My future updates weekly.

Chapter 102 The Dark Side of the Real World

The darkness, devoid of light, was filled with the stench of death and decay, making one feel deeply uneasy.

A flame ignited, illuminating the surrounding scene.

A moldy corridor, mottled walls, broken windows, neatly arranged tables and chairs, and a stained nameplate at the door—[Year? Class?]

Is this... a school?
Jiang He was prepared to fight in places like abysses and cliffs, but he never expected to see this scene.

Behind him were two girls who had been teleported there together.

Among them, Xiao Xue scanned her surroundings by the light, her eyes also showing surprise.

"Weren't we supposed to be entering the abyss? How did we end up in the mirrored city where we did the combat test before?"

"This isn't just the Mirror City, it's the 'Abyss'." Chi Zhilei clearly knew more. She explained, "My dad said that the entrance to the Abyss above the Mirror City not only has a bottomless main tunnel, but also countless branch passages of varying sizes on the surface."

"Deep within these branch tunnels are countless small spaces with scenes resembling reality."

"The confined space was filled with many terrifying demons, quite similar to those in ghost stories, and they were full of hostility towards humans..."

"Because of these signs, the instructors suspect that the 'Abyss' may represent the dark side of the real world, born from the instinctive fear of life... These spaces are also reflections of reality from different periods, and there are even ancient scenes..."

"However, this information is currently only speculation, so it has not been released."

The dark side of the world? A concrete manifestation of the fear of life?

It seems reasonable.

The bat demon that Jiang He encountered initially looked remarkably similar to the demons preached by the ancient Western church.

However, the Lin Yuan Strait was formed, and the abyss first appeared at the end of 1968.

It appeared much, much later than the "demon" image.

If this isn't a prophecy or a coincidence, then it really does match the instructors' guesses.

Jiang He was just about to ask how far the instructors had progressed in their exploration...

At that moment, a very slight friction sound rang out in the distance.

The three immediately stopped communicating and became more vigilant.

They entered the abyss to hunt demons and complete their combat training.

If you want to chat, let's talk when we get back.

At this moment, the three of them released their mental energy, not only using their five senses but also using their minds to "observe" the world.

After undergoing a spiritual transformation, a Class D superhuman's mental perception range greatly increases, extending not only to the corridor and classrooms but also to the outside of the corridors and the three floors above and below.

Jiang He discovered that this was indeed a "strange space"—

Beyond the walls of the corridor lies not normal space, but an endless expanse of rock.

It was as if the school building wasn't built on the ground, but buried underground.

Meanwhile, the three floors upstairs and the three floors downstairs have the exact same layout and style, as if they were copied and pasted, with no end in sight.

In the “empty” classroom, strange figures hung from the ceiling.

They resembled teru teru bozu (Japanese folk dolls), draped in tattered gray cloth, wearing smiling masks, with deep black eyes and mouths, silently watching the three people through the wall.

The sound the three had just heard was the sound of a "smiling demon" swaying its body and making contact with the person next to it in the classroom in the distance.

"So many demons?"

Tell the truth.

The sight of so many silent, smiling demons hanging in the pitch-black classroom was truly terrifying.

However, after Jiang He and his two companions were initially surprised, what followed was...

excited.

Scared?
If something can produce a sound when rubbed, it means that it has a physical presence and can be attacked normally.

Moreover, even if they are spirits, the three superhumans are not lacking in attack methods.

Furthermore, they have already recorded the essence of life, meaning they cannot die, and as long as they eliminate demons, they can obtain materials and battle evaluations...

How could we possibly be afraid of these pretentious demons?

Therefore, the instant the enemy was swept away, Jiang He had a sudden thought, and directly pulled out a tarot card from the air, crushing it in one swift motion.

The Tarot card "The World" provides an boost to all attributes.

Cards, please!

Xiao Xue, standing to the side, is a physical combat-type superhuman with few buff skills; her abilities are mostly passive and active.

She appeared quiet and reserved, but at that moment she was even faster, stomping hard on the ground and disappearing from her spot. When she reappeared, she was already inside the classroom.

Hanging from the ceiling, dozens of smiling masks turned around in unison, looking at her.

She showed no fear, but instead swung her right foot—

The shoes and socks were torn, but what appeared instead of snow-white jade feet was a gleaming, sharp blade!
Grade B talent: Blade Limbs.

Melee physical talent allows one to transform their hands and feet into indestructible blades; it has few mechanics, only pure, extreme numerical values.

Furthermore, with the S-rank pathway of her job change, [Immortal], her stats were enhanced to the extreme. Countless blades appeared, and everything in the entire classroom was shredded to pieces.

Only the walls and the ground remained undamaged, as if frozen in time with the surrounding space.

The smiling demons, sliced ​​to pieces by the blades, revealed their "bodies" beneath as the gray rags tore apart—nothing but darkness.

These demons were made up of nothing but heads, masks, and rags!
At this moment, the tattered cloths did not scatter, but automatically healed, just like the blow that had just struck, which had no effect whatsoever.

"Physical attacks are ineffective; the mask is the core component, and its individual strength is only D-level, which is very weak."

Xiao Xue spoke quickly.

After one test, she had learned the strength of these demons.

However, regarding their specific abilities, it's still unclear...

Just as the thought crossed her mind, the smiling demons in the classroom moved.

Not only them, but also the smiling demons on this layer, and even several layers above and below, began to sway at the same time, with bursts of laughter coming from under their smiling masks.

It sounded like sarcasm, mockery, and ridicule, and was extremely grating.

The laughter mingled together, creating a strong resonance that echoed throughout the space, causing the three to turn pale and experience splitting headaches.

Amidst the excruciating mental anguish, Xiao Xue finally came to her senses.

These demons are the type that use mental attacks!

Furthermore, they can coordinate attacks for group strikes!
The three of them are now like trapped beasts, surrounded on all sides. Even if they immediately eliminate one room full of smiling demons, it won't solve the problem...

How to do this?
Just as she was racking her brains, a voice rang out.

"Quiet"

The laughter abruptly stopped as the power of the words was released.

The surroundings fell silent instantly, and even the echoes disappeared.

Xiao Xue relaxed.

Oh, right, there's a strong player in the team.

With an all-powerful Word Power user around, why should we fear being targeted?
In the corridor, Jiang He also breathed a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, he worked hard enough last week and drew more than a thousand E-level spells before his talent for using words disappeared.

Although these incantations are not of a high level, they cover all aspects... Otherwise, with only eight inherent incantations, these laughs would be really hard to deal with.

At this moment, under the amplified and powerful spell effect.

No matter how hard these smiling demons tried, they couldn't utter a single laugh.

Upon realizing this, they changed—

The corners of the mouth droop, the corners of the eyes slant, the brows are furrowed, and the color turns red.

In an instant, they went from smiling faces to angry faces.

These angry-faced demons flew down from the ceiling, like flying barbarians with sharp teeth and claws, and crashed straight into Xiao Xue, as if they wanted to devour her alive!
At the same time, the angry-faced demons from the surrounding classrooms, and even those on the floors above and below, also left their classrooms and flew quickly down the stairs, filling the entire corridor!

(End of this chapter)