Chapter 5: Death Shadow · Diuk (Formerly the Strongest Assassin Beside the Elf King)
...
The Mushroom Knight ended up in his current predicament because he challenged these five "Power Nodes." Only by eliminating these "Power Nodes" could the connection between the Water Mother and Bay City be temporarily severed, allowing the Water Mother to be killed completely.
During his repeated challenges, the Mushroom Knight quickly discovered another issue: the five "Power Nodes" were also interconnected. They could revive using the aberrant power of Bay City. All five nodes had to be eliminated within a limited time frame for them to die completely, after which the Water Mother had to be dealt with immediately.
According to the Mushroom Knight's estimate, the death times of the five "Power Nodes" could not exceed 20 to 25 minutes apart.
In other words, once battle commenced with Queen Sigrian, the Four Living Evil Ghosts, the Five Royal Descendants, Holy Warrior Fenwei, and Death Shadow Diuk, if one of them died, the remaining four had to be completely killed within 25 minutes.
Otherwise, the first to die would use the other "Power Nodes" to absorb the aberrant Abyss Force and revive.
"I couldn't gather more intelligence. I never thought I'd die here. I always believed that when I died, it would cause a stir somewhere..."
After saying these final words, the Mushroom Knight's head slowly drooped, and his aura dissipated.
In truth, the Mushroom Knight's experience was very similar to Jiraiya from the Naruto World. The Mushroom Knight died probing the enemy's abilities. Among the five "Power Nodes," Queen Sigrian and the Four Living Evil Ghosts were the most formidable, and they were the main cause of the Mushroom Knight's death.
The Four Living Evil Ghosts were the four from the fishing village. Earlier, Su Xiao had parted ways with them near Bay City. Seeing that both Bay City and the nearby Forest City were in trouble, the four worried about their fishing village and returned to check if it was safe. If the village was fine, they planned to come back and continue serving Su Xiao.
What happened at the fishing village was unknown, but judging from the fact that the four had mutated into the Four Living Evil Ghosts and appeared in the Great Relics, it could be guessed that the fishing village had likely suffered a calamity. Having lost their loved ones, the last thread holding them together snapped, and they completely degenerated into evil ghosts.
Su Xiao looked at the map drawn on the ground with blood by the Mushroom Knight. The terrain of the entire Great Relics was circular, with the five "Power Nodes" located at five corners of the inner ring, surrounding the Water Mother at the center.
Beside him, Wood observed the map for a moment and said, "Each of us will handle one 'Power Node.' When the battle starts, have Baha infiltrate the center to prevent the Water Mother from reinforcing the five 'Power Nodes' around her."
Hearing this, Zuiyasi frowned in doubt and said, "If Baha is watching the Water Mother, then you, me, Bai Ye, and Yuer—the four of us will each handle one 'Power Node.' What about the last node? Should Aidoer handle it? Aidoer, pick one from these five."
Zuiyasi pointed at the five names on the ground. Aidoer's gaze wandered among Queen Sigrian, the Four Living Evil Ghosts, the Five Royal Descendants, Holy Warrior Fenwei, and Death Shadow Diuk. She felt that none of them were easy to deal with.
Among the five "Power Nodes," Queen Sigrian had to be handled by Zuiyasi; no one else could manage it.
Queen Sigrian's ability was too troublesome. She was the first wife of Elf King Kerenwei, his first spouse. Her ability wasn't strong before—she could harm herself to make enemies feel the same pain she did.
This ability was practically useless. For example, if she stabbed herself, she would bleed profusely, but the enemy would only feel pain without any real injury.
However, after her aberration, Queen Sigrian's ability underwent a qualitative change. As long as she saw an enemy, she could form a "Shared Fate" with them. After that, any damage she suffered would be 100% synchronized to the enemy.
After her aberration, Queen Sigrian gained super regenerative abilities. The most troublesome part was that she only synchronized the damage to the enemy, not her self-healing. In other words, if she slit her own throat, she would recover the next second, while the enemy would be clutching their throat and spraying blood.
Even more maddening was that, as one of the five "Power Nodes," as long as the other nodes weren't all dead, even if she died, she could regenerate her body from the blood stagnation of the Great Relics, achieving resurrection.
Queen Sigrian was assigned to Zuiyasi to handle. Su Xiao would deal with the Four Living Evil Ghosts, who had the strongest frontal combat power.
Before their aberration, the four from the fishing village could even handle Shenfu. After they completely abandoned their humanity and became evil ghosts, their combat power would undoubtedly rise another notch. Thus, Su Xiao, who excelled at direct confrontations, was the best choice.
Wood would handle the Five Royal Descendants. Their ability was splitting—they weren't five individuals but a group. Wood, being the best at group combat in the team, was perfect for this.
Yuer would handle Holy Warrior Fenwei. This needed no discussion; the ability counter was obvious.
The last one, Death Shadow Diuk, had no one to handle it. Logically, Baha should take it, but Baha had a crucial mission. He had to first bypass the perception of the Queen, the Four Living Evil Ghosts, the Five Royal Descendants, the Holy Warrior, and Death Shadow, then infiltrate near the Water Mother at the center to prevent her from reinforcing any side once the battle started.
"Zuiyasi, should we have Aona come out? She'd definitely have no problem dealing with Death Shadow Diuk."
Wood suggested. Hearing this, Zuiyasi said, "If we could fight as a couple, we would have been acting together long ago."
"Then what now? Should we have Kaisa deal with Death Shadow?"
Wood looked at Su Xiao as he spoke. Among those present, Su Xiao was the most familiar with Kaisa.
"..."
Su Xiao didn't respond. This was highly unlikely. Kaisa valued his life too much. Expecting him to deal with Death Shadow Diuk was less reliable than hoping Diuk would commit suicide.
Among the intelligence provided by the Mushroom Knight, the information on Death Shadow Diuk was the least. To be safe, it was best to arrange for a formidable person to handle it, just in case.
"I have someone in mind."
Su Xiao took out his communicator and checked. There was only half a bar of signal. Once inside the Great Relics, there would definitely be no signal at all. He dialed a frequency, and static interference came through.
"Hiss... at... Bay, hiss~"
Hearing this vague voice, Su Xiao guessed that the other party meant they were in Bay City.
"Royal Palace Rear Garden District, Kingdom Council Hall. Royal Palace Rear Garden District, Kingdom Council Hall..."
Su Xiao repeated these two phrases, trying to minimize the impact of the poor signal. Even if the other party heard it intermittently, they could roughly guess the meaning.
After repeating it over a dozen times, Su Xiao ended the call and had Bubu Wang temporarily disable the traps he had set earlier.
After waiting for nearly an hour, footsteps came from the corridor behind. Solomon walked in, wearing a black robe that looked extraordinary, with gold threads embroidered along the collar and edges—definitely of Immortal Rank quality.
Solomon's aura, like a Black Mamba King Snake, was hard to forget. As he arrived, the temperature dropped a few degrees. Behind him followed his three strongest summons: Hell Knight, Death Lord, and Bloodthirsty Death God.
As soon as Solomon arrived, Su Xiao received a notification.
[Notification: Team member Aidoer Papa has paid 300 Soul Coins.]
[Team member capacity limit temporarily +1 (lasting 2 natural days).]
Aidoer was quick-witted. The Dawn Team normally had only 5 slots, which were already full. Since Solomon was here, he would definitely need to join the team, both for easier communication and to gain benefits from team skills.
The reason Aidoer chose to pay Soul Coins rather than leave the team was that she felt this team, which seemed like a boss team, had a high chance of clearing the Great Relics. She didn't want the spoils, but just the title-related rewards would be enough to make her smile in her dreams.
Closing the notification, Su Xiao didn't say anything else. He used his imprint as a medium to pull Solomon into the team.
As soon as Solomon entered the team, a look of suspicion appeared in his eyes. Presumably, he had never seen a team with a luck rating of E- to S+.
The boss team was successfully assembled. Target: the Great Relics.