76: A blessing in disguise, the battle for the altar
Driven by the power of death, the massive body of the Eight-Armed Demon Elephant climbed upward rapidly!
"Come on! Hurry up! Sister!"
Lin Fei stood at the edge of the cliff, his heart in his throat, staring intently at the slowly but steadily rising figure below.
Finally, amidst a shower of falling rubble, the massive head of the undead demon elephant emerged first over the cliff edge, followed by Lin Mengzi's slightly disheveled but unharmed figure.
"My dear sister!"
Lin Fei rushed forward in one stride, pulling Lin Mengzi tightly into his arms, his arms tightening as if he wanted to meld her into his own body.
Of course, Lin Fei did not use all the power of his ten thousand vitality.
He wanted to hug his sister, not break her.
Feeling her real body temperature and heartbeat, the fear from just a moment ago slowly faded away.
Although it wouldn't mean true death, Lin Fei never wanted to see his sister suffer even the slightest bit of pain, let alone be corroded by the black water.
As for Xu Zhengyang, Lin Fei could only say.
"Good brother!"
"A sharp sword is forged through tempering, true gold is refined in fire; only by enduring the greatest hardships can one become a master among men."
"A few more trials will help you grow."
"Feifei, you scared me to death just now." Lin Mengzi leaned against her younger brother's solid chest, her eyes slightly red, her voice trembling with lingering fear.
"It's okay now, don't be afraid, I'm here."
Lin Fei gently patted her back.
Even playing a horror game could scare one to death, let alone such a cruel trial experienced in person.
After basking in the warmth of the embrace for a while.
Lin Fei finally released his embrace.
Then, his hands, like an old master of bone-setting, roamed over Lin Mengzi's delicate body.
Patting here, rubbing there.
"Sister, does it hurt here?"
"It doesn't hurt."
"What about here?"
"Oh, that tickles."
Lin Mengzi was blushing from all this.
"I'm checking to see if you're injured," Lin Fei said seriously.
Lin Mengzi looked at his expression, feeling warm inside, and didn't suspect anything.
Confirming she was uninjured, Lin Fei finally let out a long sigh of relief.
"Sister, do I need to check if you're injured inside?"
"Don't talk nonsense, I'm fine. You're really becoming more and more like a little hooligan," Lin Mengzi chided him.
"Hehe!" Lin Fei scratched his head. "I'm just concerned about you!"
Lin Mengzi adjusted her breathing and took out a large handful of Rune Stones she had obtained. "It's quite a coincidence; a blessing in disguise. I picked up quite a few Rune Stones inside."
"That's great luck! Two purple Super Rare Rank Rune Stones!" A flash of surprise passed through Lin Fei's eyes, immediately replaced by joy. Rune Stones of this Rank were rare and hard to come by.
They had only found two themselves during their own exploration, and one of those was obtained by killing a boss.
Besides the two purple ones, there were over a dozen blue Excellent Rank Rune Stones and some high-level potions and Materials.
Clearly, those dozens of unlucky souls who sank into the black water had scavenged quite a few good things beforehand, and now it had all fallen into Lin Fei and his sister's hands.
"It's a pity we didn't save Xu Zhengyang too," Lin Mengzi said.
Lin Fei held Lin Mengzi's hand. "It's okay, Sister. Have you forgotten the special rules of this trial?"
"There are resurrection altars in this map! As long as we can find the altar in the Stone Forest, we can resurrect him!"
Lin Mengzi: "That's right! I almost forgot! We can resurrect him!"
"Yes!" Lin Fei nodded heavily. "So, Yang Zai is just temporarily offline. We'll go to the resurrection altar now and pull him back up!"
Lin Mengzi said: "Okay! Then let's go to the Stone Forest now! Let's bring him back!"
"Before that, let's split the loot first and boost our strength." Lin Fei took out the two purple Rune Stones.
"Sister, I'll use this Tracking Rune Stone; it's more suitable for me."
"Yes, okay!"
One of the purple Rune Stones Lin Mengzi had picked up radiated an agile and precise aura.
Lin Fei accepted it.
[Obtained Skill Rune Stone: Tracking Mark (Purple Super Rare)!]
[Tracking Mark: Can be used to enhance any 'projectile' type skill, granting it lock-on tracking ability. Enhanced projectiles will automatically track marked enemies or the nearest enemy; unless the target uses special means or terrain to break the lock, it will pursue until death.]
"Tracking ability!" Lin Fei's eyes lit up. "This is good! I'll enhance my [Superspeed Icy Arrow]!"
He immediately chose to use it.
The purple Rune Stone turned into a stream of light and merged into the skill icon for [Superspeed Icy Arrow].
The icon, which originally depicted a straight icy arrow, now had a mysterious rune resembling an eye at the arrowhead.
Lin Fei could clearly feel that the icy arrows he shot now would become like maggots on the bone, capable of automatically seeking out and hunting down enemies!
For clearing out minions and chasing down fleeing enemies, this was simply a god-tier skill!
"Feels good, getting stronger every moment."
Lin Fei felt the more agile ice elemental Qi within him and cast his gaze toward the distant, perilous swamp and Stone Forest.
"No time to lose, let's set off immediately! Let's save Yang Zai!"
Lin Mengzi said: "Yes, but come to think of it, these people from the Angela unit are truly ruthless; they actually planted bombs in the iron chain bridge."
Lin Fei: "Indeed! This group is sinister enough, but in a trial, that's an excellent quality. We must learn from it!"
"I raise both my hands and feet in agreement," Lin Mengzi laughed.
"That's called 'jade feet and jade hands'," Lin Fei laughed.
"Slick-tongued, who did you learn that from?"
"Hehe."
"Let's go!"
Lin Fei didn't hesitate any longer, got into the vehicle prepared by the Angela unit, and left immediately.
...
The military jeep traveled along the edge of the muddy swamp.
The air was hot and humid, and the surroundings were filled with jagged, strange rocks, like the skeletons of ancient giant beasts.
About half an hour later, they finally arrived at the central zone and could see a Stone Forest.
Standing amidst the bubbling swamp pools, it formed a strange and oppressive scene of the Stone Forest.
Oooo!
Strange insect chirps and roars could be heard from time to time, coming from the depths of the thick fog.
"This place is truly creepy; it feels like a monster could jump out at any moment. This Leigong Island really isn't a good place!" Lin Mengzi frowned slightly.
"Quite the contrary. This is a good thing! The stronger the monsters, the better; killing them drops items, and they can even serve as minions for you, Sister."
Lin Fei controlled the steering wheel, not slowing down the vehicle.
"What you say is also true."
"The map shows the altar is on the relatively dry highland in the very center of the Stone Forest."
"We'll go over and resurrect Yang Zai, otherwise he won't get anything in this settlement," Lin Fei said.
The jeep drove forward for a few more minutes, bypassing several thick, charred stone pillars that looked like they had been struck by lightning, and the fog ahead suddenly cleared.
A relatively intact circular highland paved with huge bluestones appeared in their field of vision.
In the center of the highland stood a stone altar with an ancient design, covered in strange lightning runes, with what appeared to be dried blood stains still remaining on its surface.
However, the area around the altar was not peaceful at this moment.
Five or six teams, totaling over a dozen players, were engaged in a fierce melee battle near the altar!
Blades flashed, swords danced, and energy roared.
The light of skills flickered continuously, clearly in a struggle for the right to use the altar.
"Blade Whirlwind Slash!"
"Shadow Assassination!"
"Chain High-Explosive Fireball!"
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The scene was chaotic; several player corpses already lay on the ground, and the loot boxes that had dropped had not yet been picked up.
By now, the war for control of the altar had been going on for a long time.