My Dating Sim Just Got an Update - Chapter 67

Over the past few days at the base, Ren Chenxi hadn’t spent much time practicing her marksmanship, but she had still managed to grind her shooting skill up to level 8. The octopus monster was within 80 meters of her, and Mu Ning was even closer.

Currently, Mu Ning was pinned down by the monster’s relentless barrage of attacks. To give Mu Ning a chance to escape, Ren Chenxi had to draw the beast’s attention. She launched an SSR Explosion card at the octopus’s massive head. It successfully shaved off 20% of its health, causing the monster to stop its assault on the shield and lash out its tentacles in a blind rage, trying to find the hidden enemy.

Seizing the moment, Ren Chenxi applied a Critical Hit card to herself and hurled another SSR Explosion card. This time, the octopus’s health plummeted by another 40%.

These consecutive hits pushed the octopus into a total frenzy. Ignoring Mu Ning, whose defense it couldn’t seem to break anyway, the monster thrashed its eight massive tentacles and began crawling toward Ren Chenxi’s position.

The octopus had finally let go of Mu Ning, but Mu Ning wasn’t about to let go of the octopus. Seeing the beast move away, Mu Ning seemed to sense an opening; she whipped out eight vine lashes, stabbing them ruthlessly into the octopus’s giant body.

This crazy woman!!!

Ren Chenxi had hoped Mu Ning would use the gap to run, but instead, she was pulling aggro again! With no choice left, Ren Chenxi threw her final SSR Explosion card. Then, she sprinted toward Mu Ning with every ounce of strength she had. Before Mu Ning could launch another attack, Ren Chenxi grabbed her hand and began running for their lives toward a small car parked further down the beach.

Mu Ning’s group had taken the bus earlier, and their van was in Ren Chenxi’s inventory, so this car must have been what Mu Ning used to get here. Given that it took an hour by off-road vehicle to reach this spot, Ren Chenxi refused to believe she had come here on foot!

“Ren Chenxi?” When her hand was suddenly grabbed, Mu Ning’s first instinct was to squeeze back with a wary grip, but the soft touch of the palm made her realize who it was.

“What are you standing there for? Your shield has less than eight minutes left! Run!!!” Ren Chenxi could clearly see the shield buff icon next to Mu Ning’s health bar, ticking down second by second.

“Shield? Why can’t I see it? Did you give it to me? Is that why I can’t see you either? But why can I see everything else?” Jerked forward by Ren Chenxi, Mu Ning stumbled briefly before finding her rhythm.

“Stop asking so many questions!” Ren Chenxi snapped, pulling her along. Noticing that Mu Ning’s speed was much lower than her own, she slapped an Acceleration card on her. “What’s more important, curiosity or your life? There’s a Level 8 octopus chasing us!”

The moment the SR Acceleration card took effect, Mu Ning felt her feet grow light, and her speed doubled. She immediately guessed that Ren Chenxi had done something again. However, at the mention of a “Level 8” octopus, Mu Ning instinctively looked back. To her surprise, the monster had stopped chasing.

“It’s not following us. Why?”

At Mu Ning’s observation, Ren Chenxi looked back as well. Having taken several vine stabs and three SSR Explosion cards, the octopus’s health bar was now below 20%. Realizing its life was in danger, the monster was hesitating, seemingly afraid to continue the pursuit. “It’s badly wounded. It probably won’t chase us. Let’s.”

Ren Chenxi was about to suggest they retreat to safety so she could perform another thirty ten-draws before finishing the beast, but Mu Ning stopped in her tracks and turned around to study the creature. “You’re right. It’s lost its energy, and the pressure it’s exerting isn’t as strong as before…”

“What are you doing?” Ren Chenxi tugged at her again, but this time, Mu Ning didn’t budge. “Stop being crazy. Let’s get to safety so I can prepare more… stuff, and then we’ll come back.”

“There’s no time! If we wait, it’ll escape into the sea!” Mu Ning gently pried her hand away and looked at Ren Chenxi with serious eyes. “You really want that Level 8 crystal, don’t you? Since it’s already dying, I’ll see if I can kill it right now!”

“Mu Ning! You really are insane! You’re a Level 5! How could you…” Mu Ning’s attacks were like scratches to the octopus; how could she possibly take out the remaining 20%?

“Don’t worry. Didn’t you say the shield has eight minutes left? I’ll try to kill it within those eight minutes. If I can’t, we’ll run!” With that, Mu Ning charged back toward the monster.

“Who’s worried about you?! You lunatic!” Ren Chenxi stomped her foot in frustration. She wanted to leave this crazy woman behind, but seeing Mu Ning fearlessly engage the behemoth again, she found she couldn’t move a single step away.

With the Acceleration buff, Mu Ning was not only running faster, but her vine lashes were piercing the octopus with increased frequency. The octopus had been debating whether to flee, but these persistent, “weak” attacks infuriated it once more. It lunged at Mu Ning.

As a Level 8 creature, its intelligence had clearly increased along with its rank. It could feel that Mu Ning’s attacks weren’t doing much real damage. The true threat had been those three massive explosions from Ren Chenxi. The octopus decided that before retreating to the sea to heal, it would kill and eat this tiny human to replenish its strength!

Seeing the giant tentacles flailing at Mu Ning again, Ren Chenxi reluctantly used an Invisibility card on her. Consequently, while Mu Ning herself vanished, her ten long vines remained hovering in mid-air, making her position painfully obvious.

With only six minutes of shield time left, Ren Chenxi frantically opened her card draw panel. She had two SR Explosion cards left; if she could just draw three more, she could synthesize an SSR card and end this!

First ten-draw: 1 R Explosion card, 5 Grease cards, 4 Outfit cards. Time was too tight to synthesize N cards into R cards, so she spent more crystals on another ten-draw. This time: 1 R Acceleration, 3 Grease, 3 Flash, 3 Outfit.

In the distance, the floating vines were locked in a death struggle with the giant beast. Ren Chenxi’s heart was pounding against her ribs, but she gritted her teeth and drew again.

Finally! Two R Explosion cards in one go. She ignored the rest and synthesized the five R Explosion cards into an SR card.

Two more SR cards to go. Keep drawing!!!

Seven more ten-draws followed. Thank goodness—she drew one SR Explosion card directly, followed by 3 R Explosions, 2 R Accelerations, and 1 R Crit.

She just needed two more R Explosions to complete an SSR card! She began synthesizing her 27 Outfit cards, but she had only produced one R Crit card when she noticed the sounds of the struggle were moving away. Looking up, she saw the floating vines leading the octopus further down the beach to her left.

What is she doing now?! Calculating the remaining shield time, it had to be almost up! Why wasn’t she coming back? Was it because she couldn’t find Ren Chenxi while invisible?

Ren Chenxi abandoned the synthesis and ran toward the vines. As she ran, she hurled a Flash card at the octopus. Given the length of the vines, Mu Ning was definitely more than five meters away from the monster’s body, so she wouldn’t be affected by the blindness.

A burst of blinding light erupted. The octopus began flailing its tentacles in a panic. Sensing danger, it started spraying massive clouds of ink while retreating toward the ocean. The ink covered a huge area, but since it wasn’t aimed at her, Ren Chenxi was fine—though the sand where the vines were hovering was instantly blackened.

Seeing the monster about to escape, Ren Chenxi sprinted even faster, hoping to grab Mu Ning. But within seconds, the octopus was entangled again by vines covered in barbs.

Ten vines were pulled taut in the air. Ren Chenxi could sense Mu Ning straining, using every bit of strength to prevent the monster’s escape.

Ren Chenxi didn’t want the octopus to get away either, but she was horrified to see the shield icon next to Mu Ning’s health bar entering its final countdown.

“Mu Ning! Let’s go! I don’t want the crystal anymore! Your shield is about to expire!”

“Wait… just a little longer! I can feel it… it’s almost at its limit…”

Mu Ning’s voice came through the air, ragged and breathless. Ren Chenxi realized she was dangerously overextending her energy.

“Forget the octopus, you’re going to collapse…” Before she could finish, a massive tentacle slammed down.

The Flash blindness ended, and so did Mu Ning’s shield. While the shield was gone, Ren Chenxi had plenty of Flash cards left. Dodging the strike, she threw another Flash card. Simultaneously, she noticed the octopus’s health: it was down to 13%! Mu Ning’s assault had been incredibly fierce.

As the octopus thrashed, finally breaking free of the vines to make a final run for the water, Ren Chenxi activated an SR Crit card and threw her last SR Explosion card.

The Crit-boosted SR card shaved off another 4% of its health. It meant a single SR Explosion card dealt 2% damage to the beast!

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