Item offensive

At the sight of the Primordial Monster, the players charged without hesitation.

But once they entered the cave, every player's expression changed.

Countless fragments of images suddenly surfaced in their minds, and psychic illusions woven from their memories rapidly took shape.

Within the illusions, the monster Taunt became someone loathsome, stirring uncontrollable anger deep within them.

Watching this, Qi Sheng, hidden behind the scenes, couldn't help but laugh. He promptly cut off his detailed sensory observation of the players and switched to observing them externally through Guide's avatar, preventing himself from entering the psychic illusions afflicting the players.

According to Guide's analysis, Taunt, the Origin Primordial, possessed the ability to weave psychic illusions. At their current mental strength, the players had no way to resist.

The most terrifying aspect of this ability was not the illusions, but the emotion manipulation.

He could imagine what the players were experiencing in the psychic illusions. Taunt would become the person they hated most, perhaps their father's killer, or perhaps the neighbor who had cuckolded them. But none of that mattered... by now, the players were lunging at Taunt with bloodshot eyes.

Taunt opened his mouth to reveal sharp fangs and swallowed the approaching players one by one.

This ability reminded Qi Sheng of the real-world lanternfish, or deep-sea anglerfish, which lured other fish with the glowing lantern protruding from its head.

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

Anyone who entered the range of Taunt's ability would approach him uncontrollably, becoming prey to his lure.

Resisting the psychic illusions required either mental strength far greater than Taunt's or the protection of a Primordial Ability that resisted mental manipulation.

In less than a minute, Taunt wiped out all the players who had entered the cavern.

Yet Taunt, who had not eaten for long ages, had effectively eaten nothing. Ultra-Dimensional extracted the life essence of every dead player, after which Yan Ming sent them back to Emperor Tomb Village to undergo Life Reforging underground.

[It looks like the gifts Ice Blade left you weren't just energy crystals.]

Just then, the Guide Water Orb appeared beside Qi Sheng, conjured an arm, and propped up its chin as it offered its analysis.

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

[That's right. It's not just Taunt. I've sensed the auras of several other Primordial Monsters inside the Dark Cavern. Ice Blade's purpose is obvious. After all, no one except Emperor Zhao can absorb and fuse with the abilities of Primordial Monsters. I can't think of another reason he would imprison them.]

[That fellow may be deranged and belligerent, but his loyalty to Emperor Zhao truly deserves respect.]

"How does he compare to you?" Qi Sheng turned to Guide with a smile.

[He obviously falls far short of me. I'm Emperor Zhao's most loyal subordinate. Boss, are you questioning my loyalty?]

Without answering Guide, Qi Sheng shifted his gaze back to Monster World.

An hour later, at the Respawn Point in Emperor Tomb Village.

White light flashed repeatedly as players whose respawn cooldowns had ended logged into the game.

"Holy shit, can you imagine what I went through in that illusion? That giant beetle fucking cuckolded me. The thing is, while I was in the illusion, I actually thought it made perfect sense. Thinking back now, it was fucking ridiculous."

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

"Mine was even more ridiculous. In the illusion, the giant beetle held my head down and force-fed me shit. My rage kept shooting through the roof as I ate it. I wanted nothing more than to turn around and smash its head apart with one punch."

After respawning, the players discussed their experiences in the psychic illusions, exclaiming at how unbelievable they had been.

Once they finished chatting, they began considering how to get revenge.

One thing was clear: Taunt's ability dragged targets within a certain range of him into psychic illusions based on their memories. Melee combat was therefore out of the question, and only players equipped with a Bonefire Life Soul could damage him.

While the players discussed how to fight, a player from the Kindergarten Squad made a suggestion:

"Who says we have to fight using monster abilities? Sure, the Black-Armored Snake and Gargoyle forms can only fight up close, but doesn't the shop have loads of torches and ranged attack items? We can just stand outside the cave and throw ranged items inside, slowly whittling down Taunt's health until we kill him. He's chained up and can't move, so there's no way he can fight back against our ranged attacks."

The idea immediately won the approval of many players.

They then began buying ranged attack items from the shop.

Torches, Stone-Splitting Bows, Iron Crossbows... the players couldn't afford high-quality items with the sacrificial power they had, so they could only buy ordinary items made with sacrificial power.

As the players bought up supplies, the Challenger System automatically took a 30% profit cut, earning Qi Sheng 339 points of sacrificial power.

Dozens of players then left Emperor Tomb Village and headed toward the Dark Cavern.

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

Players with a Bonefire Life Soul hurled Fireballs, while the others took turns throwing all kinds of ranged items into the cave, unleashing a relentless bombardment on Taunt.

Throughout the attack, Taunt's muffled roars kept coming from inside the cave.

This only made them more excited as they anticipated the sacrificial power they would earn when Taunt died.

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

Taunt was far more tenacious than they had imagined. Even half an hour of continuous bombardment had failed to kill him.

Many doubtful voices also began to emerge in the voice channel:

"Is something wrong? How come he's still alive after half an hour? Taunt's health bar is way too huge."

"Is it possible our attacks aren't even breaking through his defense? This game doesn't have a guaranteed minimum of one damage, either, so all our attacks just now might have done nothing."

"Holy shit, please, no. I've already drunk three Mental Potions. If he doesn't die, I'm taking a massive loss."

The suggestion that they couldn't break through his defense sent many players into a meltdown.

This was especially true of the players using Bonefire Form. Most were between levels 5 and 7, and their mental strength could only sustain their attacks for a while before they had to stop and buy Mental Potions from the shop to replenish what they had consumed, then rejoin the battle.

Low-grade Mental Potions cost five points of sacrificial power each, and half an hour of bombardment had already cost them a considerable amount.

If they couldn't kill Taunt, they would undoubtedly lose everything they had invested.

Half an hour later, Taunt was still roaring. Flames engulfed the cave, and black smoke mingled with waves of heat, choking the players and forcing them back again and again.

The players' optimism gradually crumbled into despair.

One player even stared at the raging flames inside the cavern and muttered:

"One point of sacrificial power for a torch, five for a Mental Potion, fifty for a Stone-Splitting Bow, one for an arrow... we've thrown in more than a thousand points by now, haven't we? I've sunk everything I earned from a whole day of mining yesterday into this..."

Those words sent the players beside him into a meltdown.

But none of the players stopped attacking.

With so much sunk into it, they were like gamblers maddened by their losses. Unwilling to accept losing, they chose to stake everything on one final fight.