Chapter 681, Step by Step, Each One Difficult

Translator: Silavin

 

As his chest suddenly throbbed with pain, he was struck by a Monster.

 

However, the pain was not as severe as he had imagined. Though his opponent had left him with a blood-spurting wound across his chest, it clearly lacked the power to kill him.

 

It was precisely because of this that he judged this Monster’s Level to be not high. At most around Level 80.

 

But the problem was: why could not he sense a Level 80 Monster?

 

This was clearly not the time to ponder such questions, as the air was stirred once more and the opponent’s second strike was about to fall.

 

The man roared furiously, and a blast of air exploded from around him.

 

This was his Skill. Though its power was not great, it had a forced Knockback Effect that could repel nearby Monsters. Essentially, it was a Divine Skill for defending against Assassin attacks.

 

As he released his Skill, something, some Monster, was struck and sent flying backwards, crashing heavily into a large tree.

 

The Skill’s Knockback Effect forced this Monster to reveal its true form, allowing the Cherry Blossom Country’s Assassin to use Appraisal to see its details. It was a Shadow Swordsman.

 

“It’s actually just a Level 80 Elite Monster!? How can its Concealment Skill be so overpowered!?” He was shocked but immediately released Skills to counterattack.

 

The Shadow Swordsman had not yet managed to Conceal itself in the Shadow Mist once more when it was blown apart just like that.

 

This was merely a microcosm of Cherry Blossom Country’s main force.

 

At the same time, countless others were suffering attacks from Shadow Isle’s Monsters, resulting in massive casualties.

 

Never mind some Third Profession Players. Due to their dramatically reduced Attributes, combined with Shadow Isle Monsters’ Concealment Skills making them nearly impossible to detect, even three Fourth Profession Players had been killed in action.

 

In an instant, the Cherry Blossom Country’s army fell into chaos.

 

Kage Tenshi sensed the disturbance and, seeing his people thrown into such disorder, gradually emanated a chilling aura.

 

Fortunately, several Level 100 experts intervened at this moment, stabilising the situation.

 

Among the several Level 100 experts were quite a few Support Specialised Professions.

 

They simultaneously cast Skills, preventing everyone’s Attributes from continuing to fall. In fact, they caused them to begin rising again.

 

Moreover, two individuals threw something resembling Holy Light Bullets into the sky. Intense light illuminated the surroundings, dispersing even the Shadow Mist and causing the Concealed Monsters to be revealed.

 

Shadow Isle’s Monsters were not particularly strong to begin with. They relied entirely on coordinating with the Shadow Mist to unleash their formidable potential.

 

After the Shadow Mist was dispersed, those from Cherry Blossom Country quickly regained their footing and began taking the Monsters down.

 

The several hundred Monsters did not hold out for long before being completely eliminated.

 

However, these Monsters were merely bottom-tier creatures. Shadow Isle could produce a thousand Shadow Swordsmen and Shadow Spearmen daily, and Lu Fan would not feel any heartache regardless of how many died.

 

Moreover, the deaths of these Low Level Monsters had quite the effect.

 

On the ground, besides Monster carcasses, lay quite a few Cherry Blossom Country corpses.

 

Judging by the numbers, there had to be around a hundred people.

 

Though most of the dead were Low Level Players, that still showed that these defences had an effect. Lu Fan could not help but hum a tune, then began mobilising Shadow Isle’s Monsters to converge on their forces.

 

The entire Shadow Isle had tens of thousands of Monsters. It was enough to give them quite the challenge! Even the island’s strongest Boss, the Shadow Dragon Human King, was moved by Lu Fan from its spawn point.

 

It had to be mentioned, due to the Fortune Glowing Spring being enhanced by Divine Tempering Liquid, the Boss born from the Fortune Glowing Spring, the Shadow Dragon Human King, had actually become a Level 105 Epic Boss. Its Level had increased by 10!

 

Such a Boss was already enough to challenge a full team of Level 110 players.

 

Combined with the large numbers of Monsters, as long as Kage Tenshi and the Four Patriarchs still continue to not intervene, their remaining forces would be reduced to tears by the Shadow Dragon Human King!

 

Lu Fan now felt like an evil mastermind behind-the-scenes.

 

With just a casual gesture, he could cause all these intruders to perish on Shadow Isle.

 

After the Monster assault, those from Cherry Blossom Country had their morale clearly drop.

 

After all, they had originally thought that coming here with so many people to capture a single Level 70 Player would have been effortless.

 

Yet, after arriving here, they had not even seen their target before so many had already died. Who could accept such a thing?

 

But Kage Tenshi naturally had no intention of having anyone retreat to wait outside Shadow Isle. Seeing the Monsters being cleared away, even with casualties on his side, he callously continued ordering everyone to advance.

 

No one dared disobey Kage Tenshi’s commands, so after a brief rest, they set off once more.

 

This time, having learned from their previous experience, several Level 100 Players in the formation intervened, carefully and cautiously guarding against Shadow Monster attacks.

 

Ordinary Fourth Profession Players simply could not defend against these hunters concealed in the Shadow Mist. Especially not when Bosses like Shadow Soul Reapers appeared, making them impossible to guard against, with casualties constantly occurring.

 

With Level 100 Players providing protection, their people felt much safer. Along the way, they encountered seven waves of Monster attacks but suffered only a dozen or so casualties.

 

However, they dare not become complacent.

 

Because the deeper into Shadow Isle they ventured, the denser the Shadow Mist became.

 

Their Support Specialised Players did not possess Xiao Cui’s Guardian Flow, which could provide everyone with long-term Debuff Immunity.

 

To remove the Attribute-reducing Negative Status Effects of the Shadow Mist, they could only achieve this through repeatedly casting Skills.

 

Even though they were all in the Fourth Profession or above, even Level 100 Players with remarkable Skill Effects and frighteningly High Mana Pools would eventually exhaust themselves.

 

Facing the increasingly powerful Shadow Mist Effects, they gradually felt their Support becoming unable to keep up.

 

Currently, among all of them, except for those Level 100 Players or stronger, everyone’s Combat Power was only around forty to fifty percent of their peak condition. Even those Level 100 Players’ Support Skills could no longer pull them up.

 

This made them extremely uncomfortable. Even knowing the Monsters here were not actually very strong without their Concealment, they still developed a sense of dread in their hearts.

 

Many began moving slower, gradually falling behind the main force.

 

These individuals were undoubtedly subjected to sudden attacks by Monsters that appeared without warning, killed on the spot.

 

Therefore, the further they progressed, the more casualties they suffered.