Chapter 23: Item Assault

Upon seeing the Primordial Monster, the players immediately launched a charge.

But after entering the cave, the expressions on all the players' faces changed.

Countless image fragments suddenly surfaced in their minds, and a mental illusion woven from their memories rapidly formed.

Within the illusion, the Taunt Monster transformed into a detestable figure, stirring uncontrollable rage deep within their hearts.

Seeing this, Qi Sheng, hidden behind the scenes, chuckled helplessly, then immediately severed his subtle sensory observation of the players; he switched to observing externally through the perspective of his Guide avatar to prevent himself from being drawn into the mental illusions the players were suffering.

According to the Guide's analysis, the Taunt Primordial possessed the ability to weave mental illusions, which the players' current mental strength was utterly incapable of resisting.

The most terrifying aspect of this ability was not the illusion itself, but the emotional manipulation.

He could imagine what the players were experiencing within the mental illusions: Taunt would transform into whatever they hated most within the illusion—it could be the murderer of their father, or the neighbor Old Wang—but none of that mattered... at this moment, the players were already rushing toward Taunt with bloodshot eyes.

At that same moment, 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, specifically the deep-sea monkfish, which uses the glowing lure protruding from its head to trap other fish.

In comparison, Taunt's ability was far more terrifying.

Once within the range of Taunt's ability, one would be uncontrollably drawn toward it, becoming a trapped target.

To resist the mental illusion, one would need mental strength far superior to Taunt's, or possess a Primordial ability that granted resistance to mental manipulation.

The players who entered the cave were wiped out by Taunt in less than a minute.

Yet, having gone without food for countless years, Taunt had merely eaten for nothing; all deceased players would have their life essence extracted by the Hyperdimension, then sent back to Emperor Tomb Village by Ye Ming to undergo life reconstruction underground.

【It seems the gift Ice Blade left you was more than just energy crystals.】

At this moment, a water sphere of the Guide appeared beside Qi Sheng, manifesting an arm to prop up its chin as it analyzed.

"Do you think this Primordial was imprisoned by Ice Blade, prepared as a gift for the next Emperor Omen?"

【Exactly. Not just Taunt; I also sensed the auras of multiple Primordial Monsters within the Dark Cave. Ice Blade's purpose in doing this is obvious; after all, apart from the Emperor Omen, no one can absorb and fuse the abilities of Primordial Monsters. I cannot think of any reason he would imprison them otherwise.】

【Although this fellow is mad and warlike, his loyalty to the Emperor Omen is indeed admirable.】

"How does he compare to you?" Qi Sheng turned to look at the Guide, a smile floating onto his Iron Face.

【Compared to me, he is far inferior, of course. I am the Emperor Omen's most loyal subordinate. Boss, are you doubting my loyalty?】

Without answering the Guide, Qi Sheng shifted his gaze back to the Monster World.

One hour later, at the resurrection point of Emperor Tomb Village.

Flashes of white light appeared consecutively as players, having finished their resurrection cooldown, logged into the game one after another.

"Holy crap, can you believe what I experienced in that illusion? That damn giant beetle cuckolded me! The problem is, while trapped in the illusion, I even felt it made perfect sense. Thinking about it now, it's truly f*cking absurd."

"This game is so scary; it can actually extract memories to craft skills."

"My experience was even more absurd. In the illusion, the giant beetle held my head down and force-fed me sh*t, making my rage meter skyrocket until I wanted nothing more than to turn around and smash its skull in with one punch."

After resurrecting, the players discussed their experiences within the mental illusions, calling them unbelievable.

After some casual chat, they began pondering how to exact revenge.

What was clear was that Taunt's ability pulled targets within a certain range of itself into a mental illusion based on their memories, so melee combat was not viable; only players equipped with the Bone Fire Soul could deal damage to Taunt.

Just as the players were discussing how to fight, a player from the Kindergarten Group offered a suggestion:

"Who says we must fight using monster abilities? Although the Black Armored Snake and Gargoyle forms can only engage in melee, doesn't the Mall have plenty of torches and ranged attack items? We can completely stand outside the cave and throw ranged items inside to slowly whittle down Taunt's health until it's killed. This guy is bound by iron chains and immobile; he simply cannot resist our ranged assault."

This idea immediately gained the approval of a large number of players.

Subsequently, they began purchasing ranged attack items from the Mall.

Torches, Stone-Splitting Bows, Iron Crossbows... The players' sacrificial power was insufficient to buy high-quality items, so they could only purchase ordinary items crafted from sacrificial power.

While the players were clearing out the stock, the Challenger System automatically deducted a 30% profit, bringing Qi Sheng a revenue of 339 points of sacrificial power.

Soon after, dozens of players left Emperor Tomb Village and headed toward the Dark Cave.

When the player team arrived at the second underground layer, they immediately launched a ranged assault against Taunt, who was imprisoned within the cave.

Players possessing the Bone Fire Soul threw fireballs, while the rest took turns hurling various ranged items into the cave, unleashing a relentless bombardment upon Taunt.

During this time, Taunt's muffled roars continuously emanated from within the cave.

This made them even more excited, their hearts filled with anticipation for the sacrificial power rewards Taunt would yield upon death.

But as time passed, the smiles on the players' faces gradually vanished.

Taunt was far more tenacious than they had imagined; half an hour of bombardment still had not killed it.

Many voices of doubt also began to appear in the voice channel:

"Is something wrong somewhere? How has it not died after half an hour of fighting? This Taunt's health bar is way too thick."

"Is there a possibility that our attacks simply didn't penetrate its defense? This game doesn't have a forced '-1 HP' mechanic, so our assault just now might have been completely ineffective damage."

"Holy crap, don't say that! I've already downed three bottles of mental potions. If it doesn't die, the losses will be huge."

The notion that they could not penetrate its defense caused many players to have a mental breakdown.

Especially for those using the Bone Fire form; their levels were generally between 5 and 7, meaning their mental strength could only sustain an assault for a short while before they had to stop, purchase 'Mental Potions' from the Mall to replenish their consumption, and then re-engage in battle.

Low-grade mental potions sold for 5 points of sacrificial power each; half an hour of bombardment had already consumed significant costs.

If they failed to kill Taunt, it would undoubtedly be a total loss.

Half an hour later, Taunt's roars continued; the cave was already engulfed in flames, and black smoke mixed with heat waves forced the players to retreat repeatedly.

The players' mindsets gradually collapsed from optimism to despair.

One player, gazing at the roaring flames burning within the cave, murmured:

"One torch costs 1 point of sacrificial power, one bottle of mental potion costs 5 points, one Stone-Splitting Bow costs 50 points, one arrow costs 1 point... We've probably thrown in more than 1000 points of sacrificial power by now. I threw in all my earnings from mining yesterday..."

These words caused the players beside him to have a complete mental breakdown.

Yet, none of the players stopped their hands.

With sunk costs so high, they were like gamblers who had gone red-eyed, unwilling to accept losses, choosing to bet everything on one final struggle.

(End of Chapter)