Chapter 2523: Not Necessarily the Home Turf
"He should still be hiding," Xu Huo said. "He knows this place well; once he got away, he hid directly. The wounds on his body were not caused by ordinary weapons; they match the environment here."
Bubble Bean, now missing a leg, was eager to swallow the opponent whole, "That old guy never had good intentions from the start. Bringing us here was just to kill us. At least one-third of the buildings in this city are made of metal. As long as we move around, it’s absolutely impossible to avoid that person manipulating the metal. At this rate, never mind finding a way out; we don’t even know how long we can hold on!"
While fleeing earlier, Xu Huo had already studied the structure of the entire city from the nearby public maps. They were still on the outskirts of the city. On the map, fully metal buildings had special markings, and closer to the city center, the more metal buildings there were. Presumably, the city center is truly the main field.
"Is this really inside a super dungeon?" Bubble Bean questioned, somewhat doubting, "It’s a bit beyond my expectations."
"Not as complex as you imagined?" Xu Huo understood his point.
Bubble Bean nodded, "The venue is too ordinary. Even though there’s someone who can control metal here, ultimately they are just a minor boss. Chasing people who enter the venue is no different from other instances below A-Rank."
"The difference is obvious," Xu Huo said. "If this super dungeon could operate normally, more than half of the players would die or be injured before figuring out the operational rules of the metal. Without us, you probably would have died two or three times by now."
Being able to hunt players at such a high standard already signifies the special nature of the instance.
"Moreover, this might not be the main venue of the instance." Xu Huo continued, "Don’t forget where we came from."
They jumped from the Metal Forest to this murderous city. So far, apart from that middle-aged man, they hadn’t seen other District 001 players. Even if Valen lied about the numbers, people entering here wouldn’t be few. No one had been attracted by the commotion here, nor had they encountered anyone. It’s highly likely that more District 001 players aren’t here.
Therefore, this super dungeon venue likely has multiple spaces, and players from District 001 possess the props to travel back and forth between spaces.
The middle-aged man brought them here not just for using a weapon to kill; he has other motives.
Bubble Bean quickly comprehended, "Could there be super props or an Instance Authorization Document here!"
Xu Huo had the same suspicion. At worst, there should be a few decent props.
However, instead of contending for props with someone who could control the city’s metal, it would be better to look for that injured player.
"You just stay here." Xu Huo said.
Bubble Bean immediately replied, "I’ll act with you. I have support props, so I definitely won’t slow the speed!"
He feared Xu Huo might disappear without coming back.
"Meeting consecutively in-game is also a kind of fate," Xu Huo reminded, "But next time, if we’re surrounded by metal again, I might not be able to extend help in time."
Bubble Bean smiled, "Since we’ve already understood the rules of metal control, hiding won’t be a problem."
Xu Huo gave him a meaningful look, then transferred his position through the Mental Portal.
When he returned to the location where he had landed before, the middle-aged man was no longer in the wooden cabinet.
The opponent had already moved beyond Xu Huo’s perception range, but they were lucky; a sound of a building collapsing came from afar. As they were about to head there, a gust of air burst through the sky, instantly splitting the building they were hiding in along with other structures on the same side of the street in two!
Xu Huo and the others narrowly escaped, but before finding a suitable hiding spot, the surrounding metal started to agitate again, followed by a rain of arrows in the air, the constant sounds ringing around them, accompanied by a low hum.
The rain of arrows could determine if someone was within a certain space through the hum. Xu Huo had tested it before; the principle was likely judging the shape of surrounding objects through vibrations. Thus, even if they didn’t move or make a sound, they would be discovered. Hiding in a cabinet was the only option.
However, this area almost had no wooden containers large enough to hold an adult—into metal boxes or cabinets they dared not enter. So now, all they could do was desperately run.
Whenever they changed locations, the surrounding metal props immediately converged to attack, the fast pace leaving Xu Huo’s group almost no time to think, forcing them to continuously change locations. But as time went on, the shattered and broken metal fragments were increasingly numerous, scattered throughout the air indoors and outdoors!
The dispersal and expanding coverage of metal objects meant the person manipulating the metal could more accurately control the situation within the city. Xu Huo moved out of this range twice and was pursued twice—seemingly the opponent had marked him!
Xu Huo’s overarching direction was towards the city center. After detouring a bit, he still found the middle-aged man. This person was more heavily injured, hiding in a wooden cabinet, with healing potions all around him.
"Come out," Xu Huo swept open the cabinet door, and first to fly out in succession were thin blade-like pieces like small fish, their speed almost catching one off guard, reacting when the blades had already sliced across his throat.
Xu Huo and Bubble Bean had defense props as a backup, so the first round of attacks only broke the Defensive Barrier, while the Girl in the Painting took several hits without defense, instinctively covering her throat, then furiously swung the paper hidden in her clothes. At the same time, all paper products in the building floated up, shooting towards the middle-aged man’s position like a shower of arrows!
In fact, the middle-aged man had already escaped after the initial attack when the cabinet opened, but due to restrictions from floating metal objects, he didn’t flee outdoors, instead moving downward within the building. However, wherever he ran indoors, the Girl in the Painting’s Flying Paper could find him, and the commotion from Flying Paper attacks would trigger surrounding metals. Therefore, once the middle-aged man fled the room, he was subjected to cross-attacks by Flying Paper and metals. Though Flying Paper didn’t have the destructive force of metal, their number caused him inconvenience, especially since among them were some special papers capable of breaching his Defensive Barrier.
"Strange, those metal floaters were chasing us relentlessly earlier," Bubble Bean looked outside, "Now they’re not attacking him."
"Maybe these metals recognize specific people," Xu Huo narrowed his eyes, realizing the opponent’s manipulation of metals was no longer limited to size, "The ’Life Core’ here might have a counterproductive effect."
Another round of attack came, Xu Huo didn’t heed Bubble Bean or the Girl in the Painting chasing the middle-aged man, but moved alone quickly towards the city center through the Mental Portal.