75: Chapter 75 Someone guessed the truth

In stark contrast to the fear and disarray of Wang Jie and his team, who had just survived a brush with death, Lin Muyang's current state of mind was remarkably relaxed.

He had never taken the epic-level secret realm lightly. Even with his God-Tier Aura as a foundation, he had reviewed extensive data before taking action, gaining a basic understanding of the Epic-Rank Monsters' vastly superior attributes, complex skill mechanisms, and the special rules of the secret realm itself. After a comprehensive analysis, he concluded that while a level 45 epic-level secret realm was highly challenging, it was not insurmountable for him.

Just as he and the four maidens quietly slipped into the blood-red vortex entrance, a sudden change occurred!

At the entrance of the secret realm, the blood-colored light that had been flowing slowly suddenly turned violent, transforming into countless piercing red energy chains. Like living things, they surged frantically from the center of the vortex, crisscrossing and instantly weaving the entire entrance into an airtight, blood-red cage! The rotation of the vortex became slow and heavy, exuding a strong will of "access denied."

Above the entrance, scarlet text appeared:

【Secret Realm: Crimson Altar】

【Level: 45】

【Quality: epic-grade】

【Current Number of People: 1 / 13】

【Status: Completely locked, no further entry allowed.】

This sudden change caused the five-person team outside, who had just caught their breath, to turn pale with shock once again.

"What's going on? The entrance is locked?" the young Magic Shield warrior's eyes widened.

"Someone went in? We didn't see anyone!" the young mage had an expression like he'd seen a ghost.

"It's that person... the one who said she was going to solo it!" the young Light Priestess's voice trembled. "She really came, and as soon as she went in, she triggered the highest level of secret realm lockdown!"

Wang Jie stared fixedly at the entrance entangled in blood-red chains, his expression shifting uncertainly. He had never heard of a situation where a single person triggered a full-party secret realm lockdown. "She's too bold... or rather, too crazy. Doesn't she know how terrifying it is inside?"

"I bet she'll be forced to crawl out in less than ten minutes, or perhaps..." the young tank touched his chest, which was still throbbing with lingering fear, "she might not even be able to escape at all."

The five of them chattered away, discussing the situation. Their recent near-death experience left them filled with awe and terror toward this area, and they simply couldn't believe anyone could survive inside alone, let alone clear it.

"What do you think..." Wang Jie suddenly said, appearing thoughtful. "Is it possible that she isn't a traditional DPS or tank class, but a Summoner?"

"A Summoner?" the other four were stunned.

"Yes, if she is a Summoner, by level forty-something, she could theoretically contract or summon multiple battle pets or minions. If these summons have exceptional talents and are well-coordinated to form a mini-team, perhaps..." Wang Jie tried to find a reasonable explanation.

"But the talent and growth of summons depend on luck!" the young mage retorted. "Even if she summoned five, it would be a blessing to have just one with an s-rank talent. Plus, many powerful summons have growth cycles; for example, dragons have limited combat power during their young dragon stage. I've never even heard of a Summoner who could form overwhelming combat power in the early stages."

"Yeah," the young Light Priestess added in a low voice. "The five of us, with our s-rank and SS-Rank Talent, were crushed instantly when we worked together. Even if she has five summons, does each one have the strength of one of us? That's too absurd, unless her summons all start with an SSS-Rank Talent..."

As soon as this hypothesis was proposed, they denied it themselves. The probability was so low it could be ignored.

After much discussion, they finally reached a "reasonable" conjecture: this mysterious genius might possess some extremely special auxiliary or functional talent that allows her to do things in an epic-level secret realm that ordinary people cannot, such as high-level stealth for theft, short-term invincibility for reconnaissance, or some special mechanism to avoid combat. Soloing? Absolutely impossible! That was far beyond their understanding of the power system for level forty-something Class Transferees.

...

Inside the secret realm, it was a completely different scene.

As soon as Lin Muyang entered, he found himself standing on a slightly narrow rock platform, with the slowly rotating blood-red exit vortex behind him. Less than twenty meters ahead on the platform, two "Blood-Stained Ancients" with scarlet skin, exposed muscles, and crawling on all fours were wandering aimlessly, their heads—which had no eyes, only huge mouths and ear holes—occasionally turning in different directions.

"So close?" Lin Muyang raised an eyebrow. "It seems Wang Jie and his team really just escaped from here, disturbing these two gatekeepers and causing them to patrol near the entrance."

He was not in the slightest panic; the 【Divine Concealment Aura】 had long been activated, perfectly hiding his figure, Aura, and energy fluctuations, along with those of the four maidens. Even if these two Epic-Rank Monsters possessed anti-stealth abilities of level twenty or thirty, in the face of a level 100 stealth effect, they were useless.

At the same time, he clearly felt the "initial challenge" imposed by this epic-level secret realm.

A heavy, viscous force field enveloped his entire body, and a system notification flashed at the edge of his vision:

【Epic-level environmental suppression in effect: All damage output reduced by 33%, all skill cooldown times increased by 58%.】

"The suppression effect exists, indeed, and the magnitude is not small." Lin Muyang felt it for a moment, then relaxed. "However, it's not a big problem."

His confidence came from the stacking effects of multiple God-Tier Aura. For example, the 90% cooldown reduction provided by 【Infinite Firepower】 was a final multiplier. Assuming a skill had a base cooldown of 100 seconds, it would become 158 seconds under the secret realm's suppression, and after the 90% reduction from 【Infinite Firepower】, the final cooldown would be only 15.8 seconds! The suppression effect was greatly diluted.

As for the damage reduction, in the face of ten times the attack power and Aura like 【Eye of Lethality】, the 33% debuff still could not change the fact that damage was overflowing.

His gaze fell upon the two "Blood-Stained Ancients," and through his high perception, he quickly obtained key information.

"One has a 【Healing Aura】, recovering 12% of maximum HP per second... the other has an 【Iron Armor Aura】, increasing physical defense by 240%... a typical 'Iron Turtle' plus 'Perpetual Motion Machine' combo. No wonder Wang Jie and his team were desperate."

This combination was indeed a nightmare for teams with insufficient DPS or lacking targeted methods. But Lin Muyang just shifted his thoughts.

He was currently level 43 and had nine Aura slots that could be activated simultaneously. Besides the eight permanent ones—Attack, Defense, Speed, Infinite Firepower, EXP, Skill EXP, Critical Hit, and Stealth—there was one slot left.

Now, it would come in handy.

The ninth Aura slot flickered slightly, and a pale gray Aura that seemed to absorb life fluctuations quietly unfolded—【Healing Reduction】 (God-Tier)!

Effect: Significantly weakens the healing and recovery effects received by all enemy units within the Aura's range, with a reduction magnitude of 90%!

The 【Healing Aura】, which originally recovered 12% of HP per second, was instantly suppressed to a recovery amount of only 1.2%. For Epic-Rank Monsters with over six million HP, this amount of recovery would be negligible in the face of the upcoming berserk attacks. As for the 240% defense increase, it appeared pale in the face of ten times the base attack power and the 【Peerless Sword Formation】 that ignored part of the defense.

"Qingyan, give it a try." Lin Muyang calmly issued the order.

Ao Qingyan, who had long been eager to try, nodded slightly. She stepped out of the range of the stealth, her white clothes as pure as snow, appearing exceptionally striking and ethereal in this bloody, filthy environment. She pressed her fingers together like a sword, with sword intent stern in her cold eyes.

"Sword Formation, rise."

Hum—!

A clear sword hum resonated across the cave platform. Centered on her, a huge light formation with a diameter of over thirty meters instantly appeared on the ground! The formation patterns were complex and profound, with countless semi-transparent sword Aura phantoms generating and flowing within the array, exuding a sharp Aura that could cut through everything. This was the Origin Skill that activated the "High Armor Penetration" special effect after reaching Lv20—【Peerless Sword Formation】!

The moment the sword formation took shape, it enveloped the two Blood-Stained Ancients that had been disturbed and were roaring as they lunged. The next moment, sword Aura erupted!

It was no longer a single sword light sweep, but a saturation attack driven by the power of the formation, coming from all directions! More than two hundred fierce and peerless sword Auras per second, like a pear blossom rainstorm or a metal storm, frantically shot and sliced at the targets in the formation! The sword Aura struck the Blood-Stained Ancients' thick bone armor and tough muscles, emitting a dense "pfft pfft" sound like rain hitting banana leaves, along with teeth-grinding sounds of bone cracking and friction!

-89123! -102477! (Ignore Defense triggered!) -94330! -87654! (Critical Hit!) ...

Scarlet damage numbers spewed wildly from the tops of the two monsters' heads like a fountain, connecting into a crimson waterfall! Their thick defense—which they prided themselves on—and their slow but continuous HP recovery appeared so ridiculous in the face of this absolutely violent sword Aura storm that came with armor-piercing effects.

In just three seconds!

The first Blood-Stained Ancient let out a final, unwilling wail, its massive body completely torn apart by countless sword Auras, turning into a pool of filthy blood and several flashing spots of light.

In the fourth second, the second one followed suit and crashed to the ground!

From the moment Ao Qingyan attacked to the complete elimination of the two Epic-Rank gatekeeper monsters—which had caused Wang Jie's team to collapse in despair and forced them to spend hundreds of billions on life-saving scrolls just to escape—it took less than five seconds in total. Moreover, only Ao Qingyan had attacked the entire time. Elabess's black hole, Lilia's holy light, and Elena's support had not yet been displayed.

Lin Muyang looked at the rapidly dissipating monster remains and the dropped items on the ground, his expression as usual. He walked over and stored the several materials flashing with deep purple light (epic-grade) and a dark gold (legendary-grade) bracer into his storage space.

"It seems that the difficulty of this epic-level secret realm is mainly reflected in the extreme attribute requirements and mechanism suppression for conventional teams," Lin Muyang evaluated in his mind. "For units that can ignore or offset these suppressions and possess super-spec output, the pressure is actually not that exaggerated."

He turned back and glanced at the four maidens behind him, all at full status, their eyes filled only with calmness and trust.

"Continue forward. Keep the formation. Lilia, be ready to activate 【Impenetrable Fortress】 at any time."

"Yes, Brother Lin Muyang!" Lilia replied crisply, the staff in her hand already glowing with soft holy light.

The group maintained their stealth state, like an invisible blade, steadily advancing toward the depths of the scarlet cave, in the direction where even denser blood Aura and ominous fluctuations permeated.

Meanwhile, outside the secret realm, the five members of Wang Jie's team were still waiting nervously, guessing how many seconds that audacious person inside would last against the first wave of monsters, and in what kind of disarray she would be kicked out... They had no idea that the chasm they saw as insurmountable had just been stepped over as easily as a stroll.