Chapter 2871: I Have No Intention of Dying Here
As the "Green Moss" swung down, the bearded man's figure vanished once again!
Being able to interfere with perception, sight, and hearing—this was likely an effect that ordinary props couldn't achieve. Xu Huo knew that some trait effects were extremely peculiar under the game's enhancement, and this was very possibly a certain trait.
However, he wasn't about to stand still and take a beating. No matter how many times the bearded man tried to get close for an attack, Xu Huo mercilessly slashed through his figure. After several attempts, he understood that the biggest flaw of this trait might be that it couldn't get too close to the target. In a different location, the bearded man's trait could have perfectly covered his escape, but his disadvantage lay in the instance, and the instance venue wasn't even that large.
So when the "Time-Space Hand" spread its space tangents, the bearded man had no choice but to use props and instruments to resist and interfere with the space power in order to weaken the tangent's attack power. He himself could disappear from others' perception, but the props and instruments' effects couldn't.
After catching the opponent's trail, Xu Huo instantly teleported to his position and activated "Mirror Space." Under the powerful mental control, the bearded man involuntarily obeyed the commands Xu Huo issued when he felt a headache.
"Listen to me."
With the dual enhancement of mental power and traits, the bearded man couldn't help but stiffen for a moment. He was different from the short, thin old man.
The short, thin old man had been overly confident in his own mental power, and his spiritual world was in an open state. He was also caught up in speculating about the purpose of the teacher sending him to this instance. He habitually tried to probe something from a mental perspective, but he never expected Xu Huo wouldn't waste words with him and directly struck to kill.
The bearded man was wearing mental-type defense props. He didn't understand those flashy mental games; he instinctively raised his defenses and tried to forcefully break free. So he only stiffened for a moment before immediately struggling, scattering props wildly in his hands.
Xu Huo retreated into the adjacent room, but the effect of "Mirror World" wasn't lifted. The bearded man didn't bother wiping the blood from under his nose; he turned and fled. But before he could get far, when he reached for a prop on his body, his hand passed straight through it!
The bearded man couldn't hide his shock. He had dealt with mental evolvers before and understood some of the effects of mental evolution. He knew that in the spiritual world, when mental power reached a certain level, one could pass through walls and burrow through the ground. Forget bricks, stones, or mud—even metal walls might be like air in front of them.
He thought this was a change in the state of objects caused by mental power, but it depended on the toughness of the material the mental power was passing through. Thin metal walls could be penetrated, but thick enough ones might not. In other words, the more special the material, the less likely mental power could pass through it. He was also quite certain that he hadn't been so thoroughly infiltrated by mental power that he couldn't tell whether what was in his hand was real or fake. So why had his hand passed through the prop?
The pursuer was like a shadow. As the bearded man fled, he turned back and saw Xu Huo twisting the ring on his finger again. His brow twitched in alarm—that was a time prop, and he wasn't lucky enough to dodge it every time!
In a flash, he suddenly stopped in his tracks, turned around, and said, "I agree to your method!"
If he kept fighting, he might not have the upper hand. Entering a container prop, for example, was clearly more dangerous in the current situation.
Xu Huo deliberately stopped twisting the ring and also withdrew his spiritual world, pointing with his chin toward the central courtyard.
The bearded man obediently walked out.
The instance venue lit up again. Wang Xin and the others looked at the silent man and silently accepted Xu Huo's proposal.
In the end, everyone on Wang Xin's side entered Xu Huo's container prop. Xiong Xiaoxin and the bearded man did the same, but they still didn't receive the clearance notification.
After releasing them again, Xiong Xiaoxin said, "Reducing the number to three still doesn't clear the instance? Could it be that only one person can survive in the entire instance?"
The bearded man warily looked at Xu Huo, afraid he would say next that everyone should enter the container prop.
"It seems this method won't lead to clearance." Xu Huo thought for a moment before saying to everyone, "Let's gamble tonight."
"How do we gamble?" Yue Yan'er pressed.
"First, keep ten people outside, and have the others enter the container prop. These ten people won't enter the small compartments after 8 PM. The instance's second clearance task is to kill everyone who enters the small compartments within a day. Reducing the number of people and emptying the small compartments are both related to the two clearance tasks. It might be necessary to satisfy both simultaneously to clear the instance," Xu Huo said.
"Doesn't that mean staying outside all night?" Cong Lei said. "Staying outside in the first half of the night means facing the instance boss head-on!"
Xu Huo nodded, not giving the others a chance to refuse. "So we need people who are confident they can survive the instance boss's attack. You can discuss it among yourselves."
"Additionally, if we still can't clear the instance after the instance boss starts moving, we'll need to start reducing numbers. The people active outside will be reduced by a certain amount until we clear the instance."
"And if we still can't clear it?" the bearded man said. "Even with life-saving props, we can at most withstand one attack. That's a mass of space power—touch it and you die. I'm afraid we'll all be dead before we even get a chance to clear the instance."
"You have props that can forcibly open space portals, right?" Xu Huo said. "The props you're carrying should be better than my finger covers. The active space portals in the instance venue are decreasing, so you'll need to use your props."
"The instance boss is hard to deal with, but we can divert its attention by violating the rules."
"Before nightfall, I'll take the bell into another space. Additionally, I'll arrange for someone to go to the third space to attract the instance boss's attention in time order, buying time for the others."
"During this time, we'll start reducing numbers."
"If we're lucky, after the numbers are reduced and the small compartments are empty, the instance should stop its operations. If we're unlucky..."
He swept his gaze over everyone, "Then try your best to survive."
Everyone's eyelids twitched at his words. Was this something that could be accomplished just by trying? This was practically gambling with their lives!
If they really couldn't clear the instance right after nightfall, they would have to face the instance boss's hunting for the next four hours. Four hours? Even with a few life-saving props, they might not last ten seconds!
"I disagree!" the bearded man said. "The Hundred Forest Society can't be wiped out here!"
The Hundred Forest Society's losses were already severe enough. If they followed Xu Huo's method, they might all die. Probing the clearance method like this was meaningless. It would be better to just hunker down in the instance and survive one day at a time until the district government stepped in. Someone would naturally figure out the clearance method!
"The active space portals are gradually disappearing. If the spaces can no longer connect, we'll be stuck in a fixed space being hunted down." Xu Huo looked at him sharply. "I have no intention of dying here."