T0 Gaming Guild Saves the World.

Chapter 22. We still don't know what special abilities the second form has (Please read on!)

Realizing that there was no safe zone on the first floor of the underground temple, the group quickly advanced after landing at the boundary between the virtual and real worlds, arriving at the corridor where they had first encountered the zombie horde.

The unknown inspiration from the orange tea received feedback.

"Death is approaching."

Jiang Heyi immediately ordered: "Disperse."

The tightly knit boundary between reality and illusion split in two. Jiang Heyi, French Fries, and the prison guard stood guard in place, while Orange Tea, protected by Zhong Zemo, ran back the way they came.

A chill swept through the entire corridor, lingering only briefly above the trio's heads before disappearing menacingly around a distant corner.

"You're right, just as you guessed."

The jailer praised Jiang Heyi's decision, but his hands moved quickly. The bottle containing inferior elemental essence dust, which he had obtained from Bohe, was fixed to the walls on both sides.

The same bottle also appeared in Jiang Heyi's and Original Flavor Fries' hands.

"I was more likely to choose orange tea than I expected," Jiang Heyi remarked.

Sure enough, no matter where you are, those with exceptional luck are always the ones who bring ridicule.

This was Jiang Heyi's plan: relying on Orange Tea's extremely high aggro value, he would lure the Frog-Head Stitches away upon encountering it.

Zhong Zemo was responsible for protecting the orange tea as much as possible.

The reason for saying "trying our best" is, frankly, that no one believes the monster-luring duo will be able to return. In the invisible magical state, it's simply too difficult to accurately defend against sudden physical and magical attacks.

Given the terrifying strength displayed by the Frog-Head Stitches last time, even the most secure metal shield would be destroyed in at most two hits.

If you persevere until the venue is fully set up, that will be a great achievement.

Four bottles each of dust made from inferior fire and water elemental essences.

The containers containing elemental essence dust were arranged symmetrically at the four corners, with a large amount of [Unstable Combustion Agent] piled up in the very center, and an ordinary, low-level functional wind attribute scroll was pasted on the ceiling.

The "solution" provided by the shameful witch Mint has been arranged.

The three of them stood behind this strange formation, ready for battle.

This is a solution with little room for error. If you can't defeat the Froghead Stitches in one go, it will gradually learn and find ways to counter it, making the subsequent challenges extremely difficult.

"Potato, I've got a joke coming up."

"Do you have to say something offensive when you're nervous?"

Knowing that even if he expressed his opposition, the jailer wouldn't be able to control his mouth, Jiang Heyi simply let him be.

"A perfect mosquito trap. The mosquito lands on the salt and thinks it's sugar. It gets thirsty from eating too much salt, goes to drink water but finds it's filled with wine. It gets drunk, trips over a stick, and then dies on a rock."

Ah this...

It's definitely a classic card game trope: players' wildly imaginative decks require the opponent's cooperation for each element to succeed, and any slight mishap will prevent them from getting the desired result, hence this joke.

"Hopefully, the shameless witch isn't a shameless card player, and that the solution she gives us is simple and practical," Jiang Heyi couldn't help but think.

……

……

The moment the sprint began in the corridor and turned the corner, Orange Tea issued a danger warning.

In fact, no warning was needed; the chilling cold, as if he had fallen into an ice cellar, had already seeped into Zhong Zemo's bones, and his back was ice-cold.

They ran as fast as they could along the straight marble corridor leading to the Great Baths, the sizzling sound of their running breaking the silence.

There is no chance of winning by speed; their goal from the beginning has been to delay, the longer the better, so that even death would be worthwhile.

Zhong Zemo suddenly reached out and grabbed Orange Tea, who was still running for her life. Caught off guard, Orange Tea fell straight into Zhong Zemo's arms, and the two of them tumbled down the smooth marble floor, rolling quite a distance.

The ground on their original route suddenly shattered, sending flying debris into the air.

With no time to clear his dazed mind, relying solely on instinct, Zhong Zemo helped Orange Tea up and held the giant shield in front of him with both hands.

Before they could even see what was happening, the heavy hum of the object striking the giant shield made them lose their balance, and they felt dizzy.

Zhong Zemo exerted all his strength to hold it up, and although the giant shield was cracked, it remained unmoved, as if it had been fused with the ground.

Knowing that the next attack was on its way, Zhong Zemo quickly switched to the kite-shaped shield he had prepared and grabbed the slightly dizzy Orange Tea.

"Bless me, then hold me tight."

"what?"

Although Orange Tea didn't know what this meant, she obediently did as she was told, reaching out to hug Zhong Zemo's waist tightly.

After two unsuccessful attacks, the Frog-Headed Stitches let out a mournful howl, which sent a chill down Jiang Heyi's spine from a distance.

Although only magicians can sense the flow of magic, there is a brief gap between the dissipation of the magical state and the reappearance of the physical form.

A pale arm materialized from the void, as if someone had lightly painted a wet, yet unpainted stroke on the palette of reality.

You can see the ripples!

He adjusted his steps slightly, and held the kite-shaped shield in front of his chest.

The monstrous force arrived in an instant, and the kite-shaped shield shattered and exploded into pieces.

Zhong Zemo and Orange Tea were launched like cannonballs by this attack, flying a long distance and tumbling all the way out of the bathhouse corridor. They slid on the smooth marble floor and finally came to a stop by crashing into a thick pillar.

Now Orange Tea knows why she hugged Zhong Zemo. It's the same move as Potato: anticipating the monster's actions and using its power to speed up the escape from the danger zone.

The kite-shaped shield could not neutralize this powerful force; the direct impact left his right arm bleeding profusely, hanging limply at the ground.

There was no health bar, but there was a limb injury assessment. The shield magic was pierced, but the hand holding the shield was crippled. This was already incredibly lucky for Zhong Zemo.

"Your good luck, if you take a sip, could really save your life..."

"Let's not discuss metaphysics now!"

Thanks to Zhong Zemo's buffer, Orange Tea didn't suffer too much damage. After complaining, she calmly chanted the [Wind Spirit Prayer], one of the class skills she gained after leveling up to Lv5.

Similar to the [Blessing of the Wind] of the Shameful Witch and the Jailer, it can increase movement speed, but the difference is...

Two creatures, resembling miniature elves, appeared in the vortex that converged around the two, fluttering their wings.

Without the command of the prayer-giver Orange Tea, they transformed themselves into a wind wall, blocking the way.

The accompanying wind spirit will do everything in its power to protect the caster, even if it seems like a futile effort.

Jiang Heyi was utterly shocked to see the two disheveled figures appear at the end of the corridor.

"How did they survive?"

Although he couldn't see it, Zhong Zemo's intuition told him that the hands were already reaching for the orange tea.

That is a level of sensitivity that transcends the five senses.

He pushed aside the orange tea, pulled out the last small metal shield, and turned around.

The power that neither the giant shield nor the kite shield could withstand made the tiny round shield look like a joke. However, on this small round shield, a silver-white glow, symbolizing the light attribute enchantment, shone.

In the final moments, Zhong Zemo did not choose to enchant all three shields; instead, he decided to use all his limited potions on the option with the best chance of launching a counterattack.

The enchanted glow briefly illuminated the grotesque outline of the Stitches hidden beneath the magical field, as well as its pale, terrifying hands.

Bang!
In Jiang Heyi's and the others' eyes, the frog-headed stitched monster trembled all over, emerged from the magic field, and slammed heavily against the wall next to it.

Zhong Zemo did not defend himself, but instead, just before the attack arrived, he gently flicked the giant hand of the Stitched Monster, which contained monstrous strength.

Perfectly timed, exquisitely subtle.

The description of the skill 【Shield Counter】 is only one sentence long.

"Timing is everything."

This is not a game with any set rules. How to grasp the rhythm of winning big with small investments and achieving great results with minimal effort depends entirely on the player's own understanding and judgment.

"Holy crap, squid!" the jailer shouted.

"Oh!"

The Stitched Monster, which had just escaped into the magic field, used the same trick again. This time, the attacks launched from different angles were all neutralized by the ingenious shield counter.

It bumped its head against the south wall again, leaving a huge dent in the wall.

Two brilliant counterattacks were enough to create an opening, allowing the exhausted Zhong Zemo to return to the group.

"Holy crap, squid! Holy crap, squid!" The jailer was so shocked by the performance that he started repeating himself, "What frame-tracking shield counter? That's insane!"

Jiang Heyi was also stunned: "You were only eighteen years old and you were using a substitute player?"

Even the plain fries couldn't hold back: "Did I really get a second life?"

The one least shocked was Orange Tea, a gaming newbie who couldn't yet comprehend how terrifying Zhong Zemo's frame-by-frame counterattacks were.

Madness, violence, and roars pierced everyone's eardrums.

The frog-headed stitched monster was enraged. The powerful undead creation, even with only a remnant consciousness in control, felt humiliated by being countered twice.

Just as he lunged at the crowd, Jiang Heyi, who was already prepared, roared.

"start up!"

The jailer never falters at crucial moments, his two magical attacks precisely hitting the scrolls on the ceiling and the elemental dust on both sides of the walls.

The shameful witch's words still echoed in my ears.

"What you need to solve is the problem of being trapped in a magic field and unable to effectively attack physical targets."

"The solution is simple: create an elemental field that interferes with the magic field, and you can force him out."

"Last time you used the [Unstable Combustion Potion] to blast it out, it was based on the same principle: fire and light disrupted the flow of magic."

"Hey, elemental field and magic field are not the same concept... It's hard for me to explain to you with your level of magic knowledge."

"All you need to know is that the elemental field covering the magic field will disrupt the magic state transformation dominated by the siren's body. It will take time for it to adjust to the elemental state. This unstable gap is your opportunity. It will be unable to use the form transformation to avoid damage."

The wind elemental scroll spread the dust throughout the entire corridor to the maximum extent. In this brief window of time, the frog-headed stitched monster will have nowhere to hide!

"Orange tea, may it bring us good luck!"

The quality of the finished products of the [Unstable Combustion Agent] varies greatly. Even the shameful witch admitted that the one they bought last time was her best work.

She gets chased around because of inconsistent quality control, so there's no way to guarantee that the medicine she provides this time will be as amazing.

No problem, we have orange tea.

Offering a breath of good luck with orange tea can be exchanged for a dazzling firework display!
The bright white light filled every corner of his vision in less than a breath, so bright that the prison guard, who didn't have time to close his eyes, shed tears of emotion.

Without elemental shields, their spellcasting was disrupted the moment elemental dust filled the air.

Even if one could cast a spell, it would be of no use.

Perhaps it was because the shameful witch had managed to maintain quality and quantity for once, or perhaps it was because the orange tea had inexhaustible luck.

The corridor crumbled at a visible speed, the bricks and stones collapsing and melting like tofu. The intense heat melted everything around the center into scalding lava, and with the explosion, these hot, dark red hues were scattered, like a volcanic eruption.

At the boundary between the virtual and the real, all five people experienced the feeling of flying. The hot air shockwaves slammed them into the air, and the long, narrow corridor was like a ventilation duct, with erupting volcanic ash and flying debris surging inside this huge duct.

"Wind Spirit... pray!"

"Earth Elemental, Shield!"

Before the chimney effect took hold, two layers of protective magic firmly shielded everyone.

They were like silt carried by a flood, accumulating all the way to the garden where they were first wiped out, before finally finding a foothold and escaping the turbulent current.

"Cough cough cough cough..."

The realistic game feedback resulted in a realistic dizziness effect, and I was glad that I didn't actually throw up in the game.

"Isn't the effect amazing?"

Orange Tea stared in astonishment at the ruins they had destroyed; she had never imagined that those potions would have such power.

Are all the works of the shameful witch this time masterpieces?
Long after the explosion, the group dared not set foot on the ruins again. The large-scale collapse forced them to crawl like rats through the gaps left by the supporting structures.

As they approached the epicenter of the explosion, the jailer suddenly spoke.

"After being blown up like that, he can't possibly still be alive, right?"

"Still not dead?" Zhong Zemo shouted. "Damn it, if it's still not dead, it's no ordinary demon. I have to use my full strength!"

Having exerted himself greatly, Zhong Zemo regained his former vigor and vigorously swung the small round shield.

As expected, the Frankenstein's monster, which had not collected data on the boundary between virtual and real behavior in advance, was completely unprepared for the bombing strategy.

This method, powerful enough to bind several temples together and cause them to collapse, pierced through both of its forms, leaving only the thickest part of the siren's body.

Jiang Heyi and his team still don't know what skills the second form of the Frankenstein monster, the complete form, has, or how powerful it is.

Simple and straightforward, but... it's fucking amazing!
Equivalence is the truth!

A quick inspection of the crater caused by the explosion revealed that the rest of the Stitched Monster was missing, but the Siren's torso was only charred, with each scale still gleaming. Is the Siren such a powerful race in this worldview?
"Orange Tea, draw the prize!" The jailer was already eagerly waiting, his eyes practically gleaming as he stared at the floating ball of light.

After entering the game, the series of events and the unwavering trust of her companions left Orange Tea herself confused.

Could it be that I really have great luck in the game?
We can't let this happen again...

Three beams of dazzling golden light interrupted her reverie.

Orange Tea turned around to look at everyone, only to find that they were all looking at her too.

This time, even the plain fries became the ones to bask in the good fortune of the orange tea.

(End of this chapter)