The sky was dim, and a blood-red full moon illuminated the entirety of the Dark Moon Cemetery.
Compared to the normal difficulty Dark Moon Cemetery, the wasteland here was shrouded in thick mist that not only blocked their vision but also carried an endless killing aura — as if they had stepped onto a battlefield. An overwhelming sense of oppression and heaviness hung in the air everywhere, making their bodies sluggish and slow to respond.
"So this is the Hell Difficulty Dark Moon Cemetery?" Bai Qingxue surveyed her surroundings and offered a faint smile.
She noticed that the mist here seemed almost alive, giving her the sensation of being watched. The red glows flickering within the fog were most likely the blood-red eyes of the Kobolds.
The sheer number of monsters already far exceeded that of the normal difficulty, to say nothing of the vision-obscuring mist that greatly amplified the difficulty of combat.
"Ye Feng, what's the meaning of this? Why did you bring us to Hell Difficulty?" Zhao Yueru turned to Shi Feng and demanded an answer.
Having experienced the terror of the normal difficulty, even an idiot would know just how horrifying Hell Difficulty was. This was simply not a place for mortals. They hadn't even cleared the normal difficulty yet, and now he had brought them to Hell Difficulty — this was practically sending them to their deaths.
Bai Qingxue was also curious about why Shi Feng would do this. Based on his performance so far, he was anything but a brainless person.
Even the members of Shi Feng's own team were bewildered — they had agreed on normal difficulty, so how had they ended up in Hell Difficulty…
"Now that I'm the team leader, what I say goes. I chose Hell Difficulty, and I have my reasons. If you don't like it, you're free to leave. I won't stop you." Shi Feng said with a smile.
Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west — fortune's wheel always turns.
Before, he had been considerate toward Zhao Yueru because he couldn't reveal his trump card. But now that they were on his turf, there was no need for such courtesy.
"You… you're being a thug!" Zhao Yueru's almond-shaped eyes went wide with fury, her chest heaving as she stomped the rock beneath her feet. Unable to find the right words, she gritted her silver teeth, whipped her head around, and refused to look at Shi Feng any longer.
This scoundrel had actually used her own words against her, without a shred of gentlemanly grace. Once this whole ordeal was over, she was going to teach him a lesson he wouldn't forget.
Hei Zi had originally wanted to smooth things over, but seeing Zhao Yueru fall silent, he quietly gave Shi Feng a thumbs-up.
As expected of Brother Feng — he even dared to go head-to-head with a gorgeous woman like that!
There was absolutely no way Hei Zi could pull something like that off.
"Ye Feng, are you genuinely confident about clearing Hell Difficulty? You should understand — on the surface, it's only two difficulty levels apart, but in practice, the difficulty increase is at least tenfold. The demands on equipment, coordination, and leadership jump by several tiers. I don't want to see team members die for something meaningless," Bai Qingxue asked softly.
The death penalty in team Dungeons was far less severe than in solo instances, but it was still five percent. Hell Difficulty, however, was a different beast entirely — the experience loss upon death was a staggering ten percent. Because of this, no one attempted Hell Difficulty without at least a seventy percent chance of success.
"There shouldn't be any major problems, but we won't know for sure until we try." Shi Feng didn't want to make absolute promises. With the current team composition and equipment, their odds of clearing the Dark Moon Cemetery on Hell Difficulty were extremely high — otherwise he never would have chosen it in the first place.
In his previous life, it had taken countless party wipes and painstaking analysis before he'd worked out a few reliable methods for clearing the Dark Moon Cemetery on Hell Difficulty. If they left it to Bai Qingxue to figure things out on her own, God knew how long it would take and how many times they'd have to die along the way.
Seeing how calm Shi Feng appeared, Bai Qingxue pondered for a moment and then chose to back him. It would also be a good opportunity to see just what he was capable of. If he performed exceptionally well, bringing him into the God-Slaying Army wouldn't be out of the question.
Once Bai Qingxue gave her nod of approval, the rest had no choice but to fall in line, regardless of how reluctant they were. It wasn't that they trusted Shi Feng — it was that they trusted Bai Qingxue's judgment.
Shi Feng then began assigning roles. Overall, the structure was similar to what Bai Qingxue had proposed, with one key difference: he pulled the three Elementalists into the vanguard squad. The scouts were no longer needed to scout ahead and were instead moved to the support squad to protect the healers.
"Once we enter the mist, the two main tanks pop their survival skills and keep charging forward alongside me — but watch your positioning and dodge where you can. Everyone else, fall in behind. Remember: no matter what happens, do not stop moving. Healers, just keep spamming your instant-cast heals on the two tanks. Don't worry about anyone else — they can use their own recovery potions," Shi Feng explained. "If everyone understands, use your Speed Scrolls now."
When they heard this, the entire team grew uneasy. What exactly was he planning? A suicide squad? And using Speed Scrolls on top of that — did he think they weren't dying fast enough?
Besides, how much money would this Dungeon run even earn them? Twenty players meant twenty Speed Scrolls — just how expensive did he think that was?
"Alright, everyone use the Speed Scrolls." Seeing the widespread dissatisfaction among the group, Bai Qingxue had no choice but to issue the order directly.
The others relented, but none of them were happy about it. Speed Scrolls were extremely expensive. They had only prepared two for the entire run, and they were about to burn through one before they'd even killed a single monster. What an absurd waste.
However, the members of Shi Feng's team didn't think it was a big deal. Speed Scrolls had long become their essential tool for farming monsters and killing Elites, and each of them carried six or seven.
After everyone used their Speed Scrolls, they followed Shi Feng to the entrance of the labyrinth district.
"Stay close, everyone. If you fall behind, I'm not coming back for you," Shi Feng warned over the team channel.
Hearing Shi Feng's words, everyone tensed up. Falling behind meant death, without question.