N-A-A Chapter 27 Hidden Level
Chapter 27 Hidden Level
"What the hell is this disgusting thing?"
He swung his sword and cut off a worm that burst out of a skeleton soldier's body, only to be sprayed with yellowish-green fluid. Black Hand cursed and reached out to wipe it off, but his hands were covered in the slime, so he had to use the edge of the long table next to him to scrape it off.
Yu Jing, on the other hand, was much smarter. He decisively fired and blasted the worm to pieces before it could even get close.
These insects rely on hiding in the shadows to ambush and harm people; as long as you take precautions in advance, you can easily deal with them.
However, its bloated shape and the sight of its body bursting open when it breaks are truly disgusting, and one wishes to stay as far away from it as possible.
Fortunately, the team members cooperated better and better, and with each other's help, none of them were infected.
They advanced as easily as cutting melons and vegetables.
Before long, the mercenaries at the front saw the wall, proving that they had successfully breached the room.
Yu Jing and Black Hand immediately separated and went to the other side, looking for the fog door leading to the next room.
As the shotgun barrel rotated, Yu Jing quickly noticed that the corners of the kitchen were piled with the skeletons of various creatures, and the walls were covered with mold, exuding an aura of decay and death.
"We've found the door!"
The voice of a black hand came from behind.
Yu Jing was about to put away his gun and move closer when the beam of light swept up and also caught sight of a wooden door inlaid with several iron bars. There were also more than a dozen strips of paper with strange runes drawn on their surfaces pasted on the door panel.
Is it possible for a room to have two exits?
Quite surprised, Yu Jing glanced back at the other people's positions, but just to be on the safe side, he went forward to check.
To everyone's surprise, when the door was pushed open, it was also filled with billowing black mist, prompting someone to speak up and offer a warning.
"I found a door here too!"
After waiting a while, they saw other people running over quickly. After confirming that Yu Jing had also found the Fog Gate, they were at a loss.
"The layout of this room seems to be a kitchen. The presence of two fog doors leading to other rooms isn't surprising. The key question is how we should choose... Could we miss our mission objective if we choose the wrong one?"
The ultimate goal of the assessment is the skull of the heavily armored skeleton.
There's no point in them destroying the entire castle ruins if they can't get the quest item.
"You're bound to encounter them. Haven't you noticed along the way that you can only open the fog gate to the next room by defeating the monsters in the current room? The rules of this other world are actually a bit like a side-scrolling platformer, don't you think?"
Yu Jing patted the fog gate in front of him. He had wanted to bring this up for a long time, but he had been fighting all the way here and hadn't found the opportunity.
"The target Yao Feng specified is the heavily armored skeleton, which I think is very likely the final boss. No matter which path we take, if we want to escape the alien world, we will eventually have to face it."
When they were at the border, Qinggui asked Yao Feng how to travel back and forth between the foreign lands.
The latter explicitly stated that once the heavily armored skeletons were defeated, they would naturally know how to return, which undoubtedly confirms Yu Jing's speculation.
"I agree with Ash's assessment... Isn't the shape and appearance of this door different from the one Blackhand found?"
Halfway through his sentence, the blue demon seemed to have noticed something, took two steps forward, and pointed to the note covered in scribbled symbols pasted on the door.
"The door Black Hand found didn't have these things, and there was a large amount of rotting debris piled up in front of it, completely different from the situation here. If we follow Ash's reasoning and consider this exotic castle as a side-scrolling platformer, does this mean there's a hidden level?"
Although both are fog doors, the one that Yu Jing discovered is undoubtedly more special.
It doesn't matter if you can't understand the scribbled symbols on the note; the fact that they're stuck all over the door panel clearly indicates that there's something special behind this fog door that must be sealed using these ritual items.
"A hidden level, sounds interesting, shall we give it a try?"
After hearing the analysis from the Green Demon, Black Hand's eyes lit up.
Yu Jing, standing to the side, also raised an eyebrow. Hidden levels are likely to be more dangerous than ordinary rooms, but they also have a greater chance of containing special monsters and treasures. Isn't this the kind of feeling of seeking fortune in danger that he pursues when he participates in adventures in other worlds?
He checked the Torch Watch's talent page when he was acting alone earlier.
Whether it's skeleton soldiers or worms, the quality of the soulfire they provide isn't even up to the low-level standard; it's directly converted into soul fragments.
Currently, he has only activated Bloodborne among the three talents: Bloodborne, Psionic, and Acrobatics. Even so, he still has two talent points available. He definitely has to seize this opportunity.
"Vote. Raise your hand if you want to go through this door."
To avoid wasting time arguing, the mercenary thought it best to be democratic and speak directly.
Then you see four hands raised in unison.
Clearly, it wasn't just Yu Jing; the rest of the team also felt that there was probably something good in the hidden level.
Yao Feng had specifically emphasized before they came in that, apart from mission items, all items the team obtained in the alien realm would be theirs to distribute as they saw fit, and the Explorers' Headquarters would not interfere.
More importantly, the process of opening up the two rooms was very easy; at most, my clothes got a little dirty.
This undoubtedly gave them confidence.
Even if there are stronger monsters in the hidden levels, the four of them can handle them as long as they work together.
Now that a consensus has been reached, there's nothing to hesitate about.
The mercenary pushed open the door first, followed closely by the others, who quickly passed through the fog door and stepped into the new enclosed space.
Just as Yu Jing had previously thought, the interior environment of this "hidden level" was completely different from the room they had just opened up.
There were no ruins or broken furniture scattered on the ground, nor long tables piled with food scraps. When the light shone out, all that could be seen were bones scattered everywhere, large patches of dark brown bloodstains on the floor tiles, and increasingly somber, empty shadows.
The light was suppressed again.
The first two rooms could barely illuminate a range of five meters, but in this room, no matter how high the brightness was turned up, the illumination range was strictly limited to about three meters, which forced the team to shrink their formation.
At this point, the fact that the ground was completely empty became a disadvantage.
Without ruins, furniture, or tables and chairs as reference points, all that remained was the boundless darkness that enveloped them.
Not only is it difficult to discern directions and there is no way back, but it is also impossible to see where the road ahead lies. All you can do is blindly forge ahead. What's even more unsettling is that there are always rustling sounds above your head, like something crawling across the ceiling, or like the whispers of evil curses.
They raised the lamp to try to investigate, but were limited by the unfamiliar environment, and in the end, all they could see were dust particles drifting in the darkness.
The atmosphere grew heavy, and even Yu Jing felt a chill run down his spine.
The reason is simple: since entering this space, the detector pointer on the Torch Watch has never stopped.
Monsters have been lurking around them!