Chapter 132: The Assault of Darkness

The head of the Dark Lumberjack rolled lumpily onto the ground, and the chainsaw in its hand slipped away. Then its body heavily fell to the floor. Lü Yang showed no mercy and immediately turned around, raising his cleaver high to fiercely chop off the head of the previously knocked-down but not yet dead Dark Lumberjack.

The dangerous Mysterious Domain slowly unlocked Lü Yang’s potential, time and again forcing him to challenge his own limits and to become fiercer and more decisive in battle. The current Lü Yang was like a god of slaughter, completely different from the Lü Yang whose hands and feet used to tremble facing a few Porters.

“Player Li Ping has died. Remaining players: two.” An Electronic Voice suddenly sounded beside Lü Yang’s ear.

Lü Yang froze for a moment, then dashed back to find Li Ping already lying on the ground with a Dagger somehow in her hand, her neck covered in blood… Clearly, she probably did not want to hold Sun Haibo back, so while he was distracted and not paying attention, she took out the Dagger from her person…

“Ah! Ah! Ah! Why did you do this!?” Sun Haibo knelt beside Li Ping’s body, banging his head on the ground and continuously shouting, his voice extremely sorrowful and his expression nearly mad…

Lü Yang once again notched an arrow and shot at the three Dark Lumberjacks charging from around the mountain path bend. The Explosive Arrow was much more powerful than Lü Yang had imagined. The frontmost Dark Lumberjack was directly blasted down, while the two behind also had their armor completely destroyed, staggering back a few steps and freezing in place.

“You beasts! I will kill all of you!” Sun Haibo laid down Li Ping from his arms, let out a furious roar, raised his chainsaw high, and charged toward the two Dark Lumberjacks whose armor had been destroyed…

“Come back!”

Lü Yang shouted at Sun Haibo’s back, but it was already too late.

Perhaps due to overwhelming hatred, combined with Sun Haibo’s own robust build, his charge was too forceful. He could not stop his momentum and directly slammed both Dark Lumberjacks into the Black Mist of the mountain forest… A ferocious mass of Black Mist rushed from the dark woods toward Sun Haibo and quickly wrapped around his entire body.

Lü Yang shouted several more times toward Sun Haibo, but he was already completely swallowed by the darkness of the forest. His earlier battle cries turned into the eerie, beast-like howls unique within the Black Mist, sounding extremely distant and menacing.

By the time Lü Yang rushed over, Sun Haibo had completely vanished into the dark mountain forest. Some of the fierce Black Mist darted out from the woods, clawing wildly as if trying to drag Lü Yang in as well.

“Go! Let’s go quickly!”

Lü Yang gritted his teeth, picked up Li Ping’s flashlight from the ground, grabbed Liu Hui’s hand, and sprinted toward the direction of the courtyard where the Mute Old Man was.

Strangely, Lü Yang never heard the death notification for Sun Haibo.

…

The number of Dark Lumberjacks encountered on the mountain path afterward was not as many as Lü Yang had expected. Half an hour later, Lü Yang exhausted his remaining Explosive Arrows but successfully brought Liu Hui safely back to the courtyard where the Mute Old Man was.

Lü Yang kept frowning deeply. Safely escorting Liu Hui here did not make him happy at all. Earlier, he had promised to bring Sun Haibo and the others out of here alive, but they still died one by one along the way.

Even though he hadn’t known them before, and even though he hadn’t spoken much with them on the journey, on this brief part of Lü Yang’s life journey, within this extremely dangerous Mysterious Domain, they had been his companions—struggling forward together, supporting each other, and seeking survival together…

Each time, Lü Yang tried very hard to rescue them, but in the end, he couldn’t bring any of them here.

Many things in the world are such that no matter how hard you try, you may not necessarily achieve your goal.

Just like how he had tried so hard, but in the end… could he save Yi Ya?

Since entering this Mysterious Domain, Lü Yang’s mood had never been as low as it was now.

“Don’t be sad, you still have me… We will surely make it through…” Liu Hui seemed to sense Lü Yang’s low spirits. She held his arm and spoke to him softly.

Looking at Liu Hui beside him, Lü Yang felt a strong urge to hold her tightly in his arms—not to vent any desire, but just to lift his current low mood.

Ultimately, Lü Yang turned away, forcing himself to calm down, dispersing those negative emotions and returning to a state of alertness and thought.

After finding the Safe Point in the courtyard, the third Task of the third round should be completed smoothly. According to the Electronic Voice, the fourth Task of the third round would be the final mission of this Mysterious Domain.

What tricks Death Killer had played within this Mysterious Domain would also be revealed in this fourth Task. Whether Lü Yang lived or died, whether he could successfully end this Mysterious Domain and leave alive all depended on this fourth Task.

It was easy to imagine that this final Task, being the last barrier of the Mysterious Domain, would be exceptionally dangerous. If he could not keep a very clear and calm mind, and if negative emotions invaded him, it was likely he would never leave alive.

Lü Yang, cheer up! You can do it!

Because of Yi Yi and Yi Ya, no matter what, you must never give up!

…

After entering the courtyard, Lü Yang had Liu Hui stand by the edge first, while he cautiously took a few steps toward the middle…

When the Mute Old Man, fully enveloped in Black Mist, suddenly leaped out from a corner and swung a sharp blade at him, Lü Yang was not frightened by the sudden attack. He calmly dodged the strike and skillfully shone the flashlight beam onto the Mute Old Man.

The Mute Old Man’s armor was actually much thicker than that of the Dark Lumberjacks, and his movements were extremely agile. After missing the first strike, he swayed left and right to evade the light from Lü Yang’s flashlight and swung his blade at Lü Yang again.

In a moment of desperation, Lü Yang sidestepped, and the blade narrowly missed his nose as it slashed down. The gust from the blade even scraped his face painfully. Moreover, as the Mute Old Man swung past Lü Yang, he spat a large mouthful of Black Mist at him.

Although Lü Yang dodged the Mute Old Man’s blade, he couldn’t avoid the large blast of Black Mist. As the Black Mist hit, even though Lü Yang held his breath, he still felt extremely dizzy and nearly stumbled to the ground.

Feeling the Mute Old Man’s formidable attack power, Lü Yang dared not slack off at all. He raised his guard fully and watched as the Mute Old Man prepared to attack him again. Fortunately, no other Dark Predators had entered the courtyard since they arrived, otherwise any interference from another Dark Predator would likely allow the Mute Old Man’s blade to slice Lü Yang apart instantly.

After draining the power of three flashlights, Lü Yang still couldn’t break the Black Fog Armor on the Mute Old Man. Now he only had one last flashlight left. Liu Hui, who had somehow sneaked into the courtyard unnoticed, threw her fully charged flashlight to Lü Yang and helped him recharge the depleted flashlights by charging them with her hands.

Lü Yang was very worried that the Mute Old Man might suddenly shift aggro and chase Liu Hui, but without her help, he could never completely destroy the Mute Old Man’s Black Fog Armor.

Thankfully, the Mute Old Man never showed any signs of shifting aggro. Finally, with Liu Hui’s help, it took Lü Yang a full half-hour to finally destroy the Mute Old Man’s Black Fog Armor completely with the strong beam of the flashlight, after which he chopped the Mute Old Man’s body into several pieces with his Cleaver.

After defeating the Mute Old Man, Lü Yang sat exhaustedly on the ground. Liu Hui, who had stayed by the courtyard gate helping Lü Yang recharge by hand, quickly came over with the remaining flashlights and instinctively shone the newly charged flashlight beam toward Lü Yang sitting in the middle of the yard.

When the light from Liu Hui’s flashlight shone on Lü Yang’s body, a strong burning pain, as if from fire, made him cry out in agony… Lü Yang quickly rolled aside to escape the flashlight beam.

“What’s wrong with you?” Liu Hui was startled and instinctively shone the flashlight beam toward Lü Yang again.

“Turn off the flashlight!”

Lü Yang yelled at Liu Hui and rolled away again. He suddenly realized that when the flashlight beam shone directly on him, it felt unbearably painful, like being roasted over a fire. Moreover, when the beam shone directly, he couldn’t bear to look straight at it. Forcing himself to look caused a terrible feeling that his eyes would be scorched blind immediately.

“You…” Liu Hui turned off the flashlight and stared blankly at Lü Yang, a look of fear on her face.

Around Lü Yang, just like the Dark Kidnappers, Dark Pheasants, and Dark Lumberjacks, a layer of Black Mist had formed!

“I… seem… to have been taken over by darkness?” Lü Yang seemed to understand—earlier, although he dodged the Mute Old Man’s blade, he hadn’t avoided the Black Mist the Mute Old Man spat out.

That kind of Black Mist couldn’t be kept out just by holding his breath… To be precise, Lü Yang felt that this Black Mist wasn’t invading his body, but his soul!

And now, this Black Mist had completely merged with him, impossible to disperse.

Fortunately, Lü Yang still retained clear consciousness and hadn’t turned into a mindless Dark Predator.

He didn’t know what this all meant, nor whether this change would be good or bad for completing the fourth Task of the third round.

Based on intuition alone, Lü Yang felt this was definitely not a good thing.