Chapter 691 - 434: Ancient Dragon’s Eye (2)

Chapter 691: Chapter 434: Ancient Dragon’s Eye (2)

BOSS Name: [Desecration Priest]!

’A Cultist from the Desecration Church...’ Zhou Chen made a wish and instantly located the Desecration Priest. There was a lone wooden cabin on the outer edge of the Ancient Dragon King’s eye socket.

At that moment, a figure in a black robe, holding a sinister-looking Magic Staff, was standing in front of the wooden cabin, performing some sort of bizarre ritual.

"The Desecration Church actually has someone standing guard here?" Zhou Chen clicked his tongue and threw out the Dream Light and Shadow.

The Crystal Spear shot out at a speed imperceptible to the naked eye, leaving a brilliant trail as it instantly pierced through the Desecration Priest’s body.

Then, something unexpected happened. The Desecration Priest’s health bar instantly dropped to zero!

Zhou Chen was stunned. ’I didn’t expect this guy to be so weak. Or am I just too strong now?’

But the next second, blood spurted from his body. An unknown attack had pierced a bloody hole through his chest. Judging by the wound, it was caused by the very same Dream Light and Shadow.

’Damage reflection?’

As the thought flashed through Zhou Chen’s mind, his health bar emptied, and the scarlet word "Death" appeared before his eyes.

A few seconds later, he revived at his last save point, a five-day journey from the Valley of Miasma.

After a few seconds of stunned silence, Zhou Chen let out a curse:

"Fuck!"

He hadn’t saved!

This was a common mistake among gamers—forgetting to save while exploring the map. If you accidentally died, you’d have no choice but to go back to the starting point and run all the way back. And if the map design was particularly nasty, that run-back was pure torture.

Like the various poison swamps and intricately designed labyrinths in the *Fire-Bearer Undead* series...

’The problem is, there wasn’t even a bonfire there for me to save at...’

Zhou Chen felt a wave of helplessness. If he’d known, he would have saved manually. That way, even without a bonfire, he could have revived at his save location. The problem was, he’d screwed up before he even had the chance.

"Just run it again. You’re fast, anyway," the Nameless Ghost consoled him. "Besides, that guy probably didn’t die. He used an Abyssal Curse to transfer the event of ’death’ onto you, making you die in his place."

"But for an outlander like you, it’s no big deal."

’A death-substitution curse...’

A solution had already formed in Zhou Chen’s mind.

「Some time later.」

Zhou Chen flew back to the Valley of Miasma. The miasma, which had been stirred up by the storm, had not yet settled back in, revealing part of the Ancient Dragon King’s skull. From the sheer fragment of it, he could roughly imagine the scale of the Ancient Dragon King’s skeleton.

After manually saving, he flew straight toward the small wooden cabin.

"Alright, old man, time to drop some Gold Coins!"

The battle BGM began to play, and the BOSS fight triggered once again.

"An outlander?"

Seeing Zhou Chen charge back while shouting vulgarities, the aged Desecration Priest’s expression immediately turned to one of terror. Without a second thought, he raised his Magic Staff, about to cast some kind of spell to escape.

’Outlanders can’t be killed!’

The Desecration Priest had been there during the last descent of the Players and knew very well how terrifying outlanders were.

No matter how many times you killed them, these guys would always come back to life, pestering you relentlessly like annoying flies until they finally killed their enemy—him.

And under the restrictions of the World’s Rules, the Abilities of "BOSSes" like him were limited. Many of their moves were unusable, and their attack patterns were forced to be mechanical, repeating the same few moves over and over, making them easy to figure out and counter.

The most important factor in a battle between Extraordinaries was the information gap. Once your weakness was exposed and your enemy was prepared, death wasn’t far off.

In other words, if the outlander challenged him a few more times, his moves would be figured out, and that would be the day he died.

Even many Kings had been killed by outlanders. He didn’t think he was any more powerful than a King—before this terrifying, foreign disaster, even a God could fall and perish.

Fortunately, he wasn’t a "regional BOSS" confined to this area, or he wouldn’t even have a place to run.

However, in that fleeting moment, Zhou Chen snapped his fingers, a thought flashing through his mind.

’—Lock down the space here. Forbid any escape.’

[Wish Value -1000]

The Desecration Priest’s Magic Staff fell to the ground. A puff of black gas rose up, but then it fizzled out like a misfire, with no follow-up. The space here had been sealed, solid as a fortress. All Space Type Magic would now fail.

Zhou Chen manifested the Dream Light and Shadow and hurled it. With a piercing shriek that tore through the air, it easily ran through the Desecration Priest’s body.

Then, he made a wish to gain the ability to see invisible curses.

The Desecration Priest’s health bar dropped to zero, but a black gas began to emanate from his body. The invisible death-substitution Curse was about to transfer "death" to Zhou Chen.

Unhurried, Zhou Chen took out Forbidden Object C-005: Reversal Card and placed it on the black gas of the death-substitution Curse as it extended toward him.

"Reflect."

"Death" returned to the Desecration Priest. This time, he couldn’t use the substitution ability again. With a miserable shriek, he exploded into nothingness.

[Desecration Emblem x1]

[Notes Written in a Sinister Script: A leather-bound book with a strangely greasy and slick feel. It’s unclear what kind of leather was used to make it.

It is filled with deranged, blasphemous, and sinister writing. Just looking at it is enough to make one dizzy. It appears to be someone’s diary.

If you’re not afraid to die, then try to decipher the secrets within.]

[Dragon Secret Jade: A piece of jade that emits a warm, gentle glow. It has the strange effect of resisting miasma.]

[Desecration Church Secret Order: An exquisite iron plaque, a symbol of one’s identity within the Desecration Church.]

After picking up the Artifacts, Zhou Chen took out the [Notes Written in a Sinister Script].

"You’re not actually going to read that, are you?" said the Nameless Ghost. "That thing is wicked. It’s better not to look."

"A Player’s will and Soul are protected by the Rules. I won’t be corrupted. At worst, it’ll just give me a headache for a while."

Zhou Chen opened the notebook. He felt a strange, slick softness on his fingertips. "Besides, I want to know what the hell this guy was doing here."

’Let me understand the words written inside,’ he then wished in his heart.

[Wish Value -500]

"I’ve finally made some progress in exploring the Valley of Miasma. After countless hardships, I’ve finally reached the head of the Ancient Dragon King. Inside its eye socket, I discovered the corpse of another Giant Dragon, and from that corpse, I found a strange piece of jade.

The light from this jade can disperse the miasma. Unfortunately, there is only one piece."

"I still haven’t found the legendary Divine Hall, and I’ve been injured during my explorations. So, I’ve decided to live here for now and conduct long-term research on the Valley of Miasma."

"A few days ago, while searching for legends about the Divine Hall, I came across a relevant record in a book. It said that a poem was once passed down through the world, and this poem contained a riddle. If the riddle could be solved, the location of the Divine Hall would be revealed. But I have searched all kinds of ancient texts and have not found that poem. Perhaps it has already been lost to the river of time."

"Today, that great one bestowed a blessing upon me! HAHAHAHA! I feel as if I possess infinite Power. I’ve become younger and have more energy.

All hail the Abyss! May the Darkness last forever! I also hope that great one’s world-shattering plan proceeds smoothly."

"..."

’It’s all just trivial stuff...’ After reading it, Zhou Chen didn’t find many useful clues.

Aside from the mention of that great one’s "world-shattering plan," it was mostly just research on the Valley of Miasma.

Judging from the diary, the Desecration Priest had stayed here for over a decade. Relying on the Dragon Secret Jade’s ability to disperse miasma, he had explored most of the Valley of Miasma on his own but had never been able to find the location of the Divine Hall.

The person who had given him the order to find the Divine Hall was none other than the game’s final BOSS, the King of the Abyss. It was clear that He also coveted the Sword of Ten Thousand Kings and had some kind of ulterior motive.

In reality, the Divine Hall was right inside the Ancient Dragon’s Eye, next to the very cabin the Desecration Priest had lived in for over ten years.

Too bad he didn’t have any cheats, which was why he’d searched for so many years and still found nothing.

’I’m certain the Divine Hall is in the Ancient Dragon’s Eye, but it’s probably buried deep underground... very deep...’ Zhou Chen stroked his chin, lost in thought.

’I have to find a way down.’