Chapter 295: Elegy of Death, Rift to the Unknown

[Exile’s Lament: Xiali Milir]

[Tier: Scorching Charcoal]

[Level: 40]

[Warfire: Exile’s Lament (Allows Fire Ignition)]

[Talent: Tone Change]

[Skills: Painful Legion, Elegy of Xiali Mer, Solo Flute Sound, Human Skin Drum Music, Bursting Gaze.]

[Explanation: The power of a song is so great, it can find serenity within madness… Yet the power of a singer is so weak, it cannot shelter even a small village…]

The monster that Xiali Milir had become raised a monstrous hand and flicked a bloody hue toward Faraway’s position…

…

By now, Li Miao had met up with Faraway. Neither of them was in a rush to re-enter the instance.

“It seems that if I hadn’t chosen to help Wudu in the concert hall, he would have been killed by Xiali Milir, and Xiali Milir would have eventually been consumed by Madness, becoming the final boss.”

Li Miao stroked his chin.

‘So, does this mean Xiali Milir was trying to protect the souls in those skulls from being corrupted by Madness?’

Xiali Milir had clearly wanted to protect the village—Maranovit, the “homeland” from the song—but had failed and was still consumed by Madness.

This made Li Miao feel a pang of regret. If he had known, he wouldn’t have helped Wudu.

He had helped the guy because he’d helped him find Battle Ash before, but in return, the creature had turned around and hit him with a “Friend, delicious.”

Now it was blocking his way in the instance, and the difficulty was extremely high.

But, amidst his frustration, Li Miao couldn’t help but feel a little puzzled.

“But why would a schizophrenic guy like Wudu have this kind of connection to the Xiali Mir Orchestra?”

He wasn’t particularly interested in digging deep into the plot. That kind of thing was usually the Storyteller’s job.

This instance was different, though. It was related to the important main story item, the Broken Core, so he couldn’t just ignore it.

“I don’t know.”

“Maybe we’ll have our answer after killing both bosses.”

Faraway replied as he touched the flame of the Candle Spirit Tree.

Hearing this, Li Miao let out a sly chuckle and asked curiously, “So, you couldn’t beat that Exile’s Lament, could you?”

Faraway glanced at him, grunted in acknowledgment, and said without any embarrassment, “I’m going to improve my Dodge Ability. The margin for error might be higher then.”

He had clearly left the instance for this very reason.

Li Miao raised an eyebrow.

‘So even Faraway gets stuck on a level sometimes. What a delightful thought.’

Soon, Faraway finished his preparations.

“You better step it up too. I don’t have enough Wax Oil to reset the instance again.”

After saying this to Li Miao, he walked straight to the Spirit Candle.

‘Step it up…’

‘Dude, you’re really overestimating me.’

Li Miao broke into a cold sweat.

Although he hadn’t fought Fission Scream for long, it wasn’t hard for him to see that the boss’s stats were absurd. To kill it successfully, who knew how many times he would have to die…

‘But, what can you do?’

‘My life’s worthless anyway. If I die, I die.’

Li Miao shrugged and followed Faraway, entering the instance once more.

…

[DEAD]

“…”

Looking at Exile’s Lament, which had only a sliver of health left, Faraway’s Wandering Soul furrowed its brow.

He had just worn Exile’s Lament down to a sliver of health and was about to kill it, but he’d messed up a dodge and been instantly counter-killed.

In a situation like this, never mind other players, even someone like Faraway found it hard to stomach.

The Exile’s Lament boss was clearly magic-oriented with low Blood Volume, but its [Tone Change] Talent allowed it to switch its combat style and Skill effects back and forth.

Combined with its mix of enhanced skills from the previous bosses in the level, it was extremely difficult to deal with.

“Hooo…”

However, Faraway quickly composed himself, returned to the Milestone Spirit Candle, and started over.

During the time it took for him to resurrect, Exile’s Lament would recover, but not by much.

This made Faraway’s subsequent attempts much less difficult.

And this time, his luck was finally not so bad. After finding an opening, he landed a Lethal Strike from behind.

[You have slain Exile’s Lament: Xiali Milir]

After its Blood Volume dropped to zero, the screeching faded, and a faint light appeared in its chest… It was Xiali Milir’s throat bone, untouched by Madness.

As if its lingering consciousness had realized its own plight, a faint sigh echoed.

“Serenity found in madness… is still madness in the end…”

“The souls in pain still find no rest…”

With the sigh, the throat bone dissipated.

Faraway bent down and picked up the faint light from Exile’s Lament’s corpse.

[Acquired: Wax Oil ×95]

[Acquired: Fire Seed·Exile’s Lament]

[Acquired: Magic·Painful Legion]

[Acquired: Hardened Nose Hammer (Excellence)]

[Acquired: Chalimir’s Songbook]

After picking up these drops, he didn’t immediately check their details.

Instead, he looked toward the guidance from the Spirit Candle and a game prompt that had just appeared.

[A fissure to an unknown area has been discovered]

Faraway went to the Milestone Spirit Candle and lit it, then turned his gaze to the pure black fissure floating in the air like a spatial rift.

‘A fissure to an unknown area?’

‘Is it related to the [Broken Core]?’

After a moment of thought, he stepped inside…

…

BANG! Li Miao’s body was sent flying backward.

He skidded to a stop only after plowing a furrow in the ground.

SHING!

With no time to chug a potion, Li Miao quickly rolled to the side, narrowly dodging the incoming crimson gaze.

“Friend!”

“Let me… kill!”

Fission Scream uttered neurotic words. Both its voice and its terrifying posture were enough to make one’s blood run cold.

“Ptooey!”

Li Miao spat out the foul-smelling dirt from his mouth.

He had already died countless times, but this Fission Scream boss was just absurdly cheap.

If Faraway’s Exile’s Lament was a bit of a specialist, then this Fission Scream was practically a Hexagon Warrior.

High Basic Attributes, area-of-effect damage, debuffs, healing… The only weakness Li Miao could see was its lack of mobility skills.

Because of this, he could still kite it a bit with his Frost Riding Spear. Killing it wasn’t entirely hopeless.

And…

“No…”

Fission Scream suddenly clutched its head with its wrinkled hands, its expression pained. Its voice became familiar—it was clearly the original Wudu.

“Good chance!” Seeing this, Li Miao’s eyes lit up, and he quickly closed in with his Frost Riding Spear.

It seemed Wudu’s cowardly personality hadn’t been completely consumed, which was affecting Fission Scream.

Soon, its expression turned vicious again.

“Coward!”

“Only… slaughter!”

“Will keep you… from being bullied!”

Fission Scream activated its Skill [Madness Burst] again, and a shockwave that covered the entire area swept out.

Facing the powerful impact, Li Miao timed it perfectly, gritted his teeth, and raised his Law Knight’s Shield.

There was no safe spot from Fission Scream’s attack; the only way to deal with it was to Block or Dodge. He might as well take a gamble. If he succeeded, it would create a precious window to deal damage.

To be honest, he wasn’t confident at all.

But luckily, he succeeded.

CLANG—

A clear blocking sound rang out. The Power of the Spirit Candle flowed over the Shield, and the rippling Blood-colored Shock was deflected, striking Fission Scream’s hideous body directly.

BOOM!

With a wail, the already unstable Fission Scream collapsed to the ground.

Li Miao’s gaze sharpened, and a cold light glinted from his Frost Riding Spear!

[You have slain Fission Scream: Wudu]

“You deceived me…”

“What I found… wasn’t… me at all…”

Wudu stretched out a weak hand, uttering one last, feeble accusation.

The next moment, it collapsed, its remains dissipating along with its final words.

[Acquired: Wax Oil ×93]

[…]

“Huh?”

After picking up the Fire Seed and Skill-related equipment that Wudu dropped, Li Miao also saw the notification message.

He looked up. The fissure to the unknown area seemed to be exactly where Wudu had been facing just before it died.

This made his eyes light up.

‘Could there be a hidden map?!’

‘Or is it related to the [Broken Core]?’

At this thought, Li Miao grew excited. After lighting the Milestone Spirit Candle, he stepped right in.

After a moment of rippling distortion, the space stabilized.

When he saw the person in front of him, Li Miao was dumbfounded.

“Faraway? What are you doing here too?”