Chapter 1702: Next Task
Chapter 1702: Next Task
*BOOM*
A few days passed.
Sam is currently standing on top of a pillar in the middle of the town. He is defending himself with an energy barrier as he used the reaper sword to cut down the enemy bullets coming from every side.
He didn't even have a change in expression as he let everyone rain him down with bullets.
In the past few days, he has taken down the town bit by bit. He didn't care much about trying to do it in a single streak. He also didn't care about finishing this off in a single sitting.
Whenever he felt like the corruption has hit him and is anywhere near the limit, he just went back to the pillars, even if he is the middle of a fight.
He knew that safety should be his highest priority. Since Hel is making his life more and more unreasonable.
And most of his speculations about the Lion Hunter Tribe are true. So, he didn't have much trouble dealing with them at all. The only problem is the time taken. It has taken a lot longer than he originally expected.
He finished off the boss. The commander of the Lion hunter tribe with his sword struck and all of a sudden, the whole town started rumbling.
*GRRR*
It is almost like a beast is growling from under the ground.
Ignoring the weird sound coming from there, Sam jumped up into the air and disappeared. He reappeared at the pillar and injected the corruption into it.
Hel who is spectating the whole thing shook her head and hurriedly waved her hand.
Sam felt a familiar force as he smiled.
His body still has the corruption that came from killing the commander. Hel's timing is surprisingly remarkable. Because Sam knew that this is the most amount of corruption he is going to accumulate because of the extra bonus he got from Boss.
His new way of dealing things is obviously not going to let him accumulate more than this.
So, she picked the best time she could.
Sam once again appeared in an empty space.
"Why did you call us so soon?"
Some players directly complained. The more they interacted with these gods and Hel, the less reverence and respect they had for them. And as their power increased, even the self-restraints in the way they speak are going away.
They are now even complaining about the things they don't like.
Hel didn't care about their complaints. She just looked at their states and shook her head.
Unlike before, Sam is nowhere near being the worst candidate among the players. He doesn't have the highest level of corruption and he is definitely not the most exhausted.
She sighed and closed her eyes for a moment.
For the next minute, her face twitched occasionally and a frown that deepened every second appeared on her face.
Players didn't understand her sudden reaction. But they didn't care much. They are being toyed with anyway, so there is no point in trying to know the details. Particularly when they are sure that they won't know a thing even if they ask.
Hel opened her eyes and sighed deeply. She looked at Sam for a moment and shook her head.
"I hope your ass survives this one."
She muttered to herself and later spoke loudly.
"Attention my dear players. Welcome to your second challenge. This time, it is going to be a bit different from the first one."
Because, not only will you be unable to use your weapons, trinkets and other artifacts you have. You will also be unable to use your own bodies.
For this round, only your souls will go and they will be placed in the bodies of other people. The bodies will be chosen in a way that they will at least be slightly compatible to your affinities."
Everyone was stunned. They didn't expect such an announcement at all. They are all thinking of how to deal with this second round with all the corruption they accumulated in their bodies. Sam nnoticed that everyone has a lot of corruption pent up in their bodies. In the first round, apart from Sam, no one is in such a sorry state.
And every player understood that one of the main reasons Sam lost is because of this corruption only. So, they are kind of ecstatic when they learned their bodies are not going to be part of this round.
"Don't get too happy yet. Even if your bodies are not going to be a part of this round, the corruption attached to your soul will be with you. But I must say it is a lot, lot better than going out with these bodies.
Anyway, let me explain the remaining task to you.
The location of this round is going to be a battlefield in a realm far away.
It is kind of an isolated realm. It has no contact with the surrounding realms and except for a select few, no one even knows about the existence of other realms. They believe that theirs is the only world.
And currently, a world war is happening there.
And coincidentally, they also have seven key candidates fighting there that are compatible with your cultivation level as well as your affinities.
You will be forcefully sent to occupy their bodies.
And you will be there in a week.
This time since the whole scenario itself is difficult, we didn't make it hard for the actual task part.
The task is for you guys to take over a certain area.
It is an area centered exactly in the middle of all the camps and it is currently occupied by beasts, some wandering criminals, and bandit camps. Whoever takes over that area will have the best chance to win the battles in the surrounding areas.
Of course, it is large enough for only one side to swallow it whole, so the person who occupies the largest part wins.
One condition is that apart from the basic hand-to-hand combat and movement techniques, you cannot use any other skills. That includes energy attacks, your personal trump cards, formation techniques that you learned in your body, weapon-making skills.
There will be one skill from the owner of the original body that would be chosen and you are forced to master the skill and use it for your task."
At this moment, Sam raised his hand.
"What if I can use my other skills with the skill you gave me as a base?"
"What do you mean?"
"If you have given me swordsmanship as my skill, I can make a formation with the sword rays in an instant with my movements. I won't be using any formation nodes, flags, or even inscriptions. It will be purely the sword rays that came out of my sword strikes."
Hel thought for a moment and said.
"If you can really do that, then fine. Do it as much as you like."
"Thank you."
Sam smiled and didn't speak any further.
Hel looked at the rest and asked.
"Does anybody else have any other questions?"
"You are awfully tolerant today."
Arkiv suddenly spoke up from the side.
"What?"
Hel asked in a surprised tone.
"I remember the last mission briefing. You were so irritated and conceited. But now, you are patient and tolerant of everything going on around here. This is too much for me to take in."
The other players also nodded as they also noticed this.
Sam is also surprised by this. But he just felt that it is not something that he should mull over at the moment.
Hel didn't answer him. But she knew why she subconsciously behaved like that. It is because she is sure that Gambler will make some big move on her and she wants to do as much damage control as possible.
Even though she is helping out Zeus with his stupid plan now, she felt like Sam would survive this and even get an upper hand in this. And she also believed that this would be the last time she does this. So, she is being a bit careful with her attitude without even knowing.
But she doesn't have to explain this to players. All she did is explain the remaining rules.
"So, you will be staying in that body for seven days. The three players that have the largest land occupation will gain the badges.
The rest will not. And the badge score will depend on how much land you occupied.
Also there are some hidden badges that will only be awarded by triggering some hidden conditions. So, you might want to put your efforts and go above and beyond to achieve everything you deem important and necessary in this battle.
When you enter the body, you will be given the memories of the original person. Everything will be imprinted into your soul and you will also be given a gist of the situation at the time and the behavioral characteristics of the person.
So, you need to act accordingly and proceed further.
That is all I have to say.
All the best."