Chapter 1115: Beautiful Man-eating Flowering Vine
Translator: alyschu
On the map, the Cyan Earth City players streaming in from the north looked like a gigantic red python of endless length. Heaven knows how many players Breeze and Rain had mobilized to attack us. If the Dragonsnake Devil’s Den hadn’t appeared out of nowhere, they would’ve been able to apply the full strength of their army on us.
There was another force streaming toward Dragonsnake Devil’s Den from the opposite direction, and it was of course Bloodlust. Bloodthirsty Demon wouldn’t surrender the Ascension Proof to anyone, so it was only a matter of time before he battled Cyan Beast. A great war was upon all of us.
……
I turned off the map and looked to the front. "We can’t afford to wait any longer. We must be elsewhere the moment Bloodlust and Cyan Beast engage each other. Let’s move faster."
"Understood." Hickey nodded affirmatively.
Warscar looked at the brothers and sisters behind him before asking, "Guild leader, our 20000 elite Zephyr Cavalrymen are strong enough to fight Cyan Beast, right?"
I shook my head. "Let’s just say you need to work harder. Not even my Dragonlight Cavalry dare say that they can defeat 250k Beast King Cavalrymen in a direct confrontation, to say nothing of your 20k Zephyr Cavalry who abandon Defense for Attack. Well, it’s not completely hopeless. If we can catch them by surprise then—"
"Let’s do that then!" Warscar interrupted me with a highly spirited shout.
Hickey looked like she was about to strangle Warscar. "Do you think that the enemy will just wait around for us to move into position and ambush them? It takes timing and opportunity to pull off an ambush, you idiot…"
I pointed to the front. "We can go through here and arrive at the edge of Dragonsnake Devil’s Den where their battlefield is set. Er, does anyone know what this basin-like canyon is called?"
Warscar replied, "Grass Vine Canyon…"
Hickey replied, "Huh. It is called Grass Vine Canyon. Its mob composition is an enigma though…"
I raised my sword. "Doesn’t matter. We’ll know once we get there. Let’s go!"
"Mn!"
……
The Ancient Divine Dragon and Phantom Wolf King stood at the forefront of the party. I also summoned my apparition, who was riding an Ancient Divine Dragon of its own. It was such a powerhouse that Hickey arranged three dedicated priests and joked that it was the strongest war god of the entire Godkiller besides myself!
As we sped up our march, the land kept declining until we arrived at what seemed like a dry lake. Actually, judging from the cracks on the floor, it definitely was a dry lake that had turned into a canyon due to a powerful magician’s spell or whatever. If it was summer season inside the game, then a heavy downpour could easily turn this canyon into a lake once more and give us the opportunity to set up a flood or something. Unfortunately, it was currently spring. The occasional drizzle might not even be enough to wash one’s face, much less flood an army.
Rustle rustle…
Suddenly, the dry ground ahead of us swelled up like a ball before bursting into huge flowering vines.
It had a red name, so it was obviously a mob. An unfortunate magic knight who happened to be closest to it let out a bloodcurdling scream as the flowering vines tangled around and pulled him toward a particularly huge flower. The huge flower revealed its sharp, toothy stamen, and a second later, the magic knight was swallowed just like that. We could see the magic knights struggling and hear him screaming for help inside the flower bud. Judging from the speed at which his health was dropping, he would be digested by the man-eating flower’s bodily fluids in at most two minutes.
I waved the Purple Ying Sword and ordered, "The Beautiful Man-eating Flowering Vine is a Level 255 fiend-rank mob. It cannot move, but it will attack anything that enters its range. It can devour 3 players at most. Archers, mages, the time to show your worth is now! Attack it from range and wipe them out as fast as you can! Priests, keep healing the devoured frontliners. The mob doesn’t have enough Attack to one-shot them. This is your chance to earn a ton of experience!"
Everyone rushed toward the mobs upon hearing my order. The Zephyr Cavalry charged the Beautiful Man-eating Flowering Vines fearlessly and unleashed their Barrier Breaks. However, many of them were devoured by the mobs. Godkiller would have to rely on their archers, mages and tamers to be the main damage dealers this time.
I made the Ancient Divine Dragon move again and again as I attacked a plant of my own. The mob kept trying to devour me, but it kept missing and ate only mouthfuls of soil. If the mob could feel, I bet it would die from sheer anger and frustration. Less than half a minute later, the Phantom Wolf King and I successfully killed it without suffering a single scratch!
Hiss hiss…
The mob dropped three pieces of equipment when it died. Hickey picked them up with a wide smile on her face, "This drop rate is insane! It dropped two Outstanding Spirit-grade and one Earth-grade item. Boss, is it your Luck, or is it the mob’s drop rate? Heehee…"
I replied, "Of course it’s the mob’s drop rate. Even with my Luck, I could only get a normal mob to drop two pieces of equipment at most. Three is definitely an anomaly…"
"Yeah."
A few minutes later, after the other players managed to kill their Beautiful Man-eating Vines, cries of pleasant surprise broke out everywhere. As expected, the mob had a ridiculous, near 100% item drop rate. Although the quality of the equipment varied drastically, it didn’t change the fact that they dropped a ton of equipment. For a poor land like Iron Skull Wilderness, they were worth a fortune.
Unaffiliated players were all lost people with poor equipment, poor supplies, and poor skills because they usually didn’t meet the skill requirement. Naturally, their ability to kill mobs and drop good items sucked. Even now, some Zephyr Cavalrymen were still wearing "legendary" tier equipment… Dark Steel and Bronze-grade. I even saw a white goddamned Common-grade item on a female knight’s wrists.
I examined the Grass Vine Canyon for a moment before saying with a smile, "Let’s sweep this area completely. We still have some time, and a chance like this doesn't come by everyday. Everyone’s equipment should jump a grade at least by the time we clean out this Grass Vine Canyon."
Hickey agreed. "I think so too."
……
It was at this moment a blond-haired middle-aged man walked up to a dead Beautiful Man-eating Flowering Vine, crouched down and procured some dark green blood with a pair of tweezers. "Oh, this is…"
Hickey called out to him, "Did you find something, Uncle Nick?"
Uncle Nick looked up with a grin. "Boss, I think this green blood is some sort of gatherable fuel. If I remember correctly, China has a siege weapon called the White Marsh Catapult, right? One of the ingredients used to make its payload is this mob’s blood. It says here that it has incredible explosive power, and it's a Rank 10 Alchemy material. It’s too bad that my secondary profession is Foraging, not Alchemy…"
"It’s of no use to us then," Hickey said.
Uncle Nick nodded. "Yeah."
It was at this moment there was a sudden explosion from somewhere. More accurately speaking, the blood of the mob had caught on fire and burned one of our magic knights with it. The poor guy was screaming and losing HP like crazy, and although our priests were doing their best to heal he was coated in a sizable amount of vine blood.
I hurriedly moved toward the guy while shouting, "Get me a few mages over here and switch to free attack mode! Hit him with Arctic Rain to extinguish the fire!"
"Oh!"
Three mages immediately did as ordered and dropped an Arctic Rain on the magic knight, extinguishing the flames on his person almost immediately. I thought that it would work. In this virtual world, ice magic could extinguish almost any fire.
Not far away from the magic knight, the inferno surrounding a mob’s body quickly died under the effects of Arctic Rain as well.
"What happened?" Hickey asked concernedly.
Warscar made a wave before answering, "One of our mages was attacking the mob with Fire Dragon Spell, and ten seconds later, the fluid in its body suddenly caught fire and burned up. It was terrifying. Its blood is just the same as oil. It explodes into flames once its temperature exceeds the combustion point…"
I chuckled. "That’s amazing. Are you absolutely sure we can’t gather this?"
Hickey shook her head. "We don’t even have enough production players, not even those that focus on secondary professions."
I replied regretfully, "That’s a shame. Oh well, let’s continue. All units, avoid using fire-type skills on the mobs. Barrier Break and Earth Shattering Slash are fine, but Fire Dragon Spell or Firewall is a no-no."
"Yeah."
……
We continued forward. It took around one and a half hours, but we finally reached the end of Grass Vine Canyon. The inner area was positively chock-full of Beautiful Man-eating Flowering Vines, and their experience wasn’t too far behind their insane drop rate. Thanks to their beautiful sacrifice, almost every Zephyr Cavalryman had been able to upgrade one or two of their equipment pieces.
It was at this moment an assassin shouted to me, "Guild leader, I just received news that Bloodlust and Cyan Beast are fighting in a forest about five kilometers away from here!"
My gaze sharpened. "Very good! Hickey, Warscar, assemble all our Zephyr Cavalrymen and tell them to stand by! The rest of you, remain in Grass Vine Canyon and clear out the last Beautiful Man-eating Flowering Vines. This is God’s gift to us, and we will do well not to waste it, haha…"
Everyone answered affirmatively, "Yes, guild leader!"
……
Ten minutes later, all 20000 Zephyr Cavalrymen had assembled in front of me. A large majority of them were vikings with the Berserk talent. I, Hickey and Warscar would be leading them. Their morale was sky-high since their levels and equipment had gotten a lot stronger than before, and once I grounded it with solid battle experience, they would truly be ready to face anything. As of now, the Zephyr Cavalry was still too inexperienced in the art of war, and the only way to get them ready was to put through them a great war like nothing they had ever seen. They were my most loyal subordinates in this foreign land. I would make sure that they transformed into elite warriors that could take down ten players on their own!
"Let’s go!"
I led at the forefront and flew the Ancient Divine Dragon about five to six meters above ground. It was so that everyone could see me from behind and take it to heart. Hickey and Warscar followed closely behind me.
……
"Boss…" Hickey suddenly called out to me.
"Hmm?"
"I just received news that Bloodlust has engaged the Beast King Cavalry in positional warfare. They’re at the height of their battle right now. We cannot allow this opportunity to slip past us!"
I nodded smilingly. "I know, but it’s still wiser to act after we learned more about the battle situation. The Zephyr Cavalry is best used as a hit-and-run mobile force. Therefore, we need to gather enough information first to avoid being surrounded by a bigger enemy."
Hickey burst into a giggle. "Alright. I understand now why the Indians and Japanese all say that the Little Heavenly King of China is a cunning, wicked and despicable bastard. It’s all true…"
Me: "The fuck? Who’s the bastard who spread evil rumors about me…"
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