Chapter 42

Compared to the Blood Moon Projection back then, which could still transform into an androgynously beautiful figure, this time it was truly just a… blob.

Yep, a blob.

A massive, bloody mountain of flesh, its mass constantly twisting—shifting between arthropod limbs, squirming tentacles, clusters of many-eyed appendages… In short, every kind of grotesque horror you could ever wish for, it had.

Who the hell started this trend of equating “indescribable” with “nauseating,” anyway?! Damn it!

“Back when I was behind a screen, I could at least say, ‘Wow, this shifting model is pretty cool.’ Now that a keyboard game has become a full-dive VR experience…” Xia Xifeng pinched his nose. “This visual impact, this olfactory assault—it’s too terrifying. Don’t tell me Outer Gods weaken our combat ability purely by being so ugly and foul-smelling that we just want to drop dead?!”

Even Qin Lang was struggling to adapt.

Bloodshed and horror couldn’t shake his will, but sheer ugliness and revulsion… Qin Lang downed a Scent-Dulling Potion.

In the game, the Scent-Dulling Potion had been utterly useless, something you only used when exploring very specific areas.

Who would have thought that after crossing into the game world, the Scent-Dulling Potion would become an absolute necessity?

Once the smell was barely tolerable, Qin Lang quickly slipped into his combat rhythm.

Xia Xifeng, too, swiftly entered his signature sneaky, cowardly hiding rhythm.

He could always find cover, lurking in a blind spot of the Blood Moon Projection’s attacks while flinging Holy Light Scrolls.

After tossing a scroll, Xia Xifeng would immediately flee, sprinting toward the next safe spot, where he would calmly appreciate Qin Lang’s performance in battle while waiting for the next opportunity to hurl another Holy Light Scroll.

By all logic, Qin Lang’s familiarity with in-game combat should have been limited to keystrokes or controller inputs.

How long had it been since they crossed over? Counting the time in dungeons, he and Qin Lang hadn’t been here even a year. Yet Qin Lang, a keyboard-and-mouse gaming elite, was somehow managing to apply that combat experience directly to “reality.” It was simply unbelievable.

Hugging his staff, Xia Xifeng sat beneath a tilting, broken wall, propping his chin on one hand while mentally counting down the remaining duration of the buffs he had cast on Qin Lang.

He had witnessed with his own eyes exactly how Qin Lang trained.

When fighting monsters, Qin Lang’s mind would immediately pull up the sequence of moves he should use.

At first, when consciously trying to execute those moves, there had been a noticeable stutter between Qin Lang’s actions. But by now, it was as if he had ingrained those skills into his very muscle memory. Even Leo and Perila—his training partners—struggled to find openings against him anymore.

How can my Qin Lang be so damned amazing? Could he actually be a genius?!

Oh, wait. He is a genius with an abnormally high IQ.

But is IQ even related to combat talent? Let’s just say it is.

Xia Xifeng let his thoughts drift idly for a while until his mental countdown finished.

A rapid succession of potion bottles smashed against Qin Lang’s status icon. All buffs refreshed. Now Xia Xifeng could go back to harassing the Blood Moon Projection with his Holy Light Scrolls.

When Taylor first arrived at the scene with his comrades, he didn’t immediately launch an assault against the Evil God’s mortal avatar.

He knew nothing about this mass of evil god-flesh. Charging in recklessly wouldn’t just fail to help Qin Lang and Xia Xifeng; it might actively disrupt Qin Lang’s combat tempo.

Taylor stood at the edge of the battlefield, observing Qin Lang and Xia Xifeng for a good long while before issuing orders to his comrades.

He split them into five-man squads, ordering them to skirmish along the edges of the battlefield.

Every time Xia Xifeng tossed a scroll, the squad positioned farthest from him would immediately hurl their own scrolls, or bombard the writhing, ground-bound flesh of the Evil God with any light-producing spell—Holy Light, Illumination, whatever they had.

Once one squad finished their spellcasting, the squad farthest from them would immediately follow suit. And the squad that had just cast would promptly relocate.

This cycle continued until Xia Xifeng flung his next scroll.

Taylor himself stood at a vantage point, directing the entire operation.

Whenever the Mountain of Flesh flew into a rage, Taylor would charge its main body, sword in hand, helping Qin Lang draw the creature’s attention while simultaneously ordering all combat squads to disengage and retreat.

Once his comrades had fully pulled out, Taylor would quickly disengage as well.

Taylor was exceptionally skilled at team combat. When he joined the fray, Qin Lang—a dyed-in-the-wool solo player with zero synergy with Taylor—would find his rhythm unaffected, at least for short bursts.

Taylor could always sense the exact moment Qin Lang’s combat flow was about to be disrupted and would pull back, exiting the clash with impeccable timing.

The precision of his timing left Xia Xifeng utterly amazed.

The battle strategy Xia Xifeng had provided Taylor was deeply detailed.

Taylor quickly grasped the key points. When Qin Lang’s skills were on cooldown, forced to stall for time, Taylor would step in with his blade, replacing Qin Lang as the primary damage dealer.

At his peak, Taylor’s strength had barely scraped the Legendary Class. By the time he’d died, his cultivation had long since fallen.

Yet now, his combat prowess seemed barely inferior to a dual Level-200 Qin Lang—and certainly far exceeded what was “on paper.”

Xia Xifeng recast his Identify.

New status effects had appeared in Taylor’s status bar: “Silver Moon Blessing” and “Heroic Spirit Awakening.” His level now displayed as “???”

Had he just broken his limits? Xia Xifeng rubbed his eyes and retreated to the edge of the battlefield to chug a Mana Potion.

His escape skill was still quite mana-hungry.

Tilting his head back to down a bottle, Xia Xifeng heard an unusual sound.

Turning, he saw Eigg approaching him.

Xia Xifeng held out a printed copy. “Evil God strategy guide. Catch.”

Eigg took the photocopied Blood Moon raid guide. “Aren’t you worried I’m here to aid the Evil God?”

A mischievous, roguish grin spread across Xia Xifeng’s face. “You and Taylor are arch-rivals. Taylor dares to raise his sword against a god. Given your pride, there’s no way you’d allow yourself to be reduced to some Evil God’s lapdog.”

Eigg’s lips pressed into a tight, thin line.

He read through the guide, then drew his longsword, its tip pointed skyward.

“Valiant warriors of the Elves.”

Threads of silver light began to emanate from Eigg’s body, spreading outward from him in all directions and winding around the Elven warrior corpses that lay on the ground.

Qin Lang glanced briefly toward Eigg’s position.

The Elven warriors’ corpses that even the Blood Moon itself had failed to resurrect… Eigg was actually pulling them back to their feet.

Interesting.

“Impressive,” Xia Xifeng praised. “Even an Evil God couldn’t pull that off. How did you manage it?”

Lowering his blade so its tip pointed toward the earth, Eigg answered, “Because I am an Elf Lord, the commander of the Elven warriors.”

Well, that made zero sense. Too many things in this world operated on the power of sheer “conviction.” Xia Xifeng decided not to bother analyzing it.

As the Elven warriors rose, their faces contorted for a brief moment—a flash of agony pushed to its absolute extreme.

But the instant their eyes fell upon Eigg, that twisting anguish resolved into ironclad trust and determination.

Exactly the same expression Taylor’s comrades had when they saw him raise his greatsword.

“Slay the god.”

Eigg raised his slender Elven longsword once more. This time, the tip of the blade was aimed directly at the god.

He spoke the forbidden words of the Elven First Empire.

Back then, the Elves had styled themselves the “First-born Children of the Gods.” All their tyrannical decrees were issued in the name of the divine. Because they were the gods’ first-born, they were inherently superior; all other races must grovel at their feet.

Thus, anything that showed disrespect to the gods was absolutely forbidden.

Yet without a shred of hesitation, the Elven warriors obeyed their commander’s order to “slay the god.”

While the Elven warriors never once wavered, a profound uncertainty filled Eigg’s own heart.

The Elven warriors he’d awakened had clearly retained their sanity. Why then had none of them questioned his command?

Was it because, after regaining their memories of this endless cycle of death, their hatred for this Evil God had finally eclipsed their steadfast obedience to the Elven Empire’s Eternal Decrees?

“Taylor mentioned that one of the hidden Silver Moon Church’s core missions was to oversee the mainstream Silver Moon Church.” Running out of Holy Light Scrolls, Xia Xifeng simply pulled out an alchemy table and began crafting fresh scrolls on the spot for Eigg. “The fact that you joined the hidden Church proves you already questioned the Elven Empire’s decrees on divine worship, doesn’t it? At the end of every Legendary path lies Ascension. You’ve already stepped onto that road, so your next target is undoubtedly godhood. If you can also become a god someday, then why the hell should you fear some random god? Here, take these!”

Hearing Xia Xifeng’s coarse, vulgar pep talk made the corner of Eigg’s mouth twitch.

He accepted the scrolls and said coldly, “I was never afraid.”

Xia Xifeng replied, “Of course you weren’t. Otherwise, Taylor would laugh himself to death.”

The hand holding the scrolls trembled slightly.

Face dark, Eigg strode away to direct the awakened Elven warriors.

Xia Xifeng: 【Hahahaha, reverse psychology is so cliché, but damn if it isn’t effective!】

Qin Lang: 【This no longer counts as a solo clear.】

Xia Xifeng: 【Hey hey, is winning a little more easily a bad thing? Do you have to solo everything?! Qin Lang, is your brain defective or something?!】

Ignoring the fact that Qin Lang was mid-combat, Xia Xifeng launched into a rapid-fire barrage of scolding curses.

The corner of Qin Lang’s mouth curved slightly upward.

The Resistance Army’s enemies, the Elven warriors, had joined the fight.

As the Blood Moon weakened, the Resistance fighters also gradually regained their memories of the endless cycles.

Agony twisted their faces, but it didn’t hinder their combat.

And when Elven soldiers appeared on the battlefield, the Resistance fighters didn’t hesitate for an instant—they began fighting shoulder-to-shoulder with the very enemies who had slaughtered them countless times.

The Elven warriors, equally without hesitation, provided support to the far-more-experienced Resistance fighters.

Once again, a haze of confusion clouded Eigg’s mind.

The cycle was about to shatter. It seemed everyone around him was striding forward. Only he was still consumed by bitterness over events long past, his soul stubbornly anchored in a bygone era.

“Oi! Since you’re here, fight properly! Don’t space out. I’m not going to save you,” Taylor hollered at the top of his lungs. “If you’re too scared to raise your blade against an Evil God, then get lost to somewhere safe!”

In an instant, Eigg’s confusion vaporized.

Just like Taylor had done at the start, he first took a commanding position on higher ground, directing the Elven warriors and looking for the right moments to assist Qin Lang and Taylor.

Once he’d fully grasped Qin Lang and Taylor’s battle rhythm, he increased the frequency of his direct interventions.

When Qin Lang unleashed his skills, both Taylor and Eigg remained skirmishing on the outer edges; but when Qin Lang pulled back, the two would immediately dive back into the fray, standing side-by-side to confront the Mountain of Flesh.

Deprived of the “Silver Moon’s” blessing, Eigg’s combat power was vastly inferior to the suddenly limit-breaking Taylor.

Yet his coordination with Taylor was seamless. He instinctively covered every gap Taylor left exposed.

Almost as if they’d done this together countless times before.

The solo run had become a full-scale raid, yet the Blood Moon Projection’s HP bar hadn’t increased.

Its projected body rapidly began dissolving. Even the moon in the sky above was visibly shrinking.

This projection was several times stronger than the one Xia Xifeng had encountered in the Dwarf Dream. But that dream-projection had possessed a consciousness; it had even tried to tempt and deceive Xia Xifeng and Qin Lang. This Mountain of Flesh, however, remained utterly silent. There was no clear divine consciousness manifesting.

Xia Xifeng guessed that the Blood Moon’s true body was probably locked in some ferocious battle elsewhere, no longer having any capacity to spare for the mortal realm. It could project its power, but had no focus left to project its consciousness.

Without a divine consciousness to contend with, simply grinding down the Blood Moon Projection’s HP bar was enough to kill it outright.

When the Mountain of Flesh finally dissolved into nothingness, Eigg stood in a daze of disbelief.

Just… that was it? It was over like this?!

The Evil God’s mortal avatar—the thing that had tormented them for gods-knew-how-long—just… died like this?

A profound sense of unreality washed over him.

Eigg had been raised his entire life to believe one truth: the gods were invincible. Therefore, the First-Born Children of the gods were also invincible.

Even now, knowing that the Eternal Elf King had long ago been slain and that this so-called “invincibility” was a lie… a deeply ingrained habit still nearly made him bow in submission before that overwhelming, godly power.

If Taylor hadn’t raised his sword against the god, mocking him, Eigg knew he would have already yielded.

“Nothing special, right?” Taylor said with immense pride.

The primary combat force had been Qin Lang, but he had certainly contributed! So some of this glory was his!

Ignoring Taylor, Eigg turned to Qin Lang and asked, “Out in your world, have mortals already begun to Ascend to godhood? How many are there who, like you, could so casually slay the mortal avatar of a god?”

Qin Lang paused to think. What was Fantasy Realms’s recorded lowest concurrent player count across the entire globe?

“About a million?”

Eigg: “…” He was so shocked he nearly dropped his sword.

How many did you just say?!!