The moment he heard the other party's voice, Shen Yuinstinctively leaped to the left, dodging the Thrust.
But with a wave of Bumblebee's left hand, the bee needle traced an arc, striking towards Shen Yu, who had just landed.
"Oh, come on!" Shen Yu quickly rolled to dodge, and used the rusty revolver (EGO Loneliness) in his hand to shoot at Bumblebee.
With continuous gunshots, bullets like black dust shot out, hitting the opponent.
When the bullets hit, they directly passed through the mask, bursting inside, leaving a Loneliness void.
This made Bumblebee feel a bit dazed for a moment, but she instantly shook it off, and with a "Ha ah!" leaped into the air, thrusting down at Shen Yu.
However, due to the sound cue, Shen Yu immediately used Backstep to dodge, then followed up with a few more bullets.
Seeing the opponent retreat and shout "Say something!" Shen Yu immediately rolled left to dodge the Sprint. The revolver in his right hand fired continuously.
Although he could anticipate the opponent's attacks by listening to the sound, EGO also provided him with a huge boost to various physical functions.
However, Bumblebee possessed anti-physical high-speed Sprint and versatile Silk Dance control.
In front of her, Shen Yu's stamina, boosted by EGO, simply couldn't withstand the consumption, and with the low damage of the EGO weapon, he could only try his best to reduce consumption and contend with her.
"This is much better than the previous competition," a masked beetle chuckled, tapping the armrest.
"Did you hear, the resonance from that Maggots' weapon?" The long golden cicada from before looked at Shen Yu and asked the one beside him.
"Yes, I heard it. It's an Old Woman's voice, but it's incomplete. I've never heard such a cacophony before." The short, stout golden cicada replied, desperately searching for similar resonance but finding nothing.
"Want to try betting?" A six-eyed beetle near the Fool King asked.
As soon as these words fell, they stirred up huge waves among the swarm, with different insect languages clamoring, giving Shen Yu a headache.
"I bet 500 jio (Hollow Knight currency) on Hornet Guard."
"900 jio, Hornet Guard!"
"Bet 1000 jio on Hornet Guard."
"I bet on Hornet Guard, 2000 jio!"
...
The reported amounts varied, from dozens to thousands, but almost all were betting on Bumblebee, except for a few who were looking for fun and bet 5 jio on Shen Yu.
As Bumblebee's bee needle pierced Shen Yu's left arm, the entire coliseum erupted in excited cheers.
"Noisy lowly creatures." The long golden cicada frowned, looking around. Due to the chaotic clamor, the already faint EGO resonance became even harder to discern.
So he walked into the wooden stands below, disregarding the stench he had previously cared about, and approached Shen Yu below. Another short, stout golden cicada followed closely behind.
Shen Yu glanced at his injured left arm, not overly concerned. He calmly continued to attack with the EGO in his right hand, while listening for Bumblebee's pre-attack sounds to anticipate and dodge.
"I bet twenty thousand jio on the outsider."
A hoarse, low voice suddenly sounded in the center of the wooden stands, suppressing the surrounding chaotic noises. The "Fools" looked at the wooden throne with the six-eyed mask in surprise.
The long-dead Fool King had, at some unknown point, opened his pale eyes, propping his head with his upper right limb, and looked at the two combatants in the coliseum.
"Fool's King, the God of Gods used his great power to rescue your soul, which was swallowed by the void. Why do you profane the Lord with this?" The Seekerlooked at the other party displeased, scolding.
"Your brain is as shitty as your nonsense! What the void wants to do is none of your business!" The Fool King glared at the other party disdainfully, then turned to Shen Yu and said:
"Outsider, I'm rooting for you. If you lose, I'll cut off your head and make it into a mask."
"Then you'd better not root for me," Shen Yu thought, his forehead covered in black lines, as he shook his right hand, which was sore from firing. He looked at the panting Bumblebee in front of him.
"I can do this. Even if this little gun only deals 1 damage, at most I'll just have to pull the trigger 900 times."
"Shikari!" Bumblebee's voice sounded again, and a flying needle Thrust towards Shen Yu, making him quickly dodge.
But as Bumblebee controlled the silk at her tail end, the bee needle suddenly changed direction and pursued Shen Yu.
Seeing the bee needle about to catch up to him, Shen Yu rolled again to dodge.
"Although I don't have Little Knight's temporary damage immunity Shadow Sprint, I can roll!"
Shen Yu stood up, amused, and pulled the trigger of the weapon in his hand at Bumblebee.
Although the opponent's speed was extremely fast, fortunately, the attack pattern was not significantly different from that in the game, and there was also a sound cue before the attack.
And most importantly, the pistol in his hand was a ranged weapon, allowing him to attack while maintaining distance.
Now, what he needed to consider was how to preserve his remaining stamina.
As the battle progressed, the mood in the stands grew even more fervent.
The weak Maggots in their eyes had actually persisted until now, and with the Fool King's endorsement, a large number of insects were now cheering for Shen Yu.
However, Shen Yu's mood was very suppressed. Although he had practiced Sanda before, the high-intensity combat consumed an enormous amount of energy.
Shen Yu was panting heavily, his legs felt as if they were filled with lead, and his right hand, which was pulling the trigger, began to twitch.
But Bumblebee's offensive remained fierce. As long as she rested for a moment, her consumed stamina would instantly recover.
At this moment, Bumblebee was rushing towards her target, but Shen Yu was too weak to dodge. Even if he forced himself to dodge this one attack, he would be caught by the second.
"Damn it, I'll risk it!" Shen Yu simply gave up dodging, raised his EGO revolver high, and continuously pulled the trigger at the approaching Bumblebee.
Bullets constantly embedded themselves in Bumblebee's body, but her offensive showed no signs of slowing down. At the same time, the distance between them continuously closed, and finally, Bumblebee attacked with a Sprint.
"I'm done for." Shen Yu gave a wry smile, closed his eyes, and numbly pulled the trigger. But the expected pain did not arrive.
He opened his eyes and found Bumblebee panting a few meters away, her bee sting only a few centimeters from piercing his throat.
"Outsider, what is your weapon?" Bumblebee asked Shen Yu, holding her bee needle.
"EGO Loneliness."
"Strange name," Bumblebee withdrew her bee needle and nodded to Shen Yu, "Outsider, you win."
All the Fools cheered in unison (except for those who had bet too much money); they only cheered for the victor, for the strong.
"Unbelievable, that strange outsider actually defeated Hornet Guard!"
"Did you see, the guy I bet on won! I told you my judgment was good!" A beetle stood up and shouted, patting the head of the one beside him.
"Don't bother me," the beetle next to him slapped away the other's forelimb, then slammed his head onto the seat in front of him,
"My 2000 jio..."
Countless jio rained down, clinking and clattering onto the coliseum floor.
Although the Seeker Tribe on the upper level did not react as intensely, their hearts were also in turmoil, and they hastily communicated with their compatriots around them.
Because they heard a resonance that did not belong to this world. That resonance was faint and incomplete, but it was completely different from what they had heard before.
Even stranger, the sound actually came from inanimate objects like weapons and armor.
The Fool King hunched over, looking at Shen Yubelow and laughing:
"Interesting fellow, this is the first time I've seen such a peculiar weapon."
Amidst countless fervent cheers, a crisp "ding" sound suddenly rang out, and brilliant light erupted in front of Shen Yu.
Then a voice sounded in Shen Yu's mind:
Resonance ended, [1-10-12] Old Woman tuning rate increased: 1% >> 18%
Tuning Rate 20%, EGO Emergence: EGO Template/Appearance Customizable. (Unlocked)
Tuning Rate 40%, EGO Manifestation: Loneliness Dust (Unlocked)
...
When he regained consciousness, he found himself lying on the ground next to the statue, while the Seeker stood by, impatiently saying after Shen Yustood up:
"Weak creature, to take so long to complete the tuning. If not for our restrictions..."
"I say," Shen Yu interrupted the other party displeased, and asked the Seeker:
"I've completed the tuning, so why don't I feel anything?"
"Foolish creature, recall the previous battle."
Recall the battle? What's so special about that? Shen Yu tried to recall, and suddenly a piece of information appeared in his mind:
Bumblebee Tuning Rate: 30%
[Hornet Guard's Form]
Combat Skills:
Thrust [Beginner]
Air Thrust [Beginner]: Leap into mid-air and Thrusttowards the target.
Silk Dance [Beginner]: Release silk threads from oneself as the center, cutting surrounding objects. Also gain the ability to control silk threads. (Requires silk threads.)
Flying Needle [Beginner]: Wrap the weapon with silk threads to attack. (Requires silk threads.)
Movement Methods:
Jump Boost
Speed Boost
Gain: Backstep [Beginner]
[Bumblebee's Protection]: The children of the three queens will guard your mind, preventing it from being torn apart by that mad light.
"Oh my god." Shen Yu exclaimed. Doesn't this mean that as long as he gets "silk threads," he can directly play a real-life version of "Silk Song"?
Shen Yu's eyes immediately lit up. He took out the God Tuner from his embrace, planning to immediately go find Bumblebee to see if he could get some silk threads.
"What is your weapon, and why can it emit a resonance sound?" The Seeker suddenly spoke, interrupting Shen Yu's actions.
"You mean this?" Shen Yu drew the rusty revolver from his waist and explained to the other party:
"This is called EGO. It's a core extracted and transformed from beings called Abnormality.
"As for Abnormality, well... in your words, they are false gods, but there are a few true ones too."
"EGO, a marvelous thing! Abnormality, strange gods!" The Seeker looked up at the dome of Godhome and exclaimed, then directly bowed to Shen Yu,
"Your Excellency has labored. Please bring other EGO here so that we may listen to the sound of resonance and quench our thirst. We shall now send Your Excellency back to reality."
"Hmph, now that you need something, you're polite." Shen Yu snorted disdainfully, then suddenly thought of something and quickly spoke:
"Wait, first let me ask Bumblebee for a batch of silk threads."
But Shen Yu's words were still a step too late. As the Seeker began to chant, the floor beneath Shen Yusuddenly disappeared, and then he fell with a splash into the void.