The Fourth Disaster: People become gods through high martial arts and gaming

Chapter 243 Are the disciples of the Obsidian Martial Arts School usually this brave?

The Dead Mountain Range, in a valley of dense forest turning golden in autumn.

Six men and women dressed in second-tier armor, with black skull markings on the armor, surrounded a woman with blonde hair and two long silver-gray horns on her forehead.

"Precia, you've crossed the line! Even if you're from Domain City, you'll stay here today until your teacher comes to redeem you!"

The leader, a mountain tribesman nearly six meters tall wearing a silver-white metal skull helmet, blocked the only road leading out of the valley. He carried a giant hammer the size of himself and looked down at the blonde, horned woman with an air of authority, as if he were an adult looking at a child.

"I've overstepped my bounds?" The blonde, horned woman, also clad in second-tier armor, said with a hint of anger in her beautiful eyes, "It's you Smiling Skeletons who've gone too far! Conducting trade between the two domains is one thing, but now you're even bringing those rats between the two domains. Do you really think we can't see that?"

If she hadn't been injured by a high-ranking member of the Smiling Skull while conducting reconnaissance, neither the Mountain Clan man nor the entire Smiling Skull squad could have stopped her.

"We Smiling Skeletons are not subordinates of your Domain City. We're just engaging in fair trade. They can afford the money. What we do in the Mountains of the Dead is none of your Domain City's business." The Mountain Clan man said dismissively. "Come back with me now, and you'll suffer less. If you resist any longer, don't blame us for being ruthless."

"You don't know your own strength?" The blonde, horned woman laughed immediately. "Then you, my defeated opponent, are welcome to give it a try."

“I did lose to you in the last Four Regions Youth Tournament, but that was a year ago. Even if you weren’t injured now, you might not be my match!” The mountain tribesman’s voice was low and deep. He didn’t take the initiative to attack because of Precia’s provocation, but quietly waited for his companions to form an encirclement. “As for your cheap provocation, it’s outdated. You’re trying to provoke me and find an opening. With the only hand you can still use, it’s probably not enough.”

He knew Precia all too well; if she could take action, she wouldn't say a word.

The fact that he can say so much now is simply a way of finding an opening to escape.

That's why I said you were a defeated opponent!

As Precia spoke, a sly smile appeared on her face. Instantly, she transformed into four afterimages, each breaking out in a different direction, making it impossible to tell which afterimage was the real one.

"Illusion Step! You actually mastered that person's ultimate technique?"

The mountain tribesman's face darkened as he watched the four figures break away towards their teammates.

Illusion Step!
This is a super-level footwork technique that made a name for itself in the previous Four Regions Youth Competition. Once the first level of Illusion Step is perfected, it can create two almost realistic afterimages. Once the second level is perfected, it can create four almost realistic afterimages.

The runner-up of the previous Four Domains Youth Competition won the runner-up title by perfecting the third level of the Illusion Step, which split into eight, making him the second person under the age of thirty in the Four Domains.

Unexpectedly, Precia was able to learn it, and even master it.

Precia was originally a high-level martial artist in the Limit Bone Forging Realm, and her true strength was comparable to that of the deputy city lords of major cities. Even though she was seriously injured, she was still close to the level of a top-level Bone Forging Realm expert. Her team members were only at the high-level Bone Forging Realm, and they couldn't hold their own against her in a one-on-one fight.

In a mere instant, Precia passed through the encirclement of the Smiling Skull members, leaving the five members of the Smiling Skull with no time to react and only able to watch helplessly as Precia passed through.

"Damn it! Chase her! She can't go far; she can't maintain that kind of movement for long!" the mountain tribe man roared.

The other five members of the Smiling Skull also came to their senses and followed the Mountain Clan man, using advanced footwork to chase after Precia in the direction she had fled.

On a high slope a kilometer away, Fang Zhen and the others also clearly saw this scene.

"As expected, there are members of the Smiling Skull that the curator mentioned. It seems that this is very likely the trigger point for the incident." Fang Zhen looked at Precia fleeing and the Smiling Skull members chasing after her and sighed, "We searched for more than a day and still couldn't find them. You, the judge, have only been here for half a day and you were able to find them. It's really infuriating to compare people."

“Now that the event has been triggered, let’s get started,” Chen Ya urged. “If we drag this out, the other teams might find out too, and then there won’t be enough NPCs to go around.”

"Something's wrong! It looks like someone is approaching an NPC over there!" Li Ranxing suddenly pointed to the figures moving in the dense forest in the distance.

“Those people seem to be Team Leader Ye.” Dark Judgment looked through his built-in binoculars and nodded. “They seem to have noticed what’s going on here as well.”

"Now that we've been discovered, let's hurry over there. We can't let them steal the NPC we found after so many days!" Fang Zhen looked at Yi Ye Fuyun and the others approaching Precia and rushed towards Precia's direction anxiously.

In the past two days, because Chen Ya explained the role of quantum supercomputers, many experts have used quantum supercomputers to conduct simulations and deductions, which has greatly reduced the difficulty of learning the secret methods of star energy constructs and led to an increasing number of people entering the new map.

The number of people who have entered the Mountain of the Dead has now reached fourteen, making the competition extremely fierce.

And now, seeing the smiling skull only made him more envious.

The NPCs in the wild are lucky if they can even wear B6-level armor, but the NPCs in the new map are all wearing Tier 2 armor. Their wealth is beyond imagination. If other teams steal it, they'll definitely be devastated.

In a short time, Fang Zhen and his group of four quickly approached Precia and the others, while Yi Ye Fuyun and the others chased after Precia from the other side.

"Lord Haowan, the life detector shows that we seem to be being chased by someone." A half-beastman with a smiling skeleton glanced at the red dot on the life detector in his hand and reported to the mountain tribe man.

"Could it be that other teams discovered it as well?" The mountain tribesman frowned slightly upon hearing this.

Precia infiltrated one of their temporary bases and discovered evidence of cooperation between the Smiling Skull and another faction. Now, the entire Smiling Skull team is searching for Precia; capturing her would be a great achievement.

If other teams discover this, the credit will likely be split equally.

“It shouldn’t be.” The half-orc man shook his head. “I don’t think the energy level of the life reaction is below the Bone Forging Realm, and I didn’t get any response when I sent a message through the internal communicator.”

"Not even at the Bone Forging Realm? And they're not one of ours. Is it because the equipment hasn't been used for too long and its sensitivity is malfunctioning?" The big-armed man chasing after Precia was full of questions.

The Mountain of the Dead is a lair for monsters, and even the city lords of major cities dare not set foot there casually. Because the Smiling Skeletons are familiar with the situation of the Mountain of the Dead, their normal operations are carried out by a small team composed of experts at or above the mid-level of the Bone Forging Realm.

It's hard to imagine that there are ants below the Bone Forging Realm who can move around in the Dead Mountain Range, let alone dare to chase after them. They simply don't know the meaning of death.

They smiled, believing the Skeletons to be the heavens of the Mountain of the Dead. Any force that entered without their permission would face annihilation. Even those from the Domain City would try to avoid them. The fact that they dared to charge forward strongly suggested a problem with the life detector. "That shouldn't be the case. This detector hasn't been used for only a few years," the half-orc man said, shaking the life detector in his hand. He also suspected it might be broken, but the life detector had been very accurate in tracking Precia before, so it didn't seem like it was faulty.

"Regardless of whether the detector is broken or not, let's catch up with Precia first. Even if there are any forces following us, we can take them out together." Hao Wan glanced at the red dots on the life detector and found that there were indeed three more red dots behind him. In fact, not only were there three more red dots behind him, but there were also four red dots approaching from the front. This situation was really strange.

But as strange as it may be, Precia's contribution absolutely cannot be overlooked.

"Yes!"

None of the other five members of the Smiling Skull raised any objections, and they worked even harder to pursue Precia.

Meanwhile, Precia, who had been relentlessly pursued, quickly noticed someone approaching after a few quick movements, causing her to furrow her brow.

"Are other teams arriving so quickly?" Precia looked at the figures approaching from the dense forest not far away, and a sense of despair arose in her heart.

If it were just one of Hao Wan's small teams, she could barely handle it. But if it were two teams from Smiling Skull, she would have almost no chance of survival if she wasn't at her peak. After all, Smiling Skull's power was far beyond what the major cities in the region could match.

It can be said that any small team is at least composed of experts at the Bone Forging Realm, otherwise they would not be qualified to operate in the Dead Mountain Range. The team leader is usually a top-level Bone Forging Realm expert.

Two top-tier Bone Forging Realm experts, placed in a city, would be a force that would terrify all races. Only a deputy city lord-level expert could suppress them, but even that suppression would be limited. After all, top-tier Bone Forging Realm experts only lacked extraordinary martial arts skills; in other aspects, they were no less capable than deputy city lords.

Extraordinary martial arts techniques are not techniques that can be used casually. They consume a great deal of energy, and if they fail to achieve any results, it is tantamount to courting death.

However, just as Precia was about to make one last desperate attempt, several figures appeared in her field of vision, almost making her think she was hallucinating.

"How can this be?"

Precia looked at the four human men and women dressed in silver-gray clothing. Through their qi and blood, she could clearly sense that none of them were martial artists in the Bone Forging Realm. The strongest of them was only a high-level martial artist at the limit.

It's hard to believe that four martial artists at the Refining Organs Realm could appear in the Mountain of the Dead.

It should be noted that the city had sent out a total of six people for this mission, and she is the only one still alive. Apart from Fred, who died before the mission even started, two of the remaining four were killed by the lord monsters that inhabited the Dead Mountain Range shortly after entering.

Although those two were not high-level martial artists of the Limitless Bone Forging Realm, they had still reached the high-level Bone Forging Realm. In major cities, they would be high-ranking figures of their clans, but in the Mountain of the Dead, they died like lowly soldiers.

It's practically impossible for a martial artist at the Refining Organs Realm to survive in the Mountain of the Dead, let alone in such a deep place.

Before Precia could react, the four figures passed by her and rushed straight towards Hao Wan and the others.

"Are they crazy?"

Precia stared wide-eyed at Fang Zhen and his group of four who rushed over without hesitation.

The Smiling Skull in the Mountain of the Dead is someone that all major powers, except for the Domain City, avoid like the plague. But judging from the appearance of Fang Zhen and his group, they are clearly planning to take action against the Smiling Skull...

At this moment, not only was Precia surprised, but even the six members of the Powerful Arms were somewhat bewildered.

If Fang Zhen and his group had just happened to encounter the Smiling Skull, that would be one thing, but it was clear that Fang Zhen and his group had come specifically for them from the beginning, which puzzled them greatly.

Even the people of the Domain City wouldn't dare to attack the Smiling Skeletons in the Mountain of the Dead. These four mere martial artists, ants they wouldn't normally even glance at, dared to bare their fangs at them. This was the first time they had encountered such a thing since they had lived in the Mountain of the Dead.

"Who are you? Don't you know we are the Smiling Skull?" Hao Wan asked, his face grim, as he looked at Fang Zhen and his group of four blocking his way.

Normally, if he encountered a mere martial artist, he would kill them without hesitation.

But Fang Zhen and his three companions were truly strange. They looked at the smiling skeleton as if it were some kind of delicacy, their eyes showing no attempt to hide their true feelings.

This made him genuinely curious: who exactly were Fang Zhen and his three companions? They weren't even afraid of the Smiling Skulls, and even treated them as prey.

"Who is it?" Fang Zhen asked matter-of-factly upon hearing Hao Wan speak in the human language, "City of Light Chaser! A prospective core disciple of the Obsidian Martial Arts Academy!"

"The City of Light? Disciples of the Obsidian Martial Arts Academy?" Hao Wan was even more bewildered upon hearing this.

He had heard of the City of Light, since it wasn't far from the Mountain of the Dead, only a few hundred kilometers away. But what the hell was the Obsidian Martial Arts Academy?

Does the City of Light possess this power?

Even if the City of Light truly possesses such a force, the entire City of Light is nothing to the Smiling Skull, so what can a single force within the City of Light possibly do?
Just as Hao Wan was stunned for a moment, Yi Ye Fu Yun, Ye Qing Lu, and Xiao Yuan Ye Kuang Feng also appeared in front of the Smiling Skull group.

"Old Zhen! Don't you dare snatch them! We've already set our sights on these people and followed them all the way here!" Yi Ye Fu Yun shouted at Fang Zhen across from him. "If you dare to snatch them, I can't guarantee that word won't get out that you went to Bai Zhen Lou to see the proprietress."

"Get lost!" Fang Zhen said disdainfully. "When did I ever go to see that proprietress? It's you who always drags me there for no reason!"

The words spoken by Yi Ye Fuyun and Fang Zhen left Precia, who had stopped not far away, completely dumbfounded.

"What's going on with all these people?" Precia looked at Fang Zhen and Yi Ye Fuyun, who were discussing how to divide Hao Wan and the others, and felt that her brain was not enough to keep up.

She knew about the Obsidian Martial Arts Academy in the City of Light, since its master had killed Fred. But in her eyes, the Obsidian Martial Arts Academy was just an insignificant little force.

But unexpectedly, the disciples of the Obsidian Martial Arts School were all so brave, directly challenging the Smiling Skull.

She seriously doubted whether the master of the Obsidian Martial Arts Academy knew that his disciple was usually this brave.
(End of this chapter)