Assassin at Range: The Sniper’s Lethal Power

The confrontation between the village chief and Giruva left the surrounding players stunned.

What was going on?

These NPCs could interact this way? The intelligence of this game was beyond anything they expected.

This was no ordinary virtual reality MMORPG; it was a whole new level of gaming.

A clever player suddenly had a realization and said, "I get it now. Blackshade must've discovered the village chief's betrayal, that's why he came back to confront him directly."

Everyone around understood immediately, and exclamations of "I see now!" rang out.

Another player praised, "I always knew Blackshade wouldn't take on a fight without confidence."

One player immediately retorted, "You were the first to retreat when the guard squad charged."

Other players started thinking deeper.

It was clear that the story was unfolding right in front of them. What should they do?

One player tightened their grip on a short dagger, contemplating the best way to kill the village chief when the time came.

Meanwhile, the village chief, faced with Giruva's questioning, knew he could no longer clear his name. So, he threw caution to the wind, laughed manically while clutching his forehead, and said, "I can't believe that after ten years of careful planning, it was ruined by an outsider!"

With that, he kissed the Vampire Baron heart in his hand with a look of obsession, muttering, "Master, this is for you!"

Yue~

The players shivered in unison.

One player, unable to control their frustration, shouted, "I'll kill you, old bastard!"

Tristan stepped back a few paces, unbothered.

These players clearly had no idea just how dangerous the village chief was.

Just as the thought crossed his mind, the village chief's expression shifted to one of malice, his body beginning to swell, the fabric of his clothes straining under the pressure. He looked at the advancing player and sneered, "You want to die? Very well, I'll grant your wish!"

"Blood Arrow!"

Whoosh!

A crimson arrow flew from the village chief's palm, easily piercing through the player's head.

Thud.

The player collapsed to the ground and vanished in a flash of white light, heading back to the resurrection point.

The village chief, his face contorted with madness, laughed and shouted, "Such powerful strength—what can you possibly use to fight against it?!"

Suddenly, a figure dashed forward.

It was Giruva, the captain of the guards.

But before he could reach the village chief, Giruva was sent flying back, spitting blood.

At this point, the village chief had already torn away his human disguise and revealed his true form after his mutation.

His skin had turned dark purple, veins bulging and crisscrossing the surface of his body. Not only that, but he had undergone a secondary growth spurt, his once small, hunched frame now towering at nearly three meters.

This was the power the village chief had gained by aligning himself with the Vampires.

Giruva collapsed, his eyes filled with sorrow.

Such a powerful monster—how could they possibly resist?

Could the village really be destroyed today?

No!

Giruva struggled to stand, looking at the players with a pleading expression. "Adventurers, please help our village!"

The village chief, seeing this, wasn't about to back down either. With a persuasive tone, he said, "Outsiders, do you want to have this kind of power?"

At the same time, every player present received a system prompt.

Ding! You have triggered a special quest: "Destruction and Protection." Please make your choice carefully.

"Option 1: Assist the village chief in destroying the village. Reward: Low-level Vampire Factor (gain initial Vampire abilities and increased stats). Please note, do not let others discover your Vampire identity."

"Option 2: Assist Captain Giruva in defeating the village chief and protecting the village. Reward: 10 Fame."

Looking at the rewards, Option 2 was clearly much worse than Option 1.

Fame seemed useful, but the players had yet to discover its real use, while the attribute boost from the first option was far more practical.

In fact, in Tristan's previous life, some players had chosen this option, thinking purely about the benefits, but Tristan knew that once you chose the Vampire path, there was no going back.

And that was exactly why Tristan was leading the players into this quest—he wanted to keep as many people from falling into the trap as possible.

While he was thinking this through, the players around him began to discuss.

"Wow, there really is a hidden quest! Blackshade didn't lie to us."

"I've always said Blackshade is my idol—now you all believe it."

"By the way, what's the difference between these two options?"

"Yeah, the second option seems kind of useless, but the first one gives you attributes, so it seems better."

"Ugh, why are we even debating this? Let's just ask Blackshade."

"Now that you mention it, that's actually a good point."

The players, in agreement, all turned their curious eyes toward Tristan.

Tristan didn't hide anything. He said directly, "The choice is yours, but I'd suggest going with the second option. From what I know, Fame will be more useful after you leave the newbie village. Otherwise, why would the game bother to set up a separate ranking system for it?"

The players thought for a moment, and that logic made sense.

Up until now, ExoGenesis had only opened two leaderboards: one for level and one for Fame. This indicated how important Fame was.

However, some players raised objections. "Blackshade, even if Fame is useful, just ten points probably won't make much of a difference. The first option gives you attributes, which is way better."

A portion of the players agreed.

Tristan didn't bother explaining further. With authority, he said, "Depending on which option you choose, players will be split into different factions, and there will be a live PvP. I will choose the second option—you all can think about it yourselves."

His message was clear: if anyone chose the first option, they were essentially declaring war on him. As long as he was there, no one was going to destroy the village.

The influence of the name "Blackshade" was still strong.

Many players, filled with righteous anger, swore they would help Captain Giruva defeat the traitorous village chief!

They hated traitors more than anything.

But there were also a few players who thought the village chief was so strong and powerful that he might have some hidden tricks to defeat Blackshade.

The truth was in the hands of the few!

With that in mind, they secretly chose the first option, preparing to lurk in the crowd and strike when the time was right.

What they didn't expect, however, was that as soon as they made their choice, crimson light points flew out from the village chief and directly entered their bodies.

The surrounding players quickly realized.

Oh, so you were trying to cause trouble?

Brothers, let's teach him a lesson!

Tristan didn't hesitate. He raised his hand and threw a throwing knife, killing the Vampire-turned player instantly.

Then, Toxic Blood Plague erupted, taking out even more of the Vampire players.

In the newbie village, skills didn't normally have damage detection.

Unless it was a special case like this, there was no distinction between enemies and allies.

Tristan didn't worry about Toxic Blood Plague harming innocent players.

Even without the added bonus from his sniper skills, with his current stats, Toxic Blood Plague was capable of dealing 1180 points of damage, which was no small number.

Most players at this stage had around 200 to 300 health points, so they couldn't withstand that kind of damage.

In an instant, blood splattered everywhere as the Vampire players cried out in agony, regretting their choice to join the Vampires.

This game was a total scam—how could they make their choices so obvious?!

Didn't they have any privacy?

This, in fact, was all part of Tristan's plan.

The first option had specifically warned players not to let others find out about their Vampire identity.

If the players turned in the quest themselves, others wouldn't know whether they had joined the Vampires or not.

But Tristan's move was a crafty one—he exposed everything and forced the issue.

By doing so, the players who had joined the Vampires were left with no escape.

Although this was still just the game phase, and killing them wouldn't have much effect, their identities had been revealed.

From now on, if they teamed up with other players, everyone would receive the prompt:

[Warning: A Vampire infiltrator has joined the party.]

This meant that normal players would be unwilling to team up with them, effectively dealing a blow to the Vampire players.

Tristan wasn't expecting to completely eliminate the Vampire threat, but lowering its impact in the future was certainly within his power.