Without hesitation, Yu Zhun made his choice. He would continue downward!
After a bout of dizziness, he entered the next floor. This time, he clearly felt that his surroundings were different. For the first eleven floors, he had been in a dark, primeval forest, but now, solid stone bricks lay beneath his feet. He seemed to be inside some sort of structure. Looking around, there were no towering pillars of light—only a blindingly bright speck of light guiding his way forward.
He silently reminded himself, "I need to be careful. This is already the twelfth floor." Both [Sword Dance] and [Swift Step] had been activated the moment he entered.
SWISH!
A sharp whistle pierced the air. In the next instant, a dark purple arrow shot straight toward Yu Zhun's head. Utilizing the buff from [Sword Dance] to quickly dodge, he narrowly brushed past the arrow. The moment he got a clear look at it, a look of surprise washed over his face.
He realized, "These arrows... they're different from before! It's not just a gap in quality; even the stylistic design is completely different." He wondered what his opponents on the twelfth floor could be.
Stomping his foot, Yu Zhun charged like a bolt of lightning toward the direction the arrow had come from. However, unlike before, the hidden archer didn't stay rooted in place waiting for him. Instead, accompanied by faint footsteps, the opponent moved rapidly while firing arrows, attempting to kite Yu Zhun.
Arrows shot out from various angles. The complex, unknown architecture also posed a significant obstacle to his pursuit. By the time he finally got a clear view of his opponent, his health had already dropped to around forty percent.
"Finally caught you." Yu Zhun clamped his hand down on the opponent's shoulder, a fierce glint in his eyes. However, upon seeing her appearance, he momentarily froze.
It was a breathtakingly beautiful female archer. Aside from a pair of long, pointed ears that distinguished her from humans, her physical traits were almost identical to those of the Human Race. Her pale skin was adorned with pitch-black Demon Patterns, giving her an alluring, demonic aura.
[Demonized Elf Archer (Lv10)]
[Attributes:
Health: 100,000
Mana: 800
Physical Attack: 1500
Magic Attack: 0
Physical Defense: 400
Magic Defense: 400]
Seeing the opponent's attribute panel, Yu Zhun instantly snapped back to reality. He thought, "Does this Nether Trial have some kind of misunderstanding about what Lv10 means? Who in their right mind has 100,000 health at Lv10?! This is even more absurd than the boss on the previous floor!"
***
"Talent Leaderboard, 78th place." Ji Ruoxu looked at the updated ranking of [Open and Aboveboard] on the leaderboard and nodded slightly. "He has passed the eleventh floor."
Given the astonishing clear speed from earlier, Ji Ruoxu wasn't the least bit surprised that the owner of the [Open and Aboveboard] talent had cleared the eleventh floor.
"I just don't know what method this junior used to deal with the fifteen lackeys summoned by the boss," he murmured, a trace of curiosity appearing in his eyes.
The most perverse ability of the Demonized Orcs Commander on the eleventh floor of the Nether Trial was likely its instantaneous summoning of a mob of lackeys upon dropping to half health. There were only four ways to deal with this problem.
The first was to use area-of-effect group attacks to quickly eliminate all the lackeys. This method was suitable for a Mage, and it was exactly what Ji Ruoxu had done back in his day.
The second was to adopt an attrition tactic, constantly whittling down the enemy's numbers until both the lackeys and the boss itself were killed. This heavily tested a player's endurance, damage output, and skill.
The third was to tank the lackeys' attacks head-on and focus solely on the boss. The moment the boss died, its summoned lackeys would die along with it.
The fourth, and most unreasonable method, was to instantly one-shot the Demonized Orcs Commander right as it reached half health, denying it any chance to summon. So far, however, only one person had achieved this. That was the owner of the 4th-ranked SSS-grade talent on the leaderboard, [Half-Life Extinction]—another Vice Hall Master of the Divine Revelation Hall.
This talent could directly trigger an execute effect when a target's health fell below 50%. Any opponent facing him effectively only had half a health bar. It could be said that it was a perfect counter to the Demonized Orcs Commander.
"[Open and Aboveboard]... Judging by the name of the talent, I lean more toward the second method—crushing all opponents with absolute power," Ji Ruoxu said, a hint of a smile surfacing in his eyes. "Such an imposing approach truly fits the style of an SSS-grade talent."
He took a relaxed sip of his tea, his gaze fixed on [Open and Aboveboard]'s rank on the leaderboard.
"Barring any accidents, this junior will definitely delve further into the twelfth floor," he added, a reminiscent look flashing across his eyes. "The twelfth floor..."
Back then, he had stopped right there. Before he could even catch a glimpse of the opponent hidden in the dark, his health bar had been emptied by arrows, forcing him to leave in defeat. It was only later, after speaking with seniors who had reached deeper floors, that he learned the opponents from the twelfth floor onward were no longer Demonized Orcs, but Demonized Elves.
Compared to the Demonized Orcs that only knew brute force, the Demonized Elves not only had far more absurd base stats, but they also possessed exquisite combat skills. Furthermore, the changing terrain introduced even more unpredictable variables.
"The Beastman Race... The Elf Race..." Ji Ruoxu's expression grew solemn as he let out a soft sigh. "To think that such powerful races from the past still couldn't escape the fate of being corrupted by Demonization and reduced to puppets."
Just as he was lamenting, the leaderboard in front of him suddenly updated. The SSS-grade talent [Open and Aboveboard] leaped from 78th place straight to 70th.
Ji Ruoxu froze for a second before abruptly shooting up from his seat.
***
[Congratulations on successfully clearing the twelfth floor of the Nether Trial!]
[Current Stage Rewards: EXP +2000, Selective Lv5 Master Level Equipment x1, Equipment Enhancement Stone x20, Equipment Upgrade Stone x2!]
[All stage rewards can be claimed upon leaving.]
[Leave] [Proceed to the Next Floor]
Stepping into the Teleportation Array of the twelfth floor guided by the speck of light, Yu Zhun was instantly stunned by the text popping up before him.
Although the Demonized Elf Archers were ridiculously strong and their numbers had increased from three to five, according to the rules of the Nether Trial, they were supposed to be the equivalent of the Demonized Orcs archers on the first floor. These were merely normal monsters, yet the equipment reward offered was a piece of selective Lv5 Master Level Equipment. The other rewards were exceptionally generous as well.
"If the pattern holds true..." Yu Zhun's eyes flashed with excitement as he realized, "Doesn't that mean I can get three more pieces of selective Lv5 Master Level Equipment? At this rate, when I reach the sixteenth floor and have to fight 1v5, won't it reward me with selective Lv5 Epic Equipment?! That's Red Equipment worth tens of millions, or even hundreds of millions!"
Having spent no small amount of effort to kill the five Demonized Elf Archers, Yu Zhun felt utterly reinvigorated. After slightly adjusting his condition, he directly chose [Proceed to the Next Floor].
Thirteenth floor...
Fourteenth floor...
Fifteenth floor...
Everything went exactly as Yu Zhun had predicted. The subsequent three floors featured Demonized Elves of the Warrior, Assassin, and Mage Professions, respectively. With three more pieces of selective Lv5 Master Level Equipment securely in his bag, Yu Zhun stepped into the sixteenth floor filled with boundless anticipation.