Chapter 268: Elite Challenge

"So that's how it is. Did I jump into an Elite Challenge area?"

Yun Mu was slightly stunned, but she quickly regained her composure.

Since it was called a Suiji Shijian, it was possible to encounter any kind of situation.

Didn't many games have this too? Shortcuts that could skip levels, or monsters that should have appeared in the late game placed on early-game maps.

She couldn't say she didn't understand such a design.

It was just a pity that the areas missed by skipping levels couldn't be revisited for her.

【Battle Start!】

【You have encountered the enemy 【Painting Spirit: Banquet lv25 (Elite)】

Max HP: 110 Race: Painting Spirit

Attack 6, Spell Strength 45, Defense 30, Resilience 9, Dodge 35, Speed 23, Precision Correction 40, Crit 10% Traits: Elite, Painting Spirit, Master of Paintings, Life Drain (Restores 12% of damage dealt as HP, triggers once per turn) Skills: Prophecy, Si Wang Gao Bai, Feast, Curtain Call.】 【Current Turn: 1】

【Player Yun Mu acts first!】

【【Painting Spirit: Banquet】 summons the enemy 【Painting Spirit: Guard lv22 (Elite)】 ×3 Max HP: 40 Race: Painting Spirit

Attack 22, Spell Strength 2, Defense 16, Resilience 2, Dodge 20, Speed 18, Precision Correction 30, Crit 6% Traits: Formation (Adjusting position does not consume a turn, and for every 【Painting Spirit: Guard】 present on the field, all attributes increase by 2.) Skills: Slash, Thrust, Inspire.】 "Can't I attack the main body directly? What a troublesome trait."

Looking at the attribute panel that popped up before her, Yun Mu thought with a headache.

Could it be that every complete Painted World has a Painting Spirit? People trapped in the Painted World must find a way to defeat the Painting Spirit to escape... No, that's not right.

The books about Transcendental painters that Sixin gave her never mentioned the existence of Painting Spirits.

Yun Mu guessed that perhaps... this was a unique method possessed by the painter who created these paintings.

Otherwise, it was something cooked up by the Game Panel.

She believed the former was more likely, and as for the reason?

Part of it was intuition, and the other part was that she believed if the monsters in the Dungeon were all created by the Game Panel, they probably... wouldn't be as smart as they were now.

【Mental Shock!】

【-139!】

"Ah!"

The guard standing at the front of the line let out a miserable shriek; his HP bar was instantly emptied by Yun Mu, and his body immediately dissipated into fly ash.

After the guard in the first position died, the special status marked below the HP bars of the other two guards immediately decreased by one point.

When all three guards were present, all attributes were +6; after one died, the all-attribute buff dropped to +4.

And the guard's initial speed was 18 points, which meant it was now 22 points?

Faster than both Lucy and the Goblin Brave.

【Painting Spirit: Banquet begins its turn!】

【Prophecy!】

The mayor raised his finger, muttering something as he pointed toward the positions of Yun Mu and the Scarlet Knight.

【Mark!】

【Damage taken +5%. When the skill 【Si Wang Gao Bai】 is released, it will trigger the mark and randomly deduct 30 to 45 + 15% of current HP.】

"Is it actually a skill that deducts HP based on a percentage?" Looking at the description of the 【Mark】 effect, Yun Mu raised her eyebrows in surprise.

This was the first time she had encountered this type of skill; she felt it would be very effective against enemies with high HP and high defense.

Wait, come to think of it... would this skill be affected by defense? If it could ignore defense to deal damage, even if it took two turns to deal the damage, it would be quite overpowered! If it randomly rolled 45 damage, plus 15% of current max HP, besides her, no one in the team should be able to withstand this blow.

Although it wasn't nice to think this way, it was great that the other unit marked by 【Prophecy】 was the Scarlet Knight, not Lucy.

Otherwise, she would really be worried about what would happen if the battle didn't end in two turns and Lucy was one-shot by the opponent.

Although there was a Near Death state after the HP bar hit zero, if possible, she still hoped her teammates could maintain a healthy HP status at all times.

【Painting Spirit: Guard begins its turn!】

【Inspire!】

The guard, who had been forced to move forward one space due to the death of the first position, swung the scimitar in his hand vigorously. Above his head and the other guard's, new buff effects popped up.

【Damage Correction +15%/Resilience +5】

【Inspire!】

It was Guard No. 2's turn, and he chose to use the skill 【Inspire】 to increase damage and resilience, just like the guard who acted before.

Therefore, above the two guards: 【Damage Correction +30%/Resilience +10】

The buff effects of the two 【Inspire】 skills had stacked together.

It seemed that even if the skill names and effects were exactly the same, if different units released them, the effects could still stack with each other... but doing so carried a great risk.

That was, using precious action turns on buff skills; if they died before dealing any damage, it would be completely meaningless.

Moreover, the skill 【Inspire】 seemed to only be effective on 【Painting Spirit: Guard】. It looked like it increased many attributes, but it was actually useless... "Lucy, switch to Blood Clan state, then use the skill, Blood Arrow Technique!"

It was now Lucy's turn, and Yun Mu immediately issued the command.

She wanted to eliminate all 【Painting Spirit: Guards】 within one turn!

Based on the experience from the last challenge against 【Painting: Starry Sky】, as long as all the Painting Spirit summons were eliminated, the Painting Spirit would reveal a flaw and become vulnerable to attack.

By then, just in case, Yun Mu would use the strongest killing move she possessed to finish off 【Painting Spirit: Banquet】, the mayor, in one blow! 【Pressure +15】

"Hmph, annoying pests."

Lucy gave a cold snort, raised her hand, and a countless rain of blood-colored arrows shot toward the two guards.

【Blood Magic: Blood Arrow Technique!】

【-81!】 (Crit!!)

【-47!】

"Urgh!"

Both guards let out a wail, and under the shroud of the scarlet rain of arrows, their health bars vanished instantly, then they turned into flying ash and dissipated.

The damage modifier of the 【Blood Arrow Technique】 itself is not high, but because Lucy possesses the trait 【Blood Magic Mastery】, when using Blood Magic, the damage modifier is increased by an additional 40%.

This is the reason she was able to kill two guards in one hit.

And after all three guards were eliminated, as expected, a 【Flaw】 message prompt popped up on the Game Panel above the town mayor's head.

At this moment, the first round of action turns had not even ended yet; according to speed, it should be the Goblin Brave's action turn.

Nothing much to say, just a tool for Command Lock; even if the additional attack effect doesn't trigger, being able to increase the vulnerability attribute by 5% is still not bad.

As for the last one, the Scarlet Knight Yun Shu with only 14 speed, Yun Mu thought for a moment and decided to have him use the skill 【Armored Elbow Strike】 to gamble on the chance of a Stun.

The toughness of 【Painting Spirit · Banquet】 is 9 points, and the Stun probability of 【Armored Elbow Strike】 is 110%, which means there is only a 20% probability of a successful Stun.

【-0】

A lonely little ball jumped out from the town mayor's head; it looked like he was not affected by the Stun.

Thinking about it, a twenty percent probability is not that easy to succeed with.

Just as Yun Mu was thinking this, the Goblin Brave standing in the number two position suddenly moved. He was seen raising his machete with an impassioned expression, rushing to the town mayor's face in one stride, and with a "swish," he slashed at the opponent's body!

【【Goblin Brave】 triggers the additional attack effect!】 【-35!】

【【Courage Medal】 effect triggered, 【Goblin Brave】 gains one extra action turn!】 "Huh?"

Yun Mu looked at the Goblin Brave quite unexpectedly, thinking that his performance this time was actually not bad.

The twenty percent additional probability actually triggered just like that.

And acting outside of his own action turn, he could still receive the bonus attributes of the Courage Medal and gain an extra action turn. "Good luck." The corners of Yun Mu's mouth rose slightly, looking as if she were in a rather pleasant mood.

"Use the skill, Spinning Slash." Stroking her chin and pondering for a moment, Yun Mu said to the Goblin Brave.

The damage modifier of Spinning Slash is higher than Continuous Slash, and the attack range is also one grid more than Continuous Slash.

However, Continuous Slash has two stages of damage and a higher Precision Correction, while the Precision Correction of Spinning Slash is not quite enough, making it very easy to end up in a state of missing the target.

Besides that, Spinning Slash also has the effect of displacing one unit forward, but this effect, except for some special occasions, is almost useless, so I won't explain it too much here.

【Spinning Slash!】

The Goblin Brave gripped the handle of his machete with both hands, fiercely rotated one circle forward, and slashed at the town mayor's waist.

Afterward, he moved forward one position and swapped places with the Scarlet Knight.

【-30!】

【Painting Spirit · Banquet: 45/110】

【Current Round Number · 2】

【Player Yun Mu acts first!】

"Whoa, that took off more than half already?"

The second round had just begun, and Yun Mu discovered that she didn't seem to need to use any powerful moves.

After all, the town mayor's health points were only at 45, and the opponent's defense was not high, only 30 points.

Wanting to take him down was nothing more than easy.

It feels inferior to Tangjiked.

Just now, when she was fighting the old Knight, the pressure was quite high, fearing that if she were not careful, the opponent would kill her teammates.

As for 【Painting Spirit · Banquet】, that is, the town mayor, perhaps it was because of better luck, but it felt less difficult to fight.

Of course, she herself was also clear that if she really let the town mayor hold on until the second round and release the skill 【Si Xing Gao Bai】.

Paired with his trait 【Life Drain】 to restore health, it would be hard to say what the final result would be.

What is certain is that she would definitely be able to achieve victory in the end, it's just that the process would likely be much more difficult than it is now.

"It's over." Yun Mu gently raised her hand.

【Mental Shock!】

【-130!】

"This kind of power, how is it possible"

The town mayor staggered backward, then with a bang, his legs knelt to the ground.

"Who exactly are you" Before his words were finished, his body turned into flying ash and dissipated.

And after the town mayor died, a familiar settlement interface appeared in front of Yun Mu.

【You have achieved a battle victory!】

【Detected the effect of player Path 【Desire】, roll the Dice? Yes/No】 "Don't dawdle, roll quickly!"

Yun Mu used her intent to quickly click on the UI interface in front of her.

As the familiar twenty-sided Dice began to rotate, her heart could not help but rotate along with it.

Please, it was hard enough to finish off an elite monster, not to mention 20 points, at least it shouldn't be a single digit!

Yun Mu closed her eyes and began to pray in her heart; when she could no longer hear the sound of the Dice rotating, she opened her eyes.

【10】

Alright, it is indeed not a single digit.

Her heart, which had been hanging, finally died in relief.

【Affected by 【Desire Dice】, the loot you harvested in this battle has increased by 10%!

You obtained 【Gold Coin】 *2891!】 (Desire Dice +10%, Pickpocketing +8%)

【You obtained a large amount of experience points!】 (Desire Dice +10%)

【You obtained equipment 【Reversed Pocket Watch (Blue)】】 【Spell Strength +5/Focus +2】

【Passive Skill · Timing】

【You don't need to take it out to look at it, you can know the current accurate time, and even be precise to the microsecond!】

【Active Skill: Stop】

【Press the button on top of the pocket watch to record your current physical state. Press the button again, and no matter what happened previously, you will return to the state you were in when the pocket watch was pressed.】

【This effect can last for a maximum of five minutes.】

【The pocket watch of the Emerald Town mayor, which resets to its initial state every morning.

"I don't need to check the time, because I am the clock myself." — Adolf, Mayor of Emerald Town.】

【Through arduous training and study, your active skill 【Mental Shock lv5】 has been upgraded to 【Mental Shock lv6】】 【Base Accuracy 160—185 / Damage Modifier +55%—+65% / Stun 85%—100%】

【You have gained the trait 【Striker】】 【Stun probability +45%】

"Hmm, 2891 Gold Coins, that's not too bad."

Yun Mu looked at the message notifications popping up on the Game Panel and muttered softly.

Thinking about it carefully, a ten percent additional gain is actually quite high; if she hadn't been carrying the Path of Desire, she would only have the eight percent additional gain brought by Pickpocketing.

One must learn to be content; at the very least, it's better than single-digit additional gains, isn't it?

"Come to think of it, Mental Shock has leveled up again, and I've even gained a new trait." Yun Mu's expression was somewhat strange.

Who could have imagined that as a Transcendental of the Painter series, her highest-level active skill would turn out to be the Pingpingwuji Mental Shock.

The damage modifier has increased to 65%, and there is even a 100% Stun probability; adding the effect of the new trait 【Striker】 obtained from the skill level breaking through to lv6, that makes for an absurd 145%.

But there's no helping it; who told Mental Shock to be so useful in the Dungeon?

The turn-based combat style still restricts her performance to some extent.

If she were in reality, she would definitely summon all the paintings she could use in one go; she wouldn't be like in the game, where using one painting requires skipping a turn. That said, she isn't the only one restricted by this; enemies are equally restricted by the turn-based rules.

As long as one makes good use of this point, even defeating an enemy stronger than oneself is not an impossible task.

All in all, the pros still outweigh the cons.

(End of chapter)