41: The copy ended, failed again!

The world before Ito Hidekazu's eyes once again turned blood-red.

A large, blood-red character for “Death” stood out particularly prominently in the void.

At the same time, the Sky Curtain's notifications rang out.

“Dungeon Prompt: Your faction failed to withstand the people's rebellion; you have drowned in the ocean!”

“Due to your death, this Raging Sea dungeon challenge has failed! You will be deducted 5,000 personal points!”

“Since all Challengers in the dungeon have died, all special events have ended, and this dungeon will soon close!”

“Now entering the final countdown phase…”

“…20…”

“…19…”

“…18…”

The dungeon's live broadcast perspective once again changed from the Challenger's view to an overhead view.

In the view, the Challenger's armory was stained red with blood, waves washed over the Challenger's corpse, and seagulls cried mournfully in the sky; the entire scene looked as bleak as the end of the world.

Soon, the people of Dongying Island raised the Red Sun flag, representing Dongying Island, atop the barracks' high tower…

Immediately after, the Sky Curtain began to display the dungeon's statistics:

“This dungeon's statistics are as follows:”

“Number of people obliterated in the dungeon: 19,930!”

“Longest dungeon duration: 55 hours”

“Dungeon completion rate: 0%!”

“Dungeon completion progress: 2%”

…

At this moment, the live stream was eerily quiet, with not a single bullet comment floating by.

All spectators, after witnessing the recent great rebellion, felt a sense of empathy.

The terrifying atmosphere not only permeated the dungeon but also spread within the hearts of the spectators.

“This… this dungeon, it's like watching an epic movie…”

“Everyone, I'm really starting to question life.”

“Did you see? This dungeon's metrics are even worse than the last one! This time, 19,930 people were directly obliterated!”

“Damn it, this is basically a total wipeout, isn't it?”

“It's too suffocating. This so-called non-combat mode is actually more terrifying than combat mode. In combat mode, you're just blown up by a cannon, but this non-combat mode is like boiling a frog in warm water.”

“Did you see? The current dungeon completion progress is only 2%. After two dungeons, only this much progress has been made. Is there still a chance to clear this dungeon?”

If the spectators of the last dungeon still felt a bit of schadenfreude, this time everyone was truly terrified.

That sense of despair and powerlessness, even through the screen, made it hard to breathe.

This failure was too tragic!

Last time, at least over three thousand out of ten thousand people survived.

This time, out of twenty thousand people, only 60 survived! The survival rate was only 0.003%.

Without a doubt, this Raging Sea would break the Sky Curtain's records for both single-instance obliteration count and obliteration rate!

…

At the same time, some people questioned Ito Hidekazu's decisions in the dungeon, believing that the dungeon was not unconquerable and that the failure was due to Ito Hidekazu's reckless actions.

“This was clearly Ito Hidekazu's command error. The Sky Curtain gave him multiple warnings, but he stubbornly went his own way, naturally leading to failure.”

“The Dahe Clan people completely don't treat the NPCs in the dungeon as people, but Lin Ye's dungeon design is too realistic. If you toy with NPCs, they will naturally resist.”

“Stop scolding everyone. Without the Dahe Clan's group challenge of the dungeon, it might have been us who died this time.”

“So, in the end, we still have to thank the Dahe Clan people, right? Weren't there many Dahe Clan people in the live broadcast just now? Why are they all silent?”

The bullet comments continued to ferment, but the dungeon's countdown had completely ended.

Everyone was directly teleported out of the dungeon.

-------------------------------------

Ito Hidekazu returned to his luxurious villa.

He slumped powerlessly onto the floor, the sensation of drowning still present in his consciousness.

It was as if he was still bound in the icy seawater.

“Whoosh—”

He gasped for air, but still couldn't shake off that terrifying feeling.

“Sky Curtain Prompt: Esteemed Challenger, it is regrettable that you failed this dungeon! You will now be deducted 5,000 points!”

Then Ito Hidekazu watched his points rapidly decrease, dropping from 13,000 to 8,000!

“Since your personal points have fallen below 10,000, your level has been downgraded from LV2 to LV1!”

“You have lost the privilege of bringing dungeon weapons into other dungeons! Challenger, please be careful with your point changes. If your points drop to LV0, you will lose all existing dungeons!”

“Your point change status will be announced above the Dome. Please take this as a warning!”

“Really? Was it really deducted?”

“I dropped to LV1?”

This news made Ito Hidekazu feel like he had been struck by lightning! Under the intense humiliation, his entire body felt a faint ache.

Ever since he was chosen from the Da He Settlement, he had been soaring upward, rising swiftly.

He designed four dungeons within a single day, and his personal points rapidly increased, similarly upgrading from LV0 to LV2 within a day!

From that day on, his level had never dropped!

But today, he was actually knocked back down to LV1.

LV1 and LV2 might seem like only one level's difference, but in terms of status, there was a huge chasm.

LV2 was the upper class of this world! They were elites! They could even be called the youngest dungeon design geniuses.

Whereas LV1 was just a basic Dungeon Designer…

The most hateful thing was that such a shameful matter would even be announced to the entire world.

Ito Hidekazu tremblingly opened the villa window and looked up at the Dome.

“Congratulations to Challenger Fancia for being promoted to LV1.”

“Congratulations to Challenger Marlon Chris for being promoted to LV1.”

…

“Regrettably, Challenger Ito Hidekazu has been demoted to LV1!”

The subtitle bearing his name stood out particularly prominently above the Dome, its color completely different from the other subtitles.

All other subtitles were white, but only his was green.

Instantly, a huge sense of humiliation filled Ito Hidekazu's body.

Demoted?!

This was a very rare occurrence on Azure Star.

Especially for those who had already upgraded to LV2, almost none ever dropped back down.

Because once you upgraded to LV2, it meant you had high-quality dungeons and powerful dungeon weapons.

Compared to lower-level Challengers, your advantage could be said to be infinitely vast!

As long as you remained stable, you basically wouldn't drop.

Yet, Ito Hidekazu had plummeted so drastically.

Such a thing would be a huge joke across the entire Azure Star.

His demotion would soon become a topic of conversation at dinner tables in various Settlements.

Even without the Emperor's announcement, one thing had already become a fact: Ito Hidekazu had fallen from his pedestal!

He was no longer that genius Designer.

All sorts of emotions converged in his heart at this moment.

Anger, humiliation, fear…

And an increasingly profound hatred for Lin Ye.

Ito Hidekazu felt his scalp tighten, and he fainted directly from anger.