T0 Gaming Guild Saves the World.

Chapter 242, Section 241: The Otherworldly Invader

Candlelight rarely mentions the person who created her. Her avoidance of titles such as "Lord of the Bonfire of Stars" and "Lord of the Stars" shows how important that person is to her.

If the candlelight is already so powerful, what is above it?
It's no wonder that all parties are doing their utmost to conceal the strangeness brought about by the appearance of candlelight and games.

Once the general public becomes aware of this, the existing order may not collapse, but a breakdown in public perception will likely be inevitable.

The boundary between reality and illusion has entered the game, and Chen Shaoyu has also collected information on the target of punishment. Considering that the other party is also a night owl, he decided to follow the footsteps of the boundary between reality and illusion first.

As expected, the enamel mug arrived on time, and he waited silently for Chen Shaoyu to guide him.

"The candle is gone?"

Chen Shaoyu had a sudden inspiration and explained casually, "She is reviewing the unusual comments on the internet recently."

The enamel mug frowned slightly. The online discussions had become increasingly chaotic in recent days, with unfounded accusations and criticisms against the Chinese version of the game and the boundary between virtual and real worlds escalating.

He couldn't press Zhu Huo for his opinion, so he could only suppress his worries for the time being.

There is no second class set at the boundary between the virtual and real worlds after entering the game.

The guild's class structure is very reasonable, and there is no indication that a certain class must be changed to complete the mission. Therefore, it is a better decision to temporarily retain the second class and adapt to the situation.

As Jiang Heyi approached the guild dolls with five [Spirits of Immaculate Dolls] in his hands, they all looked up, their bright eyes fixed on him.

Those eyes were filled with longing.

As Freya said, it has an unparalleled attraction for dolls, and is a magical tool that can make their souls and bodies more and more in sync.

The two dolls, who didn't receive the gift, had such a pitiful expression that anyone who saw it would feel sorry for them, as if they owed the dolls something.

"How does it feel?" Jiang Heyi asked.

Garlic Sprouts answered truthfully: "We have become stronger, and we are more adept at both specialization and combat."

Specialization refers to the various workshops where the dolls are on duty.

Under Mint's guidance, the potion workshop at the boundary between reality and illusion can provide excellent temporary shield potions and temporary enchanted metallurgical potions, effectively linking with the artisan workshop.

In small guilds, the output provided by the puppets is crucial to them.

At the boundary between reality and illusion, given the powerful abilities of everyone and the presence of the genius witch Mint, the dolls' presence seemed much less noticeable.

The most noticeable one is the dark elf slave doll in the quilt. She was assigned to the messenger workshop and was specifically responsible for going out to collect garbage.

She can bring back purple materials from time to time, making her arguably the most outstanding doll on the boundary between reality and illusion.

Because there were already doll names like "Garlic Sprout" and "Cilantro" in front of her, she was also given a name by her bedside...

"Dark beer."

According to the game's mechanics, the higher the combat strength of a messenger going out, the more excellent materials they are likely to find and safely bring back.

Aside from that, the puppets don't demonstrate much more combat capability.

I've heard there are items in the game that can be used to invade guilds, but I don't think anyone would use them on the boundary between the virtual and real worlds.
"Potatoes~~~~"

The sound wasn't coming from behind, in front, behind, or to the left or right; it was coming from above?
Jiang Heyi raised her head, and Ke Xia, smiling, landed straight down.

The bubbles that formed when it hit him cushioned the impact, and the soft texture enveloped his entire body.

Kesha wrapped its tail around Jiang Heyi, hugged him, and rolled around on the ground a few times, wriggling around as if no one else was around.

The puppets all gathered around to watch this scene intently.

"Almost there, almost there! We've reached the 11th floor. We'll soon be able to clear the Temple of the Clarity and then we can go to the Royal Court," Jiang Heyi quickly promised.

Kesha's eyes sparkled: "It doesn't matter if we don't go to the royal court, as long as I can see you every day, that's enough."

“You are the hero of the royal court, and also my lover. You can live anywhere; the Falling Star Royal Court will not care.”

Kesha's tail tip kept slapping the ground, extremely excited.

Jiang Heyi thought that after being tempered, he could calmly deal with Ke Xia's offensive, but every interaction still left him dizzy and disoriented.

There are no fancy techniques, just pure straight shots and pure brute force.

Kesha is really good at playing. She wrapped her tail around Jiang Heyi's waist, covering her whole body in a layer of bubbles. Jiang Heyi could easily drag her along. The scene was very strange, but she herself enjoyed it very much.

The members of the guild who were still at the boundary between reality and illusion expressed that they were calm about the "growth" of Kesha on Jiang Heyi's body.

The enamel mug witnessed this scene in astonishment.

"The stars can be this open?"

Chen Shaoyu subtly hinted, "It's much more open than you imagine."

He didn't have any critical thoughts about the enamel mug. After learning about the nun's hobbies, he gained some understanding of the spiritual world of everyone at the boundary between reality and illusion.

Why aren't they challenging the 11th floor yet?

Knowing that the old man with the enamel mug knew very little about games and viewed them purely as movies, Chen Shaoyu patiently explained.

"We are now in a state of combat readiness."

Supplying materials, repairing equipment, and temporarily enchanting.

The arduous battle on the 10th floor left a psychological scar on the boundary between reality and illusion. There are too many non-human beings in the Church of Eternal Night, and there may not be just one lich. This time, we must be prepared for a protracted war.

"French Fries, this is your mom's first time in the game. Shouldn't you bring her some equipment?" Jiang Heyi reminded her. "There are quite a few unbound low-grade junk items in the guild."

French Fries pouted: "Starting from scratch is more fun. Let my dad take care of it."

She didn't care if it was just her dad.

Now even her mother has joined the game, and she really doesn't want to run into them!
Why can the "Nuwai Couple" chase each other from reality to the stars?

It's not that Jiang Heyi looks down on French Fries Dad; his only advantage is that he has completed the job change. His personal skills are poor, and he relies entirely on the equipment to provide a margin for error.

Can it really be driven?
"Let's find some time to get some equipment and provide support," Jiang Heyi thought. "It'll also be a way to build good relations in advance?"

The equipment has been repaired and all personnel have assembled at the virtual-real boundary.

Kesha wisely released his tail from Jiang Heyi and casually handed him a water element scroll.

"It's life-saving, and it works great." She grinned.

It's still the [Healing Water] scroll, an instant-cast defensive spell.

Every time he went out, Kesha would prepare a small gift for him before he went to war.

The fries looked thoughtful and nodded repeatedly.

Before the teleportation, Jiang Heyi gave most of the precision repair kits to the three guild leaders, letting them distribute them as they saw fit.

The person who opened the can sensed something: "Are you going to the 11th floor?"

Once a certain instance of the virtual-real boundary is started, communication will be cut off, allowing players to fully immerse themselves in it and play in the most immersive way. This is no secret in the group.

Crimson Music Box: "I'll try to beat them in this round, get the score and go out and smear those unlucky players."

A fleeting dream: "Wake up, where do these ghost soldiers get their faces?"

During the conversation, all communications between the virtual and physical worlds were disconnected.

Before entering the 11th floor, the boundary between the real and the virtual is still on the 10th floor, where you can collect some loose ends from the main story and side quests in the Great Library of the Clarity.

With Gorkaron dead, the magic circle slowly recovered, and the fire inside the Great Archives began to weaken. Struggling to hold on, the "dung beetles" protecting the books gradually crumbled and scattered across the ground.

The rampaging books in the Great Archives were calmed down by the magic array.

The noise and clamor are fading away, and tranquility is arriving.

Guided by the insect mist, Jiang Heyi took out Alna's lantern and shone it on the black tome at the core of the magic array.

A deep black light shot straight up to the dome and disappeared into the enormous magic stone that resembled the sun. The magic field naturally formed by the magic stone rippled with visible waves.

Seconds later, as if a celestial dog were devouring the moon, the "sun" lost its light and hung high in the darkness.

The sudden change caught everyone off guard, and the boundary between reality and illusion collectively focused on the insect fog.

"what's the situation?"

Insect Mist panicked; this was not what she had expected: "I just wanted the magic circle to accept your aura and clear out the collapsed passage to the 11th floor."

“Arna…”

An urgent female voice came from the dome, her tone filled with joy and disbelief.

"Is that you, Alna?"

"You're in the Great Archives?"

Insect Mist recognized the owner of the voice: "It's Saintess Elsa!"

Elsa, one of the Supreme Leaders of the Clarity, whose name she had long heard but whose face she had never seen, finally came into contact with the boundary between reality and illusion.

As the president, Jiang Heyi carefully considered his tone before speaking.

"We are sorry about Alna."

Elsa was clearly stunned for a moment.

"who are you?"

Jiang Heyi briefly recounted what he had seen and heard along the way to Elsa, who was trapped on the 12th floor.

Silent for a long time.

“Arna…”

The crowd could faintly hear soft sobbing coming from the dome.

She struggled to suppress her grief and sincerely expressed her gratitude: "Only as the Holy Maiden of the Clarity do I express my thanks to the warriors."

"Do we know the current status of the Clarifiers?" Jiang Heyi asked. "Our team is about to advance to the 11th floor. Is the strongest force of the Eternal Night Church still there?"

"Those who are clear-minded and still have combat power number no more than 20, and they are all in the 12th floor of the Temple of Clarity."

"If your description is true, the rest of the Pure Ones located in the temple should all have become spiritual slaves and undead material for the Church of Eternal Night."

The glorious Clarity, its most important headquarters, was instantly reduced to purgatory. The history it created and the countless wonders it witnessed were destroyed under the ravages of the Church of Eternal Night.

Much of the knowledge accumulated over thousands of years has been reduced to ashes.

Talented individuals have vanished into thin air.

Elsa tried to speak calmly, but her voice trembled.

This dramatic upheaval, involving collusion between internal and external forces, completely destroyed the most important foundation of the Clear Ones.

"I only became aware of your presence because the 10th layer of the magic circle was restarted and Alna's information was entered."

"The 11th floor is no longer under my control; it is pitch black to me."

"The Church of Eternal Night has breached the defensive barrier and entered the 12th floor. We engaged in battle not long ago, and they suffered heavy casualties, but the number of Clarity-holders who can still operate is also very small."

"We have nowhere else to go but the main temple."

The two bosses on the 10th floor are already quite a challenge. Although the main combat force has reached the 12th floor, there may be multiple powerful members of the Eternal Night Church on the 11th floor, making the difficulty of the strategy increase dramatically.

The Church of Eternal Night has the advantage in both combat strength and numbers. How can we possibly fight them?
French Fries asked, "The doll's nest we saw on the ninth floor, were they our companions?"

"The Nest of Puppetry..." Elsa looked bewildered upon hearing the description. "The Clarity Ones have never had such a powerful puppeteer companion. The creation you described is beyond my comprehension."

"If it can really deploy all kinds of different puppets, and the core is plug-and-play, then the knowledge of alchemy, puppet making, magic circle inscription, and material production is something I have never heard of or seen before."

It’s evil.

Freya's stance was very clear: to slowly strangle the invading Church of Eternal Night.

Although she didn't explicitly state her purpose as the riddle teller, her intention to assist the enlightened ones was quite clear.

Where did it come from?
French Fries suddenly remembered a detail.

“When I was fighting the black cat Lenalya on the eighth floor, she seemed to have mentioned that after the spatial magic array failed, a strange power appeared in the temple. The two seem to be closely related.”

Elsa suddenly fell silent, and her rapid breathing could be faintly heard.

Is she excited?

Or...fear?
The crowd also heard the whispers of the other surviving Pure Ones.

"Could it be that they really succeeded?"

"The ritual really works."

"Incredible, Elsa, you did it."

"Your ritual, your creation, has reached new heights!"

"A historic moment."

"This is no longer an ordinary summoning ritual; you have invoked hope through your own prayers!"

"No...no...no!"

Elsa swallowed hard, and she retorted loudly to those around her, her breathing becoming increasingly rapid.

“I have not made any pact with any unknown entity, I have no binding force on anything that has come, and the ritual has not connected us together.”

Inside the 12th-floor temple, Elsa held her head in her hands.

The situation, beyond her comprehension and understanding, caused her brain to feel a burning pain.

“I sacrifice myself in exchange for the future of the clear ones… If the ritual is successful, a summoned creature will respond at this time, and I and it will be bound by the medium of life.”

"But now, none of my summoned creatures are responding to me, not a single one."

"What appeared on the ninth floor wasn't a summoned creature, it was something else!"

Elsa pressed her hand to her heart: "It didn't take away my life that I had pledged in the ritual... It was a completely out-of-control individual. It erased the ritual's coercive power and descended following the path guided by the ritual!"

"That's a monster, an unknown being that transcends ritual itself and the barriers of world consciousness!"

The moment Elsa figured everything out, she nearly went mad.

Most of the stories sung by bards involve summoners calling upon unknown beings from another world to resolve crises.

But only the summoner understands that no one has ever truly succeeded in summoning an otherworldly being.

Elsa became the first person in history to achieve this.

The Doll's Nest?

At this moment, it is following the terms of its contract, purging the invading Eternal Night cultists.

But what will a contract without a ritualistic coercion demand when it comes time to pay the price?
After a long silence, Elsa touched the magic circle.

"To all those at the boundary between the real and the virtual... the knowledge of the 10th level is at your disposal, and the valuable treasures within the Temple of the Clarity belong to you."

"Take them and leave quickly."

Elsa is breathing rapidly.

"I may have... made an unforgivable mistake."

(End of this chapter)