Vampire Princess Guide in Progress - Volume 1 Chapter 52

Chapter 52: The Corpse of the Winter Ice Wolf King

***

If one were to say that until now, all kinds of illogical events occurring in the game had made people unsurprised by whatever they encountered next.

But at this moment, as Tilia Scarlet stood in front of the Ice Wolf King’s Cave, which was the location of the floor BOSS, seeing this shocking scene before her eyes still plunged even this closed beta player into complete confusion and helplessness.

Or rather, she simply couldn’t comprehend what was happening before her eyes.

Outside the Ice Wolf King’s Cave was a flat, wide circular snowy field, as if it were a scene specifically preset to provide players with battle space, where players could form a surrounding formation with the BOSS gathered in the middle.

And from the surrounding forest, a bunch of Ice Plains Wolf minions would be summoned from all directions with the wolf king’s second-phase roar.

At this point, the pioneer team’s leader would have to arrange for grouped personnel to go to their respective positions to meet the attack, not allowing the minions to enter the BOSS area and disrupt the battle. Once the minions were around the BOSS, they would gain a berserk BUFF, greatly increasing their attack power.

Tilia even still remembered that before the second phase, the Winter Ice Wolf King’s skill was a tail sweep, so no one could stand behind it.

— But now all these tactics were no longer necessary.

Because the third floor BOSS, the Winter Ice Wolf King.

Was already dead.

“Why…” Tilia’s trembling pupils revealed her disbelief. She gripped her scythe, the long handle pressed tightly against her back, cautiously slowing her pace, step by step approaching the tomb of snow-white bones that made up the Ice Wolf King’s corpse before her.

Had someone cleared it first? But why was there no world announcement…?

Before her eyes, there were no wild monster targets, only the skeleton of the wolf king placed in front of the entrance to the cave.

— 【View Details】

【Winter Ice Wolf King’s Corpse, Lv.25】

【HP: 0/150,000】

【Description: This is the corpse of the Winter Ice Wolf King covered in layers of snow. Pitiable is the once mighty king of the snow plain wolves who commanded the entire snow plain wolf pack and was a force to be reckoned with, now only a set of stark white bones remain, it appears to have been dead for a very long time】

【The target’s body has severe contamination, died from some kind of curse magic】

“Curse magic, is there such a thing among the magic that players can learn?” Tilia had never heard of this type of magic.

Moreover, it was too strange. The floor BOSS had been killed, yet there was no world announcement, no name of the player who killed it, not even an anonymous mention. What was even more bewildering was — this BOSS corpse hadn’t disappeared.

As everyone knows, in the game, whether player or monster, upon death they would disappear in a state of crystal fragment shattering, leaving no remains.

This was common knowledge in the game, but the floor BOSS that had been defeated before her eyes not only hadn’t disappeared but had left behind an enormous skeleton. The description even stated “had been dead for a very long time.”

But players had only begun to collectively tackle the third floor today, how could it have been “a very long time”?

This was the source of Tilia’s incomprehension. Even if a player had rushed ahead to clear it, she wouldn’t have found it surprising. When she saw this giant Ice Wolf King skeleton, she had already vaguely sensed something strange.

“It wasn’t… killed by a player?”

Though hard to believe, this was the only possibility Tilia could think of.

But looking around the entire third floor, what non-player target could possibly battle this BOSS-level monster with 150,000 HP and rich mechanics? Even if the Snow Bear Leader and the Mountain Yeti Tribe united, they couldn’t possibly be its match.

And most crucially, in this game world, while monster infighting was common, what could attack even a floor BOSS?

“Then, the passage to the fourth floor…”

Tilia hurriedly opened the teleport list.

But not only did she not see information about the fourth floor teleport being unlocked, she found that the third floor teleport column had been inexplicably locked by some chain. Something seemed to have gone wrong with the teleportation array at the entrance of the third floor.

Following this, Tilia saw an in-game announcement about the third floor being sealed off.

842 players were trapped on the third floor, cut off from all supplies, and even unable to post chat messages in the World Channel, each struggling to survive in this icy world. It was said that they needed to clear the third floor BOSS to unseal it.

Sealed floor, clear the BOSS…

But right now, the third floor BOSS’s remains were at Tilia’s feet… what was going on with this series of events?

“Has this one already been stripped of its floor BOSS status, no longer considered a guardian?” Tilia took a deep breath. This was the first time she had seen such a situation, once again refreshing her understanding of this game.

Yes, it seemed there was only one answer.

The BOSS for clearing the third floor had changed.

The original floor BOSS, the Winter Ice Wolf King, had been killed by some more terrifying force. And the current BOSS was likely the thing that killed it, and it could also use curse magic…

“Is this all the information available now.”

Tilia’s gaze passed over the wolf king’s skeleton, scanning around several more times.

After confirming there were no other valuable clues, she had no choice but to leave for now. Here, apart from a BOSS skeleton, there was nothing left, and the BOSS rewards had probably naturally disappeared as well.

Better head back first. Although she had originally just wanted to scout ahead, she hadn’t expected to encounter such a scene.

Just as Tilia was turning to leave.

Suddenly, her gaze immediately fixed on the party interface with Cross in the upper left corner, seeing that in the first display row with Cross as the leader, her HP value was constantly decreasing.

Wait, what was happening at the campfire cave camp? That place wasn’t a safe zone, had monsters charged into their camp!?

Not good, Cross…!

Tilia’s eyes widened as she watched Cross’s HP value which had already dropped to a yellow bar display, her heart rate instantly skyrocketing.

Cross was under attack! She didn’t reserve any MP value, immediately unfurled her vampire black wings, and instantly rose into the air from her spot, flying back towards the previous camp at top speed across the forest.

……………

“Tilia’s portion, isn’t this side almost done? Let’s flip it again.”

Inside the campfire cave camp, Cross was sitting on a stone bench, propping her face up while watching the campfire in front of her, idly flipping two strings of grilled fish on the fire rack, not expecting Tilia’s patrol to take so long.

She shouldn’t have encountered any trouble, right?

Suddenly she heard what sounded like footsteps outside the cave, instantly thinking it was Tilia returning from patrol, she immediately raised her voice and said: “Tilia! You’re back, come quick, your grilled fish is almost ready, it smells delicious… eh?”

As she was saying this, Cross suddenly sensed something amiss, the smile on her face gradually disappeared, her expression immediately becoming serious, and she instinctively picked up her magic staff nervously.

No, it’s not Tilia…

Outside the campfire cave, Cross saw from afar several mysterious figures wearing black robes, their faces covered with black cloth, emitting eerie cackles as they looked at her, continuously walking towards her.

And unlike ordinary players—

Above their heads, all displayed red names.