Chapter 149: Holy Crap! Guild Leader, You’re Famous!

Compared to solo dungeons, team-based dungeons had an additional, unique restriction: only one team was allowed to enter per server. This meant that the thirty-six teams here hailed from thirty-six different servers.

“The map of a 4A Dungeon is much larger than a 3A one, and the clearing strategy is also different,” Zhou Tianhao sighed. “We’ve already achieved perfect clears on the 3A difficulty of Giant Demon Valley many times.

“But on 4A, let alone a perfect clear, we can’t even manage a normal one.

“Because the contents of the dungeon completely change!”

Yu Zhun nodded in understanding.

He had learned this from the information provided by the Moon-devouring Celestial Wolf guild. The 4A difficulty of the same dungeon didn’t just have different penalties compared to 1A, 2A, and 3A; the content was entirely different. It could practically be considered a completely different dungeon.

Therefore, trying to find a breakthrough strategy for 4A based on the lower difficulties was impossible.

Since they hadn’t truly entered yet, Yu Zhun didn’t know how to clear it either. He could only…

“Let’s play it by ear.”

As his voice fell, the number of matched teams reached the quota. The group vanished from the chaotic space, immediately stepping onto the outskirts of a primeval and magnificent valley.

The endless, rolling valley stretching before their eyes was where the Giant Demon Race lived in Giant Demon Valley. Tens of thousands of Giant Demons resided here. They were far more burly than humans, possessed brutal temperaments, and delighted in eating people.

“According to the data, the battle over the springs will begin in an hour, right?” Yu Zhun looked at Zhou Yunhao to confirm.

“Yeah…” Zhou Yunhao nodded numbly, his eyes fixed intently above Yu Zhun’s head.

It wasn’t just him. Every single member of the clearing team present had a rather bizarre expression as they stared above Yu Zhun’s head.

“Holy crap! Guild Master, your name is red!” Salas couldn’t help but exclaim, breaking the silence.

Indeed, the moment they entered the 4A Dungeon, the seven points of Red Name Value Yu Zhun had acquired in the Nether Abyss made his name look as striking as blood. Even the names of the nine members from the Moon-devouring Celestial Wolf guild could only be considered slightly pinkish compared to his.

Although killing other players could yield Divine Demon Medals, the moment one decided to kill, they also risked being killed themselves. Thus, average players in 4A Dungeons were actually quite restrained and conservative. There were very few instances of people actively picking fights or murdering others. After all, clearing a 4A Dungeon would also reward a certain amount of Divine Demon Medals. Earning a little less but living a little longer was a worthwhile trade-off.

Among the nine from Moon-devouring Celestial Wolf, the highest Red Name Value was only four points, and those four points were entirely from killing others out of absolute necessity during past dungeon runs.

After all, having too high of a Red Name Value made it very easy to be targeted by other players. But now, Yu Zhun’s Red Name Value was a whopping seven points.

That name, so red it practically glowed, completely erased whatever lingering traces of underestimation the Moon-devouring Celestial Wolf members held toward the Godslayer guild.

What the hell… Weren’t they supposed to be newbies who had never entered a 4A Dungeon before? What kind of newbies had a name this red?!

Yu Zhun remained unfazed. “Would you believe me if I said this was a bug?”

The members of the Godslayer guild didn’t believe that for a second! They grumbled inwardly, yet simultaneously thought of the pile of mysteriously sourced +20 Red Equipment Yu Zhun had pulled out earlier. It turned out the Guild Master really did go out and rob people. He just happened to do his robbing in a 4A Dungeon…

Realizing this, the few of them exchanged glances and maintained their silence. Although the Moon-devouring Celestial Wolf guild was their ally now, they couldn’t just go blurting out everything.

And since the nine members of Moon-devouring Celestial Wolf weren’t too familiar with Yu Zhun’s group yet, they didn’t press the subject any further.

Zhou Yunhao shook his head, pulling the conversation back on track. “That’s right. In an hour, the locations of three springs will be exposed.”

The full name of the springs was Giant Demon Life Springs. There were thirty-six of them in total. Serving as the lifeblood of the Giant Demon Race, they remained in a hidden state and were guarded by the Giant Demon Race’s powerhouses.

One hour after entering the dungeon, the locations of three springs would be revealed, marked by conspicuous pillars of light visible across the entire map. Afterward, the locations of three new springs would be revealed each day. This would continue until twelve days later, when all spring locations were finally exposed.

What the clearing players had to do was break through the guarding Giant Demon powerhouses and destroy these springs. For every spring destroyed, the power of the Giant Demon Race would weaken by a fraction. When all thirty-six of their springs were destroyed, the terrifyingly immense strength of the Giant Demons would be drastically weakened, rendering them no different from ordinary humans.

However, the Giant Demons also knew the importance of the springs. The further they progressed, the more Giant Demon powerhouses would be assigned to guard the remaining springs, making them increasingly difficult to destroy. Although the reduction in springs would weaken the Giant Demon Race, this debuff did not apply in the vicinity of the springs themselves. Not only that, but the Giant Demon powerhouses stationed near the springs would also receive supplementary buffs.

In short, destroying all the springs would not be easy.

As for why they absolutely had to destroy the springs, that involved the other race present within the Giant Demon Valley: humans.

Like livestock, they were penned within filthy, squalid Human Circles scattered throughout the valley, forced to labor like beasts of burden or reduced to meals on the Giant Demons’ plates. The goal of clearing Giant Demon Valley was to overthrow the rule of the Giant Demons and rescue the humans in the Human Circles.

However, the primary participants in this process were not the clearing players themselves.

“Can we really not just wipe out all the Giant Demons?” Ji Xiaoyu pursed her lips, tightly gripping her Magic Staff with the urge to unleash violent damage. Seeing the plight of the humans mentioned in the strategy guide, she couldn’t help but feel a surge of sympathy, wishing she could slaughter every last Giant Demon.

“Many clearing teams have tried, but we truly can’t,” Zhou Yunhao shook his head helplessly. “Aside from the Giant Demon powerhouses guarding the springs, the other Giant Demons will not enter a hostile state when facing players.”

Since their health bars wouldn’t even appear, even Yu Zhun’s One-Hit Kill would be useless against them. During this time, the Giant Demons could be considered invincible. But by the same token, they couldn’t harm the players either.

This special rule dictated that the only ones ultimately capable of overthrowing the Giant Demons’ rule were the native inhabitants of the dungeon—the very people who were treated as livestock and lived in the Human Circles.

They would rise up in rebellion the moment the final spring was destroyed, igniting a three-day war between humans and Giant Demons that players could not intervene in. They would use their blood and lives to take back everything that belonged to humanity.

When this war—destined to end in a human victory—concluded, the ones who cleared the dungeon would be revealed.

But during those three days of non-intervention, the players wouldn’t just be sitting on the sidelines. Their opponents would be each other! They needed to compete for rankings on the clearing scoreboard!

During the Giant Demon Valley run, killing the Giant Demon powerhouses guarding the springs and destroying the springs themselves would both yield corresponding clearing points. Points earned from killing Giant Demons could not be stolen, but upon destroying a spring, a clearing player would obtain a Spring Token.

Whoever held the token would be credited with the points for destroying that spring!

During the three days the Human Demon war lasted, the clearing scoreboard would publicly display the point rankings of all clearing teams. When the final moment arrived, the first-place team would be recognized as the team that contributed the most to clearing the dungeon, and they would successfully clear it!

As for all other teams, they would be declared to have failed the clear.

“Let’s go.” Yu Zhun gazed distantly at the majestic, undulating ridges of the valley ahead. “We’ll enter the valley and prepare to fight for the springs in an hour.

“Oh, right,” he said, turning to look at Sheila, who was following quietly. “Sheila, your eyesight will play a huge role this time.

“If you spot any active Giant Demons, alert everyone immediately.”

“Okay.” Sheila nodded expressionlessly. Her pomegranate-red eyes, imbued with the extraordinary vision granted by the SS-rank Predestined Arrow, surveyed their surroundings from afar.

Entering the Giant Demons’ territory meant that encountering them was inevitable. As previously mentioned, ordinary Giant Demons would not enter a hostile state upon encountering players. But that didn’t mean they wouldn’t affect the players at all.

On the contrary, they would treat the players as native humans and abduct them, dragging them back to the Human Circles. A single Giant Demon could randomly snatch away one player.

Since neither side could inflict damage, players could not fight back during this process. Trying to run away would only attract more Giant Demons, leading to even more severe consequences. The only thing they could do was maintain a safe distance.

Fortunately, aside from the harsh environment, the lives of players abducted into the Human Circles would not be threatened. However, until the Human Demon war began, they would be unable to leave the Human Circles.

This would cause the clearing teams to suffer a loss of manpower during the first twelve days!