Chapter 212 - 153: Hosted Bone and Blood Giant Statue
This giant Corpse Bone Tree seemed to be providing the girl with nutrients.
After realizing this, the pair grew more wary of the girl.
But just then, a prompt appeared before their eyes.
[Do you wish to consume 10 Wax Oil to awaken the "Human Girl in the Corpse Bone Tree"?]
’What does this mean?’
’Is this girl a hidden boss that needs Wax Oil to be awakened?’
"Whatever, let’s try it." Guagua quickly made her decision, stepping forward and immediately consuming ten units of Wax Oil.
Soon, the Wax Oil dripped onto the girl’s forehead, and her cries for help gradually faded.
A moment later, she opened her eyes.
But her gaze seemed a little off, as if there was something mentally wrong with her.
Her subsequent actions were even stranger.
She slowly stood up with no intention of talking to the two of them, simply staring blankly in a certain direction.
Then, with a staggering gait, she began to walk slowly in that direction.
Witnessing this bizarre scene, Skyrim and Guagua looked at each other, at a loss for what to do.
"She’s so strange..." Guagua’s brow furrowed.
She then walked up, grabbed the girl, and called out to her while gently tapping her on the shoulder.
Skyrim watched silently from the side, his body tense.
But the girl showed no reaction.
Moreover, even when they stopped her and called out to her, she showed no sign of returning to normal, single-mindedly trying to press on toward her destination.
"Is... is she an NPC or a monster?"
The girl’s strange behavior left them both baffled, unsure of what to do.
"Forget it, let’s follow her and see."
After weighing their options, the two decided to follow the girl. Besides, the Spirit Candle was pointing in that direction anyway.
...
Compared to the gentler approach taken by Guagua and Skyrim, some players made a completely different choice.
After confirming that the Skeleton Forest was mostly filled with Corpse Bone Trees and Parasites, Niuniu and Mushroom had arrived here even earlier than the others.
After following the cries for help to the giant Corpse Bone Tree and rescuing the girl from within, Niuniu watched her bizarre behavior and stroked his chin.
The next moment.
Mushroom, at his side, didn’t even have time to react before he watched in horror as Niuniu raised a hand toward the girl’s back and unleashed an Explosive Flame.
BOOM!
In an instant, the immense power of the explosion erupted, leaving a pile of mostly charred flesh and gore on the ground.
[You have killed the Human Girl in the Corpse Bone Tree]
[Obtained: Sorrow of the Possessed]
[Obtained: Yina’s Last Words]
"What the fuck..." Mushroom stared at the pile of gore, utterly shocked. "Are you out of your mind? Why did you kill the NPC?"
In response, Niuniu still wore a contemplative expression, even reaching out to sift through the bloody mess to confirm the girl was dead.
"To see what would happen if I killed this NPC, of course," Niuniu replied as he prodded the gore.
With the addition of world chat, communication between players in dungeons had become much faster.
Niuniu had naturally learned from other players that this NPC in the tree wasn’t unique like the Firewood Gatherer or Firewood Thief; one existed in every instance of the dungeon.
Niuniu turned to him. "Don’t worry. There’s one in every dungeon."
"That doesn’t mean you can just go around killing people!" Mushroom’s brow was still furrowed.
"People?" Niuniu sounded surprised. "The things hiding in the other Corpse Bone Trees were a bunch of disgusting facehuggers. You really think this thing that came out of a Corpse Bone Tree is a person?"
"Just because she looks human and can cry for help?"
"..." Hearing this, Mushroom fell silent.
Indeed, from a realistic perspective, there was no way this girl could be a normal NPC.
And from a gaming perspective, Niuniu wasn’t really in the wrong. The only issue was that he had acted on his own without consulting him.
Seeing his silence, Niuniu chuckled.
"Maybe she’s an important story character in this dungeon or something."
"But for me, if the game doesn’t explicitly restrict me from doing something, I have to try it!"
"Anyway, plenty of people are already following her onward. This just gives me a chance to test out what happens if you kill her early."
With that, Niuniu began to inspect the loot from killing the girl.
The Sorrow of the Possessed was a strange-looking object shaped like a tree root, almost overgrown with hard tendrils.
[Sorrow of the Possessed]
[Type: Special Items]
[Effect: After being completely burned away with Warfire, it can inflict special damage on specific enemies.]
[Explanation: A pitiful Host. Even in death, the sorrow in their heart has not dissipated.]
As for Yina’s Last Words, it was a soft, feather-like stream of pale blue light. The moment it touched Niuniu’s palm, it automatically activated and began to dissipate.
Along with it came a whispered word of thanks.
"Thank you..."
"You... must be careful..."
[You have obtained "Yina’s Dying Strength," duration: 10 minutes]
[Yina’s Dying Strength: You have received Yina’s help. For a period of time, parasitic creatures will be unable to take you as a host before you die.]
"..."
After reading all this, Niuniu suddenly fell silent.
"And here you are, being a total scumbag. The girl’s dead and she’s still helping you," Mushroom sneered.
Just then, as the ground began to tremble, a sharp laugh suddenly rang out.
"Hahahahahahaha..."