Chapter 99:

Facing a silver-tier elite vampire heavy sword knight, even with the young lady as the main damage dealer and controller, it was completely unrealistic for the little players to rush up and “massage their feet”. The crimson greatsword wielded by the civil protection officer before them could not be withstood by any player at the current stage, even without any skills and relying solely on its sheer weight. Under such circumstances, even the most stubborn and wildest melee fighters had to reluctantly take out the hunting crossbows or firearms from their bags and play the role of a sneaky old men, scattering into a circular formation in the not-so-complex terrain under the command of the Joy Stick, arranging themselves into three rows to carry out alternating volleys. The goal was to fill up the damage meter in the shortest time possible. From the conversation between the young lady and this “second BOSS”, it seemed that this was probably a friendly NPC who had gone rogue. Following the standard instance mechanics, reducing the health to a certain level would trigger a storyline event. However, even shooting from afar like cowards with firearms was not completely safe, although the young lady’s spirit control spells were quite powerful, able to erect spirit walls at critical moments to block the civil protection officer’s deadly yet spectacular “Bat Charge”. After all, there was a gap in tiers, and the young lady would occasionally miss a teleportation, resulting in quite terrifying consequences for the little players. Fortunately, this skill had a noticeable “pre-motion”. The crimson bat swarm would flicker, causing Kudel’s figure to vanish from his original spot, randomly choosing a densely populated area to emerge from the shadows and deliver a 720-degree super-deadly whirlwind slash. “Tsk! Getting hit means death! I can’t help but ask again! With such an insta-kill mechanism, does the development team really think this BOSS battle design is reasonable?” As the healer, Brother Meow trembled as he hugged his Spirit Staff. Just a moment ago, Kudel the civil protection officer’s Bat Charge + grounded whirlwind instantly took out 7 people, and he lost his healing targets before even finishing the cast bar for Winds of Rejuvenation. Within less than two minutes of this battle, the little players had already suffered 13 casualties, causing the Joy Stick to jump up and down, shouting: “Dodge! Move around! Don’t just stand there like idiots, reposition! Reposition, you understand? This isn’t asking you to attack a stationary target! He’s charging, Niuniu! Quick, get out of the way!” As soon as the words left his mouth, the civil protection officer, trapped within three spirit walls, transformed into a swarm of fluttering bats, screeching as he crashed into the group of players. His towering figure reformed from the bat swarm, gripping his sword with both hands and delivering a 720-degree super whirlwind slash, unleashing a storm of crimson sword blades that utterly destroyed everything in the surrounding area. However, this time, apart from Niuniu being hit and sent flying after his shield shattered, the rest of the players were unharmed. The Joy Stick took a closer look. He found that the cunning student faction seemed to have figured out the BOSS mechanics, taking cover behind the faded stone statues that were once the slain vampires, using their destruction to shield them from the insta-kill attack. Aha! So that’s how it is! So these vampire statues are used like this! “Climb up! Quick, everyone climb up the pillars!” On the other side, Little Ashina and Lumina were also helping each other climb up the broken stone pillars surrounding the battle area. Once their feet left the ground, this civil protection officer, who didn’t seem to fly much, temporarily posed no threat. As the main damage dealer, the young lady was also feeling anxious. Although she knew that Murphy’s warriors would not truly die, these brave little ones would still have to take on the task of pushing forward, and losing too many here would affect the progress of the entire hall’s battle. Seeing two little players climb up the stone pillars, she immediately cast a spell. Amidst the surging obscure spirit energy, she levitated the players scrambling on the ground and tossed them towards the nearest broken pillar. “Boss has transitioned phases! Everyone find a shooting position!” Brother Stick nimbly climbed up a nearby short pillar, took aim with his gun at the civil protection officer, and fired a shot with incredibly lucky accuracy, hitting his shoulder armor. The battered armor shattered upon impact, clattering to the ground. Having finally found the correct “strategy”, the little players regrouped, unleashing a barrage of gunfire, crossbow bolts, and arrows. After a second pillar was destroyed by the civil protection officer’s greatsword, this beast-like second BOSS finally reached the “execution threshold”. The young lady cast her hands, using Murphy’s “Midnight Noose” to bind and levitate the nearly defeated civil protection officer, then unleashed a spirit blast shockwave to knock his crimson greatsword from his grasp. In the next instant, over twenty bullets exploded in a burst of blood on his body. However, before the little players could put in extra effort to drain his health bar and knock him to the ground, the door to the warehouse he had been guarding suddenly burst open from behind. A group of civilians of various appearances, led by a bespectacled, limping middle-aged man, charged out, waving crude weapons and charging into the battlefield amidst a few gunshots. The young lady’s expression changed slightly upon witnessing this scene. She released her control and stepped back, once again summoning a spirit wall in mid-air to block the bullets and crossbow bolts fired by the little players. “Get back, you disgusting vampires!” A tall, butcher-like man wearing a leather apron and wielding a war spear stood before the fallen civil protection officer, with more civilians rushing to join him behind. They formed a circle around the weakened Kudel. The young lady could clearly see the fear on the faces of these civilians, yet they did not retreat, instead stubbornly guarding around the civil protection officer. This was a rather rare scene. Especially in the Transia region, which had been plagued by vampires for 400 years, it was uncommon to see civilians other than blood servants actively protecting a high-ranking vampire. And based on Femis’ understanding of Kudel, she knew that this brother of hers had not had a true blood servant since he was initially embraced over a hundred years ago. Although she knew Murphy and Tris had a rough time in the city in the past, had they really fallen to the pitiful state of receiving relief supplies? “It should be, I suppose. I’ve been active outside the city for a while now, so I’m not too familiar with the happenings inside,” Femis replied vaguely with a casual glance. “But if it’s Murphy, he would indeed do something like that. He’s a pragmatist, and like Kudel, he doesn’t see vampires as superior, treating all life equally.” “That must be the young sir, then,” the bespectacled scholar smiled. He turned and gestured to the civilians behind him, and many in the crowd relaxed, lowering their raised weapons. The atmosphere eased up immediately. “If it’s Lord Murphy, then we’re willing to accept his leadership. Truth be told, the shelter can barely hold out any longer, even the children can only eat one meal a day.” The middle-aged scholar sighed. But his reaction greatly surprised Femis, and she curiously asked, “Why did you so easily relinquish leadership after confirming it was Murphy? Do you know him?” “I don’t know him! But for the past month, I’ve been collecting food from the same relief point as Lord Murphy,” the slightly lame middle-aged scholar softly said, adjusting his glasses. “I observed his various behaviors, intending to use them as anecdotes in my memoirs, but I saw the polite lord greeting everyone, voluntarily giving up a spot for women holding children, stopping petty thieves from taking the last bit of money from the downtrodden. He even took the initiative to maintain order so everyone could receive their share of relief supplies. This wasn’t just a whimsical act one day. For over twenty days straight, he behaved this way. A vampire has no need to put on such a performance in a place like Kadman City, so I can confirm that Lord Murphy is indeed one of the rare good and kind vampires. Such a lord, in this dreadful environment, is the greatest consolation we could hope for.” This speech left the young lady Femis silent once more. As she said, in the past she paid little heed to human thoughts or the impression vampires left on these “food sources”. But then, she couldn’t help but ask, “What if Murphy was just pretending? What if he’s simply a natural drama queen?” Drama queen The young lady had heard this term from Murphy, and it was quite fitting in this context. The middle-aged scholar was also briefly taken aback by this question, but then he reached up to adjust his cracked round glasses, revealing a rather subtle smile as he softly said: “What difference does it make? If a bad person can play the good person their entire life, then they are an indisputable good person. Moreover, Lord Murphy is at least willing to put on that facade in front of us, the other vampires don’t have that interest. So how should we cooperate with your actions? Over these ten days, we’ve also been collecting some supplies in the passage under Lord Kudel’s leadership. It would be too wasteful to simply discard them.” “Supplies...can be used as rewards!” The young lady glanced back at the little players who had gathered behind her. She rolled her eyes and issued them a quest to help with the transfer, distributing the supplies from the warehouse as rewards. Seeing the expressions of delight on these warriors who had just experienced battle and death, Femis felt she might have grasped the key to getting along with them. But at the same time, complaints were also spreading among the players. “Only 40 minutes left, damn it, it’s always like this, just getting into it and then it ends! It’s as frustratingly unfinished as edging.” Leading Pigeon leaned on his staff, loudly complaining to a group of buddies, and others chimed in, joining the criticism of the game’s time limit. Though six hours of free time per day wasn’t exactly short, after all, apart from those making a living through gaming, most normal people couldn’t guarantee playing six hours every day. But it still wasn’t enough! There was so much content in《Reality Realm》that six hours a day was barely enough time to play. Most importantly, from Brother Meow’s game helmet review, players knew this game had an incredible “sleep connection” feature! But the officials just wouldn’t enable it! Hey, were they just teasing? Could you stand for that? “Let’s go spam the forums when we log off!” The Joy Stick waved his hand fiercely at the surrounding little players, saying, “Let’s all post threads in the feedback section. Since the development team listened to suggestions and added instances, if we provide enough feedback, maybe they’ll extend the game time too?” “Give them feedback! Really let them have it!” Brother Meow also raised his arm and shouted, spurring the group of little players into cheers and howls. The young lady looked on bewildered. Even with the Computation Bead’s translation, these guys’ language was still hard to understand. She couldn’t make sense of what was going through their little heads at all. However, Murphy seemed able to communicate with them unhindered, so did Murphy’s inner world match these otherworldly warriors, just as delirious yet happy-go-lucky?