Genius Chapter 130: Ninth Floor

Chapter 130: Ninth Floor

Translated by Karai of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Addis

His vision turned black and white as Su Mo was lifted high into the air, his hands bound by chains. His voice and text communication systems were completely disabled, and the game system had declared him dead. The chains that attacked him from behind were none other than those descending from the eighth floor. After binding the assassins, the remaining chains pursued them, revealing one of the traps left by the eighth floor.

The situation had been sudden; the bear, which had the highest health, was pierced through in one strike, something Su Mo hadn’t anticipated. The chains attacked from behind, sealing off his escape route. Although he had initially planned to use his teleportation skill to escape again, it was on cooldown, and there was no time to employ other methods.

The chains were fatal, leaving no chance for the player to survive.

The team’s voice chat was chaotic, and Su Mo could no longer alert his teammates. His attention was entirely on the array master, who was gradually moving out of his view. Despite the limited perspective after death, he remained unconcerned.

Yu Zhen was still there.

***

Once Su Mo was bound by the chains, the rest of the team immediately erupted in chaos. Cantaloupe quickly targeted Su Mo, attempting to use the revival skill, but was scared off by the approaching chains and had to run away. He couldn’t afford to die; doing so would waste the opportunity Su Mo had fought to create by risking his life to save him.

At that moment, he suddenly saw the array master running not far ahead of him.

The array master used a speed array to rapidly dodge the chains’ relentless attacks. He grabbed the life-saving rope lowered by his airborne teammate and used its swinging motion to let go and jump onto the chains binding the assassins below. Using the bodies of the assassins as footholds, he performed a light skill jump, narrowly avoiding the chains behind him, and leaped up to the eighth floor.

The action was smooth and without a hint of hesitation—from grabbing the rope in mid-air, to releasing it for the jump, to timing the light skill jump. Any delay of even half a second would have caused the array master to fall from the sky, giving the pursuing chains an opportunity to capture him, ultimately resulting in him being bound.

Aside from the final light skill, which was unique to Celestial Horizon, all the techniques used—grabbing the rope, releasing it, and using objects—were not part of the game. They were specific to the array master’s personal skill set. His movements were as fluid as those of a warrior who had undergone special training; some techniques had become second nature to him, allowing him to respond perfectly in every situation.

Cantaloupe was astonished. This team was like a hidden gem, full of exceptional talent!

The team’s voice chat continued as the second squad on the eighth floor worked systematically. When Yu Zhen arrived, he saw ScarletFruit and Apple deploying ropes to pull teammates up, while the other three were searching for chains.

Cantaloupe saw Yu Zhen and immediately said, “There are six more chains; we are trying to cut them directly.”

Yu Zhen quickly moved to Cantaloupe’s side and observed the chains they were cutting, noting their positions, “Cut these three chains directly. The further the chains are, the slower their attack speed. We don’t need to cut them all, just the ones closer to us. Get all the teammates up here.”

Once on the eighth floor, the extended chains stopped attacking, indicating that their targets were only the assassins and players on the seventh floor and below.

In Celestial Horizon, quests of four stars and above were a significant turning point; looking back at past five-star quests, their difficulty had never been low.

Even though this was a tower-type dungeon, Yu Zhen believed Su Mo had never considered it as a simple task of accepting and completing quests. The strategy for dealing with even-numbered floors was a double-edged sword. Once activated, it would not only block the task but also pose a threat to them, which was the difficulty Su Mo was concerned about. From the beginning, he had left the slower-moving teammates on the second floor, providing a fallback route for Team 1 while also looking out for his teammates.

With sixteen chains, ten assassins had been bound, leaving the remaining six chains as traps for the players.

If they chose to keep most of their team on the seventh floor to deal with the assassins, when the chains activated, at least six people below would be bound and killed by the chains, or if not bound, would be indiscriminately attacked and their health whittled away. The worst-case scenario would be if the healer was also below, turning floors seven and eight into a potential wipe point.

Separating the healer was the right choice; Su Mo’s decision to rescue the healer was also correct.

“Apple, go cut the chains; I’ll pull the people up,” Yu Zhen quickly found Cantaloupe’s location, placing the flying rope in front of him, and shouted, “Cantaloupe!”

Cantaloupe ran as fast as he could, but the chains were relentlessly pursuing him. As he was about to be caught, he suddenly heard the array master’s voice and saw the rope hanging not far away. Without thinking, he jumped to grab the rope, and the next moment, a powerful force lifted him upward. Before he could react, he was whisked up to the eighth floor.

“Up here?!” Cantaloupe was still in shock, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw the two assassins below still being pursued by the chains.

“Go help them,” Yu Zhen said as he put away the rope and quickly moved in the opposite direction.

ScarletFruit shouted, “Can’t save the boss. If they’re bound, they’re considered invalid targets.”

The summoner, suspended in the air, hung with his head drooping, his hands bound to his waist by the chains, looking like a lifeless puppet.

Yu Zhen’s gaze darkened. He had never liked seeing such scenes. Even though it was just a game, it reminded him of real-life scenarios where young people would grit their teeth and endure pain.

“Watermelon, catch the rope,” Yu Zhen called out to the nearest assassin, Watermelon.

Watermelon shouted back, “First save ZenSlasher; her health is running low.”

With five chains pursuing the last two assassins, it was nearly impossible for them to withstand the relentless assault from multiple chains. Yu Zhen shifted his focus and handed the rope to ZenSlasher, who managed to grab it at the crucial moment. However, the chains pursuing her lost their target and turned to attack Watermelon instead.

ClearWind was somewhat moved, “Watermelon, I didn’t expect you to be so self-sacrificing.”

Watermelon snapped back, “If you’re so capable, why don’t you cut the chains already?”

“Cutting them now!” ClearWind, along with his teammates, managed to cut two chains in time, but three chains were still pursuing them.

ZenSlasher quickly went up to the eighth floor to help his teammates cut the chains.

The remaining three chaina almost completely blocked Watermelon’s path. Watermelon swore in frustration, activated his acceleration skill, and rolled away. However, before he could reach the rope dropped by UnchainedWanderer, he was ambushed and bound by the chains, lifting him up. With everyone captured, the remaining chains began to float around, seemingly waiting for their next target.

“Save him.”

Yu Zhen quickly ran back to the chains binding Su Mo, wedging the flying rope into the latter half of the chains. As soon as the teammates cut through the chains, Yu Zhen used the rope to pull Su Mo up.

Su Mo felt nothing, but he could see Yu Zhen from his vantage point.

Yu Zhen held him close, methodically using the judge’s pen to knock off the chains one segment at a time, his expression stern and silent.

The severed chains turned into wisps of smoke and returned to the mural. ScarletFruit and Cantaloupe arrived just in time. Cantaloupe’s casting was slightly faster, and he directly saved Su Mo. “Once the chains are cut, he can be rescued.”

When Su Mo was revived, he was still leaning against Yu Zhen, who helped him brush off the fragments of the chains.

Noticing this, Su Mo paused slightly and whispered, “Thanks, brother.”

ScarletFruit, who was nearby, didn’t think much of it and immediately cast a dispel buff on Su Mo, asking, “Any aftereffects after revival?”

Cantaloupe also cast a dispel, asking, “Hmm? Can’t it be dispelled?”

Su Mo was speechless.

Yu Zhen saw that Su Mo was about to get up and said, “First get back to full health.”

“Dammit, can someone come over and help? Why did everyone run off to save the boss?”

ClearWind grabbed onto the severed chains, with FireworksAndLanterns nearby, but since the chains and Watermelon were too heavy, they were sliding down with both of them.

“Coming.”

Not far from them, Bitter Melon hurried over with all his might. Seeing that a few people were about to fall, he quickly reached out and grabbed them. With his extremely sturdy physique, he immediately pulled them back up.

ClearWind, moved to tears, said, “Big Brother Bitter Melon, use a bit more strength to pull us up.”

Bitter Melon, afraid to move, said, “This is as far as I can go. I’m afraid that if I move, we’ll all fall down.”

At this moment, ZenSlasher arrived to help, assisting Bitter Melon in pulling everyone up.

ClearWind asked, “Where are the healers?”

ScarletFruit, running over, said, “Here, here.”

After pulling Watermelon up, he planned to cast a dispel but saw Watermelon jump up energetically, showing no sign of being held back.

ScarletFruit wondered, “?”

It felt like something was off.

After the harrowing experience, everyone arrived at the eighth floor.

ClearWind said, “It’s a good thing the boss left a team on the 8th floor; otherwise, that last wave of chains would have wiped us out.”

“I feel like the mechanism for a complete wipe is more common, but if you can avoid it, it’s much better,” Apple said. “Don’t forget, we’re currently tackling a quest challenge. There’s nothing simple about a five-star quest. There are traps everywhere.”

ScarletFruit exclaimed, “Damn, if the seventh and eighth floors are this hard, how are we supposed to get through the upper floors?”

And isn’t this just the preliminary rounds? With difficulty this high, aren’t they supposed to eliminate a lot of people?

“We drew the five-star difficulty, and considering everyone’s past clearance ratings, it makes sense,” FireworksAndLanterns said. “I asked a friend, and he said their team was on a four-star difficulty. It’s tough but manageable. Apparently, the preliminary rounds have 1 five-star and 2 four-star quests. How did we end up with the hardest one right away?”

The others were speechless. Was this really considered good luck?

Yu Zhen looked at the summoner beside him. The summoner walked to the edge and said, “The stairs from the seventh and eighth floors are all lit up. Do you want to take a look?”

FireworksAndLanterns eagerly ran over, “When did they light up? I’d forgotten about that.”

After the thrilling event, the players also went to check. They discovered that the previously unlit stairs were now all illuminated. However, the lighting was not as bright as below, so they hadn’t noticed before. From their vantage point, the stairs on the seventh floor looked similar to those on the sixth floor, but the eighth floor had no obvious stairs. Instead, there were a few inconspicuous horizontal bars. Standing on them made it hard to keep steady, let alone climb up.

“Can we jump to the ninth floor from the stairs?” ScarletFruit asked, looking stunned. “I used up all my effort just jumping from the eighth to the seventh floor.”

Yu Zhen replied, “You can jump, but it’s not safe. The height isn’t as high as before, but the last horizontal bar is in the middle of the eighth floor. Jumping to the ninth floor is actually more difficult than jumping from the seventh to the eighth.”

“But jumping to the tenth floor is not possible.” Su Mo glanced at the stairs. “It seems we’ll need to go through the ninth floor to reach the tenth. We need everyone to go to the ninth floor, assess the situation, and find a way to the tenth floor. Once we have that figured out, we’ll proceed with our original formation. It looks like jumping directly to the ninth floor from the stairs is too risky.”

ClearWind asked, “Isn’t it possible to jump across?”

Cantaloupe replied, “The success rate for jumping might not even be half!”

Su Mo explained, “Jumping from the eighth floor to the ninth can work, but if it fails, we would have to start from the sixth floor again, which wastes a lot of time. Gathering everyone would also take longer. If the ninth floor has ambush-type monsters, we might be scattered before we even assemble. It’s possible that this is another trap set by the main brain. The stairs on the ninth floor might not be easy either.”

At this moment, Yu Zhen suddenly spoke, “I can use the flying rope to bring everyone up. It will take about 30 seconds to transport nine people.”

“That works,” Su Mo thought for a moment and said, “We should first bring up the warrior and one healer to prevent a monster ambush.”

The others listened to the new plan decided by the two leaders. They had nothing else to do while waiting, so they went to cut the remaining two chains on the seventh floor. For safety’s sake, it was better not to leave any hazardous things behind.

After everything was prepared, the group asked whether they should proceed to the ninth floor now.

Su Mo said, “It’s already past four. If we can’t finish within an hour, let’s resume at seven in the evening.”

He then added, “I have a few items for you to test the ninth floor’s boss.” Su Mo rummaged through his bag and took out some long-neglected items covered in dust.

He had only noticed these items while going through his bag after his recent death, and it was the first time he brought them into a dungeon. “This is a fault-tolerant item. You can use it once you reach the ninth floor.”

There weren’t many items; he had only five in his bag, and he handed all of them to his teammates.

ScarletFruit noticed and said, “Isn’t this the item you mentioned before, the one with a disproportionate cost and effectiveness? I remember it requires very rare mud.”

“Yes,” Su Mo nodded. That item was the [1-Minute Puppet] he had made a long time ago. The materials used were high-level, and since then, he had mainly focused on crafting detection items. This item had not been used much, partly because there had been many dungeons with prohibited items where it was not applicable.

The 1-Minute Puppet was a summoner-type item, best handled by FireworksAndLanterns. After reaching the ninth floor, the players would place the item and immediately retreat to the eighth floor, using the puppet to test for any potential traps. The puppet would disappear after one minute.

However, this item had a significant drawback: it only lasted for one minute and only inherited the basic attributes of the player who used it. The short duration and the puppet’s fragility made it somewhat limited in effectiveness. Compared to direct testing by the players themselves, the item’s utility was less significant. Once he found it difficult to adjust the item’s function, Su Mo had set it aside. The one advantage it had was that using it for testing would not provoke hostility from potential enemies. If the puppet died, it wouldn’t attract aggro.

In this critical moment, despite its short duration, its effectiveness could be maximized if operated by a skilled summoner.

Watermelon was incredulous, “You had such a newbie item and didn’t bring it out sooner!?”

Su Mo responded calmly, “I forgot.”

When the leader said he forgot, the whole team’s first reaction was disbelief. Su Mo didn’t care whether they believed him or not. After chatting for a bit, it was already past four o’clock. With the seventh and eighth floors having been quite exhausting, everyone stopped to rest. After handing out the items, Su Mo decided to log off early.

When Su Mo logged off, Lele was already in the kitchen preparing ingredients. Yu Zhen had sent it a recipe in advance, asking it to help with the preparations. Lele loved cooking, and ever since it had acquired new features allowing it to handle edible items, it had developed a renewed passion for cooking, engaging in conversations with its robot friends.

Recently, however, Lele had noticed that its master seemed a bit off. For example, some of its permissions to interface with the terminal had been restricted, and it had noticed its master frequently chatting with people before bed. After reviewing several electronic books and conducting database analyses, Lele concluded that something was being kept from it.

As an excellent multifunctional robot, it considered helping its master and alleviating worries to be part of its responsibilities. Yet, its master didn’t seem to want to share things with it. This led Lele into a new round of self-analysis, examining where it might have fallen short. Eventually, it came to a conclusion: most of the food in the house lately had been prepared by Mr. Yu Zhen.

Was it possible that Su Mo disliked the food it made?

“Lele, do you need any help?” Su Mo asked as he entered the kitchen, only to be promptly sent out by the robot.

Lele replied with a serious tone, “No need for help.”

Su Mo asked, “……? Alright, do you have enough ingredients? If not, I can order some more.”

Lele presented the shopping list to its master and responded, “Enough.”

The weekends in the residential area were very lively, with numerous events taking place at the community plaza. Winter had arrived, and the temperature outside was gradually dropping. However, with the temperature control system on Capital Planet maintaining a comfortable range, winter for most of the Alliance’s citizens felt much like autumn.

Zhang Qi had just returned from a business trip and, carrying two bags of items, had just reached his apartment building when he saw Yu Zhen.

Yu Zhen, dressed in an unusual casual outfit, contrasted sharply with Zhang Qi’s formal attire. Zhang Qi waved and greeted him, saying, “Hey Yu Zhen, you’re still on vacation?”

Yu Zhen turned around upon hearing his voice and saw Zhang Qi. “Back from your business trip?”

“How did you know?” Zhang Qi, not yet entering his home, quickly walked over and patted Yu Zhen on the shoulder. “So, what’s up? I have nothing planned for the evening. Want to go out for dinner?”

“No, I have plans tonight,” Yu Zhen declined.

Zhang Qi responded, “What could you possibly have planned? Being on vacation means you should just be playing games…”

He suddenly noticed the items Yu Zhen was carrying. From the slightly open bag, he could see that it contained some ingredients. Zhang Qi hadn’t realized it before, but was Yu Zhen planning to ring Su Mo’s doorbell?

What was he doing with the ingredients? Had Old Lady Cheng asked him to deliver them? But why deliver ingredients? They wouldn’t stay fresh for long and there weren’t any special delicacies…

“Since you have plans tonight, let’s arrange something another time,” Yu Zhen said as he pressed Su Mo’s doorbell.

The door opened quickly, and Su Mo appeared from behind it. Seeing Zhang Qi was a bit of a surprise, and he politely greeted, “Brother Qi.”

Zhang Qi responded and was about to chat with Su Mo when he saw his friend walk in, whisper something to Su Mo, and hand the ingredients to Su Mo’s robot.

Wait, when did Yu Zhen become so close with Su Mo?

“Open the bag with the yellow packaging and soak it first; I’ll handle it later,” Yu Zhen instructed.

“You go ahead,” Yu Zhen said to Su Mo. “I’ll have a quick chat with Zhang Qi.”

Su Mo guessed they had something to discuss, so he didn’t intrude. He left the door open for Yu Zhen and went inside.

“Is there anything else?” Yu Zhen asked, turning to Zhang Qi.

Zhang Qi was surprised, “You came to see Su Mo?”

Yu Zhen replied, “Yes.”

Zhang Qi continued, “I have some things to take care of. Can we talk later?”

Zhang Qi thought Yu Zhen was about to leave, but to his surprise, Yu Zhen finished speaking and simply went into Su Mo’s home.

Then, right in front of him, Yu Zhen closed the door.

Zhang Qi was left standing there, bewildered, “??????”

***

Once inside, Yu Zhen saw Su Mo placing the yellow ingredients he had brought into water. Su Mo, apparently not very experienced with handling ingredients, was searching for instructions on his smart screen and following them as he worked.

Yu Zhen watched for a while, then went over and took over the task. He explained, “Just soak it in water.”

“But the online instructions say to use warm water,” Su Mo said, glancing at the smart screen, which indeed recommended warm water.

“You can use different methods depending on the dish you’re preparing. For fishy ingredients, cold water soaking can help retain the flavor, and after soaking, it can also help reduce the fishy smell,” Yu Zhen patiently explained. “Just let it sit for 20 minutes after that.”

“Oh, I see,” Su Mo said.

He genuinely knew little about these things. In the past, he simply ate whatever Lele prepared, and his involvement in handling ingredients had mostly been limited to picking vegetables.

With Yu Zhen’s arrival, the kitchen was left to him and Lele.

Ever since Yu Zhen had expressed his intention to pursue him, Su Mo had noticed that he found himself paying more attention to Yu Zhen, frequently glancing to see what he was doing. With nothing to do, Su Mo sat on the sofa, flipping through journal articles while watching Yu Zhen’s figure in the kitchen, when his gaze suddenly froze.

In his distant memories, he vaguely recalled being a small child sitting on the sofa while his parents busied themselves in the kitchen, trying to prepare delicious and healthy meals for him. Even just before the incident with the starship, his parents had asked him during their calls what he wanted to eat when he came home, so they could prepare it.

Due to his S-class mental power, he remembered childhood events with remarkable clarity. For a long time, he had sat in that spot watching the kitchen, from the tall figures of his parents to the short, small robots, and now to the two tall figures that replaced them.

It seemed that he had always been the observer.

At six o’clock, dinner was ready.

Yu Zhen came out of the kitchen and found that Su Mo was not in the living room or the bedroom, so he finally looked towards the closed laboratory.

Lele brought out the dishes, saying, “Su Mo must be in the laboratory. I’ll go get him.”

Yu Zhen watched as Lele went to knock on the door. He had only glanced inside the laboratory once before, only remembering the general layout, as the lab was always kept tightly closed. It seemed like Su Mo’s private world. The Su family’s home was warm and inviting, but Yu Zhen had noticed a detail over time—there were no photographs of Su Mo’s parents displayed in the living room or elsewhere in the house.

Even though the home retained signs of multiple occupants, there were no photographs displayed.

Su Mo soon came out, and the three of them—two people and a robot—gathered around the dining table for the meal.

Yu Zhen noticed that a glass had appeared in place of the usual teacup on the dining table. It was the glass he often used when visiting Su Mo’s home and was now placed in its usual spot. From initially being quite guarded, Su Mo seemed to have begun accepting Yu Zhen into his personal space, as if a small crack had finally appeared in the tightly closed shell.

After dinner, Su Mo walked around to aid digestion. Yu Zhen followed Lele to get some medicine for Su Mo. Having visited many times, he had learned to distinguish between emergency medications and regular ones.

Lele placed the medicine on the table and then asked, “Mr. Yu Zhen, would you like your usual black tea today?”

“Yes, please. Thank you,” Yu Zhen responded.

Lele gave a standard smile and said, “You’re welcome.”

Around seven o’clock, two different models of data loaders were set up on the coffee table.

The young man was wearing cotton sleep pants, and his exposed wrists were both delicate and small. It was hard to imagine that these hands, in the game, could exert enough force to knock a beast off the third level.

The knuckles were well-defined, and the veins on the back of his hands were prominent, yet overly slender.

After staring for a while, Yu Zhen couldn’t help but feel a bit restless.

Noticing Yu Zhen’s tea was almost finished, Su Mo glanced over and asked, “Is the room temperature too high, brother?”

“Su Mo,” Yu Zhen’s voice was slightly heavy.

Su Mo was taken aback by Yu Zhen’s sudden intense gaze. His eyes lingered on the man’s throat and then it hit him—thinking back to that evocative dream, he realized he was feeling a bit warm too. He was just beginning to understand his feelings, and most of his theoretical knowledge had come from online sources after he discovered his emotions…

What’s it like to play games with a boyfriend?

The internet’s answer: Lean against him and play together.

But in reality, they still maintained a half-arm’s distance, as if giving each other some sort of personal space. Su Mo realized for the first time that theory sometimes didn’t hold up.

The silence lasted for a while.

Su Mo finally said, “Brother, should I get you some more water?”

Yu Zhen replied, “…Sure.”

Although they had planned to play games together, the situation had become unexpectedly uncomfortable for a couple still in the early stages of their relationship.

***

Soon, the two of them logged in together. As soon as they were online, they heard a lively discussion within the team. The intensity of the discussion was so high that their arrival went unnoticed. It turned out that FireworksAndLanterns had jumped to the ninth level multiple times from different locations, spending over half an hour on one attempt alone. They had used up all the puppet items given by Momo and had spent about three minutes observing on the ninth level.

“Three minutes?” Su Mo recalled that he had given quite a few items. How did it only last three minutes?

Hearing this, the team members seemed a bit guilty.

ScarletFruit said earnestly, “Brother, you might not know, but some of the puppets disappeared as soon as they moved a few steps after reaching the top.”

Su Mo frowned, “What was the situation up there? Did you get a clear view?”

Watermelon replied, “There was a man.”

ClearWind added, “And a woman.”

Su Mo asked, “Was it a man or a woman?”

ZenSlasher explained, “They concluded that it was a pair of a man and a woman.”

From the various accounts of the teammates, Su Mo finally got an idea of what the ninth level was like. They had spent about three minutes up there and had managed to test the general situation of the level.

Watermelon had been the first to go up, and the first puppet they used lasted a full minute. The lighting on the ninth level was very dim, with only the candlelight near the wall paintings providing illumination. Unlike other levels, the ninth had a number of eerie decorations, including cabinets, tables, and even a bed. Other levels had no decorations at all, but the ninth seemed to be filled with various items. After that, they changed their position, but the puppet was soon attacked and destroyed after taking just a few steps, apparently by some kind of creature. They tried again in the same spot with another puppet and encountered the same outcome. Eventually, they saw a man and a woman.

It was highly likely that the man and woman were key to the ninth level’s wall painting and possibly the final boss of the Senro Tower.

ZenSlasher explained, “The two bosses are spaced apart and not together, but once the puppet encounters them, it will be attacked. The puppet can only withstand two attacks, but we could handle about three to four attacks ourselves. They are high-damage bosses but not unbeatable.”

Watermelon added, “There are stairs.”

After listening to his teammates, Su Mo summarized a few key points:

1. The ninth level had dual bosses, with few murals and many additional decorations.
2. There were stairs leading to the tenth level on the ninth, but the location of these stairs was within the bosses’ vicinity, so approaching the stairs would bring players into the bosses’ attack range.
3. The bosses were high-damage and had a lot of health, making it highly likely that they couldn’t be defeated with brute force alone and would require some strategy.

“Is there anything else? Do the bosses have any specific skills or mechanisms?” Su Mo asked his teammates again, only to find that they all shook their heads. It was impressive that they had gathered so much information in just three minutes. “That’s it? So what were you discussing earlier?”

This question opened the floodgates, and the teammates began discussing animatedly.

“The male and female bosses must be a couple bosses! There was a challenge dungeon released when the game first launched, and it was a lower-level dungeon. Not many people go there anymore.” Cantaloupe added, “The final bosses in that dungeon were dual bosses with shared skills. Back then, the system wasn’t as tough as it is now, and the Apocalypse hadn’t opened yet, so the difficulty of that dungeon was only about four stars. This seems to be the second couple bosses I’ve encountered in Celestial Horizon. I didn’t expect to see it in the final quest challenge.”

ClearWind immediately said, “Wow, a pair of male and female bosses in the pitch-black ninth level, and they’re so close together. Our puppets were wiped out as soon as they went up there. It’s like we interrupted a couple on a date and they got really pissed off!”

ScarletFruit added, “This system… giving us a dungeon like this, is it looking down on us single folks?”

Apple asked, “Are we all single here?”

Bitter Melon cleared his throat and said, “Ahem, I’m married.”

“What? Bitter Melon, you’re married?!” ScarletFruit was shocked and had never heard this before. “Does your wife play games?”

Bitter Melon, looking content, said, “She doesn’t play much, just casual stuff like fishing and running around. We’ve been together for 10 years.”

Su Mo paused at this and glanced at Yu Zhen, noticing that Yu Zhen was also looking at him.

He turned his gaze back and asked, “Is this what you were discussing?”

The others were speechless. Pretty much. Su Mo was speechless.

The difficulty increased with the dual bosses. Su Mo had rarely encountered dual bosses before, so the difficulty of the ninth level was expected to be quite high. Directly rushing through was impossible; they would have to adjust their strategy through mechanisms. The goal was never just to kill but to light up the murals and pass to the tenth level.

Given this, Su Mo had to reorganize the team:

Team 1: Bitter Melon, Watermelon, Apple, UnchainedWanderer, and Cantaloupe.

Team 2: Momo, ClearWindIsHere, ZenSlasher, FireworksAndLanterns, and ScarletFruit.

“After reaching the ninth level, ZenSlasher, FireworksAndLanterns, and ScarletFruit will find a way to get to the tenth level via the stairs,” Su Mo continued, “ClearWind and I will stay on the ninth level to assist the team. If there are issues, we will head up to the tenth level.”

The team members agreed quickly. FireworksAndLanterns then asked, “So how do we get up there?”

Bitter Melon replied, “There’s a safe spot to go up. Initially, there were no bosses attacking there, so you can start from that location.”

“ZenSlasher and Watermelon can reliably make the jump. You all should take the stairs.” Yu Zhen took out the Flying Rope. “Mark the spot well. I’ll go up first and use the Flying Rope to bring you up later. Let’s move quickly.”

As soon as the words were spoken, ZenSlasher and Watermelon quickly went to use the stairs. After Yu Zhen arrived at the marked position by Bitter Melon, he said, “Momo, place a bear at the edge.”

Su Mo understood and replied, “I can only control the bear to sit, squat, or stand. I can’t make it do anything else. Can you?”

Summoned beasts were less agile compared to pets; a summoner mainly controlled them through the skills they cast and their actions during skill use. The bear’s squatting and standing were among those actions.

Yu Zhen nodded, “Place it at the edge.”

The summoned bear appeared in front of everyone. After it settled at the edge, the summoner did not perform any additional actions.

Array Master quickly cast a speed array on himself, jumped onto the bear’s back with nimble movements, and, holding what seemed to be an item, swiftly climbed up to the bear’s shoulders.

The gap between the two levels was too large to be crossed with a mere jump.

However, if jumping from the bear’s shoulders, the situation was entirely different. Even though the bear had been scaled down in this dungeon, its height made it a good starting point. The issue was that the bear’s position was still some distance from the platform of the upper level, so to reach it, a mid-air adjustment during the jump would be required.

“Be careful!”

Yu Zhen moved with great fluidity. After getting on the bear, he quickly assessed the position, used lightness skills to jump, and made a mid-air adjustment to catch the edge of the ninth-floor platform perfectly.

Su Mo’s gaze momentarily froze. In the next second, he saw Yu Zhen use his strength to pull himself up, and then the flying rope descended from above.

“Momo, come.”

The man’s voice was calm and reliable. Without hesitation, Su Mo grabbed the rope and was pulled up by Yu Zhen.

The flying rope was extremely fast over short distances. The teammates lined up to ascend one by one, and soon everyone had reached the ninth floor.

Upon arrival, they did not dare to move, as they heard a sound.

The noise of a blade scraping the floor seemed to be very close. At that moment, something rapidly approached from the darkness. Bitter Melon immediately stepped forward to block the attack with his shield, allowing everyone to see the approaching boss: a man in luxurious clothing, wielding a single-edged sword, his face exuding an aura of ruthlessness.

Su Mo quickly commanded, “Everyone retreat, stand against the wall!”

The group of ten moved quickly, but the single-edged sword-wielding man continued to swing his weapon, causing Bitter Melon to be forced back step by step. For the first time, they saw Bitter Melon being pushed back by a boss’s skill. If it had been any of them, they probably would have been knocked away.

Watermelon quickly turned invisible and retreated, “Wasn’t the boss just on the other side?”

FireworksAndLanterns said, “This is bad. I didn’t expect him to move.”

Apple couldn’t help but add, “Well, he does have legs.”

ScarletFruit asked, “Is he a strongman or something?”

ClearWind commented, “Even the physical swordsman Sect Leader isn’t as strong as this newbie.”

Cantaloupe immediately began healing the team, “This is bad, retreat quickly.”

But the space on the ninth floor was smaller than the eighth, filled with various decorations, and the darkness made navigation difficult, severely restricting the players’ movement.

“The female boss is coming!” Su Mo saw another figure rapidly approaching in the darkness. Her soft laughter filled everyone’s ears, accompanied by the sound of jingling jewels as she moved closer.

In the darkness, the female boss seemed to be holding something in her hand. Su Mo’s pupils constricted, “Crouch against the wall! Swordsmen, activate the Great Sword Formation!”

At that moment, the female boss swung the object she was holding, sending a cold gust of wind that blew everyone backward.

The Great Sword Formation protected several people, but others were blown away by the wind. Chaos ensued, with some grabbing onto tables and others clutching at various objects. Su Mo was lifted by the wind, and Yu Zhen urgently grabbed his hand. They collided with the edge of a table and ended up falling onto a soft surface.

ScarletFruit, terrified, immediately found a table to hide under. Clinging to the table leg, he wasn’t blown away. The decorations here seemed to be fixed and unaffected by the wind. He kept his head down and peeked out from under the tablecloth, suddenly spotting the female boss’s shoes right in front of him. He held his breath, thinking he was doomed, but to his surprise, the boss simply passed by and walked away.

Quickly, he became resourceful and shouted into the team voice chat, “Find somewhere to hide quickly! If you hide, she won’t see you!”

“Are you serious? I’ve got a cabinet here!”

“Hide! ClearWind, leave a corner of the cabinet for me.”

“Cramped under the table!!!”

Su Mo surveyed his surroundings, about to look for a hiding spot, when he saw a shadow moving in his direction through the darkness, with teammates hurriedly seeking cover.

At that moment, he felt a powerful force pulling him down. A layer of fragrant bedding was draped over them.

A deep voice warned him, “Don’t move.”

Su Mo belatedly realized that the soft surface he was lying on was a bed.

 

Author’s note: 

ScarletFruit: Where did you hide? 

ClearWind: In the cabinet 

FireworksAndLanterns: In the cabinet 

Apple: In the cabinet … 

Momo: On the bed. 

UnchainedWanderer: On the bed.