Chapter Twenty-One: Triggering the Plot

Chapter 21: Triggering the Plot

The boss still had half of its health remaining. As the boss struggled to rise, Lin Zheng once again began kiting it. This time, Yang Qi and Xiao Meng paid close attention to Lin Zheng’s attacks. Whenever Lin Zheng’s strikes missed, the two immediately ceased their own attacks to avoid drawing the boss’s aggro. Minutes passed in this cautious manner, and the boss’s health dropped to about 5 percent. Excitement and tension gripped the group—they knew the boss still had one skill it hadn’t unleashed yet.

They had already witnessed the terrifying Frost Sword Qi, an insanely powerful attack with a chance to freeze the target solid—truly formidable. The other skill, "Ice Explosion Slash," sounded like a devastating area-of-effect strike. Surely it wouldn’t be a full-screen wipeout, would it?

With anticipation and anxiety, the group carefully chipped away at the boss’s health until it finally fell to 5 percent.

“Roar! Invaders! You have utterly provoked me! Be destroyed! Turn to ice shards beneath my mighty power! Ice Explosion Slash!” The boss issued a brazen declaration, then raised its massive sword. Yang Qi’s pupils contracted sharply as she grabbed Xiao Meng and sprinted away.

“Run! Damn it! This looks like a full-screen kill for sure! Run! Get as far away as you can!” Yang Qi shouted loudly.

“Damn!” Lin Zheng cursed under his breath and took off running. Just a few steps away, the boss slammed its giant sword into the ground. Instantly, countless ice blossoms erupted from the boss’s center, rapidly spreading outward like a blooming frost. Despite Lin Zheng’s speed, the exploding ice shards caught up with him. Sharp ice spikes pierced him repeatedly, the damage numbers flashing: -60, -70, -58... Though each hit was small, their sheer number was terrifying. In a split second, Lin Zheng lost half his health. Fortunately, the Ice Explosion was nearing its end and finally faded after halving his HP.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Lin Zheng glanced at the others. Each looked battered and bruised, none more so than Yang Qi, who had nearly been reduced to zero health trying to protect Xiao Meng. If not for her quick use of potions and bread, she would have been dead and buried. The rest fared slightly better but still lost about half their health. The boss’s skill had an enormous range—without Yang Qi’s early warning, they might well have been wiped out then and there.

“Lilith! Heal! Heal!” Yang Qi shouted, her voice filled with desperation. Lilith, finally exhaling in relief, quickly restored Yang Qi’s health. Only once fully healed did Yang Qi feel steadier. She turned back, sword in hand, and charged at the boss.

The boss seemed to have paid a heavy price for using Ice Explosion Slash; its health was now below 1 percent—a prime opportunity to finish it off.

“Phantom Strike!” Yang Qi dashed forward, striking the boss. Though the boss’s massive frame wasn’t knocked away, it was toppled to the ground. A furious slash dealt nearly 800 damage. At that moment, Xiao Meng joined the fray, delivering a blazing flame slash that dealt even more—850 damage. The downed boss tried to sweep Yang Qi and Xiao Meng aside with its sword, but Lin Zheng leapt in, landing a low kick followed by a stomp, inflicting about 1300 damage. The boss roared in frustration, its raised sword falling again as countless treasures burst forth around it. One by one, the group’s characters radiated golden light and leveled up. Lin Zheng, having dealt the most damage, shot up to level 29.

With the boss’s death, their attention wasn’t on the treasure but on the boss’s enormous body, which quickly dissolved into shimmering points of light. At last, the massive form vanished entirely, leaving only a translucent soul behind. To everyone’s surprise, the majestic boss’s spirit was that of a woman. Though semi-transparent, her heroic bearing was unmistakable.

“Quest triggered: ‘A Millennium’s Devotion.’ Please select one member of your party to accept the quest.”

Hearing the system’s prompt, the group exchanged glances.

“Ahem!” Yang Qi cleared her throat. “The rewards for this kind of quest are usually pretty good. To be fair, let’s decide by rolling dice.”

Everyone nodded in agreement. It felt awkward to choose who would take it, so they let fate decide. Lin Zheng rolled first, then slunk off to the side, drawing circles on the ground—just 1 point! It couldn’t get any lower. Yang Qi laughed heartily and rolled second, but her laughter abruptly died out when she too rolled low and joined Lin Zheng’s circle-drawing group with 2 points. Lilith giggled behind her hand and rolled 78. Xiao Meng followed with 67. Finally, Yuki nonchalantly rolled—and scored a perfect 100!

Yuki was pushed forward. Her gem-like eyes blinked softly as she looked at the still-unconscious soul of the swordswoman on the ground. As Yuki stepped closer, the female warrior’s spirit stirred and slowly sat up, looking around with a dazed expression. Suddenly, her vacant eyes brightened and she cried out, “Dragon Soul Grass! I must find the Dragon Soul Grass quickly! Otherwise, they will kill Linglong!”

The words of the swordswoman’s spirit filled Lin Zheng and the others with a strange heaviness.

Unaware that she was already dead, the swordswoman still clung to the hope of saving Linglong. But a thousand years had passed. Even if the one she sought hadn’t been killed by others, time itself would have claimed that life. To the players, this might be just a fictional story, but to the swordswoman trapped within it, everything was painfully real. In this world, the boundary between fiction and reality was difficult to define. Feeling the swordswoman’s sincere emotions, the group couldn’t help but feel sorrow for her.

“That’s enough,” Yuki said softly, her eyes fixed intently on the anxious swordswoman.

“Enough? What do you mean, enough?”

“Look at your body. You’re dead. The one you want to save is dead too. A thousand years have passed. Everything you knew is gone,” Yuki said with a cruel realism that made the others wince—like salt in a wound.

“I… I’m already… dead?!” The swordswoman’s face was filled with shock. Trembling, she slowly raised her right hand before her eyes. Seeing her transparent palm, she was stunned.

“How can this be… how can this be… like this?!” She muttered in a daze. “It’s been a thousand years. I’ve been dead for a thousand years. My Linglong! My poor Linglong! I’m useless, I can’t save you! I can’t!” Tears streamed down her face as she buried it in her hands, grief overwhelming her.

“Please!” The swordswoman fell to her knees before Yuki. “Take me back… back to my homeland! Linglong and I promised we’d meet again. That foolish girl—if I don’t return, she will be waiting there, surely waiting for me!”

“I understand,” Yuki nodded gently. “I will help you find her.”

“Thank you! Thank you!” The swordswoman’s spirit wept with gratitude. Then, her form swiftly dissolved into countless crystalline lights. The lights gathered onto the back of Yuki’s right hand, forming a series of blue sword-shaped patterns. Thus, the quest “A Millennium’s Devotion” reached its first stage’s conclusion.