22. We still have no idea what special abilities the second form possesses.

Upon realizing that there were no safe zones on the first floor of the Underground Temple, the Void & Reality Boundary team quickly pressed forward after their respawn, arriving at the corridor where they had first encountered the corpse tide.

Orange Tea received a notification from her "Unknown Revelation."

"Death is approaching."

Jiang Heyi immediately ordered, "Disperse."

The tightly knit group split into two. Jiang Heyi, French Fry, and Jailer stood their ground to keep watch, while Orange Tea, protected by Zhong Zemo, began running back along the path they had come.

A chill swept rapidly through the corridor, lingering only for a moment above the trio before vanishing aggressively around a distant corner.

"I have to hand it to you, it’s exactly as you guessed."

Jailer praised Jiang Heyi’s decision, though his hands remained busy; he began affixing bottles containing low-quality elemental essence dust—obtained from Mint—to the walls on both sides.

Similar bottles appeared in the hands of Jiang Heyi and Original French Fry.

"Orange Tea’s priority level is even higher than I imagined," Jiang Heyi remarked.

Indeed, no matter where one goes, a "lucky star" is always a natural aggro-magnet.

This was Jiang Heyi’s plan: rely on Orange Tea’s extremely high threat level to lure away the Frog-Headed Amalgamation the moment it appeared.

Zhong Zemo was tasked with doing his best to protect Orange Tea.

The reason it was only "his best" was that, frankly, no one expected the bait duo to return. In an invisible mana state, precisely defending against sudden physical and magical attacks was incredibly difficult. Given the terrifying strength the Frog-Headed Amalgamation had displayed previously, even the most reliable heavy metal shield would be destroyed in two hits at most.

Simply holding out until the trap was set would be a monumental achievement.

They had four bottles each of ground low-quality fire and water elemental essence.

The containers were placed symmetrically at four corners, with a large pile of [Unstable Combustion Potions] in the center, and a common, low-tier wind attribute scroll pasted to the ceiling.

The "solution" provided by the embarrassing witch, Mint, was now in place.

The three men stood behind this strange formation, waiting in tense anticipation.

This was a plan with very little room for error. If they couldn't take down the Frog-Headed Amalgamation in one go, it would eventually learn and find ways to counter them, making subsequent attempts exponentially harder.

"Potato, I just thought of a meme."

"Do you really have to spout nonsense at a time like this?"

Knowing that even if he objected, the clownish Jailer couldn't keep his mouth shut, Jiang Heyi simply let him be.

"The perfect mosquito trap: the mosquito lands on salt thinking it’s sugar, gets thirsty from the salt, goes to drink water but finds it’s booze, gets drunk, trips over a stick, and then smashes its head into a rock."

Uh...

It was indeed a classic old card game meme—the kind of whimsical builds players come up with that require the opponent to cooperate perfectly. If even one tiny accident occurred, the desired result wouldn't happen, hence the mockery.

*I just hope the embarrassing witch isn't an embarrassing card player, and that her plan is simple and effective,* Jiang Heyi couldn't help but think.

...

The moment they turned the corner after starting their run from the corridor, Orange Tea issued a danger alert.

In truth, no alert was needed. A chill, like falling into an ice cellar, had already penetrated Zhong Zemo’s marrow, leaving his back frozen.

They sprinted with all their might along the straight marble corridor leading to the Grand Bathhouse, the "hissing" sound of their friction tearing through the silence.

There was no chance of winning by speed alone. Their goal from the start was to stall for time—the longer they held out, the more valuable their deaths would be.

Zhong Zemo suddenly reached out and grabbed Orange Tea, who was still running for her life. Caught off guard, she plunged into his arms, and the two tumbled onto the slick marble floor, rolling a significant distance.

On their original path, the ground shattered with a bang, sending gravel flying into the air.

Without time to clear their dizzy heads, Zhong Zemo acted on instinct. He helped Orange Tea up and stood before her, holding his greatshield aloft.

Before they could even see what had happened, a heavy, resonant boom from the impact on the shield caused them to lose their balance, sending the world into a spin.

Zhong Zemo poured all his strength into bracing himself. Though the greatshield cracked, it didn't budge, as if it had been forged into the floor.

Knowing the next strike was already coming, Zhong Zemo quickly swapped to a kite shield he had ready and grabbed the dazed Orange Tea.

"Blessing, then hold on tight to me."

"Huh?"

Though she didn't know what he meant, Orange Tea obediently reached out and hugged Zhong Zemo’s waist tightly.

Having failed to land its attacks twice, the Frog-Headed Amalgamation let out a shrill screech, causing Jiang Heyi, far in the distance, to shudder.

While only mages could see the flow of mana, there was a brief window when a creature exited the mana state and reappeared in reality.

A pale arm shifted from phantom to reality, like a brush dipped in water, leaving a wet but invisible stroke on the canvas of reality.

The ripples—they could see them!

Adjusting his footing, Zhong Zemo held the kite shield to his chest.

The monstrous force arrived instantly. The kite shield shattered upon impact, exploding into fragments.

Zhong Zemo and Orange Tea were launched like cannonballs, flying a long distance, tumbling out of the bathhouse corridor and sliding across the smooth marble floor before finally stopping against a thick pillar.

Orange Tea finally understood why he had told her to hold on—it was the same maneuver "Potato" used, predicting the monster's attack and using its own momentum to escape the danger zone.

The kite shield couldn't absorb that immense power. Under the direct hit, his right arm was dripping with blood, hanging limp at his side.

There were no health bars, but there were hit-box calculations for limb injuries. Having his shield magic pierced and only losing the arm holding the shield meant Zhong Zemo had been incredibly lucky.

"Your luck really saves lives when you draw on it..."

"Don't discuss metaphysics right now!"

With Zhong Zemo as a cushion, Orange Tea hadn't taken much damage. After her retort, she calmly chanted [Wind Spirit Prayer], one of the school skills she had acquired after reaching Level 5.

Similar to the [Wind's Blessing] of the embarrassing witch and Jailer, it increased movement speed. The difference was...

In the vortex gathering around them, two creatures resembling miniature sprites appeared, flapping butterfly wings.

Without needing an order from Orange Tea, they transformed into a wind wall, blocking the path ahead. The companion wind spirits would do their utmost to protect the caster, even if it looked like throwing eggs against a stone.

Seeing the battered pair appear at the end of the corridor, Jiang Heyi was beyond shocked.

"How did they survive that?"

Though he couldn't see it, instinct told Zhong Zemo that those hands were reaching for Orange Tea again.

It was a keenness beyond the five senses.

He pushed Orange Tea aside, drew his last small metal round shield, and turned back.

The greatshield and the kite shield had failed to absorb the force; the tiny round shield looked like a joke.

However, a silvery-white radiance, symbolizing light-attribute enchantment, shimmered on this small shield.

At the final moment, Zhong Zemo hadn't chosen to enchant all three shields. He had poured all his limited potions into the option with the most hope for a counterattack.

The enchanted radiance briefly illuminated the ugly silhouette of the Amalgamation hidden beneath the mana field, as well as those pale, terrifying hands.

Boom!

In the eyes of Jiang Heyi and the others, the Frog-Headed Amalgamation shuddered, emerged from the mana field, and slammed heavily into the wall.

Zhong Zemo didn't defend; instead, at the split second before the attack arrived, he lightly deflected the Amalgamation’s massive hand.

Perfectly timed, exquisite to the extreme.

[Shield Parry]—the description for this skill was only one sentence:

"Timing is everything."

This wasn't a game with a fixed pattern. How to grasp the rhythm of using the small to defeat the large, of using four ounces to deflect a thousand pounds, depended entirely on the player’s own intuition and judgment.

"Holy crap, Inkfish!" Jailer yelled out.

"Boom!"

The Amalgamation, having just retreated into the mana field, tried the same trick again. This time, the attack from a different angle was also completely neutralized by an incredibly nimble shield parry.

It slammed headfirst into the wall again, leaving a massive crater.

Two brilliant counterattacks were enough to create the opening needed for the exhausted Zhong Zemo to return to the group.

"Holy crap, Inkfish! Holy crap, Inkfish!" Jailer was so stunned by the performance that he turned into a broken record. "What kind of frame-perfect parry is that? That’s insane!"

Jiang Heyi was also dumbfounded: "Did your eighteen-year-old self log in to play for you?"

Original French Fry couldn't hold back either: "Did you really reincarnate into a second life?"

Orange Tea was the least affected; as a gaming novice, she couldn't yet understand how terrifying Zhong Zemo’s frame-perfect parries were.

Crazed, violent, and roaring, the sound pierced everyone’s eardrums.

The Frog-Headed Amalgamation was furious. As a powerful undead construct, even with only a remnant of consciousness in control, it felt the humiliation of being countered twice.

As it lunged toward them, Jiang Heyi, who had been ready the whole time, roared:

"Activate!"

Jailer never dropped the ball at a critical moment. Two mana bolts struck the scroll on the ceiling and the elemental essence dust on the walls with precision.

The words of the embarrassing witch still rang in their ears:

"What you need to solve is the problem of it遁 escaping into a mana field where you can't effectively target its physical form."

"The solution is simple: create an elemental field that interferes with the mana field to force it out."

"The last time you used [Unstable Combustion Potions] to blow it out, it was the same principle—the fire and light disrupted the mana flow."

"Sheesh, an elemental field and a mana field aren't the same thing... it’s hard to explain to a mage of your level."

"You only need to know that an elemental field covering a mana field will cause the mana state dominated by the siren shell to malfunction. It needs time to adjust back to an elemental state. That unstable window is your chance; it won't be able to use form-shifting to avoid damage."

The wind element scroll dispersed the dust throughout the entire corridor to the maximum extent. In this brief window of time, the Frog-Headed Amalgamation would have nowhere to hide!

"Orange Tea, grant us good luck!"

The quality of the [Unstable Combustion Potions] was inconsistent. Even the embarrassing witch admitted that the one they bought last time was among her best work.

The reason she was constantly chased and harassed was precisely because her quality control was unstable, so there was no guarantee the potions provided this time would blow the roof off.

It didn't matter. They had Orange Tea.

Sacrificing one breath of Orange Tea’s good luck in exchange for a brilliant firework!

A vivid white light flooded every corner of their vision in less than a heartbeat, stinging the eyes of Jailer, who hadn't managed to close them in time, and bringing tears of "emotion" to his face.

There were no elemental shields. In that instant when the elemental dust was overflowing, their own spellcasting was also disrupted.

But even if they could cast spells, it wouldn't have helped.

Perhaps it was the one time the embarrassing witch managed to provide quality goods, or perhaps Orange Tea’s luck was truly inexhaustible.

The corridor disintegrated at a speed visible to the naked eye. Bricks and stones collapsed and melted like tofu; the intense heat turned everything around the center point into scorching magma, which was then thrown out by the explosion like a volcanic eruption.

All five members of Void & Reality Boundary experienced the sensation of flight. The hot wind shockwave slammed them into mid-air. The long, narrow corridor acted like a ventilation shaft, with volcanic ash and flying debris surging through this massive pipe.

"Wind Spirit... Prayer!"

"Earth Element... Shield!"

Before the chimney effect could fully form, two layers of shield magic protected them firmly.

Like silt carried by a flood, they were washed all the way back into the garden where they had been wiped out the first time, finally finding a point of leverage to escape the turbulence.

"Cough, cough, cough, cough..."

The realistic game feedback brought a very realistic sense of dizziness. It was a relief that one wouldn't actually throw up in the game.

"Was... was that effect a bit too much?"

Orange Tea stared in astonishment at the ruined architectural complex. She had never imagined those few potions could have such power.

Were all the things the embarrassing witch gave them this time masterpieces?

Long after the explosion ended, the group dared to step into the ruins again. The massive collapse forced them to crawl like rats through gaps left by the remaining support structures.

As they approached the center of the blast, Jailer suddenly spoke up.

"It’s blown up like this, surely it’s dead now, right?"

"Still not dead?" Zhong Zemo shouted. "Damn it, if it’s still alive after this, it’s not just a regular monster anymore—we have to hit it with everything we've got!"

Having contributed so much, Zhong Zemo regained his momentum, waving his small round shield vigorously.

There were no surprises. The Amalgamation, whose behavior data hadn't been recorded by Void & Reality Boundary, had never guarded against the "bombardment" strategy.

This method, which could have leveled several temples at once, had blasted through both of its forms, leaving only the most resilient siren torso behind.

To this day, Jiang Heyi and the others didn't know what skills the full-power second form of the Amalgamation possessed or how powerful it was.

Simple and crude, but... damn, it worked so well!

Yield is truth!

After a simple inspection of the crater caused by the blast, the other parts of the Amalgamation were nowhere to be found. The siren torso, however, was only scorched, and every single scale still shimmered brilliantly. Was the siren race in this worldview really that powerful?

"Orange Tea, reveal the loot!" Jailer was already impatient, his eyes glowing as he stared at the floating light orb.

The string of encounters since entering the game and the unwavering belief of her companions had started to make Orange Tea herself feel confused.

Did she really have incredible luck in the game?

It couldn't be that this time, too...

Three beams of dazzling golden light interrupted her wandering thoughts.

Orange Tea quickly looked back at the others, only to find them looking at her.

This time, even Original French Fry joined in to stroke Orange Tea to get some of her "lucky aura."