Chapter 678: Getting Back The One Ring
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Zhang Yang and his party descended to the ground. The NPCs were startled. They thought that they were ambushed by enemy forces! So, they quickly raised their weapons up, ready to engage in battle, After seeing the faces of Zhang Yang and his party members, they put down their weapons and put themselves at ease. Then, one of them asked, "Who are you?"
"We’re Adventurers who have traveled from a faraway land called the White Jade Castle!" Zhang Yang made a salutative gesture of an Adventurer and showed the NPCs the badge on his chest.
"White Jade Castle?" Those outpost guards were confused. But it did not take long before they recovered and asked, "What do you intend to trouble us with?"
"While we were traveling across the land, we came across a man called Col Garson. He requested us to deliver a letter to General Turkin Han with his dying breath!" Zhang Yang answered politely. Should he be angry at an NPC? Wouldn’t that make a fool out of him to get angry at an unreal NPC?
Well, fools exist though. Wei Yan Er bared her teeth as she already lost her patience awhile ago. She would not be able to differentiate between reality and game when she began to play the game. She would only act based on her instincts. She would just fight if he wanted to, and just say whatever she wanted to say. If Han Ying Xue had not been holding her off, she would have jumped before everyone and began to scold the NPC with her finger pointed at him.
"Garson!" The guards by the guard post were shocked to hear Garson’s name. Their attitude immediately changed and one of them said, "Fellow Adventurers, please forgive us for being extra-cautious. However, we can only be as careful as possible as the land is under the abusive influence of the Shadow Demon Souron!"
"We express our gratitude to all of you for completing Garson’s final wish. Please follow us!"
Two guards stood up to them and saluted at Zhang Yang and his gang. Then, they led the gang into the valley.
Because the terrain of the valley was deep, the valley seemed to be extra dark and gloomy, even though it was daytime. Wei Yan Er would have said that only bad guys would live in the valley. This place was ghastly!
There was a military camp in the middle of the valley. No wonder the guards at the outpost had been so nervous. If their hidden mother base was found by their enemies, they would all become an easy prey for their enemies! As they passed by the base camp, Zhang Yang and his gang could see that there were soldiers of different races. There were humans, dwarfs, Centaurs and at least a dozen other races.
Finally, the two outpost guards had led them to the front of a tent. After reporting to a few guards, Zhang Yang and his party were invited into the tent. The tent was huge. There was a war table right in the middle of the tent, a large, strategic map laid over it. A middle-aged man in a full-set armor was pinning military flags all across the surface of the strategic map. He was frowning. His face was filled with anxiety and worry.
[General Turkin Han] (Ethereal, Humanoid)
Level: 155
HP: 5,000,000,000
Defense: 9,950
Attack: 75,468 - 95,468
Note: The Commander that leads the force against Souron. He is heroic and fierce, a very prestigious individual.
"I would like to express my gratitude for fulfilling Garson’s dying request!" General Turkin Han turned around and looked at Zhang Yang and his gang. Then, he bowed to them.
"It’s not a big deal at all. Don’t worry about it!" Zhang Yang smiled and said. Then he took out the letter that Garson had passed to him right before he died. Then he passed it on to General Turkin Han, "This is the letter that Garson handed over to us!"
"Hmm!" Turkin Han accepted the letter. Then he immediately opened up the envelope and read the contents of the letter.
‘Ding! You have completed a quest: A Super Urgent Message. You received a reward: 500,000 Experience Points!’
After reading the letter, General Turkin Han was agitated. Instantly, he slammed his fist onto the table and scattered everything that had been arranged on the strategic map. The sand on the surface of the strategic map was swept up by the force of the impact from his fist.
Sometimes, players must take the initiative to trigger a quest instead of waiting for the quest to trigger itself.
Zhang Yang immediately asked, "What’s the matter, general?"
If it was one of the general’s guards or soldiers, Turkin Han would have denounced them without a doubt for speaking out of turn. However, Zhang Yang and his gang were special. Therefore, Turkin Han only hesitated for one brief moment before he replied Zhang Yang. "Malindor betrayed us! He’s carrying The One Ring, and heading towards the Sunfall Volcano as we speak!"
Zhang Yang and his gang were confused. Han Ying Xue quickly said, "General, we hail from a land far from here. We’re here to seek for some job opportunities. Can you enlighten us on the current situation?"
"Seeking for job opportunities?!" Turkin Han immediately shook his head and said, "You shouldn’t have come here! The Shadow Demon Souron is on the brink of returning the darkness to the entire land! The entire land shall tremble before his shadow! You should leave this place at once and find your job opportunities somewhere else!"
"We’re the bringers of justice! We shall take out any pests in our way!" Wei Yan Er could not hold her tongue anymore. Finally, she opened her mouth and said, "General, we shall take out whatever shadow monster lord for you! You can count on us!"
Turkin Han had no idea what they meant by the bringer of justice. However, he roughly understood the meaning of what Wei Yan Er tried to tell him. He laughed out loud and said, "Little girl, did you read too many fairy tales before bedtime! It’s not that easy to be a shadow demon slayer! You better go home now!"
"General, please tell us the situation about this Shadow Demon king! We would like to know!" Everyone had joined in to convince the general.
"Alright!" Turkin Han nodded and said, "It’s too dangerous to travel across this land now. I should the situation to you to prevent you guys from throwing your lives away!"
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He seemed to be recollecting his thoughts. Then he said, "The Shadow Demon Lord is the embodiment of evil. He is terrifyingly powerful. 70,000 years ago, he built an invincible army and wiped out the world!"
"By the end of it, a Wizard wearing a white robe called Saruman sacrificed himself and forged The One Ring from the lava of the Sunfall Volcano! That ring could greatly weaken the power of the Shadow Demon Lord. Finally, the ancient ones were able to slay the Shadow Demon Lord with the aid of the ring and bury the entire army of the Shadow Demon Lord underneath the ground so deep, that no one could ever find it anymore!"
"However, Souron is the embodiment of evil, afterall. As long as there is evil in the world, he can resurrect repeatedly, as many times as he wants to! After 10,000 years of resting in the dark, he would bring forth his large army and march across the land once again. Well, he would be slain every time he comes back! Now, Souron is about to be resurrected for the 7th time. His army of darkness has emerged from the darkness. They are ready to serve their master and destroy their master’s enemies! The only way of subduing the Shadow Demon Lord is to use The One Ring! The One Ring is supposed to be under the possession of Rogue, the White Wizard. However, his apprentice Malindor has joined the dark force! He stole The One Ring and he is on his way to the Sunset Volcano as we speak!"
"The One Ring is forged from the lava of the Sunset Volcano. The only way of destroying the ring is to use the lava of the same volcano! When the only weapon that can subdue the power of the Shadow Demon Lord has been destroyed, there will be no one left, able to stand up against Souron! The entire world will tremble under his shadow!"
Wei Yan Er immediately jumped up and said, "Just let us handle this Shadow Demon Lord for you!"
Turkin Han shook his head and smiled bitterly, then he said, "Little girl, the Shadow Demon Lord is much more terrifying than you can ever imagine! However, if you really want to do something about it, you should just kill Malindor the traitor and bring The One Ring back!"
‘Ding!, General Turkin Han has given you a quest: Getting Back The One Ring! Will you accept it?’
After wasting so much saliva, they had finally received the continuation of their previous quest!
Everyone accepted the quest. Since that Turkin Han had no interest in ‘entertaining’ them anymore, Zhang Yang and his gang left the valley. They summoned their Flying Mount and flew back into the sky.
[Getting Back The One Ring] (Difficulty: Rank-A)
Description: Malindor is taking The One Ring to the Sunset Volcano. If you cannot kill him and take back The One Ring before he arrives at the Sunset Volcano, you will fail the quest. Please be aware that the army of darkness that Souron commands will not stand by and let you take The One Ring back just like that! This is a quest that has to be completed within a limited time frame. You can check the location of Malindor by looking at the large map.
Completion: Get back The One Ring and hand it back to General Turkin Han 0/1
Upon bringing up the map, everyone could see a small red dot on each of their own map. The red dot was located right in the middle of their location and the location of the Sunset Volcano. It seemed that Malindor was already halfway to the Sunset Volcano!
"Let’s hustle up, then!"
Everyone rushed on, atop their Flying Mounts. Fortunately, even though they had not reached the Level Requirement of the map, they were at least Level 140. Zhang Yang was already Level 144. Furthermore, they were flying across the sky. It would be unlikely for them to run into monsters.
They only ran into some Level 170 flying monsters once in every blue moon. However, those Normal Tier monsters were taken out by Zhang Yang and his gang without much of a problem. Upon flying on at an insane speed for over 30 minutes, they finally managed to cut off Malindor on a pathway by one of the mountains.
However, Malindor was not alone out there. He was protected and escorted by a bunch of guards, riding on wolves. Though there were only about 10 of them, every one of them was an Elite Tier monster!
[Malindor's Guard] (Elite, Humanoid)
Level: 155
HP: 4,650,000
Defense: 6,200
Melee Attack: 40,070 - 50,070
Skills:
[Net]: Throws a metallic net to trap the target, immobilizing the target for 10 seconds. If the target is a flying unit, the target will descent onto the ground. Range: 30 meters.
[Strong Penetration]: Heavily impales the target and cause 100% Melee Attack of Physical Damage to the target. If the target receives this attack when the target is stunned, the damage caused by this Skill will increase by another 100%.
[Charge]: Charges into the target at an extremely high speed, stunning the target for 1 second. Aggro value will be reduced to zero. Range: 3 – 10 meters.
Note: A member of the army of darkness that Souron commands. They are now escorting Malindor to destroy The One Ring.
"Protect Mr. Malindor!" These guards were not acting like regular monsters that would get triggered by the aggro. Instead of charging at Zhang Yang and his gang, they pulled out their weapons while surrounding a young man clad in a grey robe. They seemed to be trying to protect him.
[Malindor, Magic Apprentice] (Normal, Humanoid)
Level: 153
HP: 81,720
Defense: 4,020
Magic Attack: 11,545 – 17,545
Skills:
[Fire Ball]: Throws a fire ball at the target and cause 200% Magic Attack of Fire Damage to the target.
Note: Malindor was born in a poor family. His parents had passed away since he was small. He was raised by his sister alone. However, when he was 12 years old, his sister was abducted by a rich old man and she was forced to be his slave. Malindor almost died because he was beaten up trying to resist. Fortunately, he survived because Rogue saved his life. Malindor had planned to become a Grand Magus so that he could go back and rescue his sister. However, he was lack of the gift to master magic. Hence, under the seduction of the dark force, he chose to stand on the side of Souron.
"... this is what we call, ‘misgovernment makes the people rebel’, right? Haih…" everyone sighed heavily when they found out what happened to Malindor.
However, a virtual story would always be fake. Although there might be a similar tragedy happening somewhere on earth, completing the quest would be their uttermost important task right now!
"Kill!"
Zhang Yang and his gang descended to the ground, and a chaotic melee ensued.