Chapter 19: Item Offensive

Seeing the Origin monster, the players decisively launched a charge.

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

Countless memory fragments suddenly surfaced in their minds, and mental illusions woven based on memories were generated rapidly.

In the illusion, the Taunt monster turned into an object of hatred, causing them to feel uncontrollable anger in their hearts.

Seeing this scene, Qi Sheng, who was hiding behind the scenes, laughed dumbly, and then decisively cut off his subtle perception observation of the players, observing externally from the perspective of the guide clone to prevent himself from entering the mental illusion the players were suffering.

According to the guide's analysis information, the Taunt Origin had the ability to weave mental illusions, which the players simply couldn't resist with their current mental strength.

The most terrible thing about this ability was not the illusion, but emotional manipulation.

He could imagine the players' encounter in the mental illusion. Taunt would transform into the existence they hated most in the illusion, perhaps a murderer of their father, or perhaps the neighbor next door, but none of that mattered... At this moment, the players had already rushed toward Taunt with red eyes.

Taunt also opened its mouth at this time, revealing sharp fangs, swallowing the approaching players one by one.

This ability made Qi Sheng think of the anglerfish in reality, which lured other fish through the glowing lantern protruding from its head.

By comparison, Taunt's ability was even more terrifying.

As long as one entered the range of Taunt's ability, one would uncontrollably approach Taunt and become a lured target.

To resist mental illusions, one must possess mental strength far stronger than Taunt, or possess the blessing of Origin abilities that resist mental manipulation.

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

And Taunt, which hadn't eaten for a long time, just ate for nothing. All dead players would have their life essence extracted by Super-Dimension and then sent back to Di Zong Village by Yan Ming to complete life reshaping underground.

【It seems the gift Ice Blade left for you is not just energy crystals.】

At this time, the guide water ball appeared beside Qi Sheng, transformed into an arm, and analyzed while holding its chin.

"Do you think this Origin was imprisoned by Ice Blade, prepared as a gift for the next Di Zhao?"

【That's right, not just Taunt, I also sensed the aura of multiple Origin monsters in the Gloomy Caverns. Ice Blade's purpose in doing this is obvious. After all, besides Di Zhao, no one can absorb and fuse the abilities of Origin monsters. I can't think of any reason for him to imprison Origin monsters.】

【Although this guy is crazy and warlike, his loyalty to Di Zhao is indeed respectable.】

"Compared to you?" Qi Sheng turned to look at the guide, a smile appearing on his face.

【Compared to me, he is of course far behind. I am Di Zhao's most loyal subordinate. Boss, are you doubting my loyalty?】

Without answering the guide, Qi Sheng's gaze jumped to the Monster World again.

……

One hour later, Di Zong Village resurrection point.

White light flashed one after another, and the players who ended the resurrection cooldown logged into the game one after another.

"Holy crap, do you dare to think about what I encountered in the illusion? I was actually cuckolded by that big beetle, and the problem is that when I fell into the illusion, I even felt it was very reasonable. Now thinking about it, it's really outrageous."

"This game is so scary, it can actually extract memories and turn them into skills."

"My encounter is even more outrageous. I was forced to eat shit by the big beetle pressing my head in the illusion, which made my anger value soar infinitely, wishing I could turn around and smash its head with one punch."

……

After resurrection, the players talked about their encounters when entering the mental illusion, calling it incredible.

After chatting, they began to think about how to take revenge.

It could be clarified that Taunt's ability was to pull targets within a certain range into a mental illusion based on memories, so melee was not advisable. Only players embedded with the Bone Fire soul could cause damage to Taunt.

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

"Who stipulated that we must fight with monster abilities? Although the Black-Armored Snake and Gargoyle forms can only be melee, doesn't the mall have a large number of torches and long-range attack items? We can fully stand outside the cave and throw long-range items inside to slowly grind Taunt to death. This guy is bound by iron chains and cannot move, so he can't resist our long-range offensive at all."

This idea was immediately agreed upon by a large number of players.

Afterward, they began to purchase long-range attack items in the mall.

Torches, Stone-Splitting Bows, Iron Crossbows... The sacrificial power on the players couldn't afford high-quality items, so they could only buy those ordinary items made with sacrificial power.

While the players were sweeping the goods, the Challenger System automatically extracted 30% of the profit, bringing Qi Sheng 339 points of sacrificial power income.

Afterward, dozens of players left Di Zong Village and set off toward the Gloomy Caverns.

When the player team arrived at the second level underground, they immediately launched a long-range offensive against Taunt, who was imprisoned in the cave.

Players with the Bone Fire soul threw fireballs, and the rest of the players threw various long-range items into the cave one after another, launching a bombardment on Taunt.

During this time, Taunt's dull roars kept coming from the cave.

This made them even more excited, looking forward to the sacrificial power income brought by Taunt's death.

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

Taunt was far more tenacious than they imagined, and half an hour of bombardment still hadn't killed it.

Many questioning voices also appeared in the voice channel:

"Is something wrong somewhere? How come it hasn't died after half an hour? This Taunt's blood bar is too thick."

"Is there a possibility that our attacks didn't break the defense at all, and this game doesn't have a setting of forced -1 blood deduction, so our offensive just now is likely invalid output."

"Holy crap, don't, I've already drunk three bottles of mental potions. If it doesn't die, the loss will be huge."

……

The view that they couldn't break the defense made many players' mentalities explode.

Especially the players using the Bone Fire form, their levels were generally 5-7, and their mental strength could only maintain a period of offensive before they had to stop to buy the mall item "Mental Potion" to replenish consumption, and then continue to invest in the battle.

The selling price of low-level mental potions was 5 sacrificial power, and half an hour of bombardment had already cost a lot of money.

If they couldn't kill Taunt, it would undoubtedly be a total loss.

Half an hour later, Taunt's roars were still continuing, the cave had been shrouded in flames, and the black smoke mixed with heat waves choked the players until they retreated repeatedly.

The players' mentalities also collapsed from optimism.

Some players even looked at the flames burning in the cave and muttered:

"One torch is 1 sacrificial power, one bottle of mental potion is 5 sacrificial power, one Stone-Splitting Bow is 50 sacrificial power, one arrow is 1 sacrificial power... We have already invested more than 1,000 sacrificial power, right? I have already thrown in all the income from mining yesterday..."

These words made the players beside them have their mentalities shattered.

But all the players didn't stop.

The sunk cost was so high that they were like gamblers who had lost their minds, unwilling to accept the loss, choosing to fight to the death.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 24 =====