Phasing

"The top player? Not so impressive."

As the man spoke, the snake woman lifted an armchair and placed it behind him. He sat down and crossed his legs while she massaged him from behind.

"Is that so?"

The dust gradually cleared, revealing an emerald-green figure standing in its midst.

The man lounging with his legs crossed narrowed his eyes. Huo Donglan's venomous tail stinger had failed to hurt him!

"So it really is you, Qiu Chengnan."

Clad in Jade Armor, Xiao Hao stared at Qiu Chengnan, who had suddenly appeared.

Had he really been at a disadvantage?

No, he had simply been luring the snake out of its hole.

The Vulture Harpy suddenly fired a barrage of venomous needles. The Human-Faced Spider on the ceiling sprayed webs from its rear, and Chang Zhiqian lashed out with his strip of flesh lined with sharp teeth. Enemy skills came at him from every direction.

Guardians?

As if he didn't have one of his own!

"Peacock Mantis Shrimp!"

The Mantis Shrimp materialized beside Xiao Hao, swinging two enormous Jade Scythes like a rapidly spinning electric fan. The venomous needles were intercepted by the whirling Mantis Scythe, each collision of blade and needle ringing out with a series of clinks.

Venomous needles scattered across the floor, while the strips of flesh and webs were likewise sliced to pieces. Low-level monsters were still low-level monsters. No matter how terrifying they looked, that was all they were.

The Mantis Shrimp's feelers suddenly extended, its Rinkaku Tentacles stabbing toward all three enemies!

With its overwhelming level advantage, the Rinkaku Tentacles bound the Vulture Harpy, the Human-Faced Spider, and Chang Zhiqian, then slammed them into the floor, just as Xiao Hao had been slammed down earlier!

They had no Jade Armor like Xiao Hao's. The three monsters were embedded in the concrete floor, cracks spreading around the edges of their bodies.

Suddenly, Chang Zhiqian burst out of the dust. His entire body had transformed into a massive humanoid worm, and he lunged at Xiao Hao!

Xiao Hao stood calmly without moving. Chang Zhiqian had underestimated the Mantis Shrimp far too much.

An afterimage flashed past. In the eyes of a master bladesman, everything slowed down.

The blood spraying through the air, the leaves about to fall, the drifting clouds obscuring the moonlight-everything had a path that could be traced.

Once the Jade Scythe reached a certain speed, a single blade became a meat grinder.

Chang Zhiqian splattered at Xiao Hao's feet.

Yes, splattered, not fell.

He had been shredded into a basin's worth of minced flesh.

Beneath the Shadow Mask, Xiao Hao's lips curled upward, but his expression soon froze.

The minced flesh at his feet began writhing, wrapping around his feet like a monster from a swamp of flesh!

He wasn't dead even after being minced into paste!

Xiao Hao remembered Chang Zhiqian's Guardian-the Regenerating Earthworm!

With a Guardian like that, Chang Zhiqian had obviously chosen a regeneration skill. But wasn't this absurd level of "regeneration" some kind of joke?!

Xiao Hao's expression changed drastically. How disgusting! Standing on that blood-red mince felt like standing in mud, and it was even crawling up his calves!

Even with his entire body covered in Jade Armor, his stomach churned!

Xiao Hao lifted his legs, trying to break free of the flesh paste, only to feel as though he were sinking deeper into a swamp!

The Jade Armor suddenly lost its color. Xiao Hao's entire body turned black and white, becoming a mass of Aurora Shadow.

Using Shadow Transformation to return to the Mantis Shrimp's back, Xiao Hao hurriedly ordered it to retreat!

To capture the bandits, first capture their leader. The Mantis Shrimp's Rinkaku Tentacles stabbed toward Qiu Chengnan, ready to take him down in one stroke.

The snake woman giving him a massage immediately circled around to shield Qiu Chengnan behind her. Despite her slender, delicate feminine arms, she actually caught two of the Mantis Shrimp's Rinkaku Tentacles!

Her yellowish-brown eyes shone, and the Rinkaku Tentacles in her grasp began turning to stone, inch by inch!

As the petrification spread, the Mantis Shrimp immediately swung its blades and severed the tentacles!

The snake woman discarded the petrified Rinkaku in her hands. The two long Rinkaku Tentacles shattered into chunks of stone, while those on the Mantis Shrimp's head regrew completely.

Realizing how formidable the top player was, Qiu Chengnan no longer dared act arrogant. He stood up and glared at Xiao Hao. "If you think this is all I can do, you're seriously underestimating me!"

With that, Qiu Chengnan phased out of existence right before Xiao Hao's eyes.

The four monsters under his command disappeared along with him.

Silence returned to their surroundings, and Xiao Hao knitted his brows.

Venomous needles shot toward Xiao Hao from a tricky angle above and to his right. Even the Mantis Shrimp failed to react in time!

Unfortunately for the attacker, the needles struck the Jade Armor as though hitting metal, producing another series of clinks.

The Jade Scythe swung, and Xiao Hao watched it pass straight through the Vulture Harpy. He had expected the monster to be cleaved in two, but the blade simply went through it instead. Like a 3D projection, the Vulture Harpy vanished!

So this was Phasing?

Another way to become immune to physical attacks!

Immunity to physical attacks seemed to be a common ability among the Nightmare Game's monsters. Though it wasn't complete immunity, it was still absurdly powerful.

A massive snake tail suddenly appeared above Xiao Hao. Reacting swiftly, he rolled out of the way. With a boom, an enormous crack split the concrete floor.

The violent impact even made the venomous needles on the floor tremble.

Xiao Hao caught sight of the needles out of the corner of his eye, and his attention immediately focused on them.

Why hadn't the needles phased?

Could they no longer phase once they left the body?

The crack left by the snake tail also required a solid body to cause that kind of damage.

Realization flashed through Xiao Hao's mind. Qiu Chengnan's monsters became solid the instant they attacked! If he could hit them at that moment, perhaps he could hurt them!

Since this was a game, no skill could be invincible.

Not even an Easter egg!

Xiao Hao immediately turned into a shadow and ordered, "Mantis Shrimp, use your ultimate-Mantis Scythe!"

When he had faced the Mantis Shrimp before, his situation had been remarkably similar to Qiu Chengnan's.

The Mantis Shrimp had driven the Shadow Seahorse into a corner by using its ultimate without pause!

Even if Qiu Chengnan could phase, it had to consume stamina!

In other words, he was most likely hiding in some corner!

The scythes whirled, afterimages flashing!

The enormous Mantis Scythes swung at tremendous speed, whipping up gust after gust of fierce wind. Even the base station's windows rattled and banged violently, as though battered by a storm!

The dense wiring on the equipment inside the base station swayed nonstop. Paper documents flew off the desks, and the desks and chairs shook as though they might be swept into the air at any moment.

Beyond the range of the Mantis Shrimp's attack, venomous needles and webs occasionally flew in to hinder it, but none of them worked. The Mantis Scythe instantly cut down every attack.

"Enough!"

Qiu Chengnan's voice came from behind a piece of equipment in the corner.

Xiao Hao's move was practically cheating, forcing his real body out of hiding!

This wasn't the ocean floor, with all its open space. Using Mantis Scythe in such a confined area meant the turbulent air alone was enough to make him suffer!

Qiu Chengnan shifted from intangible to solid and glared at Xiao Hao. "We should stay out of each other's business. Don't get in my way, top player."

Xiao Hao sneered inwardly.

Heh. Killing all those people was one thing, but you even cut off my internet. Now you've really made an enemy of me!

Ahem, no, that wasn't right. Let's try again.

You cut off my internet, and you even killed all those people. Unforgivable!

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