Chapter 60: Town of The Undead
After two days and a night of arduous travel, the civilians escorted by the tricycle expedition team finally arrived at Exile Town.
Everyone was exhausted, including Mia, who could be considered the healthiest among the civilians. After walking tens of kilometers and riding a further two hundred on the tricycle carts, the bodies and spirits of the Camore commoners were nearly falling apart.
When Mia saw the yellow dirt path leading to the valley, she knew that this journey had finally reached its end point. She mustered the strength to glance ahead but quickly slumped back into the cart, feeling completely drained.
In stark contrast, the players who had tirelessly pedaled the tricycle carts during the entire journey were full of energy. Many of them left the group and cheered as they ran toward the mountain valley path that they once had no means of coming out from…
But then, they were blocked by that giant rat.
The level-3 Demonized Rat, the size of a tiger, was crouching in the middle of the dirt path, nonchalantly chewing on a plant root about the size of a watermelon. Its beady crimson eyes seemed to be filled with disdain as it stared at the approaching tricycle expedition team.
"We've killed several level 4 elite monsters, so why are we even afraid of this thing? Brothers, follow me and wipe it out!" A leader of a monster-hunting party stepped forward and led his team to charge at the giant rat.
Unceasing Entropy, who had recently come online to take over from Ji Tang, raised her arm calmly, signaling the convoy to halt.
"What the hell! Are these guys trying to kill steal? Do they want to take it all for themselves?" Tang Jia glared at the charging group, making her displeasure known.
Unceasing Entropy turned and looked at her childhood friend lovingly.
"Why are you looking at me as if I'm an idiot?" muttered Tang Jia.
"Because you are one," Jia Luo teased bluntly.
Before Tang Jia could retort, she witnessed the giant rat, still squatting unbridledly in the middle of the dirt path, throw away the plant root it held, lower its football-sized head, and charge fiercely at the approaching monster party.
This giant rate was extremely quick and was only slightly slower than a player with "Basic Wind Manipulation" activated.
The leader of this monster-hunting party at the forefront clenched his teeth. He immediately raised his shield in front of him and shouted to his teammates behind, "Stick together—"
Those were the knight player's last words.
Before he could even finish shouting, he disappeared in a flash of white light.
"Oh my god!"
"F*ck!"
"Damn, damn, damn, damn!"
The others shrieked and scattered in all directions.
The giant rat, with its perfect physique, speed, and power to swiftly annihilate the players, moved with incredible agility, executing stunning high-speed maneuvers such as straight charges, diagonal leaps, and rapid shifts to chase its targets. It managed to take down half of the fully equipped monster-hunting party before finally coming to a stop at the edge of the ruins.
The players, who witnessed this extremely impressive display of single-handed slaughter of multiple opponents, were left speechless with mouths gaping.
As the dust settled, the giant rat that had just achieved a pentakill slowly straightened up, raised its elongated snout, and disdainfully cast a contemptuous glance at the players with its crimson eyes.
Players: "…"
"How haughty! Let's kill it!"
"F*ck! How dare this mere rodent look down on me!"
Despite the verbal outburst, no teams dared to step forward this time.
"At present, this monster still seems unbeatable." Standing at the forefront of the convoy, Unceasing Entropy spoke to her companions, "Its physical defense is too high, and its speed is too great. Without a fully formed mage team, I reckon that it can't be taken down."
Jia Luo, who excelled in solo monster farming in other games, chimed in, "Yeah, the elite monsters in this game seem to learn from experiences. If it can't be defeated this time, it would be even harder to fight the next try.
"This rat is often chasing after players trying to advance to wanderers and gets more skilled at blocking and ramming people. Without the undead horse on Brother Lahong's side, there's really no way of getting through this path."
"So, let's not take the risk," Unceasing Entropy advised. "We're on the verge of completing the quest, so there's no need to waste our efforts dying and getting kicked offline."
Tang Jia felt vexed and fell silent for a bit before cursing, "Damn it, there are monsters all over on the outside, yet we still have to suck our thumbs in the face of the beginner town's mini boss' show of force… Is this game even playable?"
"Let it be, it's a mini boss that has slaughtered all players in the game," Unceasing Entropy consoled her friend. "This game is just like that, whether it's NPCs or monsters, strength doesn't solely depend on levels. We've encountered quite a few Demonized Toads that weren't as tough as level 1 Scythe-Legged Spiders, right? Player deaths at the hands of those Scythe-Legger Spiders far outnumber those that have been killed by Demonized Toads."
"That's right. Level 5 Hal has killed far less than Level 4 Tuttle," said Jia Luo wearily. "Tuttle is probably the most deadly advanced NPC. One arrow equates to death, unlike Hal, who's just a fool, and players can slip away if they are fast enough."
Unceasing Entropy couldn't help but make a teasing remark, "You wanderers should go easy on the instructors. If advanced NPCs can get sick, they'd probably get brain aneurysms from dealing with all you guys…"
The players stood around for a while, and Lord Yang, riding an undead horse that made the eyes of knight players glimmer in envy, finally caught up.
The leader of the undead was a different class, and as soon as Lord Yang appeared, the giant rat that haughtily obstructed the way vanished into thin air…
"Old Yang is still as awesome as ever!"
"Mages are just built differently!"
Within the player contingent, players who had increased their reputation with Yang Qiu hoping to become mages watched on with envy and lamented.
"Darn it, I wish the mage's first job advancement quest was simpler!"
"Did damned Old Yang monopolize the job advancement to not allow others to become mages?"
"Such a sly fella!"
"He truly lives up to being a villainous dungeon boss!"
Yang Qiu, riding at the forefront, paid no heed to their comments.
When it's time for the second job advancement, I'll show you brats what it's like to get stuck for half a month…
Had it been just two days ago, such a dangerous Demonized Rat at the entrance of the town they would be staying at would have scared the civilians witless.
But now… the civilians in the carts didn't even bat an eyelid.
Having traveled more than a hundred kilometers with the tricycle convoy, these civilians had experienced too much in just the last 24 hours.
Once the convoy entered the town nestled in the valley, these physically and mentally exhausted civilians regained a bit of life. They struggled to sit up and curiously looked around.
The streets were empty and deserted, with sparse wooden and stone buildings scattered among construction sites, where zombies loomed tall.
Civilians: "…"
Holy Legion cavalry following behind: "…"
Zombies appearing in the small town where the undead lived weren't something out of the ordinary.
It might seem offensive to the undead if they made a fuss over the zombies here…
Besides, they had also seen the armored zombie king who was highly respected by the undead during their miserable stay at the outpost.
At this moment, the thoughts of both the civilians and Holy Legion soldiers were in sync. All of them clenched their jaws and put on stern expressions, determined not to be overly surprised or alarmed by anything they saw in this mysterious town of the undead.
"Aaah! Aaah! Aaah! Calm down! Hal-san~ I'm your undead friend~"
A player screamed as he dashed out of an alley, frantically running for his life while constantly looking back. In between, he also managed to shout, "If you don't keep an eye on the site, someone will steal the steel bars. Trust me, I've seen plenty of these petty thieves who steal whatever they can get their hands on! Stop chasing me, turn back!"
"Yo! You guys are back!" This last sentence was directed at the other players as he dashed through the returning convoy.
As this player, who seemed to be running his mouth off like a machine gun, broke through the other side of the convoy and reached another street, an infuriated Hal Maxwell appeared from the spot had just come from.
Evidently, Hal was quite annoyed by that player to the point he didn't notice the civilians being escorted by the convoy as well as the large group of Holy Legion troops following behind as he kept a steely face and charged after the fleeing player.
"The… heck?!" Players in the convoy were dumbfounded. "What's going on? Wasn't it supposed to be safe once leaving the quest area? How did Hal chase so far?"
"Did NPCs receive shadow buffs again? Darn, does this mean we can't mess with Hal that easily in the future?"
"That's why I told you wanderers not to mess with NPCs!"
While the players in the returning expedition team were still startled, a few pissed players came out of the alley, exclaiming, "Where is that damned idiot Hal leading us to?"
"F*ck! I've been waiting for nearly half an hour and haven't received the quest yet!"
Players: "…"
Yang Qiu at the front of the convoy: "…"
One player pointed the way, and the few players busy increasing their reputation and preparing for their job advancement casually gave thanks before shooting a few curious glances at the numerous new NPCs that had returned with the main contingent. Then, they quickly went on their way.
Due to the zombie general staying to hold the fort at Desolate Outpost, Yang Qiu had to deal with the closure of the escort quest himself.
After disseminating the territory prestige rewards to the players who were dying to receive "Undead Merchant Association" equipment, Yang Qiu then assigned impromptu quests of resettling the civilian NPCs. When he was done with that, he led his guests to the Town Hall for a rest.
At his shop next to the Town Hall, former bandit Anthony, now a tailor, saw a large group of holy warriors strutting by, and his hand trembled, causing him to drop the needle he held.
"Black mage?? Holy warriors??"
Anthony couldn't comprehend how these two groups could have a connection. He stood blankly in place for a while before quickly getting up and preparing to close the shop to report this news to the boss.
But before Anthony could close the door, a group of players, along with a dozen civilian women, came knocking.
"Anthony, these are the new workers assigned to the tailor shop by Lord Yang," a player who received this resettlement quest politely interacted with Anthony. "We have brought them here, so can you handle the rest?"
Anthony: "…"
Anthony had been a "tailor" for quite some time already. Although no players were willing to increase their tailor reputation (some players were interested in this lifestyle class, they found that tailoring in this game actually required using a needle and thread and wasn't as simple as just clicking a skill to level up, so they declined the profession), and he wasn't as proficient as Hal and the others in issuing and settling quests, he had at least been selling waist pouches and bags, so he knew how to deal with this bunch.
After sending the players away, Anthony composed himself and hesitantly accessed the imprint matrix to view the task information that the black mage had just given him…
Yang requested him to arrange work, allocate lodging, and help these 12 partially visually impaired women adapt to life in Exile Town. He was to take care of their daily lives.
If any harm, including but not limited to violation, befell these 12 women, then Yang would physically transform Anthony into a woman.
This two-meter-tall brute immediately fell to his knees.
"You monster—!!!" Anthony roared in the direction of the Town Hall.
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