Chapter 719 - Black Flame Set
We entered the forest from the south. As we walked, I passed the map’s coordinates to Li Mu, Wang Jian and Matcha with orders for [Zhan Long]’s members to assemble in 100-man parties and come clear the map. I also posted the Blood Demon’s stats in our chat. Essentially, every party needs our Steel Blade Cavalry to tank as well as sufficient healers to avoid mishaps like getting insta-killed.
……
“Crunch……”
My horse trotted its way forward through the shrubbery. Stalks of plants bore reddish bell-like berries that swayed as the hooves passed by, and created the illusion of nonexistent bells that rang.This Blood Demon Forest appears to be devoid of any other living creatures. Hares, deers and whatnot must’ve been hunted to extinction by the Blood Demons already. It’s quite perplexing how such a large forest can be populated by only Blood Demons. What do they even eat? [Destiny] has been designed to imitate real life. Whether they’re NPCs or monsters, they all need to eat for sustenance. If it’s not vegetation, then it’s meat……
A bit farther ahead, three Blood Demons appeared together in a small clearing.
I quickly drew my Dragon’s Reservoir Sword, “There’s three!”
Seeing that I wasn’t gallantly charging ahead again, Wan Er giggled, “What, you’re scared already?”
“Of course! If by chance, their magic attacks got a critical on me, I might end up insta-killed. We’ll be better off confirming our strategy first. I’ll start by drawing all their attentions. Dong Cheng, you [Sleep] the one on the left. I’ll take middle. Wan’Er and Qing Qian will stun the one on the right. Call all your pets out to help me kill.”
“En!”
I had the reins in one hand and sword in the other, I confirmed my trajectory and let loose ——[Charge]！
Whoosh!
My blurry figure shot off like a streak of light and brutally crashed into the torso of the middle Blood Demon. The grotesque visage of the other 2 instantly turned towards me as they began to attack. However, Dong Cheng finished her chanting right at this moment and the leftmost one immediately fell into a slumber that will last 7 seconds. I promptly threw out a chain of [Combo] + [Great Realm of Desolation] + [Strength of a Thousand] while enduring the attacks of the remaining two. My HP may be going down in chunks but Darling Duck’s ability isn’t lacking either. One heal after another landed on me, quickly creating an equilibrium point.
Wan Er appears at this time. A quick [Gouge] stuns the one on the right. Then with a slide step, she closed in on the middle one; [Blade of the Gods] + [Twin Blades Unity] + [Revolving Strikes]! With the damage of the overlapping skills stacking on top of that from the pets, this middle Blood Demon’s health was dropping in chunks now. While this was going on, Qing Qian is effectively locking the right Blood Demon in a Stun state. Both the girls are considered role models of the Assassin class. The number of people in the China server that can compare to them when it comes to the finesse of utilizing crowd control techniques can be counted on a single hand. With them around, leveling becomes so much safer.
The first Blood Demon was quickly finished off. The left one has already woken up by now and its razor-like claws are tearing away at my armor already. I didn’t bother with any dodging maneuvers and just let it hit. Anyway, Darling Duck can heal and every time I take enough damage equivalent to 100% of my HP, my defense goes up by 1%. Under such intense leveling conditions, increasing my defense to 200% shouldn’t be difficult at all. Once I hit that point, I can basically just ignore their melee attacks. Not to mention, there’s definitely a Boss in this map that I’ll need super defense to tank.
A minute and a half later, my sword dealt the finishing blow to the third and final Blood Demon. Unexpectedly, as it died, it cried out, “Curses! I did not hide “it” well enough! This is bad……”
Thump!
Along with 7 gold coins dropped a dignified black chest plate. My heart skipped a beat. I instinctively knew this must be good stuff. Riding up next to it, I bent over and flicked it up with my sword then caught it and called up its property window…… This is really good stuff——
【Black Flame Chestplate】(Heavenly-Tier Gear)
Type: Heavy
Defense: 1100
Strength; +80
Stamina: +78
Agility: +75
Additional: Increase user’s base Magic Defense by 30%
Additional: Increase user’s base Physical Defense by 25%
Additional: Increase user’s max HP by 4000
Set Piece: Black Flame Set・Chest
Introduction: Black Flame Set, The Heaven’s Blade Da Lun of the Hybrid Demon Kings have always hated humanity. It’s said that he himself was once the sovereign of a human empire but that has not stopped him from desiring the complete annihilation of the human race. Da Lun collected fire-type black steel ore from all over the continent which he ordered a famous craftsman to utilize. The result was a batch of the [Black Flame Set]. This armor is incredibly resilient against all types of blades; a must have if one plans to live on battlefields. Da Lun might have ordered the Blood Demons to make camp near the [War God’s River] but, since, they are foolish creatures and chose to carry this important shipment on their bodies. Upon death, there’s a certain chance that Da Lun’s painstaking effort will end up in another’s hands.
Required Level: 115
……
Seeing this Heavenly-tier set piece, no sound would come out of me. Instead, bewilderment blocked off all thoughts. This is just a level 115 equipment. It’s also only Heavenly-tier. But once this set was completely gathered up, its stats might even match those of Li Mu and Wang Jian’s. If we’re to add our [Steel Blade Cavalry] to the equation…… do I even need to describe the defensive and offensive power that would come of it?
Eagerly tossing the armor into my inventory, I gleefully spoke up, “Alright, let’s clear this up right now. The equipments we get from killing Blood Demons and Boss are left up to dice rolls, but all [Black Flame Set] pieces goes to me!”
Darling Duck couldn’t hold back giggling, “Chief you battle maniac! Are you thinking to mix the Steel Blade Cavalry + Black Flame Set + Frostform Sword for a “min-maxed” heavy cavalry regiment?”
“That’s right. Smart Ducky. That’s exactly what I’m planning. Once these 3 are mixed together, they should possess enormous battle potential. And think…… once we have a sufficient number of people equipped as such and every one of them has an [Anti-Magic Shield] on, they’ll be able to tear through the enemy spells and ammunition. This will be a more direct and effective method against our enemies. Also…… if we’re to focus all of this on the Moon Elves within our Steel Blade Cavalry, that’ll be even more perfect. Offense and defense in one. Enough to swagger through Tian Ling City!
Dongcheng snickered, “A battle maniac indeed…… But, you can rest at ease. Your little sister Meng Yao is already level 113. It’s only a day or two more of work to reach 115. There’s already a Steel Blade Horse saved for her. Frostform Sword is not an issue either. All that’s left now is how long before her big brother gathers a full [Black Flame Set] for her……”
Wan Er chuckled as well, “No matter what, I don’t think Piggy here will be satisfied with letting his little sister use a Heavenly-tier weapon like the Frostform Sword right?”
I too laughed a bit here, “That’s right. After I’ve gathered a complete [Black Flame Set] for Meng Yao, I’ll be paying a visit to all the main cities to look for high end weapons. I’ll never let her use just a Heavenly-tier sword!”
“Oh right, once the [Moon Elf Brigade] is set up, who’ll you pick to lead them? Meng Yao or Yue Yao Yan? Yao Yan is already level 120 now; highest out of all the Moon Elves in our cavalry group……” Wan’ Er suddenly changed topics.
I pondered for a bit, “Nepotism is not allowed. Yue Yao Yan is the one best suited to be the [Moon Elf Brigade]’s No.1. It’s still too early for Meng Yao. Let her experience a few of the game’s real wars first. We can consider this topic again after she’s been polished up. Needless to say though, I have absolute confidence in her abilities. It won’t be too long before she becomes one of the pillars of [Zhan Long].”
Wan Er nodded her approval, “En. Let’s continue killing the Blood Demons. You have the highest Charisma out of all of us so the chance the set drops for you is higher. The more Blood Demons our party kills, the more set pieces we might get!”
“Kay!”
……
The 5 of us quickly entered even deeper into the forest. There’s definitely more and more Blood Demons as we move in. They’re pretty much all in groups of 3-5 at a time. Good thing our group members are strong enough. I would tank 2 of them at a time while my Ancient Heavenly Tiger and Purple Kirin Dragon take 1 each. Wan Er and Qing Qian will take turns stunning the last one. Dong Cheng’s [Sleep] would be used at her discretion. This method is relatively safe and steady aside from how easily the pets might die from consecutive critical hits. With [Flame Armor] for protection my Ancient Heavenly Tiger was still okay, but the Purple Kirin Dragon had bit the dust once already; that broke Wan Er’s heart. And so, we decide to have Dong Cheng use [Sleep] to fill in that gap instead of having the Purple Kirin Dragon be a lone tank.
Our progress was extremely smooth. In less than 10 minutes, another set piece dropped; a pair of wrist guards. It went straight to me. Seeing this, Wan Er spoke up, “You have 2 pieces of the set now, see what the set bonus is like?”
“Eh?!”
“Hurry up!”
“Fine……”
I took out both pieces and held them up. Strands of light floated out and formed the property window——
【Black Flame Set】
2 Piece: Attack Power +45%
3 Piece: Defensive Power + 70%
4 Piece: Attack Speed + 50%, Magic Defense +200%
5 Piece: Max HP +20000, Attack Power +100%
6 Piece: [Black Flame Ward] - An independent shield formed of black flames that surrounds the user. Reduces all incoming damage by 30% regardless of type and element. Permanent effect. Unlimited durability.
……
“This……”
Upon seeing this, even my throat went dry. Swallowing a gulp of drool, I took another look at my [Hidden Dragon Armor],[Divine Suppressing Dragon Armguard], and [Yuan Rong Warboots]. I felt the impulsive urge to replace all these Saint-tier equips with the Heavenly-tier ones. All the items I’m wearing carry with them various special abilities and Rage Skills. The [Black Flame Set] definitely can’t match up to them in that area but its base stats are simply just incredible!
Dong Cheng blankly blinked a few times then asked, “Don’t armor sets consist of only 5 pieces? Why does this one have 6?”
I was at a loss myself, “No idea……”
Two minutes later, a burst of luck netted us another piece and an answer. It’s a [Black Flame Cloak]. This pure black cloak is quite eye-catching. Red embroidery adorned its surface. It also had a faint but noticeable glow. Hehe. I can imagine it already. If those Moon Elf beauties with hot figures like Yue Yao Yan and Meng Yao were to put on a completed [Black Flame Set], with their bare thighs out in display, it’s sure to be a feast for the eyes.
At this point, I couldn’t help but slap my head a couple times. What am I even thinking? Meng Yao is my little sister! Yue Yao Yan is Wan Er’s close friend! I’d be better off imagining how Wan Er would look in the set instead! With this notion in mind, I looked towards Wan’er instead. Our beautiful Missy’s pair of snow white legs are just stunning under the moonlight and the cut of [Bu Lianshi’s Winter Garment] is quite stylish. When wrapped across that lavish pair of hers, the sight is enough to make people forget how to breath.
“D...Dummy, what are you looking at!” Wan Er warily looks at me.
I put the cloak into my inventory and forced out an awkward laugh, “Nothing, nothing. Let’s keep killing the Blood Demons. They’re so loaded……”
“En!”
Wan Er is normally a really intelligent girl; just that fooling her… doesn’t seem to be difficult at all for me…...