Chapter 303: Saving the Townspeople (1/2)
Guard Captain Rice pointed his iron broadsword to the southeast and said, ”Those damned Night Creatures are growing restless again. The Hellhounds are invading like tidewater, and their numbers are so huge that it’s impossible to kill all of them. Moreover, they’ve surrounded a town at the edge of Sky Forest called Dry Town, and we need to safely escort the townspeople to the temporary supply camp before the imperial army shows up!”
The guard captain shot me a glance and said, ”Young warrior, there is about two kilometers of distance between Dry Town and the temporary supply camp, and the Hellhounds will be attacking you and the people you’re protecting while you’re traveling. You need to make sure that they all survive the journey, alright?”
I nodded. ”Got it!”
Ding~!
System Notice: You have accepted the quest [Saving the Townspeople]! (Current Quest Rank: S-)
Description: Head to Dry Town and help the guardsmen escort a group of townspeople to safety. Watch out for the Hellhounds’ attacks! The quest is complete when you’ve successfully transferred 500 civilians. If more than 50 civilians die during the transfer, the quest will fail, and you will be severely punished!
……
It looked like a pretty difficult quest, but I actually felt a bit relieved. This proved that Sky City still cared about its people’s lives, and that it was worthy of my services. I would gladly carry out more quests like these in the future.
I opened the world map and noted that a red area had appeared at the edge of Sky Forest. It represented the Hellhounds’ activity spot. At the center of it was a green dot that represented my destination, Dry Town.
Looks like there’s going to be a huge battle!
I checked my condition before heading out. I had a healthy supply of potions, and all my items were above 97% durability, enough to last me an entire war. Moreover, I had War Crush, a super AoE skill. No matter how brutal the Hellhounds were, I wouldn’t be completely powerless.
I marked Dry Town as my destination and started marching with my pet. Since this was a S- Rank quest, I was expecting the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf to grow another 10 levels at least. Thankfully, the pets in Heavenblessed leveled up at a rather reasonable rate. It would be infuriating if a pet had to be trained for half a year before they could amount to anything.
I ran across the forest, but I wasn’t in a hurry. I killed any mob we ran into along the way so that the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf could level up as quickly as possible.
I was almost at Dry Town about half an hour later. Suddenly, I heard the sounds of battle from a part of the forest!
The mobs were none other than the Hellhounds, and they were far stronger than I had initially thought!
Hellhound (Elite)
Level: 95
Attack: 920~1080
Defense: 650
HP: 17500
Skills: Bite, Roar
Properties: Death Surge, increases attack speed by 50%
Introduction: A group of Hellhounds are lurking in the darkness just outside Sky City. Their sharp claws that could tear apart any armor, and they cannot be tamed because they are beset by eternal hunger. They act only to hunt, and they have become a primary threat to Sky City due to the manipulations of the undead mages.
……
The Hellhound was a Level 95 elite mob with a pretty good Attack and even better special trait. That Death Surge instantly increased their attack speed by 50%, and not many people could handle that kind of DPS. However, they did have a fatal flaw, and that was their Defense was paper thin and their HP wasn’t very impressive. They could easily be killed if one was powerful enough!
The two players fighting against the Hellhounds also carried the emblem of Sky City on their shoulder like I do. The line of text floating above their heads were:
The Iron Palm That Surfs On Milk LV-82
Class: Magic Knight
Guild: Warsky Alliance
Commit Suicide LV-81
Class: Warrior
Guild: Warsky Alliance
……
I felt a sense of apprehension when I saw their IDs. They were part of the Warsky Alliance?
By now, everyone in Sky City knew that Warsky Alliance was aiming to take down Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, and so far it looked like they had the strength to match their boast. In Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, a Level 80 player would be made a corps commander already. But these two players were only squad leaders in Warsky Alliance!
That being said, I was pretty sure that they couldn’t withstand the Hellhound pack despite their strength. They were surrounded by almost 20 Hellhounds, and every hit deleted about 400 HP from their health bars.
418!
387!
412!
……
The attacks weren’t deadly, but they were happening so frequently that even The Iron Palm That Surfs On Milk, a high-level magic knight with almost 6000 HP, couldn’t handle it. In just half a minute’s time, he had lost over two-thirds of his HP. He hastily shouted to his companion, ”Suicide, I don’t think we can handle these mobs alone! Their Attack is just too high! Let’s grab a couple of priests and come back later!”
Commit Suicide swung violently at a Hellhound using Blaze before replying, ”No can do, man! The leader himself had ordered us to scout out the leveling grounds around Sky City! If we retreat now, everyone will look down on us! We have to kill at least one Hellhound so we could get the experience and the monster data!”