Chapter 89: A Rope
Translated by Karai of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
Editor: Addis
In front of them were the small mobs along the way, seemingly endless, and wasting time was inevitable. Just two minutes had passed since they gathered at the mob location. Although the first stage had swapped their skill and attribute panels, it hadn’t changed their quest or skill panels.
“He’s pulling mobs too slowly, isn’t he? And this path is only about 100 meters long. They set it so that you need 1000 meters to break away from battle. Clearly, they didn’t intend for us to pull them.”
“We can’t go faster or use skills on him. Don’t we all have to wait behind him?”
“He’s walking so slowly that even if we sacrifice one healer, we might not safely reach the end before dying.”
To pull mobs? How are we going to do that?
Su Mo quickly explained his plan to Yu Zhen in a few words. Yu Zhen immediately understood and took out a rope from his backpack. Under his control, the rope extended infinitely, with the other end falling into Momo’s hands. Under everyone’s gaze, the invisible assassin pulled the rope from the side of the narrow mountain path, gradually disappearing from their sight. After about fifteen seconds, Momo ran back and tied the other end of the rope around Watermelon’s waist.
CloudTraveller burst into laughter suddenly, “I get it now.”
He immediately said, “Everyone else, get ready to keep up with Watermelon’s speed. Array master, boost your teammates with speed in advance. Let’s move out right away. Bitter melon, you’re the cleric. Your healing range is long, and your threat level should be minimal. You’ll be responsible for monitoring health. Finally, lie down at the endpoint with Watermelon. Everyone else, maintain pace with Watermelon, but don’t overtake him.”
Watermelon was strapped with the flying rope around his waist, feeling a sense of unease. The other end of the rope passed through the vast crowd of monsters, seemingly turning at a certain point towards the endpoint, where it landed in UnchainedWanderer’s hands.
Su Mo glanced at Watermelon and tactfully advised, “It shouldn’t hurt. Maybe change to a thicker outfit; it might be tight around your waist.”
Watermelon fell silent for a moment, “… Should I say thank you?”
Su Mo smiled and stealthily entered the midst of the monsters in front of Watermelon, “You’re welcome. I’ll wait for you at the endpoint. Old Doaist, let’s move out first and see how it goes at the next checkpoint.”
“Is the speed okay?”
“It should be. Bitter melon’s panel has slow speed, so we should be able to keep up.”
CloudTraveller glanced at Yu Zhen, “In such a short time, he really does have a way.”
“He always thinks faster than others.” Yu Zhen gripped the flying rope. Originally a seemingly useless quest item, under Su Mo’s guidance, it became an essential item for navigating dungeons. “I’ll control the speed; let’s start with 20 meters.”
The teammates who didn’t understand this item were momentarily stunned. Shortly after, they saw Watermelon sprinting out at an incredible speed, directly alerting all the monsters on the narrow path. These monsters almost instantly identified their enemies and closely followed the gradually receding figure.
Bitter melon, holding the cleric’s panel, immediately followed suit. Amidst a crowd of cleric summons, he found the healing blossom and placed it steadily next to Watermelon. Without hesitation, the others hurriedly followed suit, fearing being left behind in the pile of monsters with nowhere to escape.
Yu Zhen held the flying rope, simultaneously controlling its retraction speed while acting. Seeing the frontmost teammates keeping up with Watermelon, he promptly released another segment of the rope, allowing Watermelon to move forward tens of meters more. On the narrow mountain path, about ten players swiftly ran, chasing after the main tank being pulled ahead by the rope. In less than a minute, they arrived at the corresponding position.
There are two team markers here, set up in advance by Momo.
One is the attack range marker for the small monsters, indicating where Watermelon and Bitter Melon, who have aggro, died.
The other is a green safety line marker, indicating where other teammates should wait outside the safety line until the small monsters disengage.
“Enter the green line, Bitter Melon and Watermelon enter the red line. Those engaged in combat should also head to the red line to avoid dragging down other teammates.”
CloudTraveller immediately took command. Fortunately, all teammates were aware of their roles. Except for Bitter Melon and Watermelon, no one else triggered aggro. After Bitter Melon and Watermelon died, the two healers revived their teammates within the safety line, allowing them to withstand the resurrection protection time and run to a safe place. Only then did the main force of the team resume their journey.
ClearWind’s livestream audience was astonished.
[“666666”]
[“I just watched the streamer next door climbing a mountain, and here they cleared it in less than two minutes!?”]
[“I’ve had this kind of item before, useless to me, thrown into storage. It’s time to bring it out into the light.”]
[“How do we copy this assignment!? Without someone like Bitter Melon as the main tank, without the item, what can we do?”]
[“We can still manage. Use two main tanks and one healer, pull for 50 meters, then switch main tanks. Let the healer who gains aggro revive the first main tank who died in the first half. It might take up to five minutes for cooldowns, but it’s still doable. The livestreamer’s team managed mainly because one of their main tanks had slow movement speed and used an item to clear the level.”]
[“Damn, the big shots upstairs have arrived.”]
Yu Zhen didn’t untie the Flying Rope, “I didn’t think about this just now. Can I hold it for you?”
Watermelon felt a bit dizzy, “Can you slow down a bit? I’m feeling a bit dizzy.”
Apple chuckled, “Hahaha, this reminds me of the tactics we used in the past to clear the Departed Souls dungeon. Come, let me cast a Black Tortoise for you and take you along. Anyone else with slow movement speed? Hop on the turtle ride; the tortoise can carry three people.”
“Bro, count me in for help.” ScarletFruit ran back midway, “I’ve got a vehicle here too. Anyone want to hop on?”
CloudTraveller and the others were still unclear about the turtle car. When they saw two summoners’ Black Tortoises running out, they immediately understood what was going on. He had seen discussions on forums about using summoner lineups to clear the Departed Souls dungeon, but since his team lacked summoners, he had skipped those threads. He vaguely remembered something about using Black Tortoise’s damage reduction line for movement, requiring multiple summoners for coordinated operation. Now seeing this operation, he couldn’t help but admire Momo and their ingenious ideas.
Kawaii smiled, “They probably used Black Tortoise for their Summer boss.”
CloudTraveller nodded, “Their approach is indeed extraordinary.”
The three casual teammates were stunned.
“They can actually play like this?”
“It really tests the summoner’s skills, right? They have to multitask controlling Black Tortoise’s damage reduction line, or it could disconnect.”
“Then our movement speed can be improved! Why wasn’t this released earlier?”
“It’s possible, but not always necessary.” Yu Zhen explained to his teammates as they walked, “The speed of Black Tortoise depends on the movement speed of your teammates. If your teammates run fast, Black Tortoise can move quickly too. But if our overall movement speed is within a certain range, the enhancement won’t be significant. It’s effective for carrying slower teammates, but its other effects are similar to speed arrays.”
The fastest group moved ahead to scout, leaving the rest with similar movement speeds. The slowest among them was Watermelon, who had the warrior panel.
Yu Zhen had some understanding of the [Crossing Mountains and Hills] event. Speed wasn’t the biggest challenge; rather, the major difficulties lay in the various obstacles they would encounter along the way. If their speed slowed down, they might not be able to complete the challenge.
After all, they only had 30 minutes, and more than 5 minutes had already passed.
“Excuse me, we’ve reached the second checkpoint here, it’s a cliff,” Su Mo’s voice came through the voice chat, interrupting the discussion about riding the Black Tortoise. “There’s a gap of over 3 meters, blocked by mountain vines. It’s not easy to cross.”
The second obstacle of “Crossing Mountains and Hills” arrived. Su Mo, accompanied by assassin Don’t know how to love and marksman 25000, ran about a hundred meters ahead, circling around to the back of the mountain. Then they saw the trench in front of them, a cliff about several dozen meters high. The endpoint was on the opposite mountain, and they had only one way to reach it: jump across the mountain.
However, another problem emerged before them. The gap was roughly the limit distance for a double jump using light skills. Some professions with higher movement speeds could rely on gliding to cover some distance further. But the cliff’s walls were covered with various mountain vines, which could attack. During the takeoff process, a slight mistake could lead to being knocked down by these vines.
ClearWindIsHere saw this scene and felt uneasy, “What if we get knocked off? Will falling mean death?”
“Death will reset you to the starting point of the scene. You’ll have to pass through the previous stages again to get back here,” 25000 also struggled, “These mountain vines must have a mechanism. I counted, the event pattern has an interval of about 3 seconds, which is too short. Not enough time for gliding down safely.”
“Then we won’t dodge, we’ll just power through,” Su Mo said simply.
25000 hesitated upon hearing this, “Bro, are you really going to be that reckless!? TrueBro didn’t describe you like this before!”
Su Mo paused briefly, curious, “How did he describe me then?”
“He said you’re bold yet meticulous, courageous and strategic… I’ve known him for so long and I’ve never heard him praise anyone like that.”
25000 finally couldn’t help but complain, reminiscing about the time he made a name for himself in that quest dungeon, healing over a hundred million in half an hour, pushing the limits as a top-tier healer. He became the dream support for so many players, yet all he got from TrueBro was a casual “not bad.”
“Did he really praise me like that?” Su Mo was surprised.
25000 replied, “Am I lying to you? Do you two have some kind of secret understanding?”
Su Mo found an explanation, recalling ScarletFruit’s often mentioned phrase, and said simply, “Probably just mutual compliments in the business?”
25000 responded with confusion, “What?”
“I don’t believe you for a second.”
Su Mo glanced at the hidden ID in the team and quickly regained focus on the countdown. “25000, try your attack range and see if the thorn vines across there are susceptible to control.”
“Don’t call me 25000, just call me Xiao Er,” 25000 found his position. “Which side do you want me to try?”
Su Mo pointed in a direction, and 25000’s arrow immediately shot out, successfully hitting the control skill, slowing down the movement of the struck thorn vines instantly.
“It’s susceptible to control; my arrow just induced a sluggish state,” 25000 tried two more control skills, both successful hits. “Both soft and hard control work, but the duration is short.”
“This is a speed challenge, racing against the game’s set time, so its difficulty points won’t be high.”
Su Mo summed up, “There’s an obvious characteristic here: all its mechanisms are visible to the naked eye, unlike other dungeons where we need to figure out the mechanics. So, we just need to solve the current problem and find the shortest and fastest way to clear it.”
“What’s your plan then?” 25000 asked.
“Create a landing spot,” Su Mo opened the team voice chat and relayed the situation to the teammates on the other side.
The main force quickly caught up. Even though they had heard Momo’s briefing over voice chat, they only truly understood the difficulty when they arrived at the cliff.
“This leap with light skills is a bit tricky, but with the height difference, the distance should be a bit shorter than what we see,” Su Mo analyzed.
“If it weren’t for these thorn vines, the success rate would probably be around 80%. With them, it’s not safe to attempt the jump,” added another team member.
Watermelon saw Momo untying the rope from him and realized he had misunderstood. Hearing what Su Mo said next, he felt a bit embarrassed.
He cleared his throat and found a reason for himself, “… It’s not that I can’t contribute. Chief Bitter Melon’s panel itself has slow movement speed and short gliding distance. Letting me try wouldn’t be setting you all up for failure?”
Su Mo chuckled at his words, giving him a deep look. “Don’t worry, you’ll be the last one this time.”
Watermelon looked puzzled, “Huh?”
After taking the rope, Su Mo briefly discussed the general plan for clearing the obstacle with CloudTraveller.
Based on the time it takes for the light skill jump and glide, they would need about 3 seconds to cross from this side. With the running and jumping time included, it would take about 5 seconds per person.
The swinging motion of the mountain vines leaves roughly a 3-second gap in various directions. The risk of timing the jump to slip through is too great; any misjudgment would result in being knocked off the cliff. If one person makes a mistake and falls, the entire team would have to start over, so they must find a method with the least margin for error.
In such an environment, without a foothold, the close combat control skills are useless, and most of the summoning skills of the summoners are also ineffective due to the large gaps. Even the bear cannot serve as a foothold. The only remaining options are long-range professions: array master, Doaist priest, marksman, and magical swordsman.
Five long-range professionals, enough to execute a control cycle.
But the most crucial point was that someone had to go over to the other side first to create a possible foothold on this cliff for the other teammates.
Yu Zhen walked over. “Are you going to jump?”
“I’ll do it,” Su Mo tightened the rope. “The assassin has fast movement speed and skill acceleration. It’s more suitable for me to jump.”
He tugged on the rope. “Don’t worry, if I fail, just pull me back.”
Yu Zhen asked, “How much distance should I leave for you?”
“About ten meters should be enough,” Su Mo checked the distance. It shouldn’t affect his light skill jump.
CloudTraveller quickly gathered several long-range professionals. Others watched as Su Mo, with a rope around his waist and having activated the assassin’s swift skill, ran to the edge of the cliff and leaped directly towards the platform on the opposite side.
In the livestream chat, viewers watched the experts exchange a few words and then saw Su Mo jump with the rope.
[“What’s happening?”]
[“Probably testing the jump? I’m still not sure how they plan to clear this.”]
[“Can they do it? That second jump is barely within range, and if they get hit mid-air, they’ll fall.”]
[“The experts should have some other plan in mind. They won’t be using conventional methods.”]
CloudTraveller, equipped with the array master panel, cast a fear array toward the left side of the opposite position just as Su Mo was about to jump. Immediately after, he had the team consecutively seal off the swaying tendrils of the mountain vines. “Magical swordsman, take over control.”
However, at that moment, a sudden change occurred. The vines from a distance extended abruptly, directly swinging towards Su Mo in mid-air.
[“Whoa, the mountain vines changed their move!”]
[“Be careful!”]
[“The distance isn’t enough!”]
[“The descent distance is too short.”]
Under the gaze of everyone else, there was a momentary hesitation in Su Mo’s second jump due to the interference of the mountain vines. A miscalculation in the predicted distance caused him to fall just short of the platform on the opposite mountain slope. Everyone’s hearts skipped a beat. Yu Zhen prepared to retract the flying rope, but at that crucial moment, Su Mo’s assassin short sword was swiftly drawn and forcefully plunged into the opposite mountain wall.
“Keep the control up! Control the vines around Momo!”
Several standby ranged professions didn’t slack off; they immediately released their control skills, stabilizing the chaotic vines around Su Mo.
Su Mo didn’t fall down; he managed to hang onto the opposite mountain wall in the nick of time.
The assassin was the only profession in Celestial Horizon with more than one type of weapon. With both short swords and dual blades, a skilled assassin could leverage different weapons to create their unique advantage. At this critical moment, momo utilized this multi-weapon advantage. He embedded one weapon in each hand into the mountain wall, slowly climbing up under his teammates’ cover.
Everyone’s hearts raced with tension, but they sighed in relief when they saw Momo clinging to the wall. If even the swiftest and farthest-gliding assassin struggled to pass this challenge, the others had no chance. They would likely be struck down by the vines mid-way, with no opportunity to climb.
Watermelon suddenly paused, memories flooding back. “Wait… isn’t Momo using my panel?”
At that moment, Momo was using his beloved weapons, thrusting them into the hard mountain wall.
Did I repair my gear before entering? How much durability will this take? Can the durability hold up?
Watermelon’s mind raced with these thoughts. His treasured blades might be completely worn out after this dungeon!
Bitter Melon patted Watermelon on the shoulder. “Hey, repairs are on me when we get out.”
