Chapter 9: The Inked Landscape Challenge Dungeon
Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
Editor: Karai
The dungeon system of “Celestial Horizon” was very distinctive. Based on type, it was simply divided into experience dungeons and challenge dungeons. Experience dungeons mainly produced experience and a small amount of equipment, while challenge dungeons produced equipment and materials. The Inked Landscape was a low-level dungeon, belonging to the challenge category. When players entered, the game officials would determine the difficulty based on the entire team’s situation, with the highest AI making the judgment. The difficulty was always high, never low.
The low-level challenge dungeons didn’t demand much from players, but Su Mo had to go. Su Mo said, “Evergreen Wood sells for 60 gold on the trading platform. We need to sell 40 fish to match that.”
Soul Rabbit rubbed against him, its soft ears slightly wrapping around his leg. Evergreen Wood only dropped from the hidden boss in the Inked Landscape. Su Mo took a long time to find the button to apply to join the team. There were four people in the team, and with him, there were exactly five.
The team voice chat was on, and the team’s class configuration was a Flaming Thunder Mountain warrior, a Serene Essence Temple Daoist priest, a Mountainless Blade Sect swordsman, and the team leader ScarletFruit14, who was a Spirit Sanctuary Druid.
The warrior said, “This DPS isn’t enough. Summoners are useless. Let’s swap someone in.”
The swordsman said, “It should be enough.”
Su Mo received a summon notification and was then transported to an Inked Landscape. As he stood and observed the surroundings, a line of red text suddenly appeared before him.
[player EverFaithful is checking your equipment.]
“Is it Momo? You’re still using a fishing rod as a weapon, and all your gear is quest items? Didn’t you change your equipment?” The warrior EverFaithful said again, “This DPS is definitely not enough. A summoner without a weapon and a novice Daoist priest? Swap for another DPS, maybe another swordsman.”
The Daoist priest spoke in a soft female voice, “Ah? Can’t we do it?”
The warrior was a bit irritable, “We can’t. This setup will wipe the team.”
Su Mo didn’t understand dungeon runs. Holographic game dungeons were different from the terminal games he played. He took the initiative to say, “Then you guys change players. I’ll leave first.”
After he finished speaking, he opened the team list and was looking for the leave team button.
At this moment, the male healer on the other side of the team spoke up. His voice was clean, but his words carried some force. “Leave? We just filled the team. If you leave, will you find another?” The one who spoke was the team leader ScarletFruit14. He wore a mix of equipment, with mismatched colors, looking a bit odd. “Why can’t a novice Daoist priest fight? DPS can always be done, right? I’m not asking for any combos, just cast your spells, can’t you?”
The Daoist priest was stunned for a moment and said, “I can do that. Don’t worry, I can DPS properly.”
The warrior snorted coldly but said nothing.
ScarletFruit said, “Then that’s settled. Stay back, dodge skills, and deal DPS. This boss isn’t hard.”
The Inked Landscape had only one boss, a piece of scenery in the painting, an ordinary-looking rock. The rest were some small mobs with high health and damage, making them very tough to fight. After clearing the mobs, they entered the Inked Landscape.
Su Mo walked through the Inked Landscape at the entrance and then entered the world within the painting. Before his eyes, the ink and water flowed, and the world was only in black and white. The players were all covered in a dim filter. Having played the holographic game for only a few days, Su Mo was experiencing this extremely special holographic effect for the first time. It was a visual experience he couldn’t get from watching videos.
Soon, Su Mo refocused and paid attention to the surroundings.
This was completely different from fighting monsters in the wild. The terrain inside the dungeon was complex, and the black-and-white tone made it easy to misjudge the environment. The stone monster in front of him had a health bar dozens of times thicker than the small mobs.
Before he could fully assess the terrain, EverFaithful rushed in with a large sword to start the fight. A cloud of gray-black smoke dispersed, and he entered combat mode. The warrior charged in and taunted to draw the stone monster’s aggro. Su Mo heard ScarletFruit mutter a curse beside him, then summoned a flower to heal the warrior.
The warrior initiated the attack quickly. Su Mo summoned Solitary Wolf to join the fight, but suddenly a cloud of smoke swept past him. He stepped back just in time to hear a scream—the Daoist priest who had been standing next to him was now lying on the ground.
As he dodged, another attack landed, followed by another scream. Su Mo paused, his hand holding the fishing rod as he looked at the two corpses on either side of him.
“…” Was the dungeon really this intense?
ScarletFruit said, “Warrior, pull out. Too many people died.”
The warrior pulled out, and the swordsman and Daoist priest were revived.
“I’m sorry, I died too quickly.” The Daoist priest girl was on the verge of tears, “Maybe you should find someone else. I feel bad for holding you back.”
ScarletFruit replied, “It’s fine. Let’s try again. Did you activate your plug-in1? Make sure to avoid damage.”
“Yes, I did.” The Daoist priest said, “I’ll stand further back. I won’t die this time.”
Su Mo was taken aback. What plug-in? Were there plug-ins for dungeon runs? Before he could figure it out, the warrior charged in to pull the monster again, and Su Mo had no choice but to continue summoning and attacking. He kept an eye on the boss’s aggro and health bar. When he saw an ink state appear under the boss, smoke swept over him again.
He quickly dodged, and the Daoist priest beside him dodged too. The boss’s health steadily decreased. When it reached 60%, Su Mo was about to summon Soul Rabbit to help with the damage, but then a new state appeared under the boss.
Not good! The boss’s skill dropped, and they wiped again.
ScarletFruit said, “Let’s go again. Swordsman and Daoist priest, watch your positioning and facing. Warrior, keep the aggro.”
“What’s the point? The DPS is low and they can’t position correctly. This group is full of noobs.” The warrior continued, “Let’s disband.”
ScarletFruit asked, “Warrior, are you playing or not?”
The warrior, gripping his weapon, charged forward without a word and started the fight.
The others hadn’t fully recovered but were dragged into combat. ScarletFruit frowned slightly, controlling the flower to heal everyone. Perhaps because of the previous failures, this attempt was a bit clumsy. The warrior stood his ground attacking the monster, while the others scrambled to avoid skills.
Su Mo quickly sidestepped, but the ink spreading beneath him instantly killed two other players. Su Mo paused briefly and then looked towards the warrior. He saw that ScarletFruit had stopped healing, and the warrior collapsed with a crash.
As soon as the warrior fell, he cursed, “Damn it, healer, can you even heal?”
“Of course,” ScarletFruit replied calmly, “if you can hold the aggro properly.”
The warrior retorted, “Do I need you to teach me how to play?”
“Apparently, yes.” ScarletFruit retreated to a safe distance, “Are you holding aggro or pulling the boss’s ultimate skills onto us? Do you know how many skills you’ve made us eat? Did you pay attention to your facing?”
The swordsman suggested, “The main tank is dead. Should we retreat and try again?”
The Daoist priest girl said, “I’ll go find another DPS for you.”
“Resurrect and…” ScarletFruit suddenly paused, his gaze fixed on the summoner with a sliver of health left. The usually silent summoner had survived the boss’s ultimate skill. Without a word, ScarletFruit rushed over, gently waving his fan to heal the summoner, slightly increasing his health bar.
“Momo, pull back…” ScarletFruit began, but the summoner released a pet, a small rabbit that darted to the stone monster and slapped it without hesitation. ScarletFruit was momentarily stunned, then saw the summoner release Zephyr Hawk. Together with Solitary Wolf’s stun, they successfully controlled the boss. At this point, the boss’s health was at 40%, and the summoner had taken over the tanking role.
“Careful!” The Daoist priest girl noticed the boss’s feet glowing and the plug-in popped up an ultimate skill alert.
The summoner stood still, and just when everyone thought he couldn’t withstand the damage, he moved with a slight shift in position, gracefully dodging the attack as the boss’s damage fell. He began to move lightly.
The Daoist priest girl was surprised, “How did he avoid damage from the ultimate skill?”
“That’s because he positioned the boss correctly,” ScarletFruit controlled the flower to heal Momo, then locked onto the Daoist priest in the team, casting the only resurrection skill on her. “Get up and stand next to me to deal DPS.”
The warrior cursed, “Healer, are you crazy? Reviving a newbie who can’t even run?”
“Fine, you’re something else. The summoner is crazy too, not summoning his pets earlier. This whole team is full of noobs.”
[Player EverFaithful has been removed from the team by the leader.]
ScarletFruit said nothing, directly kicking the warrior out.
The Daoist priest girl got up, stunned, and obediently stood next to ScarletFruit to deal DPS, “You shouldn’t have revived me…”
“I should have. You’re ranged, and the stone monster’s attacks are short-range at 10%. Reviving you is the safest option,” the man lying on the ground said, “Don’t be nervous, just dodge the skills.”
ScarletFruit’s healing skills continued to fall on the summoner who was running around the field.
The summoner moved quickly, controlling Solitary Wolf to stun during his movement, and using the stun intervals to control Zephyr Hawk and the rabbit to attack. This seemingly thrilling scene was surprisingly orderly, with a delicate balance in the rhythmic skill output.
Not only that, he managed to control two summoned beasts and a pet simultaneously.
In such a chaotic scene, protecting himself while controlling the summoned beasts’ attacks required immense focus.
The summoner’s health never rose above 30%, but he managed to drain the boss’s health down to 10%.
The swordsman lying on the ground warned, “Careful, the boss is about to use an ultimate skill.”
Everyone’s hearts tensed up. The summoner, standing at the boss’s feet, moved and used Solitary Wolf to charge forward again. Just when ScarletFruit thought he was going to stun the boss, the boss’s ultimate skill casting bar instantly disappeared. The ultimate skill was interrupted.
The Daoist priest girl saw the plug-in alert and froze for a moment. The next second, she realized she hadn’t taken any real damage, “Huh, there’s no damage…”
“There won’t be any. Just keep dealing DPS,” ScarletFruit smiled, “The summoner knows what he’s doing.”
The boss’s health dropped bit by bit, and finally, with a loud crash, the boss fell. The summoner’s health was left at only 1%. Everyone in the team received the completion notification, and the boss’s rewards scattered everywhere.
The Daoist priest girl was stunned, “Did we clear it? But that warrior left.”
ScarletFruit was sorting through the rewards in the team’s inventory, “Ignore him.”
The Daoist priest girl didn’t understand, “He’s a warrior. If he were up, he could tank the boss, making it easier for Momo.”
The swordsman, revived, ran over, “We finally finished. Leader, you did the right thing. That warrior was trash. If we kept him, we would have been wiped.”
The Daoist priest girl, “Huh?”
“Do you know how we wiped the last few times? That warrior couldn’t tank properly. He kept pulling the boss towards us, so the boss’s skills definitely hit us,” the swordsman said indignantly. “I even dodged away from him, but that warrior seemed to deliberately sabotage us. He kept getting closer, or else we wouldn’t have wiped just now. Luckily, Momo knows how to fight; otherwise, we would have been doomed.”
With only one resurrection skill at low levels for the Spirit Sanctuary Druid class, it’s better to resurrect a stable DPS than a warrior who puts the team in danger.
Su Mo, who had been looking at Soul Rabbit’s status bar, heard his name mentioned by someone nearby.
“I see,” the Daoist priest girl realized, “Momo is amazing.”
Su Mo recalled Soul Rabbit and said, “No, it’s my first time in the dungeon. Thank you all for guiding me.”
The swordsman laughed, “Come on, don’t be modest, big guy. If you hadn’t pulled the mobs, we wouldn’t have gotten the rewards!”
The Daoist priest chimed in, “Yeah, you’re really amazing!! And your rabbit too. I’ll get one myself later.”
“…” Su Mo replied, “No, I’m really just a newbie.”
The swordsman continued, “Your ID looks familiar, big guy. Don’t be modest.”
Su Mo replied, “Well, then you might be mistaking me for someone else.”
“Alright, I’ve sorted the equipment by class. Any requirements for the materials?” ScarletFruit glanced around and settled on the summoner nearby. “Momo, what do you need?”
Su Mo asked, “Do you have Evergreen Wood?”
ScarletFruit checked the rewards, “It seems like there’s no Evergreen Wood. The drop rate for that material is low.”
“Oh! There’s a chest glowing over there,” the Daoist priest girl noticed a small chest next to the boss’s corpse and exclaimed, “What’s that?”
The swordsman, an experienced player, explained, “Oh, that’s a special chest. There’s a 50% chance it drops when you kill the stone monster. It’s said to have mysterious rewards, but they’re all deceiving. It’s mostly junk, but there’s a chance it might drop a boss that’s a level lower.”
The Daoist priest paused, “What does ‘a boss that’s a level lower’ mean?”
“It’s a special boss that only appears in the special chests in challenge dungeons. Normally, dying in a dungeon doesn’t cause you to lose experience or equipment,” the swordsman explained. “But this boss is different. Dying in front of it will cause you to lose a level, and it has to be defeated, otherwise, you’ll lose two levels.”
The Daoist priest was surprised, “Isn’t that too much?”
“But don’t worry, I don’t think a lower-level boss has ever appeared in Inked Landscape,” the swordsman reassured her.
The equipment drops in the Inked Landscape dungeon were quite rich. This time, they were lucky to get two purple equipment pieces suitable for summoners. Su Mo replaced the blue equipment given by the quest with the purple ones and noticed the materials distributed by ScarletFruit.
Previously, he had looked into the drop rate of Evergreen Wood and had some impression of the prices of other low-level materials. Although Evergreen Wood didn’t drop this time, they did get a special material, which could probably be sold for around 70 gold on the trading platform. ScarletFruit silently distributed the scattered materials to the others, then, while the swordsman and Daoist priest were chatting, sneakily put the special material into his own inventory.
Su Mo’s eyebrows twitched slightly as his gaze met ScarletFruit’s.
ScarletFruit casually brushed off some dust from his hands, avoiding his gaze as if nothing had happened. After a while, he subtly mouthed something to Su Mo—
‘Let’s go distribute the loot.’
Su Mo was confused.
Author’s note:
Su Mo: What does he want to do?
