Chapter 225: Imperial Sky
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Everyone started to log in, one after another. At 7.00 PM, Sun Xin Yu and Endless Starlight finally joined the team. The ten of them immediately made their way to Tukula Fortress.
They travelled through Phil Forest and Xylor Wasteland, finally entering the Burning Flatlands after two hours.
Burning Flatlands. The name itself spoke volumes about the environment it carried, the ground was lined with cracks of hot lava, threatening to scorch the feet of those who stepped on its surface! It was a horrible environment, the few flora that did grow were those that had adapted to such conditions, such as [Flame Flower] and [Burning Grass], precious medicinal herbs.
Most of the monsters here were members of the fire and rock elements. There were Burning Imps and Red Fire Lizards dwelling beneath the magma, and they were above Level 50.
Because they had never explored the map before, everyone could only follow the old-fashioned method by splitting up and searching in groups.
Zhang Yang looked at Han Ying Xue and said, "If you are the first one who discover the Fiery Sacrificial Altar again, then I’ll admit that you have a Godly sense of direction!"
The rest of the people nodded their heads continuously. As Han Ying Xue simply walked without any direction in mind but could somehow discover the right places, it had to be due to some divine intervention.
Zhang Yang opened the map, looking for the Fiery Sacrificial Altar at his own assigned area and paid attention to Han Ying Xue’s location. Unsurprisingly, that fellow who had terrible sense of direction started to walk away from her assigned area, simply walking haphazardly, like a blind fly.
10 Minutes later, the little blinking dot on the map that represented Han Ying Xue stopped, and she said, "Ha ha ha, I’m the first to find it again!"
Drops of sweat formed on everyone else’s heads.
Zhang Yang suddenly got an epiphany and said, "Negatives make a positive, perhaps she has just the right amount of negatives to end up as an exceptional positive!"
Fatty Han muttered, "The fellow who has such a terrible sense of direction actually entered an unexplored map and was able to find the right spot, is really impressive!" There was silence as nobody in the party understood what he meant.
All of them quickly converged towards Han Ying Xue’s location.
This was a huge altar. It was like a really tall stack made up by building blocks, divided into upper, middle and lower layers, totaling up to several hundred meters! The altar was like a cone that had been cut into six pieces, with a piece removed from every alternate layer, having the remaining three pieces on top of each other. The top of the first layer’s area was as big as the size of eight football fields; the top of the second layer’s area was similar to the size of five football fields, and the top of the last layer’s area was about the size of a single football field.
All around the altar and on the even surface of each layer, many people dressed in black priest robes paraded forth and back. There were men and women, carrying staffs. Obviously, they were magic-type monsters.
[Fanatic Flame Acolyte] (Elite, Humanoid)
Level: 58
HP: 58,000
Defense: 300
Zhang Yang leaned forward, patting Whitey on the head and said, "Go!"
Whitey advanced, using {Wild Charge} and dashed towards one of the nearest monsters. Zhang Yang used the momentum to swing his axe.
"Heresy!" the Fanatic Flame Acolyte immediately shouted loudly and pointed at Zhang Yang with his staff, starting to cast {Fireball}.
‘{Crash Magic}!’
The Fanatic Flame Acolyte’s casting bar was immediately interrupted. He swung his staff, knocking Zhang Yang off his mount and shouted, "Heathen, your fresh blood shall be used wash away the desecrated souls!"
Everyone swarmed the monster and continuously interrupted his casting bar. The pitiful Fanatic Flame Acolyte could not even cast a {Fireball} before being hacked to death!
"Bah, that guy was all but talk!" Fatty Han raised his fist, "If it wants to act like a boss boss, it’s not supposed to pay lip service but to speak through its actions!"
"Well said, Fatty Bro!" the other member of perverted duo, Endless Starlight, immediately looked at Fatty Han admiringly.
These clowns!
The team continued moving on, killing all the way. Two hours later, they had almost reached the third level of the altar. The experience points for elite monsters were abundant as Whitey had also gained three levels, reaching Level 46. Every 10 levels the pet mount gained would only enhance its attribution once. Therefore, there was no difference from when Whitey was Level 40. However, Whitey no longer suffered from the damage penalty that arose from level differences.
At this time, a bunch of people had walked through the entrance of altar. "Imperial Sky" was the title that hovered over the heads of these people.
These late birds saw that there were no monsters along the route to the altar. However, from far away, they saw monsters on both sides. One Sword Stroke squinted his eyes, raised his head and looked up at the huge and tall altar.
"Boss, are there anyone faster than us?" Mountain Cleaver looked at One Sword Stroke.
"How can it be? Boss had just accepted the quest to kill three bosses, could anyone really be faster than us?" Soul Striker exclaimed, looking incredulous.
One Sword Stroke stared at the altar and said, "If I'm not mistaken, Lone Desert Smoke has a party up there!"
Heartless Striker immediately slapped his thigh and said, "That’s right, only they could compete with us, Imperial Sky! Boss, what should we do now?"
"We’re going after them, of course!" One Sword Stroke said, with a determined look on his face, "I have long wanted to battle that Zhan Yu and see who the top tank in China server is!"
"Ha ha, that’ll be our boss!" Mountain Cleaver laughed out loud and said, "Boss has a Level 50 Yellow-Gold weapon, a full set of Level 50 Gray-Silver equipment and a Level 50 Gray-Silver shield, these equipment are definitely the best!"
"Exactly, Zhan Yu and his gang cleared Poison Fireland Hardcore mode a day before we did! But, Yellow-Gold equipment do not drop in dungeons!"
"Besides that, our boss also got a Gray-Silver pet mount yesterday, together they have 19,000 HP, and monstrous DPS. That Zhan Yu will not know what hit him!"
"Ha ha, we’ll record a video of Zhan Yu getting beaten flat by our boss and put it on the official forum. That’ll shut down the debate for good!"
One Sword Stroke was not prideful like his followers, even as he got his boots licked by them. However, a trace of price could be seen from his eyes. Most of the time however, he was known for being calm and despising sycophants. He nodded slowly and said, "Let’s go!"
There were only 11 players in One Sword Stroke’s team. It seems that One Sword Stroke was similar to Zhang Yang in the way that both of them preferred to bring a concentrated party of elite players only. All of them quickly followed the route that Zhang Yang had already cleared.
After another 10 minutes, Zhang Yang and his gang reached the third layer of the altar. In the middle of the altar, there was a huge creature of flames, it held a war hammer in its right hand, standing upright in an arrogant poise. The heat distorted the air around it!
This flame creature was surrounded in circular formation of 10 Flame Acolytes in half-kneeling positions. All of them were clearly worshiping the being.
[Lord of Flames Arcel] (Yellow-Gold, Elemental Being)
Level: 60
HP: 5,000,000
Defense: 1,200
There were so many Flame Acolytes between the gang and the Lord of Flames Arcel, that clearing the Acolytes was the first priority!
Just as Zhang Yang was about to command the gang to clear all the Flame Acolytes, he caught sight of 11 uninvited guests who were riding their mounts towards the top! Imperial Sky? Zhang Yang focused on those words, quickly scanning for the leading figure. As expected, he spotted One Sword Stroke.
This was the top tank of China server in his previous life, always going around with a full set of equipment that practically blinded the eyes of those who beheld him. He was currently carrying a triangular shield on his back. The familiar shape of an axe hung around his waist, Zhang Yang recognized it at first glance, it was the same axe as his [Dragon Tooth Battle Axe]!
From what Zhang Yang surmised, it could only mean that One Sword Stroke must have cleared the Centaur’s Castle as well and had a 99% chance of having {Blast Wave}!
Beneath One Sword Stroke was a blood-red dire wolf, as large as lion, and looking absolutely feral. It even howled at the sky from time to time, the fur on its back bristling as it did so. Compared to his rather docile-looking Whitey, that dire wolf definitely looked far more intimidating!
Zhang Yang tried to focus on the dire wolf. Because One Sword Stroke had his profile hidden, his pet mount could not be observed as well.
"Zhan Yu?" One Sword Stroke also quickly focused his sight on Zhang Yang. In Zhang Yang’s team, two people carried shields but one had a MP bar while the other had a Rage bar, it was easy to tell them apart!
Zhang Yang who was riding Whitey, took a few steps forward and said, "One Sword Stroke?"
Both of them hid their profiles, but by instinct alone, both of them could pick out the other team’s leader!
"Ha ha!" One Sword Stroke laughed happily and said, "How about we fight a battle?"
Zhang Yang also laughed and said, "The losing side, tear [Teleportation Scroll]s on the spot and leave right after resurrecting!"
One Sword Stroke answered without hesitation, "Deal!"
Nobody would just back down from a boss fight when faced with another party who had similar goals in mind. If the other team happened to kill the opposing team’s tanks, that team would crippled beyond recovery! Being of similar mindset, they both would adopt the same tactics if it came to a head-on battle.
"Singles or gang fights?" Zhang Yang simply asked.
"Let’s make it simple and direct, single combat! The winner and loser would be clear!" One Sword Stroke was confident that he was going to win the battle -- it was the right mindset for a professional player to have. If the player lacked confidence in himself, he did not deserve to be called a professional player.
"Okay!"
Just as Zhang Yang was about to charge forward with Whitey, the cool Sun Xin Yu held him back and said, "Let me do this!" Her competitive spirit could be seen through her eyes, this lady simply will not deny herself and opportunity to pit her strength against professional players!
In his previous life, although Sun Xin Yu never joined any Professional League, she had assassinated numerous professional players in the China server! The Queen of the Shadow Dance title was obtained after she gained a notorious reputation as a slayer of Professional players!
In his previous life, Sun Xin Yu and One Sword Stroke had battled three times in total, Sun Xin Yu successfully killed One Sword Stroke twice without any hitch, having slight trouble the third time but emerging victorious, nevertheless! However, assassinations and duels were different. Assassination often begin with the victim being caught off-guard and being killed off before they could recover! But duels were completely different. Both parties would be prepared and fully buffed in a head-on battle!
Moreover, when a dual-wielding Thief meets a high defense and damage absorbing Guardian, the Thief would already be in an unfavorable situation! Besides, Zhang Yang suspected One Sword Stroke’s mount was a battle mount, just like his!
Although Zhang Yang could not determine the grade of that battle mount, it would stack up the odds against Sun Xin Yu. She had less than a 1% chance of winning!