Chapter 418: The King of Naga
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Since the boss fight had not yet started, the party was paying attention to Lost Dream’s and Endless Starlight’s petty squabble. They shrugged helplessly, in pity for the two childish men!
Zhang Yang ignored the two of them and proceeded on with the boss. "It’s just a Yellow-Gold tier. Just kill and be done with it."
"Understood."
Everyone nodded in unison. If the boss was a Yellow-Gold boss in a dungeon instead, the party would have been a little more cautious. After all, dungeon bosses were defeated with skill. No amount of high tiered equipment would save you from being a dumb meathead. But an open-world boss was different, their difficulties were just based on their tiers, it's true that they may have skills which required skills to defeat, but when the team is strong as f*ck, there’s nothing to it anymore.
"Tch! It’s the despicable subordinates of Madran!" Joe Was clicked his tongue and brandished a long metal pole. With quick movement underwater, the first person Joe targeted was Zhang Yang.
"I shall be honored to send you to meet your god!"
Foom! CLING!
The metal pole was swung at incredible speed, but was immediately blocked by Zhang Yang’s equally fast shield block. However, since there was no ground to stop the sheer momentum of the spear, both Joe and Zhang Yang was sent backward. However, the Mythical Turtle had immediately paddled its flaps and forcefully stopped its movements to charge back at the boss. Joe Was, being a Naga of the sea, was able to stop himself from being pushed too far. With a quick swing of his massive tail, Joe shot back towards Zhang Yang and prepared himself for another godly smash.
"He looks so proud wielding the pole. Does he think himself as the monkey god Sun Wu Kong?" said Wei Yan Er as she swam towards the boss. Without waiting for an answer, Wei Yan Er swam close to the effective range and activated {Charge}, and started to swing her own axe at the boss.
Unlike Wei Yan Er who was a melee type attacker, the ranged attackers had no need to swim around. They could start attacking, as long as they were 30 meters away from the boss. Fatty Han laughed and said, "Sun Wu Kong huh? Now that you mention it, did you know that when he trashed the entire heaven palace, he was all-powerful, and was able to destroy most of it? But when he was sent to retrieve the scroll in a journey to the west, he was unable to defeat most of the demons and had to ask for help?"
Lost Dream laughed and said, "That’s simple! During his ruckus at the heavenly palace, all the gods and goddesses were nothing but regular officers. If the palace was destroyed, so be it, they only needed to wave their hands to rebuild the entire thing! It’s not like it would work them up to a wreck. On the other hand, during the journey to the west, the home of the demons that Wu Kong had fought were built by the demon’s own blood, sweat, and tears! It’s only natural that the demons would fight for their lives! Imagine someone knocking down your door and trashing your place, I’m sure you’ll squash them and make apple juice from their skulls!"
"Hey! Wankers! Are you nothing but regular officers yourselves? You think the boss would be defeated with just a wave of your hands?" Zhang Yang scolded whilst attacking at the same time.
Everyone else laughed while Lost Dream and Fatty Han quietly lowered their heads, feeling guilty.
Still, under the massive power of the entire party, the Yellow-Gold boss’ 2 million HP was nothing to be feared. With nothing but the wail of the boss, Zhang Yang rushed to deliver the last killing blow.
Just before the sword was about to drop on Joe Was’ head. A loud deafening voice echoed through the water.
"HOLD!"
It was then, that the voice had spread through and enveloped the party member with a large air bubble, rendering them immobile to a certain extent. No matter how much they moved or struggled, the air bubble was not like the usual soap bubble that would pop at a single touch. The bubbles encasing the party were too strong to be real.
"It must be a change in the plot!" Zhang Yang explained. From the moment he received the quest from the bloody Julio dude, he felt that the quest was just something to mess with gullible players. Compared to the other players in the team, these kind of sudden changes in the quest development were no surprise to him.
Out of nowhere, a male Naga with a slightly larger character size rushed over. Besides the skin color and the body build of the Naga, he wore a large golden crown. He was also riding a large shark mount and had a large trident in his hand.
[Cynapor, The King of Naga] (Violet-Platinum, Humanoid)
Level: 95
HP: 9,500,000
Defense: 2,600
"Lord Cynapor, these humans are Madran’s lackeys! We should hurry up and kill them!" cried Joe Was, like a bullied child.
"Joe Was. You’re too quick to judge them. They are not the underlings of Madran!" said Cynapor. He glanced through the party members and locked onto Zhang Yang’s Mythical Turtle. "I know that turtle. It once belonged to Gethelo the Merman, yet it now falls in the hand of that human male. I could tell that he and Gethelo have some sort of connection! He would never be the underling of Madran!"
"But, my lord---"
"Silence." Cynapor gave a quick glare to Joe Was.
The King then swam towards Zhang Yang and had a good look at him.
"Young warrior. Would you listen to my plea before you act?" said Cynapor politely.
Cynapor waved his hands and the air bubbles encasing Zhang Yang and his party disappeared.
‘Ding! You can select one of the following choices. 1, Ignore Cynapor’s plea and kill Joe Was. You will now openly engage an all-out war with the Naga. 2, Spare Joe Was’s life and listen to Cynapor. Option 1 will reward you with a Relationship points with a certain individual on the Island of the Sacred One. Option 2 will cause you to be marked as an enemy to everyone on the Island of the Sacred One.’
Both options were like double-edged swords!
Zhang Yang remained quiet and thought of the options available. Even though option 1 was rather fair and tempting, since Joe Was was only one sword stroke away from death, Cynapor had come alone and was easy to defeat now that Zhang Yang had a full team with him. However, Zhang Yang was standing in front of the royal palace of the Naga! Who knew, Cynapor might just call out for help and the entire army of Naga will swarm to his aid! At least, the previous boss that had sunk the ship, Ankhdorea was not here. Still, Cynapor is the King of Naga! He should have more than a couple of Yellow-Gold underlings!
From another point of view, option 2’s Relationship with a certain individual was too vague, to begin with! It could anyone! It could be the cook, the fisherman, the ship captain, the harbormaster, or even perhaps the wanker with the name Julio! After all, Zhang Yang’s ultimate goal was to obtain the last fragment by killing Madran! What would Zhang Yang gain by getting any Relationship with Madran?
In the end, Zhang Yang finally settled with a decision. "Option 2!"
Everyone in the party followed Zhang Yang without any objection.
Zhang Yang sheathed his sword to display his cooperation and said, "Naga King, I think…a discussion is way overdue!"
"Hmph! I only have to discuss crushing your head!" said Joe Was.
Cynapor laughed and turned his back. "Please follow me to the royal palace!"
With Cynapor leading the way, the other warriors that were patrolling the palace had formed a line to welcome the king and his guests. Cynapor had led the party inside one of the buildings still stood. Inside, Zhang Yang had noticed that there were no one inside the building. Unlike how human’s behaved and ruled, a royal palace like this should have many maids and servants stationed inside the palace to serve their king. Besides the guards outside the palace, the building was completely empty.
"Please sit." said the King as he sat down on the throne.
Everyone was troubled. How do they sit in water? Everyone was literally in a hovering status. Sitting down would not make any difference. However, since the king had decreed it, it would be best to sit down on the chairs provided, or it would be unpolite not to do so.
"Adventurers, why are you here?" asked Cynapor.
"Because you called us here?" was what Zhang Yang wanted to say but if he did, it would be massively disrespectful to the king. Instead, Zhang Yang explained the events chronologically. "I am an adventurer who was headed to the Island of the Sacred One. In the middle of the journey to the island, the ship that was ferrying the followers of Madran was attacked by your kind. Everyone died, and I was the sole survivor. I then reported it to a person named Julio, on the island. He had, in turn, sent me here to have your head."
The crowd went silent. Besides the sound of the ocean waters, there was no one making noise until Joe Was opened his mouth. "I know that person. Julio. He is a greedy and sneaky bastard! If he is not hiding on the island, I would have sliced his head off!"
Cynapor nodded and asked Zhang Yang. "Adventurer, I believe that there is a misunderstanding here. You might have come to believe that the Naga are attacking your brethren. However, I feel obligated to inform you of the truth. Madran is an evil man. He plans to revive an ancient Demonic Statue. If he succeeds, it would spell doom for the entire world!"
"Demonic Statue?"
"You heard right. There was a legend that spoke of the War Demonic Statue. It was one of the demon artifacts from the war of the gods. It contained unimaginable power! I have no idea where did Madran acquire the artifact. But I do know this. He had also obtained the means of reviving the statue! The reason behind why he had amassed so many followers is to select the most suitable person and offer them up as a sacrifice to the Demonic Statue. That is his plan. To trade human life, for the power of the Demonic Statue!"
Zhang Yang nodded. He understood what was happening with the quest storyline. "That is why you had sent out your soldiers to attack the ship that was ferrying the followers. It was to prevent Madran from "collecting" enough "sacrifices"?"
"You are correct, earth dweller. However, we do not know accurately, which of them was the real sacrifice. That is why we killed them all."
Zhang Yang had no feelings for the people who had died in the capsized ship. Nothing. Yet, he felt that as a human, he should be. Especially when Cymapor had confessed that he had commanded the kill for those people. The tone that he used was as if they had killed nothing but rodents in the drain. Since they (humans) were not their kin, their death meant nothing to the Naga.
Luckily, it was all but a game’s storyline. If he had listened to his words in real life, Zhang Yang would have sprung into action and beat the living hell out of them.
Cynapor had not noticed the change in Zhang Yang glare, and continued to speak his mind about Madran. "In the end, destroying the ship was nothing but to slow Madran down. Eventually, the man will get what he wants. Unless we are able to completely rid him of this world, he will prevail. When that day comes, it is not only us, the Naga, who will perish, but the entire world, including you, humans shall be thrown into the flames of hell."
Cynapor made a sad expression and sighed heavily. "What is wrong with you humans! Why is it that you can kill one of your own so easily? Such a thing would never happen to the Naga!"
"That, my lord, is why I said, the humans are the lowest of all races!" Joe Was spits his saliva which was dissolved immediately in the water. Besides Zhang Yang, the rest of the party members were ready to leap on him at any moment.
Zhang Yang sighed heavily in response to Cynapor. He had no interest in arguing about the virtue among the humans. "Naga King, is that what you wish for? The death of Madran? Will that truly solve all problems?"
Cynapor nodded his head without a trace of hesitation. "Madran, and his 12 Disciples! When that deed is done, the secrets of reviving the Demonic Statue will be forever lost!"
‘Ding! You have received a choice. Give up the quest: Kill Cynapor, and accept a new quest: To Bury the Secret. Will you proceed with the change?’
Zhang Yang glanced at his team, and they all nodded in unison. Zhang Yang nodded back to acknowledge, and accepted the quest. It was pretty obvious why he would do so. The main reason was the quest only had a stupid reward in the first place. Secondly, Zhang Yang wanted to kill the NPC and that way, he could easily obtain the last piece of the Dimensional Key!
[To Bury the Secret] (Difficulty Level: S)
Quest Description: Madran has been secretly preparing the revival of the Demonic Statue. Once he succeeds, the entire realm will be blanketed in a dark shadow! Warrior, you have to kill Madran and his 12 Disciples to prevent this catastrophe! Make haste, for Madran is one step to victory!
Progress: Kill Madram 0/1 12 Disciples 0/12
Cynapor was extremely happy. He nodded when he saw the glint of determination in Zhang Yang’s eye.
"Madran and his 12 Disciples are always hiding in the magic seal that is protecting the palace in the center of the island. I can tell you this with great confidence. If you want to destroy the magic seal right now, it would take a lot of effort and sacrifice to do so. However, now that you are here, I’d say, there’s a good chance of things being much simpler!"
In truth, right after accepting the quest to kill Madran, Zhang Yang was having a massive headache, thinking of a way to penetrate the shield.