Chapter 107: The Screaming Knell

“Dungeon cleared. Calculating results, please wait patiently…”

Current scenario: Ratfolk World
Game mode: Faction War
Difficulty: 3 stars (Hard)
Participants: 6 players
Main quests: 1. Defeat the Rat Troll (Completed) 2. Escape District 18 (Completed) 3. Rescue the Rat Extermination Squad members (Completed) 4. Stop the Summoning Ritual (Completed)
Game points: 10,000
Overall rating: S rank!

“The basic rewards for clearing the dungeon have been distributed. Since the player achieved an S-rank rating, there is an additional chance to draw an extra reward.”

At midnight, back in the real world, Su Cheng felt wide awake. The volume of information from the events encountered in the dungeon was overwhelming; he needed time to process it all.

Apart from the unexpected appearance of the Killing Angel and the sealed artifacts, what shocked him most was that the middle-aged roommate was actually a manager at the game company, displaying a power that could even slay a god.

The tragedy was that, under Uncle Anjing’s coercion and persuasion, Su Cheng reluctantly agreed to a private arrangement that he wouldn’t reveal to outsiders.

However, Uncle Anjing did not exploit this favor by making Su Cheng work for free, risking his life to collect the sealed artifacts. Instead, within the bounds of the game’s rules, he partially opened up some game privileges for Su Cheng, effectively giving him a small backdoor.

What exact privileges Su Cheng gained remains undisclosed for now.

A flash of blue light flickered before his eyes, and a skill card appeared in his hand. This was a mission reward for successfully preventing the Chaos Knight’s arrival in the dungeon world.

[Rock-Paper-Scissors]

[Type: Spirit Technique]
[Cost: 100 units of spiritual energy]
[Usage Requirement: D-level Spirit Technique specialization]
[Skill Description: Created by J. Fuli during his training on Greed Island, inspired by Bijiji’s rock-paper-scissors explanation. “Rock” corresponds to a reinforced spirit fist, “Scissors” to a transformational spirit blade, and “Paper” to a released spirit cannon.]
[Note: This skill has been modified to be cast using spiritual energy, with power scaling based on the user’s spirit technique specialization level and spiritual energy strength.]

Su Cheng’s luck was good; he got a practical spirit technique skill as a random reward. Setting aside its power for now, its advantage was low spiritual energy consumption and the ability to be used repeatedly. In other words, Su Cheng could use this skill to grind his spirit technique proficiency within the dungeon.

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According to the manga’s setting, the power of Rock-Paper-Scissors shouldn’t be weak, and its flexibility and practicality are extremely high.

By the way, unlike the typical horror games or many Korean online games made by developers looking to cash in quickly, even the same skill wielded by two players with identical character attributes can have vastly different effects and power.

This is because each player’s understanding and insight into the skill differ; the deeper the comprehension, the more astonishing the skill’s impact.

For example, a prodigious professional player might elevate a seemingly ordinary skill to profound mastery, unleashing effects akin to a finishing move.

But grasping the ultimate essence of a skill is a hundred times harder than simply grinding proficiency, requiring natural talent and acute perception.

“My current spiritual energy is around 500 units. That means, without replenishment, I can use Rock-Paper-Scissors five times.”

Although the game’s shop doesn’t sell spiritual energy potions, Su Cheng had Ling Gui Xiaobai, his personal spiritual energy power bank, ensuring his reserves were plentiful.

After clearing the [Ratfolk World] dungeon, Su Cheng’s character level upgraded to Bronze Tier 2.

According to Uncle Anjing, Horror Game has been officially in public beta for only one year. Most players remain at the Bronze level, with only a few talented professionals having cleared the Promotion Battle dungeons and advanced to Silver rank.

Su Cheng’s level placed him in the upper-middle tier among players, still some distance from the top echelons.

However, having joined the game just over a month ago, his leveling speed was quite fast.

At this pace, by the end of the year, he should qualify to participate in the Promotion Battle.

At that moment, three cards with skull designs on their backs appeared before Su Cheng’s eyes.

Two seconds later, his finger tapped the middle skull card, and a dazzling purple light suddenly burst forth from his fingertip.

Seeing the purple glow, Su Cheng’s pupils contracted sharply, his heart skipping a beat.

“Legacy item!”

This was the second time he drew a legacy item; the first was the Avenger’s Elixir in the [Biohazard City] dungeon. He hoped this time to get equipment or a weapon.

The purple light gradually faded, revealing a palm-sized black death bell emanating an aura of death.

What was horrifying was that inside the black death bell was a blood-soaked, wet tongue.

[Screaming Death Bell]
[Type: Bell]
[Quality: Legacy]
[Attribute: Dark]
[Skill 1: Death Notice – When the holder faces mortal danger, the bell emits a death notice.]
[Skill 2: Return of the Dead – Consumes spiritual energy to summon a dead soul from hell. Note: Summoning requires an item or remains used by the deceased in life; only one soul can be summoned at a time, and the soul’s presence continuously drains the caster’s spiritual energy.]
[Skill 3: Curse – Casts a random curse on a specific target; the effect is entirely unpredictable.]
[Item Description: The death bell of the Necromancer’s Abbey in the City of Mysteries. Though it tends to chatter nonsense when idle, it generally fulfills its duty.]

Aside from its eerie and terrifying appearance, reminiscent of a horror movie, the Screaming Death Bell’s skills were quite formidable.

“The first two skills are acceptable, but what’s with the third? A random curse on the target?” Su Cheng made a wry face. If he used the bell’s curse skill during a boss fight in the dungeon and ended up with curses like ‘vegetables always cost more,’ ‘instant noodles only come with seasoning packets,’ or ‘never have a girlfriend for life,’ wouldn’t that just kill the boss with laughter?

Suddenly, a crow-like voice sounded.

“Are you my ‘curse him to death’? You seem pretty weak, not much stronger than a paramecium.”

The bell’s taunting talent seemed maxed out; the moment it spoke, it was infuriating.

Su Cheng was startled. The scene was too bizarre—a death bell with a tongue actually talking.

After a moment of silence, he cautiously asked, “What exactly are you?”

“Heh, good question. I’m a sacred relic of the Necromancer’s Abbey in the City of Mysteries, a terrifying entity that reaped countless lives during the Apocalypse Holy War. Foolish humans, kneel and worship me at once.”

“City of Mysteries… what kind of existence is that?”

Ignoring the bell’s boasting, Su Cheng recalled the nightmare clown he’d encountered in the [Dark Night Tales] dungeon also came from the City of Mysteries. He wanted to know what kind of place it truly was.

“Since you asked sincerely, I’ll be merciful and tell you. The City of Mysteries is a haven for the dead, a camp for traitors, a hell for sinners.”

“So it’s like the Underworld, Crime City, or a gathering place for double agents,” Su Cheng summarized based on the bell’s description.

“By the way, if I’m not mistaken, you’re kind of effeminate, probably a gay dude, huh?”

Snap.

Su Cheng had just picked up a glass to pour water when he heard the bell’s trash talk. His expression darkened, and his finger punched five transparent holes in the glass.