Chapter 215 - 154: You Can Play the Game Like This?
With that, Shore eagerly ran in that direction.
"Hey, wait!"
Seeing this, Li Miao immediately tried to stop him.
But Shore was incredibly fast. By the time Li Miao called out, he had already covered nearly a third of the distance.
But just as he was about to reach the glowing Corpse Bone Tree, disaster struck.
WHOOSH!
With a loud noise, a monster resembling a Cannibal Flower suddenly burst from the ground. It swallowed Shore whole, snapped its maw shut, and immediately began to burrow back underground.
SWISH!
Fortunately, Li Miao arrived just in time. With a furious roar, he unleashed his Crescent Moon Sword Qi, severing the creature at its root.
[You have killed the Blood Bone Devouring Flower]
After the monster’s corpse dissipated, Shore scrambled out, covered in foul-smelling digestive fluids. Corrosive marks were already beginning to appear on his body.
’Looks like this was a monster with a messed-up skill tree.’
"Pah! Fuck, what kind of fucked-up design is this? It’s so goddamn disgusting."
Shore started cursing and grumbling.
"Who told you to be so careless? It’s not like this is the first time you’ve screwed up. Is your motto ’suffer a setback, then suffer the same one again’?"
Li Miao mocked him mercilessly.
"Shut up! Who gave you permission to talk to your dad like that!"
Shore flipped him off, then looked into the hollow of the somewhat withered Corpse Bone Tree.
"This better not be a lump of shit or something."
Shore muttered to himself.
But to his surprise, the light in the hollow seemed to be shaped like a foot.
Seeing this, Li Miao went right up and tore open the withered Corpse Bone Tree.
The translucent Soul of an old man appeared before their eyes.
As the withered Corpse Bone Tree collapsed, the old man’s Soul began to react.
It began to fade away, its lips trembling as it looked up and murmured.
"This outsider has no gratitude..."
"He’s just a parasite..."
"Everyone has been deceived..."
"An ill omen... an ill omen..."
His ancient voice was filled with sorrow.
After the Soul faded completely, the Corpse Bone Tree lost all its vitality and crumbled into Ashes.
However, once the Soul had completely vanished, it left several items behind.
[Acquired: Exile Beast Hide ×1]
[Acquired: Old Witch’s Staff (Excellent)]
[Acquired: Old Witch Robe (Ordinary)]
[...]
Aside from the beast hide, there was a full set of equipment, apparently left behind by the old man’s Soul before its demise.
[Exile Beast Hide]
[Type: Special Items]
[Effect: One who drips blood upon it will be stained with a repulsive aura, becoming an outcast of the tribe.]
[Explanation: The hide of a cursed beast from the sea. The tribe uses it to exile former members, making them forever detested by their kin and forcing them to leave this land.]
The Exile Beast Hide was already stained with blood; it seemed it had already been used.
[Old Witch’s Staff (Excellent)]
[Type: Weapon]
[Effect: When held, slightly increases Magic learning speed.]
[Explanation: The Wooden Staff of the tribe’s Old Witch. It looks very old, having been passed down through countless generations of Old Witches.]
’An outsider with no gratitude? Deceived? An ill omen?’
’What does that mean?’
Shore scratched his head, a little puzzled.
’The Old Witch’s Soul seemed to be a native of this place, but why did it appear here as a Soul? And why did it dissipate when the Corpse Bone Tree collapsed?’
"Forget about that for now. Let’s hurry."
Li Miao quickly pulled him along.
The girl was already about to disappear from sight.
...
"Whoa, an old man’s Soul? Where is it?"
Niuniu and Mushroom had now resurrected and returned.
They had also teleported out for a moment to check the information other players were sharing in the channel.
So the two of them had made their way over.
However, this seemed to be the very spot where they had just fought the Hosted Bone and Blood Giant Statue.
Most of the Corpse Bone Trees had collapsed. And though they were slowly regenerating, they couldn’t immediately find the one that had housed the old man’s Soul.
"It’s over here!"
Mushroom’s eyes suddenly lit up as he found the Corpse Bone Tree.
However, this Corpse Bone Tree had completely collapsed. There was no old man’s Soul, and it showed no signs of regenerating.
The equipment and items, however, were still there.
"There’s no leftover story dialogue," Mushroom said, shaking his head with regret. "Looks like this is the consequence of killing an important NPC."
"Tch, what’s there to worry about? A game this open is practically encouraging us to go off the beaten path."
"Come on. I’ll help you pry something out of that monstrosity’s mouth."
Niuniu, on the other hand, didn’t care at all.
He felt a brief pang of guilt about killing the NPC, but only a small one.
"By the way, where did that Hosted Bone and Blood Giant Statue run off to?"
Mushroom glanced at the surrounding Corpse Bone Trees, which had almost finished regenerating, and felt a headache coming on.
"Damn, we should have come back sooner."
Hearing this, Niuniu felt a little awkward. He hadn’t considered that the regenerating environment would erase all traces of the battle.
"It’s fine, let’s ride. This place is wide open anyway. That guy is so big, it should be easy to find."
"Even if we don’t see it, it should show itself when it sees us," Niuniu said.
’After all, that thing was incredibly lonely and desperate to talk to someone.’
Hearing this, Mushroom didn’t say much more.
After the two took out their Candle Bone Whistles and blew them, they mounted their horses and began to gallop through the Skeleton Forest.
As it turned out, Niuniu’s guess was correct.
The Hosted Bone and Blood Giant Statue had a huge body and was currently in an open area not far away, eating balls of Parasites off the ground.
The moment it noticed the two of them, it shot to its feet, letting out a laugh that was both joyful and deranged.
"Hahahahaha... You actually came back!"
"Damn you! I absolutely won’t let you run away again this time!"
"Stay here and keep me company forever!"
The Parasites swarmed across the Hosted Bone and Blood Giant Statue’s massive, bloody face, forming a terrifying smile.
Mushroom found the sight deeply unsettling.
"Dammit, maybe I should just pop all my buffs and kill this thing?"
Mushroom was tempted to unleash his ultimate move.
"Don’t. Why go to all that trouble?"
Niuniu quickly spoke up to stop him.
He had no doubt about Mushroom’s strength. If this show-off stacked all his buffs, he could probably kill the creature right then and there.
But that clearly wasn’t Niuniu’s goal.
"Ahem."
Facing the surging tide of Parasites, Niuniu remained completely unfazed. He cleared his throat and began his performance.
Niuniu pointed a finger at it, his expression a clear warning.
"Don’t move!"
"Move again and I’ll off myself!"
As he spoke, he drew his sword and held it to his own neck with a look of utter abandon.
"..."
Hearing this, the Hosted Bone and Blood Giant Statue actually froze, ceasing all movement.
"...Outsider, what is the meaning of this?"
Niuniu sneered. "You don’t get it? Don’t you know we already died once?"
"I can return from Hell. You can never kill me."
"And you think you can imprison us? Dream on!"
"At first, I just felt sorry for you and was going to have a chat. But you didn’t appreciate the kindness, so I had to teach you a lesson."
"I wasn’t planning on coming back, but I thought about it and decided to give you one more chance."
"Of course, if you don’t believe me, how about you try again?"
"Anyway, I can just go to other places. There are guys exactly like you there too."
"It’s no skin off my back, but you... you’ll be all alone again~"
Niuniu added, his tone dripping with sarcasm.
Hearing this, Mushroom, who was standing to the side, was utterly stunned.
Although he had a rough idea of what Niuniu was planning, seeing it in action made him marvel. ’This guy’s playing on a whole other level of crazy!’
’A player threatening a boss with their own death... It was completely absurd, no matter how you looked at it.’
And yet...
"...Don’t kill yourself. I won’t attack. Let’s talk first," the Hosted Bone and Blood Giant Statue said, its voice a strange, low rumble.
The swarms of Parasites came under control, retreating and merging back into the body of the Hosted Bone and Blood Giant Statue.
’It actually fucking worked!’
’You can play the game like this?!’
Mushroom’s jaw dropped in shock.