Chapter 170: Shepherd

Although the number of enemies around was increasing and closing in, Miss Xiao Kong didn’t seem overly nervous. Instead, she turned her head toward Miss Vilyric with a hint of curiosity.

“A battle royale? What does that mean?”

“Well… to put it simply, it’s a large group of people squeezed into a gradually shrinking area, facing various difficulties and dangers while trying to survive any way they can, getting eliminated one after another until only one team or individual remains victorious…”

As she scanned the incoming foes, the black-haired girl chuckled.

“It’s a type of competition that brings significant pressure and urgency—quite similar to our current situation. Looks like the designer of this ruin wants to play a game with us.”

“Uh, so do we need to eliminate these people now?”

Miss Vilyric shook her head.

“They’ve already been eliminated. If we were to use professional terminology, they’re closer to being ‘ghosts’ at this point.”

“Ghosts?”

“It’s just a metaphor. Alright, let’s get moving!”

“Whoosh!”

With a burst of white wings, a powerful wind gust shot up into the sky. The more clever Miss Hen had already summoned her silver shuttle to follow in Miss Vilyric’s wake.

“Hey, hey, where are you going?!”

With a flash of silver light, Miss Xiao Kong instantly reached the two girls, not needing any external support to step into the void, her face filled with confusion. She didn’t quite understand why the priestess chose to retreat.

Even though there were many enemies below, they didn’t pose much of a threat to them; after all, the gap in individual strength was simply too vast.

Peering down at the numerous figures still attempting to launch ranged attacks at them, all blocked by a golden barrier, Miss Vilyric, who saw through Xiao Kong’s thoughts, shook her head with a smile.

“In a battle royale, fighting against the environment is pointless. Defeating these ‘ghosts’ won’t provide us with any tangible benefits; it would just be a waste of time and energy.”

High in the sky, the girls could clearly see the area in the center of the ancient town, shrouded in pitch-black ‘stardust.’ Undoubtedly, that was the place they were heading toward, the node holding the true mystery.

“Let’s go, I think… some truly capable individuals are probably nearing that area.”

……

This place is truly bizarre.

Walking between the crumbling buildings, Shangguan Hong found himself once again forming similar thoughts.

Ever since entering this ancient town-shaped ruin, they had encountered numerous unimaginable incidents.

When they first arrived, many people clustered around the relatively spacious entrance, watching each other warily and splitting into small groups to explore, not eager to delve deeper.

This was the unspoken understanding when entering a completely unknown secret realm; as the saying goes, there is strength in numbers. Though they were not all on the same path, if they gathered together, they could cooperate against unexpected formidable enemies and avoid being picked off one by one.

Originally, Shangguan Hong and his team planned to understand the general situation of this ruin while staying on the outskirts before considering how to move inward. However, some forces here… seemed not to grant them that leisurely opportunity.

Before long, many wild grasses and trees by the roads suddenly surged up, launching attacks at the intruders as if they were living beings.

Though it was sudden, such an occurrence didn’t frighten those who had fought many battles.

The crowd immediately fought back, only to be surprised to discover that these seemingly fierce entities were actually nothing more than ordinary plants. Although it was unclear why they had come to life and gained the ability to attack autonomously, they lacked real strength, and the explorers quickly wiped them out.

However, at the time, they were unaware that this was merely the spark for a truly bizarre mutation.

Not long after the weird plants were cleared away, before anyone could figure out the cause of the disturbance, a new wave of chaos suddenly erupted among the crowd!

They began to fight each other without warning.

Initially, Shangguan Hong thought someone must have discovered some extraordinary treasure, sparking greed among the already wary parties, leading to a free-for-all. But he soon realized… that was not the case at all.

It was as if a terrifying plague was concealed in the air, transmitting something invisible. People abruptly began to shudder violently; when they looked up again, their eyes had lost their luster, and they began to attack anyone nearby indiscriminately, even turning against those they once trusted—truly bizarre!

The people from the Shen Shen sect huddled together to defend themselves but gradually began to notice certain patterns as the brawl progressed.

Those who first started acting strangely were mostly those who had been in close proximity to the plants during the battle and were relatively weaker. Additionally, if someone was knocked out or lost consciousness mid-fight, there was a high probability they would follow suit and join the opposing side.

This situation reminded Shangguan Hong of the corpse poison he’d seen in the hands of some evil factions—a terrifyingly infectious substance. Normally, such infections would spread among ordinary people, while the resistance among those strengthened by spiritual power would make them less susceptible. But the situation before them was evidently different.

If this continued, they would all eventually be ‘converted.’

To escape the entanglement of these abnormal people, they could only leave. However, ruins are known for being easy to enter but hard to exit, so turning back was definitely not an option.

Thus, they gave their all to break through the encirclement and pushed deeper into the untouched parts of the ancient town.

Shangguan Hong had no idea how many managed to break through, but this ancient town ruin appeared to be expanding under some special force, far larger than anticipated, and they lost contact with most of the others, beginning their exploration in smaller groups.

Those inexplicably turned strange individuals continued to pursue them from behind, forcing them to keep moving inward. Even so, it was impossible to avoid risks completely, and they occasionally encountered enemies approaching from other directions, igniting battles.

Regardless of their strengths, the constant tension was incredibly draining. As they delved deeper into the ancient town, the surrounding environment began to grow increasingly bizarre.

For example…

“Watch out!”

As they walked, the two-toned young man guarding the rear of the group suddenly changed his expression and yanked the arm of the girl in front of him, pulling her a considerable distance away with brute force!

In the next moment, a kind of dark, crack-like void had formed where she had just stood, only to vanish into nothingness again.

“Phew… Xiao Xue, are you alright? Sorry, it was an emergency back there.”

“I’m fine! Just startled, thank you, Senior Brother…”

After the sudden incident, the Shen Shen sect’s group of nine paused once again. Shangguan Hong released the still-shaken girl’s arm, his expression serious.

These dark cracks had been appearing nearby as if they had started appearing at some point, manifesting randomly with almost no warning, making them nearly impossible to dodge. The frequency of their appearance was clearly increasing as they progressed.

Honestly, Shangguan Hong still didn’t know what exactly those cracks were. All they had witnessed was that the dark mark flickered on a rock, only for a large portion of the surrounding stone to mysteriously disappear, as if it were melting… or being stripped away out of thin air.

If one of those were to hit anyone directly, the consequences would be unimaginable.

To be honest, given the increasing frequency of these occurrences, it was no longer safe to proceed. But those annoying pursuers behind continued to press on relentlessly, making it impossible for them to stop.

No one knew what kind of bizarre scenes awaited them further ahead.

   

---