Chapter 194 – [Secret Records of Glorious Xuan (Chapter 1)]
In the beginning, Ren Suo thought that the location where the game took place was unrelated to Earth.
If any part of the game appeared on Earth, be it the Mage who spoke a different language, the deserted monastery that served as the main battle arena, or even the strange monsters which appeared, Ren Suo felt that it would have been the end of the world.
However, at that very moment, the people who appeared at the monastery gates were a group of Countermeasure Division personnel clad in their black vests, and armed with assault rifles. They were most likely extraordinary Practitioners who had been transferred to the Countermeasure Division and who specialized in fighting with modern-day firearms.
Typically, personnel from the Countermeasure Division did not need to carry firearms with them, as they usually dealt with people who Awakened or monsters and demons that appeared on the streets. Compared to firearms which require a long time to master, [Clothes] and [Lock] were satisfactory for their combat needs.
However, based on information on the intranet, Ren Suo knew that Countermeasure Division personnel who performed investigations in forests and mountains or hunted down wild monsters and demons were typically combat personnel transferred from the military. Only a minority of them were tier 2 combat Practitioners. That was because the environment they were in and the unpredictable situations they might face were much more dangerous.
Those personnel were also proficient in abilities like [Clothes], and they operated in teams. They could be considered as trained, extraordinary warriors who were found and gathered together by Xuan Nation.
However, the appearances of the characters in the game were all modified to some extent. How did Ren Suo recognize a familiar face?
—That was because the characters’ names were written above their heads.
Just as the words [Red Hood] were written above Red Hood’s head in glowing, blood-red-colored characters, the names of the Countermeasure Division Practitioners who appeared at the monastery also appeared above their heads. The only difference was that there were no special color effects.
Amongst them, there was someone whose name was [Yuan Dang].
He was the roommate of Ren Suo, Zhao Huo, and Xie Qiansi when they were at the mass civil servant training. After the training, Ren Suo and the others were unable to contact him. They could only guess that he had been transferred to further his training at a more secret location.
Ren Suo had thought that he would not have any opportunity to meet him again, and he definitely did not expect to see him in the game. Although ‘Yuan Dang’ was quite a common name, Ren Suo could easily match his slightly modified face in the game to his real appearance, having met him before in real life.
Since Red Hood and Mage saw the extraordinary warriors of Xuan Nation, the extraordinary warriors naturally noticed them too. They split into two groups but lowered their rifles as they slowly approached the monastery. They shouted: [Who are you?]
At that point in time, Red Hood suddenly said: [Here they come.]
Ren Suo instantly pressed the dialogue button and the game paused. He entered a sentence. Originally, he wanted to say ‘ah ah ah’, a universally understood cry of shock and panic, to warn the extraordinary warriors. However, at that juncture, he noticed a tiny [AP] on the right side of the dialogue box.
Upon clicking on it, the names of different languages like [Aphronian], [Xuan Nation Mandarin], [English], and [French] appeared. However, they had nothing to do with the input language, but only with the language spoken by Mage.
“The Mage is automatically equipped with the ability to speak all languages?” Ren Suo muttered. He thought that that was pretty useful, so he typed: [Be careful!]
Mage’s voice rang loudly in the entire monastery, and the Xuan Nation warriors who were approaching the monastery immediately stopped in their tracks. At that juncture, in the dried, waterless pond at the center of the monastery, the dark brown-colored soil suddenly turned into a viscous puddle of deep red-colored blood.
The viscous puddle of blood quickly filled the entire pond, and then an enormous palm emerged from within. The next moment, a terrifying, gigantic monster appeared on the screen; it was about as tall as three people. It wore what looked like armor but was actually a board with needles sticking outward that was typically used for torture. Its neck was empty and on its left hand was a full face mask of a ‘crying woman of compassion’!
However, the parts of its body which were not covered by its armor were instead growing with tree roots. There was even a purple flower blooming on its neck. Its right hand was replaced by a huge wooden stick, and the rough, thick bark was soaked with deep-red blood.
The monster walked out of the pond, to reveal a pair of extremely thin legs. They could not even be considered legs; rather, they were prosthetics made of steel.
At the same time, several low-level monsters like Goblins and the Queen Bees appeared within the monastery. Usually, Mage and Red Hood would have fought them with full confidence, but now, they did not have the time to spare for that!
The extraordinary warriors who had been warned by Mage were naturally very anxious as they looked up and pointed at the gigantic monster with their rifles. However, instead of firing, they took the opportunity to retreat.
At that juncture, the iron skull mask that the monster was holding suddenly boomed:
[Ahhhhh… don’t go!]
Although subtitles accompanied the roaring voice, only Mage and Red Hood could understand what the mask said, as it was not in Mandarin. Nonetheless, the extraordinary warriors could already understand what it said based on the monster’s movements: it was charging towards them as they retreated!
“Fire!”
The sounds of the gun barrels moving and bullets flying were akin to shrill hymns resonating in the monastery. However, its effect was still unsatisfactory: the advancing monster was slowed down by the force of the bullets, but the roots on its body as well as its armor were sufficient to protect it from any harm!
Moreover, because of its huge body and extraordinarily large stride, it quickly caught up with the extraordinary warriors and swung its stick at them!
Although the extraordinary warriors avoided the blow in time, the flying gravel and shock wave caused by the great force of the monster’s blow caused two people to fly backward. They fell to the ground groaning.
At that moment, Red Hood and Mage teleported over, using their movement skills. Following a loud roar, Red Hood summoned an enormous flaming axe from the offering she held tightly in her right hand. The axe was more than two meters tall, and it was swung towards the exposed waist of the monster!
Red Hood exclaimed: [Evil monsters in human form have weaknesses too! It has tree roots on its body, it must be afraid of fire!]
Flames of fire emerged beneath the axe as it tore a large segment of the tree roots from the monster. The monster screamed shrilly but feebly.
Following which, the monster threw the iron skull mask in its left hand at Red Hood ferociously!
Red Hood dodged the attack with ease and continued attacking the monster with the flame axe. On the other hand, Ren Suo controlled Mage to move towards the extraordinary warriors and shot them with bullets of Holy Light to heal them. He asked: [How did you guys come in?]
The healing effect of the Holy Light bullets was extremely prominent. Judging from the situation, the extraordinary warriors already knew that Mage was not an evil character. The Practitioner named ‘Cheng Wenchao’ said: [We are the advance party scouting the mysterious, unknown area around here. We came in directly through a hole which appeared beside Island Lake.]
As Mage questioned the warriors, he did not stop to listen to them. Although [Fire Broadsword Fragment] was his only fire-type attack, Holy Light bullets could also deal damage and reduce the enemy’s armor, making it a suitable substitute for ranged attacks. He continued asking: [In that case, can you leave now? It is very dangerous here.]
Cheng Wenchao shook his head and said: [No, we can’t. Only Practitioners can come in here, but after we came in, we have not found a way to leave, and neither can we communicate with the outside world.]
Mage turned around to ask Red Hood: [Is there a way for them to leave this place?]
Red Hood replied: [They are outsiders, just like you. The only way for outsiders to leave this fruit of evil is to subdue and cleanse the evil monsters of the monastery! For the evil monsters, outsiders are their source of food, and they would never let you go!]
Ren Suo pondered for a moment, then conveyed what Red Hood said to Cheng Wenchao. He said: [Can you guys support us from the distance by attacking those small monsters? Leave this gigantic monster to me and… Senior.]
Ren Suo had given it a thought and felt that it was not fully appropriate to describe the relationship between Mage and Red Hood as senior and junior, because they looked like Westerners. However, Red Hood could not understand human language anyway, so Ren Suo could do as he wished.
Given the urgency of the situation and the obviously malicious, fierce-looking monster, Cheng Wenchao very quickly agreed to Mage’s request. He said: [No problem, but may I ask, who are you? Our support team should be coming in very soon, can this battle be avoided?]
Mage replied: [Mr. Cheng Wenchao, I am a mage. There is no way to avoid this battle; the monster will hunt us down until it gets a taste of our corpses.]
Ren Suo could see that Cheng Wenchao was surprised—he must have remembered that he had not mentioned his name before.
The monster shrieked: [Ahhh… I love him, I love him, but why are there so many women next to him!]
The monster’s screams turned into blood-written words on the screen. Then, the monster suddenly charged towards where the Mage was standing. Mage quickly activated a speed offering to dodge, then changed it to the fire broadsword. He swung the fire broadsword at the iron skull mask on the left hand of the monster.
A shriek emerged from the iron skull mask, and the monster lost its balance momentarily. It shook its enormous wooden stick even more vigorously and wildly, but Mage and the extraordinary warriors had already retreated in the opposite direction. As a result, it missed all its attacks.
The monster cried: [I’m willing to sacrifice so much just for you, why do you want to leave?!]
Fresh blood suddenly began dripping from the monster’s legs, allowing it to slide across the ground to move, instead of merely taking wide strides. Nevertheless, the effect on Mage and Red Hood was insignificant, for their teleportation skills enabled them to move left and right instantaneously to avoid its attacks.
After several attacks, the monster became slightly more intelligent. It turned around and went for the extraordinary warriors who were supporting the fight in the distance instead!
Mage shouted: [Quick, run away!]
Even though Ren Suo alerted the warriors immediately while Red Hood and Mage continued chasing after the monster, the monster did not change its target. Instead, fresh blood gushed out from its right hand, and the wooden stick turned into a blood sickle!
The monster roared: [My blood, this is my blood, this is my blood that I have squeezed out just for you!]
The monster looked as if it was about to cast its ultimate move. Ren Suo exhaled—it was also about time for him to experiment with his ultimate move.
Previously, from the [Equipment] screen, [Unlimited Fried Chicken Set] was not the only useful offering that he found.
He activated the offering [Secret Records of Glorious Xuan (Chapter 1)]!