216: Top-tier, scenario-based hand cards

Chapter 216: Excellent, Scene Type Hand Card

“Ugh—ahhhhh!”

Under the illumination of the second red light, the Dragon Horns on Red Blade Maiden's forehead once again grew taller and sprouted ferocious branches.

And the tiny Dragon Scales covering her body became increasingly distinct, transforming into large plates that covered her entire form.

The red Energy on her blade was so dense it looked like dripping fresh blood.

From an appearance perspective, she became even more majestic.

The enhancement of Crimson Liberation was built upon the foundation of True Liberation.

First, it reset her HP to 300/300, made skill release consume no HP, and lasted for 3 rounds.

Then, Crimson Liberation (Extreme) also gave Red Blade Maiden a new Characteristic, making her essentially a pseudo-five-star battle chess piece.

Red Blade Maiden

Berserk, 40 points, Three-star Attack 40, 300/300

Movement Distance 6, Attack Distance 1

Tenacity - Trait: Red Blade Maiden possesses Overlord and Resistance effects.

Red Liberation - Trait: Red Blade Maiden's damage comes with 100% Lifesteal.

Abundant - Passive: Red Blade Maiden's maximum HP +50.

Surging - Passive: Red Blade Maiden gains 10 Healing and 10 Healing each round.

Crimson Blaze - 0 HP: Red Blade Maiden attacks 1 target, dealing Fixed Damage equal to 20% of the target's maximum HP.

Vast - 0 HP: Red Blade Maiden attacks 1 target, dealing True Damage equal to 20% of her own maximum HP.

It's important to note that this new Characteristic's effect remains for the current match and does not disappear after 3 rounds.

Additionally, as a Characteristic, it won't be suppressed by Seal.

However, Shi Li felt that whether it remained for the current match wasn't a big deal; its role was more like icing on the cake than a lifesaver.

Because if even the ultimate move was unleashed and the match still couldn't be won, then it might be a bit difficult.

As for now, it was Shi Li's turn to act.

First, he needed to know under what circumstances the BOSS could instantly kill Red Blade Maiden.

That would be when a skill release dealt 300 points of damage; otherwise, Red Blade Maiden would instantly replenish her HP through 100% Lifesteal before that.

The BOSS's skill consists of two parts: 100 attack power + the Corrupted Qi Tunnel bonus.

Each 2 blocks of Corrupted Qi Tunnel provide a 20-point True Damage bonus, meaning it would take 20 blocks to deal 200 points of True Damage, which would then be enough to instantly kill the 300 HP Red Blade Maiden.

Red Blade Maiden's Crimson Blaze attack deals 4000 HP, causing the BOSS to gain 4 blocks of Corrupted Qi Tunnel.

Although the BOSS's mechanism would restore 2000 HP when facing 4000 points of damage, that's subsequent Healing and doesn't affect the generation of Corrupted Qi Tunnel.

This means that only after exactly 3 rounds of fighting would the BOSS possess the power to instantly kill Red Blade Maiden.

The problem is, by that time, Red Blade Maiden's 300 HP transformation effect would also have ended, and if she were hit, she would be instantly killed regardless.

The most crucial point is that if the Jumping Dragon Guard held out for 3 rounds, and Red Blade Maiden then held out for another 3 rounds, the mobile unit's reinforcements should have already arrived.

Although the mobile unit doesn't have skills that can give Red Blade Maiden a 100-point Shield or increase her maximum HP by 100 points.

They have another purpose: to act as human Shields.

Another benefit of Red Blade Maiden, after being chess-ified and activating Crimson Liberation, is that her skill release range is permanently increased by 2 blocks, becoming 3 blocks.

And this won't diminish when the transformation effect wears off.

A 3-block release range allows her to output damage to the BOSS from a safe distance.

“Wang Defa, brother, I’m here!”

As the 3 rounds just began, the first battle chess piece from the mobile unit arrived.

Not only was his battle chess piece a flying chess piece that ignored terrain, but it also possessed a Characteristic that ignored warning ranges.

This round, Shi Li did not let the opponent block attacks, but rather had him linger on the side to observe.

When the next round arrived, he could help Red Blade Maiden block the BOSS once, buying time for the subsequent mobile unit battle chess pieces.

And so, with the mobile unit continuously blocking attacks, Shi Li gained enough time for damage output.

Dealing 4000 HP per round, with the opponent recovering 2000, was equivalent to dealing 10% of its total HP.

When only 4000 HP remained, it was an instant kill because the BOSS was already defeated and couldn't output damage.

This means a total of only 9 rounds of damage output were needed.

Before the mobile unit arrived, Red Blade Maiden had already dealt damage for 3 rounds on her own.

Although for the remaining 6 rounds, the number of mobile unit chess pieces was not enough to block.

However, the ground forces, who had been circling around, arrived just in time to help Red Blade Maiden complete the blocking task.

It can only be said that this point is extremely important; to defeat the BOSS of a 100-chess team dungeon, it would be absolutely impossible relying solely on Shi Li's performance.

This was a victory belonging to the collective team, though, of course, Shi Li still played the major role.

“We succeeded!”

“First kill on City of Chaotic Corpses!”

“Hahaha, we actually got the first kill!”

Although they had foreseen this result several rounds in advance, when it truly arrived, the team members couldn't help but cheer.

You know, this was their first true foray into the Sixth District.

The result was unbelievably, they cleared it.

And the experience guide summarized by the Blacklight Group, it could only be said that it ultimately served their purpose.

“Alright! The battle isn’t over yet!”

However, Captain 21 still stopped their premature celebrations.

Because on the field, there were still enemies that hadn't been cleared.

Moreover, opening champagne too early was asking for trouble.

The Blacklight Group had never said that the King of the Underworld was the final BOSS of this stage, nor had they said that the Sixth District was the final stage.

It's just that their guide stopped there, because they couldn't defeat the King of the Underworld.

Every time the BOSS randomly refreshed its deployment location, it was indeed a very troublesome aspect.

If it spawned in a sparsely populated area, they wouldn't be able to defend it, leading to its infinite extension straight to their core.

If it spawned in a densely populated area, it would lead to a division of forces, making it impossible to deal with the BOSS or small monsters simultaneously.

That's why they initially thought their luck was bad, but in reality, it was good, as the BOSS spawned on Shi Li's side.

However, Captain 21's slight worry did not come true; after the King of the Underworld appeared, no more enemies spawned in the four corners of the map.

And when they cleared the last enemy, the system directly announced their victory.

“OK! Kids! Time to divide the spoils!”

Captain 21 waved her hand, letting out a sigh of relief.

As soon as she said this, it naturally drew cheers from everyone.

Due to it being the first clear, the items dropped this time were quite generous.

Not to mention the various materials and several battle chess pieces.

The total prize money alone amounted to 5 million cubic coins.

The exploration team adopted a distribution system of internal team point bidding, also known as the DKP system.

However, this exploration team's DKP system did not solely consider attendance.

Attendance only accounted for a very small portion.

For example, when clearing a stage for the first time, everyone in the team received a base score of 100 points, and then additional points were awarded based on individual performance in that first clear, discussed by the captains.

After the first clear, clearing the same stage again would only count for 10 attendance points.

This meant that attending 10 farming runs was not as good as 1 first clear.

So, under this system, Shi Li gained a considerable amount of points because he participated in the first clears of the Fifth District and the Sixth District.

However, team points were not only sourced from the City of Chaotic Corpses; points from this fixed team clearing other dungeons were interchangeable.

Although everyone was spending, there were always some 'hoarder' members who kept saving points, waiting for desired items to appear before making a move.

Compared to these hoarder members, Shi Li's points didn't hold much of an advantage.

“Let me state beforehand, Brother Wang Defa deserves great credit this time.”

Captain 21 naturally considered this point, so she stepped forward and said, “His points, compared to some people in the team, indeed don’t have much of an advantage.

But rules are rules, and if I give him too many points, it would be unfair to other veteran team members.

How about this, considering all factors, he can be allowed to loan points for this point bidding.

What do you all think?”

As soon as she spoke, not a single person on the field objected.

Although absolute fairness couldn't be achieved, it was relatively fair.

Even if someone had an opinion, they didn't voice it when others remained silent.

Moreover, they also knew that without Shi Li, this Sixth District would have been impossible to clear, let alone get the first kill.

“Oh, that’s too kind.”

Shi Li immediately thanked her for her kindness.

However, how could he not understand the human dynamics involved?

If he owed points, it would be like being tied to this fixed team.

He wouldn't feel comfortable going elsewhere until he had paid back all the points.

Even if he paid back the points, he would likely continue to stay out of a sense of obligation.

Of course, this fixed team generally had a very good atmosphere.

He didn't dislike this team; on the contrary, he felt quite comfortable staying.

It's just that if he lost his freedom, it would be a bit less pleasant.

“Alright, then let’s start bidding on the first loot item.”

Captain 21 pointed to the battle chess piece glowing with golden light, a four-star battle chess piece.

Its projection was precisely the BOSS from earlier.

However, it was a scaled-down, weakened version, looking less majestic.

Corpse Worm

Listen to the Wind, 90 points, Four-star Attack 90, 300/300, 0/60

Movement Distance 3, Attack Distance 1

Colossal - Passive: Corpse Worm occupies 3 squares, maximum HP +200.

Corpse Regeneration - Passive: If Corpse Worm takes more than 50 total damage in a single round, it gains 15 Healing.

Polluted Body - Passive: Corpse Worm's warning range +3.

Corrosive Surface - Passive: Targets adjacent to Corpse Worm cannot recover Energy.

Terrain Destruction - Passive: The terrain where Corpse Worm retreats becomes Corrupted Qi Tunnel.

(Corrupted Qi Tunnel: Cannot be passed through. Flying units passing through or occupying it lose 30 HP each round.)

A four-star battle chess piece, it had 5 three-word traits that could be chosen to carry.

The trait strength was still good, and the effect blades had relatively rare and excellent mechanisms.

But it wasn't a unique battle chess piece, so Shi Li wasn't very interested.

The main reason was that the Colossal three-word trait was non-removable, which greatly limited its applicable scenarios.

And as a Listen to the Wind type, it didn't even have an active skill.

To get an active skill, he would have to spend money and Energy later to add it himself.

In his eyes, its value was even less than the Exploding Zombie dropped in the Fifth District.

So, he chose not to bid in this round.

However, the fixed team members were bidding enthusiastically; after all, these three battle chess pieces were quite strong in all fairness.

The subsequent battle chess pieces were all of lower quality than the Corpse Worm.

There was also a three-star unique chess piece, but its Characteristic wasn't very strong; it was the kind with a mix of negative and positive effects, so its overall strength wasn't considered high.

Shi Li also didn't take a liking to it.

He also didn't bid on the subsequent materials.

After all, materials, in Shi Li's view, could all be bought with money.

These materials didn't seem to be too rare, nor did they seem like something he could make use of.

“Brother Wang Defa, are you not planning to take anything?”

Seeing this, Captain 21 thought he was being shy.

Only Leo smiled without speaking beside him; he understood Shi Li's chess set better and knew that Shi Li simply wasn't impressed.

And there was another factor: he probably didn't want to owe the fixed team a favor.

“Aren’t we bidding on the money dropped by the BOSS?”

Shi Li then asked a question that showed his concern.

In his opinion, exchanging points for money was the most practical.

“This—”

Such a tricky question left Captain 21 speechless for a moment.

She had led so many fixed exploration teams, and this was the first time she had seen someone want to bid for cubic coins.

Just the way it sounded was very strange.

“How about this, I’ll make a small decision.”

This time, it was Leo who came to Shi Li's rescue: “For this match, he will only be counted for 100 base points, and the excess will be converted into cubic coins.”

After speaking, he gave Captain 21 a wink.

You old fox.

Captain 21 immediately rolled her eyes at him.

She knew perfectly well in her heart: you, fellow, don't want Wang Defa to owe the fixed team a favor, but rather want Wang Defa to owe you a favor, right?

That fawning expression utterly disgusted her.

“Actually, you don’t need to tell me, I was already thinking the same thing.”

However, in a flash, she wanted to snatch this favor for herself.

So, the captains discussed and calculated on the spot, and the final decision was made according to Leo's suggestion.

Shi Li would only be counted for 100 base points, and he would personally receive 2 million cubic coins.

This was absolutely wonderful for Shi Li.

Although he currently had 5 million cubic coins, it wasn't enough to upgrade all his unique cards to four-star.

Now with an additional 2 million cubic coins, he had the confidence to upgrade one more card to four-star.

Moreover, besides the cubic coins, he wasn't without other gains from this trip.

When he first entered this dungeon, Leo had given him a quest card.

Now that the quest was complete, the reward had been automatically sent to his hand.

White Tactical Blind Box: Use this card to randomly open 1 ★★★ White Tactical Card. He opened it directly, and then he saw that his hand card library had gained 1 hand card.

City of Zombies - White ★★★: Summons 3 Zombie Doubles. This round, they block 1 attack for the closest allied battle chess piece.

The key is that this tactical card can also be converted into a scene-type hand card.

Shi Li had never seen a scene card that wasn't a native hand card before; perhaps this was the unique aspect of the Chess Domain.

Compared to the tactical card, the changes after chess-ification were quite significant.

City of Zombies: This round, negates 30 damage for each of your undead outside chess pieces.