Half Immortal

he time of imminent peril, the man looked up, and the corners of his mouth formed an undetectable arc.

To one’s surprise, he smiled.

The umbrellas surged in. 

Yan Mingguang stood there, raised his hand, turned back and forth, and quickly took the initiative to grasp one umbrella after another.
The umbrellas left scars on his hands, and blood stained the web between the thumb and the forefinger.
Instead of flinching, he actively touched the umbrellas more hurriedly.
Suddenly–

Yan Mingguang’s right hand faltered, and the umbrella he had just caught suddenly trembled.
It could burst out with enough lethality to peel and tear open his bones instantly.

That’s it!

The tower sounded in Yan Mingguang’s mind.

【Player’s permanent skill “Facing death and living” reaches the trigger condition.】

【Facing death and living: Permanent skill, when the skill owner is at risk of mortal death, the player obtains a 30-second strength blessing.
The player briefly doubles their physical strength, sensory stat, and other abilities related to the body and brain.
It is effective in all instances and can only be used three times per instance.】

【Skill is activated.
You have 30 seconds of skill usage time.】

In an instant, Yan Mingguang’s momentum soared simultaneously with the skin and bone umbrella and easily surpassed the umbrella!

His eyes narrowed, and his pitch-black eyes reflected a pale image of the umbrella.
The umbrella quivered more and more in his hand, but he only clenched his hands and tightly clasped the skin-bone umbrella. 

Twenty seconds later, the umbrella seemed to want to kill him but was kept under control by Yan Mingguang’s sudden upgrade in strength.

Ten seconds later, the umbrella trembled increasingly slowly.

Three seconds later, the umbrella calmed down completely.

Then, all of the umbrellas stopped.
Yan Mingguang’s umbrella calmly flew back from his hand into the pile, mixing with the other umbrellas and falling peacefully back onto the ground.
The moment all of the umbrellas dropped to the ground, they all disappeared silently, leaving only a dark void.

【Congratulations to the player for finding the corresponding umbrella and completing the branch task.
Completion method: Brute-force decoding, Completion reward: Physical Stat 2, Sensory Stat 1, Points 2.】

【Current Player Stat Update: Physical Stat 43, Sensory Stat 13, Level 1, Points 15】

【Congratulations on acquiring the instance item dropped by the branch task: A girl’s phalanx.
The phalanx originates from a girl who was made into an umbrella and can be used in the instance to resist the risks associated with it to a certain extent, including skinless girls and umbrellas made from skin and bones.】

A girl’s phalanx lay in Yan Mingguang’s blood-soaked hands.

Yu Feizhou’s props were useless.
He stared at Yan Mingguang dumbly.
“Just now… was that an ability or a prop?”

Yan Mingguang just silently put away the girl’s phalanx.

……

Whew–

Black feathered arrows fired out of Lin Zhen’s hand and accurately shot seven surging umbrellas.
After these seven, there was also an eyeful of umbrellas flying towards them.
Lin Zhen shot seven arrows in a row.
Three of them blocked the three umbrellas that were about to approach Yan Wei.

“Hey, Yan Mingguang’s pet–“

In the chaos of battle, Yan Wei hid behind Lin Zhen without any psychological burden and interrupted Lin Zhen’s words with a leisurely and carefree mood.
“I have a name.”

“Okay, Yan Wei, aren’t you quite sharp? Find a way to locate the umbrella.
I can only fire up to ten arrows at a time,” said Lin Zhen.
His elbows kept rising, and veins in the back of his hand were standing out.
The sound of arrows accompanied his voice, “Every time I hit the umbrellas, the umbrellas fly back to the cluster of umbrellas and mix, confusing me.
I can’t tell which ones I’ve shot with my arrows and which one may be the one we’re looking for in this branch task.
And these umbrellas, the more I hit them, the more aggressive they’ll be next time, and the more the number will be.”

Yan Wei held a flashlight.
His thoughtful eyes suddenly lit up.
He asked with some expectation, “More aggressive? How high? Can it kill people instantly?”

Lin Zhen kept pulling the bow with his hand and dispersed the umbrellas out of a definite range.

He said, “I can effortlessly stop them now, but according to the growth rate of their lethality after being stopped every time, after about four rounds, they’ll be strong enough to kill with one blow — at least for you, one strike can kill you instantly.
Let’s say, after four rounds, they swarm around, and I can’t resist.
I won’t lose my life because of a bet.
I’ll take out a life-saving prop and run away by myself.
Tsk, I suddenly don’t want to think about how to complete the branch task.
I want to see you being tortured by the umbrella after you can’t think of a way.
It must be beautiful…”

Lin Zhen’s mouth provoked a playful smile.
“How about this? I completely enraged them all and then left you behind — at that time, I could not beat them, but it was not a violation of the bet.
I’ll get out of here using life-saving props.
When the instance is over, I’ll go to the casino projection record to find you struggling for your life.
What do you think?”

There was still a little seriousness on Yan Wei’s original face.
Under Lin Zhen’s words, his thin lips moved slightly, his eyelashes trembled a bit, and there was a glimmer of joy in his appearance. 

He just wanted to know if the remaining 126 umbrellas would be different from the one they were looking for in the branch task.
When the branch task was released, it indicated that after the crisis was over, although he had completed the task, he had no chance to look for differences carefully.

But if the attacks of these skin and bone umbrellas all become fatal… could he grab the umbrella according to his wishes and look at it?

He looked at Lin Zhen and blinked.
His Adam’s Apple moved slightly, and his voice was exceptionally distinct in such a quiet and strange environment.
“I think your idea is quite good.
Why don’t you hurry up?”

Lin Zhen’s bowstring trembled in his hand and shot an arrow.