Chapter Fifty-Eight: Meeting Ziyue Again

Although the passage was quite spacious, only a limited number of players could enter at once. At the very front marched a formation of warriors and the summoned beasts of summoners, moving in tight ranks, while mages, priests, and others of different professions followed closely behind, protected by the warriors. After the lessons learned earlier, no one dared to rush in recklessly. Everyone advanced with caution.

The corridor was dim; the priests’ light orb spells, which were usually meant for revealing the invisible, here served as excellent searchlights. Under the powerful beams, the once terrifying darkness of the mine lost much of its menace. The cave walls, smooth and rounded, looked less like natural formations and more as if they had been excavated by machines. Miners’ picks, abandoned rails, and scattered ores littered the ground, all clear signs that this was a mine that had once been actively worked.

The warriors advanced less than a hundred meters without encountering any monsters, as if the threats within had learned to fear them and dared not show themselves. But suddenly, a blood-curdling screech echoed from the depths of the mine.

In an instant, a swarm of black shadows surged from the darkness within the cave, descending upon the players with astonishing speed. The warriors at the front bore the brunt, each being beset by several, even a dozen, of the black creatures.

"Monsters! They're coming, quick, kill them!" someone shouted in panic.

The players at the head of the formation snapped to their senses. The warriors roared, their voices echoing through the tunnel, while the mages behind immediately raised their staffs, readying their spells. The bats dove from above in overwhelming numbers, sowing chaos in an instant and scattering the once-organized ranks.

These bats were terrifying. Landing on players’ necks, a single bite would freeze a person in place, after which the rest of the swarm would descend, draining the victim to a dried husk.

The Hurricane Wolf King opened its jaws, unleashing a spiraling gale. A tornado instantly swept up seven or eight bats, tearing them to shreds.

Gained 880 experience, 1 point of reputation. How interesting, I thought—these monsters even grant reputation when slain. My interest piqued, I mounted the Hurricane Wolf King, pushed through the throng to one side, and let the wolf unleash its spiral gales again and again, shredding bat after bat. Experience and reputation notifications flooded my screen, filling me with delight.

My field of vision was a cascade of experience and reputation messages, while coins and equipment dropped from the slain monsters like rain upon the crowd below, sparking even greater disorder.

The mages soon regained their composure, waving their staffs to cast area spells. Fireballs, meteors, wind blades, ice shards, lightning—the air above was engulfed in a dazzling display of destructive energy. In such a sweeping assault, there was nowhere for the bats to hide; they were either blasted out of the air or disintegrated mid-flight, clearing the sky that had moments before been darkened by their wings.

Yet before the players could recover, the ground beneath them began to tremble. The walls to either side of the tunnel suddenly collapsed, and the floor itself began to split into floating platforms. Shocked, the players found themselves standing on chunks of rock suspended over a bottomless abyss. Looking up, the ceiling had vanished without a trace. Glancing back, the corridor had disappeared entirely, leaving everyone stranded, unable to advance or retreat.

"Damn! What’s going on? Where’s the ground gone?"

"Not even a way out—what kind of sadistic map is this?"

"Everyone, don’t panic! We need to stick together!"

The sudden turn of events left the players scrambling. Some summoners tried to escape by flying on their summoned beasts, but no matter which direction they flew, they found themselves circling back to where they started. Some gave up and used return scrolls, but many remained, unwilling to leave just yet.

Then, another twist occurred. The darkness behind them churned into a swirling vortex, which opened into a gaping maw. A sudden suction, like that of a giant vacuum, began dragging the players in one by one, myself and the Hurricane Wolf King included.

After an indeterminate time, I awoke to find myself in a square cell. All around were thousands of similar cells, each containing three to five players. Next to me, apart from my Hurricane Wolf King, a player in purple-red armor lay motionless. All around, confused voices rose in alarm.

“What’s going on?”

“What is this place?”

“Hey! Where are we?”

The players shouted and cursed, but no matter how they struggled, the cells would not yield. Then, my cell began to move—more precisely, it began to descend rapidly. Within minutes, it pierced the endless darkness, and suddenly, light burst forth. To my astonishment, I saw a vast jungle beneath me.

I plummeted like a meteor, slamming into the ground with a thunderous crash that blasted a deep pit into the earth. My health dropped by over seven hundred points. After swallowing some potions and climbing out with difficulty, I suddenly felt something clutch my ankle. Glancing down, I saw a hand gripping me. Startled, I leapt several meters away and landed on the ground, then saw the hand move as a person crawled out—it was the purple-red armored player who’d been with me. She knelt, propped up on both hands, coughing uncontrollably, her head bowed.

“Who are you? Don’t scare people like that—you could frighten someone to death,” I said.

“Sorry, wait—you are…” She looked up, and both of us were startled anew, for standing before me was a female player.

I blurted out, “Purple Moon!”

Purple Moon seemed equally surprised to see me. “Weiwei Dragon! Ha, I didn’t expect to meet you here. What a coincidence.” We both stood up, and she brushed the dust from her armor. “Do you know where we are?” she asked.

I shook my head. Purple Moon summoned a crimson eagle and said, “Hop on, let’s find an exit together.” I recalled the Hurricane Wolf King, mounted the eagle with her, and we took off.

“How did you get here?” I asked.

“I came to farm monsters and hunt for treasure. Didn’t you?”

“No, I was here for a quest, but somehow ended up in this place,” I replied.

“There’s always a way out. Game developers wouldn’t make an unsolvable map to troll us. Let’s look for an exit,” she said.

I nodded. The forest was vast—a tropical rainforest, humid and dense. Suddenly, seven or eight green tentacles shot up from the ground, aiming right at us. Purple Moon reacted quickly, commanding her summon to dodge, but there were too many tentacles. One struck her eagle, knocking it from the sky, and we both crashed to the ground.

With two loud bangs, dirt and rocks exploded as two enormous tentacles lashed out. Purple Moon and I quickly jumped aside. Barely had we dodged before the ground where we'd been standing collapsed completely, revealing a gaping black maw. From its depths, a mass of tentacles surged forth, whipping madly, a dozen or more stretching toward us.

The situation was dire. I dodged the onslaught of tentacles as best I could, but the ground everywhere was collapsing as more and more tentacles erupted. Purple Moon was darting about as well, but a moment’s distraction cost her—a tentacle struck her back, the number -1430 floating above her.

It was a devastating blow, leaving a deep groove in the back of her armor.

More tentacles burst from the earth. I summoned the Hurricane Wolf King, who grabbed the fallen Purple Moon and dodged the attacks from all sides. As I evaded one tentacle, another shot toward me. Without thinking, I launched a feint. The charging tentacle was repelled, but the shield created by my feint shattered at the same time with a resounding crack.