Chapter 686: The Fight for Souron’s Castle
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
All Level 6 Gemstones were instantly kept in the guild warehouse, since only Level 170 equipment would have Level 6 Sockets. Whoever who gets their Level raised to that level may take the Gems for themselves.
After all the items were distributed, the party returned to Hannier Valley to submit their quest to General Turkin Han. Back at the valley, the party was warmly welcome not just by the general, but almost by everyone present. The party was surrounded by NPCs congratulating them for their deeds. Naturally, Fatty Han and Endless Starlight were at each other throats, trying to grab the limelight!
After obtaining 20,000,000 experience points as their reward, they also obtained an equipment.
[Mark of the Demon Slayer] (Mythical, Ring)
Vitality: +1889
Strength: +635
Dexterity: +635
Equip: Increases maximum HP by 3,770.
Equip: Increases damage dealt and healing rate by 8%
Equip: Absorbs 539 damage when attacked.
Use: Deals additional 20% attack on Demon type targets. Lasts for 15 seconds. Cooldown: 3 minutes.
Level Requirement: 170
Special: Level Requirement reduced by 20 Levels.
Note: A token of appreciation for defeating the Shadow Demon Souron!
The reward ring given differed from class to class. However, all of them had the similar special effects of reducing level requirement. The ring was both defensive and offensive, which was awfully rare and sought-after. Sadly, the ring had to wait as well. Until the party reaches Level 150, it would have to wait in the warehouse.
Zhang Yang and the party left the valley to complete the promise they had made to Malindor. They headed straight towards Nordinja Town and demanded that the old nobles release the poor girl. By then, the party was wearing the hero's halo over their heads, making the quest easier to complete. Even though it pained them to do so, the nobles had no choice but to comply to Zhang Yang's demands.
Zhang Yang left Vinitha at the town's inn until they are able to take down Souron's Castle and have her to set up a new home there. Before leaving town, the grumpy little Wei Yan Er had swung her axe and beheaded the pompous old fart for keeping Vinitha against her own will.
The next thing to do for the party was to make preparations for the upcoming war. Everyone was both anxious and excited for the war. By normal means, when the declaration of the Territorial War is announced, the battle will only start on the next day, at 7pm. However, since it was a crucial matter, he would not allow anyone to make any mistakes. Hence, he waited for everyone's Inheritance to be ready and only then, did he announce the war.
The server channel flashed with red text and everyone was notified about a new Territory appearing in the Mar Gaia Forest and the battle to claim the land will be held the next day at 7pm.
Everyone around the world was notified and got to work almost instantly. A territory that has appeared in a Level 150 – 180 map is new and unguarded. However, being a Territory, it still held great value to its lands. Even though not a single player in the entire game had reached Level 150, it was just a matter of time before the Territory would have visitors from all over the world. When that time comes, the Teleportation fees would be the one that earns the big bucks.
Zhang Yang contacted all guild masters that he was close to, Snow Seeker, Sword of Light, and even One Sword Stroke to call for their aid. As a means to reason with them, Zhang Yang got them to fight for him in order to bring glory to the nation of China. However, while his voice might be inspiring to others, the guild masters were not stupid enough to fall for something as lofty as that. Everyone was smart enough to ask for something in return for them to provide aid.
As such, Zhang Yang and the other guild masters sat together and discussed their demands. It was an unavoidable move. Mar Gaia Forest was a Level 150 – 180 map. Players who dared to set foot in this map must be at least Level 130. Any lower, the monsters in the map could crush them with a single finger.
As per calculation, the number of players in China that reached Level 130 were about 3,000. The globe, however, had amassed as much as 20,000 players. Not many of them may have Inheritance Transformation skills, but surely, each of them possessed Inheritances of their own. Lone Desert Smoke had only over 100 members that were over Level 130. How could 100 players fend off over 20,000 players?
Even though the main goal was to protect the player carrying the Territory Command Order, the chances of survival were extremely low! How could 100 players endure constant bombardment of 20,000 players? Hence, Zhang Yang had called for all China players to unite. Naturally, since the order was found by Zhang Yang, he would not allow any of the helping players gain any advantage over the Territory! It would not make sense! However, despite the unbalanced discussion, everyone was not too greedy. Everyone reached to settlement and left with extreme satisfaction. The one-person left being greatly annoyed was none other than Zhang Yang.
"What greedy bastards! How could they make me concoct such a large amount of potions! Don't they know I need to eat and sleep as well!? For god sake, I only have a pair of hands! Sheesh!" Zhang Yang blew off some steam.
"Hahaha! Little Yang! I shall help you get that billionaire chick Snow Seeker as your consort! Might as well add her into your harem!" said Fatty Han with great determination.
"Yea Yea! That chick called Frost Sparks is not bad as well! I see that she's got some real hongkadongs!"
Frost Sparks is the new guild master of the guild Rolling Rocks. She is beautiful and well-endowed. Her poise was that of a noblewoman. An ever-stoic stance. It was unknown as to how she had managed to step up as the new guild master. Everyone knew that the previous guild master had left her with the post and disappeared elsewhere.
"Are you guys nothing but boobs, jugs, and honkers?" Lost Dream laughed manically.
Zhang Yang nodded and said, "Please get yourself ready for the war. Anything from bandages to potions. Get more than enough for the sake of it!"
For the next three days, Zhang Yang was in town, crafting potions endlessly. As a result, he was able to concoct a large batch of potions and even Transmuted potions, as well. Each ascending grade of Transmuted [Temporary Invincibility Potion] will provide an additional 0.5 seconds extended duration. The strongest, Grade 10 Transmuted potion would provide a total of 10 seconds of Invincibility to the user!
Sadly, despite having only 10 seconds of Invincibility, the cooldown time was just too long. They would have to count the cooldown time for that! If they are debuffed by status effects, they could use Mobility Potions to overcome the maim. If they are surrounded from all corners, they would have to use the Invincibility Potion to survive long enough to kill a few players before running away to safety.
As a wage for requesting help from other guildmasters, Zhang Yang had personally forked out 20 million gold coins and a bunch of potions to each guild participating in the war. Snow Seeker was kind enough to reject the offer, however, she came up with an even outrageous demand, that was to ask for a 20% profit claim from the new Territory Teleportation fee. Zhang Yang said no almost immediately to her and had even smacked her on the head for asking it.
20 million gold coins might be a large sum of money, however, anyone smart enough would know that it is a one-time payment. Snow Seeker had asked for 20% profit as a life-long agreement! She knew that when the game matures a little, Level 150 maps would gain a large influx of players! Zhang Yang knew that the woman was the most difficult person to deal with, despite being surrounded by female hooligans! However, he knew her weakness. Simply by playing as a pervert man around her, he could baffle and embarrass the eyebrows out of her! It was extremely effective when Zhang Yang jokingly said that he would even date her! With that, she stopped demanding for much and settled her agreement with the 20 million gold coins and potions.
Naturally, not all members of the guild will receive many gold coins. But that was not a priority. The main aspect was to get as many strong members that could contribute to the war.
Zhang Yang could have sworn that if Han Ying Xue or Sun Xin Yu were present then, he would have lost his life…
With one more day left to prepare, Zhang Yang spent an entire day to craft as many potions as he could. It was crazy enough that he had managed to craft enough potions for every single member in his guild to have an endless supply of potion until the war ends.
The dawn of a new day broke into the skyline and everyone who was ready to fight entered the Mar Gaia Forest to await the horns of war to be blown. The location of the territory was not known to all. However, according to several experiences, a Territory would normally be situated in the center of a map. That narrows it down to three places, Souron's Castle, Baya Town, and Castle Shandar. The furthest one would be only 20 minutes flight away. Naturally, Zhang Yang and his guildmates were all standing by inside Souron's Castle. At 7pm sharp, when the horns of war were blown, all non-Lone Desert Smoke players were teleported out of the Territory. It was a little service advantage to the guild of the player that holds the Command Order.
The battle started, but Zhang Yang and his lot had not used their Transformation skill immediately. The battle will last as long as 3 hours. Hence, it would not be wise to use it at the start. Within the castle, there was a large church that could fit in a large number of players. Zhang Yang led his guild towards there.
Those that could participate in his war were all strong players. At least 90% of them possessed flying mounts by then. Since the Territory was owner-less, the castle defenses were left empty. Hence, anyone could fly around without any difficulty. Those who dare to have their battle in the castle gates would face attacks from both the ground and the sky!
Zhang Yang had formulated a plan and moved the battle towards the church instead. By bottlenecking the enemies to only a small entrance of the church, where airborne players had no means of attacking. Zhang Yang could survive by fighting and defending from inside the church!
The plan had been formulated long before the war was announced. Hence, when the signal was fired, not only Lone Desert Smoke, but Crimson Rage, Rolling Rocks, Radiance, and other guilds had complied to Zhang Yang's advice and followed him inside the church.
"D*mn, it would be nice we could use a [Forbidden Scroll] now," said Fatty Han. It was true. Since all of the China forces had already set the church as their stage and the battleground was just the size of a regular 10-meter wide gate. Most of the attackers would have to cram their way in to attack them. Imagine having over 20,000 players squeezing their way into the gates…
Overall, the entire Castle was rather huge. However, it was not too huge. A single piece of [Forbidden Scroll], like Scrounging Doomsday would hit all within the confines of the castle! There is an 80% chance that players without Transforming could die within 30 seconds.
Zhang Yang shook his head. "It won't be that effective. For example, Scrounging Doomsday's effect was 10% HP DoT. However, there was a maximum damage that could be dealt, which was 100,000 HP. At most, the [Forbidden Scroll] could deal over 3 million HP. Right now, most of the players with B class Inheritance would have over 3 million HP. That scroll best not be our best bet."
"You're right. But…what if we use the scroll after…say…2 hours or 2 and a half? If there are survivors still fighting in the castle, the [Forbidden Scroll] could surely kill them all, right?"
"True. But do we have a [Forbidden Scroll]? No. That is why we are betting on our Inheritance Transformations. At least, we should try and survive for as long as 1 hour before using them!"
In a few minutes, all players from the other 7 regions of the world server had gathered around the church. As predicted, due to the narrow pathway of the entrance to the church, all incoming players were bombarded with powerful AoE skill from all players inside the church. After a few sacrificial lambs, no one else was brave enough to charge in blindly. Those who were killed can never get back there within 3 hours to re-group with their comrades. It was literally a sudden death stage. Those who die can never come back.
Zhang Yang wanted that sort of outcome. If they were to continue coming in without plans, the main attack party would not have to go out of the church until the war ends! However, unlike Wei Yan Er, the little impatient girl who was held back by Zhang Yang, the rest of the players were not holding back. After a few silent moments, one player started activating his Transformation skill and changed into a large humanoid tiger. With nothing but flowery pants left covering his groins, the human-tiger charged into the church.
It was B class Inheritance, the Mythical Tiger Inheritance. Besides gaining a boost of HP and Defense value, it had gained just one AoE skill. The {Feral Roar}. It was an AoE skill that could inflict the status {Fear} on players which would cause them to run away from the caster.