Monsters Are Coming-Chapter 23 - : Offensive with Props

Upon encountering the Primordial Monster, players decisively charged forth.

But upon entering the cave, all the players' expressions changed.

In their minds, countless fragmented images suddenly emerged, rapidly creating a Spiritual Illusion woven from memories.

In the illusion, Taunting Monsters turned into loathsome figures, igniting an uncontrollable rage in their hearts.

Seeing this scene, Qi Sheng, hidden in the shadows, couldn't help but laugh silently. He immediately severed his subtle perception of the players and switched to observing from the perspective of a Guiding Avatar to prevent himself from being drawn into the current Spiritual Illusion plaguing the players.

According to the Guidance's analytics, Taunt's Primordial Ability encompasses the weaving of Spiritual Illusions, an attack the players' current Spiritual Strength simply cannot resist.

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The most terrifying aspect of this ability isn't the illusion itself, but the emotional manipulation.

He could imagine what the players were going through in the Spiritual Illusion, where Taunt would become the very thing they despised the most, perhaps the murderer of their father, or even the man next door, but none of that mattered right now... The players' eyes were already bloodshot as they hurled themselves at Taunt.

At that moment, Taunt opened its mouth, revealing sharp fangs, and devoured the approaching players one by one.

This ability reminded Qi Sheng of the anglerfish in the real world, which lures other fish with the glowing lure on its head.

By comparison, Taunt's ability is even more fearsome.

Once within the range of Taunt's ability, players will uncontrollably approach it and become the target of its entrapment.

Resisting a Spiritual Illusion requires either a Spiritual Strength far greater than Taunt possesses, or the blessing of a Primordial Ability to resist mental control.

The players entering the cave were wiped out within a minute by Taunt.

And Taunt, having not fed for eons, merely consumed loneliness, as all dead players would have their life essence extracted by the Superdimension, then sent back to Imperial Tomb Village by Yan Ming to complete Life Reshaping underground.

[It seems that the gift Ice Blade left you isn't just the Energy Baryte.]

At this moment, Guiding Water Ball appeared beside Qi Sheng, manifesting an arm and analyzing with chin in hand.

"Do you think this Primordial was imprisoned by Ice Blade as a gift prepared for the next Emperor Zhao?"

[Exactly, it's not just Taunt, but I also sensed multiple Primordial Monsters inside the Dark Cave. Ice Blade's intentions are clear, after all, aside from Emperor Zhao, no one can absorb and integrate the abilities of Primordial Monsters. I can't think of any other reason for him to imprison Primordial Monsters.]

[Though mad and warlike, his loyalty to Emperor Zhao is indeed respectable.]

"How does it compare to yours?" Qi Sheng turned to look at Guidance with a smile on his face.

[Compared to me? It's far inferior, of course. I am Emperor Zhao's most loyal subordinate. Are you doubting my loyalty, boss?]

Without answering Guidance, Qi Sheng's gaze returned once more to Monster World.

...

One hour later, at the Imperial Tomb Village Resurrection Point.

Flashes of white light appeared in succession as players, having their Resurrection Cooldown end, logged back into the game.

"Damn, can you guys imagine what I went through in the illusion? I was literally cucked by that giant shell bug, and the messed-up part is that I felt it was totally justified while in the illusion. Thinking back on it now, it's just damn ridiculous."

"This game is terrifying, it can actually extract memories to craft skills."

"My experience is even more bizarre, in the illusion I was forced by the giant shell bug to eat shit with my head pressed down. It made my anger value soar infinitely, I wanted nothing more than to turn around and smash its head in."

...

After resurrection, the players discussed their experiences in the Spiritual Illusion, exclaiming it was incredibly surreal.

After some idle chatter, they began to consider how to take their revenge.

What was certain was that the ability of Taunt would draw targets within a certain range of itself into a Spiritual Illusion based on memory, so close combat was not an option, only players with the Bone Fire Life Soul embedded could deal damage to Taunt.

As players were discussing their battle strategy, a member of the Child Group suggested:

"Who says we have to fight using monster abilities? Although Black Armored Snake and stone-statue ghost forms can only engage in melee, the store is full of torches and long-range attack items. We could just stand outside the cave and throw long-range items inside to slowly whittle down Taunt's health and kill it. The bastard is bound by iron chains and can't resist our long-range offensive at all."

This idea was immediately met with the approval of a large number of players.

They then began purchasing long-range attacking items from the store.

Torches, Stone-splitting Bows, Iron Crossbows... The players couldn't afford high-quality items with their sacrificial power, so they could only buy those ordinary items made with sacrificial power.

While the players were clearing out the goods, the Challenger System automatically took a 30% profit, bringing 339 points of sacrificial power earnings to Qi Sheng.

Subsequently, dozens of players left Imperial Tomb Village, heading in the direction of the Dark Cave.

By the time the player team reached the second level underground, they immediately launched a long-range offensive against Taunt trapped in the cave.

Players possessing the Bone Fire Life Soul threw Fireballs, while the rest of the players took turns throwing various long-range items into the cave, bombarding Taunt with a relentless assault.

During this time, the dull roar of Taunt continued to emanate from the cave.

This further excited them, with the prospect of the sacrificial power gains after Taunt's death lifting their spirits.

However, the smiles on the players' faces gradually vanished as time went on.

Taunt was much more resilient than they had imagined, and a half-hour of bombardment still hadn't killed it.

Voices of doubt also appeared in the voice channel:

"Is something wrong? How come it's not dead after half an hour of attacking? Taunt's health bar is way too thick."

"Is there a possibility that our attacks aren't breaking its defense at all? The game doesn't have a mandatory -1 health deduction setting, so our attacks just now might have been ineffective."

"Fuck, no way, I've already drank three bottles of Spirit Potion. If this doesn't kill it, the loss is huge."

...

The notion of being unable to break through the defense caused many players to lose their cool.

Especially for players in the Bone Fire Form, who were generally between levels 5 and 7 and could only maintain their offensive for a while before needing to stop and purchase "Spirit Potion" from the store to replenish their consumed energy before rejoining the fight.

The low-level Spirit Potion was priced at 5 points of sacrificial power, and they had already sunk quite a bit of cost into the half-hour bombardment.

If they were unable to kill Taunt, it would undoubtedly be a total loss.

Half an hour later, the roar of Taunt continued, the cave was engulfed in flames, and the black smoke mixed with the heatwave made the players retreat again and again.

The players' mentality also shifted from optimism to collapse.

There were even players murmuring as they looked at the blazing flames in the cave:

"A torch costs 1 point of sacrificial power, a bottle of Spirit Potion 5 points, a Stone-splitting Bow 50 points, an arrow 1 point... We have now invested more than 1000 points of sacrificial power, right? I put in all my earnings from mining yesterday..."

These words caused the mentality of the players nearby to explode.

But none of the players stopped.

With such high sunk costs, they acted like gamblers blinded by loss, unwilling to accept defeat, opting for a do-or-die attempt.