One minute ago...
In an alleyway directly facing the spring...
"Forget about it. It's just a spring water quest."
Bigcat watched what Pulitzer was doing, and shook his head. "I really have no idea how that Swordsman was able to convince the priest, but so what if he did; he's just going to end up with a new 'Blessed Spring Water.'"
At that point, Pulitzer was about to perform the "Blessing" on the flask of water. From bigcat's point of view, this was a new turn of events. It was something he had never seen before, but it wasn't anything remarkable, either. At the end of the day, when Pulitzer cast his blessing, the flask would just become another quest item.
In bigcat's mind, even if the Swordsman player, lacuna, managed to restart the spring water quest, he still wouldn't be able to finish the quest, because there wasn't enough time left for him to reach the Dark Mist Forest!
So why bother worrying himself over a "spring water quest"?
"Then again, that Swordsman somehow managed to reach level one... Never mind, he must've just gotten lucky somehow."
Bigcat shook his head again, then reached out to grab his companion. "Kitty, there's nothing to see here. Let's hurry up and finish this mail delivery quest. When we're done, we'll both become level one players, and we'll even be rewarded with some Black Iron equipment!"
"Okay then..."
Strollingkitty was slightly reluctant to leave, but she submitted to bigcat's authority. She was about to follow behind him, when—
"Aaah?!"
Alphabetkun and butterkid, who were standing nearby, both screamed in unison. Strollingkitty subconsciously turned around to look, and immediately let out a shrill scream as well—"Aaah?!"
"What are you doing..." Bigcat turned around in confusion. He was about ready to scold strollingkitty, when he saw the Swordsman wield a long black-red sword and slash it toward the defenseless Pulitzer!
"Aaah!!!"
All the surrounding players instantly screamed, but they all fell into a deathly silence when they saw the sword's gleam.
Everyone present held their breath!
And then...
With the Assassin's Sword in hand, Ye Kong activated its skill, Exsanguinate—
Boom!
The long black-red sword transformed into a red serpent and stabbed toward Pulitzer's exposed back!
"You dare try to ambush me?!"
Pulitzer noticed the rush of wind behind him, and roared angrily. The very next moment, the light surrounding him moved, and it surged behind his back toward Ye Kong. However, because Pulitzer was in the process of "Blessing" the water flask, there was a split-second delay in his reaction time!
Even so, Pulitzer was a level 10 Cleric, so even with that tiny lag, the light moved in at an extreme speed—
Swish!
From all directions, the light came rushing in, moving to block Ye Kong's attack!
It was the Devoted Shepherd's signature skill, Shield of Light!
If the Shield of Light managed to block the attack, then Ye Kong's sneak attack would be a failure, and he would meet an end he couldn't come back from!
Swish!
The speed of the light was too fast!
Ye Kong couldn't match its speed!!!
"Here I come!"
Ye Kong narrowed his eyes in focus. Then, with a twitch of his right hand, the black-red rapier twisted like a magical snake, deviating from its original trajectory to pierce forward in a single move!
Whoosh!
The red serpent brushed against the edge of the light, and before the light collided with it, it successfully penetrated through the light enclosure!
This was the effect of having 20 points of Dexterity!
When Ye Kong had reached 20 points of Dexterity, he'd gained the ability to slightly adjust his attacks on the fly. With his gaming experience as a top-class Swordsman, such a feat came naturally to him!
"Now you die!!!"
Splurt!
Like a savage beast, the red serpent mercilessly impaled Pulitzer from behind.
-250
An extremely bright red number popped out from Pulitzer's forehead!
Bang!
The black-red sword was skewered through Pulitzer's body, and an enormous amount of blood gushed out relentlessly from his chest!
Fwah!
The bright-red blood poured into the spring, staining the waters of the central spring a blood red color!
"Ooo!"
A loud, keening wail blared out. At that moment, the Yggdmillennia branch in the spring water started to age at a speed imperceptible to the human eye. In an instant, it had turned into a withered branch!
"You... How could you..."
Pulitzer struggled to turn his head and look at his killer. He opened his mouth, as though he wanted to add to his statement—
"You can shut up now, old-timer." Ye Kong sneered coldly as he violently yanked out the long sword.
Swish!
The damage had been done, and Pulitzer shuddered one last time. A moment later, he disintegrated into sparkling dust, which scattered in the wind!
For a time, all the players were dumbfounded! They didn't know how to react to what had just happened!!
Throughout the large square, the silence in the air was palpable!
Ding ding ding...
Hearing the melodious sound of the bells ringing, Ye Kong lifted his head to look at the central bell tower. This was the second time the bells had rung.
"It's finished."
All of a sudden, Ye Kong felt a sense of understanding.
In this life, Pulitzer died a quarter of an hour before the initial scheduled time.
In this life, the old beggar maintained his disguise, and continued to beg for "alms" from others.
And as for himself, the Swordsman player, lacuna...
He had become the "assassin"!!!
.......
Eastern Plains
"Don't waste any time. We still have a quarter of an hour, so let's hurry and kill that Sub-Elite mob!"
Aotabo was in the midst of directing his troops. Just then, the Yokai Legion Guild had encountered a Sub-Elite Grade White Wolf, and they were trying their best to surround it and kill it. If they were successful in slaying the beast, at the very least, they would be rewarded with a piece of Bronze equipment!
In the system, mob templates in the wilderness were divided into the following categories—
Normal Grade, Enhanced Grade, Sub-Elite Grade, Elite Grade, and Leader Grade.
In the wilderness maps of "Demon Realm," it was rare to encounter an Enhanced Grade mob, as they were a kind of mini-boss, able to take command of Normal Grade mobs of the same species.
It wasn't an easy task for an average player to take on one of them.
As for Sub-Elite Grade mobs... to get involved with one of them as an average player was out of the question!
This was because Sub-Elite Grade mobs had not only higher HP and Defense, but also access to stronger skills than those of Enhanced Grade mobs. In the early stages of the game, players who wanted to slay one would at least need to form a squadron (a party of more than 10) of elite players!
Boom!
A large number of weapons struck the body of the White Wolf, taking a chunk out of its HP.
At present, the players who had encircled the White Wolf were all elite members of the Yokai Legion Guild. Including aotabo, there were 12 members engaged in the fight. Each of the members was fully equipped with at least White gear, and the best of them had two pieces of Black Iron equipment!
Aotabo himself had been hunting mobs for close to half an hour, and in that time, he had accrued for himself three pieces of Black Iron equipment!
It would be no exaggeration to say that the team gathered here comprised a majority of the Yokai Legion Guild's power!
As for the normal members of the guild, even from the start, they had no chance of participating in the fight. One had to realize that the White Wolf had an extremely high Attack, and if an average player still wearing grey equipment (novice equipment) was even so much as brushed by one of its blows, the damage would instantly kill him!
Without the proper equipment, they weren't even qualified to join in as part of the encirclement!
It didn't take long before the Sub-Elite White Wolf lost a third of its HP from the surrounding players' attacks. However, just as a look of contentment was starting to show on aotabo's face, he noticed something behind him—
A pitch-black rift was quietly growing larger...
.......
Qingmu Town, area around the spring
"He... he actually murdered Pulitzer?!"
Bigcat couldn't believe his eyes as he watched the figure standing proudly in the center of the spring. He felt as though everything he knew about the game was wrong.
"Wasn't the 'old beggar' supposed to be the one to kill Pulitzer?
"Why did the assassin become a player?!"
Next to him, alphabetkun smiled bitterly as he murmured to himself. "This game, is it really the same 'Demon Realm' I've been playing all this while? ..."
As he said this, the sound of glass shards grinding against each other came from above, disrupting the thoughts of the players in the crowd—
Crack! Crack!!!
One after the other, the players looked up, only to see that the azure sky was gone, and was now covered by an array of pitch black rifts. From time to time, glass-like fragments would splinter off, dropping out of the sky.
It was a beautiful phenomenon brought about by the friction between two "region barriers."
As the players watched this surreal scene, someone in the crowd whispered—
"The 'Stygian Night Invasion'...
"It's starting!"