"Hmm..."
Bennett, under the influence of invisible pressure, made strange noises. Objectively speaking, such an attack could not actually kill him, and the pain it caused was not as great as that of an electric shock.
But at this moment, he desperately wished that this immense pressure could simply free him.
After a moment's hesitation, and confirming that Luoli, also an earl, couldn't kill him, Bennett forcibly turned his head to look at the players.
His current logic is actually quite simple --
If given the option to die quickly, he would choose it immediately without hesitation, since once he's dead, no one can do anything to him.
But if he can't die quickly, he'll try to choose the option that brings him the least pain.
Since Luoli can't kill him, he remains the players' loyal and reliable chief engineer.
Looking at the players, Bennett shouted with the last breath of his voice that hadn't been squeezed out of his chest:
Don't give him a chance to breathe!
The first group of players, now fully Alienation, charged towards the stone coffin, weapons in hand. Luoli, half-sitting, turned his head, his crimson eyes sweeping over the crowd:
"Enemy."
Compared to the gritted teeth he used when calling everyone "traitors," Luoli was noticeably calmer when labeling them as "enemies."
As soon as the words were spoken, the four or five players at the forefront suddenly noticed four new debuffs appearing in their status bars:
[Exhaustion I: Strength -20%, duration 10 minutes.]
[Slowness I: Agility -20%, duration 10 minutes.]
[Weakness I: Constitution -20%, duration 10 minutes.]
[Interference I: Willpower -20%, duration 10 minutes.]
In that instant, these men felt uncomfortable all over their bodies. Their grip on their knives weakened, their legs buckled, their strength rapidly diminished, and even the harmony between their bodies and souls seemed to change slightly.
"Return!"
[ Soaring Clouds ] was the first to realize something was wrong. Looking at his men rushing forward, he knew one thing clearly: he absolutely could not let Luoli drink their blood.
Luoli has already recovered to this state after killing just one person; what if he kills five or six more?
What if, as he initially requested, he absorbed the blood of two hundred Blood Corpse?
[ Soaring Clouds ] hardly dared to think about it. If they had any room for error before, now there was absolutely no room for error.
Five or six players realized the changes in their bodies and heard [ Soaring Clouds ]'s command. They immediately used all their strength to slow down and retreat back to the group's direction.
The group retreated, but Luoli remained seated in the stone coffin. [ Soaring Clouds ], seeing this, suddenly understood—
After absorbing someone's blood, Luoli should have been the first to regain his special abilities, rather than reactivating his bodily functions.
Otherwise, why would he leave more than a dozen weapons stuck in his body?
Even if they didn't get up and leave the stone coffin, they should at least have reached out and pulled out a handful or two.
There's only one explanation for all of this: he can't do it right now.
He can't move around much, but he can lure players to his side to hunt by feigning weakness.
What an insidious fellow!
[ Soaring Clouds ] shut down his past actions and focused solely on condemning the Blood Corpse Earl before him.
[ Autumn Light and Osmanthus Shadows ] realized something at this moment; as a temporary worker in Soaring Sky Studio, he did not have the authority to command other players.
He himself wasn't good at commanding others, but he knew that as long as his attacks were effective, the other players would follow up as quickly as possible.
What he wanted to do was simple: probe Luoli with ranged attacks. But he didn't want to say it out loud. The players' Directed Alienation skills weren't unlimited. If the ranged attacks didn't work, he would be the cause of today's team wipe.
At the same time, it would be difficult for [ Autumn Light and Osmanthus Shadows ] herself to quickly Alienation into a long-range firing weapon.
As the best pilot in the Second Holy See, he, like other Dragonborn players, allocated many special points to [ Animal Compatibility ].
However, this did not stump him. [ Autumn Light and Osmanthus Shadows ] reached his right hand behind his back, and after touching the familiar arm armor, he immediately put his hand inside.
He swung his arm, bringing his right hand, which was covered in arm armor, in front of him, and with a forceful slap of his left hand, he drove the seven or eight blood-collecting needles attached to the inside of his gauntlet into his arm.
The life-giving blood nourished the blood-collecting needles made from Blood-Drinking Thornbush, and a large amount of life force immediately entered the arm armor, which was mainly composed of plant structures.
Without a doubt, the only person in the Second Holy See currently capable of producing such equipment is [ Do Some Farm Work ], who simultaneously identifies as a farming player, broker, and arms dealer.
After witnessing how powerful [ Howling Pothos ]'s custom equipment was in Fir City, [ Autumn Light and Osmanthus Shadows ] used the money he earned from launching bio-guided missiles to customize a similar piece of equipment.
However, because his Plant Compatibility attribute is not high, the function of his arm armor cannot be as comprehensive as that of the [ Howling Pothos ] armor. For example, he cannot use the permanent bark soft armor that relies on Plant Compatibility.
Therefore, besides basic defense, his arm armor only has two functions: a hidden blade and a launcher, and it consumes more blood than [ Howling Pothos ].
As his health bar rapidly decreased, two arrows gleaming with a cold light appeared on either side of his arm armor. [ Autumn Light and Osmanthus Shadows ] flashed to Luoli's side and rear.
He intended to aim for the Earl's head, but considering that might kill him or turn him into a "vegetative state" among the Blood Corpse, he lowered his right arm slightly, aimed at Luoli's neck, and pulled the trigger.
"Whoosh!"
Two arrows flew out. Although the pure hardwood arrows of the Tree Worship Church, which have no metal heads or fletchings, have a limited range, their close-range damage should not be underestimated.
Just when [ Autumn Light and Osmanthus Shadows ] thought she was about to succeed, the vampire count suddenly turned his head to one side.
His movements were so swift, as if he hadn't thought at all, that [ Autumn Light and Osmanthus Shadows ] was reminded of a superhero she had once seen who possessed an automatic dodge skill called "One Strike."
However, while Luoli dodged an arrow aimed directly at his neck, he couldn't dodge another arrow fired from the same side.
The arrow pierced his tanned skin and lodged in his back near his shoulder blade.
"Ah!"
Despite his best efforts to conceal it, everyone still heard Luoli's scream.
Without needing anyone's prompting, [ Soaring Clouds ] took a step forward, leaned forward, raised his right hand, and placed his left hand on his hip, issuing his command to his players with an impeccable posture:
"Loose the arrows! Loose the arrows!"