Chapter 220: Miserable Return

Chapter 220: Chapter 220: Miserable Return

"Damn it! Damn it! DAMN IT!!!"

Seraphina Sullivan screamed frantically in her head.

Her body, however, was empowered by the [Bounce] Skill, darting desperately between the crumbling, corroding ruins like a startled rabbit.

From all directions, the dark yellow, constantly writhing and splitting Corrosive Slimes swarmed in like a tide.

Wherever they slithered, even metal and concrete rapidly dissolved.

They left behind a corrosive surface that bubbled and fizzed.

"I hate Slimes!!"

Seraphina Sullivan shouted, grinding her teeth.

Ahead, a small Slime the size of a wild boar blocked her path.

It squirmed rapidly, emitting a nauseating, acrid stench.

Seeing the Slime blocking her only way forward, Seraphina subconsciously lashed out with the [Poisonous Python Black Whip].

She tried to whip it aside to clear a path for herself.

The whip’s shadow moved like a serpent, striking the Slime with precision and sending it flying in an instant!

However, even though she had sent the Slime flying, the moment the body of the whip touched the dark yellow, gelatinous mass—

"HISSS—!"

A sound of corrosion so awful it set her teeth on edge rang out!

Seraphina felt the whip in her hand suddenly lighten.

When she looked closely, she saw the section of the whip’s tip that had touched the Slime was blackening, dissolving, and breaking apart at a visible rate, like an ice cube dropped in strong acid!

Just one touch.

Her long-used weapon, the [Poisonous Python Black Whip], had suffered catastrophic damage!

"Ah!! My whip!!"

Seraphina’s heart ached so much it could have bled. It was such a practical weapon!

She immediately used [Item Identification] to check it.

[Poisonous Python Black Whip (Damaged)]

Status: The body of the whip has been eroded by high-intensity corrosive Energy. The structure is permanently damaged and cannot be repaired. Its Effect is severely weakened; it can only be used as a common rope.

"Aaargh! I hate Slimes even more now!!!" Seraphina was so furious she nearly stamped her feet.

Looking at the whip in her hand, now missing its end and bereft of its spirit, she felt like crying but had no tears to shed.

This meant that for the rest of her escape, she had lost an important tool for ranged attacks and crowd control.

Having lost her whip, Seraphina had to rely more on her [Cleaner] Skills.

She tried casting [Clean Bubble] and [Disinfection Bubble] at the approaching Slimes.

The pure white bubbles landed on the dark yellow ooze, creating an even more intense "TSSSSS" sound.

It was as if they were fighting against a force of contamination, but the effect was just a drop in the ocean.

They could only slightly slow the Slimes’ squirming or purify a negligible trace of corruption from their surfaces.

But they couldn’t inflict any real damage, let alone cleanse them completely like she could with the Sludge Monsters.

The absolute difference in Level was on full display.

Soon, things got even worse.

During one dense encirclement by the Slimes, despite her best efforts to dodge, Seraphina was grazed on the outside of her left calf by a small Slime that ambushed her from the side!

"Aargh—!!"

An intense, searing pain, as if from a combination of sulfuric acid and a branding iron, shot through her.

The pain was so great that Seraphina couldn’t help but howl!

She could even smell the charred scent of her own flesh corroding!

The protection from her [Parasitic Windbreaker] was clearly inadequate against this level of corrosion.

Seraphina gritted her teeth against the piercing pain and instantly materialized an Energy Sword in her right hand.

The faintly glowing Energy Sword Tip precisely flicked away the piece of Slime stuck to her leg.

But the part of the Energy Sword’s blade that touched the corrosive substance also dimmed and dissipated rapidly.

Fortunately, since it was an Energy construct from the [Quick Sewing] Skill, she could just reform it as long as she had enough spiritual power.

The next three hours became Seraphina’s longest and most pathetic grand escape since entering the Doomsday Game.

Seraphina cycled through almost every useful Skill she had learned:

[Singing] was an attempt at interference, but it had little effect on the Slimes, which had no discernible auditory organs.

The Energy Sword materialized by the [Quick Sewing] Skill was actually quite useful, flicking away any Slimes that got too close.

The Control effect of [Sweet Fragrance]? Even if it could control a few, it was useless against the overwhelming tide of the Slime horde.

The essence of [Butcher’s Skill] was to find Weaknesses and strike a fatal blow, but against a puddle of muck that only Split into more when struck and whose core was protected by a divine nature, it was completely useless.

[Bounce] became her most-used life-saving Skill, her legs acting like they were spring-loaded as she leaped madly between the ruins.

[Scorching Hand] was used occasionally to evaporate any splattering slime that got too close.

Seraphina would swear this was absolutely the most frustrating and powerless dungeon run she had ever experienced!

She was loaded with Skills, but most of them felt like punching cotton—all effort, no impact.

However, this three-hour desperate flight wasn’t all just taking a beating.

Seraphina’s accumulated Fury and frustration needed an outlet.

Any unfortunate Junk Monsters or other mutated creatures that got in her way were in for a world of hurt.

They all became Seraphina’s punching bags, instantly obliterated by her full-powered attacks and turned into Energy Barytes.

But the moment she encountered a dark yellow Corrosive Slime, regardless of its size...

Seraphina: "Nope, I’m outta here! If I can’t beat them, I can run from them, right?!"

She would immediately switch modes, going from frenzied attacks to absolute evasion, detouring and leaping away.

Her only goal was to get as far away from those deadly slime monsters as possible.

Those three hours were three hours of dancing on a knife’s edge, three hours of struggling through a corrosive hell.

Every minute, every second, seemed to stretch into an eternity.

But Seraphina’s three-hour escape was not in vain.

Although she had taken a lot of damage, she finally heard a system notification that sounded like a voice from the heavens.

[Ding! The three-hour preparation time is complete. All surviving Players in the collapsing dungeon ’Junkheap Ruins’ will now be forcibly returned!]

To Seraphina, that cold system notification sounded sweeter than the most beautiful music in the world—it was divine!

The next second, the familiar sensation of being pulled away by a teleportation swept over her. The despair-inducing, corrosion-scarred metal pipe walls around her began to blur and turn transparent...

...

「Inside Vorlag City’s Sector 1 Safe Zone.」

To Sean Chandler, it felt as if Seraphina Sullivan had vanished and then, in the blink of an eye, reappeared covered in wounds.

"What in the world is going on?!" Sean Chandler was utterly shocked.

It was indeed Seraphina who had appeared, but she was in an extremely miserable state.

Her once-drab gray [Parasitic Windbreaker] was now covered in unidentifiable stains. The hem and cuffs were torn in multiple places, and the edges bore charred marks from corrosion.

Her left pant leg was torn open, revealing a bloody, mangled mess on her calf. The wound was rimmed with an unhealthy dark yellow, clearly no ordinary injury.

Seraphina’s face was as pale as paper, her lips were chapped, and her hair was a mess. Her breathing was shallow and rapid, and her entire being exuded the exhausted, wretched air of someone who had just survived a disaster.