Chapter 441: Want to Team Up, Orochimaru?
"Good thing the Demon Sorcerer's powers were sealed and he couldn't go all out."
Back at the Moonlight Tavern, Aizen spoke with a bitter smile.
His white haori was in tatters, his body covered in scorched wounds—he looked utterly wretched.
Tsunade's expression was unchanged. The result had been predictable. After all, no matter how weak a Demon Sorcerer might be, someone like Aizen—who had only recently become a player and wasn't proficient in combat—had no real chance of winning.
"Fifty thousand reward points... consider it the price of a lesson."
Tsunade turned her head, watching the Holy Lord silently leave the tavern after being teleported back post-duel. He didn't utter a word, nor did he look like he intended to seek revenge.
It was also a convenient opportunity to dampen the arrogance of Aizen, the head of the Shadow Organization.
Aizen didn't mind the distance or subtle warning in her tone. He smiled and nodded. "You're right. Seems like I'll need to study not only the Will of Fire but also devote time to training."
On the other side,
The battle between the Sneaky Snake and Whitebeard had come to an end.
With his signature booming laughter, Whitebeard was teleported back into the tavern. Apart from a new purplish scar across his chest, he bore no other visible injuries.
As for the Sneaky Snake—he appeared completely unscathed.
Arena duels automatically healed all fatal wounds after the match. Although the Sneaky Snake looked unharmed, in the arena, he'd been sliced clean in half at the waist by Whitebeard's Murakumogiri.
Even his newly evolved venomous dragon scales had been crushed to bits.
"Damn it…"
He raised his snake head but didn't dare to provoke the burly Whitebeard any further.
That man truly had the power to kill him.
The sheer explosive force of his attacks, capable of shattering everything in their path, was something not even a true dragon could achieve—it had to be a special ability granted by the game.
Without exchanging words with anyone, the Sneaky Snake slithered away in defeat.
"It was just dumb luck that he got selected by the Samsara Game early. Once I fully evolve into a true dragon, I'll devour all of you."
The crowd of players at the Moonlight Tavern gradually dispersed.
The young Ying Zheng's conversation with Terumi Mei had also come to an end. She hadn't expected this little brat to be even more troublesome than herself—a Mizukage who had toppled the Bloody Mist regime and led Kirigakure to rise again.
Though she had ultimately achieved her goal in recruiting him, the price she paid had been steep. It made her heart ache.
"What a ruthless little devil… but I have to say, you're exactly my type."
Terumi Mei licked her luscious lips and giggled. "A few years from now, you might as well marry your big sis. I'll give you all of Kirigakure as a dowry."
Meanwhile, Levi ultimately rejected Whitebeard's offer to join him, unmoved by the muscles he had flexed during their exchange. He stayed behind in the Titan Town.
"The real walls are gone, but the illusory ones still remain."
Back in Titan Town, Levi gazed at the citizens slowly adjusting to the rules of the Samsara Game, gripping the newly acquired dual greatswords tightly.
Once, the walls were built to keep titans out.
Now, with the walls gone, there were no titans—only the threat of polluted monsters and powerful players from other factions, forces far more terrifying and oppressive than the titans ever were.
Thankfully, while the power gap was still vast...
The people of Titan Town no longer cowered in fear. Because now, anyone had the potential to become stronger.
"Erwin, stop slacking. Come hunt the monsters in the wildlands with me!"
Levi, now a [Berserker], easily yanked his companion out of the house and dragged him toward the dangerous wilderness.
...
Tower of Death, Second Layer.
Still shrouded in black mist, cutting off all sensory detection. Investigative tools had no effect here.
The Samsara Shrine emitted a faint glow, like a campfire protecting fragile lives in the pitch-black night from the monsters lurking beyond.
"This can't go on."
Orochimaru stood on the edge of the shrine's glow, his expression dark. The sounds of monstrous roars echoed in his ears.
The difficulty of the [Black Myth] map far exceeded any of the previous game maps.
So far...
Even as a player hailed as the strongest, he had wasted massive amounts of resources just to barely kill the weakest world boss—[Great King of Blackwind Mountain].
A mere mountain bandit, turned into a high-tier monster after being tainted by a single drop of corrupted black blood from a third-layer boss.
Other players had been slaughtered in droves by the monsters of the Black Myth.
"If we can't take down the world boss, we can't establish a safe zone. Every day we stay here, we burn through massive amounts of reward points as a lodging fee."
Orochimaru felt a pounding headache.
In the past, strong bosses could still be overwhelmed by sheer numbers. Now, every battle relied entirely on personal power.
And if you died, resurrection required completing a Yomi Quest.
In his first battle with the Great King of Blackwind Mountain, he'd been killed and had to undergo one such quest.
A bizarre world where all supernatural power centered around basketball. The win condition? Lead a team to victory in an academy basketball tournament.
His powers were sealed, and he had to exchange Yomi Points for basketball skills.
Orochimaru had relied entirely on absurd skills he exchanged for, such as [Blue Butterfly Cloud-Slicing Evasion Lv.Max], spending half a month in that ridiculous basketball world just to revive.
He'd wasted even more time than Jiraiya.
"The death penalty is too severe—it's easy to waste too much progress piercing through the black mist. Unless absolutely necessary, I must not die."
Orochimaru's eyes gleamed coldly.
He wasn't like that fool Jiraiya, who clung to hopes of saving the world or redeeming spirits wandering the road to Yomi.
As soon as he returned from the basketball world, Orochimaru branded the idiot named Gen Daying with a curse mark, turning him into a slave of the Fire Empire.
Train him? Save him?
He had no such idle sentiments. A world like basketball—so primitive—wasn't likely to produce any truly gifted players. It was only fit to be a base for experimental material.
Right now, what he wanted most was to hunt corrupted monsters and obtain dark-gold-tier game items.
"I want to buy the Giant Totem."
Orochimaru approached the Samsara Shrine and opened the Black Myth-exclusive shop.
On the shelf sat a few lone game items.
Front and center was the [Giant Totem], which summoned a titan capable of clearing away the nearby black mist to prevent ambushes and help navigate the shadows.
For anyone venturing into the world of black mist, this was a must-have item.
Otherwise, even players as skilled in detection as the Hyuga clan would lose their way and be devoured by waves of shadowy monsters.
The rest were several gold-tier items.
All loot from bosses Orochimaru had slain—the Blackwind Mountain bandit set. Various stats, categorized as gold-tier.
To most top-tier players, these gold-tier [Blackwind Mountain Bandit] items weren't tempting.
People like Tsunade, Terumi Mei, Ōnoki from the ninja world, and admirals or top-tier pirates from the One Piece world already had full gold-tier gear with smithing, enhancements, and gem bonuses.
Changing equipment recklessly could easily reduce their overall strength.
These items were mainly aimed at players who would later gain access to the Black Myth map.
Thus,
Pioneers like Orochimaru and Naruto Uzumaki served primarily as trailblazers, clearing the path for those who came after.
"Orochimaru, want to team up?"
A voice suddenly rang out behind him.
Orochimaru turned and saw his old nemesis—the admiral from the Navy Alliance whom he had once killed.
Akainu.
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