Chapter 20: The Reanimated Leader’s Warning

“Don’t be afraid. While this might be a boss or an elite monster, it’s still just a group of level 75 monsters, and our levels are quite a bit higher. We should be fine!”

Xue Hu quickly scrawled on her wooden board, comforting her two anxious teammates beside her.

“I never imagined that grinding monsters in this game could actually trigger a storyline; it’s truly far more advanced than the original version!”

“Oh, is that so? So it’s not some super powerful character after all! With that imposing aura just now, I thought it was some incredibly formidable foe!”

Upon seeing Xue Hu’s explanation, Chen Lili immediately relaxed.

She pointed at the “Fire Fox Leader” across from them and taunted, “Hey, big guy, what’s with the act? Come on, if you’ve got the guts!”

“Slaying my kin is unforgivable!”

It was clear this boss didn’t seem to possess much intelligence, for it completely ignored the players’ words, merely reciting its programmed lines.

Then, it raised its steel fork and lunged at Chen Lili, exclaiming, “Ha! Taste the ‘Flame Steel Fork’ of the Fire Fox tribe!”

Seeing the “Fire Fox Leader” initiate the attack, Chen Lili immediately charged forward, intending to engage it in a head-on battle.

However, she hadn’t anticipated that the “Fire Fox Leader’s” attack wasn’t a melee strike; instead, it had directly hurled the fork.

The weapon impaled Chen Lili, and a critical hit flashed a crimson “-5000” above her head!

“Ah! Ow, ow, ow! What the hell kind of damage is that?!”

Stung by the sudden, unexpected blow, Chen Lili flinched, immediately daring not take another step forward.

She swiftly retreated behind Xingxing.

“Half my health in one hit—who can withstand that?!

Xue Hu, didn’t you say this was a level 75 monster? How can it be this powerful?!”

“Sister Chen, you need to look carefully before attacking next time,” Xingxing admonished.

“This monster is level 90, not 75! And it’s a boss, which makes it even stronger.

It’s a miracle it didn’t instantly kill you!”

Xingxing checked the boss’s basic information while holding her “Antler Spear” defensively.

“What should we do? This monster isn’t that far off our level, and it’s a boss.

Can the three of us really handle it?”

“What are you two talking about?”

Xue Hu “said,” holding up her wooden board.

“It’s nearly 15 levels below us, so what if it’s a boss?

Fire-attribute monsters inherently deal high damage, and combined with it being a boss, isn’t it perfectly normal for a critical hit to take half your health?

You didn’t even dodge the skill; if you die, no one can save you!”

“I just realized, you don’t actually have to handwrite everything on this board, do you?”

Chen Lili munched on a healing item, speaking with a surprised tone, though her priorities seemed a little off.

“Didn’t you say it was only level 75? I just didn’t think much of it and charged right in.

Won’t happen again.”

“Nonsense! If I had to write while fighting, how could I possibly battle?”

Xue Hu shot Chen Lili an exasperated look, then continued to “speak” via her board.

“Fire-attribute monsters are all squishy.

If we go all out, we should be able to take it down in one go.”

“Really? Then I’m going in!”

After reading Xue Hu’s words, Xingxing immediately charged forward, raising her “Antler Spear.”

She plunged it into the “Fire Fox Leader’s” body, taking down a fifth of its health.

The “Fire Fox Leader’s” “Flame Steel Fork” had long since left Chen Lili’s body and returned to its grasp.

However, this time it didn’t use the throwing fork attack again; instead, it held it honestly as a melee weapon.

It seemed that the throwing attack was a skill with a cooldown.

“It looks like we can just hit it five or six more times and finish it off!”

Seeing the boss’s health drop quite noticeably, Chen Lili immediately regained her spirits.

Her own health was almost fully restored, and she no longer held back, charging towards the “Fire Fox Leader” as well.

“Take this, Hundred Burst Fists!”

Of course, in reality, player melee attacks didn’t involve any special skills; they were merely basic normal attacks.

So, watching from the rear, Xue Hu couldn’t help but roll her eyes at Chen Lili, holding up her wooden board to quip, “Are you suffering from Chunibyo (TL Note: A Japanese term, ‘chūnibyō,’ meaning ‘eighth-grade syndrome,’ referring to a phase in adolescence where individuals imagine themselves to have special powers or hidden knowledge, often leading to exaggerated and dramatic behavior.)?!”

Soon, Chen Lili and Xingxing had emptied the health bar of the seemingly powerful “Fire Fox Leader.”

Both of them were exceptionally excited, wondering if this boss would drop some incredibly powerful items or equipment.

Chen Lili and Xingxing eagerly rushed forward, wanting to be the first to loot the corpse.

Only Xue Hu, standing at the very back, furrowed her cute brows.

‘Something’s wrong,’ she thought. ‘This is too wrong.

This boss is too weak.

Could it be that, aside from its slightly higher attack, it’s completely useless?’

Just as Xue Hu felt a sense of unease, and the other two had just reached the “Fire Fox Leader’s” “corpse,” the “Fire Fox Leader” reanimated (TL Note: ‘Zhàshī,’ literally ‘corpse fraud,’ a term for a seemingly dead body suddenly coming back to life, often in a zombie-like or possessed state)!

“Hehehehe, foolish adventurers, greedy humans! You’ve underestimated the night of the Enchanted Forest far too much!”

A suffocatingly powerful aura erupted from the “Fire Fox Leader.”

Its body, which had been kneeling on the ground, slowly rose, and as its head lifted, everyone saw a pair of piercing, intelligent eyes!

“Night? What does that mean… Could it be…”

Xue Hu immediately grasped the crucial point in the “Fire Fox Leader’s” words.

She looked up and scanned her surroundings, pondering to herself, ‘In this game, we don’t feel hunger or fatigue.

And at night, there’s always light from an unknown source illuminating the area.

We completely failed to notice that it’s already night!

But even if it’s night, what’s so special about it?’

“What? Is it already night?”

Chen Lili looked at the “Fire Fox Leader” with confusion, voicing her questions.

“But what’s the difference between day and night in the game? Do you get stronger at night?”

However, she merely said it aloud, not truly expecting the “Fire Fox Leader” to reply; after all, it was just a monster without intelligence.

“Hmph,” the “Fire Fox Leader” sneered, “I tell you, what foolish and greedy beings, to not even know the terror of the ‘Night of the Forest,’ yet still dare to linger here!”

Unexpectedly, this time the “Fire Fox Leader” actually responded.

It was unclear whether this was a programmed response or if it had truly become intelligent and human-like!

However, at this moment, everyone finally recognized a crucial fact: though this was a game, it was absolutely more than just a game!

Here, one could absolutely not use common game knowledge to predict every situation they would encounter; otherwise, they would surely meet a fate without a burial ground!