The underground cave was a very large map. The tunnels crisscrossed and were interconnected. The players could encounter many events. There were three entrances to this place, and they were separately hidden all over Chang Lin Town. No matter which entrance the players took, there was only one way to move forward, and they were sure to encounter some kind of trap or monster. The routes would turn numerous, and various rewards were hidden in the middle or at the end of these routes.
The pool that Xiao Tan and Laughing Soul had fallen into was survivable even for players who did not know how to swim. Even though the middle of the pool was deep, the edges were swallow. One only needed to hold their breath as they sank to the bottom and slowly wade to the edge to survive because the distance was not that far. Furthermore, even if the players had short breath and choked on the water, they would not lose consciousness. Instead, they would lose Life Points and suffer the sensation of drowning to a certain degree that was deemed acceptable by the system. By moving along the path by the pool, it was programed that the players would encounter the monster’s ambush.
“Feels like something is coming…” Hearing the strange noise, Xiao Tan offered another useless observation.
“That’s what I was about to ask you,” Laughing Soul said. “There are no plants on the wall, but there is a stench in the air. That proves the existence of certain creatures. But that smell was not present in the path that we took earlier; it only appeared here. This means that the creature is probably very large and can only move about here.”
Then she took out MP5 from her inventory and attached her flashlight to the gun to aim at the darkness before them, ready to shoot.
“Then we’d better run!” Xiao Tan said. “If we run back to the narrow passageway, it won’t be able to chase us.”
“And then what?” Laughing Soul asked back. “There is only way forward. Even if the pool is temporarily safe, we are unable to leave.”
“Hmm… that’s right.” Xiao Tan took out his Winchester Shotgun and filled the ammo. Actually, it was not a bad idea to escape back to the pool. After all, the players had no issue of basic needs like sleeping or having to use the toilet in the game; as long as they were not attacked, they had no problem with survival.
When they were discovered to be missing at sundown, the other teammates would venture out to find them. But Feng Bujue did not know what had happened to Xiao Tan and Laughing Soul, so it was impossible for him to predict that they were trapped inside an underground cave. He would probably suspect they had been captured or something. Therefore, even if Feng Bujue and the rest went to look for the two in the houses, they would only check if the house was occupied and might not discover the hole in the abandoned home.
In any case, if they returned to the pool, the most likely event was that they would not be discovered until the end of the scenario, and that was why Laughing Soul made this decision.
“It’s coming, very close already…” Laughing Soul stared at the darkness seriously. Both she and Xiao Tan had Level E in sleuthing, but as a shooting specialist, her eyesight was better than Xiao Tan’s. Xiao Tan heard that, and he raised his gun, preparing to shoot ahead.
Another booming roar occurred, and then a monster about the size of a car entered their sight. The monster was so large that they were unable to have a full view of it standing so close. But its skin had a rippling stickiness to it, reflecting the light. That provided a rough silhouette of its entire body, and it looked to be a giant crocodile. But the monster’s head was slightly different from a crocodile’s. It was closer to a dog’s, but the roar that it made was closer to a bear’s roar.
Bang!
Xiao Tan fired. At this close distance, this should be a very powerful shot, but it was unable to pierce through the monster’s scales. At most, the bullets cut into the scales but were unable to harm the flesh. At the same time, Laughing Soul’s MP5 started to unload. But her attacks were more efficient and focused. She aimed for the monster’s eyes, and there was a regularity to her firing. The large croc knew that it would be in deep trouble if its eyes were harmed, so it opened its large jaw and weaved its head about to evade. At the same time, it slithered forward.
“Back!” Laughing Soul’s one word was simple enough to understand, and Xiao Tan understood it. He knew that she was not asking him to turn and run but to fight while retreating. So, he fired and replaced the ammo, retreating alongside Laughing Soul.
Even though the attacks were not that effective, it was wrong to say the monster was not affected at all. Furthermore, to protect its eyes, it had to keep shaking its head, so its movement speed was naturally influenced. As the croc slowed down, Xiao Tan and Laughing Soul did not have too much trouble. After all, they had long-ranged weapons and enough ammo. As long as they stayed five meters away from the monster, they would eventually wear the monster out.
The monster had made a startling entrance, and its slow approach in the narrow environment was scary as well. If the players really did turn and turn, they would be under great pressure for they would be chased. But this kind of monster was programed to not be that strong. In fact, it was easier to deal with compared to the tree monster that Feng Bujue and Passing Rain had encountered.
Its speed was normal and was even slower under pressure. It had high defense but an obvious weakness and could be easily attacked by the players. It had a simplistic attack pattern; it was purely physical, and the attack might not kill the player with one hit.
More importantly, the environment basically told the players how to deal with it. Players who only had close combat abilities could choose to turn and run, and they would safe when they arrived at the spot where the monster could not reach them. Long-ranged players had it even easier. They could just use long-ranged weapons to slow it down and kite it around. After all, the cave was only so big, and the target was so large; it was harder to miss than to hit.
Actually, if they had known about this event beforehand, turning to run would have been the simpler option because this monster would eventually be caught at one part of the tunnel and lose its ability to move. Then it would be an easy kill. This kind of setting made the battle appear to be very easy, but that was logical from a systemic standpoint. This kind of hidden cave that obviously had some reward or plot event could not possibly lead the players to a dead end. If that was the case, would it not be easier for the players to fall to their death?
So, after the players lost sixty percent of their Life Points and some Stamina Points at the beginning, the following battle would not be too difficult unless of course this was a nightmare difficulty scenario.
ROAR
Naturally, with another roar, the monster that had been kited for five minutes realized that… after it chased for a while, it had gotten stuck in a spot where the rock walls narrowed, and it was no longer able to move.