Chapter 43: Loss of Soldiers and Generals

  More dangerous than a Blade Maze is the combination of a Blade Array + Pitfall!

  Their path ahead was no longer a flat stone road, but a pit filled with sharp blades. Once they fell into the at least ten-meter-deep pit, it would be certain death for them with their current attributes. Although the length of a single pit was only five meters, it was not difficult for them to jump over with their physical attribute transformation. But what if three pits appeared in a row?

  What was presented before the new-borns of Tianhui was such a situation: three parallel, inverted pits with countless sharp blades!

  Between the pitfalls, only a foothold of less than half a meter wide is left. When jumping, if you're not careful, you might lose your balance due to inertia and fall headfirst into the pit in front of you. What's even more deadly is that above the pitfalls are also gleaming knife-like flying wheels.

  A pair of huge white blades flew back and forth in a fixed trajectory between three pitfalls. Above each pit, at a slightly lower height, there was also a smaller gray blade. The drastically different trajectories and speeds made this section of the pitfall a deadly path full of fatal killing intent. However, wanting to return to the ground, they had no other route to choose from, and could only continue to charge forward.

  Before entering the college, Hu Shiming often encountered such a mechanism in adventure-type single-player games. The characters in the game were not afraid and could save infinitely, so passing through was naturally easy and pleasant. But now, when he needed to face it personally, Hu Shiming didn't have any excitement at all.

  Such a difficulty, for him who was still an ordinary person just one month ago, is really a bit too stimulating!

  "Who's first?"

  Looking at the countless blades below the pit, Zhao Feng's palms were sweating with tension. He asked others with some guilt, apparently having no intention of being the first to explore.

  "I'll go first."

  As the team's morale was severely dampened, Hu Siming stepped forward with a determined look on his face and took on this heavy responsibility.

  Due to inertia, height and landing point, the three-segment pit must be jumped continuously at once to succeed. Wanting to come one segment at a time can only get stuck in the middle. Hu Siming raised his head and stared at the trajectory of each knife wheel for a full minute before roughly calculating the distance and orbit in his mind.

  "Are you sure?"

  As Hu Si Ming began his final preparations, Yan Shao Ou beside him asked anxiously. After a moment of hesitation, he said: "If all else fails, just launch a heroic charge. Your displacement skill ignores terrain, right? You should be able to cross the trenches without issue."

  "It's just me of course I can, it's just..."

  Hu Si Ming hesitated for two seconds and still did not adopt Yan Shao Ou's suggestion.

  If he uses his skills directly, then it would be meaningless for him to take the initiative to demonstrate, and it would not have any exploratory effect at all. Moreover, the newly born blue return speed is really too slow, a heroic charge would consume 50 points, Hu Si Ming was somewhat reluctant to give up.

  Although he was only 50% sure in his heart, he still took a firm three-step run-up and jumped out with all his might when the white blade wheel and gray blade wheel flew to the end in tandem!

  The first five-meter-wide pit was jumped over, and Hu Siming accurately grasped the distance. When his feet landed on the landing point between the pits, he suddenly exerted force, using inertia to jump again. Because the timing was extremely good, after rolling sideways in mid-air, the gray blade wheel above the second pit was also dodged. After jumping over this five-meter-wide pit again, Hu Siming only needed to clear the last section to pass safely.

  But it was this last jump that encountered a bit of danger!

  The white blade wheel at the top was fixed in its trajectory and was accurately avoided by Hu Sui Ming. However, the last gray blade wheel on the pit had a speed that suddenly accelerated and decelerated. When Hu Sui Ming jumped to the highest point, it was clearly one meter behind him, but suddenly accelerated and cut fiercely into his shoulder.

  Has anyone ever experienced the feeling of a chainsaw cutting through their scapula?

  The sound of crunching and chewing is estimated to be extremely "wonderful", making it unforgettable for a lifetime!

  Hu Si Ming had only seen it in horror movies before, but today he personally experienced it. The pain that pierced his bones made him unbearable to let out a miserable cry. If not for the attribute-ized body, he suspected that half of his shoulder would directly disappear and die on the spot.

  Fortunately, the damage from the gray wheel's slash wasn't that high. Although it looked quite miserable, his HP had only dropped by less than sixty points. The 10% chance of a critical hit also didn't trigger an instant kill.

  Bang!

  With a dull thud, Hu Si Ming successfully landed at the end of the pit, having narrowly escaped the Blade Maze. He finally let out a sigh of relief and cheered.

  Not long ago, he had just obtained the Frost Ball and his strength had increased greatly. He came up with some seemingly correct conclusions in a very pretentious manner. For example, the purpose of the college was to make them stronger and so on. However, after experiencing the dangerous Blade Labyrinth, Hu Shiming decided to take back his previous words. Because, indeed, the risk of the unified exam was a bit high...

  He added some treatment to himself and panted for a while. He sat up from the ground and beckoned to the people on this side of the pit.

  Although Hu Siming encountered some unexpected situations at the last moment, his successful passing still gave Zhao Feng and others great confidence. After patiently observing for a while, Zhao Feng and Yan Shao Ou learned from Hu Siming's experience and also broke through the extreme three consecutive jumps!

  Among the five people, only Zhang Hao and Liu Feng were left.

  "So why don't they include obesity when repairing physical defects during a physical examination?"

  Zhang Hao stood at the edge of the pit, hesitating for a moment, and then loudly scolded the academy. He finally made up his mind and started to sprint and jump. The first two jumps looked perfect, and the three people who had already passed were secretly cheering him on. However, just as he was about to clear the hurdle, the gray knife wheel's trajectory changed randomly again. Zhang Hao let out a miserable cry as he lost his balance after being hit by the knife wheel from the side, and fell into the dark pit one meter away from safety.

  "Pffft!"

  Innumerable blades pierced through flesh, and a dozen or so blood flowers burst forth.

  Extremely high damage, instantly reducing Zhang Hao's life value to zero. His body turned into countless light points and disappeared. His soul was recorded by the school emblem and transmitted back to the academy's resurrection cemetery.

  Battlefield Alert: Team Tianhui has lost one member!

  "How could it be!"

  The sudden change of events left Zhao Feng, who had a good relationship with Zhang Hao, stunned. His friend was just within arm's reach when he fell into the pit, not killed by the Nightmares team's repeater, nor threatened by the Mummy, but ultimately killed by the Blade Maze Trap in such a way!

  For a moment, Zhao Feng couldn't accept this cruel reality. He lay on the ground and looked into the pit, as if he wanted to see the culprit who killed Zhang Hao, but unfortunately, he only saw dense, inverted, cold blades.

  "Calm down! Calm down!"

  Hu Si Ming did not expect to lose a teammate here, but his two years of professional competition in the real world had taught him how to deal with all sorts of unexpected situations. Quickly calming down, he pulled Zhao Feng up from the ground and comforted him, "This time's unified exam has its death penalty reduced, and Zhang Hao also got a reward for increasing combat evaluation. Even if we go back, at most it'll just deduct two or three years of our lifespan. Don't worry, we're a team, we're a TEAM! As long as the team wins, even if he dies, he can still get the unified exam victory reward!"

  After being comforted by Hu Si Ming like this, Zhao Feng quickly calmed down.

  "What you said is right, I was too flustered."

  Companion didn't really die, and Zhao Feng was revitalized, his fighting spirit became even more determined. Must rush back to the ground, win the unified exam victory!

  Seeing Zhao Feng's state return, Hu Siming finally breathed a sigh of relief. However, due to the stimulation of Zhang Hao's death, Liu Feng, who already had a shadow over the knife wheel, became even more fearful. She knelt on the other side of the pit and refused to jump over.

  After half a minute of ineffective persuasion, Hu Shiming couldn't afford to waste any more time and finally switched to an intimidating tone: "Think carefully for yourself, are you going to sit there waiting for death or take a risk and try once? I'll only give you ten seconds, if you don't jump, the three of us will leave and leave you here alone!"

  "Goodbye!"

  Hu Si Ming's toughness had an unexpected effect. Liu Feng didn't want to be left alone in the dimly lit underground tomb, so she gritted her teeth, stomped her foot, and jumped over with her eyes half-closed.

  Perhaps she was luckier, and the first two jumps were successfully cleared. In the last jump, although it was also turned into a gray knife wheel, Hu Siming and Zhao Feng, who had been prepared early, stood at the edge of the pit and stretched out their hands to pull her back from the brink of death.

  Rescue teammate successful!