Dark Sand: My Players Are All Actors
Chapter 54 - 50: Lackluster Skill but Admirable Courage

Chapter 54: Chapter 50: Lackluster Skill but Admirable Courage

The horse stumbled, and the Eastern Barbarian General, clad in heavy armor, fell solidly to the ground, hindered in his movements.

The steed seemed to try hard to stand, but having been seriously wounded by spears and arrows, it ultimately failed.

The Eastern Barbarian General had finally been brought down from his horse!

The players couldn’t help but feel invigorated, rushing forward quickly to surround him.

With the Eastern Barbarian General on his horse, his strength and mobility had completely overwhelmed the players, causing them such great trouble. But now, with his horse gone, it was the players’ turn to begin!

Looking at Meng Yuan, who rose from the ground with some regret as he patted the dust off himself, he silently left the battle.

Players cast admiring glances his way.

Warrior!

Rest assured, the rest is up to us!

In truth, Meng Yuan could have continued fighting, but pretending to be just an ordinary player, that strike had already been deadly enough. So he had to withdraw to avoid giving himself away.

Fortunately, up until now, everything had proceeded smoothly according to plan.

All the players present were protected by the power of the Resurrectionists. Once deemed dead, the special power of the Resurrectionists would be triggered, not only negating all damage but also instantly teleporting the player to a parallel space, rendering the enemy’s subsequent attacks ineffective.

Of course, all these consumed the Resurrectionist’s power.

That was why Meng Yuan had limited each player to only one chance at resurrection.

If the players were too weak and got wiped out by the Eastern Barbarian rogues like slicing through vegetables, then Meng Yuan’s Resurrectionist power definitely wouldn’t be sufficient.

Fortunately, the players were living up to his expectations.

As the legitimate Resurrectionist, Meng Yuan was even safer. As long as there was Resurrectionist power, he could recover himself indefinitely.

If Meng Yuan only had one life, he would have gone into hiding, never daring to risk his own life in battle.

"The Lucky Strike talent really is useful."

Players only had their identity-given exclusive talents, but Meng Yuan was different. Not only did he have the exclusive talents of four classes, but he also carried three additional Resurrectionist talents: "Lucky Strike," "Swordsmanship Mastery," and "Hit the Weak Spot."

Being able to dodge the Eastern Barbarian General’s attacks and wound the horse’s leg, there was definitely a tiny bit of credit due to the effects of his talent skills.

Finally, the fierce battle began to approach its climax.

The Eastern Barbarian General was still swinging his giant cross spear in a stubborn resistance, but without his horse, his heavy armor appeared to be a burden. The players started a righteous rotation battle, retreating to shoot arrows if injured, and doing their best to be effective.

Meanwhile, the fight between Zhao Haiping and the Eastern Barbarian Shadow Servant also grew more intense.

Zhao Haiping had many wounds on his body from the Barbarian’s sabre, but rather than falling, he seemed to be further invigorated by the talent of "Fervor Battle."

He had already mostly memorized the Shadow Servant’s techniques, and throwing hidden weapons and such tactics were no longer effective.

Zhao Haiping was just waiting for the perfect opportunity.

Seeing the General caught in a difficult fight, the two remaining Eastern Barbarian Shadow Servants grew impatient.

The one fighting Zhao Haiping was particularly eager, considering another Servant was entangled with three others, while the General was being attacked by nearly twenty players.

And looking at his own fight, being evenly matched with just a foot soldier was somewhat hard to swallow.

With a "pfft," Zhao Haiping’s spear pierced the Shadow Servant’s lower abdomen.

Zhao Haiping was slightly startled; the Shadow Servant had been very agile before, and he didn’t expect to succeed so easily.

But the next second, the Shadow Servant wildly griped his sabre with both hands, avoiding the shield and slashing towards Zhao Haiping from left to right!

Zhao Haiping realized instantaneously, he was trying to perish together with him!

No, not perish together—these Eastern Barbarian rogues were incredibly tough, so a spear wound wouldn’t kill them, but if this slash landed, it could instantly kill Zhao Haiping.

The sabre slashed in an instant!

Zhao Haiping’s chest was opened with a deep, ferocious gash, and blood spurted wildly.

But just when the Shadow Servant thought he had succeeded, he suddenly felt a chill at his throat.

Without anyone noticing, Zhao Haiping’s shield had been discarded, and suddenly there was a long knife in his hand.

At the same moment the Servant’s blade reached Zhao Haiping’s chest, Zhao Haiping’s knife also slashed across his throat!

The Shadow Servant’s eyes flickered with anger, his lips quivering as he said unclearly in the ancient Barbarian language, "Not fair..."

Why can you suddenly conjure weapons out of thin air!

But it was all too late; he collapsed face up and died.

Zhao Haiping chuckled, thinking that the game’s monster AI was quite interesting, knowing to complain even in death.

Fair? Who told you this was a fair game?

If you have so much higher attributes than players, can’t players use some cunning tricks?

His vision was suffused with red light, and he exited the game.

An exchange at the very limit, worth it!

...

Minutes later, with a roar from the Eastern Barbarian General, the battle finally came to an end.

The assassin players launched their "One Man’s Fury" effect in succession, inflicting severe damage on the Eastern Barbarian General.

Several bloodied foot soldier players holding long spears stabbed from different directions into the Eastern Barbarian General’s heavy armor, pinning him firmly to the ground.

Only when the Eastern Barbarian General stopped moving entirely did these players breathe a sigh of relief.

After letting go of the long spears, all the players slumped to the ground, feeling as if they didn’t have any strength left in their bodies.

This game is just too exhausting!

You don’t feel it during the battle, but now that it’s over, everyone seems drained, barely able to stand steady.

However, surveying the battlefield, the players also felt an unparalleled sense of accomplishment.

This MR game mode is so thrilling! Far more exciting than any trial instance!

That Eastern Barbarian General truly lived up to being an outdoor boss, pummeled by so many players for such a long time before we finally took him down.

It’s just a pity that the game doesn’t seem to have equipment drops, missing out on that feeling of colorful gear tumbling from the sky is somewhat disappointing.

But no matter what, the process of this battle has become far more important than any reward.

Some soldier class players stepped forward, hoping to swipe the General’s cruciform spear.

Others wanted to strip off the General’s heavy armor.

Indeed, it looked mighty and imposing, especially that large cruciform spear, which was just so cool when it slashed through players.

As things looked like they were about to get out of hand, Du Gang hurriedly called out, "The event is over! All players, please gather and you can remove your MR equipment now!"

Only then did the players reluctantly begin to find staff members to undo their straps and take off their gaming helmets.

Zhao Haiping and other players who had already died and entered spectator mode were also finally permitted to take off their helmets.

The first thing Zhao Haiping did upon recovering his true vision was to look over the area where the battle had taken place.

However, the bodies of those Eastern Barbarian raiders had already disappeared, and even the bloodstains on the ground had been completely cleaned up.

Looking down at his own body, the armor of the soldier class was also gone, replaced with the clothes he had arrived in.

Apart from feeling genuinely exhausted and achy muscles, the events that transpired seemed like a dream, leaving behind no trace whatsoever.

The players couldn’t help but marvel.

"Wow, amazing! Is this truly 100% real MR gaming?"

"I really want to know what the scene looked like in reality while we were fighting!"

"Is there a video? I want to see!"

They all turned to the staff nearby, who responded with polite yet denying smiles.

Du Gang, having witnessed the whole process, was well aware of everything.

The scene in reality?

Actually, the real-world scene was just like the game scene you all saw!

Just that those bodies all magically disappeared before you took your helmets off...

Witnessing all this, Du Gang could hardly believe his own eyes. He had to admit that everything Beichen, the game operator, said was true; real demons actually did appear, and the players, thinking they were just playing a game, were actually fighting true demons—and the key thing was, they really won...

Du Gang felt it would take a long time for himself and his colleagues to truly come to terms with this.

But no matter what, the situation was resolved neatly, with no casualties and the danger minimized to the lowest level.

Meng Yuan was also relieved because the event had concluded smoothly without blowing his cover.

Although this kind of offline event was indeed exciting, he would try to avoid them as much as possible in the future. Compared to VR mode, it was definitely easier to give the game away.

He resolved to take down a historical slice as soon as possible and move the front line of the fight against demons from the real world into the historical slice.

The players were still excited, making plans to eat together and exchange contact information.

Although they were bolstered by the power of the resequencers during the battle, the strength and speed far beyond their physical abilities in reality came mostly from the powers granted by the resequencers. But after such intense combat, their actual physical strength was also depleted, and they were very tired.

Several soldier class players looked towards Zhao Haiping, "Old Zhao, you’re too fierce! You’re a true role model for us!"

"Yeah, taking on a Shadow Servant in single combat is badass!"

Chuge then looked toward Meng Yuan, "I think this big guy is awesome too! While his combat skills aren’t particularly special, his courage is really impressive!"

Everyone else nodded in agreement, "Right, this brother reminds me of when I first started playing action games. He may not have any special combat moves, but it’s this spirit of facing formidable enemies and never giving up that is the most precious quality for players like us, isn’t it?"

The group then engaged in a mutual admiration session.

Meng Yuan’s feelings at this moment were complicated, unsure whether to feel happy or sad.

His original goal was to disguise himself as an ordinary player. This place was the largest junction between the historical slice and reality, where the power of demons was strongest, and he personally oversaw it, partly to see how the players would perform and partly to prevent any accidents.

It was imperative to blend into the group of players and not let anyone discover his special identity.

So far, it seemed he achieved his goal perfectly, no one noticed anything unusual about him, and the players accepted him as naturally as they would any ordinary player.

But the problem was...

Meng Yuan fought with the talents of four professions and three resequencer abilities, and was a bit concerned that he might stand out too much in the player community due to his exceptional performance. Now, it seemed he worried unnecessarily.

To be rated as "inexperienced but courageous" was something he achieved.

A perfect blend into the player community, right?

Born with a talent to "blend in with ordinary people," huh?

Meng Yuan, an official resequencer, felt his fragile heart was somewhat wounded.

But no matter what, the fight was over.

And the other demons had also been successfully eliminated.

These demons didn’t just vanish into thin air; once they were defeated, they were absorbed by the Participating Merchants and transformed into the power of the resequencers.

With this, a counteroffensive on that historical slice became a possibility.