“What the hell is this?!”
As the concrete ground in front of her surged like waves, Xia Li for a moment completely failed to react—worth rejoicing was that the black sword in her hand instead took the initiative to act, directly operating the movements of her hands and successively chopping off two semi-transparent tentacles that shot toward her!
“It’s optical camouflage!” Weeping of the Shadow said, “Damn it, this is big trouble now.”
“When has our trouble ever been small?!” After reacting, Xia Li no longer relied on Weeping of the Shadow’s automatic interception, but actively unleashed a series of fast and ruthless small-amplitude slashes, rapidly severing the several tentacles that posed the greatest threat as they assaulted.
As the enemy lurking before her eyes no longer carried out optical camouflage, Xia Li finally saw its true form clearly: an ellipsoidal semi-transparent object resembling a ctenophore, with countless slender tentacles wrapping the center.
On some of the tentacles there also grew spherical objects resembling giant algal spore sacs, inside which writhed those small tentacle monsters that looked like baby octopuses.
“Mm… at least I now know what it is.” The black sword in Xia Li’s hand muttered, “Soul-Catching Jellyfish, one of the bad-taste things created by that bunch of people in the Golden Age.”
“What?”
“In the ancient Golden Age, people once abused technology by every possible means for the sake of entertainment—among which of course also included the life sciences. Just as the Roman Empire used rare birds and exotic beasts imported from Africa and Asia for gladiatorial combat, the people of that time used genetic technology to modify various monsters to serve as the ‘wild mobs’ in Death Games.” Weeping of the Shadow explained, “The Soul-Catching Jellyfish is one of the more troublesome kinds among them. Aside from optical camouflage and transformation abilities, it can manipulate targets in two ways: having the juveniles directly parasitize the other party, or carrying out manipulation through the tentacles of the main body.”
“Fuck, this degree is still only ‘more troublesome’?!” After severing more than ten tentacles that assaulted together, Xia Li asked.
“Ah, that is of course.” Weeping of the Shadow said, “The ‘wild mobs’ of the Death Games of that time had a grading list from Level 1 to 10; this thing is merely a Level 6 monster. In many large-scale Games, it does not even count as a so-called ‘big point.’”
“But looking at it, it is already deadly enough!” While blocking, Xia Li began retreating—at the beginning, she had still attempted to charge to a sufficiently close distance, then deliver one all-out “Life and Death Bound” to the other party’s “main body.”
But the problem was that in merely a few seconds, the number of tentacles this thing extended went from single digits to double digits, and now was even charging straight toward triple digits!
Although the strength and threat of a single tentacle were both very limited, once the quantity exceeded a certain number, the threat brought would naturally also undergo a qualitative change.
What was even more fatal was that this thing continuously launched those round and slippery juveniles—forcing Xia Li to continuously divide her attention to dodge, making it even harder to advance.
“Forgive my bluntness, if things continue like this, our probability of victory will not exceed 20%,” Weeping of the Shadow said, “In fact, if we do not decisively choose to retreat, then our probability of escape will also rapidly decrease.”
“But if we retreat, the others will all be beyond saving!” Xia Li shook her head—admittedly, there were certainly relatively safe locations that could be hidden in within this school.
Xushinige and that group of people were most likely hiding inside those places, easily clearing the stage time after time.
However, even if she knew the location of the safe places, Xia Li absolutely did not intend to simply hide away like this.
After all, if even she was responding with such difficulty, then that group of newcomers including Lunene even more so could not possibly have the chance to escape with their own strength.
To let the others escape this calamity, the only method was precisely to achieve victory here.
But the problem was… what to do?
As more and more semi-transparent tentacles appeared in front of Xia Li, even with the enhancement of Weeping of the Shadow, she could only steadily retreat—although the invincible black sword could sever every tentacle, the absolute quantity of these tentacles far exceeded the upper limit she could deal with.
What was even more troublesome was that after realizing Xia Li was a difficult opponent, this Soul-Catching Jellyfish immediately began recalling its puppet legion from various places in the school to assist itself in combat.
Although the combat power of these puppets who had turned from newcomers was very limited, some among them carried various firearms—both cheap single-shot pistols and open-chamber double-barreled guns bought on the market, as well as energy weapons obtained just earlier from the gacha.
No matter how strong Xia Li and Weeping of the Shadow were, under the condition of having no reliable protective means, encountering this remote firepower was still rather troublesome.
After they joined, this battle became even harder to fight.
“This ghostly thing definitely has intelligence, right?!” After being forced to retreat into a corner of the sewer, Xia Li muttered, “It knows I do not wish to directly kill those people, so it deliberately uses them to deal with me!”
“That’s right. Many monsters of Level 5 and above were set by the Game designers of the past to possess intelligence—in this way, the difficulty and interest of the Death Games can be significantly raised… although for modern clearers, it is purely trouble,” Weeping of the Shadow said, “Taking the Soul-Catching Jellyfish as an example, although there is no brain inside its body, it contains an extremely high proportion of nerve cells; the star-shaped topological framework formed by these cells jointly constitutes an extremely complex structure…”
“Get to the point!”
“In short, this fellow’s imagination and abstract thinking ability are very poor, but its logical ability exceeds that of ordinary humans whose IQ is between 90 and 110. What is even more fatal is that it will not produce misjudgments because of preconceived impressions, obsessions, or value judgments; its logical determinations are all established upon statistical analysis of objective facts.”
“This point I am clearer about than anyone.” When a burst of poorly aimed bullets and energy beams struck the concrete walls of the sewer, Xia Li had no choice but to hide behind a corner to avoid the firepower.
After discovering her true identity, that fellow Lunene’s first reaction was to flee in panic, while this monster, through observation, discovered that she deliberately did not kill any of the controlled people, and further reached the conclusion that “puppets can be used to deal with her”!
Upon thinking that Lunene’s little brain was in some degree even less bright than a Level 6 wild mob, Xia Li felt a somewhat inexplicable sorrow rising from within.
“Forgive my bluntness, if you do not intend to use the trump card we currently have, now is the time to retreat.” Weeping of the Shadow advised, “If things continue like this, continuing to hard-fight means we have no chance of victory.”
“Trump card? What is it?” Xia Li asked in return.
“Do you still remember that UR Servant Card of yours?” Weeping of the Shadow said, “It is precisely that! Although it is only a lowest-rank one-star transformation card, its usefulness at a time like this is great.”
“How to use it?”
“Just as I said previously, this thing altogether has two methods of use: using it on oneself, or using it on another person who actively agrees. Using it on oneself will grant a certain trait or ability of the character on the card, equivalent to adding a limited buff. Although UR cards are all not weak, the bonus of a one-star card may not necessarily allow us to turn the tables.”
“Then the second method of use…”
“Using it on a companion who actively agrees, at this time the bonus far exceeds using it on oneself—this design is not difficult to understand, because Servants will instinctively be loyal to their master; at least on this planet, this kind of relationship cannot be dissolved. And the majority of players are not willing to run behind their master’s backside every day and act subservient toward others,” Weeping of the Shadow continued, “In addition, the ‘character setting’ of the Servant will influence the appearance and even the personality of these targets; the effect continues until leaving the influence range of Elysia’s ‘Extra-Rational Power.’”
“Ah this…” Xia Li once again felt astonished at the bad taste of the humans of the past—considering that there was already no means of leaving the planet, this meant that this kind of influence would be… irreversible, “However, if active agreement is required, then doesn’t that mean it fundamentally cannot be used? After all, the people down here…”
“Are all in a state of lost consciousness,” Weeping of the Shadow said, “Rest assured, the UR Servant Card has an inconspicuous bug in this aspect: although toward targets who have ‘lost consciousness’ such as deep sleep or being drug-knocked out, it absolutely does not take effect. But toward those who are controlled it is different—these people have lost consciousness, but are still carrying out neural activity. Therefore they will be judged as ‘optional choices.’”
“The optimization of this Game is too rotten, right? How is it a ground full of bugs?!” When a large mass of tentacles attempted to surge into the corner where Xia Li was hiding, she chopped these things to pieces in three or two strokes.
These semi-transparent viscous objects writhed and struggled on the ground, finally gradually turning into semi-fluid like melting popsicles.
“Because UR-rank Servant Cards were temporary easter-egg-level settings added at a very late period, and the drop rate is only 0.01%; until the end of the Golden Age, only a mere several thousand cards appeared! The quantity is small, the number of uses is limited, so of course obscure bugs will remain.”
“Sounds quite reasonable,” Xia Li muttered, “Then, who should I find to be this Servant?”
“Of course find the one closest to that fellow’s main body,” Weeping of the Shadow answered in a second, “When used on another person, a one-star Servant Card is also sufficient to let a person possess the ability to thoroughly wreck that thing… but the premise is that it cannot be allowed to react and escape!”
“The closest… let me take a look…” After another bout of chaotic shooting ended, Xia Li poked her head out and rapidly glanced at the situation on the opposite side.
But in the next instant, her eyes suddenly widened because of shock.
“No… it can’t be…”
(The one-star Servant Card Xia Li drew… however, looking at it, it seems somewhat subtly wrong)