Chapter 314 – Undying Soul
Nie Yan glanced at Empress Finas’ Fate Pearl in his bag, wondering when it would come in handy. Let’s deal with the Molelord first. He withdrew his gaze.
「Have you found the other journal pages?」Nie Yan asked. Those pages also contained clues to the quest.
「We’ve found three pages. Combine those with the two on you, and we’ll have the complete journal,」Bladelight replied. They only obtained these three pages after killing numerous Molemen and opening several chests.
Bladelight shared what was written on the last three journal pages.
Even though I’m well aware Empress Finas only wants my body as a tool, I’m still happy to become her vessel… I’m just a lowly Crystalline Moleman, but I’m willing to offer up both my life and this useless body for the sake of showing her my love… My dear Empress Finas, during those long winter nights, when both my soul and body have long since faded into dust, will you still recall the silly love of this lowly Crystalline Moleman…?
Although the journal pages were easy to collect, it appeared there was still a secret hidden within them that had yet to be uncovered.
「I’ll be there right away,」Nie Yan said. He travelled through numerous winding tunnels and arrived back at the fork in the path. There, he spotted Bladelight and the others who were recovering their health and mana.
“Where’s Sun and One Strike Vow?” Nie Yan asked after not seeing them.
“They’re scouting out the path ahead,” Bladelight replied. Sun and One Strike Vow had discovered the Molelord’s location before Nie Yan.
“Take out the other three journal pages for me,” Nie Yan said. He wondered what kind of transformation would occur when all five pages were brought together.
Bladelight handed over the journal pages to Nie Yan.
After completing the trade, the three journal pages fell into Nie Yan’s bag. With the five pages gathered together, they emitted a flash of brilliant light and combined into a complete journal, albeit still badly damaged like before.
Bennett’s Journal: Undying Soul, Love of a Lowly Moleman (Quest Item)
Description: It possesses boundless mysterious power. The owner of this journal will be guided by a soul. Search for traces of Empress Finas. Weakens Molelord Bennett’s stats by 30%.
Empress Finas left the Crystal Caverns for the Underworld 1,000 years ago. She completely drained the life of Molelord Bennet, leaving behind a corpse with an Undying Soul. No matter how many times he is killed, he will revive when night descends.
The journal appeared extremely old. A halo of light containing the power to pierce space revolved around it.
Nie Yan’s intuition told him that this journal wasn’t simple. It was probably connected to a larger quest chain.
“It seems like this quest requires you to go the Underworld. You should think of a way on your own. I’m afraid we can’t help you.” Smoke Stub helplessly smiled. At the current stage of the game, only Thieves could travel to the Underworld. With their stealthing abilities, they could still get around without instantly being ganged up on by players of the Evil Faction.
At present, the fight between the warring factions was still limited to the borders. Very few players dared to enter the enemy’s territory. The deeper in they were, the heavier the stat penalty. Someone had once done the calculations in the previous timeline. When a player was roaming near the capital of an enemy faction, their stats would be reduced by as much as 60%.This wasn’t a trivial matter. Under such circumstances, a Level 50 Righteous Player probably wouldn’t even be a match for a Level 40 Evil Player.
Out of everyone in the group, Nie Yan was the most suited to do this quest. Sun had made decent progress, but he was still too wet behind the ears. As for One Strike Vow, she wouldn’t be willing to stay in a gloomy Underworld city for a prolonged period of time.
“We’ll see after things settle down,” Nie Yan replied. He would definitely visit the Underworld, if not only to at least check out the situation there.
At this moment, Sun and One Strike Vow returned. Bladelight stepped slightly off to the side.
“How did things go?” Nie Yan asked.
“We found the Molelord. It’s guarded by several dozen Moleguards and 600 Crystalline Molemen,” One Strike Vow replied, then glanced at Bladelight.
Nie Yan patted Bladelight’s shoulder. “Man up, don’t keep the pretty girl waiting.”
What kind of figure was Bladelight? He was a top 3 Fighter in the previous timeline. In this life, he had also gained fame as a core elite of Asskickers United. He was normally the stoic and no-nonsense type. But just as Achilles had his heel, Bladelight turned timid as a mouse in front of One Strike Vow. This was quite a marvel.
“Let’s go take a look together,” Nie Yan said. Afterwards, they would decide their course of action.
The group set out for the Molelord. They eventually arrived at a large chamber with a 60-meter high ceiling and a diameter of 1,000 meters. It was like entering an underground world.
An enormous Crystalline Moleman appeared in everyone’s vision. It was 6 meters tall and completely red, resembling a titan from antiquity. There were also more than 30 Crystalline Moleguards in the vicinity.
It would be troublesome to lure them out one by one, especially considering their numbers and how close they were to each other.
“What do we do?”
Everyone tried to think of a strategy to deal with the Molelord. Nie Yan surveyed the surroundings. There were many stalactites hanging from the ceiling which looked like a good vantage point. But using his crossbow to whittle away at the numbers of these Crystalline Molemen simply wasn’t practical. Who knew how long it would take? Not to mention there was no way this tactic would work against the Molelord. Its health regeneration was too high, and it was resistant to piercing damage.
A thought suddenly crossed Nie Yan’s mind. If he wouldn’t do, he could just send Tang Yao! Although Tang Yao didn’t possess the damage to kill the Molelord, he could still clear away the mobs surrounding it.
After Nie Yan explained his plan to the group, Tang Yao’s eyes lit up. “I don’t know if this will work, but I’ll give it a try.”
Nie Yan handed over the Crawler Ring and Silk Spinner Ring to Tang Yao. Tang Yao was already familiar with the Crawler Ring while the Silk Spinner Ring was merely a form of insurance.
Tang Yao accepted the trade, then equipped the two rings. He activated the Crawler Ring and started climbing towards the ceiling.
Nie Yan and the others watched as Tang Yao nimbly climbed up the wall like a spider.
“Even this is possible?” Everyone was speechless.
Tang Yao secured himself between two stalactites. As for his Arcane Fairy, it was ordered to stay beside Nie Yan.
「How are you feeling?」Nie Yan asked in voice chat.
「It’s a little high up, but I think I’m good!」Tang Yao replied. He started chanting and gathering fire elemental energy at a rapid pace.
A large red cloud loomed menacingly over the heads of the Crystalline Molemen. A second later, it started pouring down fireballs.「Bang! Bang! Bang!」A blanket of damage values rose up into the air.
The Crystalline Molemen were in an uproar, but they couldn’t find the enemy.
“Awesome!” Tang Yao couldn’t help but exclaim. He cast one spell after the other, all of which were area-of-effect and rained down ruthlessly. Before long, a large section of the crowd was cleaned out. The ground was littered with corpses.
Tang Yao’s damage was terrifying. Very few monsters could withstand a shelling from one of his area-of-effect spells. The damage was equivalent to that of other peoples’ Advanced Magic!
The spells never stopped falling. After five or six of them, their destructive range far surpassed that of Advanced Magic. This unrivalled barrage of magic left everyone stupefied.
Swaths of Crystalline Molemen collapsed to the ground. Even several dozen Moleguards couldn’t hold on any longer. The Molelord also lost a bit of health but recovered it after just a few seconds.
Everyone was stunned by the sight of these Crystalline Molemen dropping like flies. They previously believed it would take at least five hours to whittle down their numbers. This was a tremendously tedious task. Who could’ve predicted Nie Yan’s strategy would cut down this time to just 30 minutes!
The Crystalline Moleguards fell in quick succession.
The ground was littered with piles of sparkling equipment. The sight was enough to make ordinary players go mad with greed.
When Tang Yao stopped casting spells, only the Molelord and a few low-health Moleguards remained standing.
Tang Yao used his single-target spells to kill the remaining Moleguards.
Like this, only the Molelord was left in the chamber, which made things much easier.
Only then did everyone recognize the usefulness of Special Items, whereupon a single thought surfaced in their collective mind. I definitely need to get my hands on a few of them in the future!
Special Items were fairly rare. But due to their bizarre natures, it was difficult to determine their true value. So, one or two would occasionally pop up in the marketplace for a low price. If you were to be so lucky as to find one, you should buy it immediately, lest you be filled with endless regret for missing the opportunity later on.
Perhaps Nie Yan was the only person who could put a Special Item to full use.
“I’ll go draw the aggro. Get ready, you guys,” Nie Yan said. He sprinted off toward the Molelord.
Bladelight and the others spread out and moved into formation.
Nie Yan took aim with the Dullahan Cavalry Crossbow and fired.
「Put! Put! Put」Five bolts flew out and struck the Molelord, whereupon it let out a earth-shattering roar, causing the entire chamber to tremble violently. It was as if it wanted to bring the whole place down. It charged toward Nie Yan with bounding strides.