Chapter 112: Run for Your Life!
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor:
Somewhere around Tullon Town...
"Floating Up. What are we gonna do now? Should we change our course to grab that [Land Lease] or should we stay on course?" said 44 Bandits. Both of the Sword and Fire Mercenary leaders were tanks, and Dominating Blade was the captain of the team. He was a Guardian just like Zhang Yang. Floating Up, the second-in-command, was a Defender, and he led this small man-hunt party.
He answered with a deep and low tone. "I have no idea what this [Land Lease] is. But if the system would go all out to announce it, it must be of some value! We will temporary change our course. Let's kill the 'what's-his-face' evil sorcerer and get that [Land Lease]! Zhan Yu isn't going to go anywhere anyway, might as well postpone his inevitable death!"
Following the coordinates provided by the system, the party arrived at the Misty Valley.
Broken Uranus suddenly called out. "Isn't this place the Misty Valley? I heard that the Rogue Clan had met Zhan Yu here!"
All Wounded laughed menacingly. "He must have come here to get the lease as well!"
Floating Up grinned. "What a coincidence! He'd actually saved us the effort to locate him! Hah! What luck! We can kill Zhan Yu, and kill the boss for the [Land Lease]! Talk about killing two birds with one stone!"
After 10 minutes...
The party managed to found the entrance to the Underground Tower.
"There! I see the entrance!"
"Let's go!"
...
As the system notification flashed through the chatting channel, everyone's greed grew larger. Who cares if they did not have the capability to get that item? They could at least have a try! For the least, there was always a possibility of a "What if?" moment! What if I got it? What if I got the [Land Lease]? What if I can really get that valuable item that the server juts announced?
Every big guild gathered their best players and headed straight to Tullon Town! In a split second, the entire sky was filled with flying Gryphons, covering the sun and making so many silhouettes that it changed the afternoon to evening!
All of the Level 50 maps and below were just mirror images; all of China's 8 major cities had the same Underground Tower and were simultaneously released to the public. The only difference was the [Land Lease]. The dropped lease from any city Underground Tower was unique and there could never be a second one.
That meant that not only the players inside each city would have to compete with each other, they would also have to compete with the other cities as well! This was a test; a test of player cooperation and willingness to surpass the other cities! But if they had to cooperate properly to kill the final boss, they would lose the chance to get themselves a rare item!
Zhang Yang cursed everyone's mother and grandmother as he ran further into the pathway. After roughly 30 to 40 meters in, the pathway widened into a huge flat ground!
This was nothing like a tower! This was just a huge-ass building!
In front of Zhang Yang was a short, 7 to 8 steps of stairs that led down towards a huge flat land. The area was basically endless as Zhang Yang could not even see the end of the field. What was worse was that skeletal monsters filled the area with rusting long swords in their boney hands.
Zhang Yang selected one of them and checked on their properties. He almost puked when he saw the information.
[Skeleton Tower Guard] (Elite)
Level: 36
HP: 50,000
Zhang Yang would not have had a large reaction if there were only 7 to 8 monsters. But as he looked up and gazed into the never-ending field, he could make out at least thousands of them patrolling around. The entire place was cramped! Even if Zhang Yang brought his entire guild to clear these monsters, he was not sure whether they could even manage it!
And then there was the narrow pathway. How many people could squeeze through this pathway at a time? They would have to slowly kill their way in to make more space for more guild members to enter! An extremely slow domino effect!
However, Zhang Yang did not have the luxury of time now. If he were to kill one at a time, it would take him long enough for the other guilds to arrive and take over the tower!
Zhang Yang scratched his head. "Looks like I have to give it a try!"
Zhang Yang started to calculate; if the tower has 13 floors, then according to the system norm, the entrance to the next floor would be located at the furthest part of the current floor! If Zhang Yang could do what he did with the Cave of Bones, having to lure all monsters while he ran towards the entrance of the next floor, he could use the monsters to block the other guilds from proceeding with the tower!
Zhang Yang took a deep breath and walked quickly into the swarm of skeletons. Yes, he walked! Not run, but walk!
Even though there was limited space between the monsters, there was a gap in between their patrol. As long as he could grasp the timing and rhythm, he could avoid the monsters from being triggered.
1 meter, 2 meters... 10 meters... 20 meters!
Zhang Yang kept his mind calm and fully utilized all 3 years of his past gaming experience and walked through the swarm like snakes across a field. If anyone witnessed Zhang Yang's feat, it would be as if a ninja was sneaking into the enemy base undetected. Every step he took could spell disaster, and the tension was so high that other players would perhaps already cower in fear.
Tap... tap... tap...
Each step he took was as light as feather and his sweat was constantly dripping to the floor, like breadcrumbs when Hansel and Gretel were eating in the Candy House. Though this feat did not require him to swing a sword, it was still worse than actually killing something. Zhang Yang calculated every step so many times as he could not afford to make even a tiny mistake which could trigger any monster's aggro; and since this place was full of them, if one notices him, the others will just follow suit!
50 meters... 80 meters... 100 meters! He could barely notice it, but he finally saw a black object that looked like an exit!
His heart jumped with happiness for a second and then -
"Crack..."
He made a misstep.
"GROOAN!" One Skeleton Guard growled and started to swing its sword, chasing after Zhang Yang, while 10 other monsters followed behind it.
Holy f*ck! Here they come!
Zhang Yang had no choice but to fight. He quickly used <Charge> and dashed towards the nearest monster to stun it. He then dealt one normal attack to raise a little Rage before he turned and ran towards the exit faster than Usain Bolt could!
The run started a chain reaction, like ripples from a stone thrown into a lake. Every single monster in the field had their eyes set on Zhang Yang and began running towards him. The area in front of him got larger and larger as the monster cleared.
Their movement speed was faster than Zhang Yang's, and just when they were about to touch him, Zhang Yang stomped the ground and casted <Thunder Strike>, slowing 7 monsters around his skill area. In that instant, Zhang Yang distanced himself even more from them.
However, the monsters that were not affected quickly ran past the slowed ones and got closer to him, jumping into the sky. Zhang Yang somersaulted to counter their attack by quickly activating <Block>.
Ding! Ding! Ding!
A chain of system notification rung as Zhang Yang had blocked the attacks! Zhang Yang landed and continued sprinting to the exit.
This was a type of kiting technique for the Hunter class. Even though he was not a Hunter, it was still extremely useful here.
The problem was that there were still too many monsters on his tail, and there were some attacks that he could not block.
'-518!'
'-529!'
'-532!'
With just 3 attacks, he lost a third of his HP already!
Zhang Yang quickly consumed a [Level 2 Healing Potion] on the move.
[Level 2 Healing Potion] (Consumable)
Use: Immediately restores 1,000 HP.
Cooldown time: 1 minute.
Using any grade of Healing Potion would cause all grades of Healing Potion to have the same cooldown.
Level Requirement: 30
As he kept on running, Zhang Yang jumped a full circle and activated <Block> as he turned behind to keep his momentum going!
<Thunder Strike>, <Charge>, <Block>. Everything Zhang Yang could do had been done to stall the monsters behind him. He had to speed up more to maintain his HP! The monsters around him were just too many that he had already lost 90% of his HP by just moving 20 meters forward!
<Berserker's Heal>!
'+4750!'
Zhang Yang fully healed himself and quickly moved further up. But with only moving 30 meters forward, he was down to 1,000 HP again!
Zhang Yang quickly activated the <Lifesteal> effect of the sword and casted <Horizontal Sweep> to deal a chain of devastating damage to the monsters behind him. Simultaneously, 3 green healing texts of '+1400' popped out and his HP was fully healed once more!
<Shield Wall>!
Zhang Yang used another skill with a long cooldown that instantly reduced all incoming damage by 75% for 10 seconds! But in this short amount of time, he could only depend on the set equipment effects to keep his health at the same amount!
Another 20 meters forward! There was only 30 meters more to reach the exit!
<Shield Wall> expired!
'-414!'
'-431!'
'-422!'
...
Zhang Yang began to take continuous damage again. Argh! Just a little more!
Zhang Yang gave it all he got and cried out as he leapt into the sky, dodged the monsters, and rolled into the exit!
"RAWRR..."
Countless monsters squeezed together at the exit. All of them were trying their best to move closer as they growled furiously, but neither of them could take one more step to reach Zhang Yang.
"Phew!" Zhang Yang let out a long breath of relief. He checked on his status and had goosebumps when he saw he had only 127 remaining HP left. If he had made a mistake any bit earlier, he would have probably died in the middle there!
Before the aggro effect disappeared, the monsters outside would not leave and Zhang Yang could not leave the battle mode to eat some health recovering snacks. He could only activate the bandage skill to recover his health.
[Cotton Bandage] (Consumable)
Use: Heal 1,000 HP over 10 seconds. The effect will be cancelled when you enter any action or receive any damage.
Cooldown time: 1 minute.
Requirement: Advance First-Aid
As he had the "A Physician's Friend" title, the bandage effect was doubled. He healed over 2,000 HP from just one cast itself. He turned to look outside and noticed that all the monsters gathered there had already long dispersed. There were only a few left still standing there staring at him.
What a pity! If only the monsters could just remain there forever! That would be a free blockade for him! Who would dare to get through the entrance when there were so many elite monsters standing together like that? Aside from Zhang Yang, no one else could proceed further into the tower!
With the last monster finally walking away, Zhang Yang got out of battle mode and sat down to eat some health recovering snacks.
"Hey! Noob tank! Did you see the system announcement? Shall we go and fight for the lease?" Wei Yan Er suddenly called Zhang Yang.
Zhang Yang smiled and replied. "If I were waiting for you to come over, my little potted plant would have grown into a sky-scraping bean stalk! I'm already in the tower!"
"What the hell, dude! Why didn't you tell us?! I'm sure you're planning to hog all the treasure in there for yourself! Hmph! Cousin! Cousin! Stop counting the money already! Let's go!"
Beep.
The little brat hung up the communicator.
Zhang Yang smiled happily as he lifted his sword and walked towards the second floor with happy feet.
The monsters here at the first floor should hold the other players off for quite some time.