Swhoosh swhoos.h.!.+
Ten or so minutes later, Murong Mingyue and Lin Yixin became the first people of our party to level up. The Spirit Valley Corpse Eaters just gave too much experience!
Countless pieces of equipment and gems stacked on top of one another on the ground. I couldn"t wait to see what the Level 202 mobs had in store for us.
Murong Mingyue couldn"t stop grinning as she said, "Hoho, this is so much fun! Keep fighting, Lu Chen and Beauty Lin!"
Beiming Xue said while firing a Spiraling Arrow Blade, "This is pretty fast already, Sister Mingyue. We are fighting five to six thousand Spirit Valley Corpse Eaters, you know. Speaking of which, can you pick up a card and see what its effects are, big bro? I see a lot of them on the ground."
I did just that and shared its effects inside the party channel—
Spirit Valley Corpse Eater: Increase user"s attack speed by 50% and Attack by 20%. Applies Zealotry, increasing user"s HP regeneration speed by 25%. Level Requirement: 150. Duration: 120 minutes.
……
It was more or less the same as the Axe Fighter Card. I threw it to Beiming Xue because higher attack speed equaled to shorter physical-based skill cooldowns. Speaking of which, Lian Xin herself was using a Fire Soul Card that increased her Magic Attack by 50% and MP regeneration speed by 10%.
…...
Less than an hour later, we took out all 5000+ Spirit Valley Corpse Eaters. An insane amount of equipment, cards and magic stones covered the floor before us.
"Alright, let"s sweep the battlefield as soon as possible and move onto the next group! Just leave the trash gear and pick up the good ones…"
I dismounted, separated the equipment with the Cyan Netherworld Sword and picked up those that I deemed worthy. It wasn"t long before my bag was completely full. The lowest grade in my bag was Dark Gold, and to make s.p.a.ce, I even threw away all the Gold-grade equipment I had collected earlier. In this case, the biggest winner was always the guy with the biggest bag. If only there was a bag with infinite s.p.a.ce!
I also picked up a total of 240 Spirit Valley Corpse Eater Cards. They were useful items that I could use, sell or gift to someone if I felt like it. One way or another, it wasn"t going to go to waste for sure.
With that done, I rode out and led several more thousand Spirit Valley Corpse Eaters back to the choke point again, repeating the cycle. It was past 7 pm by the time we took out this group, so all the girls were starving at this point.
"I wanna eat She-crab Soup later…" Murong Mingyue stared at me grudgefully.
I replied while cutting down the last Corpse Eater, "You don"t say! I want to eat a bowl of sour soup with snakehead fish too!"
Lin Yixin said, "Just one more hour; I see another 5000 or so Corpse Eaters over there. We"ll log out and have dinner after we take them out, okay?"
"No problem!"
And so we grinded for another hour or so. In total, we had fought for three hours and killed almost twenty thousand Level 202 Spirit Valley Corpse Eaters. Everyone gained an unbelievable amount of experience, and even I had jumped from Level 172 to Level 174. Just a bit more, and I would join the Top 3 of Sky City"s Heavenly Ranking. It was always a joy to know that your level was superior to most people"s!
Just like before, I kept replacing the inferior equipment with better ones until I was dumping even Dark Gold–grade equipment that added 15 Tactics. It was very wasteful, but I just didn"t have the inventory slots to fit it even if I wanted to keep it.
"Well, it"s time for dinner. Let"s log back in at 9 pm, okay?" I asked the girls.
Lin Yixin said, "The pizza I asked Qingqing to order is already here, so I"ll be done very quickly. What about you guys?"
Lian Xin replied, "We"ll be eating at the fast food restaurant below our apartment, so it"ll take 30 minutes at most. If we include the time it takes to drink water and go to the toilet, it"ll be 40 minutes."
Lin Yixin nodded. "Okay, we"ll meet back here at 9 pm!"
"Yeah!"
……
The girls set up their tents and logged out of the game, but I stayed behind to absorb the undead soul sparks left behind by the Corpse Eaters. The good news was that I could absorb multiple undead soul sparks in one go if the bodies were stacked on top of each other, or this would take a very long time.
After I was done, I felt like my body was overflowing with the unique death energy of the undead. Even my sword arm felt more energetic than usual. However, ever since I evolved into an Asura King, my undead rank progress bar barely budged, no matter how many undead soul sparks I absorbed. Even the twenty thousand Spirit Valley Corpse Eaters" undead soul sparks I absorbed just now were but a trickle. It was starting to feel like I wouldn"t become an Asura G.o.d during my lifetime. That being said, the game was fair in the sense that the reward was equal to the amount of hard work invested. I am certain that my power would climb to an unprecedented level if I did manage to evolve into an Asura G.o.d.
The three girls and I went downstairs and finished our dinner quickly. After that, we logged back into the game without delay.
Swhoos.h.!.+
After I appeared inside my tent, I poked my head out of the flap cautiously just in case there was danger nearby. Thankfully, nothing seemed to have changed since the time we logged out. The loot we discarded were still on the ground as well. I was going to ask He Yi to dispatch some men to pick them up, but our people were stopped outside b.l.o.o.d.y Fortress. As it turned out, our killing of the Licker had alarmed the nearby garrisons, and an undead army of hundreds of thousands was guarding the fortification right now. Forget picking up the loot, it would be a long while before anyone could even reach our location. That being said, it wasn"t a problem because our main objective had always been to capture the baby Mingshes, not grinding. These days, pets were incredibly useful, and magic-type pets especially could use AoE spells just like any mage. They were the type of pets all fighters dreamed of getting, and the Mingshe definitely fulfilled that demand to a certain extent. If we were to sell it on the market, it would sell like hotcake even at the price of tens of thousands of gold.
Rustle rustle rustle…
The tents beside mine started rustling with activity. All four girls had come back online.
As usual, we gave the party leader to Lin Yixin for Bombsh.e.l.l after we remade the party. We also buffed ourselves with cards because it felt naked to grind at a high-level map without them.
We stepped across the wilted shrubberies and entered the area where the sea of Corpse Eaters were waiting earlier. Considering how large their number was, it was pretty impressive how we managed to clear out the entire area. From our location, we could see the red city currently ruled by Ovia the b.l.o.o.d.y Finger, the once magnificent Dharan City. I couldn"t help but suck in a deep breath. The journey up until this point had been long and harsh, and still there were more unknown dangers lying ahead of us. At least the rewards were well worth the hards.h.i.+ps, be it in terms of experience or loot. For this alone, Ovia deserved our wholehearted grat.i.tude!
……
I was the point of the party, and my job was to blaze the trail we could tread through. Lin Yixin was the guard, and her job was to patrol close to the party and protect our backliners. Our party composition was very scientific, and even our pets could almost hold their own ground. Sometimes, it even felt like our party could fight toe-to-toe with a 10000-strong party from Hegemon Palace. In a game, soloing a hundred or even a thousand enemies by yourself wasn"t a dream if you stood at the top.
Night crept up on us before we knew it, and the barren fields were completely silent. We stayed alert as we trod a path beneath a hill, but we spotted no mobs no matter where we looked. Perhaps we really had killed everything there was to kill around the area.
It was at this moment a ray of light appeared from above the hill. It looked like a ball of fire that was moving very slowly.
"What is… that?" Lin Yixin asked with her mouth slightly open.
"It"s gotta be a demon!" I declared confidently.
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let"s go!" Beiming Xue said with a smile.
We quickly approached the light source. The moon was hanging brightly in the sky, so once we got close enough we had a clear view of the owner of the mysterious flame. It was an undead general riding a skeletal horse. He was clad in black armor and wielding a long, red blade. Dark and gloomy, he looked like a reaper of the night.
After obtaining the monster"s stats screen using Dark Pupils, I shared it inside the party channel.
Bloodblade Ghost General (Immortal Rank Miniboss)
Level: 205
Attack: 10200~11900
Defense: 11000
HP: 9,000,000
Property: +50% Magic Resist
Property: Cannot be stunned by Shock Arrows or Charge
Skills: Blood Slash, Mount Hua Cleave, Bloodblade Formation
Introduction: The Bloodblade Ghost Generals used to be Earth Knights of the Dharan Empire. When the empire fell to an undead invasion, their generals-in-chief were lured into a trap, captured and transformed into leaders of Purgatory forces. Called by Ovia the b.l.o.o.d.y Finger himself, these loyal Earth Knights were forcefully changed into servants of the undead. Not only do these undead creatures remember their martial techniques, they were taught the martial techniques of the dead as well. They are a terrifying existence, and millions have fallen to their blades.
……
I was almost salivating when I saw the miniboss"s rank. Licking my lips, I said, "Oh man. Bloodblade Ghost General, a Level 205 Immortal Rank miniboss. Pretty sure this guy has a chance to drop Immortal-grade equipment. Get ready, you all. We"re gonna kill it via brute force since it"s way weaker than the Licker. I"ll be the tank!"
"Yeah. Go, Little Cheat!" Lin Yixin sent me off with a giggle.
I feared nothing since I had the girls to cover my back. I used Thunderous Charge, but the skill was nullified. I followed up with G.o.d Binding Art, and this time it worked perfectly. There was nothing the Bloodblade Ghost General could do but be butchered while the skill was still active.
Swhoos.h.!.+
The Moonchaser Tiger roared, and Lin Yixin hit the Bloodblade Ghost General with her dagger before unleas.h.i.+ng a devastating Ice Flame Slash + Barrier Break combo to the chest with her dazzling Seven Star Veluriyam Sword. Not only that, I timed my own attacks perfectly and hit the same spot as Lin Yixin using Universe Break, Pardon and a basic attack, resulting in a double Intercourse!
Chiang chiang!
It almost looked like we were stabbing the boss in the heart as our energetic blades pierced right through his chest armor. Two damage numbers rose above his head—
342822!
412829!
It was an insane amount of damage to say the least. Miniboss? Who cares!
Behind us, Lian Xin and Beiming Xue also went all out and blasted the miniboss with every skill they had. It wouldn"t be an exaggeration to say that the duration of a successful G.o.d Binding Art was always the happiest moment of our grind.
……
"Roar!"
When the Bloodblade Ghost General finally woke up, he swung his flaming sword across my chest and used Mount Hua Cleave. Tearing pain immediately a.s.saulted my senses!
76276!
f.u.c.k! It might be a miniboss, but it is still Immortal Rank!