Chapter 852

Chapter 852

Chen Xiaolian made his way through three temples in quick succession. In every temple, he saw the same thing. Remnant traces of battle and a corpse lying on the ground.

It would appear that the strength of the participants for this instance dungeon was quite good.

As he was desperately running away, Chen Xiaolian could also feel Shen chasing after him.

Only, it would appear that Shen was clearly being tormented by the pain caused by the virus code. His power, which was radiating outwards, was continuously falling. Even his speed had fallen as well.

However, there was no way to know how long it would take for him to reach the lowest point of the U curve.

The Temple of Cancer stood before him. Chen Xiaolian made the calculations in his mind. Given his current speed, even if he could not defeat Shen, he could at least guarantee that he would reach the final part of the twelve temples before Shen caught up to him.

The thought had only just crossed his mind when a black fog suddenly appeared before him. The black fog proceeded to envelop him.

As the black fog was permeating the air around him, countless sharp blades, each of varying shapes, appeared out of thin air to shoot towards him.

A magic six-pointed star circle also appeared on the ground beneath his feet. Light flowed around the circle before a pillar of light abruptly surged upwards.

From above, a massive copper bell descended, intending to encase Chen Xiaolian’s entire body within it.

“Ambush?!”

Although Chen Xiaolian was slightly surprised by this, he did not panic in the slightest. The Flash Bow of Ketu-Rahu was already in his hand and he swiftly swung it around.

When the sharp blades from the black fog made contact with the edge blades of the bow, they immediately broke into two each before falling to the ground, where they would disappear without a trace.

The black fog itself seemed to possess a very strong corrosive attribute, but was kept out entirely by the Moonless Fivefold Light Armour.

When the pillar of light emitted by the magic circle on the ground bombarded the Moonless Fivefold Light Armour, it failed to inflict any damage. Instead, it was neatly deflected, resulting in a big hole on the roof of the temple.

As for the copper bell, it descended smoothly to encase Chen Xiaolian within it.

The moment the copper bell hit the ground, everything around him adhered seamlessly to the ground while numerous thunderbolts and flames appeared from the walls of the bell, seemingly from thin air, and assailed Chen Xiaolian.

A slight frown appeared on Chen Xiaolian’s face, but still he did not panic. Quickly, he pulled the Flash Bow of Ketu-Rahu.

This time, he did not charge up his move and immediately fired out an arrow. The Flash Arrow smashed the wall of the bell, blasting open a big hole there.

The copper bell emitted a world-startling sound that sounded like a wail. Then, shuddering a few times, it rapidly flew up.

Chen Xiaolian had only just rushed out from the encirclement formed by the black fog, magic circle and copper bell when he saw the copper bell above shrink to the size of a fist. Then, the copper bell flew unsteadily towards a distant pillar.

At the same time, he heard a shrill scream.

“My East Emperor’s Bell!”

You guys are the ones who started attacking without so much as a word. No point in complaining at me.

Chen Xiaolian sneered. He ignored how many enemies there were. Instead, he pulled the bow and aimed at the spot where the copper bell was flying towards.

Release!

The Flash Arrow flew in pursuit of the copper bell, but it had already locked onto the ambusher hiding behind the pillar.

Suddenly, a quick chanting sound could be heard and Chen Xiaolian saw the copper bell fly back to its owner’s hand.

Following a sonorous shout, two black, gigantic doors suddenly emerged from the ground to block the Flash Arrow.

They had never expected this result.

Naturally, the losses here were not important.

They had already checked it. All the redeemable items in the shop were still priced at 0.

Be it the severely damaged East Emperor’s Bell or the utterly scrapped Rashomon, they can simply redeem another one.

At any rate, they were all free.

The issue here, though, was that their confidence had been utterly destroyed.

They had clearly redeemed all the strongest equipment. So... why was there no effect at all?

Moreover, the youngster earlier clearly had no intentions of continuing the fight. He had only fired out two arrows, destroying two pieces of equipment before immediately scooting off. He didn’t even fire another arrow at them.

Naturally, the four of them had already redeemed the strongest recovery and revive skills, making their bodies nigh unkillable.

But thinking back to how powerful the two arrows were, the four of them felt doubtful. If they had to take on the arrow attack with their bodies, what would happen to them?

“This instance dungeon... just what is wrong with it?” Moonlight was astounded. “First, the system suddenly gave us the unlimited redemption privilege for no reason. Then... a monster like that appeared in this instance dungeon...”

“Not, it’s not one...” Swift Swallow suddenly realized it. “The prompt from the instance dungeon stated that we have to kill two Awakened ones! That fellow just now did not attack us. He must be running away! He’s running from the guy behind him!”

Simultaneously, the gazes of the other three fellows turned – following Swift Swallow’s gaze – towards the third temple behind them.

“You mean to say... back there, there’s... a guy that’s even stronger?” Shockbolt had a look of disbelief on his face. “The guy who destroyed my Rashomon with one arrow, is being chased?”

“That’s probably the case.” Swift Swallow nodded slowly.

“Then... do we still fight?” Moonlight gave Tempest a glance, feeling somewhat hesitant. Then, he turned towards Swift Swallow and asked, “Right, where’s the second fellow now?”

“Not far. They’ve already reached the Temple of Taurus. They’re very fast. I expect the other party to arrive here in less than three minutes.” Swift Swallow frowned before continuing, “Guild Leader, what now?”

“We...” Tempest deliberated the issue for a moment before quickly saying, “The situation is unclear. It’s better not to make enemies so carelessly. Perhaps, the unlimited redemption privilege that we obtained is related to those two fellows. Earlier, we may have gotten carried away. We should not have attacked recklessly. When the second Awakened fellow gets here, we’ll ask him what’s going on.”

“Sounds reasonable.” Moonlight nodded in agreement. “When the instance dungeon released the additional quest, it did not state what the punishment for failure is. Maybe nothing will happen. Besides, with the strength we currently possess, there’s no need to worry about any punishment. Even having to enter a punishment instance dungeon is nothing. On the contrary, figuring out what’s going on here is more important.”

“We’ll do just that!”

Tempest nodded. Then, he turned around and retraced his steps before sitting down on the steps of the temple entrance, the ones that did not collapse anyways. “We are all experts here. There is no need to recklessly attack. We should first communicate as equals. I will sit here and wait for the other party. You guys, don’t attack. Eh, they’re here. So fast-”

Suddenly, Tempest stood up and looked down the steps.

A figure was galloping towards the Temple of Cancer with lightning-like speed.

“Friend, I am Tempest from the Tempest Assault Squad. I have–”

“Out of the way.”

All Tempest heard was an indifferent voice. Immediately after that, a golden beam of light enveloped his entire vision.

The golden light flashed for but a single moment and was swiftly followed by what seemed like endless, pitch-black darkness.

Every part of his consciousness remained stuck at that moment.

With a flash of golden light, a bloody cloud of blood, together with half a body, flew like an artillery blast to smash into a partly broken marble pillar, one of those that did not completely collapse. Then, whatever remained slowly trickled down like tomato sauce.

As for the figure, it had already disappeared far into the distance.