Am I going to be controlled by the players too?

I opened it and took a small sip.

Throughout the entire process, those blue-purple eyes never left the screen—the screen was showing Cheng Cheng and the others being pulled into the wall by countless hands.

The shadows cast by her short, gray hair were like liquid ink, slowly spreading along her shoulder blades and staining her snow-white shoulders.

"finally……"

The girl put down the cola can, her lips curling up to reveal two small tiger teeth.

"I've been waiting for you~"

Chapter 79, Sylvia is so awesome!

The ninth floor, the "Gladiator Arena".

This is a building similar to the Roman Colosseum. Every adventurer who enters will face an attack by hundreds of undead warriors and ferocious lions and tigers. Only those who survive can advance to the next level.

However, Cheng Cheng and his group were, after all, of the Gold rank, and they could easily crush these monsters who were not even Silver rank. They finished them off in less than three minutes.

Cheng Cheng gripped the Sword of Righteousness in his hand, watching the experience points flash continuously, still feeling that he hadn't had enough fun killing.

Generally, because Sylvia's talent is inclined towards combat, and Freya's magic is not something he can use, Cheng Cheng would switch to Sylvia's body during battles and switch back during his daily rest.

In other words, Freya leans towards business, while Sylvia leans towards sports.

"Stare~"

Cheng Cheng turned around and saw Freya with a displeased expression.

This girl has been secretly spying on me, and she seems a little unhappy about it.

Perhaps they felt ostracized.

After all, among the four Gold Saints, Paul naturally listens to Sylvia; and Li Xianyu, being an Imperial Elf, prefers to stick close to Sylvia... It's not surprising that everyone in the Empire is a white-haired fetishist.

However, during the witch's trial, Freya and Li Xianyu had been friends and lord and subject for decades. Subconsciously, she felt that Li Xianyu was on her side. She tried to talk to her enthusiastically several times, but was met with indifference. In the end, she simply ignored her out of spite.

Sylvia deliberately avoided speaking to Freya...

In this way, Freya seemed to be collectively bullied, which made her look pitiful.

"Sigh... this squad is really hard to manage."

Cheng Cheng rubbed his head, feeling a bit of a headache.

As a veteran anime fan who has watched countless isekai (another world) anime featuring characters leaving their teams, Cheng Cheng was afraid that his own team would also fall apart—especially a small team with three girls, where a small team could easily split into a dozen or more smaller groups.

Subsequent expeditions confirmed his ideas.

During the exploration of the tenth floor "Cabin in the Woods", the eleventh floor "Game of Luck" and the twelfth floor "Unmanned Prison", apart from Cheng Cheng checking on them, Paul and Li Xianyu did not speak to Freya.

Until the thirteenth level, "Ultimate Trust".

The sky was overcast with dark, gray clouds, and beneath my feet stretched an endless river, while in the distance, a massive, bottomless waterfall appeared.

There was nothing else.

After Cheng Cheng selected the Abyss Blessing buff, he heard Paul say, "There's nothing to explore on this floor. Just jump down from the waterfall to enter the fourteenth floor... but it only works if two or more people jump down hand in hand."

"Does it take multiple people to cut it out?"

Freya, unable to bear the loneliness, tried to make conversation: "Mr. Paul, we could meet other adventurers in the previous levels, but it seems like we're the only ones in the last few levels."

Paul paused for a moment, then instinctively looked at Cheng Cheng.

He also sensed that the young lady and the princess had been at odds these past few days, and wondered whether he, as a retainer, should answer the princess's question.

After all, that's how feudal kingdoms are; the subjects of my subjects aren't my subjects.

Cheng Cheng nodded, indicating that he was also very curious.

"Generally speaking, dungeons are actually divided into 'unpopular levels' and 'popular levels'."

After thinking for a moment, Paul explained:

"Because in the fourth level, the 'Internet Cafe Nightmare,' you can almost travel to any level by entering an address, so adventurers can just teleport to whichever level they want to go without having to explore downwards like the young lady."

I'm doing this to stack up the Abyss Blessing buff. What do you, a mere native, know?

Cheng Cheng rolled his eyes and offered no explanation.

After all, if you want to go to a certain floor, you can just teleport in; climbing down floor by floor might lead to some danger.

Paul continued, "For example, the sixth floor 'Frontier Sea' with abundant monster resources, the eighth floor 'Boundless City', the fifteenth floor 'Battlefield of Temperance', and the fifth floor 'Deadly Joke' with free medical treatment are all levels that are very popular with adventurers."

"At the same time, because there is nothing on this floor, almost no one comes here... but the next floor is different; it is a paradise."

"Heaven?"

Cheng Cheng raised an eyebrow.

“It’s an oasis, beautiful, peaceful, perfect… in short, a level perfect for a vacation.” Paul shook his head. “Because it’s so beautiful, many adventurers who go there never want to leave, so the kingdom has passed a law prohibiting people from directly entering ‘Paradise’ on the fourth level.”

"The more it was forbidden, the more curious people became. In the end, the kingdom simply sent someone to communicate with the network administrator of the fourth floor and deleted the path to heaven, as well as the method of dissemination... Gradually, no one went there anymore."

But Paul is a gold medalist, so it's not hard for him to find out how to get in.

Moreover, Cheng Cheng and his group explored layer by layer, and the fourteenth floor was a necessary step.

As members of the prestigious Gold Kingdom, they didn't think breaking a few minor laws was a big deal; instead, they were somewhat looking forward to what paradise would look like.

"Let's go then!"

Li Xianyu couldn't wait any longer and grabbed Cheng Cheng and Paul. Cheng Cheng quickly pulled Freya next to him, and together with the others, they jumped down the waterfall.

…………

Maple leaves drifted down, and Cheng Cheng opened his eyes.

All that could be seen was a sea of ​​blood.

Countless straight maple trees rise from the ground, their branches intertwining overhead to form a purplish-red dome, devouring the sunlight until only a few wisps remain; the wind emerges from the depths of the forest, carrying the stench of decaying leaves and rust, sweeping across the maple leaves swirling on the ground...

No, that's not a maple leaf!

It was congealed blood—a dark red that looked like it had been trampled on a thousand times and soaked in moisture, spreading all over the mountains and fields, thick enough to reach above the ankles. Every step you took felt like sinking into a warm pool of blood, making a sticky, teeth-grinding sound!

Countless shadows were hidden in the mist, and the outlines of tree trunks were twisted into hideous silhouettes in the haze, like countless silent giants looking down at the corpses in the forest—broken bones, shattered armor, and limbs half-hidden under maple leaves, like carelessly discarded garbage, scattered on a blood-red carpet.

Is this... heaven?

In her mind, Sylvia, who shared vision with Cheng Cheng, froze, wishing she could rub her eyes to confirm: "Mambo... Cheng Cheng, did we go to the wrong place?"

"Probably not."

Cheng Cheng glanced at his companion, who was standing beside him in a dazed and infatuated state, sighed, and then the system's voice sounded—

"Level 13 cleared"

"Evaluation: Unknown (No special tasks on this floor)"

Rewards: 500 EXP, 1 Originium

"Welcome to the fourteenth floor, 'Bloodstained Maple Forest (crossed out) Paradise'"

"Currently, you can draw the fourteenth-level initial blessing 'Death.' Please choose from the following three options:"

"Death Mark: After attacking the same enemy 3 times, apply the 'Death Mark'. After 5 seconds, the enemy will lose 20% of its lost health."

"Soul Harvest: After killing an enemy, attack power is increased by 10% for 10 seconds, which can be stacked infinitely."

"Wither Aura: All enemies in the vicinity lose 1% of their current health per second."

Blood stains the maple forest... I knew this place didn't look like paradise at all!

After thinking for a moment, Cheng Cheng chose "Death Mark," then nudged his companion who was staring blankly at him: "Hey, wake up!"

Freya was nudged several times before she realized what was wrong: "What's wrong?"

"What did you see?" Cheng Cheng asked in return.

“Paradise!” Freya exclaimed excitedly, “The garden at night, the clean paths, the boundless, sparkling starry sky… it’s just like what we saw at the Witch’s Tea Party!”

"Yeah……"

Cheng Cheng thought for a moment, then shook Paul awake: "What did you see?"

"Reporting to Miss, I saw a beach at sunset, a salty sea breeze, and hot blonde beauties lying all over the ground, all wearing red bikinis and high heels!"

Paul was clearly abnormally excited.

"Um... Li Xianyu, what about you?"

“Skulls piled up like mountains, bones formed a forest. Human hair was crumpled into felt, human flesh rotted into mud and dust. Human tendons were wrapped around trees, dry and gleaming like silver. It was truly a mountain of corpses and a sea of ​​blood…” The petite elven mage shook her head, her cheeks slightly flushed. “I’ve never seen so much necromantic material in my entire life… It’s simply heaven!”

You're describing hell, aren't you?!

It's even more terrifying than what I've seen!

Cheng Cheng shook his head. Now he was certain that, apart from himself, everyone else on this level had been hypnotized by some substance and entered a hallucination.

As for why I was unharmed... it's probably because of the player's special status?

"Freya, use 'Aurora's Whisper of Clarity' on us."

This is a gold-tier group buff spell, belonging to the wind magic category. It grants immunity to illusions within its range and can forcibly awaken the subconscious of allies who have fallen into madness or been controlled.

"Huh? Why?" Freya blinked.

"Stop talking nonsense, just use it when I tell you to."

"Oh……"

Freya obediently used the spell, and a clear whisper brushed past her ear like a gentle breeze.

Then, everyone was stunned.

"Where am I...?"

"Waaah! My mountain of corpses and sea of ​​blood are gone, gone!"

"This...this is...heaven?"

Paul couldn't help but swear, then quickly looked at Cheng Cheng: "Miss, this level is too strange, even a Gold-rank cultivator can be affected... Let's retreat!"

"I want to leave too, but the problem is how do I switch to another location?"