The Abyssal Knight's gaze, hidden beneath its helt, was not fixed on Vengeful Blood. It was fixed on Carl.
Carl had said sothing that carried real weight.
"If the oath succeeds, Miss Player will be very happy."
"..." A heavy sigh ca from beneath the helt, and the Abyssal Knight accepted Vengeful Blood's recruitnt invitation.
[Congratulations, you have successfully ford an oath with Abyssal Knight, Weakened. You may consu loot materials to restore its combat power.]
"It actually worked! Yes! This feels incredible!" Vengeful Blood could not hold back her cheers.
Honestly, the drops from Oath's gacha banners had long since stopped giving her this kind of joy.
The main reason was that all her gacha resources ca from spending money. There was no effort involved, and effort was aningless anyway.
Instead of wasting ti hunting treasure chests across the map, she might as well just buy another top-up pack.
But the resources she had used to form an oath with this Abyssal Knight had all been earned in the Trial of Glory. She had fought tooth and nail for them, clawing out every bit of progress with her own hands.
The difference in satisfaction was enormous.
The forr felt like winning with cheats enabled. There was no real sense of accomplishnt, only a faint hit of satisfaction.
The latter felt like fighting through an intense esports match and personally securing a hard-earned victory.
For a player, the rush, the sense of achievent, and the fulfillnt after a difficult win were unmatched.
The intense positive emotions pouring out of Vengeful Blood washed over the Abyssal Knight again and again, leaving it completely dazed.
The Calamity Plague it had barely been suppressing actually receded by a large margin. Its back no longer ached, and its legs no longer hurt.
The Abyssal Knight scratched its helt, wondering how it should thank its temporary master.
At that mont, a group of base-ga Oath players suddenly spoke from behind Vengeful Blood.
"We just cleared the Vault, and I was wondering why there was still so leftover trash wandering around. Turns out it's just a pest."
Vengeful Blood turned around.
The slaughter inside the Vault was already over. The squad that had survived had co over to pick through the remains.
But even if they were only scavengers, their strength in the base version of Oath was not sothing Vengeful Blood could match.
"Let's just finish it off and grab so kill points!" one of them said, instantly drawing his sword and lunging at Vengeful Blood.
With a sharp clang, the piercing sound of blades colliding exploded in front of Vengeful Blood.
The Abyssal Knight, the monster Vengeful Blood had just ford an oath with, drew its sword and stepped in front of its temporary master.
The problem was that the Abyssal Knight's health bar was almost empty.
"There are still mobs that haven't been cleared? Is this an aggro issue? Babe, I'll leave this one to you. Want to grab so kill points?"
"...?!" The instant Vengeful Blood heard those words, her anger flared.
It was not just anger. She nearly triggered Blood Rage on the spot and wanted to hack this group of players to pieces.
Back when she had been climbing the ranked ladder in the base ga of Oath, she had run into far too many of these obnoxious couples.
Whenever she was seriously grinding points and got matched with a suspected female player, she knew that match was probably dood.
It was not necessarily the female player's fault, but the other two teammates would most likely turn into simps for her. Not only would they ruin the team atmosphere, they would not listen to a single callout.
And now, the female player in that squad suddenly aid her staff at the Abyssal Knight beside Vengeful Blood and launched an attack.
"Oh no!" Vengeful Blood only then realized that the Abyssal Knight beside her had almost no health left.
She did not know whether the monster she had worked so hard to recruit could be revived after dying.
And she did not want to find out.
Just then, Silly Cat, controlled by Sophia, took a shield potion out of her backpack and smashed it onto the Abyssal Knight, raising its health by a small amount.
"Well done, Kitty!" Vengeful Blood shouted.
At that mont, Vengeful Blood really wanted to say that she wished she could bring Silly Cat and the Abyssal Knight into her ranked matches in the base ga.
Sotis, those bizarre random teammates were not even as useful as a cat.
"Boss! You can use the loot in your backpack to strengthen the Abyssal Knight, ow! Don't be stingy now. Use everything!" Silly Cat hurriedly reminded her.
How hard the Abyssal Knight would fight depended on how much Vengeful Blood invested in it.
This loot was actually all Data Volu, which the Abyssal Knight naturally could not absorb directly.
But the monsters understood what it represented. It represented the value that players were willing to invest in them.
"Is that how it works?"
Vengeful Blood took out the large pile of materials and poured them all onto the Abyssal Knight.
At that mont, the Abyssal Knight felt two more joyful emotions from Vengeful Blood.
One was, "All my effort was worth it."
The other was, "Investing that effort into you is worth it too."
After feeling that, how could the Abyssal Knight possibly hold back?
Limit Abyss final boss mode, activate.
An exhilarating boss battle BGM rang out at the sa ti.
Crimson light surged through the slits of the Abyssal Knight's helt. In an instant, it parried the base-ga player's weapon with its twin swords.
"This strength... what's wrong with this elite mob? It feels a thousand tis stronger!" The player imdiately realized sothing was off.
Vengeful Blood also noticed that every player in this squad was using a 0 1 setup.
It seed that because she had been doing budget runs recently and had not built up much Karma Score, she had finally been matched against a bunch of easy targets.
The problem was that, in the past, these people had always ended up as Vengeful Blood's teammates.
She had been dragged down by players like this countless tis in high-rank matches, all while they treated her like the weak link.
"I've wanted to say this for a long ti! You people! Don't bring your girlfriend into ranked when other people are trying to climb! Abyssal Knight! Kill this annoying couple for !" Vengeful Blood ordered directly.
"By your command."
The Abyssal Knight's muffled voice ca from beneath its helt.
A large amount of mist erupted from under the helt as it raised its twin swords and instantly cut down a base-ga player who had not been prepared at all.
Only then did the other mbers of the squad realize sothing was wrong.
"How... how is that monster taking orders from her?"
"And why is it so strong? It feels like Limit Abyss difficulty! You, you, you're cheating, aren't you?"
Their first reaction was to accuse Vengeful Blood of cheating.
"Cheating?! The Trial of Glory openly lets players crush each other with pay-to-win power! Balance doesn't exist here!"
"Besides, I've spent fifty-two thousand dollars on this ga, and I've still been stuck babysitting people like you the whole ti! If you want soone to bla, bla the Oath devs!"
Vengeful Blood gave the Abyssal Knight another order.
Kill them on sight.
No rcy.
The Abyssal Knight raised its twin swords. Black flas burned across the blades, carving a scorching arc through the air as it slashed toward the squad.
The other two players lasted only three moves before their chests were pierced through and they were thrown into the ruins of a building like trash.
"How did you even reach 2000 points with skills like that? Wasn't it by relying on veteran players like us? Even boosted players have more self-awareness than you! At least they know how to follow orders and do what they're told!"
After watching that player's clumsy technique, Vengeful Blood instantly realized that they truly did not deserve their rank.
"Finally!"
Vengeful Blood turned her gaze toward the only female player in the squad.
The girl shrieked, lost all will to fight, and imdiately turned to flee.
"If you want to be treated like a princess, go play casual queue! Do you know how long it takes to grind back the points I lose in one match? If you can't even et a requirent as basic as following orders, then just die!"
Vengeful Blood gave the order again.
Hmph. Think you can run?
Lightning Cyclone Slash!
The Abyssal Knight joined its twin swords together. Scorching black flas burned along the blades, and its entire body shot forward like a rocket.
The female player had already run quite far, but with the Abyssal Knight's catapult-like dash, the two 1.8-ter greatswords were already right in front of her.
Before she could even shout sothing like, "Dear, save ," she was chopped into fragnts by the scorching flas of the Abyssal Knight's ground-smashing strike.
"Phew."
Vengeful Blood felt much better.
The Abyssal Knight had helped her vent her frustrations thoroughly.
It felt as though all the stress and rage she had built up from ranked matches lately had finally been released.
"Miss Player, please collect the materials and evacuate as soon as possible before other teams arrive. Your kill points have increased significantly again, so the next round will likely be a high-pressure match."
Carl reminded Vengeful Blood that her ranked grind was not over yet.
At the sa ti, as her guide, Carl kindly offered her a suggestion.
"If the next round is a high-pressure match, I suggest you recruit two more powerful monsters and spirits to replace and Silly Cat. Of course, Silly Cat can play support, but you should at least replace with a strong combat unit before matchmaking."
"Wait a minute. You an..."
Only then did Vengeful Blood catch the key point. She looked at the Abyssal Knight, who had returned to her side.
She suddenly realized that the dream lineup she had always wanted for ranked climbing was standing right in front of her.
"Boss, don't replace , ow! I can increase backpack slots and provide all kinds of powerful buffs and healing!" Silly Cat hopped anxiously in front of Vengeful Blood.
"No, no, no! Carl, are you saying I can bring a powerful monster squad that fully obeys my commands into ranked matches from now on?" Vengeful Blood asked.
This was practically her dream gaplay.
"Yes. You can form a squad with up to three powerful monsters and participate in the Trial of Glory, just like normal matchmaking."
Carl nodded as he spoke.
"But maintaining the combat power of these monsters requires a large amount of loot, so you may beco very busy from now on."
Requiring a large amount of loot was perfect.
Vengeful Blood had long since grown tired of the boring loop of searching, fighting, and extracting. The piles of big reds and small reds she collected were useless and could only sit in her warehouse as decorations.
But now?
Every item she collected could be converted into combat power.
She could form oaths with all kinds of powerful bosses and monsters.
Then she could rcilessly take revenge on all those entitled brats and princess players who refused to follow orders in ranked matches.
What you see is what you get.
Every resource picked up along the way has value.
Was there any gaplay in the world more satisfying than this?
This was the true aning of progression.
Then Vengeful Blood did the sa thing Macchiato had done.
She hugged Carl.
Except her hug was stronger, tighter, and carried far more aning.
"I'm very sorry. I apologize for ever doubting you."
"Uh, there's really no need for this. We're still on the battlefield."
Carl stretched out his hands awkwardly, not knowing where to put them.
Vengeful Blood said nothing more.
She let go of Carl, took a deep breath, opened the private chat interface, and sent a ssage to Macchiato.
"Macchiato, you know the Saintess has always been a good teammate of mine. Her lineup is ridiculously strong."
"So I wanted to ask, do you know how to quietly transfer assets from the City of Glory to Netherworld Village?"
"Huh? Guild Leader, what are you trying to do?"
Macchiato was completely baffled by her Guild Leader's vague ssage.
"I want to play Descent into Netherworld Village forever!"
"????"
After sending that ssage, Vengeful Blood happily went to loot the Vault.
To be honest, Vengeful Blood had no idea how many tis she had entered the Vault before, but this ti felt especially incredible.
She finally understood Macchiato's joy, the joy of a loot goblin being dropped into a treasure vault.
"One Large Gold, and another Small Gold. Both can be used to strengthen the Abyssal Knight's combat power. Contaminated and needs to be extracted before use? Then I'll store them first!"
"Who should be the next monster I form an oath with? That Fla Sword Dragon in the Bright Plains is pretty good. I should probably collect so fire-attribute materials, right? I wonder if this Fire Orb will be useful!"
"I want everything in this Vault! Even with Silly Cat, I still don't have enough backpack slots."
As she searched, Vengeful Blood had completely turned into another Macchiato.
The loot she used to dismiss, even legendary loot she would not have spared a second glance at, had now beco treasure she needed to hoard at all costs.
"Is this kind of behavior normal for the Boss?"
Silly Cat looked at Vengeful Blood, who kept giggling inside the Vault, and felt as though the player she had followed for years had completely lost it.
"This is what happens when soone has been repressed for too long. You should worry about what happens after your Miss Player experiences this kind of joy and can never go back."
Carl said this while glancing at the Abyssal Knight beside him.
The Pokémon gaplay injected another surge of motivation into the players of Descent into Netherworld Village.
It gave the villagers of Netherworld Village more than just the ability to fight back against base-ga players.
It also allowed loot, which had originally only been useful for various items and decorations, to finally be converted into combat power in the most direct way.
But Carl knew this was only temporary.
After the Pokémon trial ended, who knew what kind of withdrawal symptoms the players would suffer?
(To be continued.)
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)
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