The final stage, an incredibly difficult run

After defeating the BOSS, Zhang Mingzhen carefully collected the equipment and fragments.

He hasn't collected a full set of level 60 gold equipment yet, and doesn't plan to sell it for the time being.

The team proceeded through the passage that appeared after the BOSS fell, continuing towards the next level.

This level is clearly located deeper underground.

The area was surrounded by complex mechanisms and heavy iron chains, creating a dangerous zone.

Previously, "Seaside Wave" in the team had accidentally triggered a hidden passage.

They fell straight into a trap... Players who die in the dungeon will respawn at the entrance and have to run back to rejoin the party.

"Everyone, pay attention to the traps around you. Some of them are triggered randomly, and if you're unlucky enough to step on one, you're in trouble," Dragon Diagram Jinghe warned.

"Are you saying that to target me?"

"I wasn't paying attention! Who knew that the trap would come back after I walked past it? I was at the back of the group and that's when I fell for it!"

"My Home by Seaside Wave," he complained as he ran back to the group, panting.

At this moment, Zhang Mingzhen noticed that the road ahead seemed to be blocked by something.

Looking up, there was a movable platform about ten meters away, slowly moving up and down.

Further on, the view was swallowed by darkness, and the path ahead could no longer be seen.

When the others in the group saw Chongxing stop, they all stepped forward to check on him.

"What new trick is this? We've been gone for almost twenty minutes since we finished the first boss, and we still haven't seen a glimpse of the second level."

"It seems that the floating platform ahead is the key."

"Wait a minute, let's take turns trying the jump—after all, you don't lose experience if you die in the dungeon, who wants to go first?"

"Let me do it, I'm faster."

"Dragon Diagram Frenzy" was the first to step forward. Taking advantage of the floating platform, he swung to the nearest point, leaped, and barely landed on the constantly moving platform.

Below the platform lies a bottomless valley, and the distance between the cliff and the floating platform is by no means easy to reach. Players who are afraid of heights may not even have the courage to jump.

Keep in mind that this is a real game. Although you can be resurrected, the fear of dying is not something that can be easily overcome.

The berserker, hovering on the floating platform, spun around a few times as it rose and fell, finally realizing that when the platform reached its highest point, it could see another floating platform moving in the opposite direction.

The two platforms are almost at the same height, and would be extremely difficult to notice unless they were perfectly aligned.

"President, are you dizzy from all this wandering around? Have you found anything?" someone in the team called out.

Without waiting for a reply, the Berserker saw the two platforms approaching again and suddenly leaped towards the second floating platform, almost slipping off the edge!

"I'm here! Now move with the second platform."

"You can jump onto the first platform and follow me—preferably the agile ones. Jing He, you go first!"

He relayed the information to his teammates.

Assassins are known for their speed and have a greater chance of success when they jump. Even if they miss, someone else can take their place.

As the second floating platform continued to shift, the view changed accordingly, and finally, a device resembling a mechanism was glimpsed on a high platform.

"Found it! We need to jump from the second floating platform onto the mechanism!"

Before he could finish speaking, Berserker seized the opportunity and leaped up again, but this platform moved faster than the first one. He was a half step too late and fell straight into the abyss.

"Damn, I fell! It's too far! Jing He, continue!"

At this moment, Dragon Diagram Jinghe had already stood on the first floating platform. Looking into the distance, he saw the second platform swaying towards him. He mustered his strength and leaped quickly—assassins and archers naturally had an advantage in speed, and this leap was clean and swift.

"That's really tough. You even managed to fall while jumping over a trap. Your 'cleverness' is way too much for you, Berserker."

Berserker scoffed, "If you're so good, you do it! I'm already doing well just to find the mechanism."

"Jing He, follow the route I just gave you and jump at the right moment, don't rush!" The Berserker, already on his way back to his corpse, was still giving orders.

"President, I see the mechanism platform." Having learned from the previous experience, Dragon Diagram Jinghe dared not be careless at all. Estimating that the distance was sufficient, he decisively leaped up and landed steadily on the mechanism platform.

When he activated the mechanism, everyone saw a giant stone platform slowly move over, perfectly reconnecting the broken cliff path to the opposite bank.

It seems that having more people is indeed useful.

Having witnessed the strategy guide, Zhang Mingzhen had to admit that sometimes teamwork was much easier than exploring alone.

After all, the human brain is multi-core and more efficient.

Similar roadblocks were encountered several more times, but having mastered the trick, Dragon Diagram Jinghe took the lead in breaking through them, while the others participated in searching for the mechanisms.

Before long, the group arrived at the location of the second leader.

"Venom Puppet" -- this is the guardian of the second level.

Its body is as large as a mountain, covered with a thick shell, with only its eyes and mouth exposed, as if wrapped in a sticky protective membrane.

A huge venom sac bulged on its back, from which green fluid churned and thick droplets seeped out from time to time.

The stone chamber was surrounded by pipes, all of which faced inwards, suggesting that it must be filled with venom, and that poisonous fog would likely permeate the air during the battle.

Along the edge of the room, there were valves in several locations, presumably to control the entry and exit of poisonous gas.

"I'm starting the fight."

Zhang Mingzhen said no more, and this time he did not charge directly at the leader.

Just by looking at the venom dripping from between its teeth, one can tell that a direct attack would inevitably result in being drenched in its poison.

As soon as the "Venom Puppet" engaged in battle, it immediately spewed poisonous mist across the entire arena, causing all players to feel as if they were covered in a poisoned state, with their health and vitality continuously draining away.

"The Seaside Wave are so strong they're making me bleed! I don't want to lie down so early!"

The Seaside Wave suddenly let out a sneer.

"You're counting on me? You might as well rely on the master's divine skills."

"With so many people around, I can barely protect myself. Take care, everyone!"

"The key issue is that this poison depletes blood by a percentage, making it impossible to drink medicine in time."

"Everyone, try to get as close to the big boss as possible and protect him!"

Fortunately, every profession has its own way of survival; some can restore health, some can increase defense, and some can Dispel negative status effects.

For example, the Ice Seal Technique that Unparalleled Weaving Rain recently learned can completely remove the effects of poison and also make her completely invincible.

"Weaving Rain, your mage's move is too domineering, it's practically absolute defense!"

"Ice Seal Technique: A mage-exclusive skill that seals the caster in ice, granting immunity to all damage for ten seconds, during which time the caster cannot cast spells or move. Cooldown: 200 seconds."

"It's useful, and it can definitely save lives in a crisis, but the cooldown time is just too long."

"I'll be helpless if it does it again."

"Mages are inherently fragile, but Qin Xiao, your move is pretty good, use it quickly."

The Shield Guard's exclusive skill, "Bloodspill Technique," was acquired by Jun Fang and then assigned to Qin Xiao Youhui.

He immediately used it, granting everyone a blood shield.

After all, he is currently the top fighter in the military and ranks second in the entire server, so he naturally became a key player for development.

Qin Xiao Youhui but looked helpless. "We Shield Guards are at least physical damage dealers, what's the point of giving us a healing skill?"

"This move is better suited for teamwork; it's no match for your Ice Seal Technique when it comes to self-defense."

Imperial Dynasty Defies Heaven comforted him, "Don't say that. If you hadn't raised our health in time, we wouldn't be in such a good situation."

"The Shield Guard's unique skill increases the team's margin for error, which is more in line with the Protection's role."

"It's a pity that our Tian Ce's exclusive skill is still nowhere to be seen, and we don't know what it will be."

"... Stop talking about this, didn't you see Chongxing Chongxing's face looks?"

"He was indeed unlucky when it came to his unique skill."

"Most of the skills have been released across the server, but his own is still nowhere to be seen."

Listening to the discussions in the group, Zhang Mingzhen felt truly uneasy.

What should come doesn't come, while what shouldn't appear keeps appearing.

Currently, only the Skill Books for Tian Ce and Priest have yet to be released.

Could it be that they're right, and the game won't be released until the very last minute?

Is this what they call the conservation of luck?

Gao Linzhi, who was observing backstage, smiled slightly upon seeing this.

That's true.

He gave the time traveler Zhang Mingzhen a cheat code.

But the Skyfall Game uses automatic balancing.

It wasn't noticeable before, but now it's become apparent as the game runs longer.

Fortunately, this Zhang Mingzhen isn't stupid or a simp.

She has a good personality and didn't waste her early advantages.

Of course, this is also because Gao Linzhi has a good eye and can recognize the other party's personality to ensure the use of the cheat.

At this very moment.

The "Venom Puppet" primarily creates pressure through poison mist and stacked poison layers, which is especially deadly for healing classes.

Each hit will apply a layer of poison that lasts for ten seconds.

If a second layer is added, the countdown will reset.

At this moment, Zhang Mingzhen's body was covered with five layers of deadly poison.

The rest of the team had already been wiped out by the rapidly eroding health bars when they reached three stacks, leaving him alone to fight once again.

If it weren't for his thick blood and ample treatment, he probably wouldn't have been able to survive.

This leader presents a rigorous test of both attack and healing.

To remove the poison, one must rely on Super Armor skills, but each class has very few Super Armor moves, and often the poison will kill the person before the abnormal status can be removed.

The Priest only has one Super Armor skill, "Demon Transformation," which has a cooldown of fifty seconds.

This means he has to hold on until his skills improve.

Roughly estimated, it takes seven stacks of poison to use Demon Transformation once. During this time, one must attack while healing oneself, which inevitably affects damage output.

At "sixth level of poisoning," you lose 20% of your health every second; at seventh level, it approaches 25%. Continuous treatment is necessary to maintain a safe health level.

This sight terrified the people who had fallen to the ground.

"This rate of health loss is too much even for a top player like Chongxing, let alone us Ordinary Players."

"This is the first time I've seen him heal himself so frequently. Usually, he can finish a battle with a single White Lotus."

"There's no way around it, Priests simply have too few Super Armor skills."

"Unlike you damage-dealing classes, who at least have two Super Armor to protect yourselves, once you're controlled, you're no different from lambs to the slaughter."

"Once your Priests reach a certain level and get their gear fully upgraded, they're practically unkillable."

"High HP and defense, if you add a few more Super Armor, wouldn't that be overpowered?"

"One invincible Priest like Chongxing is enough for the entire server."

"The expert's attack pace has slowed down, and the BOSS's health has dropped to half! Shouldn't it unleash its ultimate move as usual?"

When the leader's health dropped to fifty percent, it suddenly stopped attacking and rushed towards the valve on one side of the Secret Room.

System notification: "After a five-second countdown, the valve will open, at which point the entire area will be infected with twenty levels of poison."

"Twentieth floor?! That's instant death! How can you possibly react in just five seconds?!"

That's you.

"Didn't you see the expert interrupt the spell in just two moves?"

Just as they said, Zhang Mingzhen interrupted the leader's actions with a single move.

Faced with the leader's stringent requirements regarding damage output, the team fell into a brief silence.

I initially thought the key to this battle lay in the healer's survivability, but now I realize that interruption and burst damage are the foundation of survival.

Once the valve is opened, the slightest delay in interrupting the process will cause the entire team to collapse instantly.

"This Venom Puppet... is truly terrifying."

Then, when the boss's health dropped to 30% and 10%, the valve reopened.

The team members noticed that there was no pattern to the leader's choices.

The number of poisoning layers corresponding to each valve is also different. In addition to the initial twenty layers, there are also fifteen and thirty layers.

"If I'm lucky enough to only trigger level 15, will I have a chance to survive?"

The group began to carefully analyze the damage mechanism of the poison gas.

"Scarce hope."

Even if a few individuals manage to survive, with the main force wiped out and only one or two people remaining, it will be difficult to turn the tide of the battle.

"I'm afraid only Priest can withstand it; even the Shield Guard are in considerable danger."

"Fifteen layers of poison, it's estimated that I'll lose more than half of my health points every second."

The core of the Venom Puppet's attack is this pervasive poison gas.

In theory, as long as the team can survive and deal enough burst damage, they can pass the test.

The principle is simple, but very few teams can actually put it into practice.

System notification: "Congratulations to the team for successfully defeating the Hell difficulty Venom Puppet. Experience points increased... Achievement Points increased by 1000."

The reward for clearing the level remains the same: a level 60 gold-quality equipment and three Amulet Fragments.

Given that dungeon rewards are tied to the team's average level, it's unlikely that the equipment level for this level will exceed 70.

Zhang Mingzhen was not discouraged at all. He had upgradeable equipment and was not in a hurry to replace it.

Earth Reading, the third level is the end, and also the location of the final boss.

It was hard for anyone to imagine anything more troublesome than the Venom Puppet.

The mechanical contraptions along the way were completely wiped out by the "Wildsea Candle Dragon".

However, new hovering flying golems have appeared in the air, projecting scorching rays at the ground, making players who are too close to attack extremely vulnerable to death.

Several members of the team were caught off guard and fell victim to the attack, forcing them to start all over again from the beginning.

Only magical attacks could reach these aerial units, and Zhang Mingzhen joined the effort to eliminate them, quickly clearing the road.

The final room is located at the deepest part of the third floor.

The space here is much larger than the previous two areas, enough to accommodate more players, which also means that more monsters can lurk.

A sense of unease began to creep into everyone's hearts.

The guardian of this final barrier is known as the "Hell Machine Demon King".

Its body is assembled from countless intricate mechanical components.

Its appearance is more like a massive mecha.

It is covered with various weapon modules, making it look like a humanoid weapon born for battle.

"Finally, we've reached the final stage."

"My goal is simple: to fall later than any of you," War Sky said happily.

The Seaside Wave scoffed, "Don't forget, I'm a Priest, after all. Do you think I'd lose to you when it comes to saving my life?"