Chapter 105 The Strongest Team

Ten past ten PM. Under Hill’s guidance, Feng Bujue retrieved Van Helsing's diary.

The police car they had hijacked earlier was abandoned. They were now driving another stolen from a parking lot, heading toward the castle.

By this point, Feng Bujue had successfully removed all of the major good guys from the movie *Monster Control Squad* from the main plot. The ‘Purgatory Gate’ plot had nothing to do with them anymore.

For him, the next challenge was... how to break through the police and military blockade and return to the castle.

…

Meanwhile, inside the castle, the throne room.

"The paper in Greed Wolf's hand... could it be a map of the castle?" Xiao Ling said, watching the crystal ball.

"Their movements accelerated after entering the library, and he first took out the parchment around that time..." Ruoyu added. "It seems... he deduced something at that point and realized the correct usage of that item."

They had been monitoring the situation for a long time. From their conversation, it was clear that the crystal ball could only monitor the "visuals." They couldn't hear what the Blade team members were saying through it.

"It's indeed much faster than expected... In the past hour, they've explored the [Underground Waterways] and [Underground Deep Halls], bypassed the [Purgatory Arena], and headed straight for us." Xiao Ling paced back and forth, frowning. "And our captain... Let's not even talk about whether he can make it back before midnight. Even if he does... how will he break through the troops outside the castle?"

As she spoke, Xiao Ling walked to the window, stood on tiptoe, and peeked her small head out.

She saw dozens of police cars and military jeeps parked on just one side of the castle. Although they were parked far away, outside the moat, the row of headlights was quite glaring in the night.

"You have a point," Dracula's voice suddenly echoed from nearby.

Ruoyu and Xiao Ling turned around and found the Count standing in the shadows a few meters away.

The vampire was as elusive as ever. After Feng Bujue left, he and his minions disappeared from the throne room, busy with unknown matters. Now, he had reappeared like a ghost.

"Although the barrier is in place, their blocking the entrance will definitely inconvenience Mr. F," Dracula said. "I think... I should take care of it."

"Take care of it?" Ruoyu's expression changed slightly. "Do you mean kill them all?"

"Not necessarily all of them," Dracula said. "Just until they all lose their will to fight."

"Are you sure you can do it?" Ruoyu continued. "In the past century, humanity's military technology has developed faster than in the previous millennium. They have heavy firepower weapons you've never seen before."

"Hmph..." Dracula snorted. "Thank you for the reminder, but you're clearly overthinking it..." He replied confidently, "Even in Purgatory, I can see the things of this world."

This line could be taken as an explanation for why he could drive, knew that UV-resistant film could block sunlight, and recognized the "old house" as the old site of his castle, among other illogicalities.

"Dealing with those people outside is a piece of cake for me." As Dracula spoke, he levitated into the air, transformed into a bat in a wisp of smoke, and flew out of the window.

After he flew away, Xiao Ling spoke again, "This Count seems to really treat the leader as an ally..." She shook her head and sighed, "Alas... sadly, the 'side quest' dictates that we betray him..."

"Shh... keep it down..." Ruoyu immediately turned to Xiao Ling and gestured for silence. "Walls have ears..."

…

At the same time, [The Highest Level of Devil's Castle].

"Hah... what a tough one..." Long Aomin said, letting out a breath after crushing a huge demonic monster with his shield.

Not far away, Qisha and Greed Wolf had just jointly killed a white-haired succubus with strange wings on its back. It seemed that their stamina consumption was also considerable.

"Haa... I didn't expect... even speeding up still took so long..." Greed Wolf gasped. "But... this should be the last area..." He took out the map and glanced at it. "There's nowhere else to explore. Based on my memories of playing Devil's Castle, the room in the middle of the [Highest Level of Devil's Castle] is the location of the Boss..."

"Speaking of the Boss..." Qisha continued. "Do you think we'll encounter the Demon King Dracula mentioned in the opening CG... or Feng Bujue..."

"Well..." Greed Wolf had adjusted his breathing in those few seconds. "In my opinion... there's a high possibility of both. Also... don't forget that there are three other people in the Infernal Front besides Feng Bujue (the Blade team members still didn't know that Xiao Tan was dead)."

"Wouldn't we be walking to our deaths?" Brother Long was a straightforward person and didn't like to beat around the bush. He immediately asked a very direct question.

"Not necessarily," Greed Wolf replied. "I've already explained the reason before. Feng Bujue's strategic focus isn't on us right now, and that's the opportunity."

"By your meaning... could it be..." Qisha casually added, "...that when we break into the last room, we'll happen to stumble upon Feng Bujue and the Boss fighting?"

"Yes, I'm betting on that situation." Unexpectedly, Greed Wolf nodded in agreement. "Let's review the overall situation again... First, at the start of the game, the sudden system settings were quite favorable to us. Until me and Broken Army were tricked by the enemy and almost double-killed by Blood Corpse God... we fell into a disadvantage. Then, when the three of us met up, Feng Bujue's side had basically completed their leveraging... Then, for the past few hours, from the evening until now, we've been exploring and fighting non-stop, while the movements of the Infernal Front people are unknown..." As he spoke, he started walking forward, gesturing for his teammates to follow. "Overall, the Infernal Front is indeed one step ahead of us in every aspect, but that 'lead' must come at a price. Taking 'killing Broken Army' as an example, 'Blood Corpse God' is the price. Taking 'leveraging' as an example... leveraging the strongest 'force' like the script Boss must require handing over some material or completing some event. And Feng Bujue leading us by so much in 'time' is undoubtedly unreasonable. Therefore... I speculate that the 'force' he leveraged is not truly reliable and must have some hidden danger..."

"What if... you're wrong..." Qisha's expression changed slightly, and he said in a low voice, "What if Feng Bujue really has the ability... to gain a huge advantage with almost unreasonable efficiency?"

"Heh..." Before Greed Wolf could answer, Long Aomin laughed openly. "Then is there even a need to ask? If that's really the case, we can only..."

*Shoo-*

Suddenly, a strange sound arose, interrupting Brother Long's words.

In the nick of time! Along with the sound, a transparent ray flew over, striking directly at Greed Wolf's heart.

Seeing this, Long Aomin decisively activated his skill—[Guardian Dash], instantly protecting his teammate.

At this moment, trying to save a skill might come at a higher price... A player of Brother Long's level wouldn't make such a mistake.

The next second, the [Orichalcum Shield] flashed, and the ray striking the shield directly dissipated. Long Aomin and Greed Wolf behind the shield were unharmed.

"Oh oh~ That was really dangerous..." Long Aomin said after sheathing the shield. "Launching such a deadly attack without any warning..."

Brother Long said this because he knew very well that the ray that had struck the shield... had enough power to instantly kill Greed Wolf.

Don't let the fact that the ray didn't cause any damage fool you. In terms of attack power alone, this strike was definitely no less powerful than a special bullet fired from a sniper rifle. The reason it was perfectly blocked was undoubtedly due to Long Aomin's strength.

Specifically... Brother Long not only used the defensive effect of the [Guardian Dash] skill but also used two of the [Orichalcum Shield]'s special effects. The first was using the "Orichalcum Barrier" to convert all of the ray's "propulsion" and "penetration" into "vibration," thereby distributing the force across the entire shield surface. The second was that the ray triggered the "Orichalcum-Toritos"—an effect that provides 300% defense against magic and all flying projectiles.

In other words, Brother Long completed this perfect defense by relying on an active skill, a passive effect, and a subjective, micro-adjusted triggering effect.

A seemingly simple defense was actually a superb technique that only top players could achieve.

"You're overthinking it..." Qisha, who was a few meters away, smiled and continued, "Does the other party look like the type to greet us?" As he spoke, he adopted a fighting stance toward the enemy in the distance.

At this time, Long Aomin and Greed Wolf also poked their heads out from above and to the side of the shield, looking in the direction the ray had come from...

In their view... standing there was a fish demon covered in alligator armor, with a face that resembled a Benbo'erba.

"Hey..." Brother Long's expression changed instantly when he saw the monster. "That ray just now... couldn't have been its spit, right?"

He asked this because he had looked the opponent up and down and didn't see any equipment that could be used for ranged attacks. So... he could only assume that the other party was using its body to launch the attack...

*Shoo-*

Two seconds later, the gillman responded to Brother Long's question with action.

It puckered its fishy mouth and spewed out another transparent ray, this time targeting Qisha.

"Ha! Don't even dream about it!" Qisha dodged the attack with ease and said loudly, "Even if I turned into a child... I wouldn't fail to dodge an attack of this speed!"

"Qisha, I'll leave him to you." At this moment, Greed Wolf, who was hiding behind Brother Long, suddenly turned to Qisha and shouted.

"Huh?" Qisha was stunned. "What do you mean 'leave him to me'? This is clearly a mini-Boss level, and you want me to deal with it alone?"

As he spoke, the gillman spat two more rays at Qisha, who dodged them while talking.

"Because Brother Long and I are also busy..." As Greed Wolf replied, he turned and rushed toward the rear. His target... was a mummy that was slowly approaching from behind the three of them.

"Then..." A second later, Brother Long also raised his head and looked at a chandelier high up. At that moment, a lithe werewolf was coiled on the chain of the lamp. "...Is my opponent you, then?"

"Awoo—" The werewolf responded to Brother Long with a howl and pounced from the air.

"Hmph..." A smile appeared on the corner of Long Aomin's mouth. He raised his shield and swept his arm. "You're just hitting a stone with an egg!"

With that, a [Shield Bash] was unleashed.

[Name: Shield Bash]

[Skill Card Attribute: Active Skill, Permanently Mastered]

[Skill Category: Fighting]

[Effect: Swing your shield and bash your enemy (Can only be activated with a shield weapon. Cooldown time is twenty minutes. All defense provided by equipment will increase the power of the shield bash)]

[Consumption: Stamina 600]

[Learning Requirements: Fighting Specialization A]

[Remarks: The most commonly used core damage skill of Azeroth's Protection Warriors. A solid and reliable combination of offense and defense. Attracts a huge amount of aggro after attacking.]

*Duang~*

The werewolf fell from the sky and couldn't retract its momentum in mid-air. Therefore, it was firmly "slapped with a shield" by Brother Long.

Don't let the fact that this strike consumes a normal amount of stamina fool you; its power was truly astonishing. Especially for a man like Brother Long, whose entire body was covered in defensive gear like an iron wall, the damage from that shield smash was even more exaggerated than Brother Jue's [Nanto Flying Dragon Fist].

The werewolf's physique was already quite tall and strong, but when hit by Brother Long, a "child" who was one meter and seventy centimeters tall, it flew seven or eight meters horizontally... With a "bang," it crashed into the wall, creating a huge dent in the thick gray stone wall.

"Ugh..." However, the werewolf struggled for a few seconds and quickly climbed out of the wall, regaining its footing.

"Good... This is what makes it interesting." Facing a powerful enemy, Brother Long's fighting spirit gradually rose, inadvertently revealing a look of excitement.

On the other side... Greed Wolf had also rushed in front of the mummy.

His weapon was a stone hammer, whose appearance was as plain as a store-bought item, but its quality was legendary...

"Since you're already a dried corpse, you should stay in a museum for the children to visit and learn. It's not right to run around!" As Greed Wolf attacked, he didn't forget to educate the other party. "...I'll hand you over to the country!"