Chapter 99: Delaying the Capture? Then Nobody Captures!

Chapter 99: Chapter 99: Delaying the Capture? Then Nobody Captures!

"Um... Guild Master."

Ji Xiaoyu patted Yu Zhun’s shoulder with a sympathetic look, though her expression somehow carried a hint of gloating. "Don’t be sad. It’s just one Red Weapon and a red title. It’s not like you don’t already have them."

The others were also holding back laughter as they looked at him.

Yu Zhun was speechless.

"This Deep Red Demon Lord is just petty!" he burst out indignantly, putting away the twenty sets of Three Divine Talismans and five Legendary Fragments. "He’s a sore loser!"

Four Red Weapons! A full four Red Weapons! The boss had dropped weapons for five Professions, yet completely omitted the Assassin’s! Coupling that with a red title that was equally useless to him... If this wasn’t malicious targeting, he would gladly change his last name!

"Look on the bright side, Guild Master." Salas was beaming, clearly in a great mood. Since another Priest’s Book had dropped, he wouldn’t have to compete with Su Yue for it. "The whole Dungeon is yours now. You aren’t lacking one Red Weapon."

"Fine," Yu Zhun sighed, toying with a crimson pearl in his hand.

This was the core of the entire Red Moon Tide Dungeon. He had obtained it from the Deep Red Demon Lord’s crumbling clone the moment they achieved a perfect clear. Like the Nether Abyss Invitation he had received previously, this item—which shared the Dungeon’s name—was bound to its owner and could not be transferred.

With it came absolute control over the entire Dungeon. Yu Zhun could easily expel any players who entered, and even adjust the difficulty and rules to a certain extent, provided he didn’t break the Dungeon’s overall framework. It felt a bit like a sandbox game.

However, a shadow loomed over Yu Zhun’s heart when he recalled the parting words of the Deep Red Demon Lord’s clone.

The Demon Lord had warned that His belongings wouldn’t be taken so easily. This obviously didn’t refer to the petty targeting of the loot drops—that was merely a casual attempt to disgust him. Snatching a portion of power from a God-level entity was akin to carving a piece of flesh right off His body. There was no telling how much of a grudge the Demon Lord would hold against him.

"Whatever. Who cares," Yu Zhun muttered to himself.

Many guilds possessed special Dungeons, yet no one had ever faced retaliation because of it. This proved that Gods couldn’t just intervene at will. If they ever truly had to face off again, it would be when Yu Zhun had grown to a power level comparable to His. When that time came, it would be hard to say who would be retaliating against whom!

"Let’s go. It’s time for us to leave." Yu Zhun stretched lazily. Rather than worrying about the Deep Red Demon Lord’s vengeance, he figured it was better to first consider how to deal with the crowd waiting outside the Dungeon.

***

Outside the Red Moon Tide Dungeon.

The atmosphere across the various guild encampments was eerily quiet. As time ticked by, a heavy sensation—like the calm before a storm—enveloped the entire area.

"It’s been four hours," a senior executive from one of the guilds said slowly. "Whether they succeeded or failed to clear it, this amount of time is somewhat unreasonable, isn’t it? Are you truly certain they’re still alive?"

That last question was directed at the two experts from the Divine Revelation Hall stationed at the entrance. Although the higher-ups from the other guilds remained silent, their gazes had grown restless.

This was their final, desperate race against time. Four hours was enough for five or six guilds to attempt a Dungeon run. Letting a Two-Star guild enter first was fine; no one had voiced any complaints about that. But for this group to stall inside for so long... wasn’t this crossing a line?

The two experts’ expressions darkened slightly. Clearly sensing the tense atmosphere, they silently reached out, using a special method to probe the Dungeon. A moment later, they withdrew their hands.

"They are still alive," one of the experts stated in a deep voice.

"So you’re saying that as long as they’re alive, the other raid teams just have to sit here and wait?" another guild executive said darkly. "A four-hour run...

"Apart from the initial three-day pioneering phase, there seems to be only one other situation that could drag out a run for this long, right?"

As his words fell, everyone simultaneously realized what he meant, and their expressions turned grim.

He was right. Under normal circumstances, a run shouldn’t take this long. After the most arduous initial pioneering phase had passed, only one other raid team had ever spent more than four hours inside.

Their method had been very simple. They simply hid alongside the survivors under the Sanctuary of the Azure Pearl, utilizing long-range attacks to slaughter the endless waves of Demonized Creatures. Even if they triggered the red-name Mechanism, the Demonized Creatures couldn’t enter the Azure Pearl’s Sanctuary range. As long as the Azure Pearl remained stationary, the team was absolutely safe.

That particular raid team had stalled in the first story act, the Red Tide Plain, for a full six hours, harvesting a massive amount of experience points. Eventually, the other guilds couldn’t tolerate it any longer and sent people to forcefully enter the Dungeon and blast them out. As a result, the offending guild was stripped of its eligibility to raid the Red Moon Tide by the Divine Revelation Hall.

At that time, there had been nearly twenty days left before the Red Moon Tide closed, yet the punishment had been that severe. Now, there were less than two days remaining. If the guild that the Divine Revelation Hall had specially shoehorned into the queue was pulling the exact same stunt—ultimately causing numerous guilds to lose their chance and resulting in the Red Moon Tide Dungeon remaining uncleared—it would be a devastating blow to the Divine Revelation Hall’s reputation!

The Second-Turn experts from Storm Eagle Eye and Arcane Roar exchanged glances, their brows furrowing slightly. They were absolutely certain that the grandchildren of the Strongest couldn’t possibly be so short-sighted.

However, they couldn’t say that out loud. For one thing, it was inappropriate to expose Ji Xiaoyu and Sheila’s true identities. For another, the Godslayer guild really had been inside for far too long...

After exchanging a look, the senior executive from Arcane Roar spoke in a deep voice, "We’ll give them another half an hour!

"If they aren’t out by then, our two guilds will personally send people inside to find them."

They could only hope that half an hour would be enough for them to finish the run.

The various guild executives sneered inwardly, but since they had already forced the official guilds to make a statement, they knew to quit while they were ahead. If they pushed things too far, the bloodthirsty maniacs from Assassin’s Creed would inevitably intervene again.

Time ticked by, minute by minute, second by second. Countless eyes remained glued to the entrance of the Red Moon Tide.

Suddenly, a ripple surged across the gateway. Yu Zhun and his five companions walked out, completely unscathed.

"Hmph, so you finally figured out how to come out!" one of the guild executives scoffed coldly. "You were in there for over four hours! You’ve wasted a full tenth of the final remaining raid time!

"Do you have any idea how many guilds have lost their chance to run the Dungeon because of you? The probability of a perfect clear was already abysmally low, and now..."

"Stop. Hold it right there!"

Yu Zhun glanced at the man’s towering Lv61 player level, yet showed absolutely no respect to the Second-Turn expert, bluntly raising a hand to cut him off.

"You’re saying we delayed the raid, right?"

Yu Zhun flicked his wrist. Instantly, the Dungeon entrance vanished from its spot.

"There. Now nobody has to raid it."