Why the bug I wrote became a core gameplay mechanic?!
Chapter 480 - 463: Slaughter of God

Chapter 480: Chapter 463: Slaughter of God

Soon, Zhuge Jun indeed found proof of the existence of the Moon School.

Actually, the production team hadn’t intentionally hidden it; related materials were available in several places, such as the grand library where Zhuge Jun had previously spent time seriously mapping, as well as the academy of the Starry Sky School.

The Moon School originally stemmed from these schools, so in similar locations, one could also see traces of the Moon School’s research.

After some searching, Zhuge Jun indeed found an "invitation from the Moon School" in a dark room on the bottom floor of the grand library.

This invitation was peculiar, as it appeared to be just a letter sealed with wax, but when one took this letter to a special area on the outskirts of Charlton City, one could lie down and enter a dream to arrive in a special space where the Moon School resided.

From the previously collected materials, it was evident that the Ancient God Mel worshipped by the Moon School, wielded authority over the mind, and thus could create illusionary realms and draw vast numbers of humans into them.

And the flesh constructs, made by the Eternal School that produced the incomplete Divine Heart of the Ancient Gods, actually stemmed from the divine power of Mel.

The Moon School resided in a special fantasy space, filled not only with members of the Moon School but also with a variety of terrifying monsters under Mel’s control.

These monsters resembled those from psychological horror games, often full of metaphor and symbolism, like those with human-like appearances but swollen and horrific heads, walking in eerie postures, or giants with huge conical iron headwear, exuding brute force.

After defeating or avoiding these monsters, Zhuge Jun rang three different bells located in this illusionary realm, causing the fog that shrouded the illusionary realm to gradually dissipate under the pealing of the bells.

The boss fight with the Ancient God took place amidst a scene of extreme beauty.

The once dark and terrifying setting underwent a sudden transformation within the core area, into lush green grass, blossoming flowers, and gently swirling windmills against a backdrop of curling smoke.

The scene alone could easily be described as pastoral bliss.

Many members of the Moon School gathered here, their faces brimming with a joyful yet eerie smile, either singing and dancing or contentedly lying on rocking chairs, watching the large and bright moon in the sky.

Zhuge Jun swung his butcher’s knife, cleanly slaughtering these members of the Moon School.

Although these dancing members of the Moon School retaliated with anger when attacked, their counterattack was pitifully weak, their movements stiff and sluggish, and they lacked powerful weapons.

The only slightly threatening move they possessed was an attempt to control Zhuge Jun’s thoughts through screaming and howling, but this move had a long wind-up, was very exaggerated, and could easily be interrupted by a mere touch, therefore, it couldn’t pose much of a threat.

Of course, if all the monsters in the room were to use this move simultaneously, Zhuge Jun would have indeed dropped dead on the spot.

Yet these Moon School members were clearly absorbed in their own world; they had no explicit mechanism linking their hostility, remaining indifferent even if a fellow member was being slaughtered beside them.

Thus, Zhuge Jun killed off all the members of the Moon School present there.

The bright moon overhead turned blood-red as more and more members of the Moon School died, and finally, the large moon began to lower and approach Zhuge Jun.

Ultimately, the Ancient God Mel appeared.

It was an extremely challenging fight. Though Zhuge Jun was battle-hardened, Mel had special moves that could control the mind of the game character, and being controlled meant instant death and having to start over.

However, Zhuge Jun noted something: there were no gas lamps in this illusionary realm.

After a character died in this scene, they were reborn at the entrance of the illusionary realm, and all the previously slain members of the Moon School were also resurrected.

But this did not affect the challenge of the boss fight, as the moon was already in the state of a blood moon.

Originally, killing these members of the Moon School was only meant to trigger the boss fight, but even without killing these members, one could directly engage the Ancient God Mel once the boss fight was unlocked.

Though these Moon School members would go mad during the fight, they would only rave in place and wouldn’t actually affect the battling players.

After more than an hour of intense battle, seeing the words "Slaughter of God" appear on the screen, Zhuge Jun finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Huff, finally done!

"Don’t say, it was quite difficult!"

Actually, Zhuge Jun had grasped quite a bit of the game mechanics by now, especially with substantial progress in understanding GP. Even so, it took him over an hour to defeat this boss, which shows the boss was indeed not easy.

It was the standard late-game boss difficulty of "Blood of Lies".

But this time, Zhuge Jun didn’t receive an incomplete Divine Heart, but a complete one, and through the item description, it was clear that this was the heart of Ancient God Mel, also representing the "authority over the mind" that the Ancient God originally wielded.

"So that’s how it is, everything makes sense now!

"I should get the good ending now if I go fight the final boss!"

Originally, Zhuge Jun had some speculations but hadn’t been able to confirm them. Now, having breached this hidden map and collecting information here, many of the previous puzzles also found their answers.

Key to solving these puzzles was the change in the "Rebirth" mechanic.

In the outside world, players are reborn at gas lamps.

But in the illusionary realm, players are reborn directly at the entrance.

These two different scenarios imply that the reasons for the player’s rebirth are distinct.

Resurrected in the illusionary realm, it was undoubtedly the Divine Power of Mel. But why would Mel resurrect a Hunter who has come to slay them? At first glance, this seems nonsensical, but with a careful reading of the documentation from the Moon School, one could roughly guess.

The Moon School had indeed established some sort of connection with the Ancient God Mel, and they did indeed have the ability to usurp the authority of the Moon God.

Of course, in the eyes of the Moon School’s people, this was not usurpation. They simply wished to form a deeper and closer connection with the Moon God out of worship and faith. Thus, they utilized the thoughts of everyone to create such an illusionary realm and, through it, established a very tight bond with the Moon God.

As for the reason why the Moon God Mel voluntarily stayed within this illusionary realm, the game text did not specify. However, Zhuge Jun conjectured that it was probably due to being pursued by another Ancient God, Ilonak.

This could be inferred from the original ending scenario, which indicated that these three Ancient Gods seemed to be in a type of cyclical and restraining relationship.

When the player placed the incomplete Divine Heart upon the altar, Ilonak would appear in haste, which suggested that Mel’s abilities were a great supplement to Ilonak.

Within the territory of Charlton City, Ilonak was clearly the dominant force.

To evade Ilonak’s pursuit, Mel hid in the illusionary realm.

Yet within the realm, if they allowed these people from the Moon School to get infinitely close, there was the possibility that they could seize Mel’s authority. Hence, the Moon God created an endless cycle within this realm and restarted it constantly to prevent their Divine Power from being continuously weakened.

On the other hand, this infinite cycling also allowed players limitless attempts. Ultimately, Mel was slain by a player, and the real Divine Heart was taken.

Full of confidence, Zhuge Jun arrived at the grand cathedral, believing he was surely capable of achieving the best ending.

After all, there were only three Ancient Gods in this game, and he was clearly capable of killing them all!

Those before him only reached the bad ending because they killed only Ilonak, and then Sasla, who had the Spiritual Vision authority, became invincible.

Zhuge Jun first killed Mel, then Ilonak, and finally Sasla, effectively killing all three Ancient Gods in the game.

With all three authorities in hand, wasn’t this direct ascension to godhood?

Thus, Zhuge Jun stepped into the great cathedral, brimming with confidence, to start the final two boss battles.

The situation was indeed as he had deduced. After placing the incomplete Divine Heart, Ilonak descended; and after slaying Ilonak, Sasla appeared.

Since he had the authority of the mind, Zhuge Jun could sense Sasla’s form, granting him the strength to battle.

These two boss fights were indeed very difficult—it could even be said that the moves of these two Ancient Gods were somewhat crappy. Their strength surpassed that of Mel by a notch.

Ilonak possessed Swiftness, formidable destructive power, and terrifying vitality. When players were struck and their blood surged, Ilonak could also recover health.

As for Sasla, they had some unreasonable moves, like a technique that would go berserk after being hit twice, or a mad dog-like 360-degree spiral Area of Effect.

The player could no longer rely on GP; they had to make proper use of various techniques learned earlier to defeat these two Ancient Gods.

Finally, after a fierce battle, Zhuge Jun defeated Sasla and slaughtered the last of the Ancient Gods in the game.

"It’s done! Finally done!

"Could I be the first person to clear the true ending of ’Blood of Lies’?"

Zhuge Jun was a little excited and had pre-recorded the screen, intending to commemorate this special moment.

Of course, he also considered uploading this true ending to the internet—it might just go viral.

Zhuge Jun waited in satisfaction.

After defeating all the Ancient Gods, interacting with the remains of the Ancient Gods allowed one to obtain the "Flesh of the Ancient Gods" and "Eye of the Ancient Gods."

At this point, Zhuge Jun had the option to consume all three key items: the Flesh of the Ancient Gods, the Eye of the Ancient Gods, and the Blood of the Ancient Gods.

"Excellent, I declare from now, I Am God!"

Zhuge Jun proclaimed proudly, and this act drew many bystanders from the vicinity of the experience store to watch.

After all, Zhuge Jun’s progress in "Blood of Lies" was quite ahead within the entire experience store, and everyone wanted to see what the ending CG would be like.

However, in the next second, the game character let out a pained wail. His body began to swell gradually and then...

With a "bang," it burst apart.

The body exploded into countless specks of blood; the three unseen forces seemed to devour and dissolve each other. The flesh that swelled then evaporated as if boiling, ultimately turning into ashes in the sky.

Nothing was left behind.

The grand cathedral, which had seen fierce battles, became empty.

The sunlight filtered through the colored glass windows of the cathedral as Charlton City welcomed the sunrise again. Yet, there were no longer any traces of a God Slayer in the world.

At this moment, an achievement popped up on the bottom right of Zhuge Jun’s screen: "Slaughter of God"!

Zhuge Jun was confused: "Eh? Something’s not right!"