Translator: Lonelytree Editor: Millman97
At the same time, the Top 50 players entered the scenario. One scenario was on the city streets. A dirty manhole that was thick with grime suddenly loosened. Then, a white powdery substance crawled out from under the ground. Initially, this “bone dust” was just flowing out from the edges of the manhole, but they soon erupted into a “dust foundation,” blowing off the top completely. A rain of dust shot into the sky, raining heavily on a ten-meter radius.
Shadows and souls slithered within the curtain of sand. Soon, the shadows turned into physical entities. There were nine living undead spirits, to be precise.
“This is indeed a place reeking of death,” a large skeletal head shrouded in fire mumbled as it floated in the air. Its name was Snared Soul, a monster just slightly weaker than the 4 Pillars of Divinity. There were eight more creatures next to Snared Soul. The first was Cursed Soul, who had the appearance of a Latin male. He was large and muscular and wore a garb of brown cloth. He looked just like a normal human, except that his eyes had no pupils. They were like white jade, glowing eerily.
The second one was War Soul, looking like a female human but only three meters tall. She was covered in a tough-looking exoskeleton and had a pair of dragon wings on her back.
The third one was Banished Shade, who looked like a muscular vine creature. Its body was made of ropes of muscles intertwined together, and one could barely tell what was what. At the top part, there was a giant meat blob that was supposed to be the head. It had no ears or nose, the eyes were disproportionately large, and it had a gaping maw with two rows of razor-sharp teeth peeking out.
The next one was Shapeless Shade, a black rock floating in the air. It was around three cubic meters large and looked like an irregular-shaped crystal with decorative gray and white lines on the surface.
Another was Blood-crazy Shade, an eight-meter-tall figure with a green face and fangs. It had three heads and six arms, while the lower body tapered into a snake tail. The body was covered in a ruby-like casing, casting its figure in a reddish glow.
Another was The Repentant, a brown-haired woman about thirty and wearing a leather armor. Her skin was exposed and was covered in wounds. Her eyes and mouth were all sewn shut with steel threads.
Next was The Decapitator, a Caucasian woman about twenty, with red hair, a sturdy build, and wearing a soft armor. Her face and right arm were covered in a metallic-looking shell.
Last was The Observer, a male giant about four meters tall. He had a body built like a god, and his impressive physique had a blue sheen to it. His long white hair was pulled into a ponytail behind his head, lashing like a dragon’s tail.
These nine creatures of varying shapes and forms were the direct generals of King of the Nether Abyss—Nine Phantoms of the Dead Souls.
“There are wandering souls everywhere,” The Repentant said in a weak and airy voice. The fact that her eyes were sewn shut did not seem to affect her vision. “More than ten thousand of them.”
“There are others as well. Foul little things,” The Observer added in a low and thick voice.
“Should we clean them up?” the Decapitator asked eagerly.
“Do not act so recklessly,” Snared Soul warned in a leaderly tone. “There is something else here…something strange that does not belong here.”
Cursed Soul explained to the others, “It should be the travelers from the other world.” His eyes were glowing brighter. “Hmm…I have not seen so many of them appear at the same place at the same time before.”
“Hah… Since they are all trash, we’ll just clean them up either way,” Blood-crazy Shade said darkly.
Suddenly, while they were discussing beneath the night sky, a curious-looking white line appeared without warning. Shadows of the data flow wiggled around the white line. Seconds later, the white line was peeled back, and an arm reached out, followed by the head, and then the body. Finally, a figure slipped through the gap and fell right within the group of monsters.
The uninvited guest was a woman who was 1.9 meters tall and had green hair. She was one of the Anomalies from Origin, L2-Blood Orchid. Blood Orchid stared coldly at the nine monsters surrounding her. From her perspective, what she saw was a group of numerical codes that moved and glowed. As an extension of the gaming program, she could access these data and analyze them further.
—
Data analysis…
Breaking through firewall…
Downloading information…
Initiating counter tactic…
Appearance recognition database initiating, downloading, inputting, correcting, inputting, inputting…
———
Name: Snared Soul
Forces: King of the Nether Abyss
Race: Dead Spirit
Level: ???
Height: 0 – 139 cm
Weight: ??
Fighting Style: ??
Possessed Skills: ??
Danger Level: Medium
Voice Recognition: Constructed
Current Location: Y-012
Tracing triangulation: Unachievable
Control Status: Not controllable
Battle Strategy Option: Calculating…
———
In Blood Orchid’s “battle page,” she was looking at these data. Since she was only on Level 2, she couldn’t fully analyze the enemy’s data. There were parts of the data that she needed to collect through direct combat or other methods of data collection.
“What… are you…” The Observer spoke again. He spoke very slowly, and he sounded a bit unintelligent.
“You have no presence of the living but no feature of the dead either,” War Soul said as he took half a step forward. “Interesting…Is it an enemy? I would hope so.”
“Can you state your reason for being here?” As the most powerful of the Nine Phantoms, Snared Soul was naturally also the most intelligent. He knew about the Anomaly and thus came forth with a more logical question.
Blood Orchid’s analysis of these nine spirits had already completed when Snared Soul asked his question. She replied, “My order has no conflict of interest with your purpose. My superior is not interested in this piece of land. As long as you do not interrupt me, there is no reason for us to fight.”
Snared Soul was quiet for a moment before he continued, “Looks like your target is the travelers from the other world?”
“Curiosity kills the cat,” Blood Orchid warned. She had twice answered their questions with ambiguity, and she gave away nothing. She did not take on a hostile approach either. After all, she was facing nine unique sets of data alone. If they fought with her, her only option was to run.
“Let me chop her up!” The Decapitator jumped up and down to interrupt.
“No, wait…” Snared Soul halted her. After a pause, he said, “Let us go.”
“But why?” The other eight phantoms all showed confusion, at least those with faces who could show emotion.
“Are you questioning me?” Snared Soul replied darkly. As the leader of the Nine Phantoms, he had the right to order them. His words forced the others to back down.
“We’ll split up to clean away the trash.” Several seconds later, Snared Soul continued, “But try to avoid the travelers from the other world and…” He paused, turned to look at L2-Blood Orchid, and said, “Organisms like her.”