Chapter 109: The Trial of Eternal Night

The mountain roads outside Donghai City were rugged and uneven.

A bus drove slowly amidst the bumps.

The bus windows were covered with a thick layer of dust, distorting the scenery outside into blurry patches of color.

Inside the carriage, there was a depressing dead silence.

Thirty to forty people were crammed into the narrow seats, and no one spoke.

The ignited passion in the quest hall had long since cooled down during the long and dull journey.

Replacing it was thick confusion and unease.

"Screeech—"

An ear-piercing sound of brakes rang out.

The bus stopped in front of a desolate forest area.

The bus door let out a muffled hiss and slowly opened.

Jasmine was the first to jump off the bus. The afternoon sunlight was somewhat blinding, and she instinctively narrowed her eyes.

The humid air carrying the scent of humus surged into her nasal cavity.

She raised her hand, and a spirit eagle with grey-brown feathers flew up from her palm, spiraling as it soared into the high sky and quickly disappeared amidst the dense tree canopy.

The men on the bus got off one after another. Looking at the gloomy dense forest before them, the confusion on their faces grew heavier.

"Hey, little girl," a scarred man couldn't help speaking up, "what are you bringing us to this shit-hole place for?"

"Exactly, didn't you say we were going to the guild base?"

"This is almost out of the borders of Donghai City, right?"

Voices of discussion rose and fell one after another.

Standing behind Jasmine, Yasuo slowly raised his eyelids.

His deep eyes swept across the crowd, his voice flat yet carrying an unquestionable chill.

"Excessive words are useless; just follow along."

That invisible pressure made everyone shut their mouths.

Daring not to ask any more questions, they could only bite the bullet and follow Jasmine and Yasuo into that dim, dense forest.

The path through the forest was muddy and difficult to walk on.

After walking for about ten-odd minutes, the view ahead suddenly opened up.

That was a swamp area occupied by huge vines.

In the center of the swamp, an indescribably huge plant stood quietly.

It had no flowers nor leaves.

Its main trunk resembled a twisted human figure, covered densely with black pustules resembling eyeballs.

Countless thick, barbs-covered dark green vines extended from the main trunk like venomous snakes, slowly writhing in mid-air.

A nauseating, foul stench permeated the air.

[Corpse-Rot Vine Demon LV20 (Elite BOSS)]

[HP: 88000 / 88000]

The moment they saw this monster, a chorus of sharp gasps rang out in the crowd.

Everyone's complexion changed.

An extremely bad premonition welled up in everyone's hearts simultaneously.

"No way…" a mage apprentice's voice trembled, "bringing us here, could it be…"

Jasmine turned around, her clear gaze sweeping across everyone's pale faces.

She nodded, her voice not loud, yet clearly transmitted into everyone's ears.

"That's right."

"This is your first trial."

"Kill it."

The air seemed to freeze at this moment.

After a brief dead silence came a volcanic uproar.

"You're crazy! You want us to fight a BOSS?"

"A level 20 BOSS! What the fuck are you joking about!"

The scarred man was the first to jump out, pointing at Jasmine's nose and cursing viciously.

"It's hard enough for me at level 10 to fight an ordinary mutated wild boar! You're making me fight this? A single vine of it can whip me into meat paste!"

"That's right! We're here to look for a job, not to throw away our lives!"

"What kind of bullshit Eternal Night Guild is this! I'm not doing this anymore!"

The crowd completely exploded.

They were all rogue players struggling at the bottom, and they knew very well how much strength they possessed.

Letting them challenge a level 20 BOSS was no different from sending them to commit suicide.

Facing the indignant crowd, Jasmine's face didn't have any ripples.

She just watched them quietly, and only slowly spoke after they had cursed enough.

"I'm not forcing you."

Her voice was very calm, even somewhat indifferent.

"I said before, we in Eternal Night only want madmen, not cowards."

She extended her slender fingers, pointing toward the direction they came from.

"The bus is right there."

"Those who want to quit now can go back."

"I'll only say it once; the opportunity is only this once."

The scarred man spat viciously.

"Who the hell cares!"

"Had I known it was like this, I wouldn't have wasted this time!"

After speaking, he turned around without looking back and strode away towards the outside of the forest.

His departure was like knocking down the first domino.

"Let's go, this guild's brains are sick."

"Damn it, what a wasted celebration for nothing."

"Better honestly go back and take quests, at least we won't die."

After hesitating, quite a few people also chose to turn and leave.

The passion ignited by Jasmine's words quickly extinguished when facing the fear of death.

After all, there was only one life, and it wasn't worth risking one's life for an illusory promise.

The team of thirty to forty people decreased at a visible speed to the naked eye.

Soon, fewer than fifteen people were left standing in place.

Their faces were covered with struggle and hesitation.

Just at this moment.

The scrawny young man in the corner of the crowd moved.

He didn't say anything, just suddenly rushed forward like an arrow released from a string, heading straight for that ferocious Corpse-Rot Vine Demon.

There was no fear in his eyes, only a patch of icy dead silence.

"That kid is crazy!"

"He actually dares to go up?"

"Alone? Looking for death isn't done like this!"

The remaining people looked at that thin back in disbelief.

"Damn it!"

In the crowd, that shield warrior who was the first to stand up in the quest hall suddenly let out an angry roar.

"I don't care anymore! If I die, I die!"

"Anyway, I've lived cowardly enough already!"

He raised that battered round shield and unexpectedly followed the scrawny youth, launching a charge.

Immediately after.

The third!

The fourth!

The fifth!

Three more figures rushed out from the hesitant crowd, charging right toward that massive BOSS without a shred of hesitation.

They didn't want to live that kind of hopeless life anymore.

They wanted to change, wanted to seize this illusory opportunity, even if the price was death.

"Crazy! These few people are all fucking crazy!"

Those who were still staying in place and watching retreated a few steps, looking at those five charging figures as if looking at five dead men.

The ending was already destined long ago.

Mere five people, the highest Rank was only 13.

How could they possibly be opponents of a level 20 BOSS?

In an instant, they would be torn into fragments.

The Corpse-Rot Vine Demon seemed to be angered by these few audacious ants.

The eyeball-like pustules on its main trunk turned simultaneously, locking onto the five people charging at the very front.

"Hiss—"

Dozens of vines tore through the air to attack, emitting a sharp whistling sound like dozens of wildly dancing giant pythons.

"Hold the line!"

That shield warrior roared angrily, slamming his shield fiercely onto the ground as an earthy-yellow glow lit up all over his body.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

The vines hammered onto his shield like raindrops, emitting muffled, loud noises.

The shield warrior's body shook violently, his feet plowing two deep trenches in the muddy ground.

He clenched his teeth tightly, the veins on his arms bulging, his face flushing red.

"Pfft!"

He suddenly spewed a mouthful of fresh blood, and the shield in his hand shattered in response.

The scrawny youth's figure was ghostly, weaving through the gaps of the vines. The battered dagger in his hand traced out flashes of cold light, fiercely stabbing into the vines of the Corpse-Rot Vine Demon.

"-1!"

"-2!"

"-1!"

A series of pitiful single-digit damage numbers floated up from the vines.

They couldn't even break the BOSS's defense.

"Roar!"

The Corpse-Rot Vine Demon grew completely enraged, a thick vine sweeping horizontally and directly whipping the other two warriors flying out.

Seeing that shield warrior was about to be pierced through by several vines.

The scrawny youth's eyes narrowed as he lunged forward fiercely, knocking the shield warrior away.

Yet he himself failed to dodge in time, being swept by the tip of a vine. His whole body flew backward, rolling several times on the ground before stopping.

His HP was also left with only a sliver.

"Splat!"

More vines, like venomous snakes coming out of their nests, attacked from all directions, sealing off all their paths of retreat.

The shadow of death enveloped the five people.

Just at this critical juncture.

A figure moved.

Yasuo, who had been standing quietly beside Jasmine, appeared in front of those five people without any warning, as if teleporting.

Swish!

The brilliant sword radiance carrying thunder swept across horizontally like lightning tearing through the night sky.

Those incomparably tough vines were as fragile as paper mache in front of the sword radiance.

They were instantly severed.

Green sap splattered everywhere.

Yasuo withdrew his sword, not even sparing a glance at the enraged BOSS.

He turned around, his deep gaze falling upon the five survivors collapsed on the ground, his voice cold.

"Your trial ends here."

"Leave this fiend to me to handle."

The Corpse-Rot Vine Demon let out a deafening roar, and all the vines frantically swept toward Yasuo.

Yasuo's figure transformed into a lingering afterimage in place.

He moved.

That was an elegance that could not be described in words.

His movement technique was extremely bizarre, strolling leisurely amidst the encirclement of the all-sky vines as if walking in his own back garden.

Countless vines couldn't even touch the corner of his clothes.

"That… what kind of movement technique is that?"

"He… he's actually soloing the BOSS?"

"My god…"

Everyone widened their eyes, unable to believe everything they saw before them.

This is the Vice Guild Leader of the Eternal Night Guild?

This strength is simply too terrifying!

Jasmine's voice rang out timely.

"What are you still standing there blankly for? Fall back quickly!"

Only then did those five survivors snap out of their daze, scrambling and crawling out of the combat circle.

The ensuing battle became a one-sided performance.

Yasuo's figure shuttled around the BOSS. Every time the long sword in his hand swung out, it would leave a bone-deep wound on the Corpse-Rot Vine Demon's body.

On the wounds, electric light flickered, continuously eroding the BOSS's vitality.

Before and after, it was only five minutes.

Accompanied by a reluctant wail, that massive Corpse-Rot Vine Demon collapsed with a crash, leaving no further sound.

From beginning to end, Yasuo's body wasn't stained with a shred of dust.

He slowly walked to the side of the BOSS's corpse and sheathed his sword.

The entire forest was in dead silence.

Whether it was those five survivors or those people who stayed behind to watch, all of them were shocked speechless by this shocking scene.

Jasmine walked up to those five people, a heartfelt smile finally blooming on her face.

"Congratulations to you."

"Welcome to join Eternal Night."