Item Barrage

Upon seeing the Primal Monster, the players charged without hesitation.

But the moment they entered the cave, their expressions changed.

Countless fragments of scenes suddenly surfaced in their minds, and mental Mirages woven from their memories rapidly took shape.

In the Mirage, the Taunt Monster became a loathsome figure, filling them with an uncontrollable rage.

Watching this unfold, Qi Sheng, hidden behind the scenes, let out a quiet laugh. Then he promptly severed his subtle sensory link to the players and switched to observing from the perspective of his Guidance Avatar, lest he be drawn into the mental Mirage they were suffering through.

According to Guidance's analysis, Taunt Origin Source possessed the ability to weave mental Mirages. With the players' current mental strength, they had no hope of resisting it.

The most terrifying part of this ability wasn't the Mirage, but its control over emotions.

He could imagine what the players were experiencing inside the mental Mirage. Taunt would become the person they hated most—perhaps the enemy who had killed their father, or even the guy next door. But none of that mattered... By now, the players were already charging at Taunt with bloodshot eyes.

Taunt opened its mouth, revealing sharp fangs, and swallowed the approaching players one by one.

The ability reminded Qi Sheng of the real-world anglerfish, which used the glowing lure protruding from its head to trap other fish.

By comparison, Taunt's ability was even more terrifying.

Anyone who entered Taunt's range would lose control and approach it, becoming prey.

To resist the mental Mirage, one would need either mental strength far greater than Taunt's or the protection of an Origin Source ability that could withstand mental manipulation.

In less than a minute, every player who entered the cave had been wiped out by Taunt.

But Taunt, which hadn't eaten in ages, had only gotten a taste of nothing. Hyperdimension extracted the life essence of every dead player, then Yan Ming sent them back to Emperor's Tomb Village, where they underwent Life Reshaping underground.

[Looks like Ice Blade left you more than just Energy Crystals.]

Guiding Water Orb appeared beside Qi Sheng. It conjured an arm, rested its chin on its hand, and considered the situation.

"You think Ice Blade imprisoned this Origin Source as a gift for the next Di Zhao?"

[Exactly. And Taunt isn't the only one. I sensed several other Primal Monsters in Gloomy Cave. Ice Blade's purpose is obvious. After all, no one but the Di Zhao can absorb and fuse with the abilities of Primal Monsters. I can't think of any other reason he'd imprison them.]

[He may be crazy and love fighting, but his loyalty to the Di Zhao is truly admirable.]

"What about compared to yours?" Qi Sheng turned to Guidance, a hint of a smile on his face.

[There's no comparison. I'm the Di Zhao's most loyal subordinate. Boss, are you questioning my loyalty?]

Qi Sheng didn't answer Guidance. His gaze shifted back to Monster World.

An hour later, at the Emperor's Tomb Village respawn point.

White light flashed again and again as players whose respawn cooldowns had ended logged back into the game.

"Holy crap, you won't believe what I went through in the Mirage. That giant beetle cheated on me—and the messed-up part is, while I was trapped in the Mirage, it actually seemed totally reasonable. Thinking about it now, what the hell?"

"This game is terrifying. It can actually extract memories and turn them into skills."

"My experience was even more messed up. In the Mirage, that giant beetle held my head down and forced me to eat shit. My rage kept climbing until I wanted to turn around and punch its head clean off."

After respawning, the players talked about their experiences inside the mental Mirage, calling them unbelievable.

Once they were done chatting, they began to figure out how to get revenge.

One thing was clear: Taunt's ability pulled any target within a certain range into a mental Mirage based on their memories. So close combat was out of the question. Only players with Bone Fire Monster Souls could damage Taunt.

As the players discussed how to fight, one member of the Youngster Group offered a suggestion:

"Who says we have to fight using monster abilities? Sure, the Black Armor Snake and Stone Gargoyle forms can only fight up close, but the shop has plenty of torches and ranged weapons. We can stand outside the cave and keep throwing ranged weapons inside until Taunt's health is whittled down. That thing's chained up and can't move, so it has no way to fight back against our ranged assault."

The idea immediately won the support of many players.

They then began buying ranged weapons from the shop.

Torches, Rock-Splitting Bows, Iron Crossbows... The players didn't have enough Sacrificial Power for high-quality gear, so they could only buy ordinary items made with Sacrificial Power.

As the players bought up supplies, the Challenger System automatically took a 30% cut of the profits, earning Qi Sheng 339 points of Sacrificial Power.

Dozens of players then left Emperor's Tomb Village and headed for Gloomy Cave.

When the group reached the second underground level, they immediately launched a ranged assault on Taunt, imprisoned inside the cave.

Players with Bone Fire Monster Souls threw fireballs, while the others took turns hurling all sorts of ranged weapons into the cave, unleashing a barrage on Taunt.

All the while, Taunt's muffled roars echoed from inside the cave.

The players grew more excited, eagerly anticipating the Sacrificial Power they'd earn when Taunt died.

But as time passed, the smiles on their faces gradually disappeared.

Taunt was far tougher than they'd imagined. Even after half an hour of bombardment, it still wasn't dead.

The voice channel filled with doubts:

"Is something wrong? We've been attacking for half an hour, and it's still alive. Taunt's health bar is way too thick."

"Could it be that our attacks aren't breaking through its defense at all? This game doesn't have a forced one-point damage system, so our attacks may have been doing nothing."

"Holy crap, don't say that! I've already chugged three Spirit Potions. If it doesn't die, that's a massive loss."

The idea that their attacks couldn't penetrate Taunt's defenses sent many players into a panic.

The players using Bone Fire forms were especially hard-hit. They were mostly level five to seven, and their mental strength only let them keep up an assault for so long before they had to stop and buy Spirit Potions from the shop to replenish their energy, then return to the fight.

A low-grade Spirit Potion cost five points of Sacrificial Power. Half an hour of bombardment had already cost them quite a bit.

If they couldn't kill Taunt, they'd have nothing to show for it.

Half an hour later, Taunt was still roaring. The cave had been engulfed in flames, and the black smoke, mixed with waves of heat, choked the players and drove them back.

The players' optimism gradually gave way to despair.

One player stared at the blazing fire in the cave and muttered:

"One torch costs one point of Sacrificial Power, one Spirit Potion costs five, one Rock-Splitting Bow costs fifty, and one arrow costs one... We've put in more than a thousand points of Sacrificial Power by now, right? I even threw in everything I earned mining yesterday..."

His words sent the players around him into a panic.

But none of them stopped.

With so much already invested, they were like gamblers who had lost everything and gone red-eyed. Unwilling to accept the loss, they chose to fight to the bitter end.