Chapter 2217: The Lethal Power of the Goddess Statue
Other players were astonished by the physical resilience of that stranded player, but soon, they no longer had the mood to care about whether others were strong or not, because when the ticket player fell from the foot of the goddess statue, he tore off the cloth covering the statue!
The wide red silk curtain slid down, and the true visage of the goddess statue abruptly crashed into the eyes of everyone present. The eyes embedded all over the goddess's body opened almost simultaneously. Their moving pupils searched for targets in the surroundings, instantly locking onto everyone inside and outside the temple, including the ticket player who had his back to the goddess statue.
The ticket player, along with the two stranded players at the temple entrance, froze under the gaze of the eyes. Moments later, blood gushed from their noses and mouths, and they died on the spot. The players a bit farther outside the temple fared no better. They couldn't even manage to tear their gaze away from the goddess statue, staring fixedly at the statue ahead until blood flowed from their eyes, their pupils twitching unnaturally. Then they spat out large mouthfuls of blood, and finally, their bodies went limp, kneeling before the temple, at the feet of the goddess statue.
There were actually quite a few players scattered around. One temple player, enduring excruciating pain, used telekinesis to cover the statue with the red cloth again and called for his companions to retreat farther away. Gradually, those wildly rolling eyes subsided and fell into slumber within a very short time.
The mental pressure inside and outside the temple vanished completely.
"Is your head filled with water?" the temple player roared in fury. "If the cloth on the goddess statue could be removed, why would we keep it covered normally? If you want to die, don't drag others down with you!"
This remark reminded others. If anyone knew the most about the temple, it would definitely be these players responsible for temple security.
The people around instinctively turned their gazes toward them. These temple personnel were already aware of what had happened outside and sneered coldly, "This is our first time entering this instance. Normally, only the divine envoys know everything that happens in the instance, but unfortunately, they've been killed."
"Your divine envoys are completely useless," the A-rank player said, rubbing his temples. "There's no one in this district who can truly communicate with the goddess. Just tell us how you take things out of the instance."
"The instance items hidden inside your temple couldn't have been brought in by you yourselves, and players from other zones wouldn't be kind enough to bring them out and give them away."
"I told you, no one knows except the divine envoys," the temple player who had spoken earlier insisted stubbornly. "Otherwise, why would we support the divine envoys?"
"You know very well what this instance is like. Today, you and the holy maiden took turns on the altar. You probably arranged for mental super evolvers. Are you really still believing in this goddess nonsense while you're in the game?"
"Can you even handle the goddess's belongings?" the temple player mocked, pointing at the goddess statue inside the temple. "Let me tell you, there are at least twelve such goddess statues in the entire temple. The one moved outside for the Goddess's Birthday is just the largest."
"The holy land temple doesn't have that many goddess statues," said a stranded player who had been inside the temple before.
"Do you think the temple you've seen is the real, complete temple?" The temple player's mockery deepened. "Watch your step."
With that, these people actually retreated into the temple behind them and directly closed the doors.
The A-rank player scrutinized the doors, paused for a moment, and then left.
Everyone had already witnessed the power of the goddess statue. No one dared to approach recklessly anymore, and even the fighting quieted down considerably.
Only after they had almost thoroughly inspected the temple did a player ask, "Why haven't we seen a single clearance player who entered earlier?"
Quite a few players had entered before the Goddess's Birthday. The time requirement for this instance was fourteen days. Had they all died?
"No living ones, but I haven't seen any bodies either," a player with a wounded arm couldn't help but say. "Can players really leave this instance alive? Are those stranded players real?"
"Don't think nonsense," another player beside her scolded. "Mental-type instances are most taboo against this."
But that's just how people are—the more they're told not to do something, the more they want to do it. Besides, they had to figure out how to clear the instance; how could they not think at all?
However, there were a few players with stable emotions who had already found a place to rest, completely ignoring the others and focusing on tasks that required concentration.
Xu Huo pressed his sore eyes. When the goddess statue had appeared earlier, he hadn't had time to retract his spiritual realm and had been seen again. But since he was farther away and the temple seemed to have some limiting effect, the situation was much better than before.
Most importantly, after taking the evolution agent this time, his progress had been rapid. Whether using spiritual power or spatial power, the burden had been significantly reduced.
However, in this instance, the lethal power of the goddess statue was indiscriminate, affecting both locals and outsiders. This was a world of difference from the wise and intelligent form of the goddess he had seen manifested outside. Was it a requirement of the instance, or was this simply an unstable place?
The temple gradually quieted down. Xu Huo leaned against the door, resting with his eyes closed. Soon, the first person packed up their location item and left the side hall.
That person had walked out of the side hall in a daze, but regained clarity shortly after. Realizing he had inexplicably come out, the player hurried back with some panic. However, he didn't re-enter the side hall but instead went around it, entering a temple behind that housed a statue. He walked to the wall behind the statue, stopped, made a closing-door motion, and then plunged headfirst into the wall, immediately being swallowed up.
Xu Huo knew that the temple walls also contained spiritual power, but directly swallowing a person was no longer just a matter of spiritual power. Even if it were a spiritual gate, that player shouldn't have disappeared directly from inside the temple.
In an instant, he arrived outside the temple. His spiritual power rapidly searched inside and out, and when he couldn't find the person, he expanded the search range. There was no trace of that player anywhere in the entire temple...
"Could this be similar to the underground mine entrance in Fresh Flower City, with another space existing?"
Without directly touching that wall, Xu Huo returned to the previous side hall. Sure enough, several more people had disappeared along with their items. They were all players who had been pierced through the body by spiritual points upon entering. If these spiritual points were interfering with the players, then as time passed, all players in the instance would inevitably be affected. No wonder the mortality rate in this instance was so high—accumulating little by little, players were being interfered with in ways that were very difficult to detect.
The spiritual points were quite interesting, but he didn't want to waste time here anymore. So he went straight to the Interrogation Hall in the holy land temple, released his spiritual realm, materialized his spiritual power into countless tangents, and pressed them against all four walls of the hall:
"Come out and talk." (End of chapter)