Chapter 538: There is a Kind of Friendship Called Teammates, There is a Kind of Cooperation Called Flawless (Part 1)

"Boss, can we actually beat this?"

"Of course we can," Fang Qi replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Alright then, count me in!" Zong Wu hesitated for a brief moment, but joined the party anyway.

There were not many people in the vicinity. Some had only just been driven out and utterly crushed by the Mecha Tau, leaving them skeptical and hesitant. After a moment of indecision, a passing player finally spoke up, "Could you... add me too? I'd like to give it a try."

Fang Qi nodded and sent him a party invitation.

He was a Spitfire—a specialized subclass of the Gunner. Fang Qi glanced at his ID: Master Zhou.

No such person existed in Fang Qi's memory; he had clearly joined the shop after Fang Qi left for Half City.

Yet, to have reached level 48 by this point and completed all the prerequisite quests for the Proving Ground meant he was certainly no novice.

Fang Qi checked everyone's equipment and skill levels once more before leading the team into the Billmark Empire Proving Ground.

In this era, the concept of healing was practically non-existent within the game. Even though Paladins possessed recovery skills, the class at this stage functioned almost purely as support. Their low damage output made it incredibly difficult for them to solo dungeons safely like other classes, making a decent Paladin an exceptionally rare sight.

With only a few extremely precious recovery potions at their disposal, every step had to be taken with absolute caution to avoid unnecessary depletion.

Consequently, as long as they possessed a map leading to where the Mecha Tau resided, no one would willingly wander off to avoid encountering further unknown dangers deep within the woods.

The areas surrounding and bordering this proving ground were swarming with various cat-demons, driven utterly feral by mutation. They were not merely ferocious; they moved and hunted in packs.

This was the very first obstacle that needed solving upon entering the proving ground.

As for the team composition... it looked rather mismatched, though at least everyone was decently geared. Even the Spitfire named Master Zhou wore a level 40 set and wielded a Sparta's Curse, a +8 reinforced purple auto-gun.

The others were only better equipped.

Boss Fang’s own ID, Black Duke, was a Soul Bender—a class capable of summoning ghosts and deities to fight.

If the iron chains wrapped around the arm were loosened, the ghosts and deities would roam freely, and utilizing them skillfully would turn the tide of battle.

Grand Priest Zieg was the first of the Soul Summoners. The era he existed in was perhaps even more ancient than that of Instructor GSD. He had passed down the methods of summoning Kazan of the Kazan Syndrome, Keiga of the Afterimage, Saya of the Frost, and Bremen of the Corrosion to the Ghost Knights, serving as the pioneer for all who walked this path.

With a lift of his short sword, a dark, undulating shadow enveloped Fang Qi’s form.

Afterimage of Keiga.

"Boss, I'll take the left!" Jiang Xiaoyue said, practically bursting with anticipation.

Fang Qi nodded, and after summoning the deity, he told the others, "Stay exactly where you are. Don't move."

The party continued its advance, but instead of following the map forward, they plunged directly into the depths of the dense forest.

Faintly, a low, ferocious roar could be heard echoing from the heart of the woods.

Pairs of grim, eerie eyes cast a ghostly glow amidst the thick foliage.

"Going in alone?!" At that very moment, two dark silhouettes appeared behind Boss Fang's seat.

The two figures stared intently at Boss Fang's screen, their eyes burning with curiosity.

The forest was thick with monsters, and combined with the dim lighting, one could easily be ambushed if careless. Venturing in alone was by no means a wise move.

Accompanied by a series of shrill, guttural growls, countless cat-demons leapt out from the dense woods one after another, pouncing toward Fang Qi.

Fang Qi's movement speed seemed incredibly high—significantly faster than that of ordinary players. Supplemented by the occasional Ashen Wave cast behind him to sweep the ground and the rapid displacement of Triple Slash's sliding steps, even these frantic, swift cat-demons could not catch up to him for the time being.

Yet, it was obvious that the sliding step of Triple Slash was akin to a burst of high-intensity footwork. Although virtual reality did not enforce a strict cooldown in the traditional sense, consecutively unleashing most skills placed an immense burden on the body. If one were to force powerful skills beyond physical limitations, it was entirely possible to break the body completely.

Thus, unless absolutely necessary, no one would take such a risk to repeatedly unleash a single technique.

Though every single step Fang Qi took was calculated to perfection, the monsters behind him grew denser. Almost every cat-demon in the region had been drawn out by the scent of a living human and the aroma of flesh.

Pulling and grouping monsters was a fundamental tactic for almost any gaming team. In the original version of Dungeon Fighter, every room was of a uniform size, making the task of pulling monsters relatively easy. But here and now, the difficulty was clearly on a vastly different scale.

"He actually pulled so many?!" Quite a few people who had heard Boss Fang was doing his awakening quest had already gathered around.

"He's probably pulled most of the cat-demons in the vicinity, hasn't he?!"

"This doesn't look good at all."

Relying on Triple Slash alone would never allow him to break through the encirclement of the cat-demons.

The deeper they went into the forest, the more treacherous the terrain became, littered with tangled weeds and jagged rocks. In a place like this, taking a detour was out of the question.

The best option would be to run back along the path behind him, but that route was now completely blocked by the swarming horde of cat-demons.

"The terrain of this forest is complex, and these cat-demons have closed in to surround him. I’d like to see how this kid plans to make it back," mumbled the figure hidden beneath the black robe, shaking his head. With his discerning eye, it was glaringly obvious that Fang Qi had reached the end of his rope.

Right then, as a low chant slipped from Fang Qi's lips, a flickering, nebulous shadow gradually materialized behind his back. The pitch-black deity loomed like a pair of massive, dark wings, quietly unfurling.

Immediately following this, he turned around and took a few light steps forward.

To their exasperation, the youth actually moved with a leisurely, strolling gait, as though he were merely taking a pleasant walk in the woods rather than embarking on a perilous adventure.

At that exact moment, the massive horde of cat-demons leapt into the air! They rained down toward Fang Qi like a torrential downpour!

And it was then that they witnessed Fang Qi execute a maneuver that defied all logic—he threw himself directly into the oncoming assault!

"What is he doing?!"

"Has he gone mad?!"

"Is the boss trying to commit suicide just to use a Resurrection Coin and start over?!"

No one could fathom the meaning behind Fang Qi's actions. Was it merely to cluster the first wave of monsters together?

Just as confusion gripped the crowd, an unbelievable sight unfolded before their eyes!

The onlookers felt their vision blur. The character on Boss Fang's screen flickered, growing fainter and fainter. At the exact instant all the cat-demons lunged forward, the figure dissolved entirely into nothingness!

Fang Qi's body passed directly through the pouncing forms of the cat-demons!

Ghost Step. By utilizing a specialized footwork under the protection of a deity, one could instantaneously turn themselves into a phantom void while moving at high speeds. The very deity Fang Qi had just summoned was this exact entity.