a perverted ability definitely had a limited usage . If their next nightmare world entry was for the sake of chasing down and killing Sheyan, then being unable to attend to other things simultaneously, they wouldn’t be able to track the Illume-union for the time being . When the Metals Professor and her gang dealt with Sheyan and buddies, most likely, the cooldown of that tracking ability would still be in effect .
If the Illume-union tossed out party Ace as bait, they could minimally earn 2-3 worlds of breathing space . During this phase, they would allow their cores to rapidly mature with the newly acquired objects, the ‘Odin’s Surge’ divine stone, the Elegant Hawksbill Turtle’s Horcrux and the ‘+6 Chieftain’s Hobby’ . Naturally, they would be able to swiftly recover and supersede their previous optimate state .
“However… . . with your actions, aren’t you afraid of smashing your own feet while shifting away from a boulder?” such a notion flashed past Sheyan’s mind as his lips curled into a sneer .
Soon after, in lieu that both Reef and Brother Black had returned to the realm, Sheyan immediately contacted them .
“Lads, it seems there’s a tiny wee trouble that awaits us…”
Party Ace then experienced a relatively calm period of stay in the realm, reminiscent of the calm before a storm; clouds pregnant with sultriness, anxiousness, irritableness and frantic .
Yet the trio appeared free of worries, as they proceeded to temper their basic abilities . Their temporary economic upturn prompted the trio to rapidly burn their money with shopping and others .
Time swiftly elapsed… . During this time, Sheyan unexpectedly received a realm message from Zi . Instead, the contents of that message was a blank space .
Evidently, a blank space could express many things .
It could be pointing towards her complicated situation that couldn’t be described with words, or could just be an accidental blank space, or that she had no other words for him… . . its meaning was up to his own interpretation .
Sheyan stared vacantly at Zi’s blank message for a short while .
Without saying anything, he proceeded to temper his own abilities .
The realm remained exceedingly tranquil, just like the crisis before a storm . In this period, Sheyan also visited Jinkuang only to watch him snoring loudly in his ragged sackcloth bag, appearing extremely idle .
After exhausting their period of stay in the realm, the trio contacted once again and discussed Sheyan’s problem . Brother Black then informed that he would probably be able to catch a flight to Amman, Jordan the next day, but flight transition would be a problem .
Although now a constitutional monarchy, Reef’s family clan still possessed relatively frightening influence . As a major aristocrat family that stood firmly for centuries, there wouldn’t be any difficult issues in places wherever a United Kingdom flag flutters .
Reef immediately guaranteed that Mogensha would receive a French Guiana passport in Amman, where he would take a flight transit to Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport . The whole process would require 23 hours, and though Brother Black sounded haughty he conducted his affairs with strict prudence . Furthermore, he even informed Sheyan he would be bringing along two capable subordinates to help .
Of the two, the first was called Mahakael of Asian descent, whose father was a Malaysian . The other was a charcoal head like Brother Black, known as Demu .
This time, the heavens were more accepting and Sheyan swiftly fetched those 3 strong aids from Guangzhou Baiyun airport . Mogensha’s subordinates treated him like like a deity . Like zealous believers, their gazes appeared as though they would stoop to kiss Mogensha’s foot .
Sheyan reckoned that without a doubt, those two subordinates would leap to receive a bullet for Mogensha . Obviously, that was the reason Brother Black brought them along . With them both, it was practically having two additional lives . One could tell that though Mogensha appeared forthright on the outside, he was rather meticulous on the inside . Besides, the real world was without equipments nor medicines . This was the best condition to slay another contestant, but a backfire would mean one could be rapidly dispatched off as well .
After alighting, the four humans then rode a taxi throughout the night for Fang Cheng Gang . Upon reaching the area, Sheyan tossed the pistol over to Mogensha . After toying around with it and firing off 3 trial shots, Mogensha nodded and chuckled .
“Not an issue boss, let’s go . The earlier we finish them off, the earlier we can have a good supper . ”
Sheyan had made detailed and clear discrete investigations long ago . Since Uncle Dasi harbored thoughts of returning to his hometown, then the threat of Huashan Fei must definitely be eliminated . Not only that, his malignant claws, branches and roots must all be wiped out, to avoid any repercussions .
Therefore, though he knew about Huashan Fei being like an alarmed bird who hid with the Viets, Sheyan still barged into Fang Cheng Gang unbridled before beginning a violent purge .
Within a short 3 hours, Huashan Fei’s capable subordinates were all subdued, while his retail emporium became severely paralyzed and went offline . Of course, Sheyan didn’t forget to leave drugs lying in their houses as a testimony of their crimes .
Before their conduct could be discovered, the four operatives directly took off and arrived by the coast . Sheyan wasn’t idling the past days but had made adequate preparations .
Although Siqiao town had been leveled, the original residents weren’t buried along with it . Thus, through his capital and network, Sheyan managed to obtain a ‘Big Fly’ motorboat which was fully fuelled and waiting by the shore .
Never forget, titles could still be effective even in the present world . Thus, Sheyan piloted that motorboat with tremendously terrifying pace, causing the nearby Vietnamese coastal patrol boats to be far inferior . Therefore though they openly sailed through the sea, the coastal patrol boats of the Viets could only eat their trailing dust . Apart from loud curses, there was nothing they could do .
Within the pitch-darkness of night, a still silence .
11 kilometres from the Sino-Vietnamese border, outside a particular army campsite, patters of rain poured down continuously and washed away the dirt on leaves; releasing a shiny glint whenever the occasional torchlight flitted by .
Mahakael recoiled a steel wire onto his arm with an emotionless countenance . At his feet, a Vietnamese soldier was twitching while facing the ground . There was a long and deep cut on his neck, yet strangely, there wasn’t much blood leaking out .
As it turns out, the steel wire was smeared with a hemostatic drug, to prevent the stench of blood from alerting his foes .
The semi-automatic rifle of that Vietnamese soldier had already been snatched by Demu .
His thick black arms incessantly adjusted and modified the rifle, where his actions merely emitted a low muffled sound . After filing in addition to installing a long rifle barrel with such screwdriver works, the rifle had been modified into scarcely a mid-range sniper rifle . Then, he silently disappeared into the darkness .
After eliminating 5 sentinels of the camp and plundering their rifles, Brother Black tossed an AK to Mahakael . He then carried the other rifles on himself and waved to him . Mahakael doubtfully exclaimed .
“Your safety… . ”
By now, Brother Black had already a rough gauge of the enemy’s strength . Laughing aloud, he pointed to Sheyan .
“With him around, you don’t have to worry about my safety . Be my fire cover alright?”
Mahakael casted a doubtful look at Sheyan . Looking at this expression while calmly standing still, Sheyan simply appeared like he was passing this camp on a scenic tour . To him, the rainwater was like heavenly dew and pearl, as though he was immersed indulgently in it . Following that, Sheyan issued with a deep voice .
“Move in!”
He then raced for 20 plus metres before unleashing a heavy kick towards the military camp gates!
A siege! He is actually sieging directly!
Mogensha’s two subordinates looked on with popped eyes!
Although they estimated these military soldiers were merely ordinary, they weren’t so conceited as to believe the four of them could have a head-on confrontation!
Yet by spectating the fighting stance of this youth ahead, it was as though he had brought along a thousand supporting troops; attempting to ruthlessly crush the hundreds of soldiers ahead!
This was, after all, a country’s regular field army!
Warning sirens pierced out… . With a stomp, the gates swayed while the surrounding walls trembled violently, as grains of cement rolled down . With a composed demeanor, Sheyan released another stomp!
Mogensha followed closely behind and stood around 5-6 metres behind Sheyan, while rampantly pressing an AK against his shoulder . He then casually produced his lighter and lit a cigar, before puffing deeply while maintaining his squinted eyes; appearing exceedingly infatuated .
As Mahakael beheld with astoundment, Sheyan’s second stomp ultimately succeeded .
The two massive iron gates emitted ‘creaking’ sounds before simultaneously distorting, renting inwards, and finally collapsing inwards!
Instantly after, militants flocked out of the campsite like a swarm of bees .
Yet it was futile because they currently had to face Golden AK Mogensha!
DA! DA! DA! DA! The spraying rumbles of the AK thundered out like a death talisman from the underworld .
Onrushing soldiers flipped into the air as bullets lodged within the middle of their brows . This depiction was practically like an invisible man carrying an invisible spear and striking against their foreheads . Whenever someone exited the base, his trigger was pressed .
All of a sudden, militants came racing out of the different base windows, doors and also the main headquarters entrance!
Pa! Pa! Pa! Pa! Mogensha swapped to his pistol and finished its bullets in no time . While swapping guns, his firepower suppression seemed to lack even a tinge of delay .
Soon from afar, the wall of the headquarter block crumbled sonorously .
All of a sudden, three militants rushed out as the first opened fire . Smoke fumigated out from Sheyan’s body where he had obviously received some shots . Yet at this moment, he pressed forward nonchalantly before hurling his bayonet ferociously!
That bayonet ripped out a radiant arc, and brutally punctured through the abdomens of two militants . Continuing with unstoppable momentum, it finally stabbed deep into the chest of the last guy!
Actually, even Sheyan didn’t expect that . As it turns out, the last unlucky brat that was stabbed, was that Vietnamese officer who sniped him with the Scout rifle previously .
Nevertheless, that military officer remained a tough nut . Coughing violently from having his lung impaled, chilling air filled his caving lungs causing him to wheeze coarsely during this battle . Clutching his mouth, blood streamed out from the cracks of his fingers and dripped gruesomely down his body .
Still, he executed a string of rows towards the side bed, before reaching out for a bottle of white wine .
As if nothing happened, he raised his head and flushed the spirited white wine through his bleeding wounds! It was truly a cruel and ruthless self-tormenting action . Then, he produced his sniper rifle and gradually aimed his black barrel over; the scope’s crosshair already desiring its target .
However, in this instance, a bloodstained bullet pierced in and shattered his sniper scope!
Actually, that bullet had pierced in from the back of that officer’s head, before exiting from his right eye and shattering into the sniper scope .
Naturally, this bullet was unleashed by the distant covering Demu . His shooting angle was ingeniously from the bird’s eye view of a barrack roof, where he could see everything clearly from there .
As the saying goes, a snake without a head will fail . With the death of their commanding officer, the entire base was thrown into disarray .
Sheyan continued assuming the position of a very qualified meatshield as he blocked Mogensha’s front with arms folded .
By now, Brother Black had already emptied out the magazine of his third semi-automatic rifle . Soon after, the entire base was devoid of the living .
Mogensha then absent-mindedly asked .
“You found the one you seek?”
Sheyan replied insipidly .
“I’m afraid I have to conduct a serious search . ”
As he spoke, Sheyan advanced with large strides . Suddenly, hoarse engine rumbles filled the air . A military jeep had abruptly knocked down a lateral garage gate, where its tires were frenetically spinning out whirls of mud water as it collided straight for Sheyan!
The jeep’s blinding headlights flashed into Sheyan’s eyes . An average man would inevitably turn momentarily blinded, but instead, Sheyan’s pupils contracted and all he saw were faint dullish red beams . He was utterly unaffected!
As for the driver of that military jeep, it was indeed Sheyan’s primary target – Huashan Fei!
Clenching his teeth, Huashan Fei’s eyes shone with intense desperation! Containing an insanity that desired to bury Sheyan along with himself!
Yet towards the fanatical collision of a jeep like a raging horse, Sheyan’s action could only be described as effortless . Before the impact of the collision, he slammed his hand down onto the engine hood with slight effort, propelling his entire frame into the air; before landing half-kelt onto the jeep’s engine hood .
Throughout this intense process, Sheyan’s actions were as smooth as running water . There wasn’t even the tiniest bit of smoke or sparks, and not even a single cut .
Such nimble actions were absolutely not something a human could effortlessly execute . At this moment, lightning jolted through the skies, illuminating Sheyan’s cold and detached fixation on Huashan Fei’s distorted and stupefied countenance!
Sheyan then raised his fist and plummeted it through the windscreen, before grabbing Huashan Fei out with his limbs dangling . Shattered glass shards had scraped out bloodied lacerations across the face of this drug dealer, alongside his mournful and bitter wails .
The jeep then crashed into a nearby wall, causing tremors throughout the surface and finally a clamorous collapse .
Instead, Sheyan had already leaped off the jeep with Huashan Fei in his hands . He then shoved Huashan Fei to the ground and coldly declared .
“When you sliced off Uncle Dasi’s fingers then, did you ever think you’d end up like today?”
Instead, Huashan Fei cursed furiously .
“I should’ve chopped off his old limbs before carving out his throat!”
A ruthlessness floated within Sheyan’s eyes as he replied commandingly .
“AK, I heard Mahakael is an excellent interrogator no?”
Brother Black spat out a ball of fumes before answering contentedly .
“He is a talent in that aspect . ”
Sheyan stared at Huashan Fei and grimly ordered .
“Then bring me Mahakael . Sever off his fingers and toes and feed it back to him!”
Mogensha lifted his fingers and gestured towards the distance . Very quickly, Mahakael arrived without a sound, gazing at Mogensha like how a slave would observe his master .
After a series of briefings, Mahakael very bluntly tugged up Huashan Fei’s hair . Not even 5 minutes later, he satisfied Sheyan’s request .
At this moment, Huashan Fei no longer appeared like a human, and he could only beg for a quick death .
Sheyan sighed and bestowed him with a bullet .
Moreover, Sheyan had already been informed earlier on, that old Black Devil that was Xide’s* dad had already died in an incomparably brutal gang fight . This meant that all his malignant tumors had been cleaned away, and the pathway to home had finally been purged .
(TN:*Xide was a spoilt brat Sheyan killed in volume 1 (ch 1-7))
Therefore, now that he had concluded matters back in the real world, it was time to face the challenges of the nightmare realm .
Sheyan then led Mogensha’s three-party delegation to the north and provided them a nice taste of this civilized ancient country, China’s culture . Brother Black and his lads responded with gasps of amazement . To their memory, their own nation’s historic culture was filled with leaves, insects, food, and witchcraft .
It was absolutely unlike China, where every mountain appeared like forts they had to occupy . The daoist temples and monasteries perfectly blended with the famous mountains and great rivers into one body . The five millennial history of China was like a stone forest of steeles, where each archaic character greatly infected their impressions .
This time, Sheyan and his buddies didn’t receive a prolonged period of stay in the real world and were quickly summoned back into the realm .
His military rank had matured to a relatively outstanding state, where his Major rank allowed him a list of information even while he was back in the present world .
[ Your current military rank: Major ]
[ You belong to a Silver Prestige party: Party Ace ]
[ Your party presently includes: 1 Growth-hunter, 1 Reserve-duty Growth-hunter, 1 contestant ]
[ Your next adventuring world: The Matrix ]
[ This world timeline will follow vice party leader no . 770123’s world development . Party member’s world developments and relations may be preserved, or substituted with other means ]
[ After calculations, your main mission difficulty: B+ ]
[ This world will include 3 parties for a total of 58 participating contestants . Your missions may be mutually conflicting with each other ]
[ Best of luck ]
Upon receiving this report, Sheyan immediately informed his two comrades . Reef then hastily returned to the nightmare realm and converged with them .
Time swiftly sped by and soon, a large multitude of contestants had gathered by the realm’s plaza .
To avoid unwanted attention, the trio especially found a remote location to hide . Regarding Zi divulging that the Metals Professor would track their activities, Reef couldn’t help but believe, but he also wasn’t fully convinced!
Besides, through intelligence he was aware of, such formidable tracking abilities did exist . However, their usage price was definitely larger than what she described .
Perhaps Zeus finally realized his true love was the Metals Professor, Fu Lyanna, or perhaps she really harbored a deep private grudge against his mates…but whether she could persuade Zeus to activate such capabilities for her own personal affairs, that was a different story .
Besides to Zeus, Party Ace was a trifling small fiddle . A party with such a tiny persona was unworthy of him inciting a war .
However, not long after the trio appeared in the realm plaza, a flock of individuals started circling around them without a word . Besides, Brother Black had obstinately decided to carry along his striking Golden AK . A petite figure dressed in a violet mantle and a covered hat walked out from the flock and blocked the trio’s front .
“Seaman, AK . Have you ever wondered there would be a today?”
Even a man who feared neither heaven nor earth like Mogensha, when facing the prestige of his former liege, couldn’t help feeling pressured .
Instead, Sheyan was different . He was an individual naturally born a grand spectacle!
He stood ahead and indifferently refuted .
“So what If I did, and what if I didn’t?”
As she was just about to speak up, another person stood forward . He wasn’t a stranger, but indeed Eros whom they had crossed paths within the Avatar world . However, he was clearly Prince Stalo’s underling yet for unknown reasons, he was now standing by Zeus .
He sized Sheyan up meaningfully and uttered .
“The Illume-union whom you leaned on like a Great Wall has already entered a nightmare world . They definitely cannot return to aid you . As long as you accede to three conditions, you won’t have to die today . ”
Sheyan laughed in response .
“Do tell . ”
“500,000 utility points or an equivalent worth of equipments . ” Eros stuck out his first finger .
“You shall leave your party, leaving only Reef behind . We will then join your party, and Reef must hand over the leadership to Zeus . ” Eros stuck out his second finger .
“Every time a world concludes, you must supply us with 50 of your buff dosages . ” Eros stuck out his third finger .
Upon hearing those three conditions, Sheyan suddenly realized he had underestimated his own worth . More accurately phrasing, he had underestimated the value of his personally established Party Ace .
A Silver Prestige party, a domineering MT and his own dynamic supportive gene-mixes . Any of those three reasons alone were sufficient to incite Glory Party’s covetous intent! What more, there were three such reasons?
Yet after presenting those three incomparably harsh conditions, and before Sheyan could answer, the Metals Professor, Fu Lyanna, yelled out .
“Absolutely not! We cannot let him off so lightly . ”
Having his words being interrupted, Eros revealed a distasteful look . However, Fu Lyanna’s countenance was far worse .
“Lightly? Lighter than your mother!” Sheyan revealed an alarmed and fearful expression, looking as though he would bend his knee in compliance in another second . This reaction ingeniously tricked many others, but when they all felt he was above to cave in, he actually cursed with such absurdity!
His words were gentle but its intent was additionally explicit . It was essentially like a needle piercing into their eardrums, someone everyone could fathom distinctively! Nobody could’ve anticipated that Seaman would actually be so untamed and abusive under such circumstances .
Moreover, Sheyan’s following course of actions caused everyone to become speechless . He directly stood in front of the Metals Professor, Fu Lyanna, and pointed a middle finger at her face . Then, he jabbed it up and down for a few times, before icily declaring .
“I can kill you once, then I can definitely kill you ten times! If you have the balls, then come!”
Pointing a middle finger was evidently a signal of provocation!
In this instance, even Eros was completely stunned . But at this very moment, Reef just had to step forward with mutual hostility as he stretched out his right hand, before pointing his thumb towards the ground; parading it before the Metals Professor and her group .
There was nothing much underlying to the obvious significance of that action . Yet in a flash, Reef’s nightmare imprint suddenly radiated with a glaring shine!
Gasps could soon be heard… . A Growth-hunter, an MT class Growth-hunter!!!!
According to the public’s understanding, Reef had already squandered a few attempts at awakening . Even after his party went all in, he still failed . There was seemingly no chance for him to experience a reversal of fortune . Frequently, he was viewed as chicken ribs and would incur much ridicule by others . There was also probably one of the reasons Zi’s party had decided to abandon their cooperation with the trio .
Nevertheless, everyone was aware of this . For one that had gone through upteem times of struggle, and finally crawled out with excruciating difficulty out of his predicament…… . those were the truly valiant and terrifying individuals!
Only a phrase could describe them .
Accumulation of strength for a steadfast delivery!
Therefore in this instant, for the Reef who had risen abruptly like a comet but gradually sunk into decline……with his sudden exhibition of might, he released a strong and contrasting feedback that shook everyone abnormally .
Kacha! Brother Black suddenly slapped his rifle butt .
Each individual of Party Ace had taken turns, as they utilized different patterns to spite Eros and the Metals Professor!
Of course, a peculiar blue radiance also emerged and enveloped their Party Ace . That radiance resembled the territory of a blue spiderweb; sticky, venomous, tenacious and unrelenting! Evidently, that was the tracking ability activated by Glory Party!
“Wonderful, splendid . ” The Metals Professor, Fu Lyanna, gritted her teeth . “If you can survive the next world, I will commit suicide on the spot!”
At present, the time to enter the next world had arrived . A huge oval transportation array doorway appeared in the plaza .
When the trio approached that array doorway, their body periphery started dispersing a maroon glow; a luster similar to the ‘Dead Sea Scroll’ . It then converged towards a portion of that transportation array .
Clicks of wonder erupted from the crowd, as Glory Party’s peculiar blue radiance was being obstructed by that maroon blood shine and rebounded away!
One could distinctly observe another blood red door slowly congealing by the side of that transportation array doorway . Although it was merely a 2-metre tall red door and could only permit a single file of entry, it was utterly dwarfed in comparison to that huge white array doorway .
At this instant, several knowledgeable contestants immediately perceived what the trio counted on! Those three dudes have actually initiated a hidden world!
Only individuals with the qualifications of entering a hidden world could pass through that blood door! Even a tracking pursuant ability would equally be stifled by the unsurpassable regulations of the nightmare world!
Instead, the caster of this tracking ability had already wasted an immense price, to commence its activation 7 days ago . Moreover, it couldn’t be halted midway .
If Zeus and his party failed to track the trio down today, then this will have to be minimally postponed to possibly three worlds later . This signified that the trio had the confidence of maturing to the stage of Growth-hunters within 3 worlds!
Pursuing and slaying 3 Growth-hunters of which one was an indomitable MT, Zeus’s party probably wouldn’t be able to shoulder such an immense price!
Moreover, the cruelty of the latter stages of the war in the realm was simply unimaginable . Even attempting to kill a single Growth-hunter due to internal strife, may result in one strangling his own line of survivability .
Obviously, this trump card that the trio pulled was seemingly out of the opposing party’s expectation, because a hidden world could only be encountered serendipitously .
It was akin to a lucky draw for the entire population in each period of time . Actually, to most of the contestants, such a generous prize was analogous to have once in a lifetime reward .
Yet in reality, for the trio to immediately participate in that ‘Resident Evil, Origin Chapters’ world, it would be an immense risk in retrospect to their current capabilities . The dangers wouldn’t pale in comparison to the previous Lord of the Rings world . In spite of them, after weighing everything, it would be much safer than facing a deadly pursuit from Glory Party!
Watching Reef and Brother Black stepping into the blood door, Sheyan similarly sauntered towards the blood door . He then suddenly swung round and smirked at the Metals Professor, Fu Lyanna .
“You can proceed to commit suicide right now!”
His statement was in mockery to Fu Lyanna’s prior proclamation – “If you can survive the next world, I will commit suicide on the spot!”
Her complexion turned ashen as she hadn’t foreseen herself falling into such an awkward situation! But at this very moment, a deep and sullen tone rang out .
“I can enter the hidden world, and deal with him without any assistance from you . Zeus, state your price . ”
This was a familiar voice . Indeed, it came from Prince Stalo . Upon hearing Stalo’s words, Sheyan reflexively halted his footsteps and turned around . His gaze was brimming with severity as well as a sliver of taunt .
Stalo’s words were quickly answered by Zeus, while Sheyan remained unable to fathom Zeus’s appearance . He could only distinctively sense a spell of chilling winds gusting towards him from afar!
“Since Reef has promoted to a Growth-hunter, I will be able to settle them in the next realm war . Stalo, do you still demand a price tag?”
Stalo snorted .
“So you feel that I’m being meddlesome? So be it, it isn’t my woman who loses face anyway . ”
Zeus’s voice resounded again .
“I know what you want . You desire that vital item of an Awakener in the next battle right? I can consider… . ”
Stalo then interrupted .
“I don’t need your considerations . I just need you to refrain from fighting over it with me . Also, a staying over at a hidden world requires utility points, you can’t expect me to fork out that amount . ”
Zeus paused silently for a brief while and replied .
“Fu Lyanna, hand him 20,000 utility points . ”
At this moment, a black-robed individual with a hooded concealed head abruptly trudged forward . One could notice a nose ring fastened at his nose . It was him who casted the blue radiance onto Sheyan and his buddies .
“Since Prince is willing to act, that would be for the best . However, it seems that Seaman is entering a Caribbean sea world . Keeping in mind his name and prior arrogance, it isn’t hard to decipher that he possesses his own methods or even a ship in this world . If you rashly enter, there’s a chance of being restrained . ”
After hearing his advice, Stalo’s expression turned solemn .
“You’re right, thank you Finarsih . ”
At present, Sheyan hadn’t passed through that red array doorway . Upon hearing Finarsih’s statement, his face changed drastically . Staring deep into his eyes, Sheyan executed a throat-slitting gesture . Instead, Finarsih scoffed; he couldn’t even count how many individuals had threatened him previously, but all of them ended up dead instead . Prince Stalo then laughed hysterically and called loudly .
“Douglas! Accompany me! Let your ghost ship overwhelm them with endless terror!”
An undersized amicably looking male strolled in front of Prince Stalo, before he bowed at a 90 degrees angle . He then smiled craftily .
“I can sweep through all foes of the seas for your excellency! Even the three legendary warships will retreat before me!”
Following that, Stalo appointed another contestant to follow him . After activating an item, he tailed Sheyan’s footsteps and stepped into that blood array door!
Observing the sliding blood door gradually shutting, Finarsih suddenly blurted into his party channel .
“Zeus, where should our Glory Party’s next destination be? My track-hunting ability still has 5 minutes before it ceases . Its cooldown will last for three worlds . ”
Since the arrow was already mounted on the bow, they had no choice but to unleash it . After a slight hesitation, Zeus commanded .
“Track the Illume-union’s entry world! During my transaction with Demondream, you should’ve already caught her scent . I’ve been tolerating the Illume-union for far too long, only to meet with their constant tarrying and reluctance for a merger . It is high time I settle this once and for all . ”
That nose-ring Finarsih hesitated briefly before inquiring .
“But, our agreement with Demondream?”
Immediately, the Metals Professor coldly interrupted .
“Don’t you ever forget, though this tracking ability is your sole possession, the expense incurred is shouldered by the entire party! Should all our mustered efforts be in vain? An agreement is meant to be shredded apart! Furthermore, the Illume-union wouldn’t expect our sudden intrusion! This will indeed be an unexpected outcome!”
Zeus declared icily .
“Comply with Fu Lyanna’s words . ”
That blue spiderweb radiance once again enveloped that huge transportation array doorway . Proceeding from there, Glory Party……entered as a whole!
Meanwhile, after dissolving into the blood red array door, the trio didn’t enter directly into a world . Instead, they arrived in a place similar to that ending summary location .
Instantaneously, he received a list of notifications .
[ You are about to enter the hidden world: Resident Evil, Origin Chapters ]
[ All hidden worlds are not independent destinations, but an extension of a main world . Therefore, you are unable to directly enter a hidden world, but must enter through the district of a main world ]
[ After entering the Caribbean Sea world, you must reach the ‘Resident Evil, Origin Chapters’ hidden world entrance within 152 hours ]
[ You will be penalized 1 basic attribute point for an additional 1 hour spent in the Caribbean Sea world, after this 152 hours duration . After two hours, you will be randomly deducted 2 points……and so on ]
[ Your current rank: Major – With Tortuga as the nexus, you can freely choose your entry point within a 5,000 nautical miles radius ]
Sheyan couldn’t refrain from cursing the realm after viewing the list of notifications .
When he had returned to the present world previously, he utilized his idle time to conduct some internet research . Analyzing the naval coordinates written on Bernard Fokke’s voyage log, he went one step further to figure out Bernard Fokke’s concrete sailing route towards Africa .
During his research, he realized there was probably a gulf stream in the Caribbean Sea world that wasn’t a reality in the real world . This gulf stream was named by Bernard Fokke as Pandora’s Gulfstream . As long as one sailed in accordance to this gulf stream, even a purely wind reliant ship could voyage with unparalleled velocity .
Though that was so, Sheyan could infer that with the Dingyuan, he would require at least 6 days to reach Africa .
Of course, that was in the case of zero outside interference . Instead, the realm had mercilessly handed them only 152 hours!! This indicated that Sheyan only had an 8 hour buffer period! This point alone offered Sheyan an immense display of severity to the horrors of this world!
Regardless, Sheyan could only sigh and accept his fate . He then immediately contacted the Dingyuan, of which he realized his crew of pirates had just pillaged a Spanish merchant ship, before sailing to the pirate’s port, Tortuga, to offload their dirty goods . After resupplying, those pirates had just sailed out of the port .
At present, they were estimatedly not even a hundred nautical miles away from Tortuga .
Sheyan immediately designated his destination to be Tortuga . Then, he instructed his pirate crew to hastily pick them up . Afterwards, the trio proceeded to enter the Caribbean Sea word .
Sheyan was now a veteran of Tortuga and before he entered the realm, he had overheard the conversation between Stalo and Zeus . Knowing that they would most likely be in pursuit today, he led the trio towards the port harbor at once . With a half-trading-half-commandeering method, he acquired a tiny single-masted boat and hastily sailed out .
In this manner, it prevented a direct confrontation against Stalo’s group on dry land . Secondly, it would save him additional time!
A measly 8 hours buffer time… . a chance encounter with a legendary creature or a tempestuous storm could utterly ruin those 8 hours . Hence, Sheyan didn’t dare to play the card of simply awaiting his subordinates, opting to save any tiny bit of additional time!
Meanwhile, Stalo had recruited an underling named Douglas as he followed Sheyan’s footsteps into this world . Their designation point was also Tortuga port, where Prince Stalo had to fork out a whole 5 achievement points and 10,000 utility points to accomplish that .
Even though he was a Reserve-duty Brigadier General who was conferred with an array of privileges, the number of free privileges offered to him was vastly inferior to Sheyan!
When they finally arrived at the harbour, they could only behold a tiny single-masted boat seemingly about to disappear into the misty ocean . Brother Black was presently waving his arms enthusiastically from afar while blowing whistles at them .
Prince Stalo snorted coldly and immediately hopped onto a lateral fishing boat, which had just anchored by the port .
Unbeknownst what Douglas whispered to the pirates of that fishing boat, one could only observe flourishing black gas enshrouding the heads of those pirates, before manipulating them to jump overboard as though they were hypnotized .
Spash! Spash! Only sparing an adequate amount of manpower to pilot the ship, Douglas commenced his tight pursue of Sheyan!
Right now, the gap between both ships were approximately 2-3 kilometres .
With such a vast distance between them, excluding a specialized sniper like Mcdh, it would be impossible to harm one’s opponent . After pursuing a long while, Douglas still failed to pull in or shorten the gap .
Initially brimming with confidence, Douglas started to frown suspiciously as he spoke to Prince Stalo .
“My title of ‘Pirate Captain’ can enhance a ship’s passive velocity by 15% . Moreover, our ship has probably more members as compared to Seaman’s puny boat . Yet our speed is actually even . Could it be that Seaman brat possesses an equipment that can substantially boost one’s sailing velocity? An equipment that can absolve the disparity between the two?”
Prince Stalo’s white hair fluttered along the wind, as he shut his eyes with both arms folded across his chest and issued .
“Since he dares to spout such conceited nonsense, he definitely has tricks up his sleeves . That guy’s supportive abilities are extremely impressive, don’t worry about such abnormalities . With such a vast distance… . oh hoh, it seems like only a military rank ability can cause disturbances over this distance . I shall assist you a little . ”
While speaking, Prince Stalo’s nightmare imprint emanated a dull brilliance . This was the military rank ability, ‘Clout of Dignity’, Prince Stalo had acquired when he advanced to the Reserve-duty Brigadier General rank .
Within a large area, all foes would suffer a 10% of absolute speed decline, an effect that couldn’t be weakened, but totally ineffective against individuals with a higher military rank . Stalo would use this military ability to compliment his personal ‘Beckoning of the Extreme North’ Ice halo ability . The total movement speed suppression on his foes would be tremendously terrifying .
Of course, it was useless against individuals of higher military rank… . . instantaneously, a slightly mild ripple stirred in the air over the roaring sea, before an invisible rippling ring swept out with unbelievable speed .
The ripple swept through Sheyan’s boat, but Prince Stalo was instantly flabbergasted!! He actually received a notification detailing that the opponent was immune to his ability!!
“How could that be! Right, it should be Reef . Afterall, he was the nucleus of his previous party, he should also be the nucleus of this Party Ace . If the natural resources of that party are being poured into him, then his military rank could really be higher than mine . Hmm… . if I manage to rope in Reef, could I possibly contest Zeus?”
Thinking of that, many other notions jolted through Prince Stalo’s mind . Although his military ability had failed, he didn’t voice out about his deflated attempt . Instead, he questioned Douglas .
“You have activated your ‘Ghost Ship’ ability, are they rushing here?”
Douglas nodded haughtily .
“Yes, my Ghost Ship drains away all capabilities in exchange for an unrivaled speed that can shuttle through even Hades itself . Of course, the consequences of that is having the ship and its members receiving the corruption of Hades . When carrying any human or goods, they would all receive the corruption of Hades . Therefore, this is a pathetic ability in terms of profiting for money, but an excellent drive for speed sailing . It would be here within half an hour, we just need to tightly keep up with them . ”
Stalo then callously announced .
“I will handle the rest as you can reduce the gap to less than a hundred metres . ”
After another 10 minutes of the voyage, the appalled Stalo suddenly realized they were being shrugged off .
This was a simple logic, his peddling pirates on board would eventually run out of energy . Coincidentally, a tiny island was sighted ahead .
This island didn’t have a broad area but was surrounded by 23 metres high precipitous cliffs . There was no sandy shore to ascend . In the past, it was used as a prison but was now already deserted . Because the island top was covered with white cliff rocks, Seaman and his pirates had previously hailed it as the Alps island .
Following the brewing sea breeze, Sheyan’s tiny boat rounded past a cliff of Alps Island before fading behind the cover the rocky cliff with swift precision .
After his enemy had disappeared from his line of sight, Prince Stalo frowned . Instead, Douglas abruptly cheered .
“Woah oh! Your Excellency, Prince, my baby has punctually arrived!”
Upon concluding his speech, a hazy greyish mist started encompassing the sea surface .
Gradually, a silhouette of a tattered 3-masted ship appeared with a shape that appeared like a streamline yacht of later generations . The ship’s masts weren’t towering and its sails were exceedingly ragged .
The members on board appeared with lifeless demeanor, gloomily residing amidst the mist where their thought processors had probably frozen long ago .
Those were crew members that Douglas had formed by utilizing the corpses of decaying undead .
Sheyan wasn’t the only one who had fortuitous encounters . This Douglas had managed to acquire the favor of Blackbeard and learned a couple of sinister dark magic spells .
Moreover, his cannons were all infused with dark sorcery, where the artillery might and range of his Ghost Ship was relatively outstanding; vastly exceeding Sheyan’s Dingyuan .
Although his crew members didn’t possess the battle capabilities of those decaying undead, they possessed the manifold HP of one and were more intelligent than them! Hence, they wouldn’t perish while shuttling through Hades . Those members were absolutely obedient to Douglas and knew no fatigue or weariness, neither were they fearful of death .
Of course, these undead members had one prominent flaw . Firstly, they had an expiry date where they could possibly exist for 3 months . Secondly, they possessed sluggish reactions, displaying with great delays and dull response time upon receiving their orders .
As such, Douglas had to constantly devise ways of replenishing his crew members, and the battle capabilities of his Ghost Ship was also confined greatly . Those slugging response time caused the accuracy of cannon bombardment, as well as the threat of naval boarding battles to plunge substantially . Otherwise, just the special characteristics of Douglas’s Ghost Ship alone could allow him to challenge the legendary warships .
“Hehe . ” Douglas’s face revealed a malicious intent .
“I shall toy with those scums ahead before I eliminate them . Even if my Ghost Ship doesn’t morph into its apparition form, its speed still ranks near the foremost of the Caribbean Sea! Apart from the Black Pearl, none can chase up to my beauty!”
Following Douglas’s commands, the Ghost Ship unhurriedly adjusted its sails; leaving a delusion that it was storing up energy, akin to a human making preparatory exercises before a sprint .
Proceeding from there, it surged forth as its bow cleaved through the billowing waves! Like a swordfish, it charged straight for its distant target with thriving deftness!
Such a speed was seemingly comparable to the speedboats of the real world!
Douglas roared with immeasurable ecstasy while slashing the necks of those newly seized pirates, before allowing his ghost pirates to suck their blood . Then, he squinted his eyes with satisfaction, before lighting a cigarette and puffing contentedly .
“My excellent Prince, we will seize the rat’s tail after rounding this cape! Afterwards……there’s only three of them, my kids will be sufficient to rip them asunder! There is no need to sully your hands . ”
Prince Stalo’s lofty physique towered at the ship’s bow . His white locks gently fluttered under the setting sun .
For some unknown reason, he could feel an unexplainable gloominess and fret in his heart . At this moment, as past scenes rebroadcasted through his eyes, he suddenly felt that perhaps, he had miscalculated .
Because under the crushing pressure of Glory Party, that Seaman remained unabashed and even erected a middle finger… . … .
Reef had blatantly demonstrated his identity as a Growth-hunter…and even that Mogensha who was most aware of the specifics of Glory Party, had seemingly slapped his rifle butt in defiance!
Yet the strangest part was… . . his own magnificent Reserve-duty Brigadier General special ability, had unexpected been negated!!
An ominous premonition welled up in Prince Stalo’s heart!
This premonition surfaced abruptly and with harsh severity . It was like a lightning bolt that had struck his consciousness in a flash! Even his breathing turned sluggish!
A sensation of having his heart tightly pinched by a massive hand was transmitting throughout his whole body!
Stalo breathed in forcefully .
In this instance, his surroundings suddenly lost all frequency . The only clarity that was left, was his heartbeat .
Releasing a blazing breath, he felt as though there he was heading straight for a transparent rampart . His breath bounced back from the wall and against his face, spreading a numbing itch towards him .
“Shucks!!! How can there be something that could threaten my life in this place??”
This was a warning sign, an unprecedentedly intense warning sign received by his perceptive sense!
With a frantic call, Prince Stalo raised both his arms up high!
Instantly, an azure blue ring of frost extended out from both his feet, stretching towards his surroundings in a flash . The temperature of the Caribbean sea and even the seawater started condensing with frost .
This phenomenon encompassed tens of square metres around Prince Stalo . ‘First Halo: Beckoning of the Extreme North’!
Within a second, Prince Stalo, with his white locks fluttering about, raised his palm up front . Ahead, a thick translucent icy rampart was raised .
Stalo then pointed towards that Ice rampart . Instantly, seven entire 5-6 metres high solid ice ramparts were rapidly raised over the seawater ahead; sturdily blocking the ship’s bow!
By this point, Douglas had come to his senses and asked in shock .
“Prince, what are you doing? This will affect the speed of the ship…”
Before he could finish, the sun rays shining past the precipitous cliff bend of that cape were abruptly blocked .
Instead, an insanely colossal shadow was cast onto them .
A shadow that could hide the sky and cover the earth . Just looking at the shadow itself could release waves of boundless majesty . It was practically like a mountain range that was pressing against them .
Glittering with metallic brilliance, the Dingyuan that had utterly shielded the penetrating sun rays away, as it abruptly swung around that cape; bluntly pressing in with unfathomable impetuous .
Although the two ships were separated by a distance of several dozens of metres, the Dingyuan’s bow shadow had already engulfed the entire Ghost Ship!
It was as though it was trying to squeeze out the ghost out of the Ghost Ship!!
Bear this in mind, the Ghost Ship was a comparatively smaller ship amongst 3-masted ships, while the Dingyuan was supposedly the gypsy Jiejie’s flagship!
It was designed according to a 7-masted grand ship, but barely 5 masts could only be erected due to the sparsity of the ship’s material! Nevertheless, the frame of the ship could be spoken in the same category as small 7-masted ships . It was an amplified 5-masted warship!!!
When placing both ships together, the masts of Ghost Ship had only scarcely overshot the Dingyuan’s hull… .
Even though Prince Stalo had deployed 8 Ice ramparts in preparation, and though the ice ramparts of 6 metres height and 2 metres thick couldn’t be considered puny… . in the face of the booming bow of the Dingyuan, they were utterly decimated like light sketches .
The 2-metre thick ice ramparts were like faulty strokes of the seawater . Not only did it fail to obstruct the Dingyuan, it clamorously shattered into a random scatter of crystal ice shards as the Dingyuan struck through .
Those sluggish decaying undead of the Ghost Ship couldn’t dodge in time and even failed to notice those rapidly scattering ice shards had pierced into their limbs and head .
Presently, Douglas’s eyes were wide open and his jaw dropped with disbelief . That cigarette jammed between his lips dropped to the ground .
“The shit……what kind of demonic ship is that? Even the Ghost Ship’s capabilities are futile… . ”
His thoughts ceased at that moment because the bow of the Dingyuan had already impolitely crushed in, directly compacting the Ghost Ship’s bow into the sea along with Douglas!
Kacha! This collision instigated a soaring pillar of water!!
The hull of the Ghost Ship continued issuing repetitive heavy fractures and distortions, seemingly about to snap in any second… . . its splintered wooden deck and sail masts toppled under the astronomical impact, sending crashes of splash up tens of metres in the sky!
All of a sudden, Sheyan’s laughter echoed throughout the battlefield .
“This is utter folly! Trying to battle against me within the freedom of the boundless Caribbean sea!!”
At this moment, both Prince Stalo and the subordinate he brought along simultaneously revolted!
Although entrapped in an absolute disadvantage, Prince Stalo still held utmost confidence in himself . He believed that as long as he could break his way into the ship’s deck, he could establish his position and turn defeat into victory!
Prince Stalo reached out his left hand, where a light icy ember was combusting over his palm . He then stepped into the frozen water, and with every trampling step, a tiny azure glacier would form and support his foot .
A metre of seawater before his path then condensed into a solid layer of ice, as Prince Stalo leisurely paced himself amidst the perilous situation of this shipwreck, striding straight towards the Dingyuan .
Behind him, a bridge of ice was left behind! Floating well atop the seawater!
As for Prince Stalo’s subordinate, he appeared to be a Reserve-duty Growth-hunter .
All of a sudden, his figure blurred like a phantom and vanished into the thin air . Simultaneously, he suddenly emerged from the Dingyuan’s hull!
Short distance teleportation!
It was actually an ability that defied the natural order – short distance teleportation!
The odachi* by his waist flashed out brilliantly as he thrust it into the body of the Dingyuan . Evidently, the solidity of the Dingyuan had surpassed his expectations, as sparks dispersed .
(TL:*An odachi is a type of Japanese sword)
Nevertheless, he borrowed the impact of his odachi striking the ship’s hull to propel himself up onto the deck . Instead, an imposing shield brimming with Egyptian flavour suddenly surfaced before his eyes .
Reef!!
Reef, who held a dark-gold grade shield!
Reef, who was now an official Growth-hunter!
Yet spinning midair, was a Reserve-duty Growth-hunter; one resembling an assassin!
Right now, he was up against a superior MT, whose status, profession, and current position vastly exceeded his! No doubt, Reef completely dealt an absolute suppression onto this assassin . Without even fighting the battle, one could already predict its outcome .
Despite that, this assassin’s aim was merely to win some casting time for Prince Stalo!
Meanwhile, the Ghost Ship had been utterly submerged into the water by the grand Dingyuan, smashing out parting waves towards all sides like a giant wall .
Yet when those giant waves were about to engulf the white-haired Prince Stalo, it was forcefully condensed into a majestic ice wall .
At this moment, Prince Stalo howled fanatically and squeezed the combusting ice ember in his palm . As his white locks drifted up, one could observe the seawater behind him rocketing into the sky like a tremendous python, before it congealed into a wriggling glacic python spanning dozens of metres in length . The glacic python then speared towards the Dingyuan’s deck!
But right this second, Mogensha opened fire .
DA! DA! DA! Gunfire rumbling accompanied scorching streaks of bullets, as they rammed against the ice wall protecting Stalo’s front .
Instead, Prince Stalo exposed a smirk because he was aware of Mogensha’s battle powers . As long as his defense wasn’t broken within 5 seconds, the eruption of his glacic python would definitely win him ample time! Of which, he will use to leave a deep-seated lesson on these fellas!
Indeed, though Mogensha’s remaining bullets were carrying flames, they failed to penetrate through the ice ramparts protecting Prince Stalo .
Yet at this moment, Prince Stalo noticed that though Seaman strolled out to the ship’s bow, he appeared completely idle .
On the contrary, that Seaman blew him a passionate kiss!
Beside Seaman, a sudden black man was controlling a primitive and ancient looking machinery, as he proceeded to aim towards here .
Indeed, Nanuke and his ‘Greenland Lethal weapon’!
A scalp numbing sensation instantly surged through Prince Stalo . Through the abstruse hole of that primitive machinery, he had glimpsed a sliver of deathly pale whiteness!
The colour and lustre of that pale whiteness was analogous to an utterly fleshless rib .
“What the shucks is that?! My ability is ready, but should I abandon it to dodge that?”
At the instance of Prince Stalo’s hesitation, Nanuke pressed the trigger!
No matter how mighty Prince Stalo was, he definitely didn’t possess the technicalities of an agile long-range combatant . After his sliver of hesitation, he realized an incredibly savage curved whale tusk was whizzing towards him in mid-air; in the form of a white beaming streak .
Nevertheless, Prince Stalo was still an exceptionally formidable individual . Even at this moment, he expelled a breath of biting cold air, which congealed into a protruding ice shield; attempting to block that incredibly savage whale tusk .
Yet concurrently, a black glow beamed out from on board the Dingyuan .
Looking up, a terrifying, blazing maelstrom was raging inside a sparkling and limpid crystal ball . Suddenly, a peculiar 5 hearts poker card swiveled out and lacerated through Prince Stalo’s hand .
3 severed fingers spiraled up, as flames licked up the leaking blood before the fingers splattered onto the ground .
The 5 of Hearts curved a screeching arc around Prince Stalo, as it scraped up a torching circular inferno around him! Instantly, his world of ice was filled with plains of sea fire!
Prince Stalo groaned distractedly, allowing that whale tusk to smash through his ice shield and puncture through all his defense; before stabbing deep into his chest!
Instantly, he coughed out a long 7 metre streak of turbid blood! The blood appeared like ink in contrast to the seawater, still flourishing with vitality!
The ‘Greenland Lethal weapon’ was a deadly weapon employed for hunting legendary sea creatures . Could Prince Stalo’s defense be spoken of in the same breath as that of those thick-fleshed legendary creatures? Definitely not!
Upon viewing the terrifying data transmitted by his nightmare imprint, that single strike… . that single strike had utterly destroyed every ounce of fighting spirit in Prince Stalo!!
If he received yet another strike, even a formidable Growth-hunter like him……would surely perish!!
“This is ridiculously unfair!!! If we were on even grounds, how would you be able to reduce me to such a sorry state! On even grounds, it is impossible for such a crude primitive tool to toy with me!”
At this very moment, Prince Stalo suddenly observed Sheyan signaling an attack gesture . He immediately bellowed frantically before utterly disappearing from this world .
Evidently, he had utilized an incredibly precious battle escape tool and directly returned to the nightmare realm . Nevertheless, Prince Stalo hadn’t reaped any benefits in this world yet . Thus, the penalty of striking away all profits gain was completely useless to him!
Still, Sheyan’s Dingyuan had already imprinted on this formidable male, a profoundly tormenting……humiliation!!!
Personally spectating this scene, Sheyan didn’t feel particularly surprised . Nevertheless, his lips curled sinisterly as he surveyed the chaotic scene below .
“I’ll hand over those two guys to you two . What dog shit Ghost Ship, wasn’t it still crushed into a rotten mess by our Dingyuan? It seems something strange has happened on board, I’ll go have a look . ”
Mogensha and Reef both nodded towards his order . One must understand, this wasn’t a painstaking 2 versus 2 . Instead, it was two dogs who had fallen overboard versus 200 fully armed pirates, a powerful Growth-hunter and a Reserve-duty Growth Hunter!
Therefore, it was determined that the two unfortunate kids abandoned by Prince Stalo, would meet a tragic end!
Sheyan left urgently firstly because there was no longer any suspense pertaining to the battle, and he wouldn’t be able to do anything anyway . Secondly, to his furious shock, Sheyan realized some of his capable subordinates were absent . Thus, he immediately sought out Taitish .
“Where’s Redbeard? Why haven’t I seen him?”
Taitish sighed and answered .
“My master, he, unfortunately, died from a hemorrhage fever last month . Fortunately, his cousin, a retired naval officer with relatively high standards, had rushed over to sent him off in bereavement . His cousin showed great interests in our ship, and we allowed him to replace Redbeard’s vacant position . ”
Sheyan then asked in shock .
“Then what about Blacksail?”
This time, Ol’Seadog interrupted to answer .
“Aye, the last time we be encounterin’ a legendary creature, he unfortunately passed in battle . But durin’ our recent trip to Tortuga, while drinkin’ in a tavern we met a lad named Seawolf and dragged him to replace Blacksail’s position . ”
Sheyan then headed off to meet with Redbeard’s cousin and Seawolf, before discovering their battle power and capabilities were exactly identical to his two dead mates .
Sheyan suddenly recalled a matter, which was the notification he had received when entering the Pirates of the Caribbean world .
[ World progression rate will be determined by the progress of party leader, no . 1018 . Related relationships of party members pertaining to this world may be preserved, or converted in other ways ]
[ Citing an example: In Sheyan’s world progression, Alchemist Peigan has already been killed . However, by chance Reef had a ‘Worshipped’ relationship with him, upon entering, though Peigan will remain dead, he would be substituted with someone else; possibly his son/wife/alchemy apprentice . The substitution will maintain a ‘Worshipped’ relationship with Reef, and provide roughly the same functionalities as Alchemist Peigan ]
This goes to say, both Redbeard and Blacksail had unluckily met with a mishap . Probably in the Pirates of the Caribbean worlds of either Prince Stalo, Douglas or the other subordinate, both of them had died . Thus, due to the factoring conflicts of both parties, they were withdrawn from the battle and replaced with new but similar storyline characters .
To his surprise, the missing Canbi from his clash against Ammand had returned to the ship .
That pirate’s loyalty and devotion was definitely non-discountable, and his return was a wondrous event .
According to Sheyan’s conjecture, Canbi could very possibly have performed a relatively important persona in the history worlds of Prince Stalo or the other two . Thus, this was why he had miraculously returned .
In this manner, Sheyan managed to rake in a cheap advantage . Why so? Because when the realm calculated Redbeard and Blacksail’s strength, they factored in their wearable unique storyline equipments . Thus, their replacements were also individuals with mirroring capabilities . Instead, those two replacements weren’t enhanced by unique storyline equipments yet . This signified there was still plenty of room for them to grow .
Furthermore, during the period of Sheyan’s departure, the pirates hadn’t been idling . They actually had a lucky stroke and hunted down a high-tier legendary creature . Which was an unlucky newly born Cachalot . Furthermore, they even fortuitously ran into an idling ‘pain in the arse’ Mister Paul, who swam towards the pirates asking for a ‘pedicure’ . Naturally, they assisted Paul, while Paul assisted them with their legendary creature . In the end, the Baladine Bloodsail advanced in progress once again .
At present, time was tight .
After a simple small meeting with his pirate crew, he ordered them to follow the voyage route to Africa that he had researched about earlier on . Moreover, Sheyan reckoned his pirates would be able to procure rarely seen African specialties, like tobacco, diamonds and other small capital but huge profits goods; where they could smuggle back to sell . Hence, the pirates were also exceedingly enthusiastic .
The Dingyuan was Sheyan’s flagship and his crew members were no strangers . They wouldn’t be like ordinary ship members that needed assimilation .
After issuing the directions, the crew naturally steered the ship towards that direction by themselves . With this free time, Sheyan returned to his captain’s quarters . At this moment, Brother Black and Reef came rushing in with a delighted countenance .
“Boss! Those two fools actually delivered pretty amazing equipments from their dropped blood keys . They even supplied a relatively ample amount of items . They are truly delivery mailmen!”
“That ‘assassin’ is called Daluo and is pretty much one of Stalo’s limbs . Stalo would surely be in tears now that we’ve eliminated him . Furthermore, it seems like Eros has betrayed him too . The overall prowess of his party has probably plunged beneath Zi’s party standards as well . ”
While discussing, they exhibited out the properties of an equipment .
[ Siege Hooves ]
[ Shoe (special) ]
[ Rarity: Silver Storyline grade ]
[ Property: Physique +3 / Strength +1 / Agility +1 ]
[ Property: Movement speed +3, Ignore 50% of movement speed influenced by vile terrains ]
[ Equipment ability: Trampling Hooves (active) – Usable on a single target within a metre radius . This ability factors in both party’s strength, and would only go into effect if wielder’s strength surpasses target by 5 points . When in effect, the target will be knocked down before a torrent of three consecutive trampling onto the target . Every trample deals a strength x2 damage . ‘Trampling Hooves’ provides a high chance of attacking the vital parts of the opponent, therefore, explosive strike rate of these tramples increases by 33% ]
[ Details: Activating ‘Trampling Hooves’ will cost 30 MP ]
[ Details: After activating ‘Trampling Hooves’, there is a chance for user’s leg to receive backlash . User’s movement speed will reduce by 50% which lasts for 10 seconds ]
[ Details: This ability will be ineffective against large targets 1 . 6x your size ]
[ Cooldown: 1,200 seconds ]
[ Description: This equipment can be dropped from centaurs in the Harry Potter world ]
After a series of discussions, the trio actually agreed Sheyan should receive it . However, as he was currently accumulating attribute points while his physique value was also capped at 49 points, if he wore these shoes, he would directly break into the realms of a Reserve-duty Growth-Hunter . Hence, the shoes were temporarily gifted to Reef, until Sheyan officially breaks through the boundary .
At this moment, Ol’Seadog knocked the door . After entering, he spoke with a mystified voice .
“Cap’n . ”
The trio looked at him with eyes brimming with expectations .
Suddenly, Sheyan’s heart was stirred and he burst into laughter .
“Were you guys up to no good during my period of absence?”
Indeed, Ol’Seadog then led Sheyan into the ship’s hold . Surprisingly, there was an area demarcated into a chiller by Taitish’s use of occult magic . Heaps of dense ice chunks had been piled up inside, and heaps of corpses were stored within!
As it turns out, the pirates didn’t relegate themselves to mere smuggling . They hadn’t forgotten their pirate roots, and had brazenly started pillaging!
Anyway, whenever they encountered any problems, they could activate the ship’s legendary ability ‘Ocean’s Merriment’ and they would be fine . Although Sheyan’s wasn’t around, the ability could still be activated through the few backbone cores he selected . Although its effects and duration would shrink substantially, it could still be used for escape .
Moreover, the gypsy Taitish understood the internal affairs of the gypsies like her own palm . Thus, they also pillaged some of their few merchant ships!
Presently, the frozen corpses inside the chiller were all individuals whose strength, they reckoned, their captain could plunder . That was why they placed precious emphasis on this cold storage .
As it turns out, due to the existence of Sheyan’s superb ability to plunder corpses, the Dingyuan pirates met with a queerly awkward situation when dividing the loot .
During raids, more pirates would fight to seize enemy corpses, and the division of booty after battles factored in those corpses as well . Moreover, the value of exchanging those for battle merits was considerable as well .
Thus, under the expectant gaze of his pirate crew, Sheyan still had to exhibit his plundering ability . Now that he had reached the highest tier of his ‘Pirate Captain’ title, his efficacy of plundering was also bolstered greatly . Firstly, he managed to plunder a powerful long gown for Taitish, which supplied her with two additional gypsy abilities; the ‘7 of Hearts’ and ‘6 of Hearts’ .
Following that, Sheyan harvested several glittering enchanted storyline weapons and allocated them to the crowd .
The rewarded pirates cheered and danced about, as they paraded around with insurmountable elation . The remaining pirates watched on with incredible envy and were brimming with motivation .
Under Sheyan’s command, the Dingyuan started sailing towards the unknown and mysterious continent of Africa; following the voyage route he determined earlier .
Knowing that the pirates would probably have to return themselves, Sheyan called Philips and Ol’Seadog over . Without explaining much, he only made sure they mechanically memorized and learned by heart every anchoring point the ship took .
Through this force-feeding method of education, Phillips and Ol’Seadog became relatively familiar with this sea route . Even so, they remained utterly oblivious to the ways of a navigator . However, this was the result Sheyan wanted . Besides, he inevitably had to guard against subordinates whose wings became fully fledged .
After three days of cruising, Sheyan was surprised to discover that they only needed two more days to reach Africa . This timeframe was unexpectedly shorter than the nightmare realm’s regulated duration by over tens of hours .
After carefully contemplating this, Sheyan realized the factors leading to this .
Firstly, was the Dingyuan’s fortified physique . Whenever they encountered submerged reefs or small maelstroms, they could straightforwardly barge through as though it was nothing . Hence, this eliminated the efforts needed for detouring .
Secondly, his own pirate subordinates had craftily deduced many things from watching their boss .
They were like foxes who exploited the tiger’s might, depending on the splendid relations they had with Kraken Paul; through intervals of ‘pedicure and massage’ for him . Thus, they had acquired an abundance of experience clashing with legendary sea creatures .
Therefore with Sheyan’s absence, whenever they met a legendary creature they could handle, they would automatically prey on it; providing constant nourishment for the Baladine Bloodsail .
Yet when they encountered beasts they couldn’t handle, they resorted to scare tactics of the Kraken Paul . They had accumulated the barnacles or excrescence they scraped off Paul, and grinded them into powder . Then, when encountering those beasts, they would pour the powder into the sea, calling for the support of their ‘big boss’ . Under a 50-50 chance, sometimes the obstructing legendary creature would cower away . Besides, the loftiness of Kraken Paul was still indomitable .
As for those legendary creatures that wouldn’t back off, the pirates would kill off two cows and fling them overboard as sacrificial food . Those sea creatures had virtually no chance to sample beef before, and the pirates hoped that after receiving such sumptuous consecrations, they would be satisfied . This method allowed their paths to be free from obstructions .
Of course, like trees with many variances and freaks amongst humans, there would always be legendary sea creatures that remained unyielding . For those situations, they could only forcefully break away; by first unleashing several bombardments before activating ‘Ocean’s Merriment’ to flee . Relying on the unrivaled durability of the Dingyuan, they could still flee the districts of those rampaging beasts .
Therefore, relying on those few favorable conditions, the trio were about to reach Africa even before the realm’s anticipated time .
As such, Sheyan was now regretting over not staying a little longer in the Caribbean Sea world, so that he could quickly settle the ability to summon the Dingyuan . Nevertheless, there was no cure for regret now .
Thus, with roughly 30 hours excess of their earlier estimations, the continent of Africa was sighted .
Soon after, a simple and run down port emerged before their eyes .
Concurrently, Sheyan received a notification from his nightmare imprint .
[ You have reached the continent of Africa 31 hours before your deadline ]
[ You receive an additional reward ]
[ After entry into the ‘Resident Evil, Origin Chapter’ world, you will additionally receive 62 hours (31 x 2) of free world duration . Please enter the hidden world ‘Resident Evil, Origin Chapters’ within 10 hours . Otherwise, you will be forcibly transported back to the nightmare realm ]
[ Your flagship, The Dingyuan, and its members do not possess the scope of authority to travel through other world planes . Therefore, their maximum scope of activity is restricted to Port Qom . Leaving this area will result in untold degrees of casualties ]
[ Warning! Warning! The Dingyuan crew members do not have the authority to enter other planes of world . Once they enter the regions of the Hidden world ‘Resident Evil, Origin Chapters’, they will perish ]
At present, the Dingyuan had gradually anchored by the pier of Port Qom .
This was a simple and crude port . Don’t mention about Port Royal, even the other pirate port, Trihorn Island, couldn’t be discussed . They were utterly different leagues .
From his standing angle, Sheyan could observe little pointy huts constructed of wood . The huts had a circular composition and their surface was covered with banana leaves and loess . Wooden sticks could be seen poking out from surfaces with peeled loess or leaves, appearing like decayed ribs . Overall, the backdrop impressed a declining yet mystifying atmosphere .
Those pointy little huts were scattered around in a disorderly fashion and left a broad empty space in the middle of the port .
A monumental wooden totem, shaped like an eagle’s head, was erected in that empty space . A viper’s tongue spewed out of its mouth between razor-sharp fangs . Yet because the totem was covered in dust and corroded by rotten vermins, it didn’t appear very awe-inspiring but instead offered a comical impression .
It was now roughly noon time .
Throughout the empty spaces of the village, numerous females with nose rings were pacing about with water jars on their heads . Foggy smoke could be seen rising in spirals at the back area of the village . Most of the males here were bow-legged, where their walking posture was weird like crabs running amuck .
Beholding Sheyan’s ship, these natives weren’t startled at all . Instead, they demonstrated joyful amicability as they waved wooden twigs incessantly, looking as though they were conducting a welcoming ceremony .
Very quickly, several dozens of village folk with oil painted faces escorted an old man, whose forehead displayed a multicolored motif, to the pier .
Sheyan took notice of the crutch the old man was using,
A scarlet viper coiled atop his walking crutch . That viper didn’t appear outstanding but appeared dusky, as it curled into a loop on top of the old man’s crutch .
Although this old man resembled an Ouyang Feng* cosplayer, his obsolete appearance paled in comparison to West Venom* .
(TN:* Ouyang Feng aka West Venom, is a fictional character in the wuxia novel: The Legend of the Condor Heroes)
The usual practice was to have the experienced Ol’Seadog handle all greetings and formalities . Thus, he trudged forward and presented a tiny mirror as a gift . After going through several weird languages, he finally began conversing with that old tribal Chieftain .
After a while, Ol’Seadog instructed men to carry a barrel of rum over, before paying a drink of complement for being faraway visitors .
This scene undoubtedly represented the opening up of the villagers . While the natives were smiling and sampling the rum, Ol’Seadog ran over to Sheyan to report .
“This port has a fairly long history, its natives speak of its existence for centuries . Statin’ that those that be rulers of this area would receive heaven’s blessings . Occasionally, the oceans be escortin’ friendly emissaries over, who exchange precious objects for their wastes . Therefore, the surroundin’ tribes would go to war for the sake of controllin’ this area . It has been five years since the current tribe occupied this area, and has traded wit’ the outside world twice so far . Therefore, their unafraid appearances be that they believe us outsiders are friendly emissaries . They have no intentions of hostilities . ”
Sheyan nodded and replied .
“Very well, it seems we will be loading massive trunks of goods this time . Our tributes will please Governor Swann of Port Royal once again . ”
Ol’Seadog then added .
“Me hears the Chieftain sayin’ the last ship came four years ago, that they be pilin’ up their specialties since then . Fortunately, we brought along sufficient rum and cloth . ”
“Besides that, a day inland towards the west holds an extraordinarily vast wetland . The Chief says that place be known as the Ndipaya’s land; a place roamin’ with barbarous fiends and savage aborigines, devourin’ the flesh of foes, and consumin’ their soul and strength . He hears their Chief had offered sacrifices to their gods and ancestors, to obtain an undying might of inextinguishable strength . No one has escaped there alive . These are the dubious information me hears . ”
Knowing that should be their destination, the trio exchanged glances .
An ordinary person’s walking speed on flat ground should be approximately 5 kilometers in an hour . These natives appeared more or less like the average present world humans, and even if they were indigenous peoples who could cross over ravines like flat ground, they definitely wouldn’t exceed the walking speed of walking on flat ground .
Furthermore, that one day’s journey definitely wasn’t a 24 hours continuous marathon but should be roughly 10 hours . Therefore, their destination should approximately be 50-100 kilometres in a straight line from this port .
On the contrary, contestants could manage a rushing speed of 30 kilometres per hour even in nasty and vile environments . In that case, they had relatively ample time now .
After pondering a little, Sheyan then convened for his pirates, before informing them about a curse that had befallen this continent .
If they didn’t want to meet with any misfortunes, they’d better not come ashore; but even if they did, they mustn’t leave the safe premise of the village .
Many pirates harbored wholehearted allegiance and trust towards Sheyan’s warning . As such, most of them canceled their plans of coming ashore . Still, there were some that wished to tour around the village but confined themselves to the village premise .
Following that, Sheyan gathered the core mainstays of the ship . He then informed that he had to explore this continent deeper, in order to dispel the curse on his body . Also, he would keep an eye on precious objects like diamond mines or gold mines . He then mentioned that the trio possessed Immortal Spirit Talismans crafted in the east which could exorcise evil, allowing them to escape in critical situations .
Hence, Sheyan instructed them not to wait for them, but to directly return to the Caribbean sea after concluding their trade .
These core pirates were already accustomed to their captain’s unpredictableness . Furthermore, they were aware he could still contact them with that mysterious yet powerful ‘Embark’ ability . Hence, they neither commented nor objected, following according to Sheyan’s instructions to continue dealing with these natives .
At present, the Dingyuan’s nature was shifting towards the likes of armed merchant ship privateers of the British maritime era; taking principality in smuggling special goods, while pillaging and exploring as secondary . This was the unavoidable course of pirates this era to wash their hands clean, and most of the pirates advocated for this with hands raised .
Under such a harmonious atmosphere, both parties swiftly concluded their deal .
The current Chieftain then threw a large banquet to thank their deities for sending these emissaries . More accurately speaking in their perspective, dim-witted fat goats who exchanged valuables with supposedly useless sparkling rocks (diamonds), withered grass (tobacco and condiments)… . and other items that could allow the tribe to rapidly expand!
Half an hour later, the trio decided they’d better cherish their time . Besides, they couldn’t be sure of any unexpected variables along the way . Seizing the time, they decided to set off .
7-8 metres after venturing out of the village, Sheyan suddenly halted and contemplated for a while . Instead, he signaled towards the tailing Mogensha and Reef to cease their advance .
Then, he traced back his footsteps and called towards them .
“Wait for a little . ”
Sheyan then called Ol’Seadog over and whispered several words .
Ol’Seadog then hurriedly inquired of several natives, of which they shook their heads in unison .
Witnessing that scene, Sheyan explained to Brother Black and Reef .
“Brothers, I feel we should first enjoy the warm cordiality of our hospitable Port Qom inhabitants . ”
Reef curiously asked .
“Why so? There should be rewards for arriving earlier no?”
Sheyan earnestly replied .
“Have you considered why this area is not even a trifling hundred kilometres from our destination . Why would the realm provide us with 10 hours of traveling time? As contestants, we would at most require 5 hours of walking to get there . You must know, the difficulty should be at least at an ‘A’ level! Would the realm offer such generous fulfilments?”
Reef frowned in response .
“Could it be this would be an exceedingly arduous journey, one that would tarry us for above 5 hours?”
Speaking till here, a worrying intent appeared in Reef’s eyes .
“Then we should be traveling faster! Otherwise, if we return without any achievements, we will have to face the combined assaults from the Metals Professor and Glory Party after 2-3 worlds! I’m afraid everything will point towards disaster from there!”
Sheyan nodded and calmly explained .
“The Metals Professor isn’t a cause for worry . Instead, Zeus is indeed a formidable opponent . But don’t you worry, for we convert dangers to securities . ”
Reef’s anxiousness gradually calmed after hearing Sheyan’s consolation . He breathed deeply and continued .
“Then let us hastily get moving!”
Instead, Sheyan remained still as he surveyed the natives while lost in thought .
“Our entry into this hidden world has disrupted the arrangements of Glory Party; storing up strength for so long, they suddenly lost their target . But have you considered…Glory Party’s tracking ability comes at an immense price, and cannot be retracted . If they are unable to campaign against us, then who do you think those mad dogs would run to?”
Mogensha and Reef both quaked from head to toes .
“Could it be…”
Sheyan kneaded his brows before raising his thick brows .
“Correct, the Illume-union… . they are in deep shit . ”
Both of them were instantly stunned . They weren’t mediocre individuals and could immediately perceive the state of affairs from Sheyan’s meager words . As they absorbed in his last words of ‘deep shit’, they all felt a sensation of sympathy for a like-minded person in distress . After a brief while, one asked with a shaky voice .
“This……is there a possibility for Zeus to slip up?”
“It isn’t a big possibility . ” Sheyan calmly continued .
“Anyway ever since the Avatar world, the severely wounded Illume-union has lost vigor that won’t be easily recovered . This time, though Zi may return alive, the Illume-union is doomed . ”
At this moment, Ol’Seadog strolled towards Sheyan to transmit several words . Sheyan nodded faintly as he glanced towards the skies and blurted out abruptly .
“Reef, your earlier assumptions are foiled . Through Ol’Seadog’s inquiry, the journey to the wetland isn’t treacherous at all . Although their tribe hasn’t migrated to this port for long, they have been living in the region for decades . Most of the terrifying ferocious beasts have been hunted down, therefore, their food mainly comes from vegetation and fishes . In this region, savage beasts are quite uncommon . ”
“Perhaps this village is hiding something strange?” Brother Black interrupted . “Doesn’t that explain the 5 hours of investigation time?”
Sheyan nodded slightly .
“My sentiments exactly . Fortunately, we have these 5 hours of idle time to investigate thoroughly . If we save on these 5 hours, we will at most earn a reward of 10 hours of extended staying time . But if we utilize these 5 hours to investigate, perhaps we end up with nothing, or perhaps we may discover a hidden clue . What do you guys think?”
Both Mogensha and Reef naturally held no objections . When he first set his eyes on this place, a feint more utmostly crucial notion had been bugging his heart . However, he was unable to capture this fuzzy notion!
After his discussion with his comrades, he immediately felt this utmostly crucial notion was ready at the calling; merely separated by a thin layer . After painstaking deliberations, he still couldn’t fathom and decided to survey around .
By now, Port Qom’s celebration ceremony had been prepared, where many other tribes were invited to congregate .
They truly had a queer custom . Upon designated periods, the tribes would take turns to contest for the occupancy of the prosperous Port Qom . Yet after their conflicts, they would roast the corpses for food, and proceed to live in harmony with each other .
At present, the other tribe folks had fathered over for the occasion . Firstly, they wanted to participate in the feasting, with the mindset of ‘loaning vinegar to another’s dumplings’ . Secondly, knowing that today’s occupants of Port Qom had raked in massive benefits, they wished to share in this welfare; while examining the goods that the outsiders had brought .
Hence, the scale of this bonfire celebration was extensive indeed .
Cheers and dancing erupted from the encircling crowd, as a tribal male dragged a large bound up zebra over .
Probably because weed-like grasses were added into the combusting bonfire, when the sacrificial ceremony reached its climax, one could observe the bloodshot eyes of the natives . Drenched in the madness of celebrations, they shouted themselves hoarse as they howled fanatically .
At this moment, the tribe Chieftain sauntered out in large strides . Originally stroking the zebra’s head gently, his hands unconsciously tightened .
With a piercing neigh of mournful anguish, the zebra struggled unceasingly . Caught unguarded, a native behind was stomped by the zebra’s hooves .
In his rage, he furious bellowed a monotonous syllable as he rudely clamped the innocent zebra’s rear limbs . Then raising his stone hatchet, amidst the piercing miserable neighs, he hacked down against the zebra’s body!
Blood splashed out and swiftly dyed the surrounding ground red . Under the incessant flickers of fire glow, the ambiance permeated with a bitter wickedness .
Facing this sudden recklessness, the Chieftain unhappily glared at that native . He stared emotionlessly at that native until his gaze was reciprocated, before coldly asking .
“Mbenga, are you trying to ruin our celebration?”
That native refuted angrily but upon observing his Chieftain raising that viper crutch, his eyes beamed with passionate fear as he immediately held back . Looking at his hands still dripping with warm blood, he no longer spoke but carried a ruthlessly evil grin on his face . Then, he was escorted away by his tribesmen .
The slaughtering of the zebra was followed by meat roasting, before accompanied with beverages; which was, of course, the rum from the Dingyuan .
As the captain of the Dingyuan, Sheyan was qualified to sit on equal footing with the Chieftain, where he received amiable treatments .
Although that slaughtered zebra was exceedingly fat, it couldn’t withstand the multitudes of people, and each only received a small chunk of zebra meat . Sheyan noticed that while some roasted the meat before eating, some natives consumed it raw .
Meanwhile, their main dish was a boiled viscous paste, which appeared black and filthy . Yet stirring it would reveal various colors, and it was sweet to the taste . This was a dish only esteemed guests could sample . Mixing corn, cassava, beans, vegetables, and tomatoes together, water would be added before boiling into paste or cake . Because the pigment colors of each ingredient were different, its finished product was multicolored and hailed as the ‘Rainbow Meal’ .
Affirming that this ‘Rainbow Meal’ didn’t contain human flesh, fingernails, pubic hair, or other toxins, Sheyan started gorging himself . Following that, a dark-skinned lass hoisted over a reed woven basket of pastries over .
The pastries were exceedingly unusual . Pouring the local specialty, sorghum powder, into a finely cut wooden gourd before steaming it over a stone pot of boiling water; until the pastries exuberated a delicious fragrance . After which a ground mix of salt, banana, peanuts, palm oil and hot pepper will be added . In the native tongue, it was known as ‘Ygela’ .
These greyish pastries had a supple texture and tasted sour . Sheyan even noticed the tribe folks sprinkling a greyish powder into their mugs . When he mimicked them, he realized it wasn’t ground pepper or table salt like what he imagined it to be . Instead, those were ores ground into grains that he crunched uncomfortably with his teeth . In contrast, those natives swayed their heads with contentment while drinking those down . During the latter stages, they lifted their straw skirts and started dancing around .
As he spectated their movements, Sheyan suddenly recalled that during the time of the ancient China Jin dynasty, they would also grind minerals into powder; hailed as the ‘Five Minerals Powder’ . That was the reason the famous Wang Xizhi farted and belched . Never did he expect in Africa, thousands of miles away, they shared a similar principle . It was a pity these tribesmen didn’t seem capable of leaving heirlooms like that of the Lantingji Xu* .
(TN: *The Lantingji Xu or Lanting Xu, is a piece of Chinese calligraphy work generally considered to be written by the well-known calligrapher Wang Xizhi from the East Jin Dynasty . )
Next, a couple of tribesmen proceeded to offer Sheyan their own delicacies . Delicacies like insect eggs, locusts, and worms… . . Their behavior was similar to those red-scarfed young girls in the real world, with a red dot between their brows, who offered flowers to those uncles and aunties when they deplaned… Obviously, the symbolism was similar . Even though Sheyan was touched, accepting them was a whole different story .
Towards those unique African delicacies, Brother Black feasted till his belly turned round . Sheyan observed that Mogensha’s favourite seemed to be a black charred leaf thing, moreover he ate with keen pleasure . As such, Sheyan couldn’t resist the urge for a sample .
On the first bite, a sour taste with a tinge of salted egg yolk seeped out . On the second bite, the taste of barbeque was stronger, resembling that of fried poached egg or coddled egg . In no time, Sheyan could taste an unexplainable bloody taste…of which he tugged Brother Black to inquire subtly . Instantly, his eyes popped as his belly experienced the overturning seas . As it turns out, those were hand sized massive spiders, once that could even hunt down little birds . They skinned and wrapped the massive spider’s fatty body, before roasting them inside the fire… . .
Earlier on, Sheyan had attempted to scour around for information, but unsure whether these natives were muddled or tight-lipped, he couldn’t obtain a single piece of intelligence .
After this, Sheyan didn’t dare to consume queer offered delicacies anymore . He waited until approximately half an hour later, where the intoxications of the rum kicked in and gradually crumbled the mental fortitude of the natives .
As the saying goes, drunkenness vomits out truths, Sheyan then started paying close attention to the sentences spewed by the Tribe Chieftain beside him .
“Don’t you have any other precious specialties?”
“N-Nah . . nothing else, only these… . . ”
“Come, sample our specialty, the Golden Rum (Hiccup) . ”
“Oh hck, not bad this taste, not bad ay . ”
“Chieftain, is it that your tribe warriors are not bold enough?”
Fuming up, the Chieftain rebuked . “Nonsense, our tribe’s warriors are as sly as wolves and as fierce as lions!”
“Then, why are you afraid of the enemy tribe of Ndipaya?”
“You, what do you know! That Ndipaya tribe aren’t humans, they are devils! Descendants of evil gods . Anyone who steps into those damned wetlands will be dragged into their remnants, forced to become horrifying slaves of the dead!”
“That’s just a fable right, fables are juicily exaggerated . ”
“That…that is no fable!! Twenty years ago, for my father, I ventured into that vast wetland . The heinous abnormalities of that place are absolutely unimaginable . Those diabolical and foreboding Ndipaya demons, they pursued us unceasingly! It was like a nightmare, but it wasn’t just them . Even nature became our enemy . Mahrus, our nature’s god, had gone completely berserk! Treacheries laid bare everywhere and even in the air, the soil and the rivers… . . even the dead climbed back up to haunt us… . . ”
Upon hearing the old Chieftain’s words, the eyes of the trio twinkled unanimously .
Although this old head guarded his lips like a closed bottle, he could only spew fragments of truths under the deadly influence of rum . Moreover, Sheyan could infer from Little Lord Fokke’s body, that place known as the Kijuju Wetlands, was definitely a dismal, putrid, treacherous place filled with epidemic pestilences .
Under such circumstances, if they could acquire the services of a guide, that could inevitably shave off half the required efforts while increasing their chances .
Nevertheless, these natives weren’t even accustomed to having a full meal . It was simply impossible to draw out adequate time need through this period of feasting and drinking . Furthermore, their alcohol tolerance was exceedingly poor .
When Sheyan still desired to interrogate the Chieftain on these matters, that old head fell into a deep slumber and could no longer be woken up .
Fortunately, they had managed to grasp definite information . Thus, the next step was to search out a clue amidst this confusing information, where the following steps would naturally unfold .
Sheyan immediately called for several witty pirates who were good drinkers, instructing them to survey for information as they brought good rum around . Soon after, various sorts of feedback came transmitting in .
Firstly, during that past year, the old Chieftain contracted a weird ailment; causing him to toss about in bed for entire days, wailing and groaning in pain, so much so that he wished to die instead .
As the son of the old Chieftain, Aram led the tribe’s warriors deep into the wetlands, in search of the mysterious root of the Ndipaya tribe – hailed as the ‘Stairway of the Sun’ .
The legends described that particular flower to possess a terrifying and mystical force, capable of allowing humans to grasp the source of the un-death .
As one of the original tribes nearest to the Kijuju Wetlands, they managed to scout out the daily customs of those Ndipaya demons . The opportunity seized to infiltrate the wetlands was positioned coincidentally with one of the Ndipaya’s tribe sacrificial rite .
That year, a total of 147 tribe warrior followed the Chieftain to invade the vast Wetlands, but only 13 of them made it out alive .
Amongst those 13, four of them degenerated into fiends after seven days . Some others died, while others fled into the primitive jungles . Only five of them remain .
He also managed to infer another piece of information – many natives grumbled of their miserable livelihoods . Hence, he reckoned that with a low price, he could acquire their devotion .
Upon receiving the information, Sheyan swiftly stepped into motion .
The first thing was naturally to find out who were the survivors who invaded the Ndipaya tribe . However, it didn’t go smoothly as planned . The ones they found were all poor souls who had degraded to salivating and giggling imbeciles . The only one who still possessed clarity was the current Tribe Chieftain .
Evidently, that Chieftain would absolutely not leave with them, and forceful methods may end up in them overreaching themselves . With Sheyan’s methods of using both carrot and stick, he naturally could settle him, but it would require a period of time . However, they were only left with a measly few hours .
After considering from all perspectives, Sheyan’s pirates once again tapped on another report .
“Cap’n, me hears there was another who infiltrated ze so-called Kijuju Wetlands . His moniker be Mbenga . ”
Sheyan immediately felt this name was too familiar . Upon further thought, he realized it was that crazy fella who was butchering the zebra previously . “Wasn’t his name Mbenga as well?”
Recalling Mbenga’s consciousness and awareness, Sheyan knew he was absolutely not a lunatic . Thinking of that, Sheyan immediately pulled Jinkuang over . He then asked Mogensha and Reef to complement him in recruiting the natives, to form a troupe to enter the Kijuju Wetlands .
Proceeding from there, Sheyan bribed a tough looking dark-skinned lass with a gorgeous mirror, who he determined to be on intimate terms with the watchman of those ‘sinners’ . Hence, even though that watchman revealed a troubled demeanor, his ears were pulled with great force the next second; as he experienced a pain that could even distort his facial features .
After gurgling out several rebukes, that dark-skinned lass halted her ravaging of his ears . Then, this tall and mighty watchmen, who feared his woman, opened the way .
Without wasting much effort, Sheyan arrived before Mbenga, who was imprisoned in a carelessly built straw cage .
Mbenga was a black man with a masculine and tall stature . Beside his triangular eyes, was a spider tattooed with striking paint on his left cheek .
When Sheyan sighted him, this large dude was currently kneading his temples with his large thumbs, with a tightly knitted frown on his face . It was as though he was trying to expel distracting thoughts from his mind .
There was a distinctive blood-red scar across his forehead; resembling a wriggling centipede . Probably because that portion of his skull had been fractured previously, the scar was strangely caved in; as though his brain was lacking a portion .
Even with superficial medical knowledge, Sheyan could tell Mbenga was exceptionally fortunate to be alive even just from that head injury alone, much less to say of him maintaining sanity .
After noticing Sheyan, Mbenga exclaimed .
“You……I recognize you . You are the chieftain of the outsiders from the sea . What do you want?”
Pop! Sheyan’s answered by squeezing out the wax cork off the rum bottle .
Following that, the aroma of golden rum naturally pervaded through the air and wafted into Mbenga’s nostrils .
Mbenga’s nostrils twitched involuntarily towards the alluring aroma of rum, even his Adam’s apple started squirming a little . His hands moved by themselves to accept the bottle that Sheyan had tossed over .
Soon came the fragrant steaming roast meat, where he chewed down viciously before irrigating his mouth his rum .
“I don’t fancy you . ” While chewing heftily on his meat mixed with rum, Mbenga offered his muffled thoughts aloud .
Sheyan chuckled in response .
“I know . They way you hacked that zebra’s leg with a stone hatchet was rather imperious but yet courageous . I have no such brave warriors under me . ”
Mbenga persisted to ferociously rip the roast meat with his white teeth, as his thick lips occasionally emitted grunts of unknown significance . Sheyan very patiently waited for him to finish .
Prior to this, he had also weighed in the amount of meat and rum to offer, a rough estimate that could persuade this black man’s mental fortitude, but also keep him at bay from slumbering .
“Do you desire to drink like this every day? To be filled with such meat daily?”
Raising his head as he greedily attempted to squeeze out the already dried rum bottle, Mbenga abruptly turned daze and nodded repetitively .
Sheyan then utilized an amiable tone as he continued .
“You shall, as long as you follow and protect me daily . ”
Mbenga turned slightly hesitant, as he pointed to himself before pointing back to Sheyan .
“Protect……you?”
Sheyan nodded in response .
“Yes . As long as I’m not in danger, there will be nothing required of you . ”
In order to enhance his persuasion power, Sheyan hooked out another bottle of rum . Mbenga eventually nodded .
At this moment, Sheyan received a notification .
[ You have hired a crucial storyline character, Mbenga, as your guide ]
[ You must pay a fee of 10,000 utility points ]
Sheyan was overwhelmed with mixed emotions .
With this notification from his nightmare imprint, it clearly indicated he was currently on the right path and had triggered the realm’s arrangement .
Yet the worrying thing was… . this world’s difficulty had exceeded his personal imagination . Just a simple act of hiring a guide required a fee of 10,000 utility points!
Following that, a load of notifications came flooding in .
[ You have hired a native aborigine as your accompanying bodyguard . You must pay a fee of 877 utility points (already discounted by +1 legend level and Major rank privilege) ]
[ You have hired a native aborigine as your accompanying bodyguard . You must pay a fee of 1071 utility points (already discounted by +1 legend level and Major rank privilege) ]
“…”
As it turns out, ever since this tribe had occupied the port, the other tribes had been living in pitiable embarrassment . As the saying goes, generous rewards beget brave laborers .
When Jinkuang directed for a single-masted jollyboat to be brought over with three barrels of rum, he had managed to exchange them for 21 loyal tribe warriors from other tribes . Nonetheless, they possessed relatively mediocre battle capabilities .
However, Sheyan didn’t hold them in such lowly regard . Besides, even these strong black men could be employed as scouts which would lessen lots untold dangers .
The trio had managed to amass 300,000 utility points prior to entering this world . Yet before they even entered their actual destination world, the recruitment of mercenaries had already shaved off 30,000 utility points .
At present, three hours had elapsed . The remaining seven hours for trekking a hundred or so kilometres would practically be a breeze for the trio . However, after their recruitment of mercenaries, they had to consider the movement speed of these natives .
Fortunately Sheyan had instructed his pirate crew earlier on, and no longer needed to offer further farewells . The trio also managed to purchase large amounts of local clay herbs, that could repel blood-sucking insects or toxic organisms .
Afterwards, they hastily set off; desperately trying to prevent the pathetic state of coming short of entering the hidden world .
Although a faint discomfort was still bugging his heart, as though he had overlooked something vital, Sheyan didn’t have the time to ponder over such matters now .
The group proceeded to hastily trek towards the vast Wetlands led by their native guide .
Night descended over this continent of Africa . A humid and warm atmosphere persisted everywhere, while canna leaves swayed gently alongside the night breeze .
An acacia sweet smile mixed with fan palm trees blended into a peculiar odour; causing the trio to deeply feel a distinctive exoticism of the place . A large winged house centipede completely ignored a brown ant crawling nearby, as its wings rubbed against a patch of freesia filled grass, while it participated in the chorus of consort seeking .
For the sake of speed, Reef took the foremost position to clear up the way . He wasn’t afraid of any venomous bugs or feral beasts, at least not until he entered the hidden world .
Mosquitoes that caught the scent of perspiration had formed into a 2-3 metre cloud, buzzing and humming in ear-splitting unison! Fortunately, those clay herbs they procured earlier were in effect . Some other natives even brought along their own herbs, dripping sap onto their skin . With two solutions tackling the same problem simultaneously, the mosquitoes gradually scattered away .
In spite of all these, the guide, Mbenga, had slipped into drunkenness previously and began thunderously snoring; requiring two other natives to support him . When he finally awoke, they were nearly reaching the end, thus offering no opportunity for him to repent .
As they trekked through the stifling hot jungle, Sheyan’s heart welled up with burning anxiousness as he realized there was scarcely an hour left .
All of a sudden, he felt a sudden gust of chilling wind ahead . As the wind swept against the perspiration beads on his face, it released great satisfaction . Yet upon careful sniffing, they could whiff a shockingly unfathomable rotting stench contained in the wind .
After taking more inhalations, it even caused their lungs to twitch with discomfort . As this discomfort spread towards their organs, they couldn’t help but feel nauseous .
After whiffing that gust of wind, Sheyan started hearing the ‘wulilala’ whispers of the natives . After carefully listening, he realized they were saying that the vast Wetlands was around the corner .
After striding for another hundred metres, the thicket enshrouding his vision started turning sporadic . The rotting stench in the air gradually thickened and congested deep into their hearts .
One could observe under the vast expanse of night, legions of greyish figures creeping around . Through the gaps of these figures, everything remained a dense submerging black .
That was the Great Wetlands .
After taking a few steps forward, his nightmare imprint transmitted the notifications .
[ The destruction of an ancient kingdom by dreams of madness and mutations ]
[ A successor remains steadfastly safeguarding a past glory ]
[ The stairs leading to paradise, a flower bud of gorgeous bewitchment ]
[ A venture from Europe, finally, the veil of mystery is undone ]
[ A progenitor virus, engulfing the world half a millennium later ]
[ Warning: You are about to enter the hidden world – ‘Resident Evil, Origins ]
[ Warning: If you do not have the qualifications to enter this hidden world, you will be penalized immeasurably ]
At this moment, a mild bloody glow emanated from the trio’s bodies, which swiftly dispersed into their bodies .
Their nightmare imprints instantly transmitted the notifications .
[ Henceforth, you are officially enrolled into the hidden world: ‘Resident Evil, Origins ]
[ Please pay a fee of 80,000 utility points per contestant to enter this hidden world ]
[ Each individual will receive a one week period of stay in this world . Excluding that, each individual currently possess an additional free period of 62 hours ]
[ After all purchased time has expired, utility points will be deducted from you at a rate of 1,000 utility points per hour . If utility points are insufficient, your equipments will be used as mortgage . Equipment mortgage value will be in accordance with the realm’s official valuation . If you exhaust all equipments and utility points, you will be forced out of this world ]
[ During this period of stay, you will not receive any main mission . You can only obtain side missions . Please cautiously proceed after weighing your circumstances ]
[ You can select to initiate the milestone/title system of this world . As the milestones in this hidden world has a nature that is hard to be replicated outside, for every milestone you initiate but is unable to be completed before returning to the nightmare realm, you will receive a fixed penalty ]
[ Warning: The nightmare realm will not determine your coordinate positions in a hidden world . You can only return to the nightmare realm by returning to Port Qom ]
[ Warning! Warning! Warning! Warning! The Dingyuan crew members do not have the authority to enter other world planes . Once they enter the regions of the Hidden world ‘Resident Evil, Origins’, they will perish ]
At present, the trio was only left with 270,000 utility points . Therefore after these deductions, they were unexpectedly left with a trifling 30,000 utility points! This implied that once their time was up and if their accounts hadn’t received any extras, each could only last for roughly an additional 10 hours .
It was no wonder a party leader had gone bankrupt due to a hidden world previously . This ghost land was truly a grand gamble of staking a thousand gold pieces in one throw!
The marsh here was awfully quiet .
Stretching out to places as far as the eyes could see, greyish mist polluted everywhere .
Foul muddy waters gently swooshed around the roots of reeds .
Strangely, the waters contained pigments of dull red; as though a widespread massacre had befallen a place nearby .
Blood polluted water extended in all directions, failing to dissolve like the unwilling grips of a vengeful spirit .
However, upon close inspection, this redness actually stemmed from densely packed algae . These button-sized duckweeds appeared faintly red, congregating in the millions as they drifting along with the flow; appearing like plains or regiments of coagulated blood .
According to the native aborigines, even the hyenas, who possessed the most tenacious vitality of the primitive jungles, would rather die of thirst than drink the waters of these wetlands .
Upon drinking, one’s belly would swell like pregnancy before rupturing open and spilling out loads of white living maggots!
(Author’s note: For details of this inspiration, please refer to public information of the Resident Evil 5 game)
A muddy environment filled with bizarre vegetations . Mother nature that seemingly seeks to devour anything .
This was the gruesomely horrifying Kijuju Marshlands, but it was still hailed as the Vast Wetlands here .
The average water level didn’t exceed a metre, but some areas were as deep as 2-3 metres while others could only submerge one’s calves . Deadly swamp areas that could drown humans were sporadically scattered around, and unable to be identified .
This Marshland was polluted with legions of reeds, three-leaf arrowheads, marsh Labrador tea, lingonberries, Acorus calamus, Carex, Matted sphagnum moss and Velvet aquatic grasses .
The widely populated organisms were mosquitoes, horse flies, and gnats . They buzzed around in flight, forming into clouds of universal importance . If any jungle creature loitered recklessly into the area, they would be sucked till flesh and bones remained within hours! Of course, once they entered the water, the stench of sweat and blood would permeate through all corners of the water source; attracting the leeches to flock here instantaneously .
Though the water didn’t appear stagnant, most of it was replenished by the precipitation of the sky . The vegetations here multiplied incessantly, where the constant growing and dying gave rise to marsh gas, poison and other substances accumulating inside the water .
Even Sheyan reckoned that the strongest contestant, though drinking this water wouldn’t be fatal, it would incite vomiting and diarrhea, before contracting cholera, malaria, gastritis, duodenum ulceration and other pestilences……
Yet Ndipayans had taken residence in this region of unmatched vileness .
They utilized special timber for constructions and even grasped rather advanced construction techniques . Apart from that, after living for a millennium in such unique conditions, they had assimilated to become part of this wetlands; inseparable and intimately related .
The most optimal mode of transport in this area would be a hovercraft with a massive electrical fan beneath their buttocks; which wouldn’t be inferior to directly speeding through with a motorbike . Yet at present, it was obviously impossible for such advanced transport systems .
Since that was the case, the natives chopped down the trees and carved its interior to manufacture canoes . These canoes could fit a maximum of three and were extremely easy to capsize .
Sheyan obviously remembered he still had 3 overlord arachnid eggs . However, when he planned to employ them, he realized they were restricted .
Although this storyline world didn’t reveal this hidden world’s difficulty, to Sheyan’s conjecture, it should at least be at ‘A’ difficulty!
Back in the Lord of the Rings world, he was also incapable of using those overlords . That indicated it was quite normal to restrict flying transports at times .
Without other alternatives, Sheyan could only watch these natives craft out the canoes . Fortunately, they manufactured these canoes with a rapid work rate .
Meanwhile, Mbenga had awoken . Realizing that this destination was the nest of the Ndipaya tribe, he didn’t speak much but merely remained dazed for a long while . Mbenga then sighed while shaking his head, and reached out for a drink .
With the assistance of the trio, crafting 7-8 canoes didn’t require too much time at all . To convince these native aborigines, they also displayed a series of overbearing strength . After the enhancements of the previous world, it was now time to exhibit their might . Thus, they managed to inject some confidence in the natives .
These native aborigines were definitely worshippers of might . Knowing their employers were so formidable, they naturally surged with confidence .
Soon, several natives who were sent to scour the outskirts of this place returned to report . After silently drinking a little, Mbenga then proceeded to draft out a traveling route .
According to Mbenga, the Ndipaya inhabitants were normally unconsolidated, for the sake of hunting for food and harvesting vegetation . Frequently, they would gather and live in separated 20-30 men assemblies .
Mbenga also told Sheyan that it has been a long long time since he last entered this place . In truth, he was utterly clueless about the internal specifics of this area, and suggested to first mount a surprise attack, and apprehend some captives to interrogate .
Frankly speaking, Mbenga’s words were very reasonable .
However, Sheyan was aware this wasn’t merely a test for himself . If individuals who coveted the undying mysteries of the ‘Stairway of the Sun’ hadn’t thought of this idea of capturing a Ndipaya inhabitant, then this affair would be as easy as bathing and sleeping!
Nevertheless, Sheyan still desired to probe out the bottom-line of these Ndipayans . After all, testing out their limits and gradually consolidating his knowledge at each step, was always his objective . Hence, he accorded to this plan .
The trio then boarded their night transport canoes as they cruised into the depths of the wetlands .
Swish swosh swish, swosh swish swosh……
The sounds of water echoed through the night with a monotonous yet furtive tempo .
At present, Sheyan’s ‘Pirate Captain’ title could still exhibit its effects . This allowed them to rapidly cruise along Mbenga’s drafted traveling route, as they headed straight for the site of a smaller scale Ndipaya assembly .
The nights of this wetlands weren’t serene at all . Regardless of corpse toads, poison dart frogs or water scorpions, they were all organisms adept at employing their sounds to ‘pull in and fool around with the opposite sex’ . The symphonies of cricketings could cause headaches .
In the outside world, those organisms would pause in silence once they could sense the presence of humans . Instead, here, they became infused with adrenaline when humans approached .
By now, Sheyan was already starting to feel that inviting a guide was truly a wise decision . Otherwise, just based on the vile and complex terrain here, it would definitely cause one to go round in circles with a headache; wasting a great deal of time at the very least!
Yet in the trio’s perspective, time was undoubtedly the most valuable thing now!
Not too long later, the unique residences of the Ndipayans emerged ahead .
Those buildings were analogous to houses on stilts, with long wooden legs drilling deep into the water; providing fundamental support to these huts . The floorboards of these huts were roughly 2-3 metres elevated from the water, and covering the floors with thick sun-dried straw to sleep could be relatively comfortable . Of course, the roofs were installed with a different straw material, which could be used to weave straw hats and raincoats .
Wooden stakes were impaled around those huts, where either totems or blood-stained animal skulls were hung atop .
The place looked exceptionally barbarous and primitive . Straw ropes were tied above, which were hanging hunted preys being sun or air dried . The rotting carcasses emitted a pungent odour .
The entire style of these residences and the environment were embellished with greyish ambiance, causing it to look particularly repressive .
Sheyan casted a glance at Mogensha . At present, Mogensha’s abilities had once again scaled up . Now, he could utilize his firearm scope to conduct an infrared thermal imaging . In this manner, he could easily discover the traces of enemies .
Mogensha raised his AK as he squinted his eyes to survey around . He then swiftly made a hand gesture – waving an open palm before changing it to three fingers .
“Eight people . ” Sheyan immediately understood Mogensha’s meaning .
He and Reef then stood up from the canoe . This wasn’t the first time they ventured into a high difficulty world . Their experience in the Lord of the Rings world could be described as exceedingly dangerous .
Sheyan reckoned that at the very least, the enemies in the exterior part of this hidden world shouldn’t be able to deal him a threat of instant assassination . Moreover, didn’t they still possess the ridiculous ‘Life-link’ ability?
Meanwhile, to fuel the confidence of the natives, he wanted to express that he wasn’t merely using them as cannon fodder; which was obviously what he planned to do . Therefore, Sheyan decided to first test the water himself with Reef .
Following that, Brother Black then transmitted his probed information to them .
The names given to those aborigines were – [ Ndipaya Outer Tribe Barbarians ] . Their other statistics were all question marks .
Sheyan understood that should be due to the suppression of the world’s difficulty . Back in the Lord of the Rings world, the same aspect had occurred . Hence, he wasn’t very startled .
A muffled gunshot resounded in a flash .
While peeing in the middle of the night, a Ndipaya barbarian with groggy eyes was staggering through his house corridor . Because he was just about to pee on Sheyan’s head, their plan was compelled to be activated in advance .
Just when that Ndipaya barbarian noticed the stealthy invaders and was about to release an astonishing rally cry, a malicious bullet pierced into his mouth .
Instantly after, Sheyan leaped up with his deep-blue shimmering blade ray slashing straight against his throat, drawing an instant streak of melancholic blood! Instead, Sheyan could feel an endurance from the Ndipaya barbarian’s skin, contrasting that of normal humans . Otherwise, his blade would’ve effortlessly beheaded the Ndipaya barbarian!
As the barbarian was about to roll away to escape, Reef abruptly rushed forth from nowhere .
This was the first time Sheyan was witnessing the newly improved Growth-hunter Reef in action . As he slammed his shield into the Ndipaya barbarian, that barbarian was instantly knocked rolling to the ground with his throat still gurgling helplessly; probably sinking into a stunned state .
Sheyan then tore forward as he viciously slashed twice, chopping until his body was soaked in blood . When the Ndipaya barbarian regained his balance and scrambled up, his life was already in imminent crisis .
After another stomp by Sheyan, he was sent flying before slamming against a rear wooden partition and falling into the water . After adding in some silenced shots, large clumps of blood came boiling up the water . Instantly, the trio received a notification .
[ You killed a Ndipaya Barbarian ]
[ Do you wish to initiate the milestone: Invader (Slay 10 Ndipaya Barbarians)? ]
[ Warning: If you are unable to accomplish this milestone during your period of stay, the penalty will be randomly erasing any milestone/title you have already acquired ]
Without hesitation, Sheyan selected to accept . Just cleaning out this tiny village would equate to 8 Ndipaya barbarians . Adding a little more, and he would reach ten .
With the recent interaction, he realized that these Outer Ndipaya Barbarians didn’t possess powerful battle capabilities . Instead, according to the information obtained from Little Lord Fokke and some inference, he knew they could probably unleash something else – a troublesome curse or a disease .
Startled by the ruckus of their tribesman’s murder, the other Ndipaya barbarians bawled in succession . Their yells were incredibly distinct, filled with repetitive and unceasing muffled ‘wo wo wo wo’ .
They wielded simple wooden shields and pikes as they pressed towards the invaders . Fortunately, the corridors of these huts were incredibly narrow, preventing them from swarming in for a gang bang .
Dried torches were smeared with animal fats at the tip, supplying adequate illumination as well as waves of a repulsive charred stench . Even if they were dropped into the water, they could still be used if they were picked up quickly .
Borrowing the fiery incandescent light of flickering torches, the trio realized the Ndipaya barbarians had a pair of strange red eyes . Their twin canine tooths were slightly protruding, and what was more horrifying, were the solid soybean sized warts contaminating their skin . Those were signs of their sweat glands experiencing a mutated evolution . Those sweat glands could secrete out their bodily fluids and odour, to prevent them from contracting deadly pestilences, as well as repelling a portion of marsh creatures and blood-seeking leeches .
After crossing arms with them, the trio discovered that though the Ndipaya barbarian’s wooden shields appeared simple and crude, their durability was supremely upscaled; probably due to a certain colloid matter being smeared on its surfaces .
Even Brother Black’s bullets couldn’t penetrate those shields . Even after unloading a shuttle of chained bullets, he realized that his bullets merely appeared like chrysalis embedded deep into their wooden shields .
Upon closer clashes, Sheyan realized the colloid substances smeared were dry and appeared with mildly green and red vestiges . It was as though a certain algae species was ground before bring blended with blood paste, and left to dry in the sun . That should be the reason those wooden shields were so tough and mysterious .
Fortunately, Reef’s ‘Shattering Cardiac Roar’ exhibited its immense effectiveness here . With a furious roar, even Sheyan felt a feeling of instability stirring within him, while the rooftop straws were bluntly blown away .
Instantaneously, the nearby Ndipaya barbarians stumbled unevenly as the speed decline effect became impressively distinct . Moreover, the damage dealt was also astonishing .
In this instance, Sheyan could fathom how formidable a Growth-hunter was!
Although Sheyan had battled a Growth-hunter before, he hadn’t personally witnessed an ordinary contestant maturing into one . Hence, he couldn’t make a comparison previously .
Right now, he could feel that every movement made by Reef had truly undergone a qualitative change . Probably also due to Reef’s constant accumulation of strength and improvement, but it also revealed the extravagance of a Growth-hunter promotion; how terrifying was this!
All of a sudden, Sheyan was scraped by a Ndipaya’s pike, causing him to stagger backward . Although this attack didn’t break through his defense, the nightmare imprint still transmitted a warning .
[ You are infected with the disease: Mild Hemorrhage Fever ]
[ Your body temperature soars to 39 degrees . Your organs and conjunctiva have started bleeding . Mauve spotted pimples will erupt at your torso and shoulder regions ]
[ All attributes drops by 5 . 5% (Factored in weakening from defense and innate ability ‘Stronghold’) . During combat state, all attributes will additionally decline by 1% in every 15 seconds, for a maximum of 15% decrease of all attributes . Only by maintaining 38 minutes (Factored in weakening from defense and innate ability ‘Stronghold’) of non-combat state, will your immune system eliminate this disease ]
“Indeed, it’s here . ” Sheyan immediately felt a headache .
These Ndipaya barbarians were evidently exceedingly adept at dealing with long-range assaults, where their dull brown decorative wooden shields could effortlessly block away incoming fiery bullets . Nevertheless, their strength wasn’t high and striking away their shields in battle wouldn’t be that tough . Following that, long-range combatants could then seize those opportunities to teach the Ndipaya barbarians a lesson .
Yet the problem lied in this – to engage in close combat with numerous Ndipaya barbarians, it was impossible to not receive damage from them . This alone provided a huge chance of contracting disease!
After slaying 5 Ndipaya barbarians, Sheyan was on the verge of vomiting blood from this repulsiveness . He had once again contracted another disease!
[ You are infected with the disease: Dengue ]
[ Your body temperature continues to heat up . Your brain becomes dizzy, while your livers swell and your bones ache ]
[ Your accuracy drops by 31 . 7% (Factored in resistance from defense and innate ability ‘Stronghold’) . During combat state, your accuracy will additionally decline by 1% in every 15 seconds . Only by maintaining 38 minutes (Factored in resistance from defense and innate ability ‘Stronghold’) of a non-combat state, will your immune system eliminate this disease ]
Although the battle capabilities of these Ndipaya barbarians weren’t dynamic, contracting diseases from them during battle would indeed cause one to feel speechless… . . all attributes plunging, missing 1 strike within 3 .
Moreover, these barbarian sluts were incredibly enduring! This was something both Sheyan and Reef could sorely feel as they fought shoulder to shoulder . Furthermore, these were merely the most ordinary opponents of their preliminary entry to this world!! They hadn’t even encountered wretched boss tier barbarians!
After an excruciatingly drawn-out battle, when those eight Ndipaya barbarians were finally exterminated, Sheyan and Reef both slumped to the ground .
Then leaned against the wooden railings as they panted heavily . Even Brother Black was flicking his hands and lamenting aloud .
“Boss, for the sake of gunning down those barbarians, I practically wasted ammunitions that can annihilate an entire reinforced company!”
But when Mogensha noticed the pandemic effects plaguing Sheyan and Reef, he could only obediently shut his mouth .
After this one battle, without a doubt, these Outer Tribe Ndipaya Barbarians had given the trio an impression of troublesome, mystifying, diabolical and incredibly durable .
Fortunately, after this battle concluded, their bravery had successfully moved the hearts of those recruited native aborigines . They started to worship the trio with devotion and proactively began collecting the battle spoils .
One had to acknowledge that though the risk of this hidden world was immense, its rewards were relatively aplenty . Of the eight Ndipaya tribesmen, four of them dropped keys . After activating the keys, the battle loots were as following:
They acquired a total of 5,300 utility points .
[ Golden Sand: Valuable object ]
[ Description: A simple woven sack filled with golden sand ]
[ Value: You can retain it as a souvenir, or exchange it for 3,000 utility points ]
[ Scarlet Salvia]
[ Type: Herb medicine ]
[ Description: This is a vegetation grown in the wetlands . Growing amidst such vile and nasty conditions, it possesses resistive capabilities towards vile environments ]
[ Usage: After consuming a ‘Scarlet Salvia’ herb medicine, you can instantly recover 5% HP and expel a single disease on your body ]
[ Details: When this herb medicine withers, its medicinal effects will disappear . It is best consumed within 48 hours ]
[ Details: Perhaps you can follow a fixed prescription to concoct a more potent medicine . Of course, that is if you can acquire other herb medicines ]
Even though this was the wetlands, Sheyan still attempted to employ his ‘Pirate Captain’ plundering ability to ransack the corpses of these Ndipaya barbarians .
In the end, he acquired three ‘Evil Moss Shield’, of which he handed over to his native underlings . He also acquired two ‘Declay Pikes’ .
At this moment, some of those native underlings sprinted before Sheyan and waved their arms, while concurrently spewing incessant chants of ‘wuliwali’ before falling to the ground in tears .
Sheyan perceived that these natives probably discovered something, and followed them towards the largest stilt hut .
Ash grey pots crafted with crude handiwork filled the interior . They were all at least 1 . 4 metres tall and had openings that could fit a native’s neck . These pots were arranged along both sides of this hut, looking as though they were safeguarding a stone altar in the middle .
Large chunks of bacon were placed on this stone altar . Actually on close inspection, those were actually human limbs . These limbs were strangely bound by black strings . These strings were initially moss green but were dyed black by blood . The natives then said that this was rumoured to be a culinary technique, one that could entrap the enemy’s soul within its corpse; preventing the corpse from easily rotting and enhancing its flavour . Of course, those strings were easy carved out by the natives, and carelessly flung to the ground .
As for some natives, they were currently weeping over the limbs that were used as food; thinking that these were their kin who had been unfortunately captured long ago, and now used as ham .
Instead, Sheyan’s eyes were fixated onto a chest in the middle of this hut .
This was a mediocre looking chest, nailed together by wooden slabs .
As it turns out, minute gold fragments, diamonds and other precious gems were embedded on its surface; making it appear somewhat out of place . One of the native then straightforwardly ran over, carried the chest over, and rocked it . However, he couldn’t open it and could only spread out his arms to express his helplessness .
Sheyan then retrieved it and noticed a large keyhole on this chest . Obviously, it was an extremely simple and crude keyhole .
Brother Black then located a random wooden twig, and toyed with the chest until it finally opened; revealing that the Ndipaya barbarians weren’t advanced in the area of anti-theft .
After opening it, they discovered a large sack of ‘Golden Sand’, which could be sold for 10,000 utility points .
There was another exceptionally queer stone slab inside the chest .
The stone slab’s material quality was roughly between metal and rock, and had an extremely sleek surface; as though it had been smoothed out several times . It was probably an item that had been safekept for generations, and after picking up the stone slab, the trio simultaneously received a notification .
[ You have acquired a ‘Broken Passage Seal (1/4)’ . Only by piecing together the whole Passage seal, will one receive the qualifications to enter the Ndipaya Tribe’s Inner Reaches ]
Without a doubt, this stone slab was a vital mission object .
Upon acquiring this object, the trio immediately felt this trip wasn’t in vain . After further careful inspections and affirming they hadn’t overlooked anything, they decided to leave .
Afterwards, they realized the hired natives had each carved off the right thumb of those Ndipaya tribesmen, before crafting them into necklaces where they hung across their necks . They believed the enemy’s strength could be trapped in these accessories .
Before boarding the canoes, Mbenga suddenly sprinted over while hollering ‘wulawula’ loudly .
He then signaled Sheyan while hoisting up a wooden stake and racing back to that larger hut . Then, he smashed those massive potteries within and waited momentarily .
Soon after, a sonorous buzzing sound filled the air as hordes of mosquitoes and flies flocked in . Originally when building these huts, the Ndipaya tribesmen had adopted herbal means to concoct herbs that could repel mosquitoes and insects . Yet unknown why, a large cluster of mosquitoes and flies had suddenly been beckoned over .
Observing the commotion, Sheyan abruptly uttered .
“Those massive potteries must be storing power substances that can attract insects, smashing it would naturally allow the smell to fumigate out . But strange, what is Mbenga trying to do?”
After hovering around for a brief while, the mosquitoes and flies didn’t attempt to draw blood from the humans . Instead, they gradually congregated into a queer shape that was analogous to an arrowhead .
Mbenga immediately laughed and sprinted towards the direction pointed by that buzzing arrowhead .
After a series of ferocious probing, he managed to excavate a brilliantly shining object, where he offered to Sheyan with both hands .
Sheyan received it and examined carefully . Instantly, he realized it was a meticulously sculpted beetle; roughly the size of a fist, it was imitated to perfection . It seemed as though each feeler was still faintly trembling, while its surface was coated with a moist corrugation of silver; looking exceedingly delicate .
After toying with it a little, Sheyan received a notification .
[ You acquired a special valuable object of this world: Silver Beetle ]
[ Silver Beetle ]
[ Special valuable object that will only appear in the hidden world: ‘Resident Evil, Origins’ ]
[ Description: This is an Archaeozoic beetle that only resided in a single region even in ancient times . It is long extinct . Buried underground for millions of years, it finally formed into an amber-like crystal . An item of exceptional value ]
[ Value: You can retain it as a souvenir, or exchange it for 20,000 utility points, or 1 achievement point ]
Brother Black and Reef both observed it while clicking their tongues in wonder . Sheyan also finally perceived the principle behind those mosquitoes and flies automatically forming into a direction icon .
Though those insects were enticed in, they would still inevitably be affected by the repellant herbs the Ndipaya tribesmen had installed . Feeling irritated while not bearing to ignore the fragrant allurement produced by the smashed potteries, they would definitely seek out an area with the mildest effect of those herb repellants . Akin to humans encountering a fire, where they would no doubt run towards places without fire .
When the Ndipaya tribesmen had smeared those repellant herbs, they had purposefully left out an arrowhead shape region . Naturally, those enticed bugs would swarm towards that region and form into an arrowhead .
Though this string of cause and effects sounded pretty simple, it was nevertheless a genius move in retrospect . Without knowing out to trigger the relevant mechanism, it would be arduous to uncover this .
Hence, Sheyan began feeling that this was indeed a case of getting what you paid for . The large sum squandered on Mbenga was not without logic . Not only was he an excellent guide, probably his other ability was to discover such purposefully hidden treasures . Henceforth, Sheyan vowed to shower him with more protection .
Without the trio urging, Mbenga himself started touring around the place . Only when he shook his head with disappointment did he hop back into his canoe .
After obtaining the mysterious stone slab, the ‘Passage Seal (1/4)’, they planned to raid another village assembly while the iron was still hot . Because once news of a tiny village being butchered gets out, the opposing parties would heighten their vigilance; setting up traps and tasking sentinels . The difficulty of assaulting would then be raised by 50% .
Brother Black and Reef obviously advocated this method as well . As for the hired natives, their morals were flourishing immeasurably after not having to make a single move . Naturally, they clamorously yelled in agreement .
Hence, after massacring this village but not burning it, they continued advancing towards the next mini village .
After slaying those eight Ndipaya barbarians, Mbenga became noticeably elated and started willingly conversing with the trio .
After a chat, they realized he actually harbored a deep hatred for the Ndipaya tribe . Yet upon asking why, his head spasm aggressively, the scar on his forehead swelled redly and ached terribly . Thus, they reckoned that back when he followed his old Chieftain in, he probably received a severe trauma and experienced selective memory loss to such matters .
At present, Sheyan could roughly figure out Mbenga’s condition . This guy probably belonged in the same category as goblins, being cow milkers that wouldn’t be influenced by charm or others . The only thing that affected his attitude, was to carry out slaughters of these Ndipaya barbarians . The more Ndipaya tribesmen slaughtered, the greater his favourable impression towards them was and subsequently the effort he would put .
After leaving this village, Mbenga then pointed a specific direction to the trio . Yet after rowing for 200 metres, his earlier bloodrush caused him to experience a searing headache . Hugging his head in bitterness, his forehead scar swelled with redness once again . This time, it even dripped out blood, causing the onlookers to feel rather worried .
After drinking down gulps of rum from Sheyan, Mbenga finally regained some vigor as he panted heavily . Then, he instructed the canoes to detour towards the west .
At present, the night was far spent . Though the place still enshrouded with dim mist, the most active croaking of toads in this marshland gradually extinguished .
The surroundings became additionally tranquil, and only the swooshing sounds of rowing water by the carelessly crafted wooden paddlers could be heard .
After that victory, the natives under Sheyan were thriving with morale . They would occasionally brandish their pikes and weapons to celebrate .
All of a sudden, lines of embers surfaced from afar . Though weak, those embers continued burning within Sheyan’s retina, causing him to quiver . Sheyan immediately raised his hand, as everyone ceased paddling .
In the silence, Mogensha began scouting out the situation ahead with his ‘SN-9 Wasp’s’ scope . Very quickly, he reported .
Those embers were lit torches that were inserted into railings . Nevertheless, he didn’t see a single night patrol . However, if the Ndipaya tribesmen had the habit of night hunting, then those torches were probably akin to the lighthouses of today – a convenient guide for their venturing tribesmen to return home .
Since that was so, Sheyan contemplated as he scanned the surrounding terrain . Afterwards, he ordered to detour towards the lateral sides of this Ndipaya village . Though this would be a long process, they could maximize the chance of avoiding discovery by the illumination of those torches .
At their current state, the trio had already attained a common understanding – These outer Ndipaya barbarians were still manageable .
However, because of the high chances of contracting diseases while engaging in close combat, it was best to assassinate a few while not being infected by diseases yet . With their optimal state now, they would try their utmost to lessen Mogensha’s burden later on! Minimally, they at least had to hit away those wielded shields .
This Ndipaya village was constructed in the middle of a dry plot of land, that was slightly elevated from the waters of the marsh . This land was narrowly shaped and stretched far into the distance, and thus if the trio wished to detour towards the back of this village, it would be a long and far journey .
Nevertheless, Sheyan reckoned that this would be worth it . Even if he could enhance the success of this sudden raid by 1 percent, he would still do it .
However, after cruising down this sandbank for nearly 1 kilometre, Sheyan suddenly noticed a churning amidst the dark waters to the right of his canoe .
At first, he thought he was seeing things . Yet suddenly, a wave of unexplainable bone piercing danger came sweeping towards him from the right .
Waters splashed out from the right, as the nauseating muddy stench pierced in!
With calamity at his doorstep, Sheyan only managed to force himself to turn slightly .
Instantaneously, a pulse of unstoppable force struck his right arm, as he immediately lost control of his feeling and mobility . With a height of nearly 1 . 8 metres and a weight of 80 kilograms, Sheyan was like a tiny pebble being struck away!
This attack was excessively abrupt and rapid, as Sheyan soared through the mist for 7-8 metres, and landed on a gigantic Blackclay mushroom that only grew in this Kijuju marshland .
These fungi that grew on decaying matter and rot were immensely famous here . When Sheyan landed on the mushroom cap of this gigantic black fungus, he immediately flattened it into a smashed up pulp . His body was bundled in the mushy paste of mushroom and mucus . After a brief while, he finally regained his breath as he coughed violently .
Yet after utterly flattening the mushroom cap and receiving its cushioning, Sheyan rolled off as he struggled while rolling involuntarily for 6 metres within this swamp . One could notice unripened spores pattering down from the remnants of the mushroom cap of this Blackclay mushroom . In a flash, the ground beneath was covered with a thick layer of spores .
When Sheyan finally recovered his senses, his first reaction was to check his right arm, because though it had been initially numbed, it was now transmitting a searing pain!
That was the only feedback from his arm . Sheyan immediately remembered that when entering this world, there was no notification about pain limitation! This meant that whatever pain his nerves felt, it would be 100% reflected back to his brain!
Borrowing the dim lighting, Sheyan could see two 10 cm deep flesh craters on his right arm, as though two sharp daggers had punctured in before forcefully twisting! It was exceedingly gruesome and vicious!
Suddenly, a shadow of incomparable magnitude surfaced from the dark swampy waters . Indeed, this was an ash black armoured giant creature .
Its scales were as large as basins, while its eyes flickered with ghastly green amidst the darkness of night . Its tail meandered with an ‘S’ shape in the water, as it gracefully and tyrannically swam towards Sheyan!
This was a gigantic crocodile!!
A menacingly powerful creature with at least a legendary tier-5 might!
Even Sheyan with his outrageously fortified defence, could scarcely endure a single chomp from this great beast!
Its fangs were shaped like incredibly malicious barbed hooks, where it had ripped out two long chunks of flesh, that previously belonged within the fleshy craters of Sheyan’s arm . One could even glimpse his eerie white bones from that gruesome wound, as blood flooded out turbulently . Once that numbing sensation had diminished, his wound felt as though millions of tiny knives were stabbing it!
Even his upper arm bone had experienced a 5 cm long fracture into minute bone fragments . With every bit of movement, those fragments would scrape against his muscles; subsequently provoking his nerves to transmit immense agony to his brain .
Meanwhile, Mogensha and the rest had started noticing that within the waters surrounding them, pairs of ghastly green eyes were appearing!
They were pressing forward without issuing a sound or aura .
This was the moment the invaders realized, their group had underestimated the difficulty of this world . Their original plan for a surprise raid had unexpectedly collided with a pack of crocodiles in this deadly marsh!
Under such circumstances, Sheyan immediately frantically shouted to his men . “Run!!!!!”
With their current disposition, it was impossible to defy such enemies . They could only flee in disarray, where the crocodiles definitely didn’t possess intelligence to separately hunt them down . More critically, this was the time for those native aborigines to become useful .
Phrasing it shamelessly, the trio didn’t need to flee from the crocodiles’ assaults . They merely needed to sprint faster than those natives .
Nevertheless, Sheyan still had to deal with a single objective right ahead .
Splatter! Splatter! He stomped down onto the muddy ground, as he fixated his pair of merciless and callous eyes towards the incoming giant crocodile who had locked onto him!
Meanwhile, though the present Reef was incredibly valiant, he was simultaneously dealing with three giant crocodiles, where the pressure on him was not inferior to Sheyan at all! Therefore, Sheyan temporarily discarded the notion of converging up .
Breathing deeply, his calves were drowned inside the cumbersome and viscous watery mud . Behind him, was a savage great beast that wanted this life . Nevertheless, he compelled himself to remain composed .
As the insatiable giant crocodile pressed in while camouflaging like a snake within the black muddy waters, Sheyan shut his eyes . Since it was hard for his vision to identify, he attuned his hearing and perceptive sense as a replacement .
Piank! Sheyan hurled out a flask of curse-mix as it shattered, releasing greenish fumes out . However, he immediately received a depressing notification .
[ This Deathmarsh Great Crocodile is immune to some of the effects of your curse-mix ]
Fortunately, when the curse-mix shattered, the movement speed declining effect was still present, which allowed Sheyan to have a sigh of relief .
The great crocodile had already submerged completely into the water . Yet in the next second, a regiment of churning turbid mud bubbled turbulently, as the accumulation of centuries of foul stench came assailing his nostrils first; compelling him to nauseate .
Frowning, Sheyan’s feet remained deeply rooted in the mud as his body moved . Drawing out his saber with a single hand, an oceanic-blue blade ray came whirling out from his waist!
Like a whip, it viciously lashed against the head of the giant crocodile, who had lunged out towards Sheyan’s right .
With this single slash, the crocodile’s attacking impetus was deviated aside, as this savage giant beast unexpectedly smashed back down into the swampy water . A pulse of piercing stench slipped past Sheyan’s side, as his body was soaked by the resultant splash, causing him to lose his balance .
This Deathmarsh Great Crocodile then released a furious and terrifying grunt . Ever since it was born, it had never received such insult!
Except, who was Sheyan? After gaining the upper hand, he immediately seized this opening that the giant crocodile had displayed .
Though his calves were still lodged in mud, he took a deep posture, as his monstrous contestant strength propelled him to leap up from this nasty terrain . Landing atop the crocodile while holding his long saber on his left, he hacked down mightily!
As that Deathmarsh Great Crocodile grunted, large volumes of putrid swamp water were forcibly swallowed into its throat!
Sheyan’s incoming blade then struck the exact spot he had slashed earlier . Kacha! The thick crocodile leather finally split open, as Sheyan’s long saber cleaved into its spinal bone .
Lodged firmly in the crocodile’s solid spine, he only managed to retract his saber after strenuous efforts . Blood gushed out and drenched Sheyan entirely .
Raising his incredibly lethal dark-blue ‘+7 West’ long saber, he proceeded to stab viciously into the giant crocodile’s body! Blood instantly splattered out again!
His blood-thirsty long saber flashed with bewitching blue brilliance, seemingly laughing indulgently amidst this bloodshed .
Right now, Sheyan had mounted this giant crocodile, as he tightly gripped the shaft of his blood-thirsty weapon and pulled it out forcefully again . Repeating the same act, he hacked down once more!
However, Sheyan had committed a huge error in this moment .
To an ordinary mortal, this could be described as a fatal mistake! This was a crocodile, not a tiger, lion, horse or wolf where their backs were their blind spot! When hunting, a crocodile’s most deadly and adept weapon wasn’t their frightening sharp jaws, but their incredibly brutish humongous tail covered with steel-like scales!
Regrettably, though a crocodile had long jaws and razor-sharp teeth, they had thecodont teeth . Though such teeth could rapidly regrow after dropping, it didn’t possess great strength to rip apart prey to chew . Therefore, the capabilities of its long herculean jaws were lessened . Without being able to rip apart prey, it could only chomp down on its prey like pliers or swallow them whole .
Hence, when crocodiles pounced on large land mammals, they wouldn’t be able to munch them to death . Instead, the crocodiles would drag the mammals into the water to drown them . Vice versa, when crocodiles capture larger sea creatures, they would toss them onto dry land to suffocate their prey .
When encountering large prey that they needed to rip apart to swallow, the crocodiles would frequently crunch them within their jaws, and smash them ferociously against rocks or trees; until their prey was decimated into small chunks before devouring them . If that didn’t work, the crocodiles would bluntly leave their prey aside, allowing it to decompose naturally to a suitable size for their avaricious consumption .
Yet once these savage beasts encounter enormous preys, like water buffalos where their jaws would be ineffective, they would silently lay ambush inside the water . Then, with sudden explosiveness, they would ferociously flog the heads of those animals with their brutishly large tails . Apart from possibly stunning their prey, this move would cause their preys to lose balance and topple over . According to statistics, the tail whip of an ordinary crocodile against enemies could reach surpass a speed of a horrifying 180 km/hr!
Moreover, Sheyan was presently squaring off with an invincible tier-5 legendary Deathmarsh Great Crocodile . Its capabilities definitely surmounted ordinary crocodiles by over ten folds! The agony it felt would only fuel the speed of its vicious tail whip, with a might that was simply inconceivable!
Sheyan shivered as he abruptly felt like a 12-grade hurricane was swooping in, a sensation that was utterly impossible to dodge!
As his ‘+7 West’ once again heavily pierced into the bloodied flesh of this giant crocodile, his vision suddenly blanked . Simultaneously, his breathing halted as he lost control of his body!
Then, he realized his body was soaring through the clouds and mists before crashing down .
After soaring for over ten metres, he crashed down like a divine emergency crash landing of a plane; only halting after tumbling for 5-6 metres along the turbid swamp waters .
After regaining his senses, Sheyan utterly disregarded the agonizing pain of a body full of broken . He grasped this golden opportunity and immediately scrambled forward and took flight ahead .
At present, though Sheyan’s condition was exceedingly pathetic, his consciousness was doubly clear . The offense, defense and vitality of that legendary tier-5 Deathmarsh Great Crocodile were inevitably redoubtable . Possibly, its only weakness resided in its predictable agility and movement speed .
Instead, this wetlands terrain was incredibly restrictive towards Sheyan’s movement, while it amplified the Deathmarsh Great Crocodile’s movement . Therefore, this complemented the only shortcoming of this crocodile .
At this moment, Sheyan discovered that after receiving two trifling attacks, his HP had actually fallen beneath 50% . In addition, he had contracted two different type of disease . Right now, his current position was 30-40 metres away from Mogensha’s group, while between them were another 2-3 Deathmarsh Great Crocodiles .
Without a doubt, forcing his way through to group up with them would require him to endure 2-3 times of repeated assaults by those Deathmarsh Great Crocodiles .
Even if he made it through, it would simply be adding the pressure of an additional giant crocodile; what more, an injured and berserk one!
Knowing that to be unwise, Sheyan immediately pulled out ‘Ambition’, and pointed towards the nearest Deathmarsh Great Crocodile before pressing the trigger .
Attempting to shift its attention towards himself, Sheyan activated the inevitable hit property of its ‘Rum & Songs’ ability, and turned to flee without observing the outcome of his shot!
With that one move, Sheyan fulfilled his obligation as the vice MT . Moreover, that Deathmarsh Great Crocodile whose head he repeatedly slashed earlier, would definitely pursue him relentlessly .
Meanwhile, another Deathmarsh Great Crocodile, who was allured by the blood-curdling scream and the stench of blood, was originally planning to spear towards Reef’s group . However, after receiving a bullet in the ass, it instantly roared indignantly . Splashing into the water, it meandered in an ‘S’ shape in tight pursuit of Sheyan .
In this manner, Sheyan single-handedly managed to entice the attention of two Deathmarsh Great Crocodile, thus lowering the pressure on Reef greatly!
Instead, the pressure on Sheyan had amplified . His only consolation was that 16 metres boost from the tail whip earlier, providing him with an additional buffering gap to escape .
Sheyan was undoubtedly relying on the ‘Life-link’ ability . Even if he was chomped into near-death state while fleeing, he could at least withstand for nearly 20 more minutes . Moreover, once he sunk into a near-death state, Reef and Mogensha would definitely come to his rescue .
Though Sheyan was a contestant, competing in terms of speed against these swamp grown, Deathmarsh Great Crocodiles, was definitely not practical . Therefore, he had an initial desperate intent – to drag out time and get rescued after sinking into a near-death state . If worse comes to worst, he would have to activate the ‘Unmodeled Amnio-tank’ to escape .
Yet after running for a couple hundreds of metres, Sheyan unexpected discovered he was pulling open a gap from those giant crocodiles!
Originally, there was a measly gap of over ten metres, but this distance was steadily increasing .
Sheyan was initially baffled by this situation but after turning his head for a careful glance, he understood the underlying reason .
As it turns out, even though his earlier saber slashes didn’t deal harsh damages to the Deathmarsh Great Crocodile, it wounded a few of the crocodile’s arteries . Even though this was a monstrous legendary beast with thick skin, its regeneration speed couldn’t compare with a contestant who utilized healing medicines . Otherwise, it wouldn’t be merely a tier-5 legendary creature, but on Brother Paul’s tier already .
Furthermore, this decaying Kijuju Marshland was filled with multitudes of leeches or other blood-sucking organisms . As blood oozed out from that Deathmarsh Great Crocodile, the assailing reek of blood undoubtedly attracted hordes of such insects to feast .
Thus, in its discomfort, that crocodile emitted agonizing and depressing grunts . Of course, those organisms weren’t fatal to it at all, and would only cause it discomfort; but naturally, in this manner, the crocodile’s pursuing speed was affected .
As for Sheyan, although his arm fracture couldn’t be healed in a short period of time, his medicines and physique composition had already stopped the bleeding . Furthermore, they had already smeared excessive amounts of those insect repellant clay herbs . Although he also suffered the influence of those vile vermins, his state wasn’t as severe as the crocodile .
Meanwhile, the other Deathmarsh Great Crocodile was probably the ‘spouse’ of the injured Deathmarsh Great Crocodile . Hearing the anguished roars of its partner, it surprisingly slowed down to attend to it; employing its tail to pat the partner’s wound incessantly .
By now, Sheyan didn’t know how far he had run, but he didn’t dare to look back as he advanced frantically .
Knowing that crocodiles were creatures that remembered grudges, Sheyan constantly fled without pausing .
Gradually, the colour of the sky brightened .
Soon after, a verdant and lush jungle appeared a distance away . Aware that he had finally reached a bank of this Kijuju Marshland, his heart flushed with delight and waddled speedily towards that direction . Only after stepping onto solid ground, did Sheyan heaved a sigh of relief .
At this moment, even if a flock of crocodiles managed stay hot on his heels, he wouldn’t fear them . Though he couldn’t contend against them, the option of fleeing was still available .
After the sensation of the crisis had passed, Sheyan started to feel the unbearable pain and itch kicking in .
After tumbling and scrambling within the wetlands for 1-2 hours, he had long transformed into a clay monkey . In reality, within such an immeasurably treacherous marsh, without his perceptive sense warning him of possible quagmires, Sheyan wouldn’t have been able to flee until here .
This world was clearly indicated as Resident Evil (Biohazard), hence, the trio knew they would inevitably meet with countless pestilences and virus . Before entering the world, they had already stocked up on clean water inside their party storage . Therefore right now, he blatantly produced several barrels of water for a rinse .
While rinsing himself, Sheyan discovered that though he was coated in herb medicines, there were 7-8 leeches currently pasted onto his upper body . Those leeches swelled like pockets of red ink, dangling from his body .
Excluding those, there were a dozen fingernail-sized black water loaches, embedded deep into his flesh like buttons . It was no wonder his body was feeling both sore and itchy .
These organisms couldn’t be forcibly ripped off, otherwise, these blood-sucking organism would strive to drill further in and frantically secrete vile toxins . More importantly, a forceful extraction may leave the mandibles of these organisms embedded in one’s flesh, making it an exceedingly thorny problem; requiring the use of a knife to carve it out .
Fortunately, Sheyan had seen before how to handle those . By sprinkling salt on the surface of these ginormous leeches, they would rapidly exude out the moisture content from their body; causing the leeches to naturally shrink away in fright, before escaping from their host’s body in fear .
Instead, those black water loaches were protected by a thick carapace, where salt couldn’t penetrate through . A lit cigarette would be needed, its fumes would slowly fumigate until these rapacious vermins could no longer withstand the torture . After enduring till their utmost limits, they would pathetically leave their host’s body .
Of course, Sheyan wouldn’t simply spare them, and directly stomped them to death . Bloody footprints were left in the wake of those stomped areas, where one could distinctly fathom the insatiable nature these brats had for blood . According to scientific research, there would frequently be blood-sucking water loaches that were so famished, when they encountered a host, they would inevitably feast until they die from bloatedness… .
At present, Sheyan felt immensely weak . Looking at his status, he couldn’t help but sigh . As it turns out, he was currently infected with 4 different diseases .
Malaria, low fever, septicaemia and anthrax .
The malaria virus would cause him to experience shiver during battles in irregular intervals, where a sudden high fever would cause him to fall in a 2 seconds dizziness stunned state… . .
The low fever virus would cause his body temperature to scale during battles, leading to accuracy dropping by 20% .
As for the septicaemia virus, whenever the opponent attacks him during battle, there would be a 33% chance of his defence completely failing… . .
Lastly, the anthrax virus would cause ulcerations and festering boils in his wounds, leading to his strength and agility dipping by 15 points .
Although these 4 diseases were merely a basic type, when accumulating all their negative repercussions, it would cause one’s attributes and battle reins to weaken to an incredibly disastrous state .
Right now, Sheyan had to be inflicted for 3 hours without going into combat state, for those virus effects to fade away .
The sun gradually rose . During this period, Sheyan wasn’t able to contact Reef and the others, but he only knew that they hadn’t perished . After retiring into the jungle, he selected and climbed a towering tree before taking a rest .
When he awoke, his diseases had all vanished . Immediately, he could feel his body becoming light and carefree .
Presently, it was nearing noontime . Sheyan didn’t dare to rashly enter the marsh, but could only go along this marsh bank to search for clues .
After trekking and smelling the fumigating marsh stench for nearly an hour, Sheyan was feeling somewhat dizzy .
All of a sudden, he noticed a flock of raven-like creatures gathering by the marsh bank ahead . When they sensed him approaching, the birds dispersed in confusion .
While he was still far away, Sheyan could already smell an unexplainable pungence . Upon close inspection, he realized it was shockingly, a semi-dismembered rotting corpse .
Dozens of plump black flies were buzzing and hovering about, before attempting to land on the decomposing corpse, and its ruptured brown eyeball . However, Sheyan soon waved them away, as he silently examined the corpse .
The nasty stench of the rotten corpse had seemingly no effect on him . Eventually, he affirmed that this corpse didn’t belong to one of his subordinates . Furthermore, his cause of death was probably due to 2 or 3 pikes jabbing into his vital regions .
Sheyan proceeded to flip over this filthy and decomposing thing, an action that led to innumerable fleshy white maggots and mungbean sized black beetles, to flood out in panic before his eyes . Simultaneously, rotten chunks of brownish red flesh and fragments of ghastly white bones sludged out as well .
This scene allowed Sheyan to deduce that before this unlucky brat had died, or perhaps within an hour before he died, all his limbs had been chopped off and taken away .
This caused Sheyan to remember a barbaric hunting behaviour . When returning from a rewarding journey, hunters would forsake the less fleshy torso that was hard to carry and opt to carry the meaty and delicious limbs .
Therefore, there should be a Ndipaya village nearby, or at least, their hunting scope encompassed this portion . Sheyan then heightened his vigilance, as he advanced along this marsh bank .
Suddenly, a flustered and exasperated cry of distress pierced the air!
This bitter cry… . . was one that Sheyan could distinctly remember .
It was none other than the important guide, Mbenga!
Sheyan’s heart was instantly stirred as he took flight towards the source of that bitter cry .
After sprinting for 200 metres, he immediately discovered a single Ndipaya barbarian currently pressing a pike towards the fallen Mbenga .
This Ndipaya appeared different from the others Sheyan encountered earlier . Even under the scorching noon, he wore a large wooden mask that was roughly a metre tall, where it tightly covered his head . On it, a dense mass of fresh green and gaudy red lines were painted with oil paint and blood . Under the shining bright sun, it appeared with enhanced and queer malevolence .
Beneath his wooden mask, only his embarrassing crotch was wrapped in a straw skirt . His skin tone wasn’t the African suntanned black similar to Mogensha but was instead grey .
He was wielding a pike with a pointed black tip and released an impression of profound danger .
Fixated on Mbenga, that masked Ndipaya barbarian raised his pike to thrust down .
All of a sudden, the scar on Mbenga’s forehead swelled redly as he frenetically howled out several gibberish words .
In the next second, that Ndypaya barbarian turned sluggish; which was probably Mbenga’s ability that involved stunning with furious verbal beratement .
Seizing this opportunity, Sheyan bent his back and speared forth by activating ‘Horn Rage’ . Within a split second, he collided into that barbarian and knocked him into a stunned state .
Without hesitating, Sheyan raised his saber and hacked down onto the barbarian’s pike-wielding arm!
Noticing that the Ndipaya barbarian’s mask was crafted with wood superior to the wooden shields he seized the last night, Sheyan reckoned its defence was exceedingly outrageous . Hence, he wisely avoided aiming for those deadly vital spots .
Blood flashed out, as Sheyan immediately hurled out a flask of curse-mix after his saber slash . As mossy greenish fumes fogged out, that masked Ndipaya barbarian’s retaliating action was instantly disrupted by the stunning effect of the curse-mix .
Continuing with jolting momentum, Sheyan twisted to the side and slashed down heftily once again .
After having his exposed right arm hacked twice, a mutilated wound could now be seen . Still, the Ndipaya barbarian remained extremely obstinate and untamed; bawling freakishly as he jabbed his pike in .
Nevertheless, by now, Sheyan had already pulled out his lethal black grade weapon – ‘Ambition’ !!
Even though Sheyan’s right arm hadn’t recovered fully and was unable to chop with his ‘+7 West’ freely, opening fire wasn’t a problem! Nevertheless, that mask was expectedly queer, and Sheyan’s ‘Rum & Songs’ shot only managed to shave off 20 HP!
Fortunately, the stunning effect wasn’t discounted, which allowed Sheyan to maliciously unleash another two slashes .
Eventually, the pike-wielding arm of the Ndipaya barbarian succumbed; as bones split and blood scattered, the Ndipayan Barbarian looked as though he could no longer attack with it .
Presently, Sheyan was truly afraid of the innumerable layering of those native pestilences . Thus, Sheyan had resolved to refrain from giving the opponent any chance to attack himself, aiming straight to cripple the Ndipaya barbarian’s master hand from the very first attack .
Observing this masked Ndipaya barbarian swapping his pike to the other hand, Sheyan stomped in without hesitation as he dove into the barbarian’s embrace .
In this manner, though Sheyan’s ‘+7 West’ couldn’t be utilized effectively, the Ndipaya barbarian’s pike would similarly lose its killing threat . In the face of a close proximity brawling . Sheyan believed he would definitely hold the utmost advantage against a single-armed and heavily wounded brat .
After losing his pike that could slice out open wounds, the epidemic infection capability of that Ndipaya barbarian was indeed substantially reduced, thereby allowing Sheyan to relax as he delivered in agonizing fists .
During this close combat brawl, Sheyan didn’t concern himself with any sort of martial ethics but frequently hurled items like his curse-mix at the opponent .
Once ‘Ambition’s’ cooldown was over, he bluntly pasted the musket against the enemy’s chest and opened fire, before following up with unbridled smashing knees and elbows towards the enemy’s head .
Though this masked Ndipaya barbarian’s attributes were immensely high, it wasn’t at such a perverse state that could completely suppress Sheyan . Without being able to employ his weapon nor offensive abilities during this brawling, the Ndipaya barbarian’s offensive might dwindled greatly . Moreover, without his weapon to transmit virus pestilences to Sheyan, in addition to Sheyan’s impregnable innate ‘Stronghold’ protection, the Ndipaya barbarian naturally suffered a massive setback .
After few minutes of chaotic brawling, that masked Ndipaya barbarian felt something was amiss, and attempted to flee while scrambling away with a bloodied face .
Instead, Sheyan hugged the barbarian’s legs, sending him crashing to the ground as the barbarian wrestled violently to escape Sheyan’s grasp .
Meanwhile, Mbenga had finally recovered his breath and after identifying Sheyan, he hastily rushed over to assist . After limping over, Mbenga hoisted up a large rock and smashed it ferociously onto the masked barbarian!
Under their combined assaults, that Ndipaya barbarian eventually appeared on the verge of being slain . However, in this instance, his mask suddenly cracked and exploded, unleashing an incorporeal shockwave that repelled Sheyan, sending him tumbling several rounds away .
A wrinkled aged-old face was revealed, and resting on the Ndipaya barbarian’s head, was surprisingly a recklessly bundled feather crest .
After executing a backwards roll, that Ndipaya barbarian remained half-knelt over the ground . Instantly, Sheyan could sense an unexplainable wave of threat, as though he was facing an inflated and upright rattlesnake!
Suddenly shutting his eyes, the grizzled white hair of that Ndipaya barbarian fluttered uprightly in the air even without a blowing wind; wriggling and twirling upwards like millions of slim organisms . Only a person who frequently perspired but hadn’t washed his head for a long period,could create the current gasping peculiarity that Sheyan was beholding .
Suddenly, the Ndipaya barbarian’s left hand curled into a cylinder shape, as he pressed it against his mouth…… . . before he blew out a dart!
Caught off guard, Sheyan instantly darted towards the side . Still, it was too late .
However, at this moment, Mbenga abruptly yelled sonorously as he stooped his body like a rugby player and slammed against Sheyan viciously, thus allowing Sheyan to escape the crisis .
A huge tree stood two metres behind where Sheyan was previously . Yet right now, there were two thin ash-grey threads lodged into this huge tree, squirming as they bore deeper into the tree .
Sheyan then witnessed the broad leaves of this tree withering and decaying, before dawning a lustre of lifelessness . It was as though a drought had manifested, causing the entire tree to permeate out a deathly aura!
The two thin threads were actually abominable parasites, and one could only imagine how deadly they would be when drilling into a human’s body; pestering one with arduous stubbornness as they lodged themselves into human bones!
After blowing out the two vermin darts, that Ndipaya barbarian remained sluggishly immobile where he was; as though those two vermin darts had exhausted all his vigour .
Sheyan immediately lunged forward and hacked down ferociously with his saber, ultimately finishing the barbarian off without a hitch .
After slaying the barbarian, Sheyan received a notification .
[ You killed a Ndipaya Elder: Jgubu ]
[ Choose from the following rewards: ]
[ A: Receive 1 Achievement point ]
[ B: Receive a dropped key ]
[ C: Receive 3 potential points ]
[ D: Receive some immunity possessed by the natives living in this tremendous marshland – A very high chance of weakening the effects/duration of ordinary type plaguing viruses by 10% and may weaken various effects of stronger type viruses . This immunity will cease upon leaving this world . This immunity effect can be stacked with other similar effects ]
Sheyan then paused for a brief while . At current, his defence could weaken the duration of negative buffs by 50%, and his personal ‘Stronghold’ innate ability to further weaken by any 25%! If he contracted a virus that could last for 200 minutes, it would only sustain for 75 minutes in his body . With the addition of reward D, he could further reduce it to 67 . 5 minutes!
Thus, Sheyan deliberated for a slight while before selecting option D .
After slaying the Ndipaya elder, Jgubu, Sheyan realized Mbenga now treated him with added favorability .
He even started to laugh before… . bluntly slumping to the ground unconsciously, before convulsing incessantly as he started regurgitating vomit from his mouth .
Shocked by this sight, Sheyan hurriedly rushed over to examine him .
He then discovered a devastatingly gruesome wound had been carved out across Mbenga’s calf . The wound was deteriorating with great severity . Furthermore, his calf was bundled with a tree branch that served as a simple supporting splint, and dried crusted clay adhered alongside this gruesome wound .
After rinsing Mbenga’s wound with water, Sheyan immediately realized Mbenga’s calf had swelled till it was shining . The size of his calf was identical to his thigh, where its surface was coloured in a prune shade and filled with rhythmic lumps of oozing yellow pus .
This was an exceedingly clear sign of the wound festering before a pungent stench would be exuded alongside oozing yellowish pus . Then, the patient would suffer from a high fever, before turning dizzy and rambling gibberish in pain, leading to the eventual outcome of death .
A golden coloured fly caught a whiff of the wound’s rotting odour, as it buzzed around the periphery of Mbenga’s gruesome wound .
Sheyan sampled medicines from the nightmare realm, but none were effective on Mbenga . As such, he could only pull out a first aid kit and commence an ‘operation’ himself . He first utilized rum to rinse the wound, before using an incisive knife to scrape away the rotting flesh; carving out the blackened decaying portions . When Mbenga’s flowing blood finally turned fresh red, Sheyan then rinsed his wound with rum again and finally bandaged it .
Despite his ‘operation’ on Mbenga, Sheyan realized his sickly condition hadn’t changed for the better . On the contrary, it spiralled down into a high fever .
All of a sudden, Sheyan’s mind was stirred . He then hastily inspected Mbenga’s body and to his surprise, he discovered an inflamed tumour on Mbenga’s collarbone . This tumour was glossy and translucent, and one could even faintly discern squirming worms swimming within that glossy tumour . Those worms resembled mini-snakes and were covered with dishevelled strands of hair; appearing incredulously weird .
“Could it be that when Mbenga knocked me away, he was struck by a parasitic dart of that old thing?” Such a notion subconsciously surfaced in Sheyan’s mind .
Although there was nothing Sheyan could do about that, he had to save him, because he understood that if he didn’t save Mbenga, Mbenga would definitely die . Only by trying, would there still be a sliver of hope for Mbenga to survive .
Hence, after disinfecting his knife with alcohol, he cut open the tumour . Instantly, he could see those strands of worms rapaciously drilling deep into Mbenga’s flesh!
With speedy hands, Sheyan steadily carved his ‘operating’ knife towards the bottom-most layer of the tumour, before cleaving out a huge chunk of flesh . A good amount of those hair-like worms were carved out as well .
After flinging those worms to the ground, they bounced around frantically like prawns that had just left the water . In spite of that, more worms had already bored deep into Mbenga’s flesh and had vanished without a trace .
Sheyan appeared to have overestimated himself with his medical treatment, as Mbenga continued to groan with immeasurable agony . His facial muscles were all warped as he rolled around the floor intensely, before stretching his hand towards his back .
Instantly, Sheyan realized there was an elongated canteen crafted from a hollow tree trunk strapped behind his back .
Helpless in the face of this crisis, Sheyan hastily unstrapped and handed over the canteen to Mbenga . Meanwhile, Mbenga’s reddened face scar continued to swell with utmost woefulness, as he proceeded to gulp down the liquid contents of the canteen ferociously .
Within a split second, Mbenga’s struggling body was abruptly repressed, allowing him to sprint towards the nearby swampy water . Without caring for hygiene, he splashed knee deep into the swamp before ravenously searching out for eccentric organisms and stuffed them into his mouth .
Those eccentric organisms comprised of many creatures – water treading spiders, leeches, water loaches, black fleas and all sorts of reeds with black muddy roots… .
Unexpectedly, Mbenga’s mobility gradually turned increasingly nimble and deft as he devoured these grotesque organisms .
After Mbenga’s health was roughly rejuvenated, Sheyan finally heaved a sigh of relief . If his guide were to perish here, it would truly be a great inconvenience .
After his excessive consumption, Mbenga blatantly squatted and defecated before proceeding to slump down lifelessly onto the ground .
Sheyan hurriedly rushed over and observed the foul smelling, bloodstained and viscous slender excretions . Sheyan then dragged Mbenga away and rinsed him with fresh water .
After some pondering, Sheyan retrieved his ‘Endless Spirited Vodka’ and poured several mouthfuls into Mbenga’s mouth . Sheyan had learned from his experience that Soul Equipments were probably categorized between contestant’s items and unique storyline items . Thus, both contestants and storyline characters could utilize it .
As expected, after a mouth of alcoholic stimulation, Mbenga spontaneously seized that wine cup; drinking till it was empty before shaking his head with regret . After detoxification, Mbenga stood up as he limped forward with fatigue .
Sheyan quickly pared off a makeshift crutch from a nearby tree, which managed to barely assist Mbenga to continue advancing .
At present, Sheyan finally had the spare time to listen to Mbenga’s narration, about the events after they had split up .
As it turns out, after they were assaulted by those great crocodiles, the group of them managed to maintain a fighting state of equilibrium thanks to Sheyan luring away two other great crocodiles . Moreover, if that state of battle persisted on, they would even have the chance to slaughter the rest of the Deathmarsh Great Crocodiles .
Listening till here, Sheyan couldn’t help but become amazed at the formidability of Reef . After he had become a Growth-hunter, Sheyan had always felt his battle capabilities were like the dark abyss; unfathomably bottomless and utterly indiscernible .
At his current state, Sheyan reckoned that he could only hold his ground against a single Deathmarsh Great Crocodile, for at most half an hour . In contrast, Reef could tank unyieldingly against 3 Deathmarsh Great Crocodile, and even possessed the ability to triumph over them .
Such terrifying strength was intrinsically related to his equipments, yet much more, it was due to Reef’s outstanding foundation . Only upgrading to an official Growth-hunter after stalling till the most despairing of situations, Reef had attained immense benefits along the way .
In spite of that, events didn’t transpire according to their expectations .
Just when the situation was slowly shifting to their advantage, the clamours of battle with the gigantic crocodiles had alarmed the barbarians of the nearby Ndipaya Tribe village .
Seizing this glorious opportunity, those Ndipaya barbarians mounted a sneak attack from the rear, throwing the entire aspect into disarray .
In the end, more than half of the hired aborigines were massacred, while the others had dispersed .
The only solace was that those Ndipaya barbarians couldn’t coexist in harmony with those Deathmarsh Great Crocodiles as well . Probably losing their sense of measure upon the delight of their sneaky skirmish, they similarly suffered the wrath of those savage beasts .
Amidst the three-sided chaotic battle, the brave Mbenga was unluckily locked on by one of the Great Crocodile . As such, he and that masked old barbarian experienced a sequence of pursuit and escaping, before fleeing till this very spot .
Fortunately, Sheyan had arrived to rescue him . Nevertheless, the rest of the natives were still scattered and being pursued .
Knowing that Mbenga was familiar with the terrain, Sheyan allowed him to take the lead; heading towards several possible locations in search of their fleeing comrades .
Eventually, after visiting 2-3 areas, they noticed speckles of blood stains from afar . Apart from that, there were puddles of basin sized chartreuse coloured trails . Surrounding those puddles were carapace shells that spurted out minute shots of mucus .
Upon seeing those trails, Sheyan’s heart was stirred as he immediately hastened along these trails .
Soon after, he finally witnessed Reef raising a dark-golden shield, that was beaming out a scorching radiance, as he blocked the frenzied assault of a Deathmarsh Great Crocodile .
Behind him stood 7 other native aborigines that appeared exhausted . Instead, their morale was skyrocketing, as they repeatedly leapt forward with their bow legs, utilizing their pikes to stab the crocodile while hollering sonorously .
Peculiarly, on an average of every 2-3 attacks that Reef blocked, a distinct colourful flare would beam out quietly from his shield, before piercing into the Great Crocodile’s body . Then, that area where the flare drilled in, would swell into a tumour .
Very quickly, that tumour would rupture, allowing a beetle with solid chitin carapace to emerge .
This beetle was roughly the size of a fist . Its carapace shell flashed with black, green and silvery lustre . Moreover, its crawling speed was miraculously fast!
Those beetles would viciously adhere to the surface of that Great Crocodile, as they incessantly nibbled with their mandibles . After 1-2 minutes, the beetles would self-destruct, dispersing a mist of blood into the air; which would then dissolve into the bodies of Reef and the nearby natives, thereby refuelling some HP .
At present, the right eye of this Deathmarsh Great Crocodile had been blinded and was oozing out turbid pus .
Lodged into that eye, was the feathery tail of a bizarre flying dart . The surface of that dart was shockingly engraved with imprints that resembled vein likes, akin to the greenish veins of a human . Those vein lines with pulsating and throbbing with absorption .
Furthermore, identical vein like imprints had been engraved onto the flying dart purse that was strapped across Reef’s waist . As it turns out, the veins of the flying dart were absorbing the enemy’s vitality, while transferring vitality nourishment back to its owner through the flying dart purse .
These were two of Reef’s most valiant abilities . One was the ‘Birmingham ‘Stuka’ Hand-dart Pocket Sling’, and the other was the ability of the newly acquired dark-gold grade shield – ‘Parasitic Sage-Scarabs’!
Relying on those two excellent abilities, Reef could continue tussling with these Deathmarsh Great Crocodiles . Even though he appeared like a pathetic clay monkey, even having a plumpy black tick pasted on his face, he could ultimately still hold his ground .
Furthermore, the brave and fierce natives around him were supplying auxiliary assaults, employing those wooden pikes that Sheyan had plundered for them earlier on; allowing them to effectively transmit pestilences as well . In addition to the area healing properties of those kamikaze Sage-Scarabs, the native aborigines surged with vigour as they unleashed thrusting torrents .
Yet at this instant, Sheyan could perceive that Reef was approaching imminent danger . It appears that he had already exhausted the party ability ‘Gloryheal’ and his additional honorary medicines . Watching the tottering and fatigue Reef, Sheyan hastily charged forward!
A cold flash of shimmering deep-blue swept in, as he slashed down towards the right hind leg of that Deathmarsh Great Crocodile .
Blood and blade ray launched out of its hind leg instantaneously .
That hind leg of the Deathmarsh Great Crocodile was already riddled with splintered wooden pikes, where the fringe of its wound was already festering with blackness . Even its incomparably enduring crocodile hide was mangled with rotting flesh .
Sheyan’s lethal blade cleaved into an existing wound and immediately sliced through the thick crocodile hide . Blood and thick fluids splashed out, as the exposed eerie white bones of the crocodile were irrigated with blood .
Grunting with matchless agony, that Deathmarsh Great crocodile swept its tail mightily against Sheyan .
Instead, Sheyan was long prepared as he half knelt to the ground to minimize his centre of gravity to the ground! Hoisting up his ‘+7 West’, he braced himself to receive the impact .
Bam! His vision darkened as the gigantic tail of the crocodile smashed in . Nevertheless, he wasn’t sent flying but only staggered several metres backwards with blood trickling from his lips .
Yet that single tail whip had actually triggered Sheyan’s passive ability – ‘Zergling Rush’! An illusion of a zergling materialized behind his back, as Sheyan lifted up his long saber .
Cha! Cha! Cha! Three unhesitating blades cleaved against the wound of this Deathmarsh Great Crocodile .
Not only did those three brutal slashes mutilate the flesh and bones of the crocodile’s hind leg, after Sheyan executed his slashes, he disregarded another impending collision of the crocodile’s tail . Lifting up his leg, Sheyan maliciously stomped down onto a splintered wooden pike lodged in that same area, causing the pike to bluntly stab deeper into the crocodile’s body!
In the next second, the unguarded Sheyan was then whipped flying with immeasurable pain by the crocodile’s gigantic tail!
This was a retaliating blow from the great crocodile . Its might was definitely not tiny . Sheyan was practically smacked flying like a ‘hole in one’ golf ball, as he bluntly crashed into the swamp behind .
Spash! Spash! His inertia carried him tumbling a further 20-30 metres away and directly transformed him into a filthy black clay monkey .
After scrambling back up with, he vomited several mouthfuls of blood .
Yet Sheyan’s series of actions had utterly crippled the right hind leg of this Deathmarsh Great Crocodile . A crocodile’s mobility on land was already slightly impaired, what more one that only had three limbs?
After staggering back up, Sheyan instantly discovered this unfortunate crocodile had unexpectedly lost all rationality in its searing anguish, as it furiously stampeded straight towards himself .
After having been sent flying by a tail whip, Sheyan was experiencing a dizzy spell and had probably fractured a few of his ribs . Fortunately, his legs weren’t injured and he immediately scrambled to flee .
This current location was situated along the border of the Kijuju Marshland and the primitive jungle . After making a huge detour, Sheyan directly fled into the dense jungle . Only after dragging the crocodile 200-300 metres deep into the jungle, did Sheyan jump and climbed up a tree .
With this period of buffer time, Reef managed to ease himself as he panted heavily while sitting on the ground . He then produced necessities like bandages, medicines, food and other miscellaneous stuff .
From Sheyan’s escape, till he climbed up that tree, Reef had earned sufficient regenerating time . His HP was restored from 20% back to roughly 90% .
Watching as Sheyan climbed up the massive tree, that Deathmarsh Great Crocodile remained relentless as it angrily flogged the tree trunk with its tail; looking as if it wouldn’t relent unless the tree topples .
Its actions were indeed to the human’s advantage . This massive tree of the primitive jungle needed 3 or 5 individuals to wrap around it . Even if this beast that was raging with testosterone, no, raging with bloodlusted anger! Even if it had an inexhaustible monstrous strength, it would at least require 20-30 minutes to whip down this tree… When that happened, it would be tough to even prevent the crocodile from dying, after exhausting its strength and bleeding out constantly .
Nevertheless, this gigantic crocodile wasn’t a moron . After smashing its tail against the tree for several bouts, it helplessly glared upwards . Probably having calmed down from its thriving adrenaline, the pain jolting throughout its body became increasingly distinct . Thus, it turned and waddled back towards the swampy waters .
Yet by now, Reef who had successfully healed up, brought along his band of brothers as they silently obstructed the crocodile’s front!
There wasn’t much to narrate proceeding from there . With the addition of Sheyan, Reef could now battle while obtaining valuable seconds of breathing space .
One musn’t belittle that tiny few seconds of breathing space . It was akin to a person being able to hold his breath underwater for at most 10 minutes, but if he was allowed a breathing intervals of 5-6 seconds in the middle, he could even continue this process for the entire day .
With the duo rotating in formation, regardless of how indomitable this tier-5 legendary creature was, it finally released a mournful groan; ultimately meeting its demise while crawling back towards the marsh .
Sheyan and Reef then exchanged glances and unanimously released an exhalation of relief . After a homely chuckle, they simultaneously slumped to the ground .
Those five natives behind Reef then cheered aloud, as they swarmed towards the slain Deathmarsh Great Crocodile; before smearing its blood onto their bodies . Following that, they started lifting their hands in joyous partying .
Witnessing this scene, Sheyan involuntarily sighed while muttering .
“Such a pity . These aborigines weren’t much help, but the grade of our battle spoils would still be negatively affected . ”
Instead, Reef refuted .
“Not true . ”
Speaking till here, his lips subconsciously revealed a cheeky smile .
“These guys have been utterly convinced by my valour . Henceforth, they agreed to serve me . Similar to you and the Dingyuan, their might shall be equated to my might, our loots would definitely maintain the undiluted grade . ”
The mystified Sheyan then asked .
“They became your servants?”
Reef couldn’t repress his conceitedness as he replied .
“That’s right, but my contract with them isn’t comparable to yours and Jinkuang . This contract is like a slave contract . Although they can enjoy the fixed enhancement of my attributes, I wouldn’t receive anything in return . Moreover, they can be revived, but only after returning to the realm and authenticating them . Therefore, we must still do our best to prevent them from dying during battle . ”
Sheyan nodded .
“That goes without saying . ”
At this moment, both of them concurrently received the notifications .
[ You killed the tier-5 legendary creature: Deathmarsh Great Crocodile ]
[ You receive 3,000 utility points ]
[ Choose 1 from the following options as your additional reward ]
[ A: Receive 1 achievement point ]
[ B: Receive a dropped key (This option must be selected by both) ]
[ C: Receive 3 potential points ]
[ D: Receive some immunity possessed by the natives living in this tremendous marshland – A very high chance of weakening the effects/duration of ordinary type plaguing viruses by 10% and may weaken various effects of stronger type viruses . This immunity will cease upon leaving this world . This immunity effect can be stacked with other similar effects ]
Without further discussions, Sheyan and Reef glanced at each other and directly opted for option ‘D’ . They were both close combatants, and had been beaten black and blue by those pestilences!
At present, if they could successfully weaken the viruses, even if the effect only applied to this world, it would be akin to receiving charcoal in the snowy winter .
Right now, Reef started narrating the recent events .
As it turns out, Brother Black had been separated, and even managed to successfully lure away one Deathmarsh Great Crocodile when he fled . Otherwise, Reef wouldn’t have been able to challenge and drag along this Deathmarsh Great Crocodile for so long .
However, their hired native aborigines had suffered grave casualties . Their fellow comrades were sacrificed as bait to lure away the major damage output from other Great Crocodiles and the Ndipaya barbarians . Apart from these measly few that survived, even if there were other survivors, the numbers wouldn’t plenty .
However, there was still good news .
The natives who managed to survive this gruelling bitter battle had each matured greatly, and received a substantial rise in their capabilities .
This was especially so for Reef’s 7 servants after they slayed the Deathmarsh Great Crocodile . Originally, their names were extremely basic – the likes of Thickleaf, Berries and such . But right now, they had a new accolade signed behind their names; ‘Thickleak Warrior’ or ‘xx warrior’ and so on .
Although their offensive strength hadn’t improved much, their HP had scaled substantially and greatly enhanced their survivability .
By this point, Sheyan had sought out Mbenga to clarify certain inquiries about their geography . Sheyan then realized that if Mogensha had successfully escaped, he should’ve already been travelling along the routes they travelled earlier . However, there wasn’t a trace of him even till now .
Thus, the only explanation was that either he had been captured, or had fled deep into the marshland .
Fortunately, they still retained a life-saving tool, the ‘Unmodeled Amnio-tank’, which was placed within their party storage . Hence, that would be adequate in preserving a fatal outcome for Mogensha .
Furthermore, Mogensha was raised in the harsh environment of Africa even in the real world . It could be said that this place was akin to what the sea was to Sheyan .
Moreover, Brother Black could still exercise the awakening as a Reserve-duty Growth-hunter . Thus, he should be clear from mortal danger .
After a series of discussions, Reef and Sheyan first summarized and organized the outline and experiences of today, before making further plans .
Evidently, Party Ace had merely been circling the outskirts of this hidden world . If they wanted to venture deeper into the marshland, they had to gather the remaining few mysterious stone slabs from the various Ndipaya Tribe villages .
Speaking from their present state, the Ndipaya barbarians and Deathmarsh Great Crocodile they had encountered, were merely the Outer Reaches enemies of this hidden world!
However, both enemies already brought an immense headache to them, where both congregated in groups and were exceptionally enduring .
The Ndipaya barbarians had grasped an exceedingly outstanding method to fend against long-distance assaults . Thus, their opponents could only resort to close combat, yet close combat would only result in one being weakened astoundingly by the various epidemic diseases .
To Sheyan’s conjecture, he reckoned that if they continued delving deeper into this hidden world, there would be an immense possibility they would encounter creatures who could deal deadly long-range assaults . Those creatures had probably and frequently clashed with the Ndipaya barbarians, thus prompting the Ndipaya tribe to forge out such a miraculous safeguard against long-distance assaults .
On the other side, not only were the Deathmarsh Great Crocodiles tier-5 legendary creatures, they also travelled in groups . Although their attacks didn’t carry any viruses, battling them inside the swampy waters could still cause one to easily contract viruses .
With the current circumstance, even though Reef’s might had been bolstered wonderfully, when hunting down Deathmarsh Great Crocodiles in the absence of Brother Black, he could at most garner the constant attention of two crocodiles . If there were more, unexpected mishaps may easily occur .
Nevertheless, the worst headache was the confounding layers of abominable pestilences . So far, the contestants had only encountered the basic types of virus strains . However, these virus strains had already brought them near the point of despair .
As such, here lies the more crucial prediction – if they planned to enter deeper into the marshland to uncover its secrets, they would most likely have to face deadlier and speedier virus strains; strains like septicaemia, tetanus etc……those were all terrifying diseases that could induce death within a short span of time .
Therefore, without expending much brain power, Sheyan and Reef both affirmed their decision .
First, they would devise a method to hunt down the Deathmarsh Great Crocodiles to bolster their resistance against the pestilences . The more immunity they could stack in resistance to those advanced type viruses, the more they would stack .
In this manner, they could concurrently temper the few servants they had, and propel their swift maturity which would add to their advantage in battle .
At this moment, a notion abruptly flashed past Sheyan’s mind; “Perhaps, I could return to Port Qom to recruit more helpers… . . ”
Yet regrettably, after distancing 5 kilometres away from the edge of the massive marshland, he received a merciless notification from the nightmare imprint .
[ You have already acquired an important storyline object: Peculiar Black Flagstone ]
[ Difficulty level has increased due to varying storyline ]
[ Returning method is now slackened . You are no longer restricted to returning to Port Qom in order to return to the nightmare realm ]
[ Do you confirm you wish to depart from this Hidden World: Resident Evil, Origins? ]
Sheyan obviously didn’t accept and could only obediently shrink away . Although this attempt had ended in failure, they could still resort to the method of hunting down the great crocodiles .
Undoubtedly, battling them within the swamps would be absolutely unwise . They definitely had to eliminate the home ground superiority of those crocodiles .
Follow that, Mbenga informed Sheyan that those Deathmarsh Great Crocodiles had an incredibly insatiable appetite and a brutal nature . Once there was insufficient food for them to prey on, they would resort to mutual cannibalism .
Deliberating in accordance with their nature, Sheyan first decided to bait them with food . He would employ sporadic scattering of food to first segregate those rapacious gigantic crocodiles . Then, while these beasts feasted, he would hunt them down successfully .
Normally, a pack of Deathmarsh Great Crocodile wouldn’t exceed 5 members, going by this theory, there would still be a sliver of hope .
At present, most of the creatures of this jungle were aware that the Kijuju Marshland was a forbidden death ground . Hence, only a minute few would dare to approach the fringes of the marshland .
Nevertheless, Sheyan was still able to operate within a 5 kilometres radius around the periphery of the marshland . As such, he still managed to capture 2 large apes and 1 python .
Naturally, he slaughtered them before tossing them into the party storage .
Concurrently while preparing their bait, Reef also located a group of nesting Deathmarsh Great Crocodiles; a family of six that probably included three generations of crocodiles .
Proceeding on, Sheyan and Reef both separated, each towards 150 metres north and south of the crocodile nest .
Coordinating through their party channel, they each retrieved a decapitated chunk of ape from their nightmare imprint and flung them into the swampy waters .
Very naturally, the group of Deathmarsh Great Crocodiles caught the scent of blood . Under the enticement of food, they segregated into two groups; one waddling towards the north and one to the south .
While the crocodiles searched and feasted, Sheyan and Reef hastily converged at the north . From there, they distanced several hundreds of metres away from each other and tossed in bloodied bait once again .
In this manner, once those Deathmarsh Great Crocodiles at the north had completed their meal, another batch of alluring blood scent would segregate them once again .
This instance of separation was exactly the moment Sheyan and Reef were waiting for!
There wasn’t much need to elaborate on the following events . After slaughtering the first Deathmarsh Great Crocodile, their favourable plan then commenced . Expending a total of 12-13 hours, the contestants finally managed to slay four of these Deathmarsh Great Crocodiles . The remaining two crocodiles were then deterred to flee after sensing fear… . .
Only at this point, did Sheyan and Reef realized that not every Deathmarsh Great Crocodile would produce that valuable ‘virus immunity’ option . Only matured Deathmarsh Great Crocodiles or boss tier creatures would offer it .
Furthermore, apart from the devastating tail whip of these Deathmarsh Great Crocodiles, some even possessed their personal unique abilities like mudslap etc . Abilities that could effectively diminish their opponent’s movement speed, which would prevent agile long-range combatants like Mogensha from kiting them .
Utilizing a day’s worth of time, they managed to hunt down nearly 10 Deathmarsh Great Crocodiles, thereby propelling their stacked immunity to 70% . At present, they had widely reduced their chances of infection by ordinary viruses of the outer reaches of the marshland . Furthermore, even if they, unfortunately, contracted any disease, it would only last for roughly 23 seconds in their body .
With this preparation, they were now fundamentally ready to continue their campaign against the other Ndipaya tribe villages .
Apart from their thick skin, the most thorny issue pertaining to those barbarians were the vile pestilences . Since they had finally eliminated the greatest threat, the matter should naturally not be delayed .
Besides, slaughtering those Deathmarsh Great Crocodiles had also provided profits of nearly 80,000 utility points, in addition to acquiring two ‘Deathmarsh Greatcroc Soul’ Horcrux . Strangely, not a single equipment had surfaced .
From this, one could imagine that since the chances of an equipment were so sparse, equipments that surface here should probably be rather special . Once they appear, their potential would certainly be incredible .
Of course, other Deathmarsh Great Crocodiles in the area weren’t blocks of wood . After realizing that their species was mysteriously disappearing and perceiving a threat, they began congregating in groups; not willing to segregate even upon sighting any prey .
Moreover, the crocodiles were exceedingly savage . When Sheyan had attempted to infuriate them by baiting them with the carcass of a young crocodile, the eventual outcome had instead left him flabbergasted . Those monsters had spared no expense in devouring the young carcass and even appeared distinctly content in doing so .
Witnessing such a scene, both Sheyan and Reef could only feel utter disgust and helplessness!
Sadly, during their gruelling battles, regardless of how cautious the contestants had been, one of Reef’s servants still, unfortunately, met his demise .
Even though Reef was a Growth-hunter, they were merely low-tier servants that could only receive their master’s attributes as a bonus; not being able to bolster their master’s strength . Also, it was impossible to revive that servant unless Reef returned to the realm and ‘authenticated’ him .
In spite of that, the capabilities of the 6 other native servants had continued to rapidly improve . Initially, their might was akin to ordinary humans, yet they had swiftly matured while hunting legendary creatures . Moreover, they similarly inherited Reef’s attributes of exceptional endurance, which enhanced the toughness of their skin .
At present, they could tank 2-3 direct blows from a Deathmarsh Great Crocodile without dying .
Furthermore, those 6 native servants had even tied vines around the back of their wooden pikes as weapons, allowing them to employ them as long-range javelins as well as close combat pikes .
Throughout the course of the battle, every time they suffered injuries, they would retreat behind the back of their master and enjoy the healing rejuvenation of Reef’s ‘Parasite Sage-Scarab’ ability .
Lastly, during their hunt, Sheyan wasn’t merely searching for crocodiles . Relying on his keen mind and abundant energy, he gradually explored and familiarized himself with the geography of the place . Concurrently, he also investigated the state of affairs of this Kijuju Marshland .
Ultimately, he discovered that only a tiny portion of the marshland had been revealed so far, and there were two layers of protection encompassing the inner reaches of this Kijuju Marshland .
The first layer was a bottomless quagmire, that could only be traversed using a special canoe called a ‘Ghanmuata’ by the natives .
As for that layer of quagmire, it was inhabited by mutated Great Crocodiles, Dragon lizards, Gigantic Boas, Swelling Toads and all sorts of insanely queer creatures .
Basically, one could infer that the Deathmarsh Great Crocodiles had been chased out of that malignant quagmire due to their inadequacy . As such, one could deduce the frightening deadliness of those creatures .
The second layer of protection was the frequent fumigation of toxic miasma . From the inauguration of the Kijuju Marshland till now, no one could fathom the millions of organisms that had decomposed there . Formed by the constant evaporation of the scorching sun, the virulent miasma had covered the earth and the skies; turning the entire region dusky .
Led by Mbenga, Sheyan had tried to sample the threat of that toxic miasma by the outskirts . Instead, even with his current capabilities, upon catching a whiff from afar, he had instantly taken flight; nauseating and retching afterwards for half an hour .
Therefore, unless one could fly over or drill underground, forcefully breaking through the protective layers of the Kijuju Marshland core reaches would be seemingly impossible .
As for the remaining three villages that housed the stone slabs, they were ten kilometres or so deeper into the marshland .
Proceeding from there, a mechanism that could only be triggered by those stone slabs was located on a tiny isle, that required them to bash through the remaining and largest Ndipaya village .
It was said that the isle hosted an underground passageway, allowing one to bypass the terrifying abominable quagmire moat, and finally arrive at the inner reaches of the Kijuju Marshland .
Nevertheless, what awaited any who pass through would undoubtedly be additionally horrifying creatures… . . and an unknown destiny!
Despite consolidating and contemplating on all this information, Sheyan still felt a discomforting sensation; as though a cloudy mist was preventing him from grasping a key factor .
Besides, time was exceedingly tight, and since a clear pathway had opened for his party along with a distinct objective, while Sheyan still couldn’t think of any better alternative, he could only repress his present emotions .
“This is truly helplessness in the face of a mountain… . ” Sheyan sighed as he stroked his hair deeply with his fingers . After massaging himself strenuously, he patted his cheeks with fresh water .
“What exactly have I overlooked…darn it, I can’t stop thinking about the Illume-union as well . I need to observe this world with a superseding perspective, in order to figure out the crux of it all . But the trail presented so far is extremely clear, where exactly is this feeling of mine coming from?”
At present, Reef was carrying a wooden canoe as he urged Sheyan .
“Boss, let us go . Time is tight, let’s head over to that western village first . According to Mbenga’s inference, if AK is still alive, there is a huge possibility of finding him there . ”
Both man then leapt into the canoe, while Reef’s servants followed them from a distance behind .
This region of Deathmarsh Great Crocodiles had already fallen to the judgment of the contestants, thus, they finally arrived at the periphery of the village without experiencing any danger .
A meandering swampy passage led towards the village, where dense reeds polluted both banks of this swampy passage .
Shua! Shua! Shua! Though it was daytime, the reeds continued emitting loud whistles .
Nobody could tell if it was the wind or that humans were lying hidden within .
All of a sudden, dozens of ravens dispersed in flight from within the reeds . These ravens had a malevolent appearance, with eyes that seemed to be oozing out with blood, and their beaks and claws were incredibly incisive .
It is reasonable to say that the wetlands should be a paradise for birds; a habitat favourable for flamingoes, cormorants, wild goose and others . Yet due to the existence of those malevolent ravens, this portion of the marshland had become a ‘VIP’ assembly for them .
Following the alarmed dispersion of those ravens, hollers and clamorous chants echoed through the air . Ten over robust looking Ndipaya barbarians then pranced out from the dense reeds, alongside wooden pikes that showered in like the rain .
Behind them, was a barbarian with a massive wooden mask . Lifting up a wooden staff, he skipped around the spot with his bow legs; while chanting out with bewildering incantations .
The sun was shining scorchingly under the broad daylight, as spurts of water splashed to welcome them . As those Ndipaya barbarians cursed and yelled with widened mouths, their yellowish blackened teeth and tonsils could be seen distinctly . It seemed as though one could even smell the foul breath coming out from their mouths .
Within a flash, Reef had fiercely charged into the ranks of the Ndipaya barbarians . His macho frame drowning in the sea of enemies within an instant!
Instantly, a furious roar resounded from within the pile of humans, as large shockwaves rippled against the turbid swampy waters; inciting tiny waves of half a metre height . The shockwave sent those barbarians staggering chaotically like intoxicated humans, as they tumbled repetitively .
Though these vicious aborigines attempted to retaliate against Reef, they seem to be unable to muster up strength within their arms and legs .
Grasping this opportunity that Reef had created, Sheyan immediately activated ‘Horn-Rage’!
The slushy swamp waters could offer no resistance towards the stampeding velocity of ‘Horn-Rage’, as Sheyan thundered through like a speedboat; splashes of white foam sputtering behind his buttocks .
Within a split second, he brushed through the Ndipaya barbarian crowd, before maliciously slamming into that barbarian with the massive wooden mask behind – that Ndipaya elder!
Right from the start of the battle, Sheyan had already noticed that old thing lurking behind . Naturally, he determined that he definitely had to tie down that elder .
If Sheyan allowed that ‘mage’ type elder to freely spew out curses at the back, even if the elder’s actions were merely pretentious, it would cause their side to fight with their hairs standing . What more, with Sheyan having personally witnessed the parasitic blowgun of the barbarian elder previously, would he really let him continue?
After activating ‘Horn-rage’, Sheyan easily smashed aside all obstructing foes like a raging bull, before viciously slamming into that old thing, sending him tumbling into the muddy waters .
Seizing the dishevelled and stunned state of the barbarian elder, Sheyan swung round to his back and unleashed a slash!
Due to his prior experience exchanging blows with a Ndipaya elder, Sheyan could already formulate his battle plan .
He understood that the massive wooden mask was truly disgusting, possessing hefty defence while even covering a huge range! Attempting to target the elder’s vitals would be a painstaking and arduous process . Hence, Sheyan had immediately swung around and targeted the elder’s opening .
Indeed, his saber slash had managed to deal grave damage to the elder, prompting that elder to feel his back wound while screaming miserably; as though his anus had haemorrhoids after eating half a kilo of chilli!
(ED: Mr . Author back with his golden analogies!)
After receiving the slash, the masked elder immediately spun around with his massive wooden mask facing Sheyan once again; unwilling to offer any chances to Sheyan anymore .
The elder’s wooden mask was painted with two deathly white eyes, eyes that gazed desolately into the eyes of any aggressor; causing the aggressor to subconsciously turn despondent, and thereby causing the aggressor’s attacks to deviate slightly from its target .
Nevertheless, Sheyan patiently circled around the Ndipaya elder . In spite of the elder wielding a wooden magic staff, his close combat strength wasn’t weak at all . Instead, the elder was incredibly brutish, swinging his staff vigorously to receive the blows from Sheyan’s saber; causing painful bruises whenever he successfully struck Sheyan!
Still, Sheyan endured the elder’s blows with his tough flesh . Suddenly, a blue current jolted through his body – ‘Zergling Rush’ activated!
A spicy ferocity flashed within Sheyan’s eyes as he immediately fished out ‘Ambition’ and activated ‘Rum & Songs’, before firing at the barbarian elder’s brain!
However, the outstanding defence of that massive wooden masked was sufficient to absorb most of the damage from Sheyan’s gunshot . Fortunately, the 2 seconds of stun was still present, allowing Sheyan the chance to swing to the elder’s back . With a sinister smirk, he raised his ‘+7 West’!
This time, it wasn’t a problem that could be solved with a single ordinary blade .
Instead, 3 saber slashes came cleaving down consecutively, splashing broiling blood all over Sheyan’s body . After circling to the weakest back portion of this elder, Sheyan’s 3 slashes had seemingly carved away a good portion of his health!
Releasing earth shuddering screams, the elder swung round pathetically with his wooden staff . Instead, Sheyan opted to forcefully endure this blow as his lips curled into a sly smile . He then barrelled straight and slammed himself into the embrace of this Ndipaya elder, instigating a fleshy entanglement between them . As such, the elder’s desire to cast his incantation curses had gone extravagantly down the drain .
Sheyan’s previous 4 slashes to the elder’s back were exceedingly lethal, dealing astonishingly high damages to him . Therefore, after being trapped in a fleshy entanglement with Sheyan, the Ndipaya elder had started howling for his subordinates, who were busy fending off Reef, for help .
Despite the deadliness of the Ndipaya barbarians’ transmitted pestilences, their aggro was simply unimpressive in the face of the damage reduction of Sheyan’s ‘Stronghold’ innate ability .
Hence, without lasting for very long, the elder was pounded to death . After snapping his neck, he dropped a black colored key .
Seeing a drop loot that could seemingly contain ‘goods’, both Sheyan and Reef swelled with excitement; as though they had been injected with adrenaline .
Noteworthily, although the Ndipaya elder seemed to be semi-immune to Reef’s ‘Shattering Cardiac Roar’, the other Ndipaya barbarians were incapable of resisting the formidable might of a Growth-hunter .
Furthermore, their most menacing weapon, their viruses, were now almost utterly negated by Sheyan and Reef . With their decline in speed, they could no longer match Sheyan in speed, and couldn’t avoid him creeping up their backs; hacking and cleaving them as they cried chaotically .
Moreover, Reef’s few servants had already grown to an exceptionally bold and fierce state . In addition to Mbenga, they didn’t take long before annihilating all the Ndipaya barbarians .
Following that, they proceeded to rummage through the village .
Unexpectedly, this village provided them with a terribly measly harvest . Without an exception, they managed to locate another stone slab but failed to harvest anything else . What herbs, gold, hidden treasures… . . they couldn’t find a single thing at all .
This was probably because Sheyan and his group had scared the snake while beating the grass in their previous village raid, causing this group of barbarians to employ a scorched earth policy .
Fortunately, the loots provided by the Ndipaya elder’s black key was pretty remarkable and actually produced two incredibly valuable item . One was a dazzling sparkling diamond, and the other was a golden beetle; sculpted to perfection .
[ Name: Diamond ]
[ Type: Valuable object ]
[ Material: Carbon ]
[ Origin: Hidden World – Resident Evil, Origin Chapter ]
[ Weight: 3 . 5 carats ]
[ Description: This is an incredibly precious gem and can fetch a hefty sum anywhere . You can even bring this out to the real world ]
[ You received a special valuable object: Golden Beetle ]
[ Golden Beetle ]
[ Special valuable item that will only appear in the hidden world – Resident Evil, Origin Chapter ]
[ Description: This is an Archaeozoic beetle that has fossilized into this amber crystal after being buried for a millennium . It is extremely precious ]
[ Value: You can retain it as a souvenir, or exchange it for 50,000 utility points, or 3 achievement points ]
Although the diamond had no marked value, Sheyan reckoned it absolutely wasn’t inferior to the golden beetle . If these two items truly had high drop rates, then they could basically return after clearing the outer reaches of this Kijuju Marshland .
The value of both items could be described as priceless . The former could be exchanged for tens of thousands of utility points, while the latter could actually be swapped for 3 achievement points . That was akin to the rewards for accomplishing the first main mission of a world previously!
Also and more crucially, after razing the village, Sheyan also successfully acquired the title – Invaders .
This title allowed his damage dealt to Ndipaya barbarians to increase by 10%, which was rather little . Nevertheless, Sheyan simultaneously received a notification from his nightmare imprint .
[ Your military rank is Major . You have fulfilled the required quantity of titles ]
[ You received the ability – Title Synthesis! ]
[ The rules of ‘Title Synthesis’ are as follows: ]
[ A: You must acquire a Black-Iron class or above title as a medium for title synthesis . Otherwise, ordinary class titles are incapable of inheriting the capabilities of title synthesis ]
[ B: Titles of similar properties cannot be synthesized . For example, a title that provides +5% movement speed cannot be synthesized with one that provides +3% movement speed ]
[ C: Directly carrying out title synthesis will result in a relatively low success rate . You must pay the price of burning away titles to accumulate ‘synthesizing energy’, which will allow a smoother process of title synthesis . The more titles you burn, the higher the success rate of title synthesis ]
[ D: Title synthesis can only be carried out in the nightmare realm, and may require a fixed fee ]
After carefully reading through the rules, Sheyan obtained a fundamental understanding of the title synthesis process .
Employing the analogy of cooking a dish, the Black-Iron class or above title would be akin to the wok used for cooking . Without it, the dish would simply be uncookable .
Next, adding flavour to the title would be the different condiments for a dish, where the titles could not be repetitive . This resembled throwing a spoon of salt would add flavour to the dish, but throwing in more would spoil the dish .
Finally, the fire of the stove is absolutely indispensable in cooking a dish . This referred to using those useless titles one gathered as fuel, increasing the cooking period and subsequently raising the rate of success .
With his present understanding, Sheyan could confirm that the properties of titles used in synthesis wouldn’t vanish, but would be stacked upon each other . As for whether new properties would surface, that would be hard to determine .
After a series of careful analysis and research, and after both contestants had rejuvenated roughly, they hurriedly proceeded towards their next target……
The details of the campaigns against the remaining villages didn’t need to be elaborated .
The third village was like a dragon without a head . Their elder was that Ndipaya elder that had chased after Mbenga previously, the one that Sheyan killed single-handedly .
Thus, riding on their potent immunity to resist most of the barbarian’s virus, the entire process was like trampling on dried grains; simply a plain sailing affair .
However, when facing the largest Ndipaya village, Sheyan and Reef both met with the strongest and most violent resistance of the Ndipaya outer reaches .
There were actually 2 Ndipaya elders in addition to 50 – 60 henchmen that were hiding within the sludge at the periphery of their village . They were unexpectedly lying in ambush for them!
Earlier on, Sheyan had constantly been puzzled by the lacking manpower of the first village . Furthermore, that village didn’t possess a seating elder . As it turns out, they had visited this village to engage in interactions .
Thus, both Sheyan and Reef suffered bitterly in this battle .
After eliminating the threat of the Ndipaya barbarians’ pestilences, those barbarians were reduced to merely thick skin and muscles . Nevertheless, Sheyan was ultimately just one person .
Even if he had the balls to freaking charge into the legion of enemies with his ‘Horn-Rage’, directly colliding to suppress one of the Ndipaya elders, the other would still be presented with sufficient casting time!
Once that Ndipaya elder had acquired adequate casting time, he started unleashing his terribly deadly parasite blowgun! The contestants were served with an arduously bitter predicament, as Incessant projections of incomparably vile parasite worms wriggled in like hair .
This outrageous ability, known as ‘Parasite Hairs’, was an exceedingly queer existence . It could be categorized as witchcraft but also categorized as living organisms . Once lodged in a person’s body, it would unleash unceasing damages . Not only that, after harvesting sufficient vitality from one’s body, those ‘Parasite Hairs’ would morph into summoned creatures; thereby drilling deeper into their host body and stirring up havoc within……
Therefore, once it struck someone, it must be immediately extracted out . Otherwise, the consequence would be absolutely dire! Just think of having miniature lifeforms living in one’s own body…
As a result, the contestants lost another two of Reef’s servants in battle . Sheyan even had to grit his teeth and utilize the party ability, ‘Gloryheal’, and also had to consume a free honorary medicine he had . Eventually, he managed to withstand the indiscriminate witchcraft bombing of the other masked elder .
After slaying the Ndipaya elder he was tangled with, he instantly fled with Reef at top speed! It was at this point, where Reef’s two servants were left behind and became casualties .
After escaping from battle, Sheyan and Reef both had to carve out numerous cuts on each other’s bodies; a process practically more miserable than the ancient china’s death of a thousand cuts .
After 2 hours had elapsed, when both Reef and Sheyan had healed up and calmed down, they returned with a whirling storm of dust .
The next battle became much easier . Without a Ndipaya elder freely bombarding from behind, being capable of resisting the majority of pestilence viruses, the two contestants once again fled after eliminating that final Ndipaya elder .
Right now, Reef had acquired and equipped shoes that could somewhat offset the speed decline of the marsh terrain . With his valiant ‘Shattering Cardiac Roar’ to further reduce his opponent’s’ speed, those Ndipaya barbarians weren’t able to chase up even if they wished to .
It was only during the duo’s third skirmish, that they finally annihilated the Ndipaya barbarians . Though they were like a flock of courageous dragons, without a chief, those Ndipaya barbarians had plunged into a predicament of each fighting their personal battles .
As such, both contestants finally managed to clean up the outer reaches of the Ndipaya tribe and thereby occupying this core village .
This assembly of Ndipaya barbarians was situated on a chunk of hard ground within the marshland, which was approximately the size of a school’s sports field .
Identical wooden huts were distributed within this space, along with three watchtowers that were constructed in a tripod style . Lastly, there was even a primitive looking hall where the villages congregated for assemblies .
After rummaging through the village, Sheyan pleasantly discovered two large treasure chests and consecutively obtained a huge harvest .
They acquired a total of 6 sacks of Golden Sand, a Silver Beetle that was placed in a prominent location, and a crudely processed Golden Brick .
It seemed like the Ndipaya barbarians also knew the term saving for rainy days, as they had stored their wealth in the most heavily guarded village . Alas, they didn’t realize they would still fall to Sheyan’s siege .
After searching around, Sheyan finally acquired the final stone slab . Yet after assembling the four stone slabs together, nothing unusual happened . Furthermore, there wasn’t a single hint or trace of the rumoured underground passageway at all .
If they carefully foraged through the place and flipped every wood and stone here, they would certainly be able to find the hidden mechanism . Yet this method would waste a good deal of time .
Hence, Sheyan straightforwardly requested Mbenga, inquiring if had any method up his sleeves .
After pondering, Mbenga bent down to sample the blood of one of the dead Ndipaya elder . Then, he shut his eyes and proceeded to sniff about prudently, before leading Sheyan and the others towards the east .
Under Mbenga’s guidance, they entered a broad hut .
At the front of this hut, was an empty space where a stone strip had been pulled out . The hut was segregated into three rooms . The main entrance led to the main room, which housed a fire dyke with flames that wouldn’t extinguish all year round . This was the place where the Ndipaya aborigines received visitors or treated illnesses .
The left room was the master bedroom, while the right was probably used to store hunting loots and also a place to cultivate dark magic . Speckles of purplish black bloodstains filled that room, painting a depiction of frequent bloodshed in this room .
The main entrance didn’t appear rigidly locked, where a tiny strip of a black gap was exposed; appearing like a menacing and brutal beast mouth, greedily welcoming the arrival of any hunted prey .
Pressing his hand on its surface, Mbenga gave a light push against the door .
Creak! A dull and coarse creak resounded as the door swung inwards . The creak continued echoing throughout the deathly stillness and the far ends of the night .
Sheyan then tugged Mbenga and warned .
“Careful . ”
Meanwhile, Sheyan and the others paused for a while by the doorway .
At present, it was already night time .
Due to the absence of the sun, water vapour mist no longer lingered in the air, but the skydome still remained hazy .
Sheyan lifted his head to gaze at the sky . Unbeknownst why, the moon had shrunk to half its size . It was like a strip of white velvet, hazy and indistinct; resembling white hair that sprouted from decaying corpses, or the white veil of a demonic ghost .
Sheyan abruptly asked Reef .
“Have you noticed this? Ever since the start till now, the age demographic of those Ndipaya barbarians we slew is rather odd . ”
Reef reflected a little before replying .
“You’re right . They seem to be above the age of forty . Moreover, of the barbarians we killed, there wasn’t a single woman, child or youth . ”
Sheyan frowned and continued .
“Most ecologies of the natural world are identical . If we link this oddity with those Deathmarsh Great Crocodiles, what can you decipher?”
Reef became momentarily vacant .
“Those Deathmarsh Great Crocodiles failed to compete within the core reaches of the Kijuju Marshland, and were chased out… . . what you’re implying is, could it be those Ndipaya barbarians that we’ve slain, are merely washed out weaklings? Being exiled to the outer reaches?”
Sheyan earnestly nodded and predicted .
“That is very possible… . . therefore, the true horrors, start from here!”
Reef took in a deep breath as he nodded . Tightly clenching his shield, he trudged into the hut .
The room was completely silent, as though a certain nefarious thing was ruling here . One could even distinctively hear their own heartbeat . A chilling sensation of evil was borne within the blood coursing through their veins .
Upon entering this hut, one could whiff a foul stench lingering in the air; as though dead fish had been rotting for an excruciatingly long time, or a gigantic beast had been contentedly belching after having a sumptuous meal . A repulsive nauseating feeling would well up after smelling this stench for long .
Amidst this vile environment, the two contestants composedly stood still as they awaited their eyes to become accustomed to the darkness of the room . Fortunately, the flickering torches outside the room were faintly illuminating its interior .
There was a hole in the ceiling, allowing the gloomy moonlight to faintly permeate through .
Quickly and gradually, the rough outline of the hut’s interior became fully displayed .
All of a sudden, a peculiar sound rang within Sheyan’s ear!
This was a drawn out sound, as though a sharp object was scraping against the dark floor . A sound that contained endless anguish and vengeance, as though an infernal devil was sobbing!
It was truly bizarre . The hut was enclosed by walls on all four sides, yet Sheyan could still feel the chilling wind curling around . Different from the cold winds of nature, this chilling wind directly permeated into his bone marrow; seemingly attempting to squeeze into his very soul!
Even though he and Reef were powerful contestants, being frightened was still a human instinct especially towards excessively weird circumstances . A relishing chill crept up his back, as the hair on his arm stood erect .
Instead at this moment, Mbenga revealed a delighted countenance as he shut his eyes, and reached out with his thick palm .
After feeling the wind’s direction, he strode towards the right side of this hut . After carefully rummaging through the ground, he proceeded to hug a large pottery nearby .
This time, he didn’t smash the pottery but exerted strength to slowly rotate it .
Soon, everyone could feel the slight tremors vibrating through the ground, which only ceased after a long while .
After scouring briefly around the hut, Sheyan and Reef couldn’t discover any changes . Instead, Mbenga sprinted out of the house .
Looking at the entrance of the hut now, an astounding broad underground passageway had emerged .
A flight of stairs leaned down into the passageway and appeared to be artificially constructed of stone . Without the triggering of the mechanism, this flight of stairs would be straightened upwards; forming into a flat ground . It could be described as seamless .
Unanimously walking to the underground opening, Sheyan and Reef could perceive this should be the passageway to the core reaches of the Ndipaya tribe .
A rich odour reeking of blood and rot assailed their nostrils, inducing them to retch . The atmosphere here had seemingly transformed into viscous water blended with ice, a cold sensation that felt like dead fingers caressing one’s face .
Stone slabs were piled up on both sides of this underground passage, probably used to prevent this underground cave from collapsing . Basin sized black holes appeared at intervals of metres into the underground tunnel and were unfathomably deep .
Using the irradiation of a torch, Sheyan realized that they were created by something burrowing in and out . The holes were exceedingly smooth and offered traces of dried mucus .
Advancing several steps forward again, an incredibly massive and profound gate emerged before their eyes . 5-6 white cocoon shaped things could be seen placed on the sides of this gate .
After approaching nearer, they noticed that those cocoons were twinkling with dull moss green, even amidst this abstruse darkness . Every time they twinkled, a furtive shade of ghastly white would follow . It mimicked the rhythm of a heartbeat, and also resembled a worm nibbling through the interior of the cocoon .
And right by the side of one of the white cocoon, to his horror, Sheyan shockingly sighted a splendid golden rifle butt!
The signature weapon of Brother Black .
The duo simultaneously charged up to inspect the cocoon after noticing that golden AK .
Instantly, they discovered those white cocoons were spun with incredibly tough and pliable silk . Upon touching the silk threads, they realized their skin had turned slightly numb . Evidently, it was infused with potent toxins and strong anaesthetic chemicals .
As Sheyan and Reef deliberated over their rescue plan, they suddenly heard they similar and queer sharp scraping sound . Moreover, that scraping sound was shockingly coming from those black holes by the underground cavern walls!
Facing such a situation, the two immediately flew into formation!
Yet at this instance, Mbenga and the other 4 servants unanimously lifted their heads and released a sonorous tribal cry . Their cries reverberated incessantly throughout the narrow and airtight underground cave, causing one’s eardrum to shudder with ringing . Instantaneously, that scraping sound gradually distanced away and finally faded away .
However, when Sheyan questioned them about their conduct, those natives could only cast a vacant look at him . They were completely ignorant and merely replied that it was a practice inherited from their tribes .
Following that, Sheyan and Reef attempted to free Brother Black from the white cocoon, but realized that neither tearing nor slashing yielded any results .
As time trickled away, for fear that the night would don more nightmares, they eventually resorted to using fire .
To their surprise, the cocoon threads were indeed easily combustible, and a simple flame instantly caused a booming crackle; mild bluish flames licked up those hairs of silk while emitting a pungent charred stench .
Soon after, a dazed Mogensha finally surfaced from within before limpidly slumping to the ground!
Though Mogensha had reappeared, regardless of the various medicines of methods Reef and Sheyan employed, they still failed to wake him up .
To their horror, when they inspected him, they realized that his bones and flesh had seemingly been dissolved . It was as though they were stroking a plastic bag filled with water, where Mogensha had sunk into deep unconsciousness .
It seemed like after being captured by those Ndipaya barbarians, Mogensha had suffered such ruthless and cruel torture to fall into such a perilous state . Furthermore, his condition was clearly worsening .
If Sheyan and Reef hadn’t rescued Brother Black, then roughly 3-4 hours later, all of Brother Black’s flesh and bones would’ve been dissolved into liquid!
Such a method of numbing before killing was incomparably malicious, which stripped away all chances of escaping for the victim .
After using his helmet to probe out Mogensha, Sheyan realized that he had fallen into a state known as deep paralysis . Moreover, this state had authoritative precedence . This meant that ordinary medicines were incapable of waking him up .
This current situation was undoubtedly like being thrown into a pit of fire . Furthermore, not only was Mogensha’s health points slowly plunging, his maximum HP limit was also declining . Under such circumstances, the only solution was to send him back to the nightmare realm .
Of course, Sheyan and Reef didn’t forget to burn down the other cocoons as well . Those few other cocoons varied in size and produced victims such as wild beasts and even native aborigines .
Sadly, they didn’t possess the formidable might of a contestant and had all dissolved into a pile of mucus .
Their only consolation was a single golden brick they found from one of the liquified aborigine; a valuable object that could fetch a good price .
Without other alternatives, the two contestants backtracked from the Kijuju Marshland and returned to the 5-kilometre boundary of the outer reaches; before sending Mogensha back to the nightmare realm .
After selling off their various loots, Party Ace had already acquired over 100,000 utility points . They then transferred half of it to Mogensha, which should be sufficient for his treatment . If he couldn’t be completely healed, preserving his life would still suffice, as long as he could persist until Sheyan and Reef returned .
Before even entering the core reaches, they suffered the tragic loss of their most essential comrade . Such a situation caused the duo to become supremely dejected .
Upon returning to that underground stone gate, the two contestants received an immense shock; because the corpses they had rescued out from the cocoons had vanished!
Yet from the trail of mucus on the ground, they could deduce the corpses had been shockingly hauled into those tiny black holes along the cavern walls .
When they finally arrived before the massive stone gate of this underground passageway, the duo could clearly observe 4 cavities along the stone gate . Evidently, each concavity would fit a single stone slab .
Sheyan first ordered one of Reef’s servant to lead and inserted the first stone slab into a concavity . Instead, they realized that the stone slab had to be constantly supported, otherwise, it would simply drop . Furthermore, each concavity was widely distributed, which signified that a minimum of 4 persons was required to activate this stone gate .
Upon witnessing this scene, Sheyan flushed with an intensified sensation of seemingly overlooking something . As though he could nearly grasp the crux of a matter, but was simply missing that final step .
Nevertheless, time was tight . Besides, there wasn’t anywhere else left for them to advance . Hence, Sheyan couldn’t think of any other alternatives at the moment . Brother Black’s miserable condition was still vivid in his mind, and even amidst such an environment where danger lurked in every corner, he couldn’t help feeling distracted . This was simply extremely infuriating!
After uniformly inserting the 4 stone slabs into the stone gate, the gate released slight trembles before heavily and slowly withdrawing backwards . Loose fragments of rocks above rustled down, as a moisty downwards passageway was revealed; a piercing mouldy odour assailed their nostrils .
Sheyan wasn’t in a rush to enter, instead, he squatted to examine the grooves left behind after the stone gate had opened . After carefully feeling around with his fingers, he mumbled .
“Seems like this underground passageway isn’t obsolete . At least, it opens once every year . ”
Reef nodded and trudged forward . Sheyan was in charge of the security to his left and right, while his remaining pike-wielding servants protected Mbenga at the centre .
Although there wasn’t any distinct scenery to reference their journey, as a navigator previously, Sheyan naturally possessed a superior sense of direction . He could sense that they had gradually advanced deeper underground, and were currently on a straight path upon reaching a definite depth .
After the gradient of stairs had reached a fixed depth, the path ahead became straight and parallel . Clear vestiges of erosion could be seen along the cavern walls, which didn’t appear to be the work of man, but instead, resembled a dried underground river course .
Though this cave was serene, hidden in the depths and abstrusely dark, not a single odd thing happened .
After proceeding for roughly a kilometre, a flight of stairs upwards greeted Sheyan . At this point, the work of artificial constructions became exceedingly clear once again .
Evidently, beneath the swamp bed of the Kijuju Marshland, was a dried up underground river .
Based on the current era of aqueduct construction technology, it was impossible for the Ndipaya tribe to construct a direct tunnel into their core inner reaches . Instead, they had ingeniously cut a link into this dried underground river, and subsequently morphing it into a passageway . Moreover, with this method, they had substantially saved on manpower and resources .
At the region approaching the cavern exit, it became increasingly damp and muddy . At the latter periods, even Sheyan and Reef had to use their hands to assist their advance .
Only after ascending till the cavern exit, did they realize this was a semi-concealed exit leading to a karst cave .
Reflecting on the recent developments, the Kijuju Marshland inner core reaches should be on a comparatively elevated upper ground . However, due to the lingering mist and low visibility of the marshland, the true colours of its topography wasn’t exhibited to the primitive outer reaches .
After strolling out, Sheyan immediately breathed in a foul piercing stench, like a biowaste dump of a chemical factory back in the real world .
To his horror, he directly contracted a calamitous and negative buff – [ HP regeneration speed additionally declines by 500%! ]
Most importantly, this negative effect would influence any kind of HP regeneration of Sheyan’s body! This included his party ability, ‘Gloryheal’!
For example, after equipping his ‘Sacred Cow-Horn Cup’ accessory, the regeneration statistics of ‘Gloryheal’ would be restoring 75% HP within 12 seconds . Yet after this negative buff, it became 75% HP within 60 seconds!
One could simply imagine how vast this disparity was . As for a food that can restore 100 HP within 30 seconds, it would now be forcefully dragged to restoring 100 HP within 150 seconds . By these two analogies, one could determine the vast difference this buff made .
Following the river passage for a while, they finally exited the karst cave .
At present, the skies remained dark ashen grey . Instead, noticeable changes could be seen in the surrounding swampy vegetation .
Myriads of bracken type vegetation replicated those of the prehistoric era, where the vegetation had transformed gigantuous in appearance . Even tiny moss weeds that grew on the ground were as large as a palm . Even a single tendril of floral varieties like the sisal hemp and wooden bracken were as thick as a human arm .
All of a sudden, Sheyan raised his hand; a signal to halt due to the possibility of danger ahead .
Indeed so, not long after creeping forward, buildings came into their view .
After prudently encroaching further, they realized it was a ring of village constructions . The style of these constructions was seemingly identical to the huts of the outer Ndipaya tribe .
Sharpened wooden stakes were erected and arranged as fencing, looking like totems that were coated in monotonous oil paint . The huts inside appeared undulated in height, displaying a picturesque disorder . Their only common ground was their sturdy appearance, seemingly constructed for the purpose of defence .
Yet as the single file of humans cautiously crawled forward, Sheyan quickly discovered that this cluster of huts had already been abandoned .
Moreover, numerous huts were half-collapsed, while the wooden fencing had decayed by the beatings of rain and wind; as though a light tap would topple them .
Without a reconnoiter like Mogensha, Sheyan couldn’t analyse much from the outskirts of this place . Hence, he could only enter shoulder to shoulder with Reef .
After infiltrating this deserted village, they started a hasty investigation .
The door of a hut was pushed open, allowing a smell of stale decaying timber to rush into Sheyan’s nostrils .
Despite the utterly decomposed state of the wooden flooring, and the obstructing surrounding walls, shoots of verdant grass had sprouted out at a tiny area . Directly above the patch of grass, a hole could be seen in the ceiling; permitting sunlight and rain to irrigate through . That was the reason why the grass could carry on growing here .
Perceiving that the patch of grass seemed to be extraordinary, Sheyan plucked it and instantly received a notification .
[ You obtained a Greenspot ]
[ Type: Herb medicine ]
[ Description: Year in and year out, this herb resides in the harsh environment of the marshland . It now possesses immune capabilities against the vile surroundings ]
[ Usage property: Instantly restores 33% HP upon consumption, and suppresses the calamitous buff effects for 100 minutes ]
[ Details: When this herb withers, it will lose its medicinal properties . You must consume it within 48 hours ]
[ Details: Perhaps you can follow a fixed prescription to concoct a more potent medicine . Of course, that is if you can acquire other herb medicines ]
Upon obtaining this herb and as he was about to speak, Reef suddenly strolled towards him while frowning .
“There isn’t a soul in this ghost town, but something feels wrong . ”
Sheyan nodded and replied .
“Indeed, going by logic, this place would be used to guard this major road leading to the inner reaches . Regardless of what, it should be heavily fortified . No matter how regressed the Ndipaya tribe may be, this logic should still be understood . Moreover, this very village is proof of that . Those lofty erected watchtowers serve as evidence of this fact . There shouldn’t be any logic in forsaking this fort . ”
Reef then added .
“After a brief search, I realized one thing . The previous owners probably made many preparations and their withdrawal had been done in an orderly fashion . All their essentials have been thoroughly taken away, leaving behind only their huts . I didn’t even see a single of those white and decorated potteries, or even minutely valuable items . ”
Sheyan muttered irresolutely to himself as he paced several steps forward .
Suddenly, he caught a glimpse of something that appeared like dried withered leaves . Instantly, he picked it up .
To his horror, it wasn’t a mere leaf . Instead, it was a stiff piece of skin . Human skin!!
Sheyan’s eyes flashed with a glint and right before he could speak, a despondent scream abruptly pierced in from outside .
This scream only happened for an instant before coming to a spontaneous end, like slaughtering a chicken by cutting through its neck .
At once, Reef roared angrily .
“Shit, my servant!”
As his words faded, Reef had already charged out with his shield blocking his front . Indeed, he had activated his special ability ‘Courage’, smashing through the wooden hut as wooden splinters sprayed out in all directions!
Already decayed by the vile environment to the verge of collapse, the hut couldn’t withstand such a severe blow . Swaying a little, it crumbled with a boom as dust clouds spiralled into the air .
Despite his attempts, a basin-sized fiend had already gripped around the neck of his servant!
This fiend was coated in striking yellow and red stripes, with arthropod limbs sticking out of its body like a centipede . It took on an identical appearance to a fiendish looking spider but had eight incisive crab claws . Lastly, it had a long tail resembling that of a scorpion .
At present, its eight incisive claws were tightly constricted around the neck of Reef’s servant .
That servant had rolled up white eyes, where his neck had swelled immensely and was seemingly being choked by that fiend!
Sheyan immediately employed his helmet to probe out that fiend; obtaining a list of first-hand information .
[ Mutated Arachnidacrab ]
[ ????? ]
[ ????? ]
[ Description: A long long time ago when the Kijujur Marshland was still a bay, it housed multitudes of toxic and enormous Arachnidacrab, also hailed as the bay’s monarch . After the geology of the place experienced monumental changes into the vile terrain of today, these Arachnidacrabs gradually mutated into fiendish creatures . They survive in packs and possess high intellect, knowing to select advantageous ground before attacking . To all preys that trespasses its territory, it would massacre with unrivalled ruthlessness! ]
Upon retrieving this list of information, Sheyan only latched onto a single line .
‘They survive in packs!!”
He instantly shouted thunderously .
“Careful! Everyone fall back towards the hut to my left . Mbenga, quick lead them over, Reef and I will intercept them!”
By this point, Reef was already waving his lightsaber towards that mutated Arachnidacrab crawling over his servant’s neck . Instead, its eight limbs instantly contracted, as it abruptly launched away and evaded Reef’s lightsaber .
At this moment, Reef noticed a strand of transparent thread trailing from the Arachnidacrab’s butt!
Swinging his hand across, Reef enveloped his semi-unconscious and poisoned servant with his ‘Faith-guard’ ability, before immediately flinging him towards the hut Sheyan had indicated .
It was seemingly the largest and sturdiest wooden hut across the entire dilapidated village .
Following that, Reef hurriedly exclaimed for his other servant to flee into the hut .
Spectating everything, Sheyan took in a deep breath . His perceptive sense was much keener than Reef’s, and he could clearly sense rapid scuttling noises approaching in from all corners of this village .
This time, they had really landed in deep shit .
He could fathom that the horde of mutated Arachnidacrabs was seemingly innumerable .
With backs facing each other in vigilance, both Reef and Sheyan swiftly retreated into that largest wooden hut .
This was probably the place which the Ndipaya elder used for assemblies in the past . A fire dyke was still present, where greyish ashes had coagulated into solid chunks; leaving an impression of brittle human bones .
Sheyan then released a probing stomp against the wooden pillar that was supporting this hut, before nodding silently . It seemed like it could still hold on, and was definitely not something creatures of that size could easily topple .
Through this, one could tell that a hierarchical preferential treatment was also deeply adopted by even primitive barbarians . The quality of a leader tier’s residence was much superior in this aspect .
An assailing fishy odour flooded the air . As one observed the spongy and moist village ground that was covered in dead weeds, one could distinctly notice oval lumps the size of a basketball bulging out of the ground . Slushy swampy mud, rotten leaves and twigs were repetitively and sporadically swept into the air . Those living lumps shuttled through the ground speedily .
This assembly hut had no doors, but a single Reef stood guarding its entrance .
Bracing his shield to cover his face, he released a demeanour of one sweeping a thousand aside; while Sheyan stood behind him .
Although both of them had sufficiently raised their immunity against the virus effects of this world, they had now arrived inside the inner core reaches of the Kijuju Marshland .
This could also signify that if the previous difficulty was ‘A’, the current difficulty was most likely ‘A+’ . If they could continue advancing deeper, the difficulty level could very possibly inflate again . Eventually, they may even break into the terrifying realm of ‘S’ class difficulty!
Sheyan awaited in strict formation as he observed the feverish underground shuttling of those mutated Arachnidacrabs .
His heart was filled with an unprecedented crisis because prior to this, he had frequently ‘borrowed’ foreign powers to deal with all the predicaments he faced . Just like in the Lord of the Rings world, Pirates of the Caribbean world and the Avatar World .
Yet now, it was a pity he couldn’t borrow power from elsewhere . An utter powerlessness!
Before this, the hardest difficulty he faced straight on was a ‘B+’ mission of the Starship Trooper world . That was when he squared off against the direct subordinates of the Blade Empress . Moreover, he still had some assistance in the Blackthorn tribe’s hydralisk and zerglings .
But now? His only assistance was 4 native servants and one Mbenga . Whats more, one of the servants looked as though he was crippled . Even one of the trio core, Mogensha, had lost his battle capabilities and had retired from this world .
“What should I do?” Many notions rapidly flashed past Sheyan’s mind .
By this point, those famished mutated Arachnidacrabs could detect their food source, as they barrelled swiftly through the spongy and moist mud to encircle their prey .
Their rounded bellies rapidly secreted out cyanide and amide, blending them with unique digestive enzymes . These Arachnidacrabs awaited the moment of sinking their sharp venomous fangs into the reddened flesh of their prey, before channelling those toxins to paralyse them . After disintegrating all edible portion into creamy paste, they would finally satiate their absorptive mandibles .
Pu! Pu! Dried leaves and slushy mud splattered as these weird fiends were spurred to labour by their insatiable appetites .
Suddenly, 4 mutated Arachnidacrabs propelled out from underground .
Unfolding their incisive limbs in mid-air, they dragged along a sparkling thin silk behind their buttocks . Indeed, their target was Reef who was presenting guarding the hut’s entrance .
Without a doubt, Reef was long prepared as he sliced his lightsaber towards a mutated Arachnidacrab, while simultaneously blocking his front with his dark-golden shield .
Radiating brilliance shone forth, and though the other 3 mutated Arachnidacrab possessed razor-sharp venomous fangs, they utterly failed to chomp through Reef’s shield . Moreover, despite their hard outer shell, they were all blown away giddy .
Meanwhile, Sheyan wasn’t one to cower . With his right hand covering his eyes and other vital areas, he leapt towards the mutated Arachnidacrab that Reef had attacked, before chopping down with his long saber .
Kacha! That mutated creature inevitably couldn’t withstand the daunting might of Sheyan’s ‘+7 West’, as greenish pus splashed out from the chop .
A large chunk of its thick shell dangled out, as white fluids spilt out from the exposed crack; a scene that resembled a Chinese mitten crab of Yangchen lake being trampled on . Looking as though it was semi dead, another complimentary blade would suffice to end it all .
However, upon witnessing this scene, Sheyan’s countenance completely sank… . . so much so, that his earlier expression before his fatal chop was much more pleasant .
This was after all, minimally a freaking ‘A+’ difficulty world!!
The puny vitality of these pesky mutated Arachnidacrabs could only signify one thing .
Their offensive might, or perhaps their strength in numbers, had possibly attained a terrifying stage seemingly impossible for any foe to withstand .
Right now, Sheyan suddenly recalled about Mogensha being trapped in that silk cocoon .
“It seems like my earlier conjecture was completely wrong!! I had always thought AK’s miserable state was the work of the Ndipaya barbarians, cruelly torturing him after they apprehended him… . In hindsight, I mistook the order of events . Darn it, AK had obviously managed to escape but was reduced to such a state after being bitten by these freaks of nature; ones that would venture out to the outer reaches occasionally . That was how he had been captured by those Ndipaya barbarians!”
“But the question lies in this . Why did AK encounter these creatures, when we didn’t? Oh, there’s another possibility . The underground passageway contained traces of these creatures burrowing through holes . Likely, those outer Ndipaya barbarians paid an immense cost to harvest their toxins and smeared it onto their wooden pikes . As such, they could have reserved it as their hidden trump as well… . . ”
While Sheyan was anxiously processing all this information in his mind, the wooden walls suddenly reverberated with chains of repetitive scraping; as though something incomparably sharp was carving inwards .
Within a short span of seconds, wooden splinters and dust exploded out, as a hole was drilled through the solid wooden wall .
All of a sudden, at least 5-6 enormous mutated Arachnidacrabs blasted in, as thin silvery threads dangled behind their buttocks .
After the lesson learned from their predecessor’s death, these freaks of nature shuttled through the air without urgency to attack . Instead, they started spinning their webs .
The spider threads secreted by these fiends were exceedingly sticky and tough . Anyone who touches it would find it excruciatingly difficult to remove, and ones with weak immunity, would even be inflicted with poison .
One of Reef’s servant lurched forward while sweeping horizontally with his pike, instantly smashing one mutated Arachnidacrab flying .
Instead, another mutated Arachnidacrab stealthily pounced onto his chest before chomping down . Releasing a fleeting blood-curdling scream, that servant instantly froze and crashed rigidly to the ground .
Witnessing his own servant receiving such a grievous blow, Reef roared furiously and immediately charged forward in an attempt to lift the siege on his servant . Regrettably, water from afar quenches not fire, as strands of spider threads binding his legs caused him to tumble forward mindlessly .
After climbing back up, the scene of his lifeless servant with rolled back eyes greeted him, while that mutated Arachnidacrab continued insatiably absorbing his vitality . Even though that servant remained silently rigid, his facial muscles convulsed violently with anguish . The skin around his eyes was ruptured with spilling blood .
Watching such a scene, Reef immediately executed a frontward roll with his shield, before slapping it against the mutated Arachnidacrab .
Understanding that his lightsaber held a lesser chance of landing a hit, due to the Arachnidacrab’s outstanding agility, he opted for striking with the larger area of his shield; supplying him a greater chance of landing a strike .
Sensing that its life was under threat, the famished mutated Arachnidacrab twitched its four forelimbs in a panic attempt to dart away . Sadly, its venomous fangs were already deeply hooked into the taut muscular flesh of its prey . Without adequate time, how could it escape so simply?
However, upon seeing Reef’s retaliation, Mbenga howled with fluster .
“Don’t! Don’t hit it!”
Regrettably, the speedy retaliation of a Growth-hunter was amplified manifold that of the response of an ordinary person . Reef’s casual swinging shield had already brutally slapped across, at the same moment where Mbenga had shouted ‘Don’t’!
As it turns out, this mutated Arachnidacrab was truly a peculiar creature .
Though it shared both the distinctive traits of a spider and a crab, its characteristics skewed more towards its spidey side . Their method of consumption was slightly similar to humans . Not only could they chew on solid food, they could inject digestive enzymes and toxins into their prey; slowly dissolving their enemy’s flesh and bones, before leisurely absorbing a skin bag of ‘soda’ .
Of the two methods, the mutated Arachnidacrab favoured the latter, as sucking was less taxing than chewing in addition to liquid foods being more digestible…
That also indicated that if one didn’t resist after getting bitten, though unbearable searing agony would still be present, one could still live for a longer duration . Besides, only the Arachnidacrab’s toxins were potent but its digestive enzymes would require a long period to take full effect .
Therefore, the aftermath of Reef slapping his shield down onto the spider was akin to squeezing a syringe filled with venom into his servant’s body .
Within an instant, that servant released an immeasurably melancholic scream before both his eyes ruptured with a ‘Pop’! Two striking streaks of blood spurted out instantaneously .
Following that, his body bloated up like an inflated ball as he turned limp and finally died .
Of course, that mutated Arachnidacrab had pathetically been squished to death on the servant’s chest as well . Its life force and defence wasn’t high to begin with, and after lowering its guard while feasting, it naturally couldn’t withstand Reef’s light smack .
At this moment, Sheyan could finally perceive the category of these creatures .
It was analogous to the suicide bombers of the real world . Killing them was simple, but once they latched onto someone, they could rapidly dispatch their victim with ease as well .
When that mutated Arachnidacrab was squashed, excessive volume of its hormonal fluids had also splattered out; introducing a piercing sour stench into the air .
Upon seeing the death of their comrade and stimulated by the splattered hormonal fluids the other Arachnidacrabs flew into a frenzy .
This wasn’t due to their craving for vengeance . Perhaps, they didn’t even understand what the term ‘revenge’ was . Instead, it belonged to a simple carving to satiate their appetite .
Their originally brown exterior shell turned increasingly red, as their plate-sized bodies swelled into the size of a washbasin . In this state, their shuttling speed had multiplied, as a rustling of skirts echoed through the air!
The faint smell of apricots dispersed into the air . The third lethal weapon of these Arachnidacrabs, ‘Toxic Miasma’ had been activated .
These creatures possessed poison glands at the joints of their hairy long limbs . These poison glands operated in a similar fashion to a nebulizer . Upon sensing danger, their nebulizer-like poison glands would disseminate toxic fumes into the atmosphere, which would impair movement and induce hallucination and other symptoms .
At this instant, Sheyan chopped down with his long saber, he maliciously cut down a mutated Arachnidacrab in mid-air .
Kacha! Greenish sap splashed out from that basin sized fiend .
Still, its scorpion tail continued struggling behind its rear, as it smacked against the blade surface of ‘+7 West’ . Its might was truly worthy of being an ‘A+’ difficulty creature, as it managed to thrust a tiny concave depression on the surface of Sheyan’s ‘+7 West’ saber .
Despite eliminating another mutated Arachnidacrab, dodging around wasn’t his forte . With just a fraction of delay, he instantly felt a pain jolting up his spine .
Eyeing him, another Arachnidacrab had pounced on him before violently injecting toxins and digestive enzymes into his back .
A pain that could dim the heavens and the earth instantly plagued Sheyan’s consciousness . He believed that if not for his innate ‘Stronghold’ ability, in addition to having raised his virus immunity at the outer reaches of the Kijuju Marshland, he would’ve inevitably passed out like Brother Black .
Quickly browsing through his stats, he shockingly realized that mutated Arachnidacrab had inflicted a wound, that could deal persisting damages every 3 seconds . Moreover, each damage actually soared to a pinnacle of 300 points! This effect would only cease if one stepped into a near-death state or after 1,500 points of damage had been dealt .
“AHHHHHHHHH!” Sheyan pulled out ‘Ambition’ in his anguish, as he placed the muzzle of this musket straight before this avaricious plunderer and squeezed the trigger!
Blasting the Arachnidacrab into a fountain of greenish sap, limbs and insect chunks scattered in all directions . Still, two venomous fangs remained deeply lodged into Sheyan’s flesh .
Meanwhile, after recovering from his mistake, Reef had unleashed a furious roar – ‘Shattering Cardiac Roar’ activated!
According to theory, such an area of effect ability would be optimal against these queer pesky bugs with astonishing nimbleness but terrible vitality .
In contrast, the most abhorring thing occurred – the major flaw of Reef’s ‘Shattering Cardiac Roar’ was exhibited . It was completely lacking in effect precedence, and thus became suppressed as a result of this world’s difficulty .
Every single mutated Arachnidacrab was unexpectedly immune to its effects, and the notifying reason was… . . the Arachnidacrab had no ears . Furthermore, its strange bodily composition had rendered the resonating damaging effect of ‘Shattering Cardiac Roar’ utterly invalid .
On the contrary, although the mutated Arachnidacrabs didn’t suffer any damage, the shockwave vibrations of Reef’s ability had just provoked it, acting as an additional threat . It was the same logic as waving a pair of scissors in front of a man’s crotch .
Seemingly unanimous, these mutated Arachnidacrabs shifted their assaulting target in a flash .
Simultaneously, they lunged towards Reef, who had already assumed a defensive stance with his raised shield .
Dum! Dum! Dum! Within a blink of an eye, chains of colliding sounds echoed out as the mutated Arachnidacrabs tightly encircled around Reef .
Even though the surface area of his dark-gold grade shield wasn’t small, it couldn’t be compared with a tower shield . Moreover, even a tower shield could merely cover a 180 degrees angle at the front . A person’s back would still be left exposed .
Although the ‘Grasp of Pharaoh Welkhahor’ shield managed to fend off the lunging strikes of 3-4 mutated Arachnidacrabs, at least 4 other mutated Arachnidacrabs latched onto Reef’s body in a flash; their incisive venomous fangs puncturing deep into his flesh!
In this moment, one could vividly see the veins on Reef’s forehead bulging up, as the searing pain turned his eyes scarlet red .
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