Despite the system’s warning that Shadow Serpents would swiftly detonate upon contact, the mere thought of them slithering up her calves was enough to send Bai Xia’s breath hitching in her throat.
As more and more Shadow Serpents materialized, a few inevitably lunged forward. Bai Xia had initially believed her fear wouldn’t hinder her ability to cope; however, the chilling reality struck when one of those icy creatures coiled around her body, catching her utterly off guard.
“Get away from me—!?”
Driven by pure instinct, Bai Xia, her voice laced with a sob, sprang onto the nearest Tian Zheng, wrapping herself around him with a death grip, as though loosening her hold would condemn her to be ripped apart by the horde of serpents.
Tian Zheng could only offer a wry smile, gazing at Bai Xia, who clung to him, on the verge of tears from sheer terror.
The Shadow Serpents moved far swifter than anticipated; with no moment to console Bai Xia, Tian Zheng swiftly sheathed his weapons. He then cradled her hips with one arm, pulling her back as he retreated.
While her own rarely touched posterior was now firmly gripped by another, Bai Xia was far too consumed by fear to register such an impropriety.
The Shadow Serpents assailed them from all directions, not just one; seeing the group on the verge of being encircled, Qian Qiao finally unleashed a perfectly timed Fire Bomb.
The Fire Bomb erupted ahead, detonating several nearby Shadow Serpents.
Though their explosions left behind brief patches of dark corrosion, the group could hardly afford to worry about such minor inconveniences, for the looming threat of being completely engulfed by the serpentine horde was far more immediate.
As they leveraged the temporary opening to gain distance, Tian Zheng found his movements cumbersome; Bai Xia’s intense nervousness caused her to cling too tightly, her legs clamped around him, severely impeding his agility.
Consequently, after barely fending off the first wave of self-detonating Shadow Serpent attacks, Tian Zheng finally couldn’t help but voice his predicament: “Bai Xia, you’re clinging too tightly. I can’t move properly like this.”
No sooner had the words left his lips than every eye in the group turned towards him, their gazes filled with an unnerving strangeness.
Bai Xia, too, became acutely aware of the rather undignified nature of their current embrace, especially considering she was clad in the Shura’s Doomed Sailor Uniform. She instinctively started to loosen her grip, but the chilling memory of those dark, venomous serpents made her involuntarily shudder once more.
‘Damn it, these are still so terrifying,’ she thought. ‘Why does the Fairy’s Trial have so many snakes?’
‘And it’s not just the sheer number; they’re all so hideous!’
While Bai Xia understood she was inconveniencing the team, confronting these slithering, slimy creatures proved an insurmountable challenge for her.
A deepening sense of guilt etched itself onto her face, yet her body remained rigidly tense.
“I’m sorry.”
In response to her apology, Tian Zheng simply sighed softly, then offered a comforting assurance: “It’s alright, I’ve got you.”
“…”
Ordinarily, Bai Xia would have unleashed a cutting retort, something along the lines of ‘You pedophile, you’re clearly more terrifying than any venomous snake.’ Yet, in this moment, the calm assurance in his voice sent an unexpected shiver through her heart.
For someone to address her with such unwavering confidence during a moment of profound fear did, undeniably, evoke an inexplicable sense of security within her.
While this newfound sense of security originated from Tian Zheng, it did leave her feeling a touch… awkward.
Had she been an ordinary maiden, such a gesture might have stirred her heart, but Bai Xia was anything but ordinary, making her current emotional landscape far more intricate.
Curiously, however, there was no significant aversion.
‘What’s happening to me?’ she mused. ‘Am I being influenced by this body?’
‘I clearly prefer real girls with ample bosoms and long legs,’ she thought. ‘Even after losing my ‘equipment’ (TL Note: A euphemism for male genitalia, referring to Bai Xia’s previous male body), I intended to remain single.’
‘But now, I’m finding solace in another man’s comfort, even feeling a slight… flutter in my heart?’
‘Damn it, does changing bodies really influence one’s thoughts too?!’
‘It seems after logging off, I’ll have to search online for some “fighting for love” videos to rekindle my old self,’ she resolved. ‘Otherwise, if this continues, I fear I’ll truly transform into a soft, demure maiden from the inside out before long!’
The mere thought sent shivers down her spine.
‘I absolutely refuse to be pinned beneath another man, engaging in *that* kind of activity,’ she vehemently thought. ‘It’s utterly repulsive! No way can I accept it.’
‘It’s completely unacceptable. What if, by some accident, a child were to come of it…?’
‘That would be ten thousand times more terrifying than being trapped in a pit of ten thousand snakes!’
With her thoughts completely derailed, Bai Xia momentarily cast aside her fear of the venomous serpents.
The more she pondered, the more she perceived Tian Zheng as a being entirely composed of thorns.
His hand, particularly, supporting her posterior, made her feel as though she were perched upon a bed of needles.
Ultimately, her internal resistance eclipsed her primal fear of the serpents.
Bai Xia gritted her teeth, forcing herself to leap from Tian Zheng’s embrace, then took several steps back under his bewildered gaze. “Ahem, thank you, I’m quite alright now.”
Tian Zheng, quite evidently, had no idea why his simple words had provoked such an intense reaction from her; her gaze, especially, was akin to staring at some formidable beast or raging flood.
Thankfully, he didn’t dwell on it, merely asking with a touch of concern, “Are you truly alright?”
“…Rest assured.”
Bai Xia nodded, yet her gaze remained evasive, for she had suddenly come to a startling realization: in certain respects, Tian Zheng might indeed be far more formidable than any raging flood or monstrous beast!
She couldn’t discern if it was due to their accumulated interactions, but surprisingly, she harbored no significant aversion to Tian Zheng’s various touches.
Her feelings towards Tian Zheng resembled those she held for old friends; once familiarity blossomed, inhibitions vanished.
As a man, such casualness posed no issue, but she was now inhabiting a girl’s body!
In this precise moment, Bai Xia truly grasped the profound meaning of “the difference between men and women,” unequivocally acknowledging her present reality as a female.
What she had consciously suppressed now surged forth, fully reawakened by this seemingly insignificant incident, causing her breath to quicken involuntarily.
“Bai Xia?”
Tian Zheng’s voice roused Bai Xia from her muddled thoughts; she drew a deep breath, then shook her head. “I’m truly fine,” she affirmed.
Gazes at the surrounding Shadow Serpents, Bai Xia found her initial terror had subsided, though their triangular heads still instilled a lingering unease.
However, confronting these Shadow Serpents didn’t necessitate direct combat; she felt confident in her ability to simply evade them.
Tian Zheng cast a long, searching look at Bai Xia; after the others individually confirmed their own well-being, he finally nodded. “Is that so? It’s good that you’re alright.”
“…Mm, well, thank you for earlier, anyway.”
Gripping the dagger in her hand, Bai Xia gently closed her eyes and drew a deep breath. When she opened them again, her composure had returned, at least outwardly, showing no further emotional fluctuations.
Tian Zheng offered no reply, and indeed, the surrounding Shadow Serpents had no intention of granting them further time for conversation. Another wave of attacks surged forward, even more numerous than the last!
Fortunately, a surge of shame ignited courage within Bai Xia, and Tian Zheng was no longer burdened with blindly maneuvering while carrying her. Consequently, the entire squad felt considerably more at ease confronting the Shadow Serpents.
Yet, with the escalating numbers of Shadow Serpents, the team inevitably began to sustain damage.
Dream Butterfly, the priest, and Qian Zhong, whose speed was far from exceptional, became prime targets for the onslaught. Though Qian Zhong valiantly parried the majority of attacks with his massive shield, both suffered considerably.
Ultimately, it was only through Qian Qiao’s fiery support and Tian Zheng’s timely interventions that they navigated this second stage, emerging shaken but unharmed; without such aid, they would have been left critically wounded, if not entirely defeated.
During this ordeal, Bai Xia was also caught in the periphery of several Shadow Serpent self-detonations, losing a significant amount of health. However, after enduring countless assaults from these venomous creatures, she found herself growing somewhat numb to their presence.
At the very least, should she encounter serpentine monsters again, while fear might still grip her, it likely wouldn’t paralyze her hand from wielding her blade.
In essence, despite the numerous frights, this trial ultimately proved to be a valuable experience for Bai Xia.
Yet, beyond the increased resistance to serpents, her heart was plunged into even deeper confusion.
****
The second stage of the trial, besieged by serpents, had presented considerable challenges, yet they had ultimately emerged safely, though not without a few scares.
While everyone noticed Bai Xia’s subsequent distraction, no one pressed her for details.
In the third stage of the Fairy’s Trial, they confronted elemental golems arrayed in intricate formations.
Within a confined arena, these elemental golems attacked with predictable patterns; though invulnerable, mere survival for a set duration constituted victory.
In their desperate quest to decipher the patterns, they dodged with frantic, clumsy movements, frequently skirting the precipice of instant defeat. Eventually, they barely scraped through, yet only Bai Xia, Qian Qiao, and Tian Zheng emerged from the trial.
Qian Zhong’s towering, robust physique proved utterly useless against the golem formations; coupled with his unremarkable movement speed, even as a tank, he couldn’t withstand the coordinated assaults of Level 18 monsters for more than a few blows, especially since everyone had just recently departed the新手村 (TL Note: newbie village; a starting area in an MMORPG).
Dream Butterfly’s elimination stemmed from similar circumstances; as a priest, she currently possessed no skills for dodging or instantaneous movement, and her inherent fragility, akin to paper, meant that without Qian Zhong’s protection, a single blow from an elemental golem spelled instant defeat.
Fortunately, their sacrifices were not in vain; it was through their valiant efforts that Bai Xia and the remaining team members successfully deciphered the elemental golems’ attack and evasion patterns, allowing them to advance to the next stage.
The fourth stage presented them with Mad Treants as the guardian monsters, all at Level 20!
Though immobile, these Treants possessed absurdly high health and defense, and their surrounding vines writhed with tentacle-like agility, rendering any direct approach impossible.
However, Qian Qiao’s fire magic happened to be the bane of the Treants; upon impact, it ignited them, inflicting continuous scorching damage. Coupled with the Treants’ immobility, they ultimately succumbed to the trio’s relentless assault.
The final stage, the most formidable of them all.
The guardian monsters included four Elemental Spirits, whose levels had been elevated to 20 and whose appearances had become grotesquely twisted, alongside a Level 22 elite BOSS—the Thunder Knight!
Ultimately, everyone was annihilated by the Thunder Knight’s immense area-of-effect lightning strike.
Covering nearly half the map, the thunderous onslaught, combined with a staggering ten-level difference, ensured instant obliteration upon contact.