Chapter 2524: Let Me Give It a Try
Xu Huo went alone to the city center. When the surrounding buildings and decorations all turned to metal, the intensity of the siege increased several times over. He had no choice but to expose his position, using every defensive item he could, combined with the "Time Ring" and the Water Cube Barrier, to forcefully carve out a path.
It was clear that the person controlling the metal did not allow outsiders to enter the city center. The surrounding buildings twisted and deformed one after another. Some large structures had their outer walls peeled off, then torn into countless fragments in midair, merging with a rain of arrows to block the way ahead almost completely!
But for Xu Huo, as long as he wasn't simultaneously entangled by a massive amount of metal, no other metal attack could break through the final barrier of the Water Cube.
After several advances were repelled, the opponent seemed to change tactics. During another volley of arrows, he distinctly sensed a few special forces mixed in. Intuition made him dodge those arrows and metal fragments carrying strange power, but because he couldn't evade in time, two of them still grazed his lower back and neck respectively.
Seeing with his own eyes the metal fragments impact the Water Cube Barrier, causing the spatial barrier to deform, Xu Huo's pupils sharply contracted. However, in the next instant, an arrow struck his chest at extreme speed!
"Bang!" His entire body was flung out from the rain of metal fragments, crashing through several buildings in a row and flying nearly a kilometer away. But it wasn't over yet. Before the immense impact force on his body could be fully dissipated, the sky above was once again occupied by a dark, heavy shadow.
Without time to catch his breath, Xu Huo flipped over and fled. Then, countless metal fragments rained down from the sky, evenly shredding every inch of ground he had passed. Some metal buildings were riddled with holes, while others were buried under piles of metal debris—the part of the city near the eastern city center was visibly being destroyed. Dust and smoke rose, creating a dark zone in the heart of the entire city.
The opponent was forcing Xu Huo away from the city center.
The city center was filled with metal, even the streets covered by rock were lined with metal beneath. Logically, the deeper into the city center, the more absolute the opponent's control domain would be, making it easier to kill someone there than anywhere else in the city... The city center that couldn't be approached, the middle-aged man who was fatally wounded yet still insisted on going there...
Xu Huo gritted his teeth and made three more attempts, but each time he was beaten back.
Helpless, he had no choice but to retreat.
The storm of metal fragments did not pursue him beyond the heartland. After getting far away, Xu Huo first went to find the Painting Woman.
The middle-aged man had already been captured. There was no other way—many effective items that worked on humans were useless against the Painting Woman, and ordinary attack items couldn't truly severely wound her. Catching him was only a matter of time.
The three of them hid inside the same cabinet.
Seeing the blood on Xu Huo's chest, the middle-aged man's eyes faintly showed a look of "I knew it" contempt.
The Painting Woman took the seal fruit and stamped another "Have you eaten?" on his face. "What are you so happy about?"
The middle-aged man didn't forget to mock Xu Huo. "Now do you still think you can get the Super Instance?"
"Trying might not be impossible." Xu Huo said calmly. "At least it's better than a local like you who can't even enter the city center even when going easy."
The veins on the middle-aged man's forehead bulged, but he didn't insist on bickering with him. Instead, he said, "The Super Instance will teach anyone who underestimates it a harsh lesson."
Xu Huo stared at him. "What are you looking for in the city center? Instance authorization? A Super Item? Or something else?"
He deliberately paused after each question, but the middle-aged man skillfully concealed his expressions and body language, instead retorting, "This trick of yours won't work on any A-rank player in Zone 001. Judging by expressions and body language... Hah, it might be somewhat useful for C-rank and below!"
"Is that so?" Xu Huo said. "Are you sure you're not just covering up your own guilt?"
The middle-aged man was exhausted. He leaned against the cabinet. "Whether I'm guilty or not, you can try and find out. We're both clear-headed. You don't need to put on such an act. What the Holy Sword Society wants, the players of Zone 001 would rather die than give!"
Xu Huo raised an eyebrow. So the Holy Sword Society was involved in this.
"The external forces infiltrating Zone 001 are related to the Holy Sword Society?" he said. "From what I know, the Holy Sword Society is just a scattered player organization in the game. I haven't heard of any district being controlled by them... Were the players blocking you at the relic area entrance from the Holy Sword Society?"
The middle-aged man carefully scrutinized his tone and expression. "You're actually not from the Holy Sword Society?"
"Isn't that the result you were hoping for from your probing?" Xu Huo countered. "You should be very reluctant to see me as a member of the Holy Sword Society."
The middle-aged man indeed didn't want that, but that didn't mean he would let his guard down. Anyone appearing in the relic area at this time was no simple character. He might not be from the Holy Sword Society, but he could be an agent of any force trying to stir up trouble in Zone 001!
"Show me that cross-space item of yours," Xu Huo said.
The middle-aged man looked at him incredulously. "How can you even say that?"
Show it to him? They were basically enemies. Who would directly ask an enemy for their trump card?
"You came here with a mission. You don't want to leave without completing it, or maybe you can't leave," Xu Huo said lightly. "After all, your appearance in the Metal Forest was already surprising enough. I'm guessing that cross-space teleportation item of yours has limitations—it can't freely enter any space within the Super Instance venue. Maybe there's also a limit on the number of uses. Otherwise, you could have hidden in a safer place and waited for the city to kill us."
"The game personal panel works fine, but no other companions have come to support you. That means some of your companions have lost contact, and you can't find them. They didn't come to save you, but you want to save them. Is there a space item in this metal city that can help you escape?"
"After all, it's a Super Instance. Even if there's no suitable holder for now, it's not something you can just enter and exit freely. So the entrance and exit are fixed—the only way out. Now that place is controlled by the Holy Sword Society, you can't leave, so you can only hope for an item inside the Super Instance."
"I think the instance authorization should be on some Zone 001 player who entered. So there's probably no authorization here."
"The items and instruments you brought are clearly useless—either not high enough level or blocked. To escape your current predicament, you have to rely on items from the Super Instance. Some items can still be used even when the game channels are blocked. And since the Super Instance venue resonates with the items born here, even if they're not particularly special, they might still work."
Xu Huo paused here. "You're clearly out of luck. Why not let me give it a try?"