Clear skies and a blazing sun. The azure Caribbean Sea…
A luxury yacht – its engine turned off – was floating on the surface of the sea.
There were no attendants on the yacht and only one person could be seen lying on a beach chair placed on the front deck, Miao Yan.
A glass of iced martini rested beside the beach chair and crystal-clear droplets of water could be seen on the surface of the glass.
Miao Yan wore a sexy bikini, a layer of sunscreen lotion on her body and a pair of sunglasses on her face. She was enjoying the Caribbean sun.
Suddenly, she sat up and pulled off her sunglasses, her brows knitted.
After some time, Miao Yan revealed a sudden smile. “An unknown error with a danger classification of Red? How… … interesting.”
Without any overt actions from her, a combat suit suddenly appeared over her body.
“Let’s go check it out!”
In a flash, Miao Yan disappeared, leaving the lonely yacht and an unfinished glass of martini.
…
“Fire!!!”
“Kill them!”
“We must never allow them to come close!”
Every one of the Players had received the prompt in their personal systems. Thus, they turned the muzzle of their weapons and aimed skywards as they fired furiously.
The small formation on the sandy hill abruptly unleashed a barrage of fire to welcome the colossal dragon created by the Electronic Guardians.
Bullets, artillery blasts, lasers… … everything was fired. Most of them were blocked by the invisible ripples of light released by the Electronic Guardians. However, a small portion of the attacks managed to pierce the ripples of light to hit the Electronic Guardians’ bodies.
Some of the hit Electronic Guardians simply exploded while others lost the ability to move, falling down from the sky. However, when considering the total number of Electronic Guardians attacking them, the number of damaged Electronic Guardians was but the equivalent of a piece of hair from nine oxen.
The colossal dragon quickly made its way to the top part of the sandy hill where it abruptly split into tens of streams of Electronic Guardians. All the streams rushed downwards following different directions.
The three Thunderstorm Tanks immediately activated their shields. Some of the Awakened ones and Players also utilized their defensive skills and equipment. However, most of the participants there did not possess strong defensive powers.
Somewhere on the edge of the formation, a low-level Awakened was holding a machine gun skywards, howling loudly as he fired non-stop. There was simply no need to aim as the sky was covered with the Electronic Guardians. Bullet cases flew out in quick succession from the gun barrel to form a small mound beside his feet. Suddenly, an Electronic Guardian dived down and several tentacles grabbed him before jerking him out from the formation.
Before the Awakened could even utter out a cry, the tentacles had torn his body into three parts. Blood and internal organs were scattered all over the ground.
Everyone had gathered together the moment the Electronic Guardians appeared to assume a tight formation and unleash the greatest possible barrage of fire they could muster. Even so, they were incapable of stopping the seemingly endless mechanical octopuses. Those at the edges of the formation were constantly getting picked apart. Some would be wrapped up by the Electronic Guardians’ tentacles, some would be torn apart and some would be pulled up into the sky and hurled down from a high altitude.
“We are Players! Damn it! Players! Why are you attacking us?”
Some of the Players who found themselves exposed threw away their guns and instead pulled out their melee weapons to repeatedly hack the Electronic Guardians surrounding them. However, before they could kill even a few of the Electronic Guardians, they were engulfed by the swarm of Electronic Guardians.
The most stable part of the formation was the part with the three Thunderstorm Tanks. With the shields set to maximum, a blue curtain of light covered the place from head to toe. The Electronic Guardians surged forward to smash against the shield again and again, but were immediately short circuited by the shield’s powerful energy before falling onto the ground, where they continued to wriggle about ceaselessly.
Every time each of the main turrets opened fire to release an arc of light, they would be able to bring down a stretch of the densely packed Electronic Guardians.
However, there was a problem…
There were too many Electronic Guardians!
There was nothing on the sandy hill, not even a bunker. That meant every one of them was exposed with no means to cover themselves. No matter how powerful their barrage of ranged-attacks were, there was no way for them to cover every direction.
This assault by the Electronic Guardians was practically similar to the one that had happened during the invasion of Zero City. As for the participants of this instance dungeon, their defence was over 100 times weaker than the defence put up by Zero City’s defenders.
Although the shield of the Thunderstorm Tank was strong, it still required energy. The Electronic Guardians outside the shields kept smashing themselves against the shields, chipping off a portion of the shields each time before they were incinerated. One by one, the Electronic Guardians swarmed the Thunderstorm Tanks, causing light to flash out from the surface of the shields. Even though they were all instantly incinerated, the light of the shields too, gradually grew faint as it grew thinner.
It did not take long for the three Thunderstorm Tanks to be engulfed by the Electronic Guardians. The rate at which the Electronic Guardians were incinerated by the shields gradually decreased.
Earlier, one of the Thunderstorm Tanks had opened fire more compared to the other two. Thus, it had exhausted more of its energy reserves in comparison to the other two and it did not take long for its shield to grow faint. After flickering a few times, the shield then disappeared. The tentacles of the Electronic Guardians elongated and stabbed into the turret of the Thunderstorm Tank. Next, they violently tugged it.
The sound of metal tearing rang out and the turret was lifted high up before getting hurled far away. The hurled turret then tumbled across the ground a few times before knocking down two Players. In an instant, a group of Electronic Guardians pounced on them.
“Let me go! Let me go!”
The three Starfall Guild members inside the cockpit of the Thunderstorm Tank held laser guns as they opened fire at the Electronic Guardian that had torn open the turret. However, when the lasers struck the shield on the Electronic Guardian, all they managed to do was to create minor ripples. Several tentacles breached the cabin to easily roll up the three Awakened ones. Instantly, they tore open their protective suits and ripped the Awakened ones apart.
Terraflame, Aliosha and Ghostfox were fighting back-to-back, struggling bitterly to fend off the swarming Electronic Guardians.
Ghostfox’s Dojigiri Yasutsuna katana was capable of dealing high damage to spirit bodies. However, it could not unleash such power against mechanical creatures. Although the purple flames raging across its surface could break their shields, the katana required several slashes to take down one Electronic Guardian.
Aliosha continued to carry the laser minigun with her right hand to fire wildly into the distance while her left hand kept sending out beams of light to give Terraflame and Ghostfox various buffs.
“Manager! What do we do? Think of something! We will all die here otherwise!”
Aliosha shouted loudly as she opened fire. In this unending battle, neither their ammunition nor strength would last.
“What kind of plan can I come up with?” Terraflame replied hoarsely. The shield on his left hand defended his body while the war hammer on his right hand kept swinging around in front of his body. “This sky-encompassing number of Electronic Guardians could even wipe out Zero City, let alone our paltry group!”
Earlier, Terraflame was killed once and all of his basic attributes were decreased by one class. He could clearly sense the fall in his combat abilities. Several times, an Electronic Guardian’s tentacles had managed to entangle his shield and he had to exert his all to knock the tentacles away.
His heart was already filled with absolute despair.
Dead. This time, I am truly dead.No one could survive the onslaught of so many Electronic Guardians, not even Guild Leader Shen.
Nearly half of the participants on the sandy hill had died while the remaining participants were all wounded. Additionally, as their rate of fire plummeted, the number of Electronic Guardians that managed to charge into their formation grew. Every second, another wretched cry could be heard. The sandy hill was covered with blood and torn corpses.
As expected, the Electronic Guardians came with the orders to clear the entire instance dungeon. They attacked not just Awakened ones, but also Players.
Myriad Baiter was already dead. Although he had managed to recover most of his magic energy when resting earlier, his body was the weakest. After unleashing ten plus hurricanes to crush hundreds of the Electronic Guardians, he was besieged and twisted into bloody pieces.
Hillghost piloted a walker mech to jump and dart about to dodge the Electronic Guardians’ attacks. Be it its firepower or its armour, the walker mech was far inferior compared to the one he had previously used. However, Hillghost’s superb skill in piloting the mech allowed him to stay alive all the way until now.
At that very moment, however, the surface of the mech was completely covered in marks left by the tentacles. One of its arms had been torn out, causing it to lose half of its firepower. The number of Electronic Guardians around him grew and he would not be able to last more than a few more minutes before they tore him to pieces as well.
It’s over… it’s all over…
…
“Electronic Guardians?!”
With a flash of light, Miao Yan appeared in a half-crouched posture somewhere within the desert. When she raised her head, a look of shock appeared on her face.
Why would so many Electronic Guardians appear in an ordinary instance dungeon?
Somewhere not too far from her position was a sandy hill occupied by a high number of people. Countless Electronic Guardians were swirling down from the sky to swarm the hill.
This scene was reminiscent of flies buzzing around the rotten carcass of a dead animal in the East Africa savannah.
However, the shock she received from the sight alone was far above the shock one would get at seeing the flies. It was simply incomparable.
Before she could even think about it, Miao Yan saw a wave of Electronic Guardians split up from the main swarm of innumerable Electronic Guardians to fly towards her.
In the blink of an eye, the Electronic Guardians arrived before Miao Yan. Brandishing their tentacles like claws, they then pounced at her.
“What are you fellows doing!”
Miao Yan’s heart palpitated with shock. A sword slid out from her right hand to slash down against the Electronic Guardian arriving before her. At the same time, five small and silvery flying swords appeared behind her before swirling around her as if dancing.
When her sword struck the Electronic Guardian’s shield, light flashed out and the sword cut through the shield. However, it failed to cut into the Electronic Guardian’s body. It only managed to cut down two tentacles.
As for the other Electronic Guardians, they had already surrounded Miao Yan.
Damn it! What is going on here?
Miao Yan was completely in the dark about what was happening. She instinctively blocked the attacks of the Electronic Guardians.
Why… would they attack me?I am a Player!
Not to mention, she was a high-level Player with an Exclusive Account and various special privileges.
Given the settings for Electronic Guardians, they should never attack Players.
Besides, she wasn’t even a participant for this instance dungeon.
As a high-level Player with an Exclusive Account, Miao Yan had received a notification from the system. An unprecedented emergency situation had occurred within an instance dungeon known as the Blessing of Osiris.
With her special privileges, if she so desired, Miao Yan could enter instance dungeons using the status of an observer.
True to its name, she would simply be there as an observer. In the observer mode, there was no need for her to complete the instance dungeon’s quest. The monsters inside the instance dungeon will also not automatically attack her.
Additionally, she would be able to leave the instance dungeon whenever she so desired.
For Miao Yan, a [Red] class danger alert was something that had never appeared in any instance dungeon before. Thus, out of curiosity, Miao Yan had entered this instance dungeon to check it out. She did not expect to see a world-encompassing number of Electronic Guardians. Even more so, she did not expect that they would attack her as well.
To further aggravate the situation, Miao Yan found that she was incapable of exiting this instance dungeon.
No matter how Miao Yan tried to give the command, her personal system would only reply coldly with one sentence:
“An unknown error has occurred within this instance dungeon. It is now completely sealed off. Exit is not possible.”
Miao Yan’s face turned pale as she kept blocking the Electronic Guardians attacks. She was in the midst of regretting her decision.
Why… did I have to be so curious?Sunbathing on a yacht within the Caribbean Sea, is it so bad? Why did I suddenly get this urge to enter this instance dungeon and watch?
This was the first time she had seen a [Red] class danger alert. She didn’t think that it would result in the instance dungeon getting completely sealed off. And despite her special privileges, she was incapable of leaving.
Judging by what was happening, the system was intent on clearing out every living being within this instance dungeon.
But if that is the case, why didn’t you give me a warning before I entered?!!!
As more and more Electronic Guardians surrounded her, it took more and more effort for Miao Yan to defend herself.
The small and silvery flying swords swirled around her continuously to form something of a net. Every time one of the flying swords shot out, it would break the shield of one Electronic Guardian and pierce its body, causing it to explode with a burst of flames.
As for the sword in Miao Yan’s hand, it was used for defence. Whenever an Electronic Guardian successfully made it past the flying swords to appear near Miao Yan, the sword would pierce that Electronic Guardian.
However, controlling the five flying swords involved a terrifying rate of energy consumption. In just moments, Miao Yan’s face had become somewhat pale.
The most important issue was, she could not see any hope for this battle.
Electronic Guardians were covering the sky. By Miao Yan’s estimate, even if she were to go all out, she could at best kill only one or two hundred of the Electronic Guardians. And yet, the number of Electronic Guardians inside this instance dungeon number in the tens of thousands.
Despite that, she could not simply give up.
All Miao Yan could do was to clench her teeth and pour all her energy into the flying swords and fight to the bitter end.
One by one, the flying swords began getting damaged and their speed gradually slowed. Due to that, more and more Electronic Guardians managed to make it past the flying swords.
The sword in Miao Yan’s hand swung about ceaselessly to hack down those Electronic Guardians. However, she was beginning to gasp for breath.
A flying sword cut open the shells of two Electronic Guardians in quick succession. However, in doing so, its speed fell considerably. A third Electronic Guardian then swiped its tentacle out to wrap around the hilt of the flying sword, immediately disrupting its flight trajectory.
It was just a momentary pause, but several Electronic Guardians pounced upon it simultaneously and a high number of tentacles shot out to wrap around the flying sword before twisting it again and again.
Cracks promptly appeared on the flying sword’s tough body.
Miao Yan’s skill was the Lifebound Flying Sword. Every one of her flying swords had been processed with her own life essence. When that one flying sword was bound by the Electronic Guardians, Miao Yan’s face immediately turned flushed. Her figure staggered and she nearly fell.
The sword formation created by the five flying swords was also broken as a result.
Due to the gap in her defence, a large number of Electronic Guardians surged forward.
Gritting her teeth, Miao Yan moved the sword to her left hand while her right hand shone with golden light before unleashing a furious punch forward.
Tens of the Electronic Guardians were obliterated by the blast of golden light. However, even more of the surrounding Electronic Guardians drew closer to arrive before Miao Yan. Long tentacles wrapped around Miao Yan and tugged.
Miao Yan grunted and her right hand shone with golden light again as she punched the ground. The resulting might of the punch quaked the surrounding Electronic Guardians, causing them to fall to the ground where they remained still. Only their tentacles remained twitching.
However, that tug had created several tears on Miao Yan’s combat suit.
It was a high-grade combat suit. However, one or two more of those attacks would probably rip the suit apart.
It’s over…
Despair had emerged from within Miao Yan’s heart.
And then, she saw light.
A five-coloured light.
Like a shooting star, the five-coloured light sped past her.
In the face of the rays of light, the surrounding Electronic Guardians – without any warning – exploded and fell to the ground.
Next, the light stopped moving to land before Miao Yan.
It was a set of armour, with five-coloured light flowing across its surface. On its back was a pair of wings, which was in the process of folding up. This being standing before her radiated an awe-inspiring atmosphere of majesty.
“Chen… Chen Xiaolian?!”
Miao Yan’s eyes widened. Looking at the familiar face, she was filled with disbelief and she could not stop herself from exclaiming.
