As the Crypt Lurker was jointly defeated by the players, a prompt simultaneously appeared before all five of them.
[Full-Server First Kill Announcement: The player team has successfully killed a Tier 1 Peak Elite Monster—Crypt Lurker!]
[Participants: Passing Pure Love God of War, Ji Luo, Kindergarten Boss, Malou Also Has Dignity, I Am Not Jiahao.]
[Over-Level Kill!
Experience points significantly increased!]
[Reward Distribution: Experience Points +100, Ash Coins +20.]
“We won!!”
Looking at the behemoth that had transformed into a pool of foul liquid, the five players collapsed onto the ground from exhaustion, panting heavily.
Yet their faces were filled with uncontrollable ecstasy.
They hadn’t relied on any hidden advantages.
They had completely defeated the monster through teamwork and coordination.
This was the purest and most exhilarating thrill of hardcore exploration!
Meanwhile, inside the church, Lynn, who had been watching the battle through his god’s-eye perspective, almost jumped up from his divine throne in excitement.
If he had legs, that was.
“Holy shit!
These five players actually ground a Tier 1 Peak Elite Monster to death!”
Lynn glanced at the transaction record in the system backend.
For killing a Tier 1 Peak Elite Monster, the system had extracted a full 500 Faith Points.
Following its usual practice, the black-hearted system had taken 450 points, leaving the remaining 50 points to be converted into experience and distributed among the players.
Combined with the mobs they had farmed throughout the day, Lynn’s current Faith Point balance had directly soared to—
[786 Faith Points!]
He had gotten rich overnight!
This made money faster than any financial investment!
“Amazing!
Absolutely amazing!
This is the charm of capital!”
Lynn laughed so hard inside his divine statue that he practically sounded like a pig.
At that moment, outside the Abandoned Village, the players had finally caught their breath and excitedly began carrying out their traditional occupation.
Looting the corpse.
Maluo rushed forward first, frantically rummaging through the pool of dark-green mucus.
“This is the first elite monster we’ve killed.
Aside from the fixed rewards issued by the system, there must be some extra drops!”
Sure enough, he soon found two hard carapaces emitting a faint glow.
He also discovered the corpse the monster had been gnawing on moments earlier.
The corpse wore a tattered clergyman’s robe, with a silver badge depicting a weeping goddess hanging from its chest.
“Brothers, we’ve got another quest!”
Jiahao walked over to the corpse, pulled out a small wooden stick from somewhere, and pried open its tightly clenched right hand.
Inside the bloodstained palm was a roll of parchment, partially soaked in fresh blood.
Jiahao picked up the letter and flicked away the dust.
A golden quest notification immediately appeared in his field of vision.
[Regional Main Quest Triggered: Fog Town’s Request for Help!]
[Letter Content: “The evil Cultists have broken through the outer defense line, and Fog Town’s patron deity, the Weeping Madonna, is on the verge of shattering.
We encountered an ambush by mutants at the edge of the Black Forest.
I hope this letter can be seen by someone within the barrier of another righteous god…
Please save Fog Town…”]
[Quest Objective: Investigate the situation in Fog Town and help the residents drive away the evil Cultists.]
[Quest Prompt: It is recommended that players increase their levels and wait for more companions to join before setting out to explore.]
“A large-scale regional main quest?
Fog Town’s request for help?”
Looking at the bloodstained parchment in Jiahao’s hand, the five players, who had just experienced a life-or-death battle, instantly straightened up.
[Passing Pure Love God of War] leaned over and took a closer look before reading the final line of the quest prompt aloud:
“It is recommended that players increase their levels and wait for more companions to join before setting out to explore…”
He slapped his thigh.
“Brothers!
Highlight the key point!”
“Wait for more companions to join!”
“What does that mean?”
“It means this shitty game is finally opening its second beta test!”
[Ji Luo]’s tactical instincts immediately kicked into high gear, his eyes shining.
“A regional offense-and-defense battle like this definitely isn’t something the five of us can handle.”
“Fog Town should be a new large-scale map, right?
Even its patron deity is on the verge of shattering, while the surrounding area is crawling with fucking Cultists and strange anomalies.”
“This is clearly a large-scale multiplayer raid!”
“Holy shit!
The second beta test is coming?”
“Then aren’t we the most senior veterans on the entire server?”
Maluo rubbed his hands excitedly, his eyes darting around.
“Then what are we waiting for?
Quickly pack up this giant bug’s corpse and carry it back to the Novice Village!”
“This carapace looks incredibly tough.
If we bring it back, the system’s blacksmith should be able to forge some defensive equipment for us.”
“When the newbies come online later, we’ll swap out our old gear, put on the new stuff, and show them what a real veteran looks like!”
“Makes sense.
Move it!”
Saying and doing, this bunch of players from the Fourth Calamity never seemed to know the meaning of fatigue.
The five found several sturdy vines and forcibly tied up the two massive rear carapaces of the Crypt Lurker.
Then, like trackers hauling a boat, they shouted work chants as they huffed and puffed their way along, dragging the enormous carapaces—which were nearly twice their size—back toward the church along the same route they had come.
Half an hour later—
“Thud!”
The five-person squad dropped the two enormous carapaces, still dripping with green mucus, onto the open ground outside the church.
Sivier, the nun who had been praying before Lynn’s divine statue, was completely dumbfounded.
She stared blankly at the remains radiating terrifying pressure, her mind buzzing.
If she wasn’t mistaken…
This was the Crypt Lurker that ruled over the Abandoned Village!
The very monster that had once slaughtered an entire team of elite knights in a single encounter!
It was the absolute overlord of the outer reaches of this wasteland!
And yet…
These five followers summoned by the Lord God had still been shirtless this morning, carrying broken wooden sticks and stones.
By evening, they had actually dragged the overlord’s carapace back as casually as hunters returning with a pheasant.
They were even laughing and chatting along the way.
Looking at the five players covered in black mud and monster blood, passionately debating whether “this shell would look cooler as a breastplate or be more practical as a frying pan,” Sivier felt her legs go weak.
“Thump!”
She fell to her knees.
“Praise the great Lord of Ashes…”
The little nun clasped her hands together, tears streaming down her face.
“The envoys You have sent are truly walking war machines!”
“With them here, this wasteland will eventually welcome the light!”
[Ding!
A devout believer was extremely shocked.
Faith Points +5.]
On the divine dais, Lynn calmly accepted this unexpected tip.
Looking at the five overly excited players below, he rapidly calculated the situation in his mind.
Through the system’s introduction and fragments of the previous owner’s memories, he already had a general understanding of Fog Town.
Fog Town was a small settlement located on the outskirts of the Black Forest.
Originally, it had relied on the protection of the Weeping Madonna to steadily resist the infiltration of the Cultists.
But now that the patron deity had been severely damaged, the entire town had fallen into crisis.
“The Fog Town quest has been triggered, and the players are about to come into contact with the dying divine persona of the Weeping Madonna.”
“As long as I devour that divine persona, I can obtain the power of the Weeping Madonna.”
“By then, the players should also be able to unlock a new combat system!”
But a problem immediately followed.
Fog Town was more than ten kilometers away from here.
Between the two locations lay vast stretches of wilderness and countless monsters.
On top of that, an unknown number of Cultists were surrounding the town.
Relying on these five primitive players to conquer Fog Town?
That would be nothing more than delivering themselves straight to the monsters’ mouths.
Free delivery, too.