Worldwide Awakening: My Soul Kinds Are Lost

"The person is fine," Wang Linchi concluded. If there really was a problem, he wouldn't have remained unresponsive even after the Saint Master had given him the complete funeral rites.

"There's nothing wrong with the statue either."

Wang Linchi glanced again at the statue, now smashed to pieces. If there was a problem, it would have already risen up to fight the Saint Master.

"So, where is the problem then?" Wang Linchi stared at the Accumulating Blessings Temple. He felt he had to test this temple with fire to see if it was the source of the issue.

Based on his analysis, the Wish Demon was definitely in the temple, but he didn't know its exact location.

The best solution, then, was to leave the Wish Demon with no place to hide. It would eventually be forced to reveal itself.

"Burn it down!"

Wang Linchi said, then turned and left.

The Saint Master unleashed the Dragon Talisman, spewing forth a massive amount of fire. After circling the temple once, the entire structure was engulfed in a sea of flames. He then returned to the main entrance, meeting up with Wang Linchi.

As the flames soared, a large amount of black smoke also billowed out from the temple. Faces could be seen within the black smoke.

[BOSS · Abyssal Demon · Wish Demon LV30, Health: (10/10)]

The massive black smoke formed an irregular shape. Wang Linchi was taken aback. Holy crap, he thought, then said, "Aren't you missing a few zeros from your Health?"

If this thing had ten million Health, Wang Linchi wouldn't have been worried. But with only ten Health, there had to be something else that justified its status as a Level 30 BOSS.

Therefore, Wang Linchi was a bit panicked now. He felt he might be done for.

"I have already fulfilled your wish, why are you doing this~?" A layered voice echoed as the Wish Demon's black smoke-like body drifted towards Wang Linchi.

The Saint Master attacked first without hesitation. However, when his attack landed on the Wish Demon, a "-0" damage figure floated up.

Is its Defense too high to break, or is it immune to attacks? Wang Linchi had never expected this situation. After all, the Saint Master's attacks weren't just physical; they also included Spell damage and True Damage. Yet, they couldn't inflict any damage at all.

However, there was some good news. The Wish Demon didn't seem to have any offensive Skills. It enveloped the Saint Master but continued to drift unceasingly towards Wang Linchi.

"In that case... just give your body to me..."

Suddenly, all the faces on the Wish Demon began to distort. Then, they transformed into Wang Linchi's face and drifted closer.

Seeing this, Wang Linchi was actually quite relieved. The main reason was that the face wasn't his own, but his game character's. Why would he use his own face when playing a game? Of course, he had customized it to be completely unrecognizable, bearing no resemblance to himself. He wasn't Ye Tian, who was too attached to his own looks.

The Wish Demon transforming into his game character indicated that it couldn't interfere with the real world at all.

Wang Linchi's Auto-Assistant activated, simultaneously enabling functions like auto-attack, auto-positioning, and auto-support. He keenly dodged the Wish Demon's lunge at the first opportunity, then immediately used Fortifying Steps, directly slowing it.

Surprisingly, it actually worked. However, the subsequent attack Skill, Literary Warfare, when used on the Wish Demon, resulted in the same "-0" damage figure as the Saint Master's attacks, indicating that the damage was negated.

However, his next move, which reduced the enemy's physical and Spell Defense, was successful. The skill that decreased Attack Power also took effect, but the area-of-effect damage was nullified. Anything related to reducing Health was completely ineffective.

This gave Wang Linchi a headache. If I can't inflict effective damage, no wonder it only has 10 Health. As long as it doesn't lose Health, even 1 Health point would make it invincible.

PFFT!

The Saint Master tore through the Wish Demon's smoke-like body and broke free.

This action directly caused the Wish Demon's Health to drop from 10 to 9 points. Unfortunately, before Wang Linchi could even feel happy for a moment, its Health shot back up to 10.

From the looks of it, only by destroying its body could damage be inflicted. However, it possessed some special ability that not only allowed for rapid recovery but also limited the damage it could receive per hit. This was similar to how demonized enemies couldn't deal more than 5% of Wang Linchi's or the Saint Master's maximum Health to them in a single attack.

After easily evading the Wish Demon's possession attempt, Wang Linchi frowned deeply.

This Wish Demon doesn't have high Attack Power or speed, but I suspect its possession is an instant-kill Skill. If I get caught by it, I'll be forced to exit the instance directly.

As for other Players, they wouldn't even have a strategy guide for the Accumulating Blessings Temple, because the prerequisite to trigger this quest line was the Demon Suppressing Sorcerer status. Otherwise, even if one found the Accumulating Blessings Temple, without the one thousand Liang silver notes for incense money, they wouldn't be able to trigger the Temple Master's blessing, and thus the Wish Demon's curse wouldn't form. Trying to offer incense without money? They'd just have their lay disciples send you away. This side quest doesn't exist in the Nightmare Level. Players there can only play 'Werewolf' in Ji City.

Fortunately, Wang Linchi didn't rely on strategy guides. Instead, he continuously evaded the Wish Demon while using his Auto-Assistant to collect data on it.

It was somewhat effective. He could, by co-opting the Game System's power, activate a one-hit kill and directly obliterate this Wish Demon. However, he didn't want to do that. God-given World was designed for Players to grow and acquire enough power on their own to kill Abyssal Demons, not to rely on co-opting the Game System's power. If one could freely use the Game System's power, what would be the point of Players? Besides, if the Game System were truly that formidable, it wouldn't be in its current state. The entire Game System managed an immense amount of data. If Wang Linchi activated such a feature, it would inevitably cause a power imbalance within the Game System. If the protection systems were compromised as a result, allowing even a single Abyssal Demon to enter the real world, Wang Linchi would suffer a tremendous loss. The real world was his safe zone, after all. Dying in an Abyss Difficulty instance merely meant starting over, with no real loss.

While Wang Linchi analyzed the data and evaded the possession attempts, the Saint Master was furiously tearing at the Wish Demon's body.

It was a rare chance for the Saint Master to experience the kind of frustration his own opponents usually felt. In past battles against Abyssal Demons, the Saint Master's Health would fluctuate wildly like a roller coaster, yet his enemies could never kill him. Now, he was facing a similar situation with the Wish Demon. He would knock off three Health points, and in the next second, they would be restored. It was frustrating to the extreme.

As data continuously flowed from the Auto-Assistant and was summarized in the Thought Mirror, various plans began to form in Wang Linchi's mind. However, most of these plans were discarded after analysis due to issues with their process or predicted outcomes.

As for finding a quest item capable of killing the Wish Demon, that was too difficult; he had no clues whatsoever. It would be faster to figure it out himself from scratch. With the Auto-Assistant, he could fully utilize powers not belonging to his game character to weaken it.

"Green Blood Red Qing?" Wang Linchi suddenly recalled something. Some data indicated that using healing-type abilities seemed to effectively diminish the opponent's power.

Wang Linchi gave it a try. Green Blood Red Qing landed on the Wish Demon. The next moment, its Health plummeted by 5 points, and its recovery became very difficult.

"Holy crap... What kind of weird mechanic is this?"

He hadn't expected this. It didn't take damage from attacks but did from healing. And this 'healing' wasn't restorative; it was damaging!

"Wait, doesn't this mean that Player Skills, even healing-type ones, all inflict damage on Abyssal Demons?" Wang Linchi's eyes narrowed, and he hit the Wish Demon with another Green Blood Red Qing.

The opponent's health bar instantly emptied.

Wang Linchi didn't let his guard down, because the Game System hadn't issued a kill notification, nor had any Experience been credited. This meant the Wish Demon wasn't truly dead but had entered a second phase.

Sure enough, after its black smoke-like body disintegrated, a monster formed from a mound of countless human heads emerged from within the dissipating smoke.

It was still the Wish Demon, but its Health had changed, increasing from ten points to ten million.

"Phew, finally, it's normal." Wang Linchi breathed a sigh of relief. The Saint Master's attacks on the Wish Demon no longer showed "-0" but dealt actual, effective damage.

"The second form can't move; that's good news." Wang Linchi observed the Wish Demon continuously roaring as numerous heads unleashed dark rays that entangled the Saint Master. It was a good thing the Saint Master could increase his size; otherwise, there wouldn't be any good way to deal with such a massive Skull Mountain.

Wang Linchi's Auto-Assistant also activated. After applying a wave of negative statuses to the Wish Demon, it continuously cast Literary Warfare to chip in some damage. It was more about the gesture than the actual impact. Otherwise, if it just let Wang Linchi dodge and watch like before without contributing at all, what would be the point of this Auto-Assistant? Its purpose was to allow Wang Linchi to both observe the fight and contribute a token amount of effort. Compared to the Saint Master's output, this damage could only be described as a symbolic gesture.

"Aside from high Health and tough Defense, the second phase has no other special characteristics. I just wonder if the third phase will be easy to handle."