A strange sensation coursed through the four of them; it was a burning heat on a spiritual level, but when it acted on their bodies, it only made them feel colder.
Black Corpse Poison began to gather on their fingertips and gums, and the four could feel themselves getting further and further away from being human.
A new buff appeared on the status bars of all four players: [ Blood Corpse Transformation--Adelaide ].
"How are you all feeling?"
[ Clear Soup Master ] asked the three people beside him, only to be shocked to find that his voice had become extremely hoarse.
[ Pizza Heart ] and the other two also spoke up, and their voices were exactly the same as his, having evolved into pure Blood Corpse voices at some point.
"Emmm, my mind's a bit muddled, let me sort it out..."
The physical changes made [ My Buddha Ciba ]'s thoughts a little unclear. After thinking for a moment, he finally asked as if to confirm:
Why did we turn into Blood Corpse?
"In order to maximize the completion rate of public tasks... did you forget to allocate points to Willpower?"
"No, it's just that it's my first time looking like this, and I'm a little unaccustomed to it..."
[ My Buddha Ciba ] scratched his hair, somewhat embarrassed, and said:
"Shall we continue to split up?"
"Good."
The other three agreed and immediately turned to continue their daytime mission.
But just as [ Clear Soup Master ] took a step, one of his feet suddenly became dangling in the air, unable to land.
"Did you hear that?"
[ Namo Goose Rice Tofu ] asked:
"What did you hear?"
[ Clear Soup Master ]: "I think I heard someone speaking in my head, he said..."
"Come over!"
A haunting, ethereal voice resounded simultaneously in the minds of the four, a voice so terrifying it seemed to come from the bottomless abyss, making it difficult to discern its direction for a moment.
[ Pizza Heart ]'s throat bobbed slightly:
"I think I heard it."
[ My Buddha Ciba ]: "Could it be what I'm thinking? The one speaking in our heads isn't...?"
"The Vampire Marquis."
[ Clear Soup Master ] answered confidently, feeling that there was no other possibility left. [ My Buddha Ciba ] asked in astonishment:
"But how is that possible? The Marquis hasn't broken free of his seal yet, has he? And [ Aluode ] didn't mention anything like that to us."
"That's probably because Bennett had already fully recovered when [ Aluode ] was Blood Corpse Transformation. Do you guys remember that post by the player called [ Chosen of the Four Gods ]? In the post, he said that after he was infected, he felt someone talking in his head. That person was probably Grand Duke Antos."
"So, is that marquis speaking in our heads now?"
"[ My Buddha Ciba ]" asked incredulously.
"That should be it. Blood Corpse are somewhat like signal towers and terminals in reality. They receive information from whichever signal tower they are closer to. I think the one closest to us right now is that marquis who hasn't been revived yet, so this summoning effect must be his doing."
"This effect is too powerful..."
A bitter smile appeared on [ Pizza Heart ]'s face:
"If we're forced to go to its sealed location, how are we supposed to steal the quest? Isn't that like trying to steal a chicken and losing the rice instead?"
Upon hearing this, the four of them fell silent.
Indeed, the four of them chose to Blood Corpse Transformation in order to gain more mission completion points, but their cleverness backfired. Although they were not attacked after Blood Corpse Transformation, they found it difficult to move an inch.
"If all else fails, I'd say we log off. Even with the weakness buff during the day, we should still be able to move around freely."
[ Clear Soup Master ] gritted his teeth and gave the four of them a somewhat extreme solution.
"It doesn't seem very reliable... How can you compete with others when you're so weak?"
The four fell silent again. After a brief moment of thought, [ Namo Goose Rice Tofu ], who hadn't spoken for a long time, suddenly said:
Let's abandon the mission.
"What?"
The remaining three asked in unison.
[ Namo Goose Rice Tofu ] explained slowly and deliberately:
"We've gotten to this point, it's unlikely we can compete with others for this mission. But we've already covered five days' worth of travel, and the Blood Corpse has gritted its teeth and transformed. We can't just commit suicide because there's no Teleportation Tree nearby, can we? I think we should abandon the mission. After all, the completion rate won't be canceled, and we'll still get our share. As for now, we might as well do what [ Aluode ] did and find something to do when facing a crisis."
"Wait, didn't [ Aluode ] say he was originally a spy planted there?"
"Don't listen to his nonsense. I asked [ Gill's Cuisine ], and [ Aluode ] was a total coward back then, which is why he survived to the end. The whole undercover operation and backstabbing thing was all planned later."
"I see. So what should we do? We can't exactly help the Marquis break free of his seal and be resurrected, can we? Wouldn't that be an even bigger act of betrayal than [ Aluode ]?"
"Don't rush, let me think..."
As they spoke, the four men's feet began to move uncontrollably in the same direction. They looked around and saw that almost all the Blood Corpse were doing the same thing, moving in the same direction.
Clearly, this is the vampire marquis summoning the Blood Corpse.
[ Namo Goose Rice Tofu ]'s expression gradually became serious. It was his suggestion to abandon the mission; he had to find a better way out for his three teammates.
But the situation is so complicated right now, we can probably only discuss it after we log off. For today... let's familiarize ourselves with the situation first.
After confirming their main task for the night, the four joined a group of hundreds or even thousands of Blood Corpse, just like four ordinary Blood Corpse.
They drifted with the current, heeding the influence of that calling force, and arrived at a cliff when the moon reached its highest point in the night sky.
"There's a dead end ahead..."
[ Pizza Heart ] muttered to himself in confusion.
"Don't rush, let's see how things go first."
As the group continued forward, they soon discovered two facts.
First, the cliff in front of us is truly a dead end.
Secondly, hundreds of Blood Corpse were waving their claws and digging into the rock face...
"Oh, this..."
Looking at the cliff face that was nearly a hundred meters high, [ Clear Soup Master ] couldn't help but sigh:
"As expected of a marquis, even his treatment while sealed is much better than that of an earl. Did the sealing master just cover him with an entire mountain?"
"Then you must have slept very well..."
The other three echoed this sentiment, and then, guided by the voice in their minds, they arrived at the bottom of the cliff.
Ahead of them, a Blood Corpse that had finished its digging task scooped up a large pile of rubble with its tattered clothes and began to walk towards the outer edge of the group.