Chapter 74: The Unseen Threat to the Main Camp Barrier

The imagined five streaks of black light never appeared, rendering Wang Tianming’s ultimate expenditure entirely in vain. Fortunately, Zhen’s ultimate ability didn’t have a particularly long cooldown, meaning it should be ready for the next critical moment.

Provided, of course, that no more mishaps occurred.

****

‘What was that? Nothing at all? You startled me; I thought one of *those* things was coming again!’

Ara, having frantically clutched their head and crouched down, found no movement, not even a whisper of sound.

Believing they had misjudged, they quickly looked up and around.

Seeing truly nothing amiss, they straightened their posture, patting their chest with a relieved sigh.

‘No, look at this ground. Hasn’t something changed?’

Enenra observed the ground beneath their feet, shaking their head as they spoke in a low voice.

‘Hasn’t the color of this ground darkened somewhat? It seemed quite bright before, didn’t it?’

‘Losing health,’ Kaguya stated after glancing at the ground.

‘Losing health? What does that mean?’

Though Hyounga and Kaguya were often at odds, Hyounga always paid close attention to Kaguya.

The moment Kaguya spoke, Hyounga was the first to react, questioning, ‘I haven’t lost any health. Have any of you?’

‘No, none at all?’

Ara hastily checked their status bar, finding no health loss or health-draining debuffs.

They shook their head, then turned to Enenra, asking, ‘What about you?’

‘I haven’t lost health either. But I don’t think she means *that*,’ Enenra replied, having also checked their status bar and shaking their head.

‘You idiots, do you only care about yourselves? Truly disappointing!’

Kaguya cast a disdainful glance at the others, her face stern as she declared, ‘Our objective is to prevent the Main Camp Barrier from exploding. On that basis, we also ensure everyone’s safety. Yet you only think about whether *you* are alright?’

‘Ah! The Main Camp Barrier!’

Enenra immediately understood, turning to look at the Main Camp Barrier behind them.

The barrier, which had been at full health, was now losing it!

‘11695/11700.’

‘Tch, it’s only lost this much. The Main Camp Barrier will recover instantly, so what’s the big deal? I thought it had lost a lot more!’

Hyounga, never one to miss an opportunity to mock Kaguya, immediately retorted, ‘I thought you were so tough? You’re scared just because it lost a few hit points? How gutless! Well, you *are* Kaguya now, the little princess, so of course you’re gutless, hahahaha!’

‘Idiot, I can’t be bothered to explain to you!’

Kaguya didn’t even spare Hyounga a glance, simply resuming her farming.

‘No, we clearly didn’t let any minions through just now. Why is the Main Camp Barrier losing health? The ground darkening definitely means something happened!’

Enenra took this very seriously, pondering as they threw out their smoke imps.

‘Could it be that this trial is about the Main Camp Barrier’s health loss?’

‘It’s dropping again, it’s dropping again!’

Ara watched in alarm as the Main Camp Barrier suddenly lost health without any attacks, even if it was just five points.

To Ara, this was nothing short of a paranormal event.

‘It’s only five health points, what are you afraid of? The main camp will regenerate on its own!’

Hyounga scoffed, looking at them.

‘I really don’t know what you’re so afraid of. Even if it drops five health points every second, it would still take thirty-nine minutes to deplete completely. Have you ever seen a match last that long? Besides, we’re starting from level eleven now, so it’ll be even shorter, more than enough time for us to finish the game!’

‘Oh, right, how did you reach level eleven first? Weren’t we clearing minions together?’

The mention of levels reminded Hyounga that Zhen had leveled up first, leading to this situation.

They quickly asked, ‘Were you hiding from us, secretly eating minion waves?’

‘No wonder Kaguya called you an idiot; now even I’m starting to think so!’

Zhen, who was Wang Tianming, stated, ‘Instead of suspecting your teammates, you should think about the consequences of the main camp losing health!’

‘Why are you cursing too? As expected, women are the most venomous!’

Hyounga, provoked by Zhen, immediately seized upon the fact that Zhen was a ‘poisonous woman’ to retort.

‘What’s wrong with women? You’re the most venomous!’

Ara, hearing this, immediately became indignant and joined the argument, as Ara’s player was a girl and naturally disliked such remarks.

‘Do I even need to curse an idiot like you? I’m simply stating a fact!’

Zhen cast a disdainful glance at Hyounga.

Coupled with her cold demeanor, her words carried a certain bite.

‘My previous Shikigami, Pipe Fox, was the last to die. It cleared a few minions alone. You all collectively cleared a few minions after reviving. With the same experience points, naturally, giving it all to one person is more than splitting it among four.’

‘Then tell me, what’s so serious about the main camp losing health?’

Hyounga, still feeling defiant after Zhen’s continued barbs, pointed at the Main Camp Barrier behind them.

‘It’s just a few health points. Am I wrong in my calculations?’

‘Your calculations are correct, but you’ve overlooked one crucial detail.’

It wasn’t Zhen who spoke, but Enenra, who had been quietly contemplating.

She pointed at the Main Camp Barrier, saying, ‘Look, is this main camp regenerating health anymore? While it’s not losing health every second, the rate of loss is already greater than the regeneration. Or perhaps the darkening of the ground earlier caused the Main Camp Barrier to lose its regeneration ability, meaning it will continuously lose health from now on.’

‘So, what then? Didn’t I just calculate it? Even if it loses five health points per second, it would still take thirty-nine minutes to deplete. And the health loss isn’t even that fast!’

Hyounga continued to argue stubbornly.

‘We’ll finish the game long before the main camp’s health runs out. What’s there to worry about?’

‘This idiot is beyond saving. Don’t waste your breath on him. Just keep farming!’

Kaguya waved her hand, casting a bouncing moonlight projectile at the minions, then fell silent.