Grafted Noble and the Cliff

There's a saying, what is it again? The things you least want to happen are the things that are most likely to happen.

If Euphemia were to encounter the Zane Dungeon under normal circumstances, You Fei might find it novel and interesting, and experiencing it would be no problem.

But the key point is that the current situation is not normal; they don't even have a Teleportation Crystal!

As everyone knows, the Zane Dungeon mercifully introduced the beloved campfire to allow adventurers to gain more benefits from the dungeon. This allows adventurers to start over at the campfire even if they fail, instead of being sent out of the dungeon and having to wait until the next day to enter after just one failure.

The prerequisite for starting over is finding a campfire.

If you enter the Zane Dungeon without touching the campfire, you will still consume Teleportation Crystal and be teleported out if you die.

Playing around is fine, but don't joke with your life. For adventurers who have no Teleportation Crystal and can't find a campfire, the terror of Sion is on full display at this moment.

You Fei found the situation rather troublesome and scratched her hair in frustration.

Now that things had come to this, she couldn't keep hypnotizing herself into thinking that the Grafted Noble weren't necessarily monsters unique to the Zane Dungeon; that would be no different from self-deception. So she had no choice but to make a decision immediately.

"I'll handle it; you guys just have to adapt."

There's nothing to be afraid of; they're just Grafted Noble.

She drew her spear. She and her father had already fought against the Lobster Head, Grafted Noble of Lake Liurnia. How could she possibly lose to a Grafted Noble without Lobster Head?

With this thought in mind, You Fei rushed over like lightning, and the Grafted Noble was not to be outdone, raising his golden weapon and thrusting swiftly. A great battle was about to break out!

"They said we should be able to adapt to any situation," Yi Sha looked around. "There's nowhere to hide in this empty, flat area."

The road we came from and the other exit were both blocked by fog, and it seemed we couldn't get out. What was even more puzzling was why the fog blocking the door wasn't white, but an indescribable color, as if gold and many other pigments were mixed together, and it was flowing slowly like a liquid.

While it's eerie, it also has a touch of artistry. Adventurers who are used to white Fog Gate might feel a sense of oppression when they first see this color-changing Fog Gate.

"I'll go help too." Fan En was eager to try. During this time, You Fei had already exchanged blows with the Grafted Noble, and he felt that he could participate in this battle.

"Listen to Lord You Fei, don't do anything reckless," Te Pi said, leading the way away from the battlefield. "This dungeon gives me a bad feeling."

For some reason, just being in this underground city made Te Pi feel a chill run down his spine, as if he and this underground city were inherently incompatible.

By the way, his mansion was destroyed the moment he appeared here, which is just a natural clash!

Fan En hesitated several times, but in the end he was unwilling to be mediocre and chose to lie on the side and look for an opportunity to fire, hoping to be lucky enough to trigger a counter -Gun Parry and give You Fei a greater chance. He only had so many Quicksilver Bullets from Reed, so he had to be careful with every shot.

At the same time, the Grafted Noble used his Greatshield to block You Fei's spear. With all his limbs working together, his huge body didn't even sway under the blow. His free arm even had time to launch a sneak attack from a tricky angle!

You Fei jumped back to dodge, revealing an expression of apprehension.

She suddenly realized that this unassuming, Grafted Noble seemed to be stronger than the one in Lake Liurnia.

If the Grafted Noble in the Lake District, with its Lobster Head and a bunch of Repeating Crossbow, represents an improvement in skill and operability, then the original-skinned Grafted Noble in the Lord's Worship Church is simply high in stats, no fancy tricks, just pure brute force!

And that shield Shield Poke was really well done!

You Fei suddenly had a strange feeling that this Grafted Noble would fit the tastes of the Traditionalists in the Warrior Country.

She appeared behind the Grafted Noble in an instant, wielding her spear and causing considerable injury. The Grafted Noble then used the momentum to slam backward, forcing You Fei back.

Breaking through Greatshield head-on is quite difficult, so flanking maneuvers are a better strategy.

Just as she was about to use the same trick again, she suddenly noticed that the Grafted Noble's speed had increased. He was jumping left and right as swiftly as a crab, always on guard against her and determined not to give her a chance to attack from behind. When she tried to find a breakthrough, the Grafted Noble's huge body started spinning like a windmill, forcing You Fei to retreat repeatedly.

"Bang!" The gunshot rang out, and the bullet struck the Grafted Noble, but it missed its weak point, causing damage that didn't even allow it to pause.

But this shot had an unexpected result: the Grafted Noble turned his gun around and charged at Fan En!

Fan En fought him without fear and was able to hold his own for the time being, but it was uncertain how things would turn out in the long run.

Any normal human being would never think of engaging in a tug-of-war with a monster that has far more physical strength in this small space.

"We have to finish this quickly," You Fei said with a helpless expression. "We have no choice but to use that."

She tapped her lower abdomen, and a large number of insect carapaces immediately appeared on her waist, looking like a belt from a distance.

"Transform," she murmured to herself.

The next moment, the fine insect carapace spread from the "girdle" towards her body and even her limbs, and in the blink of an eye, she looked like she did when she was parasitized by the Insect King!

On the other side, Fan En and Yi Sha, working together, were also gradually losing their strength. They saw the Golden Tombstone in the hands of the Grafted Noble radiate light, as if he was about to use some kind of Weapon Skill, but they didn't have time to interrupt him.

At this critical moment, a reliable figure appeared in front of the two. You Fei's fist, covered by an exoskeleton, slammed into the face of the Grafted Noble, causing him to stagger backward and his Weapon Skill to be interrupted.

"You Fei?" The brother and sister stared wide-eyed at the Insect King form, which was making a limited-time return, their eyes wide as if they had seen a ghost.

Te Pi was different. Looking at You Fei's appearance, he thought that young people these days dressed in a rather unconventional way.

"It's just a minor, harmless side effect. I'm still me."

Seeing the Grafted Noble charging recklessly towards the crowd after regaining his senses, You Fei stretched out her hand and was able to wrestle with him. Then, she unleashed her full power and flung the Grafted Noble toward the edge of the open space, almost causing him to fall off the cliff.

Back then, although she regained her human form using the Tear Drop Larva, the Insect King left her with a transformation form that was hard to say whether it was good or not, which is what she looks like now.

Her strength is enhanced in all aspects when she transforms, and she is almost painless like a super beast. However, this transformation is not very stable. Sometimes she will trigger the transformation with the slightest effort, which means that she can only carefully control her strength on ordinary days.

In addition to the increased stats, the transformation also granted her another signature ability of the Insect King.

You Fei rushed to the edge of the arena, smashing aside the Greatshield that the Grafted Noble hadn't yet raised. Ignoring the weapon piercing her body, she met the Grafted Noble's gaze and shouted:

"Exchange!"

A sharp glint flashed in their eyes, and both You Fei and the Grafted Noble were struck as if by Raigeki, their spirits visibly weakening.

That's right, one of the Insect King's signature abilities, body swapping, was also left for You Fei!

However, the human mind does not seem to be able to support the act of exchanging bodies. Even if it is forcibly exchanged, it will not succeed. It will only cause a violent mental shock to both parties, just like the two souls colliding at high speed. The pain is definitely intense!

Therefore, You Fei developed a wicked way to exploit this ability, turning the exchange into a mental shock.

A mental shock that is 100% accurate and guaranteed to have an effect is something that ordinary magic can't compare to!

"Fall down!"

Having grown accustomed to the mental pain brought on by the exchange, she was the first to regain her mobility. Her exoskeleton grabbed the body of the Grafted Noble and flung him violently toward the cliff!

There's no edge protection here!

"Well done!" Te Pi was the first to applaud, having made progress.

Fan En followed closely behind, while Yi Sha was a beat behind and wanted to cheer.

You Fei's figure disappeared.

The applause stopped abruptly.

The remaining three exchanged bewildered glances, their eyes filled with disbelief at what they had just witnessed. Finally, it was Yi Sha who spoke, her voice trembling:

"You Fei was dragged down?"

Although You Fei managed to throw the Grafted Noble off the cliff, his weapon was still embedded in her body, so she was dragged down the cliff along with him.

She should have noticed it, but after transforming, her sense of pain was greatly reduced. Under the mental shock, she actually forgot about the Grafted Noble and the weapon stuck in her body!

This can only be attributed to the fact that the transformation form has been used too infrequently, and the user lacks sufficient experience.

The group quickly ran towards the edge of the cliff, but You Fei was nowhere to be seen. A moment later, a golden stream of light entered their bodies. This was the spoils of war after defeating the Grafted Noble —a rune.

The three stared at the empty cliff in silence for a long time. Finally, Te Pi, as if paralyzed, said, "Lady You Fei... she wouldn't just...—"

"Shut up and stop talking!"

Fan En quickly stopped him, saying, "What if things still have a chance? We can't give up any hope."

Te Pi stopped talking, only sighed and shook his head, and walked towards the door that had been blocked by the fog. Besides the door they came from, there was another door, which was the only way forward.

Fan En and Yi Sha followed, their eyes filled with unconcealed worry for You Fei, perhaps because they also felt that the chances of survival for someone who had fallen off the cliff were slim.

But just then, Te Pi's cry rang out:

Why is it a dead end?

The two went over to take a look and saw that behind the door was only a small cliff with no way to walk.

Fan En threw a stone toward the cliff to confirm that it wasn't an invisible bridge, but this only confused him more.

After defeating Elite Monsters, a path will appear that allows you to continue. Isn't this a rule that applies to every dungeon? So what's with this cliff?

"Could it be that there's some kind of mechanism we haven't discovered?"

When people are thinking about a problem, everything around them seems suspicious. Fan En walked to the edge of the cliff and looked down, pointing to a protruding rock and asking, "Does that look like a mechanism? Will anything change if we hit it?"

"Where?" Te Pi and Yi Sha also came over, and the three of them stood on the cliff.

If the Zane Dungeon could speak, it would surely say something like this:

It's almost time.

"Crackling sound—"

"Have you heard any strange noises?" Fan En looked up and gazed around.

"No way, I'm screaming!"

The cliff suddenly shattered, and before Yi Sha could finish speaking, her words turned into a long string of screams.

With a loud crash, the cliff beneath their feet shattered instantly, and the three plummeted downwards!

In this situation, who could possibly hold back a scream?!

Fan En almost screamed, but he remained somewhat calm as he fell. He struggled to turn over and realized that the shapes of the rocks formed by the cliff's collapse were not natural. The more he looked at them, the more they seemed to be rocks that were originally broken but had been artificially pieced together to make them look intact!

Wait, this is a trap!

Upon realizing the truth, his scalp tingled, his Spirit Power dissipated, and he completely lost his composure.

What kind of beast would think to set a trap here, you bastard!

There was no time to think. He felt he was about to hit the ground and be smashed into a pile of minced meat. They say that you will see a revolving lantern when you are about to die, but he was so confused by falling into the trap that he couldn't remember the revolving lantern at all.

Suddenly, something amazing happened.

The leaden sky suddenly disappeared, and the surroundings turned into complete darkness. Streams of light, shining like crosses, appeared behind him, like shooting stars streaking across the sky.

He was still falling, but it was an endless descent as if there was no land. He couldn't feel the howling wind from the cliff. Instead, when he saw the streaks of light, he felt a little relieved, as if they were telling him that he would be safe from now on.

What's going on?

Fan En's question was quickly answered.

Because in the darkness that covered the sky, a figure that seemed like a phantom suddenly appeared.

It was a woman wearing a thick, snow-white robe, her upper body was not visible, which aroused a sense of mystery. But what was puzzling was that her skin was an unusual blue, and she had four slender hands.

Not human?

The woman's voice reached my ears, calm and mysterious, like a dark moon hanging high in the sky.

That was a long time ago.

As her voice rang out, the scene emerging from the darkness began to slowly change.

But for me, it's still vivid in my memory.

If the images You Fei had previously experienced in her dazed state were merely accidental...

So Fan En is seeing now is the actual process that Saine has planned in this area, the process that everyone can see.

Brand new episode!