Chapter 1576: Divine Shrine’s Opportunity
Chapter 1576: Divine Shrine’s Opportunity
Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Once Shi Feng entered the 30th Divine Shrine, the space before him transformed.
Currently, he faced a dark cavern. The cavern was very large, as large as a sports arena. Moreover, many tunnels led out of it. From time to time, he also spotted one or two Lizardman patrol squads moving in and out of these tunnels.
Even the weakest Lizardman in these patrol squads was a Level 58 Special Elite, while the strongest was a Level 60 Lord.
The raid difficulty really has increased quite significantly. Shi Feng frowned slightly as he observed the Lizardmen. It’s no wonder so many expert Demon Players had to stop after reaching the 30th shrine.
Previously, even the strongest non-Boss monster in the 29th Divine Shrine was only a Level 60 Chieftain.
In God’s Domain, Chieftain ranked monsters were at the Tier 1 standard. Hence, current players, particularly Demon Players, could still have a relatively easy time dealing with Chieftains. However, when a monster reached the Lord rank, they attained the Tier 2 standard and were capable of using Tier 2 Skills.
It might be fine if all a Demon Player had to deal with were two or three Lords. The crucial point was that, based on what Shi Feng could see, there was a total of 30 Lord ranked Lizardmen patrolling in the cavern alone. If one entered the tunnels, who knew how many more Lords they would encounter?
Against 30 Lord ranked monsters, even a Tier 2 player would get overwhelmed easily, not to mention a Tier 1 player. An ordinary Tier 1 expert would be fortunate if they could survive even ten seconds against such a large number of Lords. It was no wonder many experts in the World Summit had their progress climbing the Divine Staircase halted at the 30th Divine Shrine.
Currently, based on the Ranking List Shi Feng saw before he entered the 30th Divine Shrine, only five players had successfully passed the 30th Divine Shrine.
After observing the patrol routes of the Lizardmen, Shi Feng activated the Seven Luminaries Ring’s Aura of Wind and dashed towards the tunnel that the system map indicated provided access to the heart of the cave system.
The patrol squads in the cavern moved in fixed patterns. From observation, Shi Feng found out that there would not always be 30 patrol squads moving inside the cavern but only around four to ten patrol squads most of the time.
As long as he used the opportunity when only four patrol squads were present to enter the tunnel leading to the core area, he would attract the attention of only two Lizardman patrol squads at most.
In the next moment, Shi Feng transformed into an afterimage as he dashed past one Lizardman patrol squad. By the time the patrol squad reacted, Shi Feng was already several yards beyond it. Very quickly, he zipped by the second patrol squad as well and entered the core tunnel.
However, the moment Shi Feng set foot in the core tunnel, he felt the threat of death.
Traps?
As soon as Shi Feng entered the tunnel, dozens of small magic arrays appeared along the tunnel walls. In the next moment, these magic arrays launched magical bolts of various elements. Although these magical bolts did not seem very powerful, each one contained enough power to rival a Tier 3 Spell. Even a Tier 1 player geared in top-tier equipment would be killed instantly if struck by these bolts.
In addition to these attacks, there were also two patrol squads of Lizardmen chasing after him.
Sure enough, the difficulty is very high. Upon seeing the dozens of magical bolts flying at him, Shi Feng immediately understood the reason why so few Demon Players had made it through the 30th Divine Shrine. He quickly executed Sword’s Orbit, striking down the bolts one after another as he continued advancing down the tunnel.
Fortunately, the activated traps were effective not just against players but the Lizardmen as well. When the Lizardmen entered the tunnel, they were promptly bombarded by magical bolts from the traps Shi Feng triggered, and sent flying back out of the tunnel. As the Lizardmen had relatively high HP, they managed to survive even after being struck by what was effectively a Tier 3 Spell. However, this situation also prevented them from pursuing Shi Feng. Thus, they could only watch as Shi Feng gradually disappeared from their sight.
The path leading towards the core of the cave system was replete with various kinds of traps. From time to time, Shi Feng would also come across other Lizardman patrol squads. As a result, he progressed towards the core at a snail’s pace.
After walking for over two hours, he arrived at a spacious cavern with a stone altar sitting in the middle of it. Stone pillars carved with magic runes surrounded the altar. Meanwhile, above the altar was the teleportation array leading out of the Divine Shrine.
At this moment, however, Lizardmen were kneeling around the altar. At a glance, Shi Feng spotted over 300 Lizardmen. Although the majority of these Lizardmen were only Elite ranked, there were nine Lord ranked Lizardmen in the mix. However, the Lord ranked Lizardmen were no longer the strongest monsters present, which was instead the staff-wielding Lizardman standing at the stone altar. Currently, the staff-wielding Lizardman appeared to be offering a prayer of sorts.
…
[Lizardman Chief (Realm Lord)] (Humanoid Creature, Grand Lord) Level 60 HP 42,000,000/42,000,000
…
Shi Feng could not help but frown as he looked at the Lizardman Chief.
The Guardian Boss of the 29th Divine Shrine had been only a Level 60 Great Lord. Yet, in the 30th Divine Shrine, the Guardian Boss had actually become a Grand Lord. The increase in difficulty utterly exceeded Shi Feng’s expectations.
Although the Lizardman Chief did not possess the HP of an ordinary Grand Lord of the same level, the enhanced Spells of a Grand Lord ranked Realm Lord was no laughing matter. Even if Shi Feng successfully blocked one of the Lizardman Chief’s Spell attacks with his weapons, there was a high chance that he would end up losing his life.
Seeing this, Shi Feng could not help but hesitate whether he should bypass the Lizardman Chief and head straight for the teleportation array or stay behind and defeat the Guardian Boss.
He was fully confident of directly passing the 30th Divine Shrine while keeping his life intact. However, he could not say the same if he chose to fight the Lizardman Chief. While he did not mind losing one challenge opportunity—he did have ten chances after all—the crucial point was that players would still lose a level if they died inside the Divine Shrines. Fortunately, though, no items would drop upon death.
A Grand Lord was an existence that served as the Final Boss of Team Dungeons. It was practically impossible for players to solo such an existence.
Just as Shi Feng was mulling over his options, the Lizardman Chief suddenly started chanting an incantation. The runes carved on the stone altar then lit up with a dark-blue glow. The space above the Lizardman Chief also collapsed, forming a tunnel of sorts into the dark void.
Immediately after, a golden tablet slowly descended from this shattered space.
The moment this golden tablet appeared, the Mana inside the entire cavern stirred. The tablet itself also released a powerful Divine Might that put immense pressure on the living creatures around it.
This is…a legacy tablet? Shi Feng’s eyes focused on the golden tablet. For a moment, he even thought they were playing tricks on him.
He had acquired quite a few legacy tablets thus far. Meanwhile, every tablet was a treasure that allowed players to learn combat techniques.
However, the tablets he possessed were just Bronze and Silver ranked. Thus far, he had only seen one Gold Tablet before. Moreover, the said tablet had even been stolen by a mysterious Tier 5 NPC. One could just imagine the value of a Gold ranked Secret Technique Tablet.
Just as Shi Feng was feeling surprised at the appearance of the Gold Tablet, the Lizardman Chief extended his hands and received the tablet. He then started chanting another incantation. This time, the Lizardman Chief caused an even greater commotion. The Mana inside the entire cavern gathered at the stone altar and became so dense that it started transforming into white mist. At the same time, a threefold magic array also formed on the ground the stone altar sat on.
This is a Space-time Teleportation Magic Array? What is he trying to do? Could he be trying to send the Gold Tablet to another location? Shi Feng was very familiar with the threefold magic array that formed beneath the stone altar. However, he did not believe that the Lizardman Chief was going to leave the Divine Shrine. Hence, there was only one other possibility why the Lizardman Chief would need a teleportation array—to send something away.
Since the Lizardman Chief had summoned the teleportation array immediately after receiving the Gold Tablet, it was highly likely that the Realm Lord was planning on sending the Gold Tablet away.
This won’t do. I can’t let him send the Gold Tablet away. Shi Feng steeled his heart and started sneaking his way over to the Lizardman Chief.
A Gold Tablet was incomparably valuable. It was not something that Bronze and Silver Tablets could compare to. Just a Silver Tablet was already enough to prompt the various superpowers to bloody one another’s noses, all the more a Gold Tablet. If he missed out on this opportunity, who knew how long it would take before he came across another Gold Tablet? In fact, he might never come across another Gold Tablet again.
Moreover, the Divine Staircase became increasingly difficult the higher one ascended. If he could not defeat the Lizardman Chief, then it was even less likely that he could defeat the Guardian Bosses of the subsequent Divine Shrines.
Just as the Lizardman Chief was about to send the Gold Tablet out of the cavern…
At the critical moment, Shi Feng activated the Aura of Time’s Forbidden Domain.
Please work! Seeing that the Space-time Teleportation Magic Array was about to activate, Shi Feng could not help but pray for his Forbidden Domain to succeed in stopping it.