The viscous blood was bright red and clear, yet it condensed into dark lines in the surrounding space.
That single drop of blood was enough to force Willow down from the sky and significantly slow down Silvis's resurrection.
The Duke's power is truly terrifying!
As everyone struggled to resist the oppressive force, Ed's eyes gradually burned with fervor.
He gazed at the drop of Rosalind's True Blood in the air and asked Little Green in his mind:
"I remember you just said that 'to analyze and replicate the Grand Duke's power, you need a sample from the Grand Duke himself,' is that right?"
Little Green gave an affirmative answer, Ed's heart skipped a beat; a smile had already crept onto his lips.
"This is just like... a perfect opportunity to fall asleep."
The mere drop of blood from a High Tier could generate such pressure; Ed saw in it a path, a path leading to High Tier...
With Rosalind's protection, Ed could roughly sense that he couldn't take that drop of True Blood away with his current strength.
He watched quietly as the drop of blood fell onto the wreckage of the vehicle, feeling Muller absorb the power within the blood drop, and sensing the protective layer Rosalind had applied across space slowly dissipate.
"Oh, what a pity."
Little Green's clear voice rang out:
" The True Blood has been absorbed."
"Absorb?"
Ed took a deep breath, his tone more serious than ever before:
" Muller had better pray he digests slowly, otherwise I'll have to throw him in the juicer."
A greedy glint appeared in his one eye; Ed had made up his mind.
Today, Muller is not leaving!
"Bite!"
A crisp notification sound rang in the minds of all players, and a red message box with an "Emergency" label appeared in front of everyone present.
Urgent Mission: No Return
Mission Description: Grand Duchess Rosalind of the Vampires bestowed a drop of True Blood upon Marquis Muller, who was greatly enhanced and has no intention of letting anyone leave here alive.
Mission objective: Cooperate with Ed Adrian, Willow Seretima, and Silvis to defeat Muller and obtain the Grand Duke's True Blood from within him.
Mission Rewards: Scoring is based on the damage dealt to Muller, with a total prize pool of 150 gold coins to be shared.
Note: During the emergency mission, players within the mission area can revive for free an unlimited number of times via the Temporary Resurrection Tree. The higher the integrity of the player's body, the faster the revival speed.
With fewer than fifty players present, the prize pool of one hundred and fifty gold coins instantly ignited their passion.
Reviving someone costs nothing, and you get paid handsomely.
Even if the Grand Duke himself came, he would still be utterly crushed!
"For the Second Holy See!"
One player shouted first.
"For the Second Holy See!"
Dozens of voices followed closely behind.
"Loyalty or disloyalty?!"
"Loyalty!"
"Loyalty!"
"So loyal!"
The howling battle cries rose and fell, like a morning alarm clock waking Muller, who was entrenched among the ruins and wreckage.
As the players' roars echoed through the cave, the massive pile of already completely destroyed wreckage began to tremble.
It wasn't the flesh and blood moving, but rather the remains themselves that began to deform.
"Gurgle gurgle gurgle..."
Flesh and blood grew and Alienation through repeated friction.
Skin, muscles, bones, organs...
These things were piled up haphazardly, without any logic or aesthetics, and under the players' gaze, they grew into a giant worm with a diameter of two meters and a length of more than ten meters.
That wasn't all; those long-dead parts were now being haphazardly connected together by the newly formed skeleton.
Planks, rivets, gears, cranks... everything was connected to the sides of the worm's forebody by tendons, forming four sturdy legs, each seven or eight meters long.
The worm used its hind half of its body to lift its front half into the air.
With its four thick, muscular legs flailing wildly, the flesh worm turned its head, equipped with three layers of rotating, sharp teeth, toward the player.
"Roar!!!!!!"
The piercing screams nearly tore the players' sanity apart; in their daze, they even saw radiating white stripes appearing at the edge of their vision to represent tension.
Players had never seen such an imposing boss since they started playing, and for a moment their bodies trembled with excitement.
They might just make gaming history!
Amidst this terrifying roar, a long health bar appeared at the bottom of their field of vision, upon which a line of text slowly unfolded:
[ Devouring Proxy, Mutated Aspect of Hunger, False Duke - Muller Rosalind ]
In that instant, [ Howling Pothos ] felt as if she had returned to that afternoon when she first faced Bordo of the Vordt of the Boreal Valley.
It was a warm afternoon when I stepped into that map with unwavering courage.
By the time I left, a layer of cold sweat had unknowingly formed on my back.
The pressure Muller was exerting on him now was even greater than it had been before.
He stared at the menacing BOSS before him, his grip on the weapon tightening slowly. He turned and shouted to the guy who was protecting everyone in front of him:
"[ Backstabbing Expert ], give me a boost, I'll transfer the money to you afterwards."
Upon hearing this, the [ Backstabbing Expert ] skillfully pulled out a weapon that was clearly derived from a real-world tranquilizer shotgun:
What kind of enhancement do you want?
"Forget Dragon Transformation, focus on enhancing basic attributes."
"Clear."
[ Backstabbing Expert ] takes the miniature syringe from [ Dawn Ah ], skillfully loads it, and raises his gun:
"Remember next time, this is called ' Rehabilitation Dragon '!"
"Whoosh!"
The needle pierced [ Howling Pothos ]'s shoulder, and a powerful force surged into his body.
My heart began to pound like a drum, my breathing became rapid, and my eyes became bloodshot...
In an instant, [ Howling Pothos ] entered its optimal battle mode.
This state used to require a period of fighting to achieve, but it was limited by physical constitution and could not be maintained for too long.
But now, a small syringe allows him to skip the warm-up stage effortlessly.
Disordered technology is truly terrifying!
As he sighed, a gasp of surprise came from the right side of the player formation.
After a countdown that wasn't particularly long, but certainly not fast either, the light emanating from Silvis finally subsided, solidifying into a physical form as he stood on the ground once more.
The old man's body remained thin and frail, even more so than before his resurrection.
His broken right leg had been put back in place, but the armor that had been thrown off was still on the ground some distance away.
He shakily pulled the long knight's sword from the ground, looked at the people staring at him behind him, and shouted:
"Warriors, charge with me and vanquish the monster!"