Bizarre Voyage: Summoning The Fourth Crisis

Watching Brother Yu’s jump, Li Miao’s heart leaped into his throat.

THUD!

Brother Yu’s jumping ability was more than enough, and he quickly landed on the first section of the broken path.

Just as they had anticipated, the downward slope of the path meant he couldn’t stop his momentum. He began to slide, and the heavy Law Knight Armor he wore only made him go faster.

SHINK!

He plunged his Candlefire Longsword straight into the ground, forcibly halting his slide.

Then, he stood up steadily and nodded at Faraway and Li Miao.

”Come on.”

Seeing this, the other two no longer hesitated.

Faraway quickly leaped across, also using his dagger to land smoothly.

When it was Li Miao’s turn, he took a deep breath, drew his Candlefire Scimitar, and followed them with a powerful jump.

But, just an instant before he leaped, the faint rumbling sound suddenly grew louder.

However, Li Miao was already committed to the jump; he couldn’t worry about it now.

Mid-air, he had already drawn his Candlefire Scimitar, ready to stop his impending slide.

But at that very moment...

CRASH!

A long, withered hand suddenly slammed down from a crevice in the cliff face above!

With a dull thud, Brother Yu and Faraway saw Li Miao, still in mid-air, let out a muffled grunt before vanishing along with the hand that had crashed down.

[DEATH]

A pile of Wax Ash appeared on the cliff edge where he had jumped from.

”...” said Brother Yu.

”...” said Faraway.

”Damn it!”

Li Miao’s Wandering Soul slowly rose, a dark expression on its face as it started cursing.

”These damn developers! I knew something was off, that it wouldn’t be that simple. And sure enough, they were waiting for me right here!”

”If you’d jumped earlier, this might not have happened.” Brother Yu chuckled. ’Why am I so happy to see this kid have such bad luck?’ he wondered.

”There’s a Spirit Candle ahead,” Faraway said, then looked at Li Miao. ”But you should probably start over from the beginning. It’ll be hard to pick up your Wax Ash otherwise.”

Jumping from a lower slope to a higher one would certainly be difficult, so Li Miao had no choice but to run the whole course again.

As he spoke, Faraway leaped again, landing on the next section of the cliff path and lighting the Spirit Candle.

This time, the freakishly fast hand did not appear.

Brother Yu followed, jumping across as well.

Meanwhile, Li Miao quickly resurrected and came running back.

By the time he arrived, he was already slightly out of breath. Having learned his lesson, he immediately took a running leap and landed successfully.

This success finally put him in a slightly better mood.

’It’s just a jumping puzzle. Nothing to be afraid of,’ Li Miao thought.

Soon, the three of them began a new series of jumps.

Fortunately, although the hand that emerged from the crevice was incredibly fast, its appearance was preceded by a telltale sign: the sudden increase in the rumbling noise.

As long as they remained calm, acted cautiously, and paid attention to the surrounding sounds, it wasn’t too big of a problem.

Still, the unlucky Li Miao died two more times, and Brother Yu died once.

After navigating more than a dozen of these broken paths, they finally reached a point where there were no more.

Li Miao heaved a sigh of relief.

After lighting the Milestone Spirit Candle at the end, the three continued forward.

Perhaps because of their lower elevation, the sounds of battle from the battlefield grew louder and louder.

After advancing for a while longer, they were close to the ground. The same kind of cliff crevices that had created the broken path appeared before them again.

This time, however, they didn’t need to jump. They were only a few meters from the ground, and the crevice was just a shallow fissure, not a deep chasm.

”I’m gonna see what the hell is in here!”

The sight of the damned crevice enraged Li Miao. He hefted his Law Knight’s Greatsword and walked straight into it.

Seeing this, Brother Yu and Faraway followed him inside.

RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE!

Li Miao had barely stepped into the crevice when a tremendous noise echoed, and a giant hand descended from above.

This time, however, Li Miao wasn’t helpless in mid-air. Standing firmly on the ground, he raised his Law Knight’s Shield and executed a Block!

CLANG!

The immense shockwave from the successful block instantly disintegrated the withered hand, which vanished without a trace.

However, Li Miao couldn’t find any trace of the culprit. The crevice wasn’t deep, and the giant hand didn’t seem to be part of a living creature, but rather a Skill, like some kind of Combat Magic.

But Li Miao was dead set on finding and dragging out whatever was responsible.

So, they began to thoroughly search all the crevices.

Finally, in front of one of the crevices, Li Miao found the culprit.

It was actually a faceless divine statue, glowing with the light of Spells, one of its hands pressed down.

[Fallen Hand Curse Divine Statue (Half-Damaged)]

[Type: Special Items]

[Effect: Continuously unleashes a Fallen Hand Attack in the direction it faces (Can only operate intermittently in a half-damaged state)]

[Explanation: Although they cannot compare to Warfire, Spells are also a wondrous form of power. They possess the great might to turn the inanimate into the animate.]

Looking at the statue before him...

...Li Miao felt an indescribable frustration. ’How is it just a statue!’

’It would have been better if it was a monster I could hack at to vent my anger!’

”This thing has an item description. Does that mean we can take it?”

Brother Yu said, stepping forward to try and lift it.

However, after trying for a while, he made no progress. Although the thing displayed information, he couldn’t put it in his inventory.

Seeing this, Brother Yu could only shake his head and give up.

It seemed the information was only displayed because the Spirit Candle wanted players to know what the true culprit was.

”Stupid statue, take this!” Li Miao’s Gulard Heavy Strike smashed the divine statue to pieces.

This finally made him feel a little better.

Meanwhile, Brother Yu and Faraway had already moved to the Milestone Spirit Candle and were gazing at the battlefield ahead.

”The Divine Statue Tribe... the Polar Hundred Races... It looks like a war between two large tribes.”

Brother Yu and Faraway had already analyzed the factions involved by observing the two warring sides.

The Divine Statue Tribe had a distinct characteristic: their bodies or skin were more or less covered in ”Spells” that glowed faintly.

This enabled their attacks to manifest various kinds of Warfire, and by combining these two powers, they unleashed even greater might.

The most typical example of this was one particular monster.

[Divine Statue Tribe · Hunting Captain]

[Tier: Embers]

[Level: 12]

[Talent: Spell Affinity]

[Skills: Blood Burning Spell, Power Spell, Taming Spell, Divine Statue Guidance]

[Explanation: The Divine Statue Tribe is a people who live alongside Spells and divine statues. They survive through hunting, gathering, and effective farming, living a slash-and-burn existence in the bitter, cold lands.]

As for their opponents, the Polar Hundred Races, perhaps they couldn’t be called a unified faction.

Among them, they found the names of no fewer than ten individual tribes.

Such as the [Polar · Snow Leopard Hunter], [Polar · White-Furred Barbarian Bear], [Polar · Long-jawed Snake-man], and so on...

The ”Polar” prefix was likely added by the Spirit Candle to make it easier for people to distinguish their faction.

However, judging by this alone, the Polar Hundred Races would most likely be no match for the Divine Statue Tribe.

This was because the Divine Statue Tribe’s forces included several heavy hitters.

[Giant Spell Stone Statue]

[Tier: Embers]

[Level: 20]

[Talent: Spell Core]

[Skills: Vibrating Spell, Trample, Heavy Hammer, Horizontal Sweep]

[Explanation: A treasured ancient heritage. It is unknown how many years this ancient statue has existed. There is only ever one reason for its activation... War!]

In addition to this standard Spell Stone Statue, the Divine Statue Tribe had several other Spell Stone Statues on the battlefield. Every move their heavy bodies made caused widespread slaughter.

In response, the Polar Hundred Races were not to be outdone. They also had beings among them capable of contending with the statues.

[Polar · Burrowing Tatu Beast]

[Tier: Embers]

[Level: 20]

[Talent: Earth’s Blessing]

[Skills: Earth Digging, Big Pit, Giant Vibration]

[Explanation: A friendly Giant Beast of the polar regions. On a normal day, it just likes to dig big pits and cause the occasional earthquake, mudslide, or avalanche.]