On the screen, two dungeon worlds appeared:
"FireWire Sniper" (Simple)
"Terminator: Judgment Day" (Difficult)
For Fenric, the choice was obvious.
Difficult dungeons always meant greater rewards. Like when he had chosen the Kungfu Hustle dungeon last time, his real goal had been the "Buddha Palm." Unless he had a specific purpose, Fenric would never waste time on a simple dungeon.
This time, he also had another objective—he wanted to capture a T-1000 liquid-metal robot from Terminator.
The T-1000 could perfectly imitate others, essentially acting as a clone of Fenric when needed. If he could pull it off, the potential was immeasurable.
Selection confirmed.
In the next instant, Fenric was teleported into the preparation room.
To his surprise, over a dozen people were already inside. Judging by their organized stance, they were clearly part of a team. When they noticed Fenric's arrival, their expressions shifted.
"Why is someone coming in at this hour?"
"Doesn't matter—kick him out! He'll mess up our plan."
"Wait… the masked assassin—he looks like Shura!"
"Shit, it really is Shura!"
"Why the hell did Shura show up here of all times?"
"This complicates things. His presence could completely throw off our plan."
"Maybe we should just leave and queue for the next instance…"
"We can't waste time. Only ten minutes left before teleportation starts."
"No need to panic. If his mission conflicts with ours, we'll just swap to the backup plan. With Shura here, at the very least everyone is guaranteed an A-rank."
"That's true."
The group murmured among themselves, visibly torn.
Not long after, the system prompt rang out:
"Attention, Samsara Players. Teleportation to the mission world begins in ten minutes."
Since Fenric had entered late, he heard the notification almost immediately.
A burly man stepped forward, breaking away from the group, and approached Fenric with a smile.
"God Shura, greetings!"
Fenric gave a polite nod. "Hello."
"May I ask—what mission did you choose? Is it to protect John Connor, or to hunt the Terminators?"
Fenric raised a brow. And what does that have to do with you?
The man quickly explained, "It's like this. Our team planned this run carefully. Most of us chose the first mission—protect John Connor—to secure an A-rank evaluation. I alone selected the second mission, to hunt down Terminators.
"According to the dungeon settings, the more Samsaras who join, the more Terminators will spawn. That's why I organized a large group—to increase the count of Terminators and raise the ceiling of our mission evaluation."
Fenric nodded slightly. He had heard something similar from Aurora: Terminator: Judgment Day indeed offered two missions—protect John Connor or hunt the Terminators.
Each additional Samsara on the protection side prompted the system to spawn two extra T-1000s. This man had cleverly gathered a dozen players to artificially raise the difficulty, letting him gamble for a higher evaluation through the hunting mission.
Clearly, he had a strong network in Samsara space.
"God Shura," the burly man continued respectfully, "if you also intend to hunt the Terminators, I'm willing to yield. I'll take the protection mission and leave all the kills to you. Hopefully we can be friends. By the way, my brother is Zen Zendaruth—ranked thirty-eighth on the Global List. He also hopes to make your acquaintance."
Fenric was mildly surprised.
So he wants to use his brother's name as leverage…
"The mission I've chosen is indeed to hunt Terminators," Fenric said with a faint smile. "But it won't interfere with your plan."
The man's eyes lit up instantly.
So many Terminators, and Shura's saying his mission doesn't overlap with mine? That can only mean one thing—he knows the exact locations of multiple spawns!
"God Shura, perhaps we could share the info as friends?" he pressed eagerly.
He was confident Fenric wouldn't refuse, not with his brother's reputation on the line. His idea was to make nice first, then get close in the dungeon and extract Shura's strategy.
Fenric's response was calm and cold. "We can be friends—but don't try to step into my river."
The man's face twitched with barely contained displeasure. But he swallowed it down. The one standing before him wasn't someone he could afford to provoke. Everyone here had heard of Shura's power, and none of his dozen allies would last against him in a real fight.
"Understood. Thank you for your consideration."
He returned to his group, choosing not to push further.
Fenric watched his back for a moment, then closed his eyes and rested quietly.
Ten minutes slipped by.
The system prompt rang out again:
"Teleportation countdown—10, 9, 8… 3, 2, 1."
In the blink of an eye, the dozen Samsaras in the preparation room were engulfed in red light and vanished.