Chapter 581 - 546: Divine Artifact to the Rescue
At the entrance of the Duke Mansion, players were crowded as usual, exchanging tasks. However, there were far more people than usual at this moment; the Bloodrose Guild’s subsidiary gold farming studio and fan club quickly took their places.
Players who managed to catch the eye of Bloodrose’s goddesses and were "appointed" as fan club members were, of course, quite skilled. Their ultimate dream was to join the goddesses’ guild. But the standards for joining the goddess guild were indeed a headache for these fans. First, strength was a must; after that, it was probably a matter of character and real-life status?
Bloodrose Guild, upon its founding, recruited two male players, Rose Knight and Little Pig Run. The Rose Knight was self-explanatory—a top-tier elite—and was said to be a vice president of the Shenning Group. Little Pig Run, on the other hand, was the number one player in China Region and third in the World Level—making them unattainable standards for ordinary fans.
But just yesterday, the goddesses’ guild made an exception by recruiting a low-level male player named Junxiang, who was not even level 10. Rumor had it, he was neither tall nor rich, nor handsome, and was particularly amateur. However, he appeared with a rare dual talent and completed a domain task. More importantly, it seemed his goal for joining wasn’t to flirt.
In short, Junxiang’s admission gave all the fan clubs a benchmark for comparison, and suddenly they felt joining was within reach. So, today’s action was taken by fans as a test by the goddesses; without a second thought, they responded immediately.
At this moment, these people were wandering aimlessly outside the Duke Mansion like regular players, but all their attention was focused on the entrance. As soon as Da Fei appeared, their skilled manipulation speed could absolutely lock on the target in an instant and relentlessly attack! For the goddesses, for the justice of the China Region, they didn’t care about turning red-named!
Meanwhile, in the Bloodrose Studio, the large screen on the wall was monitoring the Duke Mansion gate from multiple angles. All the women were calming down and patiently waiting for Da Fei’s appearance. Yet, their foreheads and tips of their noses brimmed with beads of sweat due to the tense excitement.
Indeed, their target this time was Da Fei! The thought of striking a heavy blow to this number one enemy of the China Region made them uncontrollably excited.
Seconds ticked by, and neither the city channel nor the regional channel showed any abnormality. The entire studio was so tense and quiet that only the game’s background sound effects could be heard.
— "He’s out!!!" Someone shouted!
The anxious big sister Zhou Qing immediately ordered, "Target the Banshee!"
And in that instant, hundreds of experts wandering outside the Duke Mansion locked their eagle-eyed gazes like arrows on Da Fei, who had just exited. At the next moment, hundreds of hands raised crossbows—bang!!!
Hundreds of crossbows roared in unison, and sharp beams of light rushed in from all directions! -8! -7! -9! -6! -5... The crimson damage numbers burst forth like blood flowers! At that moment, the entrance to the Duke Mansion was a sea of red names, as if a hundred red flowers bloomed in an instant!
At that moment, the women in the studio let out long-suppressed screams!
...
Meanwhile, at the moment Da Fei stepped out, with the scene just switching and before he could react, a barrage of dark spots came rushing toward him! Then came the explosion of red light, accompanied by a long stream of system messages!
—System Prompt: Warning! Player "Fantasy Killer" has launched a malicious attack on your Vice Hero. You can legitimately retaliate!
—System Prompt: Warning! Player "Gilgamesh" has launched a malicious attack on your Vice Hero. You can legitimately retaliate!
—System Prompt: Warning! Player "Wind Fragment" has launched a malicious attack on your Vice Hero. You can legitimately retaliate!
—System Prompt: Warning! Player "Red Face Drunk" has launched a malicious attack on your Vice Hero. You can legitimately retaliate!
...
Assassinate Deirdre! At that moment, Da Fei was completely too stunned to react! And at that point,
—System Prompt: Your Vice Hero Deirdre used the Divine Artifact "Time Hourglass"! You are in a Time Slow domain...
A golden barrier exploded, enveloping the entire scene. At that moment, the world seemed to stand still! Only then did Da Fei see himself among a cluster of arrows, with the arrows forming a line in front of Deirdre, the blooming blood flowers silently blooming in front of her!
Time Freeze!
To hell with these dog...! In anger and frustration, Da Fei tried to move in front of Deirdre, but to Da Fei’s horror, he found himself unable to move!
Yet Deirdre could move, she leapt into the air to avoid the "floating" arrows in a line before her! Only then did Da Fei let out a relieved curse, "Damn it!!!"
The domain of golden light faded as Deirdre soared into the sky. At this moment, a sharp alarm sounded at the entrance to the Duke Mansion; the guards at the entrance, along with patrolmen rushing from all around the streets, began slaughtering the hundreds of red-named players responsible.
Ordinary players on the scene gasped, "What just happened? I think I just lagged for a second?"
"What was that golden light just now? I really couldn’t move!"
"They were PK’ing Da Fei!"
"Wow! Killing out in the city, that’s amazing!"
"They failed to kill him, doesn’t that make them idiots?"
"Da Fei’s Vice Hero can fly!"
At this moment, looking at Deirdre high up with only a sliver of health left, Da Fei’s pounding heart raced as though he’d narrowly escaped a calamity!
So close, so close! If it weren’t for the artifact, Deirdre would be done for here! How careless of me! This is due to the Royal Family ambushing my Fishmen in Elorin yesterday; I should have been on alert! In my busyness today, I completely forgot! Not to mention that today another who-knows-who was PK’ing me in an instance; I have too many enemies now!
At that moment, Da Fei was filled with regret, anger, and immense relief! Anyway, it’s fine as long as nothing happened. From today on, I’ve learned my lesson; I’ll never do things that make my loved ones hurt and my enemies happy. I won’t give you any more chances!
Ignoring those players disappearing under the patrolmen’s chopping knives, Da Fei rushed to the Teleportation Array. This time, Da Fei was truly scared; to prevent opponents from figuring out his routine and planting a crazed ambush at the Elf Kingdom teleportation array, Da Fei randomly teleported to an inconspicuous inland city.
At this point, Deirdre was enveloped in the glow of Dark Healing Skill, her health gradually recovering.
Deirdre apologized, "I’m sorry, Master, I used the artifact just now to protect myself."
Da Fei hurriedly said, "No, no, no! Your life is the priority; you did well. It’s good that nothing happened!"
Deirdre frowned and said, "The Duke said to use it sparingly earlier, and using it just now seems to have consumed a lot of Divine Power, which might affect the decisive battle."
Da Fei laughed, "It’s fine, it’s fine. We weren’t planning on relying on the Duke anyway; it will still be an unexpected help even if its effect is greatly reduced. In the end, we still rely on ourselves."
Deirdre nodded, "Right, relying too much on external forces can’t truly hone oneself. To make up for my mistake, I’ll work hard on practicing magic to strive to master Master-level Dark Magic before the decisive battle."
Ah, honing my foot! My heart’s already worn out. Da Fei checked Deirdre’s Equipment Bar and indeed saw the Time Hourglass’s golden glow dim as expected. Damn! This artifact is really not durable! How long did Deirdre just use it? Not even two seconds, I bet!
In the hands of high-end players, two seconds can save the world, but in the face of the powerful Eight-Headed Snake that claims to crush all tactics, two seconds is nothing! Anyway, we’ll just have to rely on ourselves from now on. Although using the artifact means Deirdre won’t level up for a long time, it’s okay. I’ll use God-level equipment and skill books to strengthen her, just like Elena—low-leveled but fully skilled and well-equipped, can still smash monsters without any problems. In short, from now on, I won’t bring Deirdre to appear in front of ordinary players.
Let’s head back. Da Fei remembered something and called out in the guild, "Anyone free? Go check the Teleportation Array in Farolan Square to see if there’s any unusual activity." Alright, I’ll admit I chickened out. It wasn’t until now that I remembered the utility of the guild.
Da Bing immediately called out in the guild channel, "Brother Fei, I’ll go check immediately. By the way, it seems there were reports of some idiots attacking Brother Fei in the city just now?"
Da Fei smirked proudly, "Idiots are just idiots; everyone saw their end."
One Sword Eastward immediately said, "Those Bloodrose bitches did it, no doubt! Next time I see them, I’ll fight them for Brother Fei as revenge!"
Da Fei’s heart sank. It was indeed Bloodrose! Otherwise, they wouldn’t have targeted Deirdre specifically, and with such coordinated efforts. Damn, and to think my little account joined your guild and even helped your guild earn a domain; how can I possibly retaliate to let some of this anger out?
Da Bing asked again, "Brother Fei, there’s news that you stomped on Dragon Slayer; is that true?"
Da Fei, having no mood for chit-chat, just replied lightly, "Low profile, low profile!"
Everyone chimed in, "Brother Fei, as expected of Brother Fei!"
...
In the Bloodrose Studio, the sudden golden light plunged the entire studio into dead silence.
Bloodrose Qiqi exclaimed, "Everyone on the scene couldn’t move just now, right? Is this the legendary Great Prophecy Skill?"
Bloodrose Holy Spear replied solemnly, "This is a Divine Art only the Pope can use; it’s not within the realm of magic. How could a Banshee use it? It must be the artifact’s effect."
The women were all abuzz, "This artifact is too high-end! Just how many artifacts does Da Fei have?"
Zhou Qing let out a long sigh, "Even with this, we still couldn’t take him down. Our gap with him is growing; we seem to need to accelerate taking a high-end route."
Bloodrose Holy Sword said in a low voice, "Sister, the monastery’s gatekeeper, the old nun, has an extraordinary background. Even the dean fears her somewhat. I suspect she’s a female version of a Shaolin sweeping monk, and she might know Great Prophecy Skill too. Should we go after her?"
Zhou Qing snapped, "Fine, this task is on you."
Bloodrose Holy Sword coughed awkwardly, "Uh, can we have someone else do it? I think Qiqi would be perfect!"
Bloodrose Qiqi flatly refused, "No way! With everything going on, there’s no time to go back to the Newbie Village and do tasks!"
Zhou Qing sighed, "Alright then, we’ll leave the Newbie Village tasks to the new girls, like Blood Arrow Fragrance and the others."
"Yeah, yeah, that works well."
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