Bizarre Voyage: Summoning The Fourth Crisis

Over with Li Miao and Shore.

After a bitter fight, the two of them finally took down the most troublesome of the monsters: the Host’s Head.

The creature was fast, had high Attack, and most importantly, had crowd control Skills—the very reason they had wiped several times.

Fortunately, they eventually focused most of their attention on it, which led to its demise.

But just as they took down the Host’s Head...

Yina suddenly turned to face them. The dullness in her eyes was gone, replaced by a glimmer of clarity.

"...Run... quick..."

she said, her voice hoarse and strained.

RUMBLE!

The moment Yina’s voice faded, the ground cracked open with a deafening roar, the very earth seeming to overturn.

A colossal hand made of Parasites shot up, enveloping her and pulling her into its mass.

But at the last moment, Yina left them with one crucial hint.

"Attack... the chest..."

BOOM! RUMBLE!

The massive tremor destroyed the entire Wind Erosion Tribe. A colossal Hosted Bone and Blood Giant Statue erupted from beneath the ground, letting out a terrifying screech composed of a million insects.

The moment the Hosted Bone and Blood Giant Statue appeared, it attacked the pair without a second thought.

Every strike was aimed at killing them instantly.

At this moment, the immortal Hosted Bone and Blood Giant Statue, which retained its consciousness, would not allow anyone who knew its weakness to live!

Thus, it had no intention of communicating with Li Miao and Shore—only a thick, palpable killing intent.

But Li Miao and Shore were clearly no pushovers.

They were college students, after all. The thing they ate most was frozen meat older than they were!

"Shit, why does this thing have a bunch of adds? A boss with minions is even more fucking annoying than that last thing! Damn it!"

Shore couldn’t help but let out a string of curses as he dealt with the onslaught.

Even though it was the same Hosted Bone and Blood Giant Statue, the situation the two of them faced was much more difficult.

However, they soon discovered the key to victory.

SQUELCH!

Li Miao roared, leaping toward the Hosted Bone and Blood Giant Statue’s chest and tearing open a massive gash. Black blood sprayed out like a fountain.

The Hosted Bone and Blood Giant Statue let out a pained screech.

But at that critical moment, the Hosted Bone and Blood Giant Statue and the surrounding minions fell into a strange state, twitching uncontrollably.

Li Miao froze for a second, but he quickly saw the reason why.

"Kill... me..."

The girl’s sorrowful and pained voice echoed once more from the chest of the Hosted Bone and Blood Giant Statue, just like when she had been pleading for help earlier.

Li Miao felt as if he could see through the filthy flesh and blood of the Hosted Bone and Blood Giant Statue to the tormented, suffering girl within.

She was the weak point.

After becoming the special host within the Hosted Bone and Blood Giant Statue, killing her would mean killing the statue itself.

But in the next second, Li Miao was swatted away.

"Impossible!"

"I will... live forever!"

The Hosted Bone and Blood Giant Statue went berserk, roaring and beating its chest, simultaneously wrapping the girl within deeper and thicker layers of its body.

The various Hosted People in the area also grew more frenzied.

Monsters that fearlessly charged in as cannon fodder, others that ambushed from the sky, and those that spat venom formed an impenetrable offensive, charging the two of them again and again.

But they now knew the Hosted Bone and Blood Giant Statue’s weakness, and they were experienced Prison Players.

So, faced with the Hosted Bone and Blood Giant Statue’s terrifying assault...

...the two of them only died a simple twenty-odd times.

Eventually.

Covered by Shore, Li Miao, wreathed in the flames of battle, tore open the chest of the Hosted Bone and Blood Giant Statue.

"Thank you..."

Yina smiled faintly and finally closed her eyes.

SQUELCH!

The bright red blood was a stark contrast to the black.

...

With a loud BOOM, accompanied by a terrifying screech, the massive body of the Hosted Bone and Blood Giant Statue crashed to the ground.

Brother Mangzi roared, sending his Great Axe spinning through the air, harvesting the lives of one Parasite after another.

Bu Long also moved quickly, starting to slaughter the Parasites.

Fortunately, the Parasites didn’t flee. They just swarmed together madly, attempting to achieve Resurrection again.

But the two had already died over fifty times. With their wealth of experience, they certainly weren’t going to give their opponent a chance for Resurrection.

And so, after a fierce reaping, the two of them finally finished it off for good.

[You have slain the Hosted Bone and Blood Giant Statue]

[Acquired: Wax Oil x63]

[Acquired: Elixir of Eternal Life x1]

[Acquired: Scab Pendant (Excellence)]

[Acquired: Eternal Confusion (Excellence)]

"Whew... Awesome!"

Brother Mangzi let out a breath and then suddenly shouted in excitement, venting the joy in his heart.

Bu Long was also very happy. He laughed and said, "You know, sometimes brute force really does work miracles. If you hadn’t done that just now, we probably still wouldn’t have found this thing’s weak point!"

"Hmph, of course. We only died a few dozen times to clear it."

At this, Brother Mangzi shouldered his Great Axe, looking rather pleased with himself.

He had always said there was nothing that couldn’t be solved with a good chop.

And if there was, it just meant you hadn’t chopped enough, or you hadn’t chopped hard enough!

Some NPC, some bullshit Hosted Bone and Blood Giant Statue—just brute force your way through!

"This fight was super fast! We’re definitely the first to discover and kill this Hosted Bone and Blood Giant Statue!"

"Let’s see who dares say I’m not even a third as good as Brother Yu now!"

Brother Mangzi was thrilled. Although this wasn’t enough to completely wash away his past shame, it was at least a very nice achievement. It made all his effort worthwhile.

And he was lucky this time, too, managing to discover its weakness by a complete fluke. ’Heaven is on my side!’

"Let’s see what this thing dropped first."

Bu Long was clearly more interested in the Hosted Bone and Blood Giant Statue’s loot drops.

...

Because the Skeleton Forest dungeon map was huge and filled with many monsters blocking the way, even as the next morning approached, most players had not fully explored the entire Skeleton Forest and had to end their expeditions for the day.

Afterward, the Prison Players gathered to summarize what they’d explored that day in preparation for the next.

This was a habit they had from before, and now that they had a chat function, it was naturally much more convenient.

First, they went through the routine of sharing their individual gameplay progress.

The Prison Players had four main exploration teams.

First were Niuniu and Mushroom, who had of course defeated the Hosted Bone and Blood Giant Statue, and in the most unique way.

Then there were Brother Mangzi and Bu Long, who had coincidentally taken the same route, though they hadn’t emerged yet.

Next were Skyrim and Guagua, who had followed Yina along the normal route.

However, their progress was slightly different.

Because after the Hosted Bone and Blood Giant Statue appeared, Guagua and Skyrim got stuck right there.

The reason was simple: Skyrim’s Attributes were too low, so they kept getting swarmed and killed by the mobs.

But after everyone watched the playthrough shared by Niuniu and Mushroom, their first focus wasn’t the player-boss interaction, but a unanimous condemnation of Niuniu.

My hamster’s name is Guagua: "I know I shouldn’t judge how other people play, but... Niuniu, is your heart made of stone? Little Yina was so pitiful, and you still attacked her! (crying)"

Brother Miao Won’t Fail the Exam: "What do you expect? Brother Niu’s been gutting fish at the supermarket for ten years; his heart is as cold as his knife."

My Son Failed, But I’m On Shore: "Sigh. It’s fine. It’s just a game, so Brother Niu can play however he wants, right? (scornful)"

Time to Eat Mushrooms!: "Sigh, that’s true. She did say thank you, after all. She was quite grateful to Niuniu. It came from a bad place, but it accomplished a good deed, so it’s not all bad. Right, Brother Niu? (smiling)"

Mushroom’s words were like a sharp jab. Niuniu couldn’t help but recall the girl’s last words as she died, and his heart felt as if it had been viciously stabbed by an icy knife.

To be honest, he didn’t care about being yelled at. He would usually just scoff at it. After all, he had been flamed plenty of times before for writing guides or attacking NPCs.

Even if this group of old friends condemned him with all their might, he could usually just laugh it off.

But...

’Damn it, why does this game have to be so realistic in this way!’

I do Bull’s Push-ups: "..."

I do Bull’s Push-ups: "I was wrong. I’ll think twice before acting from now on..."

This time, his words truly came from the heart.

No matter what, the game’s realism made it impossible for him to cross certain personal lines as carefreely as he would in a normal game.

Before anyone else could respond to his message, Storyteller was the first to twist the knife.

Storyteller: "It’s fine. It was actually a good thing for Yina. Being freed sooner might have been better... Anyway, from the looks of it, there’s no way to save her. She was going to die one way or another. Sigh... (shakes head)"

Crafty Frog: "And it seems she doesn’t just die once. It’s like this every time the dungeon runs... Sigh. Brother Niu, just keep doing it when you reset the dungeon. You’d be helping her, in a way."

After seeing the finishing blows from Storyteller and Wa Zai...

"..."

’I...’

’I’m such a bastard!’

Even the stone-hearted Niuniu felt a crack appear in his heart...

But no one paid him any more attention; the Prison Players had already moved on to idle chatter.

Brother Miao Won’t Fail the Exam: "Ah... finally cleared this dungeon. It’s all Shore’s fault, this ungrateful brat was dragging me down. I can’t believe it."

My Son Failed, But I’m On Shore: "? You’re the one who died the most, and you’re fucking blaming me? You’re a real piece of work."

Time to Eat Mushrooms!: "Cleared? You’re dreaming, kiddo. You’ve cleared half the dungeon at most. (nose pick)"

Mushroom then went on to detail the parts he hadn’t mentioned before—specifically, the information they had gotten from the Hosted Bone and Blood Giant Statue itself.

And so, while discussing that "terrifying fellow," the players’ attention was also drawn back to the strangeness of the Hosted Bone and Blood Giant Statue and the game itself.

Brother Miao Won’t Fail the Exam: "...There’s more? Damn, I thought we’d cleared the whole thing."

My Son Failed, But I’m On Shore: "A terrifying fellow? What terrifying fellow? Even this Host is afraid of it?"

Time to Eat Mushrooms!: "Can it be more terrifying than Faraway? He should be back tomorrow. (nose pick)"

Brother Miao Won’t Fail the Exam: "Whatever, if there’s more, we’ll deal with it tomorrow. I’ve got an 8 AM class... Anyway, you guys pulled off some real wild shit. I can’t believe you’d even try something like that."

My Son Failed, But I’m On Shore: "For real. If it were me, I definitely wouldn’t have noticed any of that."

Storyteller: "I would have thought they’d most likely be designed as mindless, inhumane creatures."

"But now it seems that Spirit Candle strives to make everything as good as it can be. Not every monster is mindless. They can think, they can feel loneliness and the pain that comes with immortality... For players to threaten a boss with their own lives, it’s truly incredible."

Previously, in his view, Spirit Candle, as an open-world combat and exploration game, still had many aspects that didn’t align with reality.

For example, environmental damage would automatically repair itself, early-game players dissolved the instant they touched water, some parts of the map design felt empty, and sometimes you would even inexplicably lose control of your character, and so on...

All these things made one thing clear: although it was very realistic in many ways, it was still just a game.

And while Spirit Candle cleverly used some background lore to flesh out some of its settings, there were still many shortcomings.

Everything that happened today gave him a much deeper understanding of the game Spirit Candle.

Perhaps... it wasn’t entirely out of the question to treat this game with the same mindset one would use for reality.

Just as the players’ discussion was winding down, a new message popped up in the chat.

Battle Bliss: "Hahahahaha, first kill!"

Battle Bliss: "Bu Long and I just took down this hidden boss!"

Battle Bliss: "(Image)(Image)(Image)"

Bu Long, having scrolled up through the chat history: "..."

The other Prison Players: "..."