BXBX NOVEL Chapter 459: 458: Hmm, Kill Me
Lans’s sister Felice looked at Jiang Li with resentful eyes.
How can it be a church if there’s not a single divine statue?
Jiang Li casually molded seven statues and gave them to the church.
He had some basic knowledge of the Artifact Refining Technique.
Initially, Jiang Li wanted to give Felice a statue of himself, as he was certainly stronger than the seven deities. His statue should naturally be more valuable than those of the seven divinities.
But Jiang Li reconsidered and found that placing his own statue wouldn’t be helpful since he couldn’t grant people skills.
“Let’s put the matter of skills aside for now and continue our journey,” he concluded.
Lans was confused. Continue what journey?
Jiang Li solemnly stated, “As the legendary hero, of course, I should be off to defeat the demon king. Do you remember what I said when I initially invited you to join the squad?”
“I spoke of forming a team to defeat the demon king.”
Lans looked a bit peculiar.
No doubt about this guy’s strength. Defeating the demon king would be no problem.
However, riding on Jiang Li’s coattails to successful demon king defeat didn’t give Lans a feeling of accomplishment.
Felice respectfully said, “According to the prophecy of the gods, the hero who defeats the demon king will conquer four dungeons and obtain the legendary four pieces of equipment: the sword of the hero that cuts through everything, the ring of the hero with infinite magic, the crown of the hero that resists mind control, and the shield of the hero that can resist the demon king’s attacks. Only by possessing these four weapons can the hero have the power to defeat the demon king.”
Jiang Li said with interest, “Well, this is quite elaborate. So, we shall head to the dungeons.”
After bidding farewell to Felice, and Lans embarked on a new journey.
Lans had a premonition that this was bound to be a long journey.
Half a minute later, Lans was standing dumbfounded at the entrance of the first dungeon.
Jiang Li turned his head and called him, “What are you standing there for? Come on in, and tell me more about the dungeon.”
“Oh,” Lans came back to his senses, broke into a trot, and followed Jiang Li’s pace.
“The dungeons have dozens of levels, each filled with monsters. The deeper you go, the higher the level of the monsters, and the harder they are to defeat. The toughest monster is the boss at the lowest level,” he explained.
“Have you ever carefully read the missions issued by the guild? Most of them are related to the dungeons. Countless adventurers accept these missions, active within the dungeons fighting monsters, completing missions, and exchanging monster skins, teeth, and such for gold coins.”
“The best proof of an adventurer’s strength is to defeat the boss at the lowest level. The hero squad I was in has successfully defeated six bosses at the lowest level. Although we weren’t the fastest to defeat them, we suffered the least casualties in history.”
“Originally, I planned to wait for a while until we all became legendary adventurers and then conquer these four dungeons mentioned in the prophecy. Now it seems impossible.”
With these words, a bitter smile appeared on Lans’s face.
Just as Lans was about to say something, a scream pierced the air.
A few small green-skinned monsters up ahead were brandishing clubs and besieging a scantily clad female archer.
“Guh, just kill me,” she resigned herself to her fate, knowing there was no hope of escape.
With a wave of his hand, Jiang Li sent the small green-skinned monsters flying.
“These are goblins, as common as slimes among the demon kind,” Lans originally wanted to save the woman, but Jiang Li beat him to it, so all he could do was provide commentary.
“Thank you both for saving my life,” the female archer tearfully thanked them. Without Jiang Li’s intervention, her fate would have been tragic.
The female archer had fair skin, and her light golden hair was like a work of art. Her slightly long elf ears were trembling a bit, clearly she had been quite scared by the recent events.
Apparently, the female archer was an elf.
As Jiang Li took out a robe and draped it over the female archer, he asked, “From what I can see you’re physically much stronger than those goblins. How did you end up in this situation?”
“I… I had no idea either. The goblins are just low-level demons, yet they were able to ambush me. I was caught off guard and got hit hard on the head with a club a few times.”
Lans furrowed his brows, “Adventuring into the dungeon requires at least two adventurers. Why are you alone?”
“Finding a team on short notice is too troublesome. I thought that I was just going to kill a few goblins, but it ended up like this…” the female archer’s voice trailed off in embarrassment.
Lans scolded sternly, “Foolish! Do you know how many adventurers die in the dungeon each year because of your arrogant mentality? Goblins, slimes – you might think they are easy to beat, but in reality countless adventurers have perished at their hands!”
“I know I was wrong,” the female archer apologized, her head low. She truly recognized her mistake.
Jiang Li bent down to pick up a small handful of dirt and rubbed it between his fingers. He noticed that after the goblins died, they were absorbed by the dungeon.
“This dungeon is interesting. It has some kind of magic formation. Whenever a creature dies, the formation absorbs the energy dispersed at the moment of death, stores it, and waits for someone to take it.”
“And every level has this formation.” This is what Jiang Li saw with his Divine Sense.
“Jiang Li, are you suggesting that regardless of whether it’s a demon or human, as long as they die in the dungeon, the energy in their bodies will be absorbed by the dungeon?” Lans was startled. He had never heard of such a theory.
“No, I am not suggesting. It’s the truth,” Jiang Li affirmed.
“Lans, tell me, how many two-bit adventurers like this female archer are there?”
“Countless. We grew up listening to stories of heroic adventurers. In these stories, all the adventurers are incredibly brave, responsible, cherish their companions, and have extraordinary strength. If these adventurers form a team, there’s no enemy they can’t defeat.”
“The stories never mention how the heroic adventurers use strategy to defeat their enemies. Instead, all the stories talk about is the adventurers exploding with power in the face of adversity and killing their enemies. The captain of my former squad was just like the adventurers from the stories.”
“Because of this, many people have the mindset that unity is enough. When they’re facing monsters that are roughly their equals, they believe that having more people on their side means they cannot lose.”
“This leads to too many people charging ruthlessly up front and dying in the dungeon.”
Many people saw Lans’s strategy-first approach as a sign of cowardice.
Jiang Li analyzed, “It’s clear that someone is stirring up trouble, inciting adventurers and demons to kill each other and benefiting from it.”
“Is this the Immortal Realm’s plan? No, even if adventurers and demons are killing each other, that still wouldn’t result in the death of all living beings in the world. Adventurers are just a part of humanity—there are many more humans who don’t need to fight against demons.”
“There are two possibilities. Either this is not the Immortal Realm’s plan or this is just a part of the Immortal Realm’s plan.”