Chapter 45: Abyssal Shadow Hunter!

Yunhuang City was bustling, with a large number of players gathered at the plaza.

At this moment, the dungeon administrator interface displayed the progress of each team inside.

Everyone’s attention was focused on a particular two-person team.

Team: [Lone Ranger’s Team]

Members: Lone Ranger (Captain), Hongsha Liusu (Member).

Exploration Progress: 0%.

Dungeon Duration: 5 minutes 35 seconds.

Everyone’s eyes were fixed on the [Exploration Progress], and the murmurs around were constant.

“Bro, stop staring. The Hero just went in a few minutes ago. No way it’d be that fast.”

“You’re right. I heard the progress of the Cold Palace Que team’s dungeon only started to change after almost an hour.”

“Right now, the trash from Korea is still spouting nonsense on the forums. Really hope Lone Ranger comes out soon and slaps their bear faces.”

“Slap your own bear face instead. Come out early? I came out in ten seconds—was it useful?”

“Uh… then better to come out later, ideally after clearing the whole thing.”

While everyone was still talking about trivial matters, someone suddenly exclaimed.

“Holy sht! The record system bugged out!”

Soon, everyone pulled up the dungeon administrator’s record panel.

Team: [Lone Ranger’s Team]

Exploration Progress: 20%.

Dungeon Duration: 5 minutes 49 seconds.

Pfft…

At first glance at the exploration progress, everyone felt their blood surge violently, nearly spitting blood.

When major Chinese guilds reached 20% progress, it typically took around an hour. Yet now the record showed: 5 minutes 49 seconds, 20% progress!

“What the hell, even Hope World has bugs?”

“They said it’s all about immersion—what a damn scam. The server just launched and we’re already seeing bugs.”

“If this sh*t’s real, who would dare talk smack about China? I’d go slap their faces and make them eat sh*t.”

“Can someone explain what’s going on? Is it real or not?”

No one believed the data was real. Top five-man teams needed an hour—how could two people from Lone Ranger’s team do it in 6 minutes?

No one would believe it if it spread, and even those witnessing it firsthand were sure it must be a system bug.

Of course, many still held hope in their hearts, wishing it were true, though no one could say anything for sure.

“Damn, everyone look, the progress changed again!”

An exclamation drew everyone’s attention back to the record panel.

Team: [Lone Ranger’s Team]

Exploration Progress: 30%.

Dungeon Duration: 7 minutes 21 seconds.

After seeing the exploration data, everyone was dumbfounded.

Everyone knew what 30% meant—it indicated the first stage of the dungeon had been cleared. And it had only taken 7 minutes and 21 seconds.

Many players pulled up the forum statistics on dungeon stage clear times.

[China Region]

Cold Palace Que Team: Exploration Progress 80%, Duration 6 hours 15 minutes 31 seconds.

Stage 1 Clear Time: 1 hour 12 minutes 31 seconds.

Beacon Plays Lords Team: Exploration Progress 80%, Duration 6 hours 13 minutes 27 seconds.

Stage 1 Clear Time: 1 hour 13 minutes 07 seconds.

…

[Global]

Domination Team (Korea Region): Exploration Progress 90%, Duration 7 hours 24 minutes 15 seconds.

Stage 1 Clear Time: 1 hour 11 minutes 43 seconds.

Alpha Team (USA Region): Exploration Progress 80%, Duration 6 hours 11 minutes 14 seconds.

Stage 1 Clear Time: 1 hour 11 minutes 59 seconds.

…

Cold Palace Que Team (China Region): ……

…

After reading the stat sheets, the entire player base was in an uproar again.

The world’s number one Domination Team took over an hour to clear the first stage.

Compared to Lone Ranger’s 7 and a half minutes, it was like heaven and earth—totally incomparable.

“If this isn’t a system bug, then it’s terrifying…”

“Killed the boss in two minutes? Can’t even imagine how he pulled that off.”

“The Hero is a Hero indeed—totally not in the same league as normal people. Insane!”

…

Meanwhile, the Korea forum had also received the news about Jiang Chen clearing the dungeon.

“Pfft, China people are so shameless. They’re even photoshopping now.”

“Yeah, can’t beat our Dominate Oppa, so they resort to such lowly tricks. So pathetic.”

“China people always think they’re so great. That whole 5,000-year culture thing? Laughable. Most of it’s just plagiarized from our Korea history.”

“Exactly. Even with photoshopped stats, they still feel smug.”

“They don’t even know how to photoshop properly. One hour would be reasonable. Seven minutes? What a f*cking joke, hahaha!”

…

A short while later, back at the Yunhuang City plaza.

Everyone’s eyes widened once more, as if they’d seen a ghost.

Team: [Lone Ranger’s Team]

Exploration Progress: 60%.

Dungeon Duration: 15 minutes 18 seconds.

“Holy sh*t! Holy sh*t! Holy sh*t!”

“Am I seeing things? 60% in 15 minutes?”

“This is truly insane. I’m officially a diehard Lone Ranger fan now.”

“With all due respect, all the players in the world are trash compared to Lone Ranger.”

“Confirmed. Absolutely confirmed. Lone Ranger is the bug.”

…

Dungeon – Third Floor.

Jiang Chen continued deeper, stepping over countless corpses of Abyssal Demons.

The monsters on this floor were still Abyssal Demons, just of a stealth-assassin type.

[Abyssal Shadow Hunter]—a gnome-like humanoid monster, wielding dual daggers, with very high damage and long stealth duration, and extremely tricky attacks.

But under Jiang Chen’s [Insight Perception], they were laid bare. The invisible assassins posed no threat to him—they were just walking targets.

Soon, Jiang Chen reached the gatekeeper BOSS of this level—a gnome creature with four limbs.

[Abyssal Shadow Hunter] (Tier 3 Abyssal Demon)

Grade: Silver-rank BOSS

Level: Lv20

HP: 624,250

Attack: 660–735

Defense: 150

Skills: Abyssal Stealth, Rupture Backstab, Execution Blade Combo.

Description: Powerful stealth predators from the Abyss. Their hunting techniques are fearsome and strike terror into the hearts of enemies.

…

The Silver-rank BOSS’s stats were far superior to the previous two Bronze bosses.

Its base attributes weren’t overwhelming, but the skills were absurdly powerful.

[Abyssal Stealth]—no need to explain. Triple the stealth duration of players and includes a “First Strike Break” effect: the first hit after stealth is guaranteed to crit.

[Rupture Backstab] was also terrifying: a 100% stun effect, guaranteed death on hit for players. Even Jiang Chen couldn’t tank it, because its next move was a combo skill.

[Execution Blade Combo]—eight consecutive strikes, each potentially lethal.