In the ga, outside the Mangrove Forest.
“Roar!”
A massive, mysterious beast wreathed in dark energy let out a thunderous roar. Its long tail whipped out like a lash, sending the surrounding players flying. However, there were simply too many players. No matter how hard the beast tried to retaliate, the players sward in like an endless tide of ants, relentlessly charging forward.
Further away, a few solo players and hidden scouts stood by, rely spectating.
At the sa ti, both in and out of the ga, the livestream rooms were bustling with activity. The chat barrage was firing off like a machine gun.
To watch the livestream, even many foreign players still in-ga were cursing the company for being greedy, while obediently paying the fee to access the cross-server stream.
In that mont, the Linhnan server once again beca the center of attention.
“That’s odd. This boss doesn’t seem to hit very hard. It’s been going on for so long and no one’s died yet.” A player in the outer crowd spoke with confusion.
“Now that you ntion it, that big guy does look fierce, swinging with all his might, but it’s been ages and not a single death.”
“Yeah, yeah. This is the weakest boss I’ve ever seen.”
“I don’t think it’s that strange. This is a hidden boss, after all. It’s bound to be different from the usual ones.”
“That makes sense. This one must be a defense-type boss. Look, with so many people beating on it, its HP barely drops. The defense is seriously impressive.”
“Sha its attack is so weak though.”
The crowd buzzed with speculation and comntary. While regular players didn’t think much of it, scouts from other guilds couldn’t shake the feeling that sothing wasn’t quite right.
Far away in the Arican server, Dorado, Mira was also watching the livestream. Her brow furrowed slightly, her face full of suspicion.
“This whole fight looks like a farce…” With plenty of boss battle experience under her belt, Mira could tell this wasn’t a real boss fight. If anything, it looked more like a clumsy performance.
“This boss must be so kind of special summon. And they’re putting so much effort into staging this farce…” At that mont, a stunning figure suddenly flashed through Mira’s mind. “So that’s what this is. Of course. It’s all for her, isn’t it? Hehehe… things are getting interesting.”
Very few people realized it was all an act. The vast majority were still in the dark. They genuinely believed it was just an unconventional boss battle.
Inside the Mangrove Forest, S.K.Y. and Taurus stared intently at the stream, their faces filled with tension and anticipation. Behind them stood a dense crowd of players. These were all elite mbers of the Death of Love guild.
They were waiting here for the main character…no, they were waiting for the arrival of that walking treasure trove in human form.
“It’s been twelve hours since that shadow creature was summoned. The cooldown’s already passed and it still hasn’t disappeared.” Taurus suddenly spoke.
“Looks like once this shadow creature is summoned, it won’t vanish unless it’s killed.” S.K.Y. replied.
“Heh, we hit the jackpot. I thought we’d end up wasting a usage.” Taurus chuckled as he looked at the [Shadow Horn] in his hand. As it turned out, that strange boss outside had been summoned using this horn, which they had obtained earlier in the underground labyrinth.
Just as Mira had guessed, the whole event was a setup, crafted with one particular person in mind.
“It’s been half a day. Why hasn’t the Blackhearted Princess shown up yet?” Taurus put away the horn and looked to S.K.Y.
With a calm expression, S.K.Y. said, “She’s a wanted criminal in the Empire. She’ll have fled sowhere remote. Getting back here isn’t going to be quick. Calm down for now, Master Zhang.”
“I’m just worried she won’t dare to show up,” Taurus said.
“She will. The Blackhearted Princess will definitely co,” S.K.Y. declared with certainty.
Taurus raised a brow and asked, “Why are you so sure?”
S.K.Y. brushed his bangs aside and replied confidently, “Because I know her. That Blackhearted Princess is greedy to her core. From the Beginner Village to Jade City, everything she’s done reeks of greed. Last ti she ‘stole a chicken’ and reaped huge rewards. This ti, she’ll try to steal a chicken again. And in the end, she’ll pay the ultimate price for her greed!”
Hearing that, Taurus recalled the ti he had been tricked by the Blackhearted Princess and found the statent all too true.
“Greed leads only to ruin.” He, too, pushed back his hair, his handso face gleaming with a sinister glint. “Why don’t people ever learn?”1
“Indeed,” S.K.Y. nodded, a faint red gleam flashing through his eyes. The night before, he had already left Huadu in secret. By now, no one knew where he was. ‘Once this succeeds, my true rise will begin.’
At that thought, the corners of S.K.Y.’s mouth curled up into a cruel smile.
Just then, the magic array map in his hand suddenly vibrated. A green dot lit up on it.
It was a regional detection magic device they had borrowed from a direct army unit. As long as detection tools were set up in the area, the device could identify targets within a specified level range.
Their target level was set to 30. Whenever a level 30 player or NPC entered the vicinity of the Mangrove Forest, the square-shaped array map would trigger an alert and lock onto the target’s position.
“A green dot, that’s the Blackhearted Princess!” S.K.Y. exclaid excitedly.
Targets that entered detection range were color-coded: blue for NPCs, green for players. Currently, there was only one level 30 player. Clearly, that wretched Blackhearted Princess had stepped right into their trap!
“She finally ca!” Taurus clenched his fists tightly, his face overflowing with wild delight.
“Yes, and she thinks we don’t know. She’s probably out there watching the show,” S.K.Y. said, overjoyed.
“Have the outside players scatter and begin encircling her… Wait! Make it look real, don’t scare her off!” Taurus spoke with mounting excitent. He had never felt this thrilled in his life, as if injected with pure adrenaline.
‘After today, I’ll be nʌmbər wʌn2 in this ga!’ Just imagining all the treasures the Blackhearted Princess carried ending up in his possession sent a wave of exhilaration through him.
“Got it!” S.K.Y., struggling to contain his excitent, quickly relayed Taurus’ orders to the outside forces.
Soon enough, the players within the Mangrove Forest began responding. While pretending to fight, they slowly pulled back, tightening the encirclent toward the outskirts.
The players watching the show still had no idea what was happening. It wasn’t until a swarm of Death of Love mbers closed in that they realized sothing was wrong, and fled in a panic.
Unfortunately, it was already too late. That entire area had been completely sealed off by Death of Love guild mbers!
At that mont, the colossal shadow beast ca charging in. The players at the front were instantly torn to shreds, and those with slightly lower levels were crushed into dust. Only the players above level 20 barely clung to life. Even so, they were gravely wounded.
The shadow beast rampaged like an out-of-control dump truck, flinging players into the air like bowling pins. The air filled with relentless screams of agony.
That ferocity, it was a world apart from before. The runaway dump truck—no, rampaging shadow beast—charged straight ahead with unstoppable montum. At this rate, it looked like the slaughter would be completely one-sided.
However, just as everyone thought so, a pale, jade-like hand suddenly appeared and gently pressed against the shadow beast. In the next instant, the rampaging beast was forcibly halted in its tracks. The force of its charge exploded outward.
Players nearby were blown off their feet, tumbling about in a pitiful ss.
“Now that’s interesting.” The one who had stopped the shadow beast dead in its tracks was none other than Yae-hi, who had been quietly watching from the crowd.
“It’s the Blackhearted Princess! She’s here!” One of the players who hadn’t been caught in the shockwave imdiately recognized her and shouted excitedly.
“She’s here too?!”
“Why did she suddenly step in to help?”
“No, that beast was clearly charging at her! We were just caught in the crossfire!”
“A setup, this was all a setup!”
Realization began to dawn on the players present, and cries of alarm echoed through the crowd. At that mont, both in-ga and in real-world livestreams, the screens were flooded with barrage comnts. Shock and disbelief spilled through the chat like a wave.
No one could have guessed that this so-called boss fight was actually a trap set specifically for the Blackhearted Princess! What stunned them even more was that the jet-black beast wasn’t a boss at all, but a monster under soone’s control!
In that mont, countless players were left in disbelief at the Linhnan server’s stunning level of innovation, along with a flood of jealousy and envy they couldn’t conceal.
“Are we even playing the sa ga?” Many players echoed the sa sentint in unison.
“Just as I thought.” Mira gazed at the stunning girl on the screen, a smile of confirmation spreading across her face. “Now let’s see how you plan to deal with this crisis.”
Outside the Mangrove Forest, the atmosphere grew tense and deadly. All the mbers of Death of Love had their eyes locked onto Yae-hi, awaiting the signal to launch an all-out assault.
“I’ll give you two seconds to log out. Anyone still here after that…dies.” Suddenly, Yae-hi spoke. Her voice wasn’t loud. But everyone present, and all those watching the livestream, heard her loud and clear.
A flood of question marks popped up above everyone’s heads. Was the Blackhearted Princess out of her mind? She was the one in an absolutely disadvantageous position. And yet she had the audacity to make such a bold threat? It was utterly laughable!
From their perspective, surrounded by nearly ten thousand players and a boss-tier beast, the Blackhearted Princess had zero chance of survival.
“One.” That graceful voice rang out again. Yet no one reacted. Neither Death of Love’s players nor the spectators from other guilds or solo players made a move. They simply waited for the battle to begin.
“Two!” As her countdown ended, the shadow beast under her pale hand suddenly flew backward. A terrifying force burst forth from its body, carving a deep trench into the earth and sending soil flying into the air.
On the other side, a sword wreathed in flas materialized in Yae-hi’s hand. Her slender, snow-white fingers gripped the tip of its hilt as she softly spoke four words, “Ancient Celestial Sword Formation.”
Then, with a light release of her fingers, the [Dragonsorch] sword dropped straight down.
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