Chapter 694: Escape

Only...

After stomping and exploding the triangle monster's head with one foot, Lin An's brows furrowed tightly.

After deducting 70% equipment bonus, his strength attribute only has this much left.

Other attributes have dropped to 14 points or less.

The strength trial actually only retains the strength attribute!

The intense discomfort causes attacks to begin deforming.

The range of spiritual perception has severely shrunk.

Only when the Triangle Head appeared from behind did Lin An unexpectedly discover this monster.

Accustomed to unleashing full-attribute bursts in coordination, the suddenly plummeting attribute values feel like having iron balls tied to the limbs.

The difficulty... is indeed great, leaving no loopholes to exploit.

Not only that.

The monster underfoot, clearly having its brain crushed by me, has its entire brain tissue oozing murky yellow pus, fused with the iron helmet.

But it is still not dead.

The twitching, struggling body mechanically tries to climb out of the deep pit.

A monster up to four meters tall, undead, or rather, without weaknesses.

Each one brings a tremendous sense of oppression.

Recalling information about Silent Hill, Lin An only feels it somewhat troublesome.

After consecutively encountering several memes and supernatural incidents, his keen awareness realized that almost all dangerous events almost have real-world prototypes.

Therefore.

Before entering the trial tower, he crammed on numerous movie and game settings.

Plus some extracted from the second Lin An's memory fragments, he also knows what Silent Hill is.

Silent Hill, in the original setting, is where a mother, to treat her daughter's mental illness, chooses to enter a cult's holy land.

Upon entering the surface and inner worlds, one encounters a series of supernatural events.

Surface world: the normal world, year-round shrouded in gray mist, a desolate post-disaster town.

Meaning the original world.

Inner world: the world projected from inner evil, teeming with numerous horrific monsters.

These monsters are often related to desire, sin, and evil gods.

Meaning the world within the world, or the spiritual world.

The entire Silent Hill world is not complex; the difficulty lies in being filled with various absurd and bizarre elements.

Just that.

What puzzles Lin An is that he cannot link the strength trial with the Silent Hill incident.

A mental illness and a cult evil god—what does that have to do with the strength attribute?

Moreover...

Hearing the rapidly approaching metallic clanging sound nearby, Lin An's heart suddenly sank.

It's not that he fears these monsters.

But rather...

In the surface world, monsters should not exist.

As the literal meaning suggests, the surface world is merely a deserted ordinary area.

Unless this trial's content merely applies some elements of Silent Hill.

「Boom!! 」

Just as the thought arose.

Not far away, the steel frame collapsed instantly.

The steel pipe blown away flew like an arrow, suddenly shooting forth.

Inside the steel plant filled with mist, only the footsteps of mass charges could be heard.

Frenzied, the harsh weapon sounds dragged along the ground.

「Bang!! 」

Air currents churned.

Stepping on the triangle monster's body, Lin An instinctively sidestepped, and the Cain's Blade in his hand reflexively stabbed backward.

Piercing the chest.

The wind howled.

The descending giant axe, even just the wind whistle it scraped out, stung the cheeks painfully.

It almost grazed the back of the head as it smashed toward the ground.

The fiercely descending giant axe suddenly destroyed the ground beneath.

The shattered rubble grazed the shin.

Forced to take the damage...

I will get hurt!

His gaze narrowed.

Lin An shook his wrist, and the long sword stabbed into the Triangle Head's body instantly flicked upward.

A harsh scraping sound.

Along the metal helmet, a series of sparks erupted from the blade's edge, and the sword tip split the monster's head along the seam.

There was no time to add the final blow; the dense whistling wind sounded again from behind.

"Boom boom! Boom! Boom!"

The giant axe came down repeatedly.

In the hasty change of direction, Lin An staggered.

A deep wound exposing bone appeared on his shoulder.

Expressionless.

His agility was far too lacking; attacks he could dodge... he simply didn't have time to dodge.

Constantly under hyper-effective thinking, Lin An was not affected by useless emotions.

His whole body like a weapon, he bore the damage and slashed backhandedly.

His twin swords turned into silver arcs.

The high-frequency vibrating blood-soak matched Cain's Blade.

Fresh blood spurted; in the puffing sound of metal cutting flesh, a death sword light was drawn.

Focus!

Recover!

Nether River Breath!

Threefold recovery methods stacked; the muscle tissue torn on the shoulder repaired rapidly.

Like walking on the blade's edge.

Lin An, suddenly surrounded, kept shifting position.

In the limited space, he desperately dodged attacks.

He was practically walking on the edge of death, accompanied by a low shout.

The muscles on his arm instantly bulged.

Relying on the retained strength attribute, muscles exploded from the waist, and the twin swords slashed out violently.

"Whoosh!"

"Boom!"

Annihilation!

Sword Net!

The skill locked onto maximum range.

Moments later.

A blood-red blade storm suddenly appeared; a figure wrapped in dark-red spiritual energy shot out rapidly.

Must retreat!

Standing at the steel factory gate.

Lin An panted slightly, his face somewhat pale.

The Cain's Blade in his hand burst with scarlet light; he, who had been surrounded, had already rushed out of the monster horde.

At the blade's edge, a corrosive white hiss sounded.

Behind him, the monster corpses hacked into pieces lay piled in disorder.

Among the corpses, many twitching limbs indicated that many monsters were not yet dead.

With three attribute bonuses lost, combat power dropped sharply.

He glanced sideways slightly.

Lin An glanced at the fresh wound on his abdomen, his heart sinking.

If not for the Unintermittent State's passive still in effect,

Just now, being surrounded by monsters, he would likely have suffered severe injury instantly, even death.

Constitution under 14 points...

This is probably the weakest moment after he killed the Stitcher.

With three attributes weakened by the system, the drop in combat power far exceeded his imagination.

Movement slowed, perception weakened, constitution low.

Any strike from the monsters could injure him.

Without Hesitation.

After locking onto an open space outside the iron gate, Lin An chose to charge straight out of the steel factory.

He couldn't get tangled in combat here.

In his self-created combat system, judging by sound, at least thirty triangular monsters existed inside the steel factory.

After absorbing the life force drawn by Cain's Blade, Lin An cautiously refrained from using the Death Seed.

Next, it would likely be a hard battle.

Watching the numbers on the system panel continually decrease.

Lin An had little emotion.

Entering the Trial Tower, he sought the power of the Third Rank.

He should have had the resolve to face death.

He withdrew from the steel factory while contacting Zhang Tie.

The difficulty of this trial seemed to have undergone a huge change due to his appearance.

"Ahhh...!!"

The tragic cry sound effect was stuck in his throat.

The giant axe that smashed down instantly split the skull of the seriously injured Awakened One.

A squad of over twenty Awakened Ones fleeing in panic, without looking back, desperately ran forward.

Hurry up, hurry faster!

His heart urged him.

The European-warrior man at the rear of the team constantly wailed in his heart.

Too terrifying!

The strongest member of their team was, in just a moment's encounter, chopped into pieces scattered all over the ground.

That bloody, mangled corpse, resembling minced meat, caused a strong sense of physical discomfort.

They never imagined the trial's difficulty would become this monstrous; they now have completely abandoned all thoughts.

What encirclement and slaughter, what fighting over Equipment, promotion to three Fourth Rank.

They now only want to escape with their lives!

Watching his comrades abandoned, the man's eyes were full of resentment.

Under the deprivation of Equipment bonuses, his strength attribute is only a pitiful 21 points, and his agility is a mere 11!

If this continues, I will surely die!

His eyes showing madness, the man without hesitation jerked the saber at his waist and fiercely slashed at the second-to-last comrade.