CHAPTER 953: CHAPTER 952: YUI’S SECRET (PART 1)

The Reaper Monster moved quickly, but Fang Zheng’s reaction wasn’t slow either. Just as the Reaper Monster swung its scythe, Fang Zheng lifted his left hand, and the next moment, a firearm appeared in his hand.

"Bang!!"

With the gunfire ringing out, the Grim Reaper’s attack was forcibly interrupted. At the same time, Fang Zheng swiftly retreated, moving out of the attack zone of the Grim Reaper.

"Eiriri, investigate!"

"Got it!!"

At this moment, Eiriri quickly took out a sheet of paper and began to investigate the Reaper Boss. She then suddenly paled.

"Mr. Fang Zheng, this is a Rank 90 Boss!!"

Are you kidding me?

Hearing Eiriri’s answer, Fang Zheng was taken aback. This wasn’t normal. Not normal at all. The average creatures on this floor shouldn’t have reached the strength of Rank 90. Why would there be a Rank 90 Boss here?

Even in the Death Mine, you wouldn’t encounter the Wings of Death!

"Hoo!!"

Although Fang Zheng interrupted the Grim Reaper’s attack, its recovery level was far beyond that of a regular Boss. Fang Zheng hadn’t stepped away more than two paces before it had already regained its combat stance, gripping the scythe again as it came chopping down at Fang Zheng.

"Bang!"

Fang Zheng fired another shot, once again forcibly interrupting the Grim Reaper’s attack. He didn’t dare meet the scythe with his weapon directly. Although he was now able to stand toe to toe with a Rank 60 Boss, this was Rank 90; one wrong move and he could be left with just a sliver of health. This is no joke!

Getting its attack interrupted twice, the Grim Reaper seemed to realize that the target in front of it wasn’t some weakling that could be easily crushed. It suddenly pulled back and then disappeared into the shadows.

At the same time, Eiriri suddenly shouted.

"Asuna, behind you!!"

Hearing Eiriri’s scream, Fang Zheng quickly turned his head to look, seeing the Grim Reaper reappear from the darkness behind them, swinging its scythe at Asuna and Eiriri.

"Bang!!"

Fortunately, Asuna reacted quickly. As Eiriri screamed out, she immediately pushed Yui aside and shot at the Grim Reaper, interrupting its attack once more.

"Gather up, gather up, come over here!!"

Currently, only Fang Zheng and Asuna had firearms, while Eiriri had the Three-Dimensional Maneuver Gear but no gun. Yui and Yuliel naturally had even less. The Grim Reaper blocked their escape route, so even if they wanted to leave, it wasn’t possible. Fang Zheng had no choice but to gather everyone together. He had deliberately kept some distance with Asuna and others for safety reasons earlier, which now seemed to be a dangerous factor!

Before Fang Zheng’s words even finished, Asuna grabbed the stunned Yuliel next to her and turned to run towards where Fang Zheng was. At the same time, Eiriri activated her Three-Dimensional Maneuver Gear, carrying Yui as she swiftly flew through the corridor, arriving at Fang Zheng’s side.

"Roar———!!"

The Reaper Boss let out another enraged roar but quickly vanished into the corridor, disappearing without a trace once more.

"Be careful of the surroundings."

Fang Zheng held a sword in one hand and a gun in the other, watching his surroundings warily. During the brief encounter with the Reaper Boss, he had already noticed its biggest characteristic: an incredibly quick attack speed and ghost-like movements. Such a Boss was extremely troublesome. Although the Reaper Boss was of high attack, high agility, and low defense, making it more challenging than the Centaur Boss they encountered in the City of Steel.

But why was it here?

"Mr. Fang Zheng, it became three!"

Eiriri screamed again. This time, Fang Zheng also saw the Reaper Boss split into three, blocking the entire intersection tightly. They raised their scythes, charging towards everyone as if they were truly Grim Reapers harvesting lives.

"Bang!"

"Everyone, retreat into that room!!"

Fang Zheng shot again, interrupting another attack from the Reaper Boss, then shouted loudly. Upon hearing his command, Eiriri carried Yui swiftly into the room where Sinka had been. Immediately after, Yuliel also rushed in. Then Fang Zheng and Asuna quickly entered the room, tightly clutching their firearms as they stared intently at the Reaper.

Sure enough, when the Reapers reached the room’s entrance, they stopped, as if blocked by something invisible. They lingered outside the room wielding their scythes for a moment before vanishing into the black mist.

"Phew......"

It was only then that Fang Zheng finally breathed a sigh of relief and lowered his weapon. No matter what, they were temporarily safe, but......

"I never thought we’d end up trapped in here as well."

Watching Yuliel and Sinka whispering to each other beside them, Eiriri sighed helplessly. They had come to rescue others, but instead of rescuing them, they ended up getting trapped themselves.

What to do now?

Fang Zheng didn’t respond to Eiriri’s complaint. He silently opened the system and glanced at it. As expected, both teleportation and communication were prohibited. That means they, like Yuliel and Sinka, were trapped here now.

"I’m really sorry."

Just then, Sinka also walked over, apologizing to everyone. He had already heard the whole story from Yuliel and naturally felt guilty about it.

"I didn’t expect to drag you into this, sigh......"

"It’s okay. Since we’re here, we naturally prepared for anything. The situation isn’t entirely surprising."

As Fang Zheng spoke, he carefully surveyed the room. As Sinka mentioned, it was a very strange empty white space. The ceiling, walls, and floor were all blank, looking just like an untextured space in many games, with a single pitch-black rectangular pillar in the middle, whose purpose was unknown.

Fang Zheng took his gaze back and looked towards Sinka.

"So Mr. Sinka, can you tell me more about this Boss? How did you encounter it? Does it have any patterns? Did you unintentionally trigger any hidden tasks?"

"I don’t know either."

Sinka shrugged.

"We just approached this room, thinking there might be a hidden treasure chest or something inside. But as soon as we got here, we were attacked by that creature... If I had known, we wouldn’t have explored this path. There’s nothing here except this room......"

"There’s nothing?"

Hearing this, Fang Zheng raised an eyebrow.

"You mean this is also a hidden path?"

"It should be an abandoned path, considering the staircase to the next floor is over there......"

Sinka made some gestures, sketching out the terrain for Fang Zheng.

"The dead-end here seems like it should have something at least......"

It must be said, Sinka’s thought process was normal. Many dead-ends in Japanese RPG mazes usually have something as a reward—a potion, equipment, treasure chest, or the like. Otherwise, leading players on a wild goose chase only to find nothing is just too discouraging.

No wonder, when Sinka saw the hidden room at the dead-end, he rushed in. Fang Zheng probably would have thought there would be something good inside too if it were him......

However, nobody noticed. At this moment, Yui was standing there staring blankly at the black pillar. As if drawn by its pull, she began to wobble towards it.

Then, Yui stretched out her small hand, slowly placing it on the pillar.