Chapter 750

Chapter 750

When the silhouette within the thick mist began moving forward, approaching their positions, Terraflame and the others felt their hearts clenching.

The BOSS of the second phase, Anubis, was far stronger than they had anticipated. The six of them had exhausted themselves, going as far as self-destructing Hillghost’s hard-won high-grade mech, equipped with a neutron reactor, only to fail to leave a single scratch on Anubis.

And yet, this mighty BOSS’ strongest sand shield was pierced like a fragile handkerchief. He did not even get the opportunity to unleash a counter attack before that one hit blasted his whole body into bloody mist.

One hit, just one hit!

Both Terraflame and Riche had witnessed Guild Leader Shen in action before.

They could feel it. This unknown entity stepping out from the bloody mist was likely… … even stronger than Guild Leader Shen.

Even more shocking was the system prompt from the instance dungeon. It could not reveal who had killed off Anubis. Instead, there was only ‘???’ there.

It would appear that… … this entity was an existence beyond the comprehension of Players and Awakened ones alike.

And so, the question…

Was this terrifying entity friend, or foe?

Terraflame tightly clenched his palms, which were sweating from the feelings of anxiousness. He watched as the silhouette emerged from the bloody fog and the silhouette’s features grew clear.

He was a youngster, seemingly no more than 20 years old. There was a hint of inexperience on his face.

He wore a spectacular armour, one which exuded prismatic colours with a flowing quality. Behind the armour was a pair of spread golden wings, which quivered with each step the youngster took.

The atmosphere of power the youngster emanated was so powerful, it made them tremble.

This is an extremely powerful monster!

The sight that made Terraflame tremble the most was the frown currently etched upon the youngster’s face. There were no other emotions on his face as he swept his gaze around before letting it rest upon Terraflame.

From the look on his face, he seems… … unhappy?

Terraflame took a deep breath and waited for the other party to speak up.

However, as the seconds ticked by, the youngster before him remained silent, not uttering a single word at all. All he did was stare at Terraflame with an expressionless gaze.

He… … what is he planning?

The longer the youngster stared at him, the more nervous he became. The atmosphere rising from the youngster was like that of a 10,000-strong army. Terraflame was close to suffocating.

Finally, under the suffocating silence, Terraflame fell to one knee with a “plop”.

“Starfall Guild’s African Region Manager, Terraflame, thanks Your Excellency for saving us!”

Riche, who was behind him, hesitated only for a moment before hastily emulating Terraflame’s actions. He knelt down on one knee and lowered his head. “Thorned Flower Guild’s Riche thanks Your Excellency for saving us!”

…

After a resounding boom, Chen Xiaolian snapped open both his eyes.

The moment he opened his eyes, he saw a vast stretch of desert rushing towards him at a neck-breaking speed.

I… … am falling?

That thought had only just appeared in Chen Xiaolian’s mind when he saw a large jackal-headed monster standing at the very spot that he was about to fall upon. The monster turned to look at him.

The monster roared and spread open both its arms. Next, the countless sands beneath it rapidly flew up to form a giant shield before it.

A series of black halos appeared from mid-air to land and spread through the giant shield, which was placed right before Chen Xiaolian’s falling trajectory.

“Son of a bitch!”

Chen Xiaolian swore. However, due to his figure’s high downward velocity, wind assailed his mouth at an insane speed, making it impossible for his voice to escape his mouth.

Moonless Fivefold Light Armour has wings!

The thought quickly flashed through Chen Xiaolian’s mind and he attempted to control the Moonless Fivefold Light Armour to allow him to fly.

However, his thought became like an ox figurine tossed into the vast sea. Since wearing the Moonless Fivefold Light Armour, it had felt like an extension of his own body, an item that he could control at will. At present, however, it had become like heavy iron. It was no longer responding to his commands.

Moonless Fivefold Light Armour… … is not working anymore?

I am about to slam into it!

Seeing the distance between himself and the giant shield plummeting swiftly, Chen Xiaolian hastily made a final posture to face the shield. He extended both arms to protect his face and curled his body up, seemingly turning his body into a heavy iron barrel.

“Shit!”

Boom!

Chen Xiaolian’s body slammed heavily upon the giant shield.

The instant his body made contact with the giant shield, however, dazzling light shone from the Moonless Fivefold Light Armour. The moment it made contact with the dazzling light from Moonless Fivefold Light Armour, the black light imbued upon the giant shield was dispersed in a flash.

It was not just the black light. Even the giant shield itself was incapable of resisting the sturdiness of Moonless Fivefold Light Armour and the downward momentum of Chen Xiaolian’s fall. With a bang, the shield was pierced right through.

Even after having to pierce through the shield, Chen Xiaolian’s momentum was only slightly weakened.

After breaking through the giant shield, Chen Xiaolian felt something else. It felt as though he had smashed through a soft object. At the same time, Moonless Fivefold Light Armour unleashed a burst of light. The burst of light contained a potent force, which repelled everything away.

With a muffled “pu” sound, Chen Xiaolian felt a shock running through his whole body as he fell onto the ground, tumbling a few times before finally coming to a stop.

Slowly, Chen Xiaolian opened his eyes, his heart palpitating non-stop.

It seems… … I am still alive?

He raised his hand to wave it before his eyes before looking down at his own body.

It would appear he did not lose any arms or legs.

However, his body was stained with blood. He could see brutally torn limbs, the result of the earlier high-speed impact, strewn around him.

Those seem to be… … the limbs from the jackal-headed monster’s corpse?

A bloody mist rested before his eyes, making it impossible to properly discern anything. However, there was one thing that Chen Xiaolian could be certain of. This place… … was certainly not within Zero City.

Only, his final memories of what happened earlier were somewhat fuzzy at the moment.

The last thing he remembered was him pushing both his hands into the Oddity. Thus, the rate at which the chaos entered his body doubled. It also immediately doubled the unbearable sensations of pain wracking his body.

Chen Xiaolian remembered; before losing consciousness, he had given Zero City a command. The moment the Oddity was fully extracted, Zero City were to immediately teleport everyone – excluding those within Room Zero – out of Zero City.

After that, his vision turned black as he fainted.

He had just awoken earlier only to find himself falling through the sky. He even killed a monster in the process.

But… … where am I?

Chen Xiaolian used both hands to prop himself up. Then, he got up and was able to faintly make out several silhouettes some distance before him.

Feeling confused, Chen Xiaolian walked towards the silhouettes.

No matter what, since there were some people around, he should be able to ask them where he was.

After taking tens of steps forward, the bloody mist grew thinner and he was able to clearly make out the six figures standing up front.

Almost all of them sported wounds on their bodies. Obviously, they had just gone through a great battle. The surrounding area was filled with traces of battle.

Even farther away was a large crater, the result of an explosion. The heat from the explosion had yet to cool down and the melted glass continued to emit red light.

Far behind the six figures was a hill. There were close to a hundred men there, all equipped with various equipment.

Chen Xiaolian was utterly confused.

This doesn’t look like the outside world. Rather, it looks more like… … an instance dungeon?

However, I had just exited Zero City. How did I suddenly end up inside an instance dungeon?

And these six fellows, are they Awakened ones or Players? There is an indescribable strangeness about the way they are looking at me.

The peculiar scene caused Chen Xiaolian’s brows to furrow.

Will this end in a fight?

However, Chen Xiaolian was not worried about that possibility.

Given his level of strength, he could already be considered a leading figure within the Awakened circle. He was wearing the Moonless Fivefold Light Armour, a sacred artefact. He had comprehended the world source code within the angel wings. He had even obtained the Oddity. As long was he did not have to face those ancient titans, what was there for him to fear?

Just… … what happened to the Flash Bow of Ketu-Rahu?

Having thought of that, Chen Xiaolian quickly checked his Storage Watch.

There were protective suits, the Sword in the Stone, some weapons he acquired from Zero City, healing substances and even a Sentinel mech.

The Flash Bow of Ketu-Rahu had disappeared to who knows where.

However, there was a more shocking matter for Chen Xiaolian.

All the upgrades he made to his personal attributes have disappeared.

At present, the data displayed within his personal interface was:

Physique: D+

Endurance: D

Agility: C

Energy Points: Zero.

Comprehensive Melee Ability: C-

Comprehensive Range Ability: Zero.

Those values were the ones that Chen Xiaolian had seen the first time he checked his attributes, after becoming an Irregularity through a metal sphere in a plane crash.

All the upgrades he made to his attributes since then had disappeared.

It was as though they had been… … respecced, or rather, rolled back.

Too absurd.

And… … where is the Oddity?

Chen Xiaolian could clearly remember it. Back in the Longevity Palace, the moment his hand made contact with the maelstrom of chaos, the chaos had flowed through his arm to enter his body.

Since he had left Zero City, he should be in possession of the Oddity.

However… … how could he check that out?

There was no way it could be within his Storage Watch. How could a storage equipment produced by the system accommodate a portion of the inceptive template?

Within his personal system, with the exception of his attributes, which have been rolled back to their initial values, there were no other irregularities.

If so… … where is the Oddity?

Even though Chen Xiaolian’s gaze was resting upon the six people standing before him, his mind was far away and there was no way to tell what expression was on his face.

After around one minute, one by one, the six figures knelt on one knee before him.

“Starfall Guild’s African Region Manager, Terraflame, thanks Your Excellency for saving us!”

“Thorned Flower Guild’s Team D Captain, Riche, thanks Your Excellency for saving us!”

Starfall Guild?

Thorned Flower Guild?

Chen Xiaolian was flabbergasted.

Starfall Guild. That was the guild formed by the Awakened ones who left Thorned Flower Guild after Shen’s disappearance.

Logically speaking, the two of them should be irreconcilably hostile towards one another. They should have fought each other to the death the moment they met.

And yet, why did they appear as though they had just been fighting side by side?

Chen Xiaolian had originally planned on asking them that. However, after witnessing the behaviour from all six of them, he quickly changed his mind.

Chen Xiaolian considered the situation and was able to quickly guess what was going on.

Earlier, when he was falling through the sky, he was unable to control his descent trajectory in any way. Relying on the Moonless Fivefold Light Armour’s defensive power, he had accidentally smashed a monster to its death. That monster must be this instance dungeon’s BOSS.

Due to the high velocity of his fall, when he slammed the monster to its death, the impact had created a thick mist of blood. Coincidentally, the bloody mist had blocked their line of sight and they failed to see Chen Xiaolian tumbling wretchedly across the desert.

Following a very logical thought process, the six people there had assumed that Chen Xiaolian had descended from the sky and killed off the monster in one hit.

Judging by their miserably wounded appearances, it would appear that the monster was quite powerful.

Chen Xiaolian was originally concerned that a conflict may erupt between him and these people. However, since they were showing such a show of respect towards him… … why not make use of it?

Appearance wise, the six of them did not appear to be weaklings. As for Chen Xiaolian, his personal strength had fallen so badly, he felt a complete loss of face.

With the exception of the purely defensive Moonless Fivefold Light Armour that he was wearing, he had nothing else to show. Peculiarly enough, at present, it seemed as though the Moonless Fivefold Light Armour could passively defend him. However, Chen Xiaolian could not control it. Not only could he not move it, he could not even shrink the wings back to their hoop forms.

Not only did all his attribute upgrades disappear, even all his skills had disappeared. The Demon King of Confusion’s Three Axes, the Sword Skill from Mr San and even the Basic Skills he acquired in the very beginning had disappeared. All that was left was his initial skill, the Goddess of Dawn.

In other words, the only offensive skill that Chen Xiaolian possessed was the Overwhelming Sunlight Purification which will combust all his attributes.

The problem was Chen Xiaolian’s pitiful amount of basic attributes. Even if he were to combust them, how much power could it possess? Not to mention, the effects from the Power Propagation Serum, which allowed for his attributes to automatically recover, had been erased as well.

Thankfully, his summoning system remained. Both the Four-eyed War Cat and Taishi Ci, the only one left in the Starchart of Generals, could be summoned.

As for the War Soul Bai Qi, he had left the Starchart of Generals back when he was in Zero City. At present, there was no way to summon him.

Chen Xiaolian made a rough estimate. Excluding the Moonless Fivefold Light Armour, his comprehensive combat power should be between [B+] to [A-]. His biggest trump card was the summon with a 30-minute summon duration and a 48-hour cooldown, War Soul Taishi Ci.

As for the Moonless Fivefold Light Armour… … although it was a sacred artefact, it was purely defensive in nature. It could not be used for offence in any way. Or rather, even if it did possess such an aspect, Chen Xiaolian was unable to use it.

That the jackal-headed monster would die to it was just bad luck on its part. Additionally, it was also an idiot.

Chen Xiaolian was falling from a high altitude at breakneck velocity while wearing a defensive sacred artefact, the Moonless Fivefold Light Armour. Another way of describing him at that point in time would be of an indestructible artillery blast, capable of piercing through anything. 

If the monster had chosen to not use that sand shield to stop him and instead just dodged to the side, Chen Xiaolian would be incapable of harming it in the slightest. And yet, it had chosen to stand right there and use its sand shield to face the might of the Moonless Fivefold Light Armour.

Be it the sand shield or the monster’s body, how can either of them stand against the defensive power of the Moonless Fivefold Light Armour?

If a ballistic missile were to descend from beyond Earth’s atmosphere at high velocity, as long as it could hit its target, it could sink even an aircraft carrier. The same was true even if you substitute the missile with an iron shovel.

However, what if Chen Xiaolian had to go fight against the monster head on? Even if the monster could not break Moonless Fivefold Light Armour’s defence, failing to harm Chen Xiaolian in the slightest, Chen Xiaolian would also be incapable of doing anything to the monster.

Wealth can get an innocent man in trouble. Chen Xiaolian’s personal strength was too weak. However, he wore a sacred artefact. If these people were to find out… … Moonless Fivefold Light Armour’s defence may not be able to stop them from robbing him.

After all, ‘an indestructible defence’ and ‘cannot be pulled out’ were two very different concepts.

“Thorned Flower Guild?” said Chen Xiaolian coolly while giving Riche a side glance.

“Yes!” Riche’s body gave a slight quiver. He raised his head and immediately said, “My name is Riche. Have you… … heard of us before?”