39: Chapter 39: A Well-Planned 15-Minute Timed Battle

The hands of the pocket watch ticked away on the dial.

Hu Jinsi crouched behind the wind-eroded boulder on the east side, his iron-clad staff resting across his knees. He took a deep breath, the air of the Cold Plains—a mixture of rotting soil and sulfur—filling his lungs, making the back of his head go numb.

"Thirty seconds left," Lin Rui's voice came from behind the cover on the west side, kept extremely low, as if squeezed out of a crack in the ground.

Liu Betti was on the north slope, her Soul-Drawing Short Bow fully drawn, arrows arranged in order in her quiver. Su Wan crouched behind the sandbag cover on the south side, holding her lyre in her arms. The blood-cleansing bottles in the four slots at her waist clinked softly with her breathing.

Hu Jinsi looked down at his Hot Boot Spike. The metal spikes on the soles were embedded in the soil, and the dark red patterns on the boots looked like sleeping fire under the eerie green sky. +45%, 15 maximum fire resistance. When he played the game in his past life, he called this "fire resist gear," and he never thought he would have a day where he became a tank.

"Ten seconds," Lin Rui's voice sounded again.

Hu Jinsi slowly stood up and returned his long staff to his backpack. In this battle, he didn't need the staff. He needed speed, he needed the boots on his feet, and he needed the Chi Torpedo he had just drawn.

"Three."

He centered his energy in his dantian, a warm flow of qi surging toward his legs.

"Two."

He bent his knees, lowering his center of gravity, and the boot spikes plowed two shallow grooves into the ground.

"One. Go!"

Chi Torpedo activated!

Hu Jinsi's figure transformed into a gray shadow speeding across the ground. Chi exploded in the meridians of his legs, and as he kicked off the ground, the thrust propelled him forward. Covering twenty meters, the withered trees and gray-white boulders on both sides of his vision blurred into ribbons of color, and only the shrill whistle of torn wind remained in his ears. In less than two seconds, before he could even finish a breath, he had already crashed into the nearest gathering of Fallen.

Five Fallen were huddling around a patch of dark green ghost fire, warming their hands, startled by the sudden intruder. Before they could raise their small knives, or even let out their signature "giggling" screams, Hu Jinsi landed.

The moment he landed, he stood on one leg, his left leg extended like a crane's neck, arms crossed in front of his chest—Spinning Crane Kick, activated!

Using his supporting leg as an axis, his body spun violently.

On the first rotation, the boot spikes traced an arc of dark red light, and the fire damage added by the Hot Boot Spike trailed thin sparks in the air. The qi wrapped around his toes swept across the faces of the two nearest Fallen, and the sound of cracking bones mixed with screams erupted simultaneously. [-14], [-13].

On the second rotation, the rotation speed reached its peak, and all enemies within a two-meter radius were under the cover of his leg shadows. The other three Fallen tried to flee, but how could their short legs be faster than this spinning slaughter? The boot spikes pierced their shoulder blades, and the flames licked their dark red skin, emitting a sizzling, scorched sound. [-12], [-15], [-11].

Without waiting for the third rotation, the first Fallen he kicked had already Fallen to the ground, but Hu Jinsi did not stop. The channeling effect of Spinning Crane Kick was still ongoing. He gritted his teeth, his vision starting to blur with static. This damn skill made him so dizzy, but he couldn't stop moving his feet.

After the third rotation ended, the last Fallen collapsed in the whirlwind, its dark red skin kicked to pieces. Three seconds. All five Fallen were wiped out.

Hu Jinsi abruptly retracted his leg, and the world swayed in his vision. He suppressed the nausea roiling in his stomach, braced himself with one hand, and with the other, fished a blood-cleansing bottle from the belt slot. He bit the wooden stopper open and splashed the murky, gray-white liquid onto the dissipating corpses.

"Sizzle—"

Blue smoke rose as the "demon-happy water" began to erode the remains of the Fallen. Hu Jinsi didn't even look at the results; the second Charge of Chi Torpedo had already cooled down, and he turned into a swift shadow again, pouncing toward the next gathering point twenty meters away.

Meanwhile, on the north slope.

Liu Betti's bowstring vibrating was continuous; she used precise, targeted shots. Arrows left the string one after another, each aimed at the throat or eye socket of a Fallen Shaman.

"First one," she whispered, her arrow piercing the temple of a Fallen Shaman thirty meters away. Dark red blood sprayed from the wound, and the Fallen Shaman's resurrection gesture, with its wooden staff held high, froze in mid-air as he fell backward.

"Second one." A second arrow followed closely, pinning another Fallen Shaman, who was trying to hide behind a boulder, to the rock wall.

Her shooting angle was carefully calculated. Bishibosh's bloated figure moved in the center of the battlefield, but Liu Betti's arrows always avoided his core area; she couldn't let the leader notice her too early. As long as a Fallen Shaman died, Bishibosh would prioritize resurrecting his Fallen minions, and his large fireballs would not be poured onto the four of them.

On the west side, Lin Rui flashed out from behind the cover. He ran with the speed of a Charge, taking advantage of the chaos caused by Liu Betti shooting the Shamans to rush toward a Fallen corpse lying on the edge of the battlefield. The blood-cleansing bottle in his waist slot was already in his hand; pull the stopper, splash, the action was smooth and continuous. Then he immediately turned to the next corpse, his boots trampling over the mud that sizzled from the erosion of the blood-cleansing water.

On the south side, Su Wan moved quickly along the edge of the battlefield, specifically dealing with those corpses that were closer. Her combat rhythm was indeed much more relaxed than the two melee classes; no need to roll, no need to Charge, just walk to the corpse, bend down, splash, and step back. Occasionally, a stray Fallen would pounce on her, and she would casually flick a short sonic blast of Thunderwave, knocking the opponent back three meters, then continue her "watering" work.

"First thirty seconds!" Lin Rui shouted while running.

Hu Jinsi's third gathering point had been cleared. Four more Fallen turned into points of light in the fiery arc of the Spinning Crane Kick, blood-cleansing water splashed on, and blue smoke curled up. He looked up to glance at the overall battlefield. There were two more Shaman corpses under Liu Betti's arrows, and Lin Rui and Su Wan were "disinfecting" ten Fallen corpses.

He turned around, Chi Torpedo activated again. This time, the target was not a Fallen, but the bloated dark red figure in the center of the battlefield.

Bishibosh.

This Fallen leader was waving his wooden staff, trying to resurrect the nearest Shaman corpse. But the gray-white residue of the blood-cleansing water formed a thin film on the surface of the corpse. The dark red resurrection light shot from the tip of the staff, hit the film, and dissipated like a clay ox entering the sea. Bishibosh let out an angry roar, his bloated head turned toward the direction Hu Jinsi was charging from, his staff held high.

Hu Jinsi landed five meters away from him. He didn't attack immediately but began to move at high speed around him. His figure left trailing afterimages around Bishibosh, and the movement speed bonus from Chi Torpedo made him as fast as a fly buzzing around a giant beast.

At the tip of Bishibosh's wooden staff, dark red flames condensed again. The fireball dragged a tail of flame and smashed straight toward Hu Jinsi's face from less than five meters away—so close, dodging meant retreating, and retreating meant giving Bishibosh room to turn, and his target for turning would only be Lin Rui and Su Wan, who were busy splashing blood-cleansing water.

Hu Jinsi gritted his teeth and did not retreat. He had done the math: Hot Boot Spike's 45 fire resistance, plus the increase in maximum fire resistance, meant that if this fireball hit, the panel damage would be reduced to a dozen points. And as long as he didn't retreat, every time Flurry of Blows hit, the Mistweaver healing mist under his feet could heal him for six or seven points. Trading health for entanglement, his health bar could be stabilized.

"Boom!"

The fireball exploded on his chest, the heat wave hitting him so hard his vision went black, and a taste of rust surged in his throat. The panel flashed [-17]. He let out a muffled groan, rooted to the spot, and the bone blade on his right fist's brass knuckles, aided by the smoke of the explosion, slammed into Bishibosh's waist again. He couldn't let him go, absolutely not.

Seventeen points. For his current health of 175, it wasn't even a drop in the bucket.

Meanwhile, when he kicked those two Fallen to death earlier, the healing mist under his feet was slowly rising. The white mist, like steam from a hot spring, swirled around Bishibosh's massive feet. Hu Jinsi stepped through the mist as he moved, and the warm qi surged from the soles of his feet into his meridians, his health rising at a speed visible to the naked eye. [+7], [+6].

"Feels good." Hu Jinsi grinned, his movements not stopping. His right fist punched out, the bone blade tearing through Bishibosh's fat layer. Immediately after, Flurry of Blows activated, his left fist and right knee following in succession, the 2nd and 3rd strikes hitting the same wound one after another. [-11], [-9], [-8]. The healing mist triggered by the three attacks bloomed simultaneously under his feet, the white mist so thick it could almost cover his ankles.

But the counterattack followed. On the surface of Bishibosh's skin, a visible layer of flame shield was triggered. The moment Hu Jinsi's fist hit it, the shield burst into a circle of scorching ripples, and the flames rolled back up his wrist. [-4].

"There's fire shield reflect damage too?" Hu Jinsi shook his hand, rubbing the flames stuck to the brass knuckles off on his pant leg. "Good thing I stacked fire resistance high."

This flame shield was not mentioned in Liu Betti's intelligence. Hu Jinsi muttered to himself; when Zhao Lei and the others managed to kill Bishibosh, they probably used some dispelling scroll or magic item in advance to strip off this shell. But for him, this reflect damage, after being reduced by 45 fire resistance, only left a few points of damage, not even as much as he healed by stepping on the healing mist.

Bishibosh was enraged, his wooden staff held high again, and another fireball condensed in his palm. But Hu Jinsi didn't dodge or evade, charging straight at the fireball, Flurry of Blows combined with normal attacks, punch after punch. The fireball hit his face, and he treated it like a hot shower; he punched back, and healing mist bloomed like white flowers under his feet.

"Sixty seconds!" Liu Betti's voice came from the north, as calm as if she were calling out targets. "Four Shamans, eighteen Fallen, cleared!"

Hu Jinsi took a moment to glance at the panel during the scuffle. Bishibosh's health bar was slowly and steadily dropping under countless attacks, while his own health remained above 90%. Fireball, flame shield reflect damage, the occasional swipe of a wooden staff—all the damage added together couldn't catch up to the recovery speed of the healing mist he created.

This was probably the ideal state of a Mistweaver Monk—as long as I can still fight, I won't die.

"Only the last batch left!" Su Wan's voice came from the south, accompanied by the sound of the last few bottles of blood-cleansing water being splashed. "Two more Fallen in the southeast corner, Betti!"

"Received." Liu Betti's arrow pierced the air, pinning the last two Fallen trying to escape to a tombstone.

"Ninety seconds!" Lin Rui shouted. "Shamans and Fallen, all dead! Start the final sprinkling!"

Hu Jinsi took another fireball head-on, his health trembling slightly, then refilling in the rising healing mist under his feet. He looked up at Bishibosh's health bar; it had already dropped by nearly one-third. Although this big guy had high health, it couldn't last long under his style of trading damage for damage and healing while fighting.

But he couldn't be greedy. A plan was a plan.

At 120 seconds, the voices of Lin Rui and Su Wan came from both sides of the battlefield simultaneously: "Finished! Jinsi, wrap it up!"

Hu Jinsi immediately retracted his fist, Chi Torpedo activated, and he sped toward the pre-set cover on the east side. Bishibosh let out a deafening roar, waving his wooden staff, and a huge fireball chased after Hu Jinsi's back, but under the protection of his 45 fire resistance, it was nothing more than a warm wave of air at his back.

"Switch!" Hu Jinsi rolled behind the cover, shouting at the top of his lungs, "Second phase, hit-run-hit!"

The four of them poked their heads out from behind the cover on four sides simultaneously.

Liu Betti's bowstring sounded first; this time it wasn't a fire arrow, but an Ice Arrow. The arrow carrying frost accurately pinned into Bishibosh's shoulder, knee, and abdomen. Ice crystals spread on the dark red skin, the bloated leader's movements slowed down significantly, and every time he raised his hand to cast a spell, his joints made creaking, freezing sounds.

Lin Rui flashed out from behind the cover on the west side. He didn't get close, but took out his rifle, picking off shots one by one.

Su Wan stood on the south side, plucking her lyre rapidly, turning all remaining spell slots into Thunderwave spell output, not just damage, but also continuously pushing Bishibosh away from the cover range.

Bishibosh was completely enraged by the harassment from all sides. He held his wooden staff high, and dark red light shot from the tip of the staff, shrouding the nearest Shaman corpse; he was trying to resurrect his servant.

The light fell on the corpse, and the gray-white film formed by the blood-cleansing water played its role again. The dark red resurrection energy hit the film like a wave hitting a reef, bouncing off and dissipating in vain on the surface of the corpse.

Once.

Bishibosh turned to the second Shaman corpse and cast a spell again. Failed.

Twice.

The third corpse, still failed.

Three times.

The boss-level combat instinct made him stop the futile attempts. He realized his resurrection cycle had been cut off; those damn gray-white liquids acted like a seal on the corpses. He no longer insisted, his bloated body turning toward the four of them, and the dark red crystal at the tip of the wooden staff began to condense an unprecedentedly huge fireball.

"He's switching targets!" Liu Betti shouted, "Watch out for evasion!"

But Bishibosh's movements were already stiff from being frozen by the Ice Arrows. His large fireball condensation time was extended from two seconds to nearly four seconds, and the four of them had already flexibly shifted between covers. The fireball smashed into the sandbag cover, scorching the wax-dipped canvas on the surface, but the sand inside the sandbags absorbed most of the impact, and the cover didn't budge.

"Health dropped below one-fifth!" Hu Jinsi caught a glimpse of the change in Bishibosh while shifting. "He's about to self-destruct!"

Sure enough, Bishibosh's bloated figure began to slowly and creepily shrink inward. The dark red skin seemed to have its internal stuffing drained, with wrinkles piling up layer by layer. He shrank from a behemoth nearly three meters tall, gradually withered and collapsed, and finally shrank to a size similar to an ordinary Fallen. Just over a meter tall, emaciated, but the crystal at the tip of the wooden staff shone blindingly, as if all the compressed energy had been poured into the core of that fireball.

"Su Wan!" Lin Rui roared.

Su Wan was already prepared. She stood behind the south cover, her hands pressing on the strings of the lyre, not playing any passionate or playful melody, but singing a low, heavy, specific melody that seemed to surge from the depths of the earth.

That was the signal agreed upon before the battle: Bishibosh was about to self-destruct, and everyone should find cover.

Her voice echoed across the wilderness of the Cold Plains, not clear like usual, but with a heavy, almost tragic quality, as if someone were striking a bronze bell buried in the soil.

The moment they heard this melody, Hu Jinsi, Lin Rui, and Liu Betti simultaneously shrank back behind their covers, curling their bodies into the angle between the sandbags and the rocks.

Less than three seconds.

"BOOM—!!!!"

Bishibosh's emaciated body exploded.

It was no ordinary explosion, but a terrifying, eardrum-splitting sonic boom, accompanied by a ring of visible, dark-red shockwaves that spread crazily in all directions from its center. Wherever the shockwave passed, the ground was plowed into a shallow trench, and gravel and dirt were flung into the air. The sandbag bunker Lin Rui had prepared in advance took the force head-on; the waxed canvas was instantly shredded, and the sand inside erupted like a fountain, creating a hazy curtain of dust.

Hu Jinsi, hiding behind the giant rock on the east side, felt as if his back had been slammed by a massive iron hammer, shifting his internal organs. The giant rock groaned under the impact, cracks appearing on its surface as debris rained down. He gritted his teeth, jammed his brass knuckles into the ground to anchor himself, and waited for the destructive storm to pass.

The sonic boom lasted for a full five seconds.

When the dust settled, the four of them poked their heads out from behind their respective bunkers. The eastern one had split into three pieces, the northern one had half-collapsed, and the southern sandbags had completely vanished, leaving only a pile of scattered, wet sand. Where Bishibosh had once stood was now a scorched, shallow crater five meters in diameter, with a few pieces of dark red flesh and fragments of a shattered wooden staff scattered at the bottom.

"...We won?" Su Wan's voice came through the communication channel, trembling with the relief of having survived.

"We won!" Hu Jinsi popped out from behind the rubble, patting the dust off his head and face. His voice was still hoarse from the shock of the explosion. "Damn, that self-destruct was even fiercer than Blood Raven's lightning! If it weren't for the sandbags and bunkers, the four of us would've been done for!"

Liu Betti slid down the northern slope with her Soul-Sucking Short Bow on her back, a rare smile appearing on her face. "The plan succeeded. A fifteen-minute time-limited battle..." She glanced down at her pocket watch. "We only spent four minutes and forty-seven seconds."

Lin Rui walked out from behind the western bunker, brushing the sand off his body. Even his expressionless face relaxed slightly. "We spent dozens of five-minute intervals on preparation, and the battle lasted less than five minutes."

"That's what they call one minute on stage, ten years of practice off stage." Hu Jinsi took off his brass knuckles and shook his numb fingers. "Of course, those two and a half hours off stage were mainly Lin Rui digging pits and stacking sandbags. The credit is all his; I was just responsible for kicking the Fallen."

The four of them looked at each other and then burst into laughter simultaneously. The laughter echoed across the wilderness of the Cold Plains, startling a few crows perched on dead trees in the distance.

Post-battle was a time for celebration; there was no need to dwell on the hardships at this moment. The team's primary interest was, of course, Bishibosh's loot.

The four of them walked excitedly toward the scorched, shallow crater. Bishibosh's remains were scattered around, but the core loot was glimmering at the bottom of the pit. Hu Jinsi crouched by the edge of the crater, using a long stick to push aside a piece of still-smoking flesh, revealing what lay beneath.

A belt.

It was crudely stitched together from several pieces of inferior hard leather, with stitches so rough it looked like it had been sewn by foot. The surface was coated in sticky, unknown grease, giving off a nauseating sheen under the eerie green sky. A line of scrawled text was engraved on the buckle; Hu Jinsi squinted for a long time before he could read the foreign phrase.

"Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today."

"A demon dropping an item with a foreign proverb written on it—what kind of weird combination is that?" Hu Jinsi held his nose as he picked up the belt, getting grease all over his hands. "The dying words of a procrastinator?"

[Reluctant Belt] [Type: Belt] [Storage Space: 4 Slots] [Effect 1: Shaman's Mark. You can command the corpse of a humanoid creature you have killed to stand up and fight for you as a "Fallen Minion" for 1 minute (limited to once per day). This minion is light-sensitive and cowardly.] [Effect 2: Delay Tactics. Once per day, when you take fatal damage, you can consume a Fallen/low-level minion (including summons or a teammate's pet) to take the damage for you. The minion dies immediately.] [Item Description: This belt was crudely stitched together from several pieces of inferior hard leather, with its surface coated in sticky, unknown grease. A line of scrawled text is engraved on the buckle: "Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today."]

The four of them passed it around, their expressions varied.

"Resurrect a Fallen, and it can even take a fatal hit for you," Su Wan said, frowning as she gingerly held the edge of the belt, afraid of getting that grease on her. "It sounds pretty good. But in practice, you have to successfully resurrect it first for it to block a blow for you. In a fast-paced battle, there might not be enough time."

"And this Fallen can only exist for one minute," Lin Rui added. "Being light-sensitive and cowardly means it likely won't dare to stand in front of a fatal attack; it might even run away at the sight of the enemy's blade."

Hu Jinsi wiped the grease off on his pant leg, thoughtful. "This piece of equipment should be more suitable for classes that already have summons. Like Sun Yao—if she had this, her survivability would be even higher. Let the dog take a hit when in danger, and let the Fallen die for her when she's about to lose her life—what a great combination."

Lin Rui glanced at the equipment and then looked at everyone. "Does anyone need it?"

Hu Jinsi shook his head; Su Wan and Liu Betti did the same. One was a Bard and the other a Rogue; neither needed this kind of summon-oriented equipment.

"If no one wants it, we'll sell it for money when we get out," Lin Rui said, putting the belt into his backpack. "Or we can ask Sun Yao and see if she's interested in buying it."

The four of them found a sheltered spot around the battlefield and took a short break. They had a few bites of compressed biscuits and cold water, then checked their gear for wear and tear. Hu Jinsi's leather armor had a few scorched marks, but it didn't affect its defense; Liu Betti's quiver was partially empty, but fortunately, it didn't matter, as there would be plenty of arrows to scavenge in the coming battles; Su Wan and Lin Rui had no real wear and tear.

"Next step?" Lin Rui looked at Hu Jinsi.

Hu Jinsi gulped down the last of his cold water and wiped his mouth. "I don't have that many thoughts on it. Whichever of those locations we find first, we'll clear it first. After all, after last week's gift from Blood Raven, our abilities have improved further. Especially Su Wan."

He looked at Su Wan and grinned. "The Burial Grounds right now might really be child's play for Big Sister Su. Su Wan could clear out all the monsters in the Burial Grounds except for Blood Raven by herself, provided those monsters move a bit faster. Otherwise, Su Wan might sing until her voice goes hoarse before they even walk over."

"Can't you wish for something good for me?" Su Wan threw her water bottle at him, but Hu Jinsi dodged it with a laugh.

Lin Rui glanced at the others. Seeing that no one had any other objections or specific locations they wanted to visit first, he made the call: "Then let's get on our bikes and find a mission point at random."

The four of them mounted their bicycles and rode aimlessly across the Cold Plains. The wind blew from the fissures, making their clothes flap noisily. They were lucky; the first place they found was the familiar entrance to the Underground Cave.

That afternoon, the four of them finished a full clear of the two levels of the Underground Cave. With the experience from last week, plus the terrifying coverage efficiency of Su Wan's [Thunderwave] in narrow terrain, their speed of advancement was astonishing. That night, they stayed near the entrance to the second level of the Underground Cave.

Early the next morning, the four of them exited the Underground Cave and headed straight for the Burial Grounds.

The progress of the battle this time could be described as a complete rout.

Su Wan stood on a high ground on the outskirts of the Burial Grounds, clutching her lyre with both hands and taking a deep breath. Her [Siren Songstress] talent increased the range of sonic skills by 100%, and the base range of [Chant - Requiem Chant] was a five-meter radius—after stacking, the coverage area reached a ten-meter radius.

Converted, that was a circular area of over 314 square meters, comparable to a luxury flat that ordinary workers couldn't afford for generations.

She began to chant.

It was no ordinary singing. The melody of the Requiem Chant was low and solemn, as if thousands of the departed had let out a sigh of relief at the same time. Golden sound waves spread outward in a ring from Su Wan; wherever they passed, the air seemed plated with a layer of flowing gold leaf. The sound waves pierced through tombstones, through the soil, and through the decaying shells of the skeletons and Hungry Dead crawling from the ground.

The undead touched by the golden sound waves saw their soul-fires flicker violently in their hollow eye sockets. They had to make a Charisma saving throw, but where would these undead get any Charisma? And with Su Wan's Charisma as high as 18 points, plus the boost from [Siren Songstress] to the judgment of sonic skills, these low-level skeletons and Hungry Dead had almost no chance of succeeding in their saving throws.

"Crackle... crackle..."

A skeleton's jawbone loosened, and its soul-fire dimmed like a candle wick blown out by the wind. Its skeleton began to disintegrate under the scouring of the golden sound waves—not shattered by external force, but weathered from within, turning into countless fine bone particles that drifted away in the air along with the lingering echoes of the sound waves.

Another Hungry Dead tried to step forward, but its rotting muscles lost their cohesive strength in the sound waves. Its knees buckled, its torso tilted forward, and the entire corpse, like a sand sculpture being pushed over, turned into fly ash amidst the golden ripples.

Su Wan walked forward slowly as she chanted. Her skirt fluttered gently with the diffusion of the sound waves, and her hair lifted in the golden shimmer; she seemed enveloped in a layer of soft halo. Her voice no longer belonged to her, but had become a conduit for some older, grander will. It was the sorrow and release of all the departed from the Blind Sisterhood over the centuries, echoing through her throat across this cursed land.

The golden sound waves even startled a few Dark Rogues in the distance within Blood Raven's activity range. Those rotting archers poked their heads out from behind tombstones, a hint of confusion flashing in their death-gray eyes. They felt a power that undead instinctively feared; it was deliverance, it was rest, it was a forced end.

"The range is too big!" Hu Jinsi gasped from not far away and quickly lowered his voice. "Big Sister Su, hold back a bit! Don't draw Blood Raven over too!"

Su Wan reluctantly interrupted her chant, and the golden sound waves receded like a receding tide. She caught her breath, fine beads of sweat seeping from her forehead. "...The range is indeed a bit out of control. I almost wanted to finish the verse just now and send Blood Raven away along with them."

"Save your voice," Lin Rui said, walking over and patting her shoulder. "Blood Raven is the main course for later; let's clear these mobs first."

Even so, it took the four of them less than twenty minutes to clean out the undead wandering the outskirts of the Burial Grounds. With the talent boost, Su Wan's Requiem Chant covered over 300 square meters each time; those slow-moving skeletons and Hungry Dead turned to fly ash in the golden sound waves before they could even reach their attack range.

The battle against Blood Raven was the same as last week. But this time, the four of them had added many extra obstacles to the preset battlefield—toppled tombstones, broken stone pillars, and deep pits—further slowing down Blood Raven's movement speed. And although Su Wan's [Chant - Requiem Chant] couldn't one-shot Blood Raven like it did the normal undead, every time the golden sound waves swept over Blood Raven's decaying body, its movements would stiffen for a split second, as if it were some kind of interference from the soul level.

Blood Raven's death was more than twice as fast as last week. When it let out that shrill wail in the pit and its soul lightning exploded, the four of them had long since retreated to a safe distance.

"Second kill, the loot is indeed lousy." Hu Jinsi rummaged through the post-battle light points and only fished out a belt emitting a faint blue light. "[+1 Light Radius, +5 Mana Linen Belt]... better than nothing."

Since the others didn't have the Mana attribute, the belt was given to Liu Betti. She silently swapped out a plain white belt and tied on this +5 Mana piece of equipment, which served as a small consolation.

By 3:00 PM, the four of them had cleared the two crypts in the Burial Grounds. It was as stingy as last week; there were no valuable drops, just bone scraps and rotting flesh to be handed over to the school for recycling after they got out. However, this time, because they were already familiar with the tactics for elite monsters, their efficiency had improved significantly, and because they were prepared in advance, they hadn't been ambushed again.

The only surprise appeared in the chest of the larger tomb on the east side. When the four of them opened the dusty stone chest, a strange scroll appeared at the bottom.

[Town Portal Scroll] [Type: Consumable] [Effect: Use outside of combat to exit the current dungeon without penalty.] [Item Description: A piece of parchment shimmering with silver light, inscribed with the prayer of return in the ancient language of the Blind Sisterhood. Crush it, and you will be safely sent back to the entrance of the dungeon.]

The four of them gathered around the scroll and looked at each other.

"It can only be used outside of combat..." Lin Rui frowned. "This causes its value to drop significantly. Outside of combat, even if you don't use the scroll, you can just find a place to hide and wait for the dungeon time to end to be automatically teleported out."

"Unless," Liu Betti added, "you enter a very dangerous place, or the monsters in that place are far beyond your ability to handle, and you can't leave. In that situation, it might have a use."

Hu Jinsi looked at the scroll over and over, then stuffed it into his backpack. "Let's determine its value after we get out. At our current level, we really don't know how much to price this thing at. It might be a lifesaver for certain exploration-type classes."

Since there was still a little time left, the four of them didn't intend to stay near the graveyard like last week. After all, if a normal person had a choice, no one would want to spend the night next to a graveyard. They decided to ride their bikes to the final Stony Field and find a place on the edge of the wilderness to rest and spend the night.

The four bicycles crunched over the dirt road on the edge of the Burial Grounds, riding toward the craggy cliffs in the distance. The wind blew from the direction of the Cold Plains, carrying the scent of sulfur and gravel. Bishibosh's self-destruct seemed to still be echoing in their ears, but at this moment, the laughter of the four youths had already diluted those shadows.

"Tomorrow," Hu Jinsi pedaled his bike and shouted back, "Rakanishu!"

"Let's survive tonight first!" Su Wan replied with a smile, her lyre gently bouncing on her back.