Hmm? Why is it Sword Star?

Wu Chang was taken aback; wasn't Sword Star just resting for a few days after their Inspiration Value surged from photographing the Count's Manor?

How come just a day later, they went to the small pier to take pictures and rowed so deep in the little boat?

Wait, who is the woman next to him?

Although Wu Chang hadn't been in Briff for long, with at least half of the island's townsfolk he hadn't met, he was sure there was no tradition of half-dyed black and white hair on Briff Island.

That woman is a player.

Moreover, she's a player he hadn't seen before.

With a little thought, he realized that the Management Bureau must have sensed the difficulty of Peaceful Town and sent in outside help for Sword Star through special means.

Sending someone mid-instance to rescue, was it through special items or temporary Management Bureau permissions?

Whichever it was, being able to break the rules of the Abyssal Game to an extent, the Management Bureau was more powerful than he had imagined.

It's just that their talent selection is a bit lacking.

The woman sent in to help seemed even more pitiful than Sword Star; at least Sword Star could control the Flying Sword and leave some marks on the giant Sea Monster, roughly akin to acupuncture.

Meanwhile, the woman assisting seemed to rely entirely on Energy System and Status Class skills, unable even to draw blood; facing the giant Sea Monster Divine Envoy, she barely managed a massage.

For now, let's not laugh at them since they helped draw out the Inner World.

He turned his attention back to his True Self, just about to suggest Erin join him at the small pier when he noticed Erin staring blankly in the direction where the Sea Monster had appeared, saying:

"I can feel my body."

"Didn't I tell you, your body has already been burned to charcoal…"

Wu Chang cut himself off, not because what he was about to say was too hellish and feared it would hurt Erin, but because he suddenly remembered he had awakened Erin from the Bishop's Resonance of Mental Images.

He hadn't actually seen Erin's real corpse.

Erin was a puppet made by Professor Ebert and the Church using all possible technologies and materials, and her internal components were treasures with Mystical Power. How could it easily be burned into charcoal?

Charcoal was just an artistic creation in the Bishop's Resonance of Mental Images; Erin's real body was likely "put to good use," incorporated into something else.

For example, the Sea Monster in the Inner World at the small pier, or perhaps the giant girl on the Count's Manor's main house.

Wu Chang asked, "What do you plan to do?"

"I want to retrieve my body," Erin replied.

"How will you retrieve it?" Wu Chang pursued, for he had none of Ebert's skills to extract parts from the dispersed Sea Monster and reassemble a body for Erin.

Erin's body floated up, with her "Blessing of the Great Saint Mother" pendant flickering with light.

"I will withdraw my consciousness into the pendant, and if you put it on my body, I can regain control of it. I need your help."

"Wait!" Wu Chang reached out to halt Erin's dispersal, making an exaggerated circle with his hand, saying:

"Your body's state is a bit large right now; the necklace probably won't fit."

Erin: "Then let it swallow it, or stuff it inside. Any other questions?"

Wu Chang shrugged, "None."

"Then I'll leave it to you, Mr. Sekos."

Erin's body transformed into a white light, merging into the Blessing of the Great Saint Mother.

The Golden Sea Region was adjacent to the Inner World where the small pier was located. Wu Chang, holding the necklace, transformed into a giant whale figure and leaped into the sea.

Under the oceanic blessing, he swam far faster than traveling on land, and it wasn't long before he reached the boundary between the two Inner Worlds.

The light from the Starlight Lighthouse shone down, clearing a passage through the area barrier, and he swam along the path to the small pier.

"Sword Star, haven't you reached the shore yet? I'm about to collapse!" The Negotiation Master strained to maintain the Magic Shield, blocking the continuous assaults from the Sea Monster.

"I've done my best. This sea region is peculiar, and my Sword Heart still hasn't found a flaw!"

Not long ago, Sword Star, heedless of the danger of an Inspiration Runaway, took a gamble and slashed with all his might.

That slash indeed worked, slicing open the Sea Monster's eye, with the Flying Sword following the eye's path into the Sea Monster, shredding its brain.

They had thought the battle would end then and there, but before they could find a way out of this sea region, the once-defeated Sea Monster came back roaring alive.

Not only fully revived, but its damaged eye was regenerated as well.

After that slash, Sword Star stopped trying to defeat the Sea Monster, focusing instead on rowing the boat and finding a chance to escape.

He rowed so fast that his arms left afterimages, the wooden boat's speed nearly matching that of a typical speedboat, yet the small pier seemed forever out of reach, no matter how hard he tried.

Clearly, the sea region had special rules, trapping them in a Ghost Wall.

Sword Star rowed while using his Sword Heart to sense the sea region's rules.

Sword Heart, a unique skill of the Sword Sect and its most crucial skill.

Not only can it enhance the player's swordsmanship skills, but it also allows the player to transcend the shackles of the mortal body, observing the world through the sword as a proxy.

In the surge of crisis, he quickly discovered the anomaly in the sea region and immediately turned the bow of the ship, charging straight towards a certain reef.

At full speed, the wooden boat catapulted from the surface, flying towards the front.

In mid-air, he formed a sword technique with his fingers, pointing forward, and shouted, "Open!"

The flying sword sped through the air, slashing out a strike towards the sky, leaving a transparent sword mark where the sword light passed.

The wooden boat collided with the sword mark, as if a fingertip pierced through a layer of cling film, as if a transparent barrier was blocking their way, preventing them from leaving.

If the space were intact, the wooden boat would fall back into the sea and be caught by the sea monster.

But now, the "cling film" was cut open by the flying sword, and with a mere poke from finger, it offered little resistance before tearing apart.

The wooden boat broke through the sea region space, landing heavily on the small pier.

They escaped.

Sword Star and the Negotiation Master walked off the wooden boat, just about to catch their breath and feel lucky to have escaped a disaster.

Unexpectedly, before Sword Star could catch his breath, they saw the sea region space behind them being completely torn open, and the sea monster charged out from the breach, chasing directly towards the shore.

"Fuck! This sea monster can come ashore!" the Negotiation Master swallowed, feeling completely numb.

"What about the promised dungeon vacation? What about just taking a spin and getting paid? What about the rules-judgment type dungeon?"

"I'm here to earn some pocket money, not to risk my life!"

"Sword Star, time for a confession, outside they already know your Sword Sect realm had a major breakthrough, you lowered the dungeon's corruption level from 75 to 20—there's no point in pretending anymore!"

Initially planning to play along with Sword Star, to see how long he could keep it up, but I didn't expect this guy could hold his composure, even with the sea monster right in front, still pretending to be weak with his crappy flying sword.

Getting so deep into the role, he should become an actor in the future.

Sword Star was stunned, "Are you sure you didn't see it wrong when you came in?"

The Negotiation Master twitched her lips slightly, as if still addicted to the act.

"Old Xu told me personally, so what do you think?"

Sword Star saw that the Negotiation Master was determined not to believe him, so he helplessly showed his heavily damaged attribute panel.

"See, it really wasn't me."

The Negotiation Master repeatedly confirmed, especially after seeing Sword Star's ridiculously high 45 points of Inspiration and only 10 points of Will, believed that the reduction in the dungeon's corruption value was truly not due to his strategy.

Inspiration Will at 4 to 1, planning to close yourself off completely, risk death if you don't break through?

With these attributes on me, let alone fighting, I'd have to play the Great Compassion Mantra in my ears just to sleep at night.

Now the Negotiation Master panicked, dragging Sword Star as she ran wildly, shouting, "Who did it then, hurry up and call for help!"

Sword Star remained silent.

If he knew, wouldn't he have called for help a long time ago?

The inner world area in the small pier wasn't large, the two quickly reached the end.

The sea monster, perhaps tired of chasing, glared at the Negotiation Master.

The Negotiation Master's body shook but quickly recovered, though her expression grew more anxious.

"That damned thing just made a judgment on me, fortunately, my resistance to judgments is high, you better think of something, I can feel its judgment standards rising continually, a few more times, and even I won't be able to handle it."

The Negotiation Master's forehead began to sweat.

The good news is, Peaceful Town is indeed a judgment-based dungeon; if other players received that judgment skill, their attributes would decrease by at least 30%.

The bad news is, besides being skilled in judgments, the BOSS inside the dungeon is also physically strong.

A dry cough broke the tense atmosphere.

"Excuse me, are you in trouble?" The Wu Chang True Self in a black robe turned out from behind the reef next to the two.

Sword Star recognized the black robe on Wu Chang, exclaiming, "You're the player who was on the beach at the start!"

Out of all the players entering the dungeon, only the man in the black robe in front of him and another melancholic artistic man, he hadn't seen even once since the dungeon began.

Wu Chang did not respond to that, continuing:

"Just now when you were escaping from the sea, you dropped something, which I happened to pick up."

From Sword Star's reaction, the Negotiation Master sensed this person was unusual, asking, "What thing?"

Wu Chang produced two necklaces in his hand, asking, "That you have to tell me, brave players, did you drop this silver necklace, or this gold necklace?"

He blinked and took out the "Blessing of the Great Saint Mother."

"Or is it this special quest item necklace, which you just need to shove into the BOSS' mouth to take it down."

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