Chapter 23: Item Offensive | Monsters Are Coming
Upon seeing the Primordial Monster, the players immediately charged forward.
But once they entered the cave, all of their expressions changed.
Countless fragmented scenes suddenly surfaced in their minds. Based on their memories, a mental illusion quickly took shape.
In the illusion, the Taunt Monster transformed into a loathsome figure that stirred uncontrollable rage in their hearts.
Seeing this, Qi Sheng, hidden in the shadows, couldn't help but chuckle. He then decisively severed his subtle perceptual link to the players and switched to observing externally through his Guide's perspective, preventing himself from being drawn into the mental illusion afflicting the players.
According to the Guide's analysis, the Taunt Primordial possessed the ability to weave mental illusions, which the players' current level of mental strength was completely incapable of resisting.
The most terrifying part of this ability wasn't the illusion itself, but its emotional manipulation.
He could easily imagine what the players were experiencing inside the illusion. The Taunt would take the form of whoever they hated most, perhaps their father's killer, or maybe the annoying neighbor Old Wang. But that wasn't important… at this moment, the players were already charging at the Taunt with bloodshot eyes.
The Taunt opened its mouth, revealing sharp fangs, and swallowed the approaching players one by one.
This ability reminded Qi Sheng of the anglerfish in reality, which lured prey with the glowing lure on its head.
In comparison, the Taunt's ability was far more terrifying.
Anyone who entered the Taunt's range would lose control and be drawn toward it, becoming prey to its lure.
To resist the mental illusion, one would need either mental strength far superior to the Taunt's or a Primordial Ability capable of resisting mental control.
In less than a minute after entering the cave, the players were completely wiped out by the Taunt.
Yet, for the long-starved Taunt, this was nothing more than a futile meal. The life essence of all dead players would be extracted by the Transdimensional's extraction system and then returned by Yan Ming to Emperor's Mound Village, where their bodies would undergo flesh reconstruction underground.
[It seems that Iceblade left you more than just Enerstones.]
At that moment, the Guide's water sphere appeared beside Qi Sheng, manifesting an arm that stroked its chin as it analyzed.
"You think this Primordial was imprisoned by Iceblade as a gift for the next Emperor's Sign?"
[That's right. And not just the Taunt, I can sense the presence of several other Primordial Monsters within the Shadowed Cavern. Iceblade's intention is obvious. After all, only the Emperor's Sign can absorb and fuse the abilities of Primordial Monsters. I can't think of any other reason for him to imprison them.]
[Though that guy is insane and battle-hungry, his loyalty to the Emperor's Sign is truly admirable.]
"How do you compare to him?" Qi Sheng turned to look at the Guide with a smile.
[Compared to me, he's far inferior. I am the Emperor's Sign's most loyal subordinate. Boss, are you questioning my loyalty?]
Without answering, Qi Sheng shifted his gaze back to the Monster World.
—
An hour later, at the resurrection point in Emperor's Mound Village.
White light flashed repeatedly as players finished their resurrection cooldowns and logged back into the game.
"Holy crap, can you even imagine what I encountered in that illusion? That huge carapace bug stole my woman. The worst part is, while I was trapped in the illusion, it actually felt reasonable! Now that I think about it, it's insane."
"This game is terrifying. It can extract memories and turn them into abilities."
"My experience was even worse. I was forced by the big bug to eat crap, and my rage level skyrocketed. I wanted to smash its head in with one punch."
—
After resurrecting, the players shared their unbelievable experiences inside the mental illusions.
After chatting for a while, they started discussing how to take revenge.
It was clear that the Taunt's ability dragged anyone within its range into a memory-based mental illusion, so melee combat was out of the question. Only players who had embedded the Bonefire Monster Soul could harm the Taunt.
While the players were discussing strategies, one member of the Kindergarten Little Class Passion Chat Group offered a suggestion.
"Who says we have to fight using monster abilities? Sure, Black-Scaled Serpent and Gargoyle forms can only do melee, but isn't the shop full of torches and ranged attack items? We can just stand outside the cave and keep throwing ranged items inside, whittling down the Taunt's HP slowly. It's chained up and can't fight back against our ranged attacks."
This idea immediately gained wide support among the players.
They promptly began purchasing ranged attack items from the shop.
Torches, Shatter Bows, Iron Crossbows… Since they couldn't afford high-quality items with sacrificial power, they could only buy the basic items crafted with sacrificial power.
As the players frantically shopped, the Challenger System automatically deducted a 30% profit cut, bringing Qi Sheng 339 points of sacrificial power.
Soon after, dozens of players left Emperor's Mound Village and headed toward the Shadowed Cavern.
When the team reached the second underground level, they immediately launched a ranged offensive against the Taunt imprisoned inside the cave.
Players with Bonefire Monster Souls threw fireballs, while the others hurled various ranged items into the cave in waves, bombarding the Taunt relentlessly.
During the assault, deep growls continually rumbled from within the cave.
This only made the players more excited as they anticipated the sacrificial power rewards they would gain once the Taunt was killed.
However, as time passed, the smiles on their faces gradually faded.
The Taunt proved to be far more resilient than they had imagined. Even after half an hour of continuous bombardment, it still wasn't dead.
Voices of doubt began to fill the voice chat:
"Something's not right. How is it still alive after half an hour? Its health bar is way too thick."
"Is it possible that we're not even breaking its defense? This game doesn't have a forced minus-one damage rule, so maybe all our attacks have been completely ineffective."
"Damn it, don't say that! I've already downed three bottles of mental potion. If it doesn't die, I'm taking a huge loss."
—
The idea that they might be unable to break through its defense caused many players to mentally collapse.
Especially the players using Bonefire form, who were mostly level 5 to 7. Their mental strength could only sustain the attack for limited periods before they had to stop, purchase 'Mental Potions' from the shop to replenish themselves, and continue fighting.
The low-grade mental potions cost 5 points of sacrificial power each. After half an hour of bombardment, they had already sunk a hefty sum into the battle.
If they failed to kill the Taunt, it would all be a complete loss.
Half an hour later, the Taunt's roars continued. The cave was engulfed in flames, black smoke mixed with heat waves forcing the players to repeatedly retreat.
The players' optimism gradually collapsed.
One player stared at the roaring flames inside the cave and muttered.
"One torch costs 1 point of sacrificial power, one mental potion costs 5, one Shatter Bow costs 50, one arrow costs 1… We've sunk over 1000 sacrificial power points into this by now. I threw in everything I earned from mining yesterday…"
These words caused the nearby players to break down mentally.
But none of them stopped.
With so much sunk cost, they were like gamblers who had lost everything, unwilling to accept defeat and determined to fight to the bitter end.