Chapter 342

Chapter 342: Chapter 339: "The Definition of a MadmanBefore this, Su Ming’an had heard that the number of disturbed players among the top of the leaderboard was increasing.

Not to say they were completely insane, but these people’s minds were more or less affected.

It makes sense, considering that to adapt to the game’s rules and assimilate with this pathological world, players inevitably adopt some issues themselves.

The environment can greatly influence a person, including their temperament, values, and thoughts.

Only a little over two months into the World Game, and the world forum had already seen many voices advocating the natural law of survival of the fittest, asserting that powerful players should dominate the weaker ones. They argue that those who do not partake in instances should be ruled and controlled by the strong. The world belongs to the strongest batch of players.

Among them, Luther, ranked one hundred and twenty-seven in the world, was a strong supporter of this view. He intentionally filmed violent videos of maiming other players, tortured them in game instances, collected their bones, and garnered a large following through cruel means.

Not to mention players’ temperaments, many powerful occupations in the game are closely related to emotions.

Just like Su Ming’an’s White Judgment needs to contact strong malice and goodwill, such occupational tendencies can easily affect a person’s normal psychological state.

Now, it seemed he had encountered another person whose mental state was clearly abnormal.

Facing the blazing flames, his gaze met those emerald eyes.

"In that instance of White Sand Paradise, the story of the Captain and the mermaid was passed to me by that hacker upon your request, wasn’t it?" said Su Ming’an. "That story was overly sentimental."

Boris’s expression stiffened for a moment.

But soon, his smile returned, his voice carrying a hint of sympathy.

"... But I was surprised by your response at the time," he said. "You were clearly moved by that story."

"Not at all," Ming’an said.

Under the tense gaze of the five-person squad, Ming’an took another step forward.

The shadows of the firelight danced in front of him.

The figures of people began to melt in the flames. Their bones turned scorchingly white and fell apart, creating a scene that was extremely disgusting.

With a soft crackling sound, a foul stench permeated the church, and Su Ming’an slightly furrowed his brow.

"Su Ming’an, although I don’t know why you would come to the church in the middle of the night, it doesn’t matter; we can have a chat," Boris looked at him. "On the world forum, many people compare me, you, and Engel together, saying we are among the top madmen... But I don’t think so. The definition of ’madman’ only depends on the number of people; when the side with the majority claims to be ’normal people,’ the side with fewer numbers is labeled as madmen..."

"Where is the Pope?" Su Ming’an interrupted him.

"Tonight, this place is my domain," Boris spread his arms wide. "—Don’t worry about him, Su Ming’an. I just want to talk to you. What do you think the definition of ’madman’ would be in the current world..."

Before he could finish speaking, he felt a strange tremor suddenly emerge by his side.

The scorching flames before him twisted bizarrely, even the hot air began to stagnate—

"Boom!"

An icy blue Defensive Shield was instantly raised, with the Staff of Light illuminating a blue glow, and a semicircular Defense Barrier completely enveloped the five of them.

"Be careful—" she exclaimed.

The next moment, an intense shock enveloped the five of them.

Five astonishingly high red numbers burst like fireworks over their heads.

Alex and Clara collapsed instantly, their bodies as if twisted by an invisible hand, flesh turned inside out, clothes tattered, and twisted into a heap.

"Alex!"

"Clara!"

Pei Xue cried out in alarm, her Magic Wand lighting up with a healing glow, but the two on the ground showed no response.

In the squad interface, the avatars of the two players had already dimmed.

...Instant kill?

She stared blankly at her own health bar. Had it not been for her passive skill that forcibly kept her at 1 health, she probably would be lying on the ground by now.

She looked down the steps, Su Ming’an had already charged over.

...Weren’t they just talking amicably a moment ago?

Pei Xue couldn’t understand... They had thought that a madman discussing with another madman about madness wouldn’t result in a fight, but she hadn’t expected the other side to strike so abruptly.

However, it didn’t matter. There was fire all around, the opponent shouldn’t be able to get through, and that terrifying hit just now must have used up a considerable amount of the opponent’s Blue Energy...

Thinking this, she suddenly saw that figure dash through the flames, unscathed, and rushed up the steps.

The flames brushed past him, winding around like a gentle stream of water as he swung his pitch-black sword, aiming a direct blow at Boris’s head.

Boris quickly tilted his head aside.

A golden cross light shone on him, and fiery crimson flames gathered from around to block in front of him.

The heatwave slapped around inside the hall, the firelight reflecting on his face. He watched Su Ming’an, who was walking over the flames, and reached out a hand.

"Judgment," he said, his voice carrying a rumbling echo as if boosted by some spell.

...139 Mentality Points?

Boris froze at this system prompt.

His Holy Judgment Skill could make a judgment using 1.5 times his Mentality Points against the enemy. If the result was higher than the opponent’s, the opponent would be hit with an irresistible mental flame, suffering intense pain throughout the fight.

But now, the system prompt was telling him.

The opponent’s Mentality was outrageously high.

"Wait, wait..." He stepped back, dodging the opponent’s somewhat slow strike.

"No waiting."

Su Ming’an didn’t have the habit of wasting words with enemies who were not part of the Strategy plan. Knowing that the Pope wasn’t in the church, he was even more eager for a quick resolution.

His theories were only meant for those who could understand them; he wasn’t going to preach to everyone he met. People like Mizushima Haru, even if he did explain, it would be to no avail, not to mention this clearly deluded Boris.

Facing Boris, who was now within reach, he swung his sword. Suddenly, he heard a gust of wind from behind—

"Boom!"

He swiftly activated his Gravity Suppression skill.

A hawk was preparing to strike from the back but was forced to the ground by Gravity Suppression, its feathers scorched black by the flames.

The player in the bunny doll suit quietly retreated into the shadows, with a white light glowing in their hand.

At the same time, light lit up from Pei Xue’s wand.

The next moment, a series of immunity texts popped up over Su Ming’an’s head.

Several people watched the scene in dumbfounded silence.

They had never anticipated that their prized restraining skills would be completely ineffective. Su Ming’an charged through the flames like an unstoppable force, striking at Boris with a sword without even a word of warning.

"Hold on, Number One Player," Boris produced a large defense shield in his hand, supporting it as he stepped back, "Don’t kill me here, you’ll regret it."

Su Ming’an paid no heed to his nonsense and brought his sword down.

The defense shield was as feeble as paper under the annihilating strike. After slicing through the shield like cutting paper, a flickering yellow light appeared on his sword blade.

Boris still tried to dodge, but to his surprise, Su Ming’an, who was once weak in swordsmanship, now swung his sword in a guaranteed hit, aiming directly for his neck.

He inclined his head slightly, and the sword blade hacked fiercely into the base of his neck, spurting bright red blood.

Since the sword no longer carried the effect of annihilation and he was in Shadow State, the damage from the strike seemed somewhat insufficient. However, under the level suppression, it still caused over a hundred points of damage.

But as the blood sprayed out, Boris’s body had already fallen lifelessly.

As a fragile Mage Series occupation, he was in a critical bleeding state, and at that moment his health bar was completely drained.

[Staff of Light (Red Level):

Attack Power: 10~20

Durability: 10/10

Equipment Requirement: Magic Series Occupation, Mentality Points 40 or above.

Special Attributes: Holy Attribute, exerts strong suppression on Curse Series spells.

Special Attributes: Light Attribute, exerts strong suppression on Darkness Series spells.

Active Skill (Holy Spear): Chanting for one second, release a Light Series magic single target attack, the attack is guaranteed to hit the target and causes a splash effect upon hitting. Cooldown Time 3 seconds. Costs 100 Blue Energy points.]

Su Ming’an glanced at the properties of the wand.

He had originally thought that the drop would be a Light Series wand that he wouldn’t be able to use, but, to his surprise, it was quite suitable for him.

While in Shadow State, he’d been wielding a sword imbued with annihilation to hack at people, but without the enhancement of Bright State sword expertise, his swordsmanship was frankly pitiful.

Although it’s said that a Mage usually has to resort to close combat, with this wand, he somewhat resembled a traditional Mage...

He quickly picked up the equipment and, with a backhand stroke, slashed at the Ice Series female Mage propping up the Defense Barrier. His sword blade easily pierced through her high-level Defense Barrier, violently entering through her chest and abdomen.

A high-level Defense Barrier was only effective against enemies with a Combat Power below one thousand. In front of him, it didn’t even feel like an obstacle.

He pulled out the sword blade and walked towards the Player in the bunny doll suit in the corner.

Atop the white jade steps, lay four corpses, each with a different manner of death.

The parrot on the shoulder of the rabbit-doll Player hopped, seemingly cursing at him:

"Bad person! Bad person!"

Flapping its wings, feathers of red and green fluttered down, as its sharp beak pecked towards him.

Su Ming’an slashed with his sword, and the parrot’s head was cleaved off.

"... You haven’t completely killed Boris."

Watching him kill the parrot, the rabbit-doll Player suddenly said:

"His Occupation has a Passive, as long as this instance still has a sufficient number of, continually zealously faithful people to him, he is immortal."

Su Ming’an was somewhat surprised.

He had thought that perhaps others might also have some bug-level Occupations. After all, if a Clone Skill with independent thinking ability had emerged, it would be normal for someone else to have a Phoenix-like Ability.

Boris couldn’t possibly lack Red Level Skills, and given that Su Ming’an hadn’t heard any advancement of Skills just now, Boris was indeed likely not dead.

The one he killed was Cardinal Milandal, the host for Boris’s possession.

"However, his strength should be weak now," said the rabbit-doll Player. "With each death, his strength will significantly decline. Unless he sacrifices those who have faith in him to recover."

Listening to her, Su Ming’an understood what this group of people was up to.

No wonder they needed to burn these NPCs; it turned out to be this kind of sacrificial Occupation.

Such Occupations are typically very powerful, but the price is heavy. Once in instances like White Sand Paradise with few people, they’re completely unable to display their power.

But in these instances involving tens of thousands of Players, it is paradise for these sacrificial Occupations.

"Thank you for the information, goodbye," Su Ming’an said, his sword cleaving once more, killing the other.

He didn’t care what the other wanted to tell him with all this, but he couldn’t possibly let her go here.

The head of the rabbit doll tumbled to the ground, landing in a pool of blood.

What was eerie was that even with the head gone, it still wore the bunny costume, and instead of human skin and blood at the neck, there was fluffy bunny fur, as if it had fused into one with the rabbit doll.

Su Ming’an had heard that there were Players who didn’t follow the proper path and chose more unique Occupations, fusing human bodies with certain animals until they transformed beyond human recognition. It seemed this Player was one of them.

As the World Game progressed, more and more bizarre Occupations appeared.

Neither like a ghost nor a human.

...This was the monstrous metamorphosis the World Game inflicted on people.

He turned around to see the great fire swirling inside the hall.

The hall doors remained wide open.

As he stepped out, he heard a scream from across the garden, in another building.

That was Sherrod’s scream.

He quickly rushed towards it.

Even though Sherrod said he was going to accept punishment voluntarily, that scream... didn’t sound like ordinary punishment.

It was almost a cry of utter exhaustion and exertion.

...The Favorability that he had so painstakingly built with Sherrod, he couldn’t let him die.

After hesitating for a moment, Su Ming’an fiercely kicked open the door.

"Bang!"

The doors flung open to either side, and Su Ming’an saw Sherrod bound to a pillar... and a person he had never expected to encounter.

That person stood erect, back to the doorway, like a pitch-black sword.