89: Chapter 89 First Kill on the Entire Internet!
For the next seventy-two hours straight, this encrypted voice channel was filled with the wails of suffering grinders.
"Wipe! Retreated 0.1 seconds too slow, restart!"
"No good! I got cost-blocked just now, couldn't deploy Mozart, restart!"
"Damn it! The damage was a hair off and I didn't one-shot it, restart, restart, restart!"
Nothing like a "one-shot clear" is taken for granted. In a desperate situation like Level 33 where there is zero margin for error, even with Merlin as the official crutch, it still required hundreds, if not thousands, of mechanical repetitions, trial and error, and the formation of muscle memory.
Three hundred times, five hundred times, eight hundred times...
Until the dawn of the fourth day, when the first ray of sunlight pierced the sky, accompanied by a roar from White Night that was so exhausted it had turned hoarse, the blindingly golden [CLEAR] finally popped up on the screen.
Two hours later, on C-Site, a video was quietly published without any warning.
...
11:00 PM, inside a rental apartment on Blue Star.
"Yes!!! Finally passed!!!"
Lin Feng, a corporate slave who had just gotten off work, abruptly took off his VR headset and jumped straight up from his bed in excitement.
As an old-school player of "FGO" since launch, Lin Feng considered himself quite skilled.
Tonight, relying on a high-investment lineup he had painstakingly assembled, plus borrowing a max-NP Merlin support from a friend, he had died for the better part of the night before finally figuring out the rotation for the Level 18 Pruning Protocol.
Looking at the golden [Level 18 Pruning Etching Badge] on his personal profile, Lin Feng felt completely refreshed, and even the exhaustion from working a whole day vanished.
"Whew... This Level 18 is simply not meant for carbon-based lifeforms. The damage from Red Sword Brother's two-hit kill on the Defender means the margin for error is almost zero. Good thing I used my skills and brain to force a win!"
Lin Feng threw himself onto the bed, smugly grabbed his phone, and happily opened C-Site, preparing to see if there were any videos of other players stuck and suffering, just to satisfy his sense of superiority as an "expert player."
However, as soon as he opened the C-Site homepage, a video pinned to the entire site with view counts skyrocketing at a terrifying speed instantly stung his eyes.
"[First Clear on the Entire Network] Pruning Protocol · Origin Season Level 33 Full Modifiers Top Clear! The Ultimate Solution for Extreme Rotation and Buster Card Nuclear Bomb!"
"Clatter."
Lin Feng's hand trembled, and his phone almost smashed directly onto his face.
"Level 33? Full modifiers?! What kind of international joke is this?!"
Lin Feng's eyes widened like copper bells; his first reaction was that it was absurd.
He had just played Level 18, avoiding all the disgusting cost-blocking and HP-reduction modifiers, and he already felt like he had been through hell.
Now someone actually dared to post a title with "Level 33 Full Modifiers"?
"This is definitely a clickbait title just to attract attention, or they used some private server mod! If this can be beaten by human hands, I'll eat my VR headset right now!"
Carrying a hint of anger and disdain from an "expert player debunking a fake," Lin Feng clicked on the video and habitually closed all comments with one click.
He was going to use his "professional eye" from having just cleared Level 18 to expose this clickbaiter's lies frame by frame.
The video had no fancy intro and cut straight to the tactical sandbox.
The list of malicious modifiers in the top left corner was blindingly bright.
[Environmental Deterioration · Level 3: All enemy unit max HP increased by 120%, attack power increased by 100%!]
[Mana Depletion · Level 3: Natural Cost (deployment cost) recovery speed reduced by 75%!]
[Class Seal: Deployment of all Assassin and Berserker Class Servants is prohibited!]
[Frontline Collapse · Level 2: Max HP of all our Servants reduced by 50%!]
[Fighting Alone: Maximum simultaneous deployment limit in the tactical sandbox reduced to 4!]
[Spirit Origin Rejection: Maximum number of carryable Servants in the tactical squad reduced to 7!]
...
Looking at this hellish panel containing all the worst modifiers, even with the mindset of debunking a fake, Lin Feng still gasped in shock.
As an insider, he knew all too well the horror of these modifiers stacked together. Just [Natural Cost recovery reduced by 75%] alone meant that for a considerable time at the start, players wouldn't have any cost to deploy high-star Servants! Facing the first wave of the monster horde, the defensive line wouldn't even hold for three seconds!
"Cost-blocked at the start, let's see how you survive!" Lin Feng stared fixedly at the screen.
In the video, the battle began.
The operator's first step was to drop a 1-star Arash. Relying on his extremely low cost, he hit the field, and then, at the moment the monster horde was most dense, he unhesitatingly released his Noble Phantasm to self-destruct and clear the screen.
"Smart! Using the Great Hero to self-destruct and clear the mobs, maximizing Cost utilization," Lin Feng nodded subconsciously.
But the next second wave of elite monsters was the true despair. Under that insane attack power bonus at Level 33, even a max-level 5-star couldn't take two hits; going head-to-head was a dead end.
However, White Night in the video didn't choose to confront them head-on at all.
"Under the strict regulations of [Max squad size reduced to 7] and [Assassin Class sealed], our lineup, besides Arash who cleared the mobs and exited in the first wave, Jeanne dArc Alter for the finishing blow, Merlin, and Mozart, the remaining three slots must maximize their value in cost recovery and control!"
Along with White Night's calm narration, a 5-star card emitting dazzling golden light was slammed onto the very front line of the tactical sandbox!
The 5-star Lancer [Enkidu], serving in the Vanguard position for cost recovery and damage absorption!
"Facing monsters with 300% increases in attack, defense, and HP at Level 33, conventional physical damage is just scratching, and the stats of low-star single cards simply can't withstand the initial impact."
White Night's voice remained steady. On screen, the max-level, fully equipped Enkidu hit the field, and relying on its extremely high stats and the super-strong self-healing skill [Complete Form], it forcefully withstood the first wave of damage while being swarmed by the monster horde.
Plus, with Enkidu's high-cost-recovery skill, those precious Cost points, which were moving like a turtle under the modifier suppression, began to tick and accumulate with great difficulty.
"This is a Level 33 monster horde; no matter how tanky Enkidu is, it won't last long!" Lin Feng clenched his fists, watching Enkidu's HP bar fluctuate like a roller coaster while being swarmed.
Just one second before Enkidu's HP was about to hit bottom and the monster horde was about to break through the defensive line...
"Enough Cost!"
Two 5-star Caster cards were instantly thrown onto the high ground!
[Tamamo-no-Mae] and [Zhuge Liang], serving as high-ground control and status-effect damage dealers, descended simultaneously!
"Incantation unfold! [Eightfold Blessings of Amaterasu]!"
"[Stone Sentinel Maze]!"
A dazzling solar barrier and a massive Eight Trigrams formation instantly enveloped that group of arrogant elite monsters!
After being magically modified by Gu Yi, Tamamo-no-Mae's [Incantation] skill could not only drain the enemy's charge bar but was also granted a significant slow effect!
And Zhuge Liang's Eight Trigrams formation provided [Stun] and defense-ignoring [Curse]!
"Tamamo-no-Mae and Zhuge Liang's Noble Phantasms and normal attacks are all blue [Arts] Command Cards that represent 'rapid NP accumulation'!"
In the video, White Night's narration was filled with calculations that made one's scalp tingle: "During this precious time when the monsters are stunned by 'Stone Sentinel Maze' and slowed by 'Incantation', these two Caster-class Servants are crazily outputting Arts card normal attacks!"
On screen, relying on the extremely high NP recovery rate of Arts cards, plus the 'skill cooldown reduction' and 'party charge' brought by Tamamo-no-Mae's Noble Phantasm, Zhuge Liang and Tamamo-no-Mae forcibly pulled off a [Pseudo Arts Loop]!
This was not a flawless "absolute permanent control."
Under Lin Feng's fixed gaze, that group of elite monsters, capable of melting a Defender in one hit, although moving slower than snails and occasionally being forced to a halt by the Eight Trigrams formation reset by Zhuge Liang, their terrifying bodies were still inching forward, bringing a suffocating sense of oppression, creeping toward the blue light gate that symbolized the base!
Five meters... three meters... one meter!
"They're going to leak! They're not going to hold!" Lin Feng held his breath in front of the screen, his palms full of cold sweat.