Chapter 240 (1/2)
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A couple of dings followed immediately after the first system announcement—
Ding~!
System Announcement (War Report): Floating Ice City Border Commander Stark has answered Princess Karinshan's summons! He is leaving his fortress with 50000-strong Black Cavalry to quell the insurgency at Floating Ice City!
Ding~!
System Announcement (War Report): Floating Ice City Border Commander Ziyan has answered Princess Karinshan's summons! She is leaving her encampment with 70000-strong Frost Army to quell the insurgency at Floating Ice City!
Ding~!
System Announcement (War Report): Floating Ice City Border Commander Lintus has answered Princess Karinshan's summons! He is leaving Wind Moon Fortress with 40000-strong Scarlet Wolf Army to quell the insurgency at Floating Ice City!
……
The three consecutive announcements were all the players needed to hear to know that a new ruler was about to be seated on the throne of Floating Ice City. It was surprising that Princess Karinshan still commanded this much influence even after she was declared dead for an entire millennium. The wise and courageous princess had definitely been loved by her people, but that wasn't all the reason the NPCs had reacted so decisively.
I had heard that Cardin The Third was a cruel and tyrannical king, and that the quests players were receiving around the city were often about n.o.bles oppressing the common folk. In a sense, it was unsurprising that the city was corrupt knowing that an evil and greedy undead magus was in control.
Besides that, I quickly checked the database and discovered a small rumor that Cardin The Third had been leading a rotten life for the past millennia or so. It was said that he demanded a virgin to be brought to his palace everyday to satisfy his s.e.xual needs. Of course, this part of the history was considered “unofficial”. If someone were to check official annals of Floating Ice City, they would discover that the twenty-thousand-word-long text was blotted out by asterisks.
……
Boom!
I got lucky and was able to let loose another Purgatory Slash. An entire group of low HP guards immediately dropped to the ground and turned into experience!
Behind me, Murong Mingyue laughed melodiously. “Faster, faster! There are only a few of them left now! We're the first warriors to answer the call to arms, so maybe Princess Karinshan will grant us n.o.ble t.i.tles once she reclaims the throne from that undead magus!”
I rolled my eyes at her. “Sis, you're dreaming again.”
I swung my sword repeatedly and focused on killing the mobs as quickly as possible. Murong Mingyue was a super priest, so I didn't need to worry about running out of potions. Moreover, the Purgatory Sword would occasionally trigger its Outstanding skill and delete a large number of enemies from existence, speeding up our grinding even further!
Less than half an hour later, all one thousand or so Level 80 elite mobs had been killed by our combined efforts. All the girls leveled up, I didn't. At Level 78 my EXP requirements were way higher than theirs!
The ground was completely covered in glittering pieces of gear and various items. I said, “We'll spend one minute to loot the battlefield, no more. Be ready to enter the palace once the time is up!”
“Okay!”
Everyone got to work immediately. A Level 80 elite mob would only drop items at the Dark Steel grade at best, so there was no point in hoping for a Silver-grade item, even in the mountain of corpses we just killed. Dark Steel–grade items weren't really all that impressive these days and could only sell for several dozen of gold, maybe a hundred. That was of course if they didn't have powerful pa.s.sives like boots increasing movement speed, wristguards increasing attack speed, or weapons with lifesteal. Lifesteal in particular was so rare that I hadn't encountered a single item with this attribute. Players who had such items could probably be counted on one hand.
We continued forward after taking all the equipment and magic stones we could take. As usual, I stood at the forefront of the party with the Dark Wasp in tow, but this time I also used Summon Undead to call Xinran over to my side!
Ding~!
System Notice: Your pet ”Xinran” has refused to fight for you!
Dammit, she's throwing a tantrum again?
One more time!
Ding~!
System Notice: Your pet ”Xinran” cannot be summoned!
……
f.u.c.k! What on earth is going on here?
Absolutely annoyed, I tried again and finally got a response. The magic formation glowed brightly before a black hole appeared at the center of it. It looked like an entrance that led straight to the Netherworld. Suddenly, a black figure leaped out of the hole and stood next to me. She was a small female warrior covered in leather armor from head to toe.
Ding~!
System Notice: Your pet “Xinran” has killed the Skeletal T-Rex while adventuring in the Netherworld and obtained the Dragonbone Spear (Dark Gold–grade, max Attack 750, Strength +70, Stamina +65. Increases user's attack power by 24%, pet-exclusive)!
……
I was floored. Holy s.h.i.+t, not only was this Dragonbone Spear a Dark Gold–grade weapon, its stats were way higher than my Purgatory Sword's. The unfortunate part was that it was a pet-exclusive equipment, and it was something Xinran had gotten on her own when she was gone. Just who on earth was Xinran? Why did she have so many secrets?
But it was no time for idle thought, so I said quickly, “Cardin The Third is possessed by Undead Magus Cardilla. If we don't kill him, Floating Ice City will be stuck in darkness for a long time to come.”
As a small breeze lifted Xinran's hair a little, she pushed her helmet up to reveal her blood-red eyes. “Is that so? Whatever…”
Whatever? What kind of att.i.tude is that?
Her lukewarm response annoyed me, but on second thought I supposed I understand why she was acting like this. Xinran was an undead creature, and she probably couldn't care less who was going to become the ruler of Floating Ice City. But I do, because it was either completing the quest successfully and getting a generous reward, and failing it and suffering a three-level penalty! There was no way I was falling back to Level 75 after everything I have done to come this far!
Murong Mingyue glanced at Xinran before commenting, “I heard you had a humanoid pet earlier, but I had no idea she was this beautiful!”
I laughed. “But of course!”
Xinran raised her head and stared at me coolly, so I changed the subject and said, “Come on, let's go find that Cardin The Third already. Let's see if he has any bite behind his bark!”
“Got it!”