Monsters Are Coming-Chapter 22 - Source: Taunt

Consciousness bypassed the golden crystal stones, following the Guidance, sweeping every corner of the fifth layer of the Dark Cave.

Here, besides the Ice Blade husks and the Black Armor Army who followed them to their deaths in battle, Qi Sheng also discovered a deep burial site in the corner of the great hall, which contained a large number of skeletons.

[The owners of these skeletons should be clansmen of the Ice Blade race, who ended up being buried underground for a long time due to the scarcity of resources like food after taking refuge beneath the surface.]

"What about the Earth Cave Clan? What's their story?"

[They should be underground creatures controlled by the Ice Blade people through some means; they can survive by devouring ores, without worrying about the shortage of food. After the death of the Ice Blade people, they still followed the commands implanted in their brains when controlled, directing the Iron Shell Bugs to dig up Spirit Ores and toss them into the smelting furnace, continuing to charge the golden crystal stones.]

The Guidance analysis seemed very reasonable to Qi Sheng.

Consciousness swept towards the back of the great hall, where a fist-sized light blue crystal floated, its surface covered in black fungal filaments, next to it was a throbbing meatball resembling a heart.

"Is this a Domain Node?"

[Correct, you can think of it as a core puzzle piece of Monster World, it is indeed comprised of countless core puzzle pieces that form the main framework of Monster World.]

As the Guidance explained, the analyzed information was fed back into Qi Sheng's mind.

[Domain Node: Dark Cave]

Territory Type: Resource

Territory Characteristics: Spiritual Multiplication

Characteristics Introduction: Continuously activates Spirit Ore resources.

Domain State: Black Tide Energy Corrosion (Unoccupied)

...

After reading the analyzed information, Qi Sheng turned his gaze toward the throbbing black meatball next to the crystal.

This was the Corrosion Core.

To seize this territory node, it was necessary to purify the Node Crystal and completely extricate the corrosive roots.

But doing so was easier said than done.

The prior Guidance analysis had checked the Black Armored Soldiers standing inside and outside the palace and found that these deceased warriors' remains had also been corroded, turning into evil life forms similar to Curse Soldiers.

And here, the Curse Soldiers' Hunting Level was generally over 25+.

Fortunately, the Ice Blade husks were not controlled by the Black Tide Corrosive Power.

More precisely, the Ice Blade husks had fought until utterly exhausted, leaving behind nothing but an empty shell, which the Black Tide Corrosive Power couldn't animate.

Even if thrown into an altar for refining, no sacrificial power could be extracted.

If it were the Ice Blade in its prime, its Hunting Level might be over 500, possessing the strength to move mountains and seas, and players would be utterly incapable of contending.

...

After investigating the fifth underground level of the Dark Cave, Qi Sheng's consciousness followed the Guidance back to Imperial Tomb Village.

As for the energy crystals left by the Ice Blade for the new Emperor's Omen, he had no intention to retrieve them.

Not that he wouldn't like to, but he didn't have the startup capital.

Players have two exploration modes to leave the Imperial Tomb Village: free-to-play + in-game purchases such as Star Vein, Body Refining, etc.

Whereas when he leaves, he must activate a mode that burns points cards.

Back when the four Servants injected the remaining sacrificial power into Imperial Tomb Village, the available sacrificial power reached over 80 million, which supported him to conceal his presence and explore the outside world with the Emperor's Body without fearing detection by Evil Spirits.

It was during that period that he took in the Eagle-Headed Demon, Black Armored Snake, and stone-statue ghost.

But now he only had five-digit sacrificial power in hand, and the sacrificial power needed to mask the aura of the Emperor's Signal Origin was calculated per second, with more than a thousand sacrificial power spent every second, which the stockpile couldn't withstand.

The task of occupying the Domain Node could only be handed over to the players.

Despite no substantial gains from this investigation, Qi Sheng was now filled with anticipation.

The energy storage crystal stones left by the Ice Blade could refine over ten million points of sacrificial power, enough to recruit ten thousand players, which could greatly quicken the early stages of development speed.

Sitting cross-legged on the altar, Qi Sheng closed his eyes at this moment and switched to Emperor's Omen Form, his vision switching to the player's perspective.

...

Dark Cave.

After another round of fierce combat, players began to clear the battlefield.

They picked up the loot from the ground, then summoned the sacrifice mode from the function panel, tossing all the shells into the altar to refine them into sacrificial power.

After these days of battle, players had become familiar with the combat rhythm of the Iron Shell Bugs.

The Iron Shell Bug's attack methods are divided into two types: spitting silk to entangle the target, then dragging it in front to tear apart with its scythe-shaped upper jaw.

The interval between silk spitting is the best time to launch an offensive.

With many battles, players familiar with the rhythm can now deftly dodge the spitting silk.

The only headache for the players is the narrow terrain inside the cave. When faced with a tide of Iron Shell Bugs, skill only has limited impact on combat strength, with the only certain path to victory being a fierce charge.

The end of each battle is the happiest time for loot collection for the players.

The boost to physical fitness from leveling up, the gain of sacrificial power from sacrificing loot, the joy of victory after uniting and cooperating... all of these are parts of the happiness.

After clearing the battlefield, the remaining players continue to explore deeper along the cave tunnels, entering the second-layer space underground.

The second-layer space is relatively more spacious, with a large number of excavated and hollowed-out rock walls.

What's amazing is the faint green crystals covering the rock walls. When the gaze is focused, analysis information emerges:

[Gathering Spirit: Collects Heaven and Earth Energy, continuously nurturing the Spirit Ore within...]

Realizing that the Spirit Ore in the cave is a renewable resource, the players didn't have too much emotional fluctuation and continued following the team deeper into the cave.

After killing a few more Iron Shell Bugs along the way, they came to a stone cave that was clearly excavated and stopped in their tracks.

They could clearly hear the muffled roar coming from inside the cave.

Li Zheng from the Liver Emperor Group took the lead, throwing his torch into the cave.

The torch drew an arc in the air before landing inside the cave, rolling a few times and illuminating the interior.

Only to see on the rock wall at the end of the cave, eight chains nailed in place, at their ends imprisoning a huge monster.

Its shape resembles that of a shell-covered bug, with layers upon layers of white scales covering its body surface, where the elaborate and complex patterns intertwined look like a ghost face at first glance; a pair of huge pincers incessantly moving, and the exposed red eyes in the dim environment seemed like two burning lanterns.

This monster, not knowing how many years it had been imprisoned, was still alive.

[Taunt (Second Generation Primordial)]

Hunting Level: 29

Guidance Analysis: A special monster that controls the "Taunt" Primordial Power, possessing the ability to weave Spiritual Illusions, causing targets within its range to fall into an extreme state of frenzy, uncontrollably attacking at the source of the taunt.

Tip: Upon being hit by the taunting ability, the target will, based on its own memory as a blueprint, experience a short-term flood of edited memory scenarios, with the Caster (Taunt) becoming part of the reimagined memories, becoming the hated target.

...

The players were most excited upon seeing the analysis information of the monster, especially those who chose the stone-statue ghost.

Pebbles: Hahaha, the perfect choice for the stone-statue ghost's second life soul, taunt to attract hatred then activate Petrification Ability to resist damage, simply more perfect than the Eagle-Headed Demon + Bone Fire faction, I can already foresee the rise of the stone-statue ghost.

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Beaver: The spring of the stone-statue ghost players arrived so suddenly, Taunt + Petrification, the strongest defense faction of this edition is born.

Preschool Class Leader: The Petrification Skill can greatly increase damage resistance in a short time, but it also has a fatal flaw, which is the inability to move after activation. Now with the addition of a Taunting skill, it's simply invincible. If there was also an ability to reflect damage taken, this faction sounds thrilling just to think about.

The region's voice channel was abuzz with heated discussions about the abilities and traits of "Taunt."

Whether it's the Eagle-Headed Demon or the Black Armored Snake, there are already suitable options for second life souls at this stage, with only the stone-statue ghost lacking one.

The Second Generation Primordial Monster imprisoned in the cave gave these stone-statue ghost players the hope of rising.

"Kill!"

Someone shouted, and immediately the players swarmed and charged towards the Taunt.