The Minotaur Labyrinth.
Located in the swamp area, it was home to new creatures.
The Pinch Beetle was an interesting monster.
It possessed two large pincers, nearly half the size of its body, which it used to lock onto its prey when attacking.
The immense pressure felt as if it would snap one's waist; it was an absolute nightmare for anyone afraid of insects.
Being lifted by those two pincers made Galen Yu feel like he was riding a rocking horse.
Steve's power ensured he wouldn't be snapped in half, and the attacks from the Pinch Beetle dealt only minor damage against his alloy armor.
It was a very novel experience.
After dispatching it with a few quick sword strikes, Galen Yu checked his map.
'Where exactly is it?'
The labyrinth had two levels; he successfully found the entrance to the second floor and killed the Minoshroom.
That monster with a bull's head and human body was said to be designed only as an elite mob; its strength was not at a boss level.
Therefore, it was quite simple to deal with.
Utilizing the longsword's knockback trait, he pinned it into a corner and attacked continuously, defeating it easily.
The drops included a Minotaur Axe, Meef Stroganoff, and a Minoshroom Trophy.
The battle axe was an advanced version of the diamond axe. The trophy was something every boss dropped—a miniature model of its head—nothing much to say about it.
The most practical item was the Meef Stroganoff.
Not only did it provide a large amount of saturation, but it also unlocked the Fire Swamp barrier, granting the qualification to challenge the next boss, the Hydra.
And, there was an enhancement unique to the Block World.
[FIRST CONSUMPTION OF MEEF STROGANOFF, MAXIMUM HEALTH PERMANENTLY +4!]
Adding two heart containers meant four health points!
It was only obtainable upon the first use, which pleasantly surprised Galen Yu.
Besides the effect, the memory of the unique, delicious, and sweet taste of the meat was mouth-watering.
This was an excellent delicacy!
Turning his gaze back to the labyrinth, Galen Yu looked at the map and the surrounding walls.
After killing the Minoshroom, he wasn't in a hurry to challenge the next boss; it wasn't that he was intentionally stalling progress.
Rather, the most precious resource in the labyrinth had not yet been obtained.
The boss seemed to exist for only one purpose: serving as the key to unlock the Hydra.
The true artifact of the labyrinth was hidden behind the bricks!
It was a tool stronger than a diamond pickaxe, one of the Twilight artifacts.
It came with built-in enchantments, had an extremely fast mining speed, and reduced the durability required when mining blocks. Its only drawback...
...was likely how hard it was to find, just like right now.
The labyrinth bricks were very hard; even with an alloy pickaxe, it took over ten minutes to mine one, and there was no telling which cracked stone brick it was hidden behind.
Unknowingly, a day passed.
Not many stone bricks had been mined when Galen Yu heard the news of the Blood Moon's arrival.
'A Blood Moon? It appeared so soon.'
In this state, zombies were stronger and more numerous; they were indeed quite troublesome to deal with.
He wasn't particularly afraid himself. For now, the zombies weren't strong enough to break blocks. At worst, he could just find a place to be a despicable two-block-high person.
The chunk was a bit more problematic, though.
He had worked hard to train the villagers, the Architect, and others; he didn't want to return to find a bunch of Zombie Villagers.
As he was thinking, another notification sound rang out.
[CHUNK CONSTRUCTION PROGRESS INCREASED, CURRENTLY COMPLETED: GREAT WALL - MYTHOLOGICAL (FRAGMENTED)]
[PERMISSIONS UNLOCKED: GUARD VILLAGER, STRONGER IRON GOLEM!]
[GUARD VILLAGERS ARE RANDOMLY ASSIGNED CROSSBOWS, IRON ARMOR, IRON SWORDS, BREAD, HEALTH POTIONS...]
[IRON GOLEMS GAIN +10 ARMOR VALUE AND A RADIUS AOE ATTACK!]
The buildings had been strengthened again!
He remembered this Guard Villager mod; its strength was decent.
With good equipment, they could even kill some mini-bosses.
It would definitely be enough to fend off zombies and farm some points!
Plus, with the enhanced Iron Golems, even if the Crisis Mod spawned zombies on slabs, there shouldn't be any issues.
Relaxing his mind, he continued to search for the hidden treasure room in the labyrinth.
Galen Yu's concerns were, after all, unique to him.
The chunks of other players were only so large; keeping livestock was already a struggle, and they never saw any villagers.
With no NPCs to use, they didn't have to worry about their chunks being occupied by zombies.
Indus Kingdom.
After defecting to the Naga, Kapil's life was not comfortable.
Every day he had to wash the Naga, enduring the foul stench, and was subjected to inexplicable whippings, all just for the Naga's amusement.
Fortunately, Kapil was still alive and had not lost the Indus Kingdom's chance to compete.
If he could achieve a ranking during the Blood Moon, he could still obtain rewards.
"A red moon."
Gazing at the sky, Kapil's body trembled.
Even in the Twilight Forest, that red moon had appeared, its blood-red light so piercing it was hard to keep one's eyes open.
The previously sluggish Naga sensed a threat, its pupils gradually narrowing into vertical slits as it stared warily outside the courtyard.
The night grew dimmer until the blood-red moon fully emerged.
[THE BLOOD MOON RISES!]
Crimson characters flashed before his eyes as he hid behind the Naga.
Through the gaps, Kapil could clearly see the zombies outside.
Even more terrifying than a horde!
As far as the eye could see, they surrounded the courtyard without end!
Detecting enemies, the Naga let out a roar and charged straight out.
While crushing several blocks, it tore a large hole at the courtyard entrance.
Hiding in the back, Kapil's eyes lit up.
[KILLED CRISIS ZOMBIE, YOUR BLOOD MOON CHALLENGE RANK HAS RISEN BY ONE!]
The Naga's kills actually counted toward the ranking performance!
"The Serpent God protects us, the Naga is shielding us!"
"This is part of the strategy. It looks like surrender, but we are actually utilizing the boss!"
"Getting the boss to work for us for free—who else could do that?"
"With the Serpent God's help, how could first place not be ours?"
"When the time comes, the reward might even allow us to directly tame the Naga and restore Kapil's chunk!"
"Our Indus Kingdom is finally going to rise!"
Upon discovering this loophole, the Indus audience grew excited.
Assistance from a boss was unheard of, even if the process was somewhat humiliating.
In the end, they had achieved it!
"Surrendering to a boss as a tactic... that is indeed a novel perspective."
Noticing the rankings, Fries had a strange expression on his face.
It wasn't that he wanted to discourage anyone, but he clicked on the name.
[PLAYER RANKINGS]
[1ST PLACE: NAGA (KAPIL), SCORE: 5.]
[2ND PLACE: FREEDOM NATION, SCORE: 3.]
[3RD PLACE: HANS NATION...]
Even the name of the Indus Kingdom had disappeared, replaced directly by 'Naga'.
In this kind of master-servant relationship, even if a reward was triggered, it wouldn't go to Kapil; it was far more likely to go to the Naga.
Looking at the prideful Indus bullet chats again, Fries felt embarrassed for them.
As players, when they saw a boss, its health bar was visible.
They shouldn't be thinking of submission, but of a walkthrough!
Instead of being ashamed, they were proud.
To take the concept of losing face to such an extreme... one could only say it was typical of the Indus Kingdom!
Ridiculous!
Meanwhile, the Freedom Nation had long since prepared for the Blood Moon.
They had designed a simple small fort outside the Lich Tower, with a group of glowing green zombies appearing beside them.
These were neither vanilla nor Crisis zombies, but creations summoned via a Zombie Staff that obeyed their commands.
Composed of some kind of magical power, their health and damage were even stronger than ordinary zombies.
In one go, eight were summoned and positioned around the area.
As the Blood Moon descended, more zombies appeared and launched an attack on them.
"So many zombies?!"
Startled by the numbers, Mark steadied his nerves and raised his bow.
With the loyal zombies below, Mark and Jett used ranged attacks from the fort. Together...
...their efficiency was much faster than the Naga's, and in a short while, they surpassed Kapil.
During their confident slaughter, no one noticed...
...the ranking of the neglected Nine Provinces was rising at an incredible speed!
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