I'll Fight You

Let's move the timeline forward slightly.

Apartment lobby.

In the thick fog, a figure slowly emerged from the grayish-white mist, as if it had been hidden within it all along and had only now quietly taken shape.

After landing, the figure stood in the center of the hall, straightened their robes, and then glanced back at the battlefield.

Within the thick fog, flashes of fire, sounds of collision, and roars rose and fell.

His men were actually blocked.

Zane stared for about three seconds before looking away.

Instead of splitting their forces, they opted for a full-scale assault.

He had thought he could crush them in the shortest amount of time, but the players on the Nine Provinces side were stronger than he had anticipated.

Moreover, the opponent also possesses a talent skill field that perfectly counters his abilities.

When the boy with the Xiao Ma and particularly unpleasant voice released his domain, he immediately realized something was wrong; the effect of [Abyssal Sea Sinking Fog] was suppressed by more than half.

That can't go on.

Upon noticing that the battlefield situation had reached a stalemate, he immediately changed his plans.

On one hand, he created illusions within the domain, giving the false impression that he was still maintaining the domain outside; on the other hand, he quietly seeped into the apartment along with the fog.

After all, the Nine Provinces players had more combat experience than he had expected, and his side was fighting on the enemy's main base. Delay could lead to unforeseen changes, and he could not allow the battle to remain deadlocked.

pity----

My innate skill level is not high enough, the time for moving in the mist is limited, and I need a period of time to Resurrection after each movement. I can only move short distances.

Otherwise, there's no need for all this trouble; you can just move directly to the Architect's location.

Zane shook his head slightly, thinking that there was no point in dwelling on things that couldn't be changed.

Instead of thinking about that, you should prepare to meet the Architect.

I should have thought of that a long time ago.

Since they can be matched together, the combat power of the Nine Provinces players must be quite high.

However, while the combat power of players in Nine Provinces is not bad, the Architect is another matter.

After all, Architect's energy is Constructed Instance, not honing combat skills. No matter how influential they are, their combat power may not keep up.

This is a common problem among all Architect.

As he pondered this, he began to walk inside.

But they walked less than five meters.

[System Notification: Cross-Dimensional Hunt Status Updated!]

[Congratulations to player Shen Nian for defeating the Prison Rock Architect - Martin Abbey.]

[All instances created by this Architect will be permanently disabled in the new version.]

[According to the rules, player Shen Nian "has inherited all dungeon rewards obtained by the Architect during their lifetime, and has also acquired the skill Void Walker."]

[Player Shen Nian has obtained the Title "Void Walker".]

[----]

Zane stopped abruptly.

The previously steady breathing suddenly became disordered.

Martin Abbey —he's one of the top three Architect in their Prison Rock region. Even if he's not as good as Lord Helag, he still has a lot of top players acting as his guards.

But he's dead?!

How did the opposing player manage that?!

How is this possible?!

And in that very instant when his mind was shaken.

"Fire!!!"

Accompanied by a roar.

A sudden burst of extremely blinding gunfire erupted from the fog in the distance!

Several frontline squad members, armed with heavy, futuristic-looking firearms, pulled the triggers—assault rifles and electric submachine guns they had brought from the [Titanfall] instance.

Da da da da -

Azure arcs of electricity and a dense barrage of kinetic energy projectiles instantly tore through the fog, and the flames spewing from the gun muzzles intertwined in the hall, forming an impenetrable net of deadly fire, attempting to completely seal off Zane's hiding space.

Han Xiao then circled to the side, lowered his center of gravity, and suddenly closed in, swinging his sword at Zane, who was carrying a spear.

Faced with the combined threat of technology and cold weapons, Zane suddenly realized what was happening, and his expression turned even uglier.

If it were before— Zane might have even considered exchanging a few words with them.

He also had the time; the moment he entered the apartment, he immediately reconstructed the domain derived from his innate skill, secretly isolating the interior of the apartment and cutting off sight and hearing once again.

From the perspective of top players in Nine Provinces —he was still maintaining his territory outside.

But at this moment, the news of his Architect Martin Abbey's death was like a bucket of boiling oil poured on his heart, instantly igniting the savagery hidden in his bones.

He had completely lost the will to communicate—seeing Han Xiao and other players, whose ranks were clearly not high, rushing towards him, he only felt a surge of anger.

With such limited fighting strength, you dare to stop him?

"Get out of here!!!"

Zane let out a low growl, his face contorted with extreme rage.

With a sudden wave of his hand, accompanied by billowing fog, he directly blocked all the plasma and solid projectiles. Then, relying on his attributes far exceeding those of Han Xiao and the others, he vanished from his spot in an instant, defying the laws of physics.

The remaining bullets only managed to whiz past the hem of his clothes.

In the next instant, he had charged through the barrage of fire and was right in front of two soldiers wielding Titan-class weapons.

Next.

Bang!

Accompanied by a dull, teeth-grinding thud.

Zane swung his spear, and the two fully armed soldiers were hit head-on like by a speeding truck. Their heavy rifles twisted and deformed instantly, and they were sent flying by the terrifying force, crashing heavily into a load-bearing wall in the distance.

The two soldiers' health points dropped to an extremely dangerous level in an instant, their chests caved in.

Han Xiao's eyes widened, and he suddenly pushed off the ground, turning back and swinging his long sword at Zane once more.

But Zane shifted his body slightly, and Han Xiao's sure-fire strike grazed him as it came down, forcing him to rush forward.

He staggered slightly, barely managing to stop himself, and then his pupils contracted sharply.

In just one glance, he realized that the tall man in front of him was definitely a top player whose attributes far surpassed his own—at least compared to them, the frontline soldiers, his strength was absolutely overwhelming!

Even if they were armed with modern weapons from Titanfall.

This is troublesome----

"Alternate cover! Retreat to the stairwell!"

Han Xiao bit his tongue hard, using the pain to force himself to calm down.

In fact, the moment he saw the player who had barged into the Prison Rock, he tried to contact the members of the Strategy Group outside.

No one has replied to him yet.

He wasn't even sure if the thick fog would block communications.

Han Xiao gave the order loudly.

Zane moved as well, disappearing from his spot once again and reappearing in front of Han Xiao.

His high agility attribute makes him as elusive as a ghost.

Han Xiao had the highest attributes among all the frontline soldiers, but he could only barely see Afterimage and barely manage to raise his sword to block Zane's spear as it swept across.

clang-

The immense impact traveled along the blade to Han Xiao's arm; the difference in strength was too great, and his bones creaked.

Han Xiao gritted his teeth, pushed off with his feet, and barely managed to withstand the attack. He then used the recoil to leap backward.

The soldiers behind him continued to suppress him with their guns, using a barrage of bullets to buy Han Xiao space to retreat.

But Zane was too fast; he disappeared almost the instant the soldier fired.

The intense firepower couldn't cause him any harm.

Han Xiao and the others fought and retreated—or more accurately, were driven back to the stairwell entrance.

Just entered the building entrance.

Zane then stopped in his tracks.

He raised the spear in his hand, and the dark crystal core at the tip lit up again, the eerie death light even more intense than before.

The spear slammed heavily onto the ground.

boom-

The thick fog suddenly surged at that moment.

The mist, which had barely retained some translucency due to the penetration of Wei Yidong's domain, instantly became ten times thicker.

My field of vision has once again completely disappeared.

Han Xiao discovered that he could no longer see his own hands; everything around him was the same grayish-white, and he couldn't see anything at all.

It's like being stuffed into a box.

----A vast expanse of white.

Zane's voice suddenly rang out. "Warrior—your warrior killed our Architect. He created many excellent dungeons, from which many of us players benefited, but now he's dead."

The sound came from the left.

Han Xiao suddenly turned to the left, the blade pointing at the mist.

The soldiers also turned their guns on the ground.

"He created many dungeons, many excellent ones, but now they're all gone."

This time it's the right side.

Han Xiao turned sharply again, his palms already sweating.

"Although I am very angry, I do not resent you, because this is one of the ways of playing the game."

Zane's voice came from directly above this time. "However, I will also kill your Architect —an eye for an eye. And your situation will be worse than ours in Prison Rock, because we have lost Martin Abbey and Lord Helag. You have lost Lu Xiu, and you have nothing left, right?"

"I'm really looking forward to seeing your reactions."

"I hope you can understand how I felt just now—I hope you can feel angry too!"

This was probably because the assault didn't go well, and one of their own Architect was killed.

The savagery inherent in the inhabitants of the Prison Rock region, deep within Zane, was fully unleashed.

At that moment, he even deliberately allowed the fog to transmit sound.

They wanted to make Han Xiao and the others feel despair.

In fact.

This approach has proven very effective.

In the fog.

Suddenly, footsteps sounded, slow and rhythmic, heading towards the stairs.

Han Xiao immediately shouted, "Stop him!"

Gunshots rang out again, and dense sparks briefly lit up the fog, but Zane didn't seem to be there at all, waiting for the barrage to fall.

"Um!!!"

A soldier's muffled groan suddenly rang out.

With his line of sight obstructed, Han Xiao didn't even know where the soldier had been shot down or where he had been thrown to.

Immediately afterwards.

He heard a whooshing sound coming from in front of him.

My sixth sense started giving me frantic warnings.

At the critical moment.

Han Xiao instinctively raised his knife to block.

Bang.

A tremendous impact was felt.

Because the resistance was too hasty.

Han Xiao flew straight out and slammed into the wall, spiderweb-like cracks spreading outwards behind him.

He slid off the wall, landing on his knees, with only one-third of his health remaining.

He looked up, but still couldn't see anything, only a vast expanse of white fog.

Zane's footsteps grew closer and closer, step by step.

He seemed to be walking towards Han Xiao.

During that period.

The sounds of soldiers firing their guns, muffled groans, and slamming their weapons against the ground rang out continuously.

Clearly, the other soldiers were trying to block him.

But they all failed.

You can't stop me.

Zane's voice came again. "So despair—and this is just the beginning. After I kill your Architect, you will feel even deeper despair in the new version. You will be brutally slaughtered by us in Lord Helag's dungeon."

"And then, amidst endless death and slaughter, you will desperately yearn for today, yearn for the time when the Architect I killed, named Lu Xiu, was still alive."

"But she can never come back—at that moment you must be filled with immense regret and anger, just as I was when I heard about Martin Abbey's death."

Han Xiao, leaning on the knife, gasped for breath and slowly stood up.

His legs were shaking, his health bar was still in the red zone, he probably had a few broken ribs, and every breath brought a dull pain, but he still managed to stand up.

New version? Lord Helag's dungeon?

He was a soldier who spent his days fighting on the front lines, so he didn't know anything about the new version, or even about this event.

He only knows one thing.

The days on the front lines were finally over, and we saw a glimmer of hope.

In those bygone years.

The situation on the front lines is getting increasingly difficult; people are dying every day.

Until Lu Xiu appeared.

Her dungeons truly gave the soldiers on the front lines hope that they could forever hold off the monsters and hope of survival.

That's the hope for breaking the deadlock!

So how could we let Lu Xiu die here!

Han Xiao clenched his teeth so hard that bright red blood seeped from his gums from the excessive force.

He slowly raised his head, his eyes completely red, his eyeballs filled with terrifying and crazed blood vessels.

He ate a serving of rice from Sekiro, poured a bottle of Hand Sanitizer over himself, and then charged forward, swinging his sword.

However, even when completely invisible, the difference in attributes between the two sides is still significant.

He didn't even get close to Zane.

He was immediately sent flying.

But soon...

The other soldiers then filled in and charged forward.

Their thought at that moment was simple: even if it meant death.

Even if their strengths are worlds apart.

And this person must absolutely not be allowed to take even a single step onto the stairs!

However.

There are no miracles in reality. Faced with absolute numerical superiority, willpower is simply no match for the gap determined by the system.

Less than two minutes.

All the soldiers fell again.

The short staircase from the first-floor lobby to the second-floor corridor, with its dozen or so steps, seemed to have been paved with a trail of blood.

The difference in attributes between the two sides was simply too great; there was no possibility of a back-and-forth struggle, it was a one-sided crushing defeat.

Bang-

With another dull thud, Han Xiao was swept away by Zane like a rag doll, crashing heavily onto the cold, hard steps.

The long sword in his hand was already damaged, broken in two, and he had an unknown number of broken ribs.

But they had run out of supplies, and all the other soldiers had fallen.

Han Xiao lay on the steps, surrounded by a thick, grayish-white mist that seemed to drip water, and he still couldn't see anything.

I'm so unwilling to accept this.

Han Xiao gripped the broken hilt of the sword tightly, gritting his teeth, filled with anger yet powerless.

At that moment, in the thick, liquid-like fog, Zane's footsteps stopped in front of him.

It seemed as if they were looking down at him.

"Despair?"

"..

Han Xiao didn't reply, but simply lay on the steps and slowly raised his head, though he couldn't see the ceiling.

But Lu Xiu lives upstairs, right?

Special event----

The idea I had not long ago resurfaced.

It feels like everything was just getting back on track, just as we found a glimmer of hope to survive, when this despairing turn of events has struck.

Why is it so hard to just survive?

You are very brave.

Zane's voice rang out again, the tip of his spear slowly scraping against the stone steps beside Han Xiao, producing a harsh screech. "Braver than most I've ever met, but unfortunately, your bravery is worthless."

Next.

He slowly raised his spear. "Now, the boring game of blocking my way is over. Thanks to you, I've finally recovered from the shadow of Martin Abbey's death, which should allow me to give up the idea of communicating with you Architect."

"A brave warrior."

"Goodbye."

"Now, watch me step over you, watch your hopes be extinguished by my own hands right before your eyes."

"Then, with this despair, go and die."

Zane's voice grew closer.

Han Xiao heard a whooshing sound as the long spear, imbued with violent power, was raised in the mist, its tip aimed at Han Xiao's head, and thrust forward fiercely.

----Feel sorry.

Han Xiao had this thought, but he didn't know who he wanted to apologize to.

But at that moment...

He suddenly heard footsteps approaching beside him.

Next.

Clang-!!!

A sharp, deafening metallic crack suddenly erupted without warning!

Immediately afterwards.

Suddenly, a large burst of extremely dazzling sparks, as brilliant as fireworks, erupted from the thick fog.

The spark traced a perfect arc through the thick fog.

Like a dazzling burst of fireworks.

With a spark, an extremely precise recoil force erupted instantly, forcefully deflecting Zane's seemingly inevitable fatal shot high into the air.

A powerful shockwave spread outwards from the point of impact, stirring up the thick, liquid-like fog around them.

Han Xiao looked up in astonishment, staring blankly at the stunning profile that had appeared beside him without him noticing, in the brief but extremely brilliant light of Mars.

On the other side.

Zane's grip on the gun was slightly numb from the impact, and his expression froze abruptly. He stared at what was in front of him in shock—even disbelief.

Someone appeared silently beside Han Xiao.

He didn't even know when the other person had gotten there.

She was a woman who appeared exceptionally petite compared to the other players in the Prison Rock faction. She had her eyes closed, her hair tied in a high ponytail, and she held a long sword in her hand.

Most importantly, above that person's head floated a system Title visible to players of the Prison Rock: [Nine Provinces Architect - Lu Xiu]

Architect!

They actually showed up on their own!

The person you're looking for is right here.

"No need for that."

"I'll fight you."

soon.

A crisp, melodious sound rang out.

Han Xiao heard that familiar voice and slowly widened his eyes.