Chapter 441 – Snake Man Guard

[Task Level: Devious Snake – Nereus’ Secret Passage]

[Task Objective: Eliminate all resurrected tomb guards in the passage]

[Task Time: Within 15 minutes]

…

Stepping into the dark purple vortex, Lu Yuan, piloting the Blue Falcon Type 3 Mecha, was met with a flood of information and a series of cutscenes flashing before his eyes.

These animations and information were not unfamiliar to Lu Yuan. After all, Lu Qiyuan had attempted this Level many times, making it as familiar as it could be.

The first chapter of the Single Player Adventure Mode tells the story of an ancient Evil Sovereign named Nereus.

Legend has it that in his quest for strength and immortality, he sacrificed the entire kingdom to the Ancient Evil Deity in the Black Abyss.

More than a thousand years after the era of Nereus’ dark rule, his tomb was accidentally discovered.

As elite warriors of the most powerful Empire of the time, Duoling, Lu Yuan and other adventurers’ task is to explore the tomb of the Evil Sovereign. Through the exploration, they gradually uncover the historical truths buried for millennia and thwart the evil plans lurking in the shadows, ready to resurface once more…

“Quite the plot setup…”

For Lu Yuan, this was his first encounter with these plot introductions and cutscenes.

When the series of images faded away, he found himself piloting the Blue Falcon Type 3 Mecha, landing steadily in a dim environment.

It was a massive ancient tomb passage, about ten meters wide, with the ceiling twenty meters above the ground.

For ordinary people, this space would be considered quite spacious.

But for a Mecha… it was just about sufficient.

Even in dim light, the visibility wasn’t too low, thanks to the detection system built into the Blue Falcon Type 3 Mecha.

Lu Yuan saw torches burning on the walls of the tomb passage, and strange snake-like patterns carved into many corners of the passage.

The entire environment was suffused with a faint oppressive atmosphere.

Lu Yuan slowly drew the black Dual Swords from his back, and began advancing step by step down the tomb passage.

The Blue Falcon Type 3 serves a similar role to a “Scout” among Level 1 Mechas, boasting exceptional speed and flexibility, along with strong reconnaissance and counter-reconnaissance capabilities.

It possesses certain long-range attack capabilities, but its primary offensive weapons are two custom alloy one-handed swords, marking it as a “close-combat” Mecha.

Lu Yuan took a couple of steps forward when he heard a rapid scraping sound against the ground from the dark corner of the passage ahead.

In the next moment, a massive shadow suddenly lunged forward, hissing as it attacked him.

Lu Yuan remained unfazed, swiftly controlling the Mecha to dash forward. As he ducked to evade the shadow’s assault, he executed a cross-cut with his dual swords.

“Screech-“

The ear-piercing clash of weapons sent out a shower of sparks in the darkness.

“Crack-Boom!”

Something was severed, followed by the sound of a heavy object hitting the ground.

Lu Yuan turned around.

The shadow that had just attacked him was now on the ground.

It was a massive snake man, with a lower body akin to a python’s giant tail, and an upper body that was humanoid.

It was clad in ancient attire resembling a war skirt, wearing a helmet, and holding a spear, which was now broken.

A third of this snake man’s upper body, along with its weapon, had been sliced off by Lu Yuan, yet no blood flowed from the cut, as its entire being was made of stone.

This was an ancient warrior who had sacrificed his life to the Evil Deity, his body completely transformed into a statue under the power of the evil deity, eternally guarding their Evil Sovereign’s eternal rest.

“Strength Level 1, Speed Level 1, Defense Level 1…”

Lu Yuan used the Mecha’s standard evaluation to assess the strength of the snake man guard he had just dispatched.

It was approximately equivalent to the combat power of a first-stage Excellent level Mecha, and this was just the strength of an ordinary guard at the entrance. No wonder Lu Qiyuan had been stuck here for so long; it certainly presented a challenge.

The “Excellent level” is a more detailed classification of Mecha combat power within a single stage.

In this game, each stage of Mechas is subdivided into “Common,” “Excellent,” “Exemplary,” and “Perfect” levels based on the degree of enhancement.

Lu Qiyuan’s Blue Falcon Type 3 Mecha had already been enhanced to the “Exemplary” level, which was quite decent for a first-stage Mecha.

Lu Qiyuan invested all the resources he earned in the game into this one Mecha. Of course, given his abilities, he could only afford to maintain a single one.

After dealing with the snake man guard at the entrance, Lu Yuan moved forward. The task for this Level was to eliminate all snake man guards in the secret passage. Without much ado, he took a few steps further and soon encountered more enemies.

The snake man guards in this Level are primarily of two types: one is the melee guard holding a spear, like the ones Lu Yuan previously faced. The other type is smaller in size but more agile, capable of shooting deep red destructive lasers from their eyes.

Individually, neither type of snake man guard is particularly formidable. The main challenge comes from the fact that these guards typically appear in groups and have a penchant for hiding behind doors. Once a door adorned with floating light blue pathways is opened, these creatures rush out in droves.

Anyone caught off guard, or lacking sufficient strength or quick reflexes, can easily be taken down in the initial confrontation. And even if one survives the first wave of danger, the subsequent defense formations of these guards make it difficult to take them down one by one.

Of course…

This was in the context of Lu Qiyuan’s experience.

“Buzz-“

At the entrance of a tomb forced open, seven or eight snake man guards were positioned inside and outside.

The melee snake man guards wielded their spears and blocked the entrance tightly.

Behind them, three ranged snake man guards “slyly” hid behind their melee counterparts and the door, continuously firing beams of crimson evil light at the audacious intruder who had dared to breach the tomb.

Amid their onslaught, the slender, light blue Mecha moved like a phantom through the battle group. Its movements were incredibly nimble, always managing to evade attacks that seemed inescapable at crucial moments.

The black dual swords in its hands reflected the scant light remaining in the tomb passage, casting a cold, eerie glow. Like a venomous snake lurking in the shadows, every reveal of its fangs brought a deadly threat, ensuring at least one snake man guard would fall with each strike.

Moments later, all the snake man guards within and outside the tomb were dead. Shattered stone bodies lay scattered across the ground.

Standing amidst the aftermath, Lu Yuan calmly sheathed his pair of alloy long swords on his back while executing the final level Settlement.

“Congratulations to player ‘I Love Vinia’ for successfully completing Level 1-6.”

“Completion Time: 6 minutes 34 seconds”

“Rewards:…”