The Righteous Player(s)

Chapter 529: I Haven’t Finished Yet. Why Is It Over Already?

“What?” Jiu Er reacted in bafflement.

I haven’t started yet.

How is it over?

After Annan entered the nightmare, Jiu Er made a few cups of honey citrus tea and gave one to the people chatting outside. Then, she went to get the fruits Nieusel brought over, cut them up, and put them on the fruit plate. Afterward, she returned to Annan’s room.

She originally planned to stay in the room, have some fruits, and read a book for a while. When they met and chatted in the tavern, the players had already mentioned the characteristics of this nightmare to Annan.

After all, Annan was not like a player who could disregard death.

The players were still worried that they would be unable to rescue Annan if he died too much in the nightmare.

After all, according to Nieusel, quite a few victims died in this nightmare.

They believed Annan should not die in this since this nightmare seemed about the same difficulty as the gallery. However, they still mentioned to Annan that this nightmare had a “safety exit”, just in case.

Of course, out of the player’s negligence, none of them mentioned the correct way to use the safety exit to Annan.

Jiu Er thought that Suuankou had mentioned it, and Lin Yiyi also felt that his brother must have mentioned it. At the same time, Suuankou thought that Jiu Er would tell Annan. It was only when Jiu Er went out to get the fruit just now that she realized they had made such a low-level mistake.

Luckily, Annan had already learned that “you can come out from the safety exit when you see the faceless man”. Since 70% of the dungeon was deciphered, a confrontation would not lead to too many problems. Annan should be able to leave after dying a couple of times.

Jiu Er and the other players did not think Annan could catch up with them by challenging the dungeon instance for the first time.

They were planning to wait for Annan to exit the nightmare. With Annan’s IQ, it should take five hours before he sought the escape path.

It would be in time for the group to get together for dinner. Then, during the meal, the players would send Suuankou to give Annan a couple of spoilers about what the next dungeon level looked like and how to solve the problem.

This was the walkthrough they had studied for nearly two weeks before finally summing it up.

The dungeon purification would only be started after Annan acquired the dungeon instance guide.

However, the end result was unexpected.

Annan had somehow cleared the nightmare.

Jiu Er was dumbfounded and speechless.

I just went out for a walk. Half an hour or so at most has passed.

In the end, he went?

The petite black-haired girl was bewildered.

Only then did she realize the peculiarity of her room.

A thick layer of frost pattern hung on the windows, and some frost traces could be seen on the walls. After Jiu Er opened the door, the cold air in the room had already dissipated rapidly. However, at a height close to the ground, there was still visible cold air slowly drifting away.

It was like after opening the refrigerator where freezing air like smoke rushed toward you.

The tea she put on the table had been frozen into a lump of ice.

“This is the power that overflowed from my dream,” Ghirlandaio explained.

Jiu Er suddenly felt a chill down her back when their eyes met. Then, a burst of goosebumps and tingling sensations came to her.

To put it into words, it was like when she did not listen to the class. Suddenly, the teacher asked questions. When the entire class stood up for a long time, she noticed the teacher’s gaze cast over her.

The sense of danger, fear, and the feeling of being wholly seen through bound Jiu Er’s heart.

—Wait, what’s going on here?

“Ah, sorry.” Ghirlandaio realized something.

He turned his gaze away and said softly, “I’m not quite able to control this power yet.

“I’ll try to adapt as quickly as possible so I won’t cause you any trouble.”

When did His Highness Annan become so strong?

Jiu Er was in a trance, feeling like she had missed an episode.

In her memory, Annan was more robust than these players, but there should be a limit to it. Annan ranked higher than the lowest-level players without cheating and activating Sage’s Stone.

Annan was neither a bishop of an upright deity nor a ritualist.

Logically speaking, he should be equal to the players in the nightmare.

However, it only took Annan half an hour to purify “Nightmare: Sporeggar Mill” when he just came into contact with this nightmare for the first time.

How did he do that?

Even if you don’t even die once, you can’t pass through the mill in half an hour, right?

Half an hour… I’m afraid you won’t even get to meet the faceless man.

Jiu Er remembered that walking continuously for an hour was necessary at the very beginning. The main reason was that it was too time-consuming to turn back and kill the messenger because you had to walk over and come back.

Could it be that His Royal Highness Annan simply dismantled the nightmare?

Jiu Er asked curiously, “Can you tell us a little about how you purify the nightmare?

“You know, we have to purify the nightmare. Only then can we build a teleportation circle here.”

“Sorry. I’ve purified it.” Ghirlandaio shrugged helplessly.

He pointed to the broken rope at his ankle, “Look, even the ‘key’ has broken.

“This is one of the signs that the nightmare is over.”

“Is that so?” Jiu Er murmured in disappointment.

Damn, I haven’t played enough yet…

But, His Highness Annan is really strong.

“We have died more than a hundred times.”

Jiu Er said honestly, “I never thought you could purify it in one fell swoop.”

The players were required to purify the three nightmares before successfully building the teleportation circle.

Those normal difficulty nightmares were easy to find. After all, it was impossible to have no people die here. Also, there was no priest in the underground world to purify the nightmares regularly.

After Nieusel learned that they had died more than 60 times, he offered them some simple nightmares.

Suuankou did not go for them because he had been concentrating on tackling the Sporeggar Mill Nightmare. Later, his erosion rate reached a dangerous value, and he could no longer enter any nightmares.

Besides Suuankou, Jiu Er and Lin Yiyi had already purified the nightmares twice while waiting at this place, completing two-thirds of the mission.

Their mission would be completed if the team cleared the Sporeggar Mill Nightmare once. The group would be able to leave—as for why they did not complete the mission directly, it was just because they stubbornly wanted to help Nieusel and the rest to resolve the Sporeggar Mill Nightmare.

So in their subconscious, they no longer held the idea of ​​”completing the mission first and then leaving”.

In other words, they still did not notice the danger laid in Sporeggar Mill.

Let me help purify this nightmare first.

This was what the players thought.

They did not think this nightmare was dangerous or terrifying because they were immune to actual death.

On the contrary, it was full of challenges.

After Jiu Er learned that this challenging nightmare had been purified, her reaction was not to relax, “I can finally rest,” but “Damn it, I haven’t finished it yet. Why is it over already? Is this a time-limited dungeon? What a regret!”

What a stubborn bunch.

Annan noticed the thoughts of the players.

He smiled gratifiedly.

It’s fine. Be unbending.

Now that Annan had plans to embark on the path of justice, the players must also follow along.

“Call Suuankou and Lin Yiyi in. I’ll cleanse the erosion rate for you all first. Then, I’ll tell you the story about ‘Alice’.”