Chapter 390 - - ’The Sixth Day Meeting an Otherworld Traveler

Chapter 390: Chapter 387 - ’The Sixth Day Meeting an Otherworld TravelerAfter returning from the headquarters of the Soul Hunter Department, Su Ming’an dealt with a few players who had reached 80% exploration degree and then found a place to rest.

He briefed the ministers of the Soul Hunter Department about what needed to be done tomorrow—the tenth day the instance began and the last day of the Maritime Banquet, this critical day.

He had already tried before, and relying solely on his own strength, he could only make the King of Sea Monsters use up energy and force her to choose to recover, but he could not kill her directly.

Therefore, he chose another path suggested by the system task prompts—using the resource stones he had accumulated and gathering the strength of the entire city to reconstruct the outermost defense barrier initially.

The barrier currently being protected around the island was temporary, structured by humans, not blessed by a deity, and would inevitably be shattered by sea monsters one day. To solve the issue completely, the only way was to re-establish the already shattered outermost barrier.

And this task could only be completed by Su Rin, who had mastered the "Barrier" ability, by himself.

However, the difficulty was evident, as the city walls where people resided were a considerable distance from the remains of the shattered outermost barrier.

If he wanted to repair it, he had to pass through areas covered by sea monsters—including the residential area, white sandy beaches, refugee boats, and a long stretch of the sea. This distance was not short and was already filled with sea monsters; he could not get through it alone.

He needed people to escort him.

This was why he approached the Soul Hunters.

The instance would not give him an unsolvable problem; on the contrary, it was quite fair.

Although having conquered Pulaya, he triggered the principle of equivalence and faced a sea monster siege plot.

But similarly, as the ruler of Pulaya, it was impossible for him not to gain any benefits at all.

...All the people who had received Su Rin’s kindness, all the local residents, all the Soul Hunters, all the Royal City Knights, and even the Soul Clan hiding away...

They all followed his commands.

He could freely mobilize Pulaya’s resources, including all treasures and labor...

He had already ordered Shadow to gather the power of the entire city to collect Pulaya’s resource stones accumulated over hundreds of years, bring them together, and deliver them to his hands to create a more stable barrier that sea monsters could not destroy. seaʀᴄh thё Nôvelƒire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

Then, tomorrow—when the sun rose and the strength of the sea monsters was weakest, he would form an elite team with the strongest Soul Hunters and himself, forge a sword that would pierce through the sea monsters’ tactics, and directly reach the location of the outermost barrier to repair it.

This mission was incredibly dangerous and required great sacrifices, but it was the only way to completely drive the sea monsters out.

The ministers named this mission "Cross Sea" operation.

This should be the last and most challenging main quest Su Ming’an would complete in this world replica.

In his vision, on the left side of the task bar, a main quest shimmered prominently.

[Quest Reward: Direct victory at "Maritime Banquet." Necessary prop *1 to ascend to Yun Shang City. This quest affects the final assessment after clearance.

During the quest, any sea monster killed by your subordinate Soul Hunters will provide you with experience points, whether you participate in the battle or not.]

Any sea monster slain by the Soul Hunters would provide him with experience points.

This meant that in tomorrow’s "Cross Sea" operation, every sea monster that died would be considered a creature he had directly killed, making this a dangerous yet highly rewarding leveling journey.

After the third rank, his leveling speed became slower, and slaughtering weak monsters hardly yielded any experience points, but killing sea monsters turned out to be a method of accumulating little by little.

Su Ming’an raised his head.

Today was December 26, 2021, the ninth day since the instance activation, in the evening.

There were three days left until the end of the instance time.

The barrage was still chatting; these people had gotten used to chatting 24 hours a day, discussing topics from every corner of the world to all aspects of life, mixed with conversations between different countries, making the entire streaming room seem very native.

It was almost dusk now, and the last night instance was about to begin.

The place Su Ming’an chose to rest tonight was still the house in the Eastern District that Aelas had given him; it was not far from the docks in the Southern District, and he was used to living there.

The clothesline in front of the neighbor’s house had already collapsed, and as Su Ming’an passed by the window, he wiped away the frost on the window with his hand.

The sewing machine inside was already covered with dust, and there was no longer a human figure on the bed.

The once constant sound of the needle falling, the woman’s coughing, and the movements of fetching and carrying water were completely gone. The surroundings were utterly silent, with only discarded cloth bags and wooden boards left.

He stood quietly outside the window for a while, then returned to his own house next door.

He glanced at the wooden carving of the villain placed on the window and took it into his arms. After turning off the live stream and washing the blood off his body, he changed his clothes.

When he opened the window, he saw a Knight of Light in golden armor walking towards his house.

Sherrod’s eyes were tinged with dark blue, and he looked very tired.

"I’m sorry," Su Ming’an watched him enter, "I couldn’t find your sister."

His taskbar still had a Red Level quest named "Immortality" that required delivering Sherrod’s birthday gift for his sister into her hands.

But obviously, the difficulty of a Red Level quest was not small, and Su Ming’an indeed had not been able to find Sherrod’s sister on that refugee ship.

"..." Sherrod fell into silence for a bit.

He took off the snow-stained red cloak from his back and shook it at the door.

The cold wind blew through his short golden hair, his gaze somewhat despondent.

"It’s okay."

But moments later, that familiar smile gradually returned to his cheeks.

"These things are very sudden... as long as the captain is not dead, we still have hope. Changying... she must have been prepared too. After all, in Pulaya, these sudden incidents that snatch away lives are too common..."

Sherrod’s words were somewhat pessimistic.

But Su Ming’an knew that Sherrod’s sister might not be dead.

Because his task had not yet indicated a failure.

Since the "Immortality" quest was still active, it meant that Sherrod’s sister was still alive and the necklace still had a chance to be delivered to her. If his sister had died, this task should have disappeared long ago.

The silence in the room lingered for a while.

Su Ming’an did not know why Sherrod had come to find him.

After all, due to Sherrod’s loyalty to Princess Tulip, their relationship had become quite strained before.

But since Sherrod had once saved Lin Yin, who was an occupier, Su Ming’an did not immediately kick him out.

Moreover, the knight swore allegiance to the most detested of all sea monsters.... This change must also have been very hard for Sherrod.

Su Ming’an wanted to improve his favorability with Sherrod, the "Brave." Tomorrow would be the most crucial day, and the Brave could prove very useful...

As Su Ming’an pondered what topic to start with, he saw Sherrod pulling out a notebook of his own.

The notebook was flipped to a new page, and at the top was a neatly written line of text as if it had been prepared in advance:

"Day Six of Encountering an Otherworld Traveler."

Southern District docks, city wall.

Atop the city wall, Noel, who had once served as a commander, was observing the barrier closely, attempting to find a way to make it more stable.

For him, the existence of this barrier was not important. In fact, if the barrier were to break, it would actually make it easier for him to drive off other players. With the highest points he currently possessed, he would be ensured a victory in the Maritime Banquet. All he needed was to hide in the Royal City Barrier and survive the remaining three days. It didn’t matter what became of Pulaya afterward; he could leave once the time was up.

Meanwhile, since there was nothing else to do, he started examining the structure of the barrier.

Tiny lines like electrical wires extended from his fingertips, touching the surface of the barrier and linking up like they were charging.

As he busied himself, a slender figure approached from beside him.

She was adorned with a thin sword, her long hair fluttering in the wind and snow, which slowly stilled around her as if dancing in her presence.

On her armor was engraved a yellow rose.

She was Luna, the captain of the renowned Western Guild, the Sword of the Yellow Rose, and a player with high charm.

The four people following her also dressed in the clearly customized equipment of the Yellow Rose armor.

"Noel?" Luna glanced at Noel, who was studying the barrier, "Your teammate is dead, and yet you seem so leisurely."

"Not dead yet." Noel didn’t look up, "He just got back; many people saw him, you just happened to miss it."

"Such a big scene yesterday, and he didn’t die?" Luna laughed, sweeping past him, "It seems he really is talented. However, for us, we just hope this barrier can hold a bit longer. There are only three days left until the instance ends; hopefully, it can last those three days..."

She gazed at the barrier in front of her.

The dense sea monsters, like wild beasts, were ramming, biting, and she was separated from them by only a wall.

She could even see the flickering bloodlust in their eyes, the different features they had, clawing and gnawing at the barrier like senseless beasts.

She placed her hand on the barrier; through the thin, cool barrier, she could clearly see the distinct eyelashes on the faces of these sea monsters.

"It won’t hold."

At that moment, she heard Noel address her.

"...Is that so," she said in a light tone.

Noel withdrew his hand from checking the barrier, the wire-like lines retracting back into his fingertips, "I’ve checked; this barrier can last at most one more day, not to mention the King of Sea Monsters isn’t dead yet. If she returns, this barrier will virtually break instantly."

Luna’s expression grew more solemn.

"...If it can’t last three days, then we’re in big trouble," Luna said, "As it stands, no player has the strength to withstand a tsunami disaster, nor does any player have the confidence to survive amidst a blanket of sea monsters... If this barrier breaks again, and we don’t hide within the Royal City Barrier, all the players in this instance might... perish."

Her tone was very serious, and her expression became grave.

Looking beyond the barrier, the faint smile on her face also disappeared.

Behind her, her four teammates exchanged glances, their eyes also filled with deep concern.

Noel knew what she was worried about.

Everyone knew that this instance had gathered quite a number of top players.

Famous player IDs appeared frequently in channel chats, not to mention top players like Lv Shu and Yamada Machiichi, rank-leading players Lin Yin, Rimu Sheng, Eli, Bonnie... coupled with Luna herself and her elite team, the Yellow Rose Squad.

These people represented not just a group of strong elite players.

...They bore something even more important.

Combat Power values, as well as points.

These were things that were calculated into the entire human progress bar.

Once they died, everything accumulated on them would be wiped clean, and everyone would have to start over.

That is to say, if this barrier truly burst, if the Royal City Barrier also could not stop the King of Sea Monsters, if the outcome of this instance was really total annihilation... for the players... and even for the human race’s points, it would be a catastrophic disaster.

Not to mention the Number One Player and the Second Player were both among them...

If they died in this instance, for the overall situation of the world game, it would be a revolutionary reshuffling.

"Spill it, Noel," Luna’s tone had intentionally softened a lot as she rested her hand on the wall, leaning on Noel’s right side, tilting her head to ask him, "What exactly is the Number One Player thinking? Give me a straight answer, can we survive this in the end?"

The wind and snow blew through her long hair.

She tilted her head, her pale eyes gazing intently at Noel. This woman, known as the "Northern District Female General," had an especially charismatic presence after intentionally lowering her stance.

Although rumors said she had once killed a brown bear barehanded.

"It’s strange to me that you would ask me this question,"

Noel still seemed completely unswayed, his tone remaining unemotional.

In dealing with players other than "comrades," he wasn’t as enthusiastic as he had appeared before.

"...since when did the life and death of individual players in an instance need to be decided by other players?" he scoffed.

Luna was slightly taken aback.

Noel turned his head, looking at her:

"Your reliance on Su Ming’an is a bit too much.

"I found it odd before, this is a competitive instance that requires ten thousand people to vie for a Perfect Pass result, and there’s even a ranking for contribution within factions. Aren’t players supposed to be competitors?

"Logically, any method we seek for a pass, any storyline we take, should be a legitimate action within the instance. We aren’t supposed to trust each other with our backs, to be comrades who share life and death.

"But in the previous event, I noticed something very odd.

"Why... can someone justifiably blame Su Ming’an’s route for causing their downfall? Why does anyone have to force Su Ming’an to consider their completion? It’s as if Su Ming’an must consider their status as the weaker parties, must take into account that they can’t defeat the Sea Monsters.

"Luna, don’t you find this dysfunctional? When did players become such that they need the Number One Player to evade them, need the top-ranked players to take care of them like overgrown babies? They don’t feel ashamed of their own weakness, don’t rush to find a chance to hide in a safe place, but instead blame the Number One Player for bringing them danger, blame the Number One Player for taking such a risky route to pass, so self-righteous, with countless others echoing them... Do you think this is normal?"