Chapter 689: Black Armor Robots
"Whoosh!" The black-armored figure standing on the roof shot an arrow—a real arrow, but its speed rivaled that of a bullet. One player was killed on the spot, while the other two were intercepted by the pursuing black-armored figures!
"Polite Bow!"
"The class bell is ringing!"
...
"Epidemic Distance!"
"Close your eyes when night falls!"
The two players continuously used items and traits, but only some took effect. When it came to close combat, their bladed weapons clashed against the black-armored figures with metallic sounds!
The two players immediately realized something was wrong, but with reinforcements from the black-armored figures, they had no chance to escape. Each was subdued by two black-armored figures and dragged before the nearest Offering Eye. As the red light intensified and faded, the two who were forced to make eye contact completely lost their sanity within a very short time.
The two who survived returned to the procession, while the dead one was taken away by the black-armored figures.
Xu Huo watched the black-armored figures leave. At the end of the direction they were heading, there should be a massive palace, its width and height exceeding ordinary buildings. However, due to the distance and thick fog, only a rough outline was visible.
But the procession was heading that way, and it was obvious it couldn't be a good place.
Dropping the "Desert Windmill" on the ground, he took advantage of the sandstorm to slip into a nearby building. Kicking through two walls in a row, he burrowed into an adjacent street. But before he could retrieve the item with the Kite String, rain suddenly began to fall from the sky, and the "Desert Windmill" instantly failed!
The black-armored figures caught up. Xu Huo knew that ordinary traits and items were useless against them, so he wielded the "Crimson Sword" to block a kick aimed at his face!
A tremendous force nearly numbed his entire arm. Xu Huo retreated several meters, but before he could steady himself, the black-armored figure pressed the attack. He narrowly used "Moving Metal" to block three strikes, adjusted his position, and fired a shot at the figure's left cheek!
The penetrating power of the Water Blade Gun rivaled that of a bullet, but it failed to cut through the black-armored figure's face—it only scraped off a layer of skin. However, that was enough, because beneath the broken skin, what was revealed was not flesh and blood but black metal!
"Ding!" The lighter clicked, and a burst of flame erupted from the black-armored figure's abdomen, followed by a massive explosion!
The item "Aesthetics of Explosion" was something Xu Huo had obtained from the artistic-style player he had just killed. This item could instantly release an explosive burst of fire from a target object. On the surface, it looked like flames, but it was closer to an actual explosion. However, against the black-armored figure, he used the lighter in combination.
The black-armored figure staggered back a few steps under the explosion and flames, but seemed to feel no pain. Shrouded in fire, it charged fiercely at Xu Huo:
"Boom!"
The "Door of Severed Ties" was dented by the impact, and Xu Huo himself was sent flying. He happened to collide with a black-shirted player who had been chased into the building by black-armored figures. The two grabbed each other for support. At that moment, the black-armored figure's armor fell off, and the flames died out as its clothes and skin peeled away, revealing its true form.
"This is..." The black-shirted player was startled. "No wonder items and traits had no effect. They're just robots wearing human skin!"
This was completely unexpected. At first, they thought it was a mental-type instance, then the Offering Eye Sacrifice Procession turned it into a ghost-type instance. Who would have thought mechanical beings would appear!
"At least this means the instance boss isn't strong enough!" Xu Huo laughed.
"That's true, but these robots aren't easy to deal with either!" The black-shirted player dodged incoming bullets and hid behind a pillar.
Physical attacks were the only things that worked on the robots. They couldn't match their strength, and ordinary blades weren't enough to damage their bodies. Prolonged combat offered no advantage!
Uncertain about the robots' construction, Xu Huo tossed out several jamming devices he had bought in District 011, but they had no effect whatsoever, only costing him a few bullets from the black-armored figures!
"Magnetic Field Center!" Yi Pei suddenly appeared, her hands covered in long black patches as she stretched them out to the sides. Then she crouched and rolled forward. The two black-armored figures flanking her actually crashed straight into each other. However, it was only for a moment before the two separated from the confusion and acted independently.
"This isn't right!" she shouted. "Having robots like this running rampant in an instance already exceeds the difficulty of a D-rank instance. Players have no chance of clearing it!"
Mental interference was already hard enough to deal with, and now they had to face things that rendered items and traits useless. Were players just supposed to walk in and die?
Xu Huo attacked a black-armored figure again but was repelled. He wasn't slow, but the "Water Blade Gun," "Beautiful Ray," "Hurt Others Not Self," and "Crimson Sword" couldn't damage the robots. The robots also seemed to avoid direct contact with players, so the "Life Core" was useless.
Seeing that the crowd outside the building was growing larger and more eyes were watching, he simply cut through the roof with his sword, closed his eyes, and jumped out.
Even with his eyes closed, he could feel the intense red light outside. Distant drumbeats sounded again. After a moment of disorientation, his senses returned. He dodged sharply to the side, but was kicked into the street by a black-armored figure!
The procession closed in. The people surrounded him, pressing the wooden eyes—which were spewing red light as if alive—against his face.
Without opening his eyes, Xu Huo raised his hand and cut down several people, stomping on a few wooden eyes in the process. He looked up at the pursuing black-armored figures, grabbed a nearby corpse, and hurled it at them!
The black-armored figure conjured a long blade and slashed the flying body. Xu Huo tapped his ring, and a bubble flew out, hitting the charging robot!
Under the bubble's effect, the black-armored figure lost weight and floated into the air. Xu Huo was about to strike, but then a gust of wind swept in from a distance, swirling around the robot's head. The metal skull was torn off!
The headless black-armored figure was still active. Xu Huo quickly slapped its body, and the mechanical frame, which swords and blades couldn't damage, began to crumble from the chest and abdomen!
"Go!" Xu Huo turned swiftly, grabbed the Invisibility Cloak that flew over, and leaped into a nearby building with the metal head.
The people in the procession kept surging forward. They smashed into buildings, searching and occupying every room, even overturning cabinets and tables. The black-armored figures moved across the rooftops, checking every place where there was movement.
Xu Huo hung from the wall using the String, waiting until the search party had passed before slowly descending to the ground. Avoiding the eyes of the statues inside the room, he silently slipped outside.
"Thump!"
"Thump!"
"Thump!"
With the distant drumbeats, the sounds of fighting nearby subsided. The procession quickly returned to normal, and the black-armored figures resumed their positions on the rooftops.
Out of twenty players, only two black-armored figures had been taken down. It was unclear how many players were still alive.
Eyes were everywhere, making it nearly impossible to meet up and cooperate with others. Xu Huo waited until the crowd had thinned a bit before moving through the air toward the large palace ahead.
(Chapter End)