In the warehouse, the bodies of the Thornflower Group members on the ground gradually disappeared as the system refreshed. Some who hadn't died sat in a corner but were forcibly ejected from the Instance by the system.
Inside the warehouse, a short man stood there, looking at the remnants of blood on the ground.
"So, Thornflower Group has been dealt with."
He muttered softly to himself and slowly walked towards the warehouse door.
Outside the warehouse, facing the sea breeze, the short man gazed at the moonlight in the sky.
Behind him, his shadow stretched very long under the moonlight.
"Thirteen, now report the latest situation."
The short man chuckled coldly and muttered to himself.
...
The snow-white unicorn was restless, kicking around, while the moonlight in the sky was bright. However, in this harbor, there was a hint of a military atmosphere.
Meine had already removed her masked armor, but her eyes were full of gloom. By her side, a knight stood next to the unicorn, struggling to tighten the saddle.
"The Thornflower Group... withdrew?"
Meine's face turned grim as she lowered his head, holding a tiny communicator in her hand.
At this moment, the communicator had clearly been severed from all communication.
"That guy actually lost?" Meine's expression became increasingly strange.
"What should we do?" Her companion whispered, "We've already suffered losses, and it will take a month for Gatuso to resurrect. Since that guy, Shen, has left, we have no reason to continue working for him."
Meine glanced at her companion, "Then... what about the one who injured Gatuso? He nearly killed him! I can sense that he's still in this Instance! We'll encounter him in the third phase for sure! He has a dark aura about him! Purifying that darkness is the duty of a Lightbringer! Besides, he almost killed Gatuso!"
Her companions fell silent, looking at Meine with expectant eyes, waiting for her command.
Meine raised her sword coldly, "Divine punishment! Eradicate those evil forces of darkness! This is the Holy City!"
"Divine punishment!!" Several companions raised their weapons and shouted together on the back of the unicorn.
...
"System Prompt: All participants' factions have been assigned! In three minutes, you will be directly transferred to the ultimate mission area of the third phase. Please prepare."
In the warehouse, Tian Lie and Nicole both received the system's message simultaneously. They looked around, and Natasha undoubtedly received it as well. The four-person team stood at a distance, and the lone wanderer remained silent, gazing in the direction of the sea.
"It's starting soon," Nicole intentionally asked, "Now that the factions have been assigned, what do you think the power balance will be like in the third phase?"
Tian Lie smiled at Nicole, "You're actually asking me?"
"I just suddenly realized that, despite your penchant for nonsense, you actually know quite a bit," Nicole replied casually. "In the third phase, who do you think the biggest opponent in the Light Camp will be?"
Tian Lie pondered for a moment.
"Thornflower Group, perhaps?" Nicole deliberately mentioned the name.
Tian Lie's eye twitched imperceptibly, and he asked in return, "Why do you say that?"
"Thornflower Group started a killing spree right from the first phase, attacking other participants everywhere. Doesn't that strike you as odd?" Nicole frowned. "Maybe it's to establish an advantage early on."
Tian Lie looked at Nicole but suddenly chuckled. "I sense that you seem to have some hostility toward Thornflower Group."
Nicole's expression remained calm. "Many people dislike them, including... Natasha."
Tian Lie looked at Nicole and asked, "Do you happen to know someone who died at the hands of Thornflower Group?"
Nicole stared into Tian Lie's eyes and remained silent.
"Well, I won't press further," Tian Lie shook his head. "I can only say you're underestimating Thornflower Group. For a dungeon like this, they wouldn't bother doing something like clearing out participants in the first phase just to establish dominance. If they needed to establish dominance in a B-level dungeon and used such methods, they wouldn't deserve to be called Thornflower Group."
"What do you mean?"
"What I mean is, they had other reasons for going on a killing spree in the first phase," Tian Lie said calmly.
Nicole's eyes lit up, but she spoke with a serious tone, "You... seem to know a lot about Thornflower Group?"
Tian Lie glanced at Nicole with a complex expression.
"You're not a member of Thornflower Group, are you?" Nicole taunted with a cold smile.
"You should know a common fact: Thornflower Group never lets traitors go. No one survives Thornflower," Tian Lie replied with a faint smile.
"So, what you're saying is that Thornflower Group had a special reason for going on a killing spree in the first phase. What could it be?"
"I don't know, but I suspect it's related to the division between this Demon Camp and Light Camps," Tian Lie shook his head. "Now, the problem is that we're in the Demon Camp. If... the Light Camp has Thornflower Group, personally, I'd suggest fight if we can, run if we can't. Thornflower Group has too many experts, and who knows which top-tier expert they've sent for this dungeon."
"Well, what if Thornflower Group is in the Demon Camp?" Nicole asked.
"In that case... we can find a place to hide and watch the show. You know what they call 'easy win,' right?"
Nicole was about to say something more when she suddenly heard Natasha call out in the distance, "Teleportation has begun!"
A beam of light fell on Natasha, and she quickly disappeared.
Then Nicole saw a beam of light descending from the sky, enveloping herself...
...
The floating island in mid-air left everyone in awe.
Natasha stood by the cliff, looking down at the churning waves below. She raised her head, and the towering mountains met her gaze!
Raindrops from the sky wet her hair, and Natasha's short hair clung to her scalp. She lifted her head, wiping the rainwater from her face with force, and noticed a faintly visible cave entrance on the mountain path.
"It's right there."
Beside her, a voice startled Natasha.
She turned to look but found Nicole standing behind her, and Natasha's heart sank as she instinctively took a step back.
Nicole didn't mind Natasha's reaction—in this world, trust between people was a precious rarity.
"It should be the entrance," Nicole took a deep breath.
She glanced back and noticed Tian Lie standing several meters away, gazing towards the mountainside.
"What are you looking at?" Nicole walked over, but Tian Lie shook his head and pointed to a spot.
Nicole looked in that direction, squinting her eyes for a long time before vaguely seeing something.
On the mountainside, quite far away from their location, in another part of the mountain, there was a rugged mountain path, and faint figures could be seen on it!
"Who are those people?"
"The ones on the other side," Tian Lie frowned. "Troublesome fellows."
"Who? Thornflower Group?"
Tian Lie shook his head, but his expression became even stranger. "I didn't see anyone from Thornflower Group, but those guys... might be the lunatics from Jerusalem."
Nicole was somewhat surprised. "You can see that clearly from this distance?"
Tian Lie smiled. "Look... they lit torches. Those are holy flames, something only those lunatics would use."
In the distance, within the mountain stream, those points of fire remained unextinguished amidst the raging wind.
And just as Nicole stared, she suddenly noticed that among the figures on the other side, one person had stopped and turned around, as if looking in their direction.
"They've spotted us," Nicole smiled.
"Doesn't matter; we'll meet them soon enough," Tian Lie shrugged.
At this point, the four-person team from behind on the mountain path caught up, and the lone wanderer walked at the rear.
Tian Lie stood by the mountain path, looked down again, and waited for a full minute before furrowing his brow and muttering to himself, "No one else?"
"It seems not," Nicole sighed. "Could it be that the Demon Camp consists only of us? It seems like Thornflower Group is on the other side. This time, the difficulty is quite high."
Tian Lie's gaze, however, became very strange. "No... Thornflower Group isn't here."
...
"You can't possibly be his match."
Thirteen's expression was twisted and ferocious as he roared in anger.
Chen Xiaolian frowned, "I'm curious, what gives you the courage to say that? Even if your teammate is formidable, there's no way he can save you. We can easily kill you right now."
Thirteen raised his head and spat fiercely. There was actually a hint of fanatical light in his eyes.
"Death? Haha! He can resurrect me!"
...
Chen Xiaolian and the members of the Meteor Rock Guild were stunned!
Resurrection?!
In the game, this was the first time they had heard of such a novel concept!
...
In this game world, resurrection was a concept that didn't exist.
As for the players' side, it was unclear how things worked.
But on the side of the Awakened, once they died in battle, the system would refresh them into ordinary people, erasing all memories of being an Awakened and reintegrating them into the billions of NPCs in this world.
Many Awakened even believed that this kind of refresh wasn't really "resurrection" but rather a backup created by the system, and the refreshed version wasn't their true selves!
Once your true self died, you were truly, completely dead.
This was also the cruelty of this game... death meant the end!
No second chances.
However, at this moment, the word "resurrection" came out of Thirteen's mouth?
There was actually an Awakened who could resurrect other Awakened?!
Thirteen chuckled darkly, looking at the members of the Meteor Rock Guild.
"The third phase has begun... he will be here soon... all of you are doomed!! Hahaha, all of you are doomed!!"