Chapter 852

Chen Xiaolian made his way through three temples in quick succession. In every temple, he saw the same thing. Remnant traces of battle and a corpse lying on the ground.

It would appear that the strength of the participants for this instance dungeon was quite good.

As he was desperately running away, Chen Xiaolian could also feel Shen chasing after him.

Only, it would appear that Shen was clearly being tormented by the pain caused by the virus code. His power, which was radiating outwards, was continuously falling. Even his speed had fallen as well.

However, there was no way to know how long it would take for him to reach the lowest point of the U curve.

The Temple of Cancer stood before him. Chen Xiaolian made the calculations in his mind. Given his current speed, even if he could not defeat Shen, he could at least guarantee that he would reach the final part of the twelve temples before Shen caught up to him.

The thought had only just crossed his mind when a black fog suddenly appeared before him. The black fog proceeded to envelop him.

As the black fog was permeating the air around him, countless sharp blades, each of varying shapes, appeared out of thin air to shoot towards him.

A magic six-pointed star circle also appeared on the ground beneath his feet. Light flowed around the circle before a pillar of light abruptly surged upwards.

From above, a massive copper bell descended, intending to encase Chen Xiaolian’s entire body within it.

“Ambush?!”

Although Chen Xiaolian was slightly surprised by this, he did not panic in the slightest. The Flash Bow of Ketu-Rahu was already in his hand and he swiftly swung it around.

When the sharp blades from the black fog made contact with the edge blades of the bow, they immediately broke into two each before falling to the ground, where they would disappear without a trace.

The black fog itself seemed to possess a very strong corrosive attribute, but was kept out entirely by the Moonless Fivefold Light Armour.

When the pillar of light emitted by the magic circle on the ground bombarded the Moonless Fivefold Light Armour, it failed to inflict any damage. Instead, it was neatly deflected, resulting in a big hole on the roof of the temple.

As for the copper bell, it descended smoothly to encase Chen Xiaolian within it.

The moment the copper bell hit the ground, everything around him adhered seamlessly to the ground while numerous thunderbolts and flames appeared from the walls of the bell, seemingly from thin air, and assailed Chen Xiaolian.

A slight frown appeared on Chen Xiaolian’s face, but still he did not panic. Quickly, he pulled the Flash Bow of Ketu-Rahu.

This time, he did not charge up his move and immediately fired out an arrow. The Flash Arrow smashed the wall of the bell, blasting open a big hole there.

The copper bell emitted a world-startling sound that sounded like a wail. Then, shuddering a few times, it rapidly flew up.

Chen Xiaolian had only just rushed out from the encirclement formed by the black fog, magic circle and copper bell when he saw the copper bell above shrink to the size of a fist. Then, the copper bell flew unsteadily towards a distant pillar.

At the same time, he heard a shrill scream.

“My East Emperor’s Bell!”

You guys are the ones who started attacking without so much as a word. No point in complaining at me.

Chen Xiaolian sneered. He ignored how many enemies there were. Instead, he pulled the bow and aimed at the spot where the copper bell was flying towards.

Release!

The Flash Arrow flew in pursuit of the copper bell, but it had already locked onto the ambusher hiding behind the pillar.

Suddenly, a quick chanting sound could be heard and Chen Xiaolian saw the copper bell fly back to its owner’s hand.

Following a sonorous shout, two black, gigantic doors suddenly emerged from the ground to block the Flash Arrow.

“Rashomon!”

The Flash Arrow struck the giant gate squarely at its centre, causing chaotic streams of turbulence to erupt. Another loud sound rang out – even more shrill compared to the one from the East Emperor’s Bell – from the two doors before they shattered into countless pieces.

However, the giant gate had also completely stopped the power behind the Flash Arrow.

It’s so damned powerful!

Chen Xiaolian could not believe he would encounter such a formidable enemy inside this instance dungeon.

The Flash Bow of Ketu-Rahu was a weapon created by Du Wei using what he had comprehended from the Oddity. It had exceeded every one of the skills and props arranged by the system for the Players.

Even for [S] class experts, no matter who they may be, that arrow was not something that they could completely dodge.

And yet, that gate… had managed to stop the Flash Arrow.

Who is it? I have never heard of such a formidable expert amongst the Players!

The chaotic streams of turbulence from the explosion spread outwards, shattering tens of the pillars there. Having lost the support from the pillars, the entire temple collapsed.

The moment the temple collapsed, Chen Xiaolian also noticed four figures flying out from their hiding spot behind the pillars.

Seeing them shocked Chen Xiaolian on the spot.

Although these four attackers were not yet capable of wounding him, they had absolutely exceeded the normal standard for an [S] class expert by a mile.

Since obtaining the source code, amongst all the enemies that he had faced, only Aderick, who had been greatly enhanced by the Los Angeles instance dungeon’s storyline, could surpass these four attackers in terms of strength.

As for the others such as the perverted Heavenly Attacker from the Kyoto instance dungeon or Dimitri from Starfall Guild’s European branch, they were weaker than these attackers.

Naturally, there was also Gattuso, who had also obtained a portion of the source code, but that was a different thing altogether.

These four attackers, however… they must have reached the upper limit of what one could achieve by simply relying on the skills and equipment provided by the system.

This made no sense.

For four experts at this level to appear at the same time in the same instance dungeon? This made absolutely no sense.

A foreboding feeling began emerging from Chen Xiaolian’s heart.

Swiftly, he pondered the issue. After but one second, he hastily turned and ran towards the Temple of Libra, ignoring the four attackers who remained behind him.

Now was not the time to get entangled with them. Given their previous display of strength, it would not be too difficult for him to kill them off. The problem here, however, was Shen, who was hot on his heels. He simply could not shake Shen off.

Weighing his options, running away was more important here.

Moreover, by leaving those four fellows alive… they may be able to hinder Shen slightly.

Boom!

The ruins of the temple suddenly exploded and four figures jumped out from the haphazardly scattering debris.

“What’s going on here? This is impossible! Impossible! The East Emperor’s Bell… that is a super [S] class magic treasure. It has also been given additional enhancements! Under normal circumstances, it’d be like a sacred artifact that requires over half a million points! That guy… he actually blasted through it with one arrow?!”

Tempest was looking at his three companions behind him, a hideous look on his face as he roared loudly.

As for the other three, their faces were also etched with deep shock and… fear.

“My Rashomon… it’s become utterly useless!” Shockbolt clenched his fists. “It can’t even be repaired anymore! Damn it! Is it the system’s strongest defensive equipment? Just what is that thing in his hand? Also… Swift Swallow’s Fog of Annihilation and Myriad Swords Formation… Moonlight’s Wrath of Lucifer… why did they not affect him at all?”

They had never expected this result.

Naturally, the losses here were not important.

They had already checked it. All the redeemable items in the shop were still priced at 0.

Be it the severely damaged East Emperor’s Bell or the utterly scrapped Rashomon, they can simply redeem another one.

At any rate, they were all free.

The issue here, though, was that their confidence had been utterly destroyed.

They had clearly redeemed all the strongest equipment. So… why was there no effect at all?

Moreover, the youngster earlier clearly had no intentions of continuing the fight. He had only fired out two arrows, destroying two pieces of equipment before immediately scooting off. He didn’t even fire another arrow at them.

Naturally, the four of them had already redeemed the strongest recovery and revive skills, making their bodies nigh unkillable.

But thinking back to how powerful the two arrows were, the four of them felt doubtful. If they had to take on the arrow attack with their bodies, what would happen to them?

“This instance dungeon… just what is wrong with it?” Moonlight was astounded. “First, the system suddenly gave us the unlimited redemption privilege for no reason. Then… a monster like that appeared in this instance dungeon…”

“Not, it’s not one…” Swift Swallow suddenly realized it. “The prompt from the instance dungeon stated that we have to kill two Awakened ones! That fellow just now did not attack us. He must be running away! He’s running from the guy behind him!”

Simultaneously, the gazes of the other three fellows turned – following Swift Swallow’s gaze – towards the third temple behind them.

“You mean to say… back there, there’s… a guy that’s even stronger?” Shockbolt had a look of disbelief on his face. “The guy who destroyed my Rashomon with one arrow, is being chased?”

“That’s probably the case.” Swift Swallow nodded slowly.

“Then… do we still fight?” Moonlight gave Tempest a glance, feeling somewhat hesitant. Then, he turned towards Swift Swallow and asked, “Right, where’s the second fellow now?”

“Not far. They’ve already reached the Temple of Taurus. They’re very fast. I expect the other party to arrive here in less than three minutes.” Swift Swallow frowned before continuing, “Guild Leader, what now?”

“We…” Tempest deliberated the issue for a moment before quickly saying, “The situation is unclear. It’s better not to make enemies so carelessly. Perhaps, the unlimited redemption privilege that we obtained is related to those two fellows. Earlier, we may have gotten carried away. We should not have attacked recklessly. When the second Awakened fellow gets here, we’ll ask him what’s going on.”

“Sounds reasonable.” Moonlight nodded in agreement. “When the instance dungeon released the additional quest, it did not state what the punishment for failure is. Maybe nothing will happen. Besides, with the strength we currently possess, there’s no need to worry about any punishment. Even having to enter a punishment instance dungeon is nothing. On the contrary, figuring out what’s going on here is more important.”

“We’ll do just that!”

Tempest nodded. Then, he turned around and retraced his steps before sitting down on the steps of the temple entrance, the ones that did not collapse anyways. “We are all experts here. There is no need to recklessly attack. We should first communicate as equals. I will sit here and wait for the other party. You guys, don’t attack. Eh, they’re here. So fast-”

Suddenly, Tempest stood up and looked down the steps.

A figure was galloping towards the Temple of Cancer with lightning-like speed.

“Friend, I am Tempest from the Tempest Assault Squad. I have–”

“Out of the way.”

All Tempest heard was an indifferent voice. Immediately after that, a golden beam of light enveloped his entire vision.

The golden light flashed for but a single moment and was swiftly followed by what seemed like endless, pitch-black darkness.

Every part of his consciousness remained stuck at that moment.

With a flash of golden light, a bloody cloud of blood, together with half a body, flew like an artillery blast to smash into a partly broken marble pillar, one of those that did not completely collapse. Then, whatever remained slowly trickled down like tomato sauce.

As for the figure, it had already disappeared far into the distance.

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