Chapter 39: Average 5 hours online a day? What is logging off?

Ye Zhiqiu's vigilance was correct.

The two had just run down the stairs when more than twenty fully armed soldiers rushed into the labyrinth in pursuit.

The man who had just run back to report the news was among them.

Seeing that his shield had actually been stolen by a skeleton soldier, he nearly vomited blood in anger.

The commander leading the team didn't care about that, directly pulling out a short flintlock pistol and aiming it forward.

"Fire!"

The two players rushing toward the labyrinth couldn't understand what he was shouting, only hearing a gunshot from behind, followed by a series of gunshots! Lead bullets flew around in the pitch-black open space, hitting the ancient stone bricks and granite pillars, splashing large amounts of gravel and dust! It was fortunate that both sides were already far apart.

Added to the fact that the two were skeleton soldiers with a built-in 'ranged dodge buff', otherwise they would have been finished in this round of volley fire!

However, even so, Ye Zhiqiu still watched with trepidation as a bullet passed between his ribs and dug a hole in the ground! "Holy crap! It's just two skeletons, is it necessary to send a division to chase us?!" Hu Wan cursed at the musketeers who were reloading on the steps behind him while running.

It seemed this dog planner was determined not to let them go upstairs, and even specifically spawned a group of super soldiers to sanction them!

Watching the two skeletons disappear into the darkness, the human commander leading the team raised his hand, signaling the soldiers behind him to stop firing.

"Damn it, we should have fired a flare first." The adjutant cursed, his face showing a lingering fear.

Upon hearing that there were undead, everyone panicked, to the point where they had forgotten all their usual training... although they didn't train much usually anyway.

And the reason they were so panicked was not because the undead themselves were so terrifying, but because the undead had appeared in the labyrinth.

This was not a good sign.

"Should we chase them?" A militiaman swallowed his saliva and looked nervously at the officer on the side.

The officer remained silent, weighing the pros and cons for a long time, finally missing the best opportunity for pursuit, and then made a decision.

"... Report to Magistrate Adlai first, and notify the Adventurer's Guild as well!"

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

"Yes!"

They were not adventurers, merely militiamen in the town.

Although their work included guarding the labyrinth entrance, they were really not good at high-risk jobs like exploring the labyrinth...

On the other side.

"Catastrophe OL" official website.

Brother Ye Zhiqiu, who had been missing for most of the day, finally reappeared in the field of vision of a group of silly netizens.

Ye Zhiqiu: "Brothers! I discovered another entrance to the labyrinth!"

Table and Stool: "!"

Tauren Warrior: "You guys went outside?!"

Knowledge Explosion: "Tell us more!"

Ye Zhiqiu: "Didn't go up, still a bit away."

Hu Wan: "MD, we were just about to go up, and a bunch of soldiers spawned at the door, my legs were almost run off."

Gou Shi: "Hahahaha! Did you guys poke a hornet's nest? (funny)"

Ye Zhiqiu: "Don't know, anyway, the human who met me face to face acted as if he had seen a ghost."

It took about a few minutes for Ye Zhiqiu to recount the encounter he and Hu Wan had in the labyrinth.

Including the discovery of new monsters 'Shi Shi Laimu' and 'Lizard-man'.

Including the new maps 'Sewer Corridor' and 'Labyrinth Entrance B'.

Including his division of forces in the labyrinth, and his guesses about the forces on the ground.

Everyone was filled with longing as they listened.

They didn't expect that this game, which was still in closed beta, would have such a high degree of completion.

In the areas they hadn't explored yet, there were so many new contents waiting for them.

Of course.

Behind this also meant they would soon face new challenges.

Judging from the adventurer's corpse and the reaction of the labyrinth guards when they saw the skeletons, the enemies in the labyrinth were likely no longer just monsters!

Gou Shi: "Looks like a wave of adventurers is going to spawn in the labyrinth. (funny)"

Pig-headed Knight: "Speaking of which, which side are we on? Monsters? Adventurers?"

Rock Sugar Gourd: "Obviously a third-party force."

Knowledge Explosion: "To put it nicely, it's a three-way melee; to put it bluntly, it's being caught in the middle and beaten by both sides. (sweat)"

Gou Shi: "Exciting. (funny)"

Can't Play: "This wave is really giving the Demon King a hard time. (funny)"

Ye Zhiqiu: "That's not necessarily true, even if it's a mixed double-beating, the one caught in the middle isn't us. First, Labyrinth Entrance B is quite far from our location, I don't know the ground distance, but we walked for a whole night to get there. Secondly, there seems to be a lizard-man tribe in the sewer corridor that uses tools and organizes slime farming. It would take a lot of effort for the surface adventurers to reach the area where we are."

Gou Shi: "Make some traps! Ambush them on their only path! (wicked smile)"

Ye Zhiqiu: "That's what I thought too. We can set some traps on the only path between Labyrinth Entrance B and Entrance A at our feet, and then set some marks in the surrounding area that only players can understand. According to the information revealed by the Demon King earlier, capturing adventurers should have quite good rewards."

Ye Zhiqiu: "By the way, speaking of rewards, we found that killing monsters drops magic crystals when brushing slimes. Although I don't know what that thing is for for the time being, it's better to collect as much as possible if you can."

Knowledge Explosion: "Ah, we found that too."

Village Entrance Grandpa: "Rather than saying we found it, it's more like the Demon King organized us to touch a wave of corpses."

Grilled Lamb Skewers: "I peeled 100 spiders last night, I'm exhausted. T. T"

Peerless Hero: "But the income is not bad, I earned 10,000 Nether Coins, ga ga ga!"

Reiwa Little Devil: "Me too!"

Ye Zhiqiu: "..."

Gou Shi: "I guess someone has already started sweating. (funny)"

Ye Zhiqiu: "..."

The Adventurer's Guild in Thunder City was as busy as ever today.

And what was different from usual was that it wasn't just the adventurers looking for commissions in the hall, even the big shots drinking tea and reading newspapers in the second-floor office were sweating profusely.

The cause of all this was a report from the Silver Pine Forest in the northwest of Thunder City.

The labyrinth entrance there was showing unusual circumstances.

At the conference table.

Secretary-General Roskin held the report in his hand and made a brief statement on behalf of Lennon, the president of the Thunder City Adventurer's Guild.

"... Organized undead activity has appeared at the labyrinth entrance in Silver Pine Town!"

A man with a beard dragging on the table, looking like a mage, asked with a serious expression.

"Have there been any casualties?"

His name was Angelo, a mage from the Northern Academy, and also a resident consultant of the Thunder City Adventurer's Guild in the field of labyrinth research, and a guest of Grand Duke Campbell.

Not only was he knowledgeable.

His own strength was not to be underestimated; he had already reached the Golden rank twenty years ago.

If it weren't for the limitation of his soul level on his development, his strength would likely be far more than just Golden.

However, even so, in a place like Thunder City, a Golden-rank powerhouse was enough to be called first-class.

Especially a mage, even more so.

"Not yet... as for inside the labyrinth, that's hard to determine, adventurers go missing there every day." Facing Angelo's inquiry, Secretary-General Roskin answered respectfully. After hearing this, Angelo pondered for a long time, got up from the conference table without a word, and walked out the door. The people sitting at the conference table looked at each other, unable to make a decision for a while. A government official sitting in the corner muttered in a low voice.

"Since no one died, what is there to panic about?"

Another official said with a trembling voice.

"However, undead... it is said that they will not be generated in a dead labyrinth."

"Not necessarily," a hired consultant shook his head and said based on experience, "Even without the bewitchment of a necromancer, some adventurers who die in the labyrinth will turn into undead... this is the same routine as those guys wandering in the forest."

As long as they don't receive the blessing of Saint Xisi after death, and the corpse isn't eaten by wild beasts, there is a certain probability of standing up again.

And this probability is not small.

For some adventurers who have mastered extraordinary power, this is even more so; it is said that they will even turn into relatively troublesome skeletons.

However, just when everyone breathed a sigh of relief, another consultant sitting at the corner of the table said pointedly.

"But if there is no restraint from a Demon King, they will soon be eaten by slimes..."

The atmosphere at the conference table instantly became tense, and the noise was deafening.

"What do you want to say?"

"The labyrinth core... might be recovering."

"How is this possible?! I have never heard—"

"That's because you are ignorant, there are many Demon King domains that have died and been reborn on the front line; for Hell, it's just a matter of sending another Demon King!"

"Some time ago... I seem to have heard the church say that they did sense the fluctuation of a teleportation array, but the energy was too weak, and they didn't find the specific location..."

"Could it be that another Demon King has come?!"

The expressions on everyone's faces were different.

Some were fearful, some were expressionless.

And besides that, there was also a hint of imperceptible secret joy.

Although a Demon King is terrifying, it doesn't necessarily mean it's a bad thing. It's like if no one gets sick, the hospital might go bankrupt.

The Adventurer's Guild won't go bankrupt, but its right to speak and budget will undoubtedly be cut.

For a labyrinth city that has lost its Demon King, they will sooner or later become redundant things.

Secretary-General Roskin quietly looked at President Lennon, who had not said a word since the beginning of the meeting, and asked in a low voice.

"Should we report to the mayor?"

The guild president pondered for a long time and said slowly.

"Don't be in a hurry to report, even if there is undead activity, it doesn't mean it must be related to the Demon King... and recently, Grand Duke Campbell has been in poor health, so the mayor probably doesn't have time to deal with such trivial matters."

Anyway, the militiamen stationed at the labyrinth entrance will also report to the local magistrate, and as the news is passed up layer by layer, it will eventually reach the mayor.

"Let's observe a bit more."

"In addition, raise the weight of the Silver Pine Town commission by one level, and let the adventurers go in and take a look first."

Demon King's domain.

Today is the third day since "Catastrophe OL" officially opened, and also the first day Luo Yan decided to gradually remove the air wall at the mine entrance and move outward step by step.

However, what he didn't expect was that his Demon King's domain had just gotten on the right track, and he heard bad news from You You, who was monitoring the official website—

Just as he was brewing magic potions, these players had already provoked the people of Thunder City for him.

Very good.

It seems he doesn't have to worry about how to make the Great Graveyard famous; it won't be long before a large wave of adventurers comes to admire the name.

The only thing to be thankful for is that the place is quite far from him, and just circling around in the labyrinth takes a whole night.

According to those players, it seems there is a lizard-man territory between them and Thunder City? Hope those unlucky guys can hold on for him for a while.

Just as Luo Yan was thinking this, a line of dark green pop-up windows suddenly appeared in front of him.

【Mission: Ensure the average daily online time of closed beta players is greater than 5 hours for three consecutive days (Completed)!】

【Reward: 400 closed beta qualifications!】

The mission completion condition of five hours was still too conservative; many players didn't even log off a few times yesterday, wishing they could brush more experience before the new players entered.

And with the completion of the mission, 400 closed beta qualifications had been automatically distributed to the players who won the quota.

At the same time.

New missions were also triggered, appearing below the completed mission one after another.

【Mission: For three consecutive days, ensure the average daily net income of faith points exceeds 1000 points.】

【Reward: 500 closed beta qualifications!】

This mission didn't seem very difficult, after all, each player would provide 1 point of faith by default.

Counting the 400 new players, his average daily faith income had reached 500.

Although soon after the players were summoned, the daily consumption would also reach 500.

However, just at this moment, Luo Yan suddenly noticed the word 'net' in the mission description.

In an instant, he couldn't stay calm.

"Good fellow... it's hard for me to keep a low profile."

You You: "There's no other way, Demon King, looking at it this way... we can only invade the surface on a large scale!"

Luo Yan: "Do you want me to die?"

Diamond-rank fear demons are all outside!

And he is just a Steel-rank necromancer who has only recently been promoted.

You You said in a low voice.

"Bu, but... we can't keep hiding forever, right?"

I don't know if it's because it fused with the demon's personality, but this guy is unexpectedly more warlike than himself.

However, what it said also made sense.

If the Demon King doesn't do some bad things, even if people outside know of his existence, they won't take him seriously at all.

Over time, he, the Demon King, will become a joke, and it will be difficult to brush faith again.

Luo Yan closed his eyes and fell into deep thought, trying to find a strategy to break the situation.

Just at this moment, You You's voice suddenly sounded again.

"Demon King! There seems to be a situation at the entrance of the first floor of the labyrinth!"

Luo Yan was taken aback.

"Grand Duke Campbell brought adventurers to attack?!"

You You: "No, not that... but there is a lizard that can speak human language, and a spider that can speak human language, they are clamoring to negotiate with you."

Luo Yan was stunned for a moment, then immediately thought of something, got up and ordered.

"Tell the players not to move them for now!"

You You: "I've already held them down! By the way, that what-acting method, CG animation... anyway, you hurry over!"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 40 =====

Hearing You You: "I've already held them down! By the way, that whole 'role-playing method,' CG animation... anyway, you should hurry over there!"

(End of chapter)