Meteor Fall Master in the 'Starry Abyss'
Chapter 360 - 008. Every additional step you take is a desecration of the second round.

Chapter 360: 008. Every additional step you take is a desecration of the second round.

’Lake Twilight Fairy’—Sofia Malin, the toughest BOSS in the entire "Heroes of Falysia". Back then, many people were stuck at this point with no way to surpass it.

Her seemingly fragile body could easily withstand a tactical nuclear weapon. The Evil Spirit’s body could step into the Spirit Realm to avoid damage from neutron radiation. As for the continuous high-temperature flames, they would merely burn down this Garden of Human-Faced Flowers without any other effect.

Epsilon Stage, the pillar of cosmic civilizations. Most regular soldiers and mercenaries were in this range. For those who hadn’t left their mother stars, they were disasters, they were gods. Traditional gunpowder kinetic weapons could no longer harm their noble bodies. The main weapons in their battles were magically enhanced blades and deadly lasers.

As long as they were willing, they could easily annihilate those weaker planetary civilizations.

Even though Sofia Malin had only just stepped into the Epsilon Stage, for mortals, and essentially equals to mortals, those at the Gamma Rank, it made no difference—both could kill them in the blink of an eye.

Sofia Malin had lots of lore that could be dug into. To formally defeat her, at least 12 skilled players at the Delta Rank would need to focus their fire without a single misstep. Otherwise, she would only need to grasp her scythe and sweep lightly—at that moment, she would tear through space, attacking from behind and devouring everyone as if they were snacks.

But for Li Aozi, the information on Sofia Malin had already been thoroughly excavated through multiple versions. As for the gameplay strategies, there were countless ones available.

Though Sofia Malin was extremely challenging, many novice streamers boasted about being able to solo her flawlessly as a noteworthy achievement.

Li Aozi, on the other hand, never bragged about his record, nor did he solo Sofia Malin without taking damage.

—Because he blew up the entire ruin and missed the whole plot.

Although he had changed bodies, the skills Li Aozi had accumulated, including the "Aura of Goodwill," hadn’t been inherited and remained with his original body. However, Leo Duretto’s powerful basic attributes had instead liberated his operational space.

This made the situation much more manageable compared to when he faced Nimotin, the Professor.

There were many ways to handle Sofia Malin since Li Aozi had studied her moves exhaustively. If he went in for a straightforward attack, he had two heirloom-level weapons that could slowly wear her down.

—But that would take five days.

"You should stop..."

Sofia slowly advanced, the white gauze lifted by the evening breeze. All the human-faced sunflowers began to emit uneasy whimpers, their low cries rising and falling, forming a stark contrast with the clear moonlight, driving one to madness.

Li Aozi said nothing, nor did he intend to respond to Sofia Malin.

He dropped his weapon on the ground, and Sofia Malin immediately halted, hesitantly gazing at Li Aozi.

"Intruder, why do you do this?"

She grasped her weapon, pondering, unable to understand Li Aozi’s actions.

Li Aozi said not a word, swaggering toward her with big steps, marching through the garden path covered in dense flowers and tombstones until he reached a cliff, and then stepped right off.

Sofia Malin watched the unfamiliar intruder leap off.

"...Absurd."

Thud!

Li Aozi clung tightly to the cliff but did not fall to the bottom of the valley—there was a slab hidden in a visual blind spot that jutted into the mountain, catching him firmly.

Twisting left and right, Li Aozi swiftly and easily reached halfway down the mountain. Once his feet touched the soft soil, he turned and immediately spotted a cave.

While the entire hidden plot had been "cloud" viewed, only through video, the exceptional quality of his current body enabled him to withstand the fierce winds on a seven-hundred-meter-high cliff without trembling, allowing him to leap down effortlessly to this cave.

As for fighting?

Forget it. Skipping class showcased the understanding of the game!

"Sofia won’t attack players who put down their weapons and are non-aggressive. Theoretically, you could simply parkour straight through without provoking her."

—I have cracked the game guide; you’ve lost.

He stepped into the cave, took two steps forward, and then quickly retreated and leaped back.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

Three poison arrows burst out, embedding into the rock wall. With the mechanism triggered and destroyed, Li Aozi confidently advanced, delving deeper into the cave, triggering and dismantling most traps cautiously and smoothly. Without any weapons or emotional attachments, he relied entirely on his strategy guide.

Unlike Mingji Humanity, which couldn’t be fully explored due to version issues, the strategies for "Heroes of Falysia" were thoroughly researched and detailed.

Li Aozi also heard some tips from fans and viewers; with increased "Intelligence" attributes, even casual chat logs came back to him.

After circumventing a spouting fire trap, he dismantled the base of the spouter and extracted a peculiar medal from it, depicting a soldier holding a mess of weapons:

[Eureka! You found a producer’s Easter egg from "Battlefield Summons: Modern Warfare 2042"!]

"Just two more Easter eggs to get the reward—if I had known, I would have collected them earlier on Azure Star."

The Easter egg reward was quite unique.

Li Aozi continued forward. Following his flawless guide, he cracked the heavily trapped and puzzle-filled cave within five minutes, efficiently without taking a single wrong step, finally arriving at the end.

At the cave’s end, there were only two skeletons left, rusted weapons scattered around them. They held broken swords that had pierced each other’s chests, this being their cause of death.

Looking up, he saw a chest displayed atop two steps.

A story naturally unfolded: two adventurers passed through countless obstacles and traps to reach this place but fought over the loot, resulting in mutual destruction.

It was noteworthy that each skeleton gripped half of a key. Despite their long-ago demise, they still contested ownership of the chest.

Li Aozi kicked over the skeletons, snatched the key halves from their grasp, combined them, and inserted the complete key into the lock, gently turning it counterclockwise until it clicked and unlocked.

However, Li Aozi did not rush to open it.

He stepped back a few paces, picked up a torch from the ground, lit it, and then approached the chest from behind, opening it gently.

Buzz—

A swarm of maggots instantly gushed out like a sea, pelting the ground like scattered beans. Li Aozi calmly lifted the torch, aiming it at the hideous, pale maggots with grotesque mouthparts. Wherever the firelight touched, the maggots scurried away faster than mice, forming a layer of white ocean on the ground.

Once the maggots were driven away from the cave by the flames, Li Aozi turned around, stepped to the front of the chest, and slowly lifted out a lightweight longsword wrapped in an unknown animal’s hide, along with a broken, dark red potion bottle whose magical contents had mostly evaporated. Only a glimpse of magically infested maggots remained, rendering it unusable. Besides these, only a letter was left.

The envelope bore mostly dark red stains, likely from the potion, making it appear bloodied and scary. Glancing down, a few words could barely be discerned:

’Dear (illegible) Erwei, the Doctor sends his regards—’

’The Saintess will understand me.’

’May Tuvahala guide us.’

The postmark was illegible. Li Aozi flipped the envelope to see several glaring Crystal Tower Civilization words:

’If you see this, please remember!—Don’t get lost in the Starry Abyss, They are scarier than society!’

’(Paper damaged) The Starry Abyss is not for me, you, or our home, Aerlia.’

’Erosion continues, (illegible) I can’t hold on. I saw the Starry Abyss. The truth scares me. I must tell you this fact.’

’Now I found the most terrifying fact; I will die, but I must tell you—(illegible) the secret is: Radiance is Eternity, the Resurrected One is the Speaker.’

Fragmented information from different handwriting. Someone hurriedly penned something.

He already knew the letter’s contents. After dismantling the contaminated envelope, Li Aozi folded and pocketed the letter.

Turning back, he picked up the longsword wrapped in animal skin. The weapon was quite distinctive, not yet usable by him, so he casually strapped it to his belt.

Li Aozi turned his gaze toward the rock wall behind the chest.

And then, he charged headfirst.

Puff—

The spell shattered, Li Aozi broke through the illusion and stepped into a spacious secret room. Ice-blue pooled water formed a pond, and the elements in the air became lively, as if they had gained life.

Suspended above the pond was a strange little tree. Its roots anchored into the void, yet it flourished, growing freely. As Li Aozi slowly approached, the tree gradually changed color, first displaying a wary bright yellow, unleashing sparks and lightning in the air.

Crackle!

[You have received the Elemental Imprisonment effect; martial force is forbidden in this space]

"I mean no harm," Li Aozi said calmly, continuing to advance.

The little tree trembled slightly, seemingly hesitant. It changed from icy blue to an indifferent grayish-white, the ground shifting from frost-covered to metallic crystallization.

[Intelligence check failed—switching to Charm test]

Li Aozi slowed his pace, emitting a friendly aura. The tree leaves swayed gently, turning a curious purple. As Li Aozi continued to approach, it turned fiery red, the leaves burning with enthusiasm and affection.

[Successful test]

[Accept modification? Yes/No?]

It extended a slender root towards Li Aozi in goodwill. Li Aozi reached out as well, gently catching its tendril.

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