Just how strong are A-rank monsters?

That was the question on everyone's mind. They were all beginner players, and the highest among them was merely Beginner–9. No one among them had ever fought an A-rank monster head-on.

In the daily instances chosen by beginner players, the strongest enemies were at most elite B-rank monsters. Moreover, in forced instances, everyone's goal was simply to survive. No one ever thought about confronting an A-rank monster directly.

Only Mo Bai was different.

She had no choice.

Right after clearing her first instance, she had already provoked the Phantom Butterfly, so before entering the instance, Mo Bai had simulated countless times in her mind what an A-rank monster might be like.

Fortunately, her only friend in Peach Blossom Land, Gu Tiandong, had witnessed the power of an A-rank monster.

In an extremely difficult forced instance, a player had violated the rules and enraged the A-rank Boss monster. Gu Tiandong had personally witnessed the monster slaughter players mercilessly, yet he was powerless to save anyone.

He could only rely on his appearance value to protect himself by enduring three full days as ice after the duration of Keep Your Distance ended. (T/N: GT's ability creates a frost barrier, while his title turns his whole body into impenetrable ice.)

It was precisely because of this that Gu Tiandong lost his original teammates.

The teammates who died in that instance were a loss of life. Seeing that he was the only survivor, those who hadn't entered the forced instance abandoned him after they realized that the observation group was nothing more than decorative vases.

Vases that could only save themselves.

From then on, Gu Tiandong was alone.

He thought that one day, he would die anyway. Perhaps in the next forced instance, he would die at the Count's hands.

The Count's Castle had a seven-day time limit. Longer than the duration of "Frozen Angel." Before meeting Mo Bai, Gu Tiandong was convinced that he would die in this instance.

But then Mo Bai appeared before him, bringing along a mountain of trouble and a spark of hope.

She told Gu Tiandong that she would live freely, using every method she could. She wanted to live, yet she wasn't that afraid of death.

She wanted not just to live, but to live well.

At that moment, Mo Bai's wish became Gu Tiandong's wish.

He suddenly felt that if Mo Bai could survive in such desperate circumstances, then he could too.

Thus, every preparation Gu Tiandong made for this instance was to help Mo Bai.

The Carrier Pigeon was to make it easier to contact her. The Auto-Aiming Handgun and the Magazine were also meant to be used together with Mo Bai as a combo skill. He wanted to protect both himself and Mo Bai with Keep Your Distance, then have Mo Bai remotely control the handgun with her ability.

Gu Tiandong knew that he wasn't helping Mo Bai. He was helping himself through her. Basically, saving himself.

In order to help Mo Bai, he opened the box of his memories and tried his best to recall the strength of A-rank monsters. Under Mo Bai's questioning and guidance, the two of them summarized the capabilities of A-rank monsters together.

He told Mo Bai everything he had seen while frozen in ice. After thinking for a long time, the first thing Mo Bai said shattered Gu Tiandong's fear.

Mo Bai said, "So what's powerful isn't the A-rank monster itself, but an A-rank monster inside its instance. An A-rank monster that leaves its own domain is like a shark in the sky, an eagle in the water, a tiger in the desert, or sandstorms in a jungle. I originally thought that the Phantom Butterfly would be hard to deal with, but after hearing your depictions, I suddenly feel it's pretty stupid. Once it leaves its territory, it can't use its full strength and is suppressed by other instance bosses. Doesn't that make it easy to handle?"

Gu Tiandong was stunned. He hadn't expected Mo Bai to think this way when facing despair.

From the very beginning, Mo Bai had planned to use the Breath Transfer card to lure the Phantom Butterfly to the Count, letting two A-rank monsters fight each other until both were severely injured.

It was only because No. 11 appeared as an unexpected variable that Mo Bai changed her plan.

But that didn't mean she had no way to deal with the Count.

She dared to change plans precisely because she already had a way to defeat him. Therefore, she decided to resolve the Phantom Butterfly problem first.

Through her observations on the first day and the rules inside the Count's room, Mo Bai realized something. Just as the Spatial Blade card described: what's powerful isn't the butler, but the Count's family.

The same was true for the Count. What made him powerful wasn't the Count himself, but his control over the castle. It was the authority accumulated over generations of the Count's lineage.

Why did the Count insist on following the rules? Because once he lost control of the castle, his power would drop drastically. That was why he had to maintain his dignity.

He hid the puppet machine in the basement. Each night, he only dared to enter one room. He didn't dare let the maids and butler see him behave indecently. Overall, he was nothing more than a coward hiding inside his castle.

At lunch on the first day, No. 12 truly died a miserable death.

He had no resistance and was split in two. Everyone could tell it was a spatial ability.

This terrified the beginner players. They believed they couldn't possibly resist such power and thus didn't dare to fight the Count head-on.

But Mo Bai noticed the Count's bluff.

She had always had a question: why did the Count place two hidden monsters among the players?

These hidden monsters were clearly not arranged by the system. They were completely controlled by the Count himself, and he had personally placed them there.

From their behavior, Mo Bai judged that their existence was the Count's "justification." His reason for using the castle's power to kill players.

Mo Bai kept thinking: who made the rules? Why does everyone obey them? Why did Mom keep searching for a family? Why did Dad force himself to form a family with the Homebound Corpse? Why did the Count insist on maintaining dignity? Why, in the Playing House Game, was Mo Bai unable to leave that tiny apartment?

The behavior of the Count and the Phantom Butterfly gave Mo Bai the answer.

It was domain.

The home was a domain. It trapped Dad, Mom, and Mo Bai, but also protected Mo Bai from harm outside the house.

The castle was a domain. It trapped the Count, but also granted him the power of life and death over everyone inside, helping him deal with players and the Phantom Butterfly.

Peach Blossom Land was also a domain. It restrained players' movement, but also granted them resurrection, supernatural abilities, and a world full of adventure and challenge.

Once she reached this conclusion, the answer to why the Count placed hidden monsters among the players became obvious.

He was afraid of the players.

A group of people with special abilities and magical cards invading his domain. How could he not be afraid?

With a simple shift in perspective, Mo Bai understood the Count.

The key was not to see the Count as a monster, but as a player with special abilities and helpers. With that, everything made sense.

He feared the players, so he used rules and the domain's power to eliminate them one by one.

To the Count, fewer players meant greater safety.

Why did the Count care so much about the hidden monsters, have the Phantom Butterfly protect them, and insist on expelling the Phantom Butterfly no matter what once the hidden monsters died?

Because the maids and the butler were not his subordinates. They were loyal servants of the castle and the Count's family, not of the Count himself.

Only the hidden monsters were entirely under the Count's control. They were absolutely obedient, but they were lifeless objects.

This also seemed to explain why the Count wanted a living puppet. He wanted a living human who would absolutely obey him.

Once she understood all this, dealing with the Count no longer seemed difficult.

There were two approaches.

The first was to kill the maids and the butler. This would force the Count to act by appearing in the players' rooms during the daytime and committing indecent acts, such as barging into guest rooms and pulling curtains in front of the maids and butler, thus making him lose control of the castle.

Even if the Count didn't pull the curtains, there were still two hidden monster corpses in Rooms No. 1 and No. 2, as well as the human body model in Mo Bai's possession.

She could present this evidence before the maids and butler and reveal the Count's special hobbies. Exposing that the "honored guests" they served, No. 1 and No. 2, were actually the Count's dolls.

That would strip the Count of his dignity and his control over the castle.

Thus, Mo Bai concluded that when they killed the maids and butler, the Count wouldn't act because he simply didn't dare.

The maids and butler were both his assistants and his shackles.

With their eyes on him, the Count would never dare to go all out.

That was why Mo Bai dared to launch the attack that morning.

And just as she predicted, the Count let them kill the servants without intervening.

Since the first method of stripping him of control failed, Mo Bai moved on to the second.

The second method was to destroy the castle.

Rule Three: You have the power to control the castle, but must not damage its core structure. The castle is old and fragile; too much strain may cause its collapse.

Was Mo Bai's true goal really to burn curtains and smash windows?

No.

Her goal was to make the Count panic and over-manipulate the castle, damaging its core structure and causing it to collapse.

From the very beginning, Mo Bai's target was never the Count. It was the castle itself.

Crash! Ding Xun shattered a window with a single strike. The wooden window frame fell away.

Everyone worked together to destroy the castle's windows, letting sunlight pour in.

With a loud bang, the walls on both sides of the broken window closed in, completely sealing it off.

The window was replaced by a solid wall.

No. 3 and No. 8, who didn't know Mo Bai's plan, panicked and tugged on Ding Xun's clothes. "B-Boss… the Count… he's angry."

"It's fine. That's exactly what we're waiting for," Ding Xun said casually. "You two just protect yourselves and don't die."

Gu Tiandong wouldn't die. He had the strongest single-target defense. If someone dies, it certainly wouldn't be him.

Ye Pingjun wouldn't die either. His luck value was already at -30. If he used Scratch Lottery once more, he could easily reach -40. There was no way he'd die from domain attacks.

Ding Xun wouldn't die. With Super Intuition fully activated, she could avoid any attack, even invisible ones.

The ones who might die were No. 3 and No. 8, but Ding Xun guessed they had life-saving measures. No player entered a forced instance without insurance.

The truly dangerous position, the eye of the storm that bears all of the Count's hatred, was Mo Bai, who was sitting calmly in the very center of the first-floor hall.

She looked small and fragile, her expression stubborn, giving off a sense of brittleness. As if she might shatter with a single poke.

But Gu Tiandong, Ding Xun, and Ye Pingjun all knew that among everyone present, Mo Bai was the most terrifying.

Was Mo Bai really just sitting there doing nothing?

No.

She was violently provoking the Count, dancing on the edge of death.

On the surface, Mo Bai looked pale as she gazed up at the ceiling. But in reality, she was using her ability to relentlessly destroy the castle's foundation.

Mo Bai's ability was Environmental Optimization. In this instance, where domains trumped monsters, her power directly shook the monsters' roots.

Mo Bai could now alter the environment within a 50-meter radius. Her Physical Transformation ability could be used four times consecutively, or five times if overdrawn.

Turning the castle's sturdy foundation into sand and gravel wasn't a Chemical Alteration. It was a simple physical one.

Sitting at the center of the hall, Mo Bai's control range extended 50 meters in all directions, almost covering the entire castle.

Among them, the one most knowledgeable in mathematics and structural mechanics was Ye Pingjun, who had cleared a mathematics instance.

Ding Xun used Super Intuition to identify potential foundation points. Ye Pingjun verified them through calculation, then passed the exact locations to Mo Bai.

A nineteenth-century castle was typically built of stone, granite, limestone, and sandstone. Weathering them wasn't difficult.

Mo Bai altered the physical properties of the foundation at the most suitable points.

She could only change a volume of 5 liters at a time, but that was enough. Structural mechanics was magical. Sometimes destroying just a few critical points was enough to destabilize an entire building.

One… two… three…

When Mo Bai destroyed the third area, the Count finally realized what she was doing.

An inhuman roar echoed from the fourth floor.

Overwhelming pressure crushed down from the ceiling. Space compressed from all directions, determined to grind Mo Bai into dust.

Mo Bai didn't move. With eyes closed, she destroyed the fourth area.

As the spatial pressure descended, a layer of frost enveloped Mo Bai. Gu Tiandong stood beside her, hand resting on her wheelchair, and said firmly, "As long as I'm here, you won't touch her."

Gu Tiandong's deepest pain, even more painful than becoming androgynous, was being constantly forced to flee uselessly. He possessed the strongest defense, yet was consistently unable to protect his teammates.

He felt this world was strangling his soul.

Not just his body. His soul had become a cowardly, decorative clown meant only to be admired.

Mo Bai's appearance was truly wonderful.

She told him, "You can protect. My appearance value isn't low. The two of us together won't weaken your defense. I can attack from afar. I can become your weapon."

You'll be my armor. I'll be your blade.

That was the promise Mo Bai gave Gu Tiandong.

Watching the frost push the terrifying spatial pressure far away, seeing the spatial blade that killed No. 12 only leave shallow marks on the ice barrier, Gu Tiandong finally smiled in relief.

He felt saved.

Mo Bai had turned his ability from a decorative vase into a solid shield.

Looking at the frail girl in the wheelchair, a thought arose in Gu Tiandong's heart:

I want to protect her.

This time, he knew it wasn't Mo Bai's ability influencing him. It was his true desire.

With Gu Tiandong's protection, Mo Bai destroyed the castle's foundation even more recklessly. She had already destroyed five areas, exhausting all her energy. The only bottle of basic nutrient potion she brought into the instance had long been emptied.

But that was fine because she had teammates.

Ding Xun had invested all her attribute points into Constitution. Her ability consumed stamina rather than mental energy, so she didn't need nutrients as much and had already given her bottle to Mo Bai.

Ye Pingjun's ability relied entirely on metaphysics, so nutrients didn't help him much.

Both of their nutrient bottles were now with Mo Bai.

Mo Bai drank one bottle at a time and continued destroying the castle.

Six… seven… eight… nine…

Even if each use destabilized only 5 cubic decimeters of the foundation, repeated use would loosen the entire structure.

The Count was forced to manipulate the castle to fill in the gaps Mo Bai created.

As a result, he could no longer attack Mo Bai, and the pressure on Gu Tiandong dropped sharply.

This allowed Mo Bai to deduce another weakness of the Count: he couldn't manipulate the castle and launch spatial attacks at the same time.

Ding Xun caught the opening instantly. She grabbed No. 3 and No. 8, who were hiding in a corner. "Give me your basic nutrient potions!"

"Huh?" It was the first time they'd encountered such a demand in an instance. Wasn't this robbery?

"What do you mean 'huh'? Hand them over!" Ding Xun roared.

Overwhelmed by her presence, the two handed over their nutrients tremblingly.

The castle was circular. The first-floor hall was extremely tall, directly connected to the fourth floor. The second and third floors circled around the hall, and even the staircases were circular. That was why it took so long to walk from the rooms to the first floor. They had to go halfway around the hall.

The Count didn't want players to see through this structure, so he constantly altered the castle as they headed to meals.

Mo Bai had already seen through the castle's layout using the Prying Lenses. Ding Xun knew that although she was on the second floor, if she kicked down the wall in front of her, she would arrive at the first floor.

So she smashed through the wall with one strike and, standing on the second floor, threw the basic nutrient potions toward Mo Bai on the first floor.

The two bottles collided with the frost barrier. Gu Tiandong immediately used Manipulation Thread to catch them, temporarily dropping his defense while the Count was busy repairing the foundation, and received the bottles.

"Aren't you afraid of breaking them? They're glass bottles!" Gu Tiandong shouted.

"I knew you had the Manipulation Thread," Ding Xun replied.

She, Ye Pingjun, No. 3, and No. 8 had already pulled down all the curtains and destroyed every window they could see. Their task was complete.

All that remained was the Count.

After destroying the tenth foundation point, Mo Bai's energy was depleted again. She drank another nutrient bottle without hesitation, instantly refilling her energy.

At that moment, Xiao Qi shouted in her mind, "Player, you're suicidal! Even if you can keep replenishing energy with nutrients, using your ability consumes your brain! You're overdrawing your soul and life, nutrients can't fix that!"

"It's fine," Mo Bai said calmly. "My soul is stronger than you think."

She even accelerated, destroying five more foundation points in rapid succession.

Her energy was drained again, so Mo Bai drank the third nutrient bottle. Only one bottle remained in her hand.

At that moment, the entire castle began to tremble.

All windows closed at once. Walls sealed off every door, window, and source of light. The lights in the first-floor hall turned on, and the Count appeared from the fourth floor.

The gap-tooth maid inside the Birdcage jumped excitedly when she saw the Count and shouted, "Count, your bow tie isn't tied yet!"

Even at a moment like this, the maid was still reminding him to maintain his dignity.

The Count coldly glanced at her and gently raised his hand.

A spatial blade sliced through both the maid and the Birdcage. The gap-tooth maid fell to the ground as she returned to normal size, never imagining that she wouldn't die at the players' hands, but at the Count's.

Ding Xun tossed aside the destroyed Birdcage and muttered unhappily, "Why is he killing his own subordinates?"

Mo Bai said calmly, "He wasn't attacking the maid. He was attacking the Birdcage. That doesn't count as killing a subordinate. He was maintaining castle order. Irene No. 4 was just an unfortunate maid who died while the Count was purging threats. Her death should be blamed on us."

"You're right," the Count said slowly.

His blood-red eyes fixed on Mo Bai. This girl stirred the deepest savagery in his heart.

At first, he wanted to maintain dignity, but after seeing the castle reduced to this state by a group of ants, he realized dignity no longer mattered.

Once all the maids and the butler were dead, he no longer needed to maintain appearances and could go all out.

As for the lack of servants, new ones could be recruited. There were plenty of low-level monsters in Terror Valley eager to work in the castle.

With the final maid's death, the Count felt oddly relieved. He said, "You humans…"

He wanted to say: You humans are so naïve. Do you think I'd let myself be butchered like this? If I cease caring about dignity and stop fighting you, I'll attack your teammates instead. You'll regret not protecting them. You'll reveal your flaws. I'll kill your friends first and throw you into chaos.

He appeared because he couldn't precisely target someone from his room. He had to see his target.

But before he could finish speaking, Mo Bai raised the handgun and fired a shot at him.

The Count raised a spatial barrier to block the bullet. Distorted space froze it midair.

The Count sneered. "You think you can—"

He wanted to say: You think you can hurt me? In this castle, I'm invincible.

But before he could finish, Mo Bai fired again without hesitation.

The bullet was blocked again.

No. 3 and No. 8 were filled with despair. No matter how hard they struggled, the Count's spatial ability was too powerful. Their attacks couldn't harm him at all.

Interrupted twice, the Count roared, "Even if you destroy the entire castle, I am still Count Leon, bearer of the title "Ruler of Space." Killing you would be effortless!"

But Mo Bai said calmly, "Raising a spatial barrier to block bullets proves he can be injured by bullets. His personal defense is weak. Moreover, he's not using a spatial blade while defending, which proves he's a single-threaded combatant. He can't attack and defend at the same time. Ding Xun!"

Hearing her name, Ding Xun hurried to Mo Bai's side.

Mo Bai placed her hand on Ding Xun's Mountain Splitting Sword, enhancing the item's power and draining her energy completely in one go.

She then raised the gun with one hand and fired a third shot at the Count, while bringing her other hand to her lips to drink the fourth basic nutrient, instantly refilling her energy.

The Count hurriedly raised a spatial barrier to block the bullet.

But this time, he was shocked to discover a gap, about five cubic decimeters, in his barrier!

The size alone told him who did it.

Mo Bai.

Mo Bai quietly looked at him.

The moment she realized his ability was spatial, she pondered on another question: Is space considered part of the environment? Does altering space count as Environmental Optimization? Can my ability break his spatial barrier?

At this moment, her hypothesis was proven.

But space was different from physical objects. It drained Mo Bai's power in a single burst.

But that was fine. She had already opened a gap large enough at the Count's chest.

The Count was focused on blocking the bullet aimed at his temple.

At this moment, he couldn't manipulate the castle, nor could he use spatial attacks.

Ding Xun seized the timing and hurled the Mountain-Splitting Sword that Mo Bai had just temporarily upgraded.

The massive sword had transformed into a golden spear. Even if Mo Bai hadn't opened a gap, this temporarily upgraded A-rank "Heaven-Piercing Spear" possessed the power to shatter spatial barriers!

The Count tried to dodge. His speed was incredible, so physical attacks shouldn't be able to hit him.

But at that moment, the lights in the first-floor hall flickered and went out briefly.

Electrical issues were normal in this old castle. However, a malfunction at a critical moment could affect the Count's vision.

The Count's vision went dark for an instant, and that was enough.

In that split second, the spear struck him!

He did dodge slightly, but not completely. The spear pierced through his left shoulder.

Nearby, Ye Pingjun slammed his fist in frustration. Even with 50 luck points, it still wasn't enough to kill an A-rank monster.

But it didn't matter. Mo Bai could still attack.

She raised the gun and fired the last bullet at the Count.

The heavily injured Count raised another spatial barrier to block it.

But he didn't stop moving; instead, he charged straight at Mo Bai.

He truly couldn't use spatial barriers and spatial attacks at the same time, but he can still use physical attacks!

Even if he died at the players' hands, he would drag Mo Bai down with him. It was because of this woman that he had been reduced to such a miserable state!

The Count's arm extended, transforming into claws as he struck at Mo Bai.

He still had a spatial barrier around him that other players couldn't break.

Mo Bai noticed his movement.

She calmly took Gu Tiandong's hand.

Gu Tiandong understood. Resigned, he closed his eyes and activated the title effect of Frozen Angel, turning into an indestructible ice sculpture.

Gripping Gu Tiandong's hand, Mo Bai swung the human-sized ice sculpture with all her strength, smashing it into the Count.

The solid ice angel could resist spatial attacks and thus had the power to pierce space as well.

The ice sculpture's head smashed through the spatial barrier and went straight through the Count's head.

Already gravely injured, the Count was sent flying. He crashed to the ground, covered in dust, with all dignity gone.

As the Count fell, the castle began to shake violently.

Mo Bai had already hollowed out the foundation in more than ten places. To block sunlight, the Count had shifted the castle's walls repeatedly, tampering with countless load-bearing structures.

With the Count's fall and the loss of control, the castle finally gave way and began to collapse.

Ding Xun dashed to Mo Bai's side, lifted the ice-sculptured Gu Tiandong, and held him overhead.

Seeing how Mo Bai and Ding Xun were using Gu Tiandong, Ye Pingjun sighed silently, feeling a brief moment of pity for him.

He then rushed over and crouched beside Mo Bai's wheelchair.

The three of them used Gu Tiandong's ice sculpture to block the massive stones raining down from above.

Mo Bai looked up at Gu Tiandong, now frozen solid, and said, "This time, you protected everyone."

She spoke with such emotion that tears nearly fell.

Ye Pingjun said dryly, "I don't think Gu Tiandong would necessarily be happy about this."

Is that really how you’re supposed to use a defense ability?