Chapter 590: Princess Helena
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The moment he returned to the Palace Ruins, Zhang Yang went straight up to the northwest corner of the palace and scouted about. He tried to pinpoint the exact location of the royal mausoleum.
It was not difficult at all. Zhang Yang had already located the mausoleum by a garden full of flowers and trees. He landed in the garden and saw that the tombstone built by the mausoleum clearly had Helena’s name right on it. It was truly the resting ground of Princess Helena.
However, the moment Zhang Yang landed, he was ‘welcomed’ by 10 Maidservants. They broke out of the ground all of a sudden and surrounded Zhang Yang, Felice, and Thunderhawk.
"Argh ---" Upon hearing a deafening screech, Zhang Yang immediately lost control of his own body and began to run around, trying to escape.
--- he was afflicted by the negative effect of {Screech of Death}!
Zhang Yang quickly activated his {Warrior’s Will} to break free of the control. With a swing of his sword, he caused approximately 30,000 damage to the Maidservant that had tried to make a clown out of him. When that hit landed solidly on the monster, his Rage Bar was filled to the brim. With a {Horizontal Sweep}, he caused another two sets of damage to each of the monsters. ‘-50,000!’ ,‘60,000!’. He was lucky to have triggered the special effect of his [Sword of Purging Devourer], causing massive damage to the 10 monsters.
"Argh!" another {Screech of Death} was directed at Zhang Yang. He could not help but run around in terror.
Holly molly! If these 10 monsters were intelligent enough to repeat their {Screech of Deaths} into a series of chained attacks, Zhang Yang would have to suffer in terror for 100 seconds without pause! Furthermore, if the cooldown of this Skill was frequent enough, Zhang Yang would really be in serious trouble. He might end up being deafened to death!
Without any other means of countering, Zhang Yang activated his [Heart of the Death Knight] to cancel out the Terror Effect. At the same instant, he activated his {Shadow Clone}. With that Skill activated, there were three ‘Zhang Yangs’, one Felice and one Thunderhawk battling 10 Maidservants. He quickly activated his {Shadow of the Void} to clear out all aggro and the Skill effect.
When the {Shadow Clone} was activated, two Shadow Clones were summoned out. They would replicate everything, including Zhang Yang’s status. That included the aggro values on him as well. However, even though his Shadow Clones would cause damage to the monsters, their Skills would not carry out their special effects. Therefore, when Zhang Yang activated his {Shadow of the Void} to clear the aggro on himself, the two Shadow Clone could not follow Zhang Yang into the void dimension. They retained their aggro values.
Therefore, these two Shadow Clones were now the primary targets of the monsters!
"Argh!""Argh!" the two Shadow Clones began to run around like idiots, upon being afflicted by the negative effect of {Screech of Death}.
Zhang Yang finally found a gap to catch his breath. He pointed the tip of his sword towards one of the Maidservants as Felice and Thunderhawk rallied to him. The three of them focused their attacks on one monster at a time. Monsters with Status Restriction Skill were truly annoying. They would get even more annoying as their numbers grow. When there are too many of them, even the strongest players would succumb to blows that they are restricted from answering! In this case, it would be the Terror Effect of their {Screeching of Death}.
In order to break the continuous chain of Terror Effects, Zhang Yang should take out a few of the monsters first, and the chained series of the Status Restriction Effect should be broken. Or else, he would never be able to break himself free again.
The remaining 9 monsters were focusing their attacks on the two Shadow Clones. Due to the stunt that Zhang Yang pulled with his {Shadow of the Void} earlier on, the aggro of the monsters were still fixed on the two Shadow Clones of Zhang Yang. The monsters were so focused on spamming their {Shadow Strike} and {Screech of Death} on the Shadow Clones, in an attempt to afflict them with the Status Restriction Effects.
However, even though the Attack power of these Shadow Clones were only 10% of Zhang Yang’s initial Attack power, they were just as durable as the real thing. Their HP bars were equal to Zhang Yang’s. Therefore, the monsters could not take out the two Shadow Clones immediately. Furthermore, the two Shadow Clones were sharing the load. On other words, half number of the monsters were attacking one Shadow Clone while the remaining monsters were attacking the other Shadow Clone. So the monsters were no longer be able to chain up the Status Restriction Effect of their {Screech of Death}. Furthermore, the two Shadow Clones were able to cause quite some damage to the monsters. Although they could not cause as much damage as Zhang Yang and Felice, it should not be underestimated!
The firepower of Zhang Yang, Felice, and Thunderhawk altogether was extremely powerful. After approximately half a minute, the first Spectral maidservant had let out a miserable cry and had turned into a stream of white light. Zhang Yang lured and kited the second monster over before the three of them focused on attacking the monster. In just another brief moment, they had taken out the second and the third monster.
Two minutes later, the duration of the two Shadow Clones was over. The clones then dispersed into wisps of black smoke and dissipated into thin air. However, there were still 6 maidservants remaining. Furthermore, the monsters had just activated their {Screech of Death} on the Shadow Clones. They were without those skills for a time being.
Another minute passed, and the monsters were once again able to use their Skills with the Terror Effect. However, there were only four of them left. Zhang Yang shrugged the effects off with his {Warrior’s Will} and [Warrior’s Honor]. All 10 of them were soon killed.
Phew!
He let out a breath of relief. If it weren’t for his newly acquired Skill {Shadow Clone}, Zhang Yang might have been in serious trouble back there! Unless he sends Felice over to get the attention of the monsters, Zhang Yang might have been forced to activate his {God of War Transformation} against these measly 10 monsters just to survive!
That was the difference between having a party and going in alone during a tough battle!
Zhang Yang would not have minded going up against 10 monsters all by himself if the monsters did not have Skills that could tie him down with Status Restriction Effects. However, with Skills that could hinder him like this, the monsters suddenly had an absolute advantage over him as they could just repeatedly restrict him until he was dead, even with his power!
Zhang Yang could not help but sigh. He had almost suffered a major setback due to his own carelessness!
After reflecting upon his own mistake, Zhang Yang walked up to the entrance of the mausoleum. He targeted the metal lock and started attacking as aggressively as he could. After a flurry of attacks, the metal lock was broken.
Zhang Yang pushed the stone door of the mausoleum open. The door squeaked open, and a spooky pathway lay before him.
The torches on two walls by the sides burst into flames. The entire tunnel was lit up. Zhang Yang could see that the path before him was paved with white jade, and the walls were made of granite. Everything seemed really grand.
Zhang Yang took a step. Felice and Thunderhawk followed him closely. They were very careful with every step that they took.
However, there was no sign of any deadly trap of switches. Zhang Yang went through the path and found himself before a translucent, jade coffin where a woman was lying in the middle of it. Surprisingly, the body was not rotten at all. Instead, the woman looked as if she was still alive. She looked like she merely got the daylights knocked out of her!
Around the jade coffin, there were many chests that had been wide opened. They were all filled to the brim with jewelry! Unfortunately, this jewelry would be worth nothing in the game.
Zhang Yang glanced across the entire room. His eyes were magnetized to a glittering crown that was radiated with the light of seven colors! It was right on top of the woman’s head.
With no other method of doing it in the politer manner, Zhang Yang decided to pop open the jade coffin to get the item.
Zhang Yang put both of his hands right on top of the coffin. Unexpectedly, he did not have to exert any strength in order to open the cover of the coffin. It was just like opening a chest. A progress bar appeared right on top of the coffin.
30 seconds later, the progress bar was completely filled. The cover of the coffin was automatically opened up. Zhang Yang quickly reached his hands to the crown around the head of the woman’s corpse.
With care and patience, he placed his hands on the crown. Just as he was about to lift the crown up from the head, suddenly, the eyes of the dead woman opened up wide and she suddenly grabbed Zhang Yang’s wrist with one of her hands!
"Son of the ---!"
It was not really a rare thing to see reanimated corpses and zombies in the game. However, having a corpse move and grab hold of you like that was another matter entirely! Zhang Yang was so frightened that his heart almost popped out! His wrist felt icy cold and numb. Felice was also shocked by his reaction, as she stared at him with her eyes wide open. Thunderhawk was so frightened to the point that its feathers stood up on ends!
A true horror movie experience!
The lady corpse swung her arm and Zhang Yang was thrown across the room like a rag doll. Then, he crashed into the wall of the room and stars began to spin around his head. He lay on the ground dizzily.
After struggling to get up for a brief moment. Zhang Yang saw that the lady corpse had sat up and was looking around to the left and right in confusion. She seemed to have been displaced in time and space.
[Helena, Princess of Garano Kingdom] (Ethereal, Spectre)
Level: 130
HP: 39,000,000
Defense: 5,560
Melee Attack: 71,546 - 85,546
Skills:
[Royalty's Supremity Aura]: Being oppressed by royalty, targets within the area of 40 X 40 meters will suffer a reduction of attack by 50%.
[Chaos Strike]: Attacks the target continuously. Each hit causes 100% Physical Damage to the target. The user can attack from 2 times up to 10 times. The number of hits will occur randomly.
[Thousand Shadow Slash]: Strikes out with shadows of blade in all eight directions. Each shadow of blade causes 100% Melee Attack of Physical Damage and pushes the target 3 meters backward. Range: 50 meters.
[Spectre Regeneration]: Recovers 1% HP every 30 seconds. Can be activated during a battle.
Note: Helena was the Princess of the Garano Kingdom in life. She was a rare beauty. She had a long line of suitors. According to rumors, the line was so long that it could have spanned the Chaos Realm thrice! Even the beautiful female elves would be ashamed of themselves when they lay eyes on her.
Now, this are the Skills that a powerful boss should have! Nobody could dodge these AoE attacks. Furthermore, her Attack value was really high. She could even kill a Tanker instantly! Therefore, the only way of standing against her would be to sacrifice as many players as possible until the boss was defeated!
Zhang Yang started thinking about it. The only weakness that Helena had was her slightly low HP value! He could just activate his {God of War Transformation} and stand a chance at killing the boss now. However, this was only a B-rank quest. An easy quest would not send players up against the most powerful boss in the entire map.
Furthermore, Helena did not seem to be attacking. Something was up.
Zhang Yang signaled at Felice not to do anything stupid with a half-raised arm. Then he called out to Helena with a respectful voice, "Your Highness ---"
"Who are you? Why am I here? What is this place?" Helena was very confused as she went on asking all her questions at once. Her charming face was twisted with confusion.
"Your Highness, please take a deep breath and calm yourself first. We can take it slow and talk about it."
Helena took a deep breath. Her face became calm in just a second. It proved that she was an experienced lady of the court. The moment she calmed down, her intellects were restored. After taking a quick look around, she said softly, "From what I see here, this is a tomb! Just now, I was crawling out from a jade coffin... I remember... I was infected with a deadly plague. The doctor said those who are infected would be as good as dead! If that was true, it means that I... I’m already dead!"
Very good, it seemed that Zhang Yang did not have to waste his breath trying to explain everything to her.
This is an intelligent being. She could already accept her death and her Spectral nature within 3 seconds! However, her eyes suddenly turned angry as she looked at Zhang Yang and asked, "Are you a tomb raider?"
It was definitely a logical assumption. Truth to be told, Zhang Yang had almost become one himself, thanks to the stupid Goblin. However, he was not stupid enough to admit that.
Zhang Yang quickly shook his head. He spoke in a just manner, "Your Highness, please don’t get me wrong. I’m an Adventurer from White Jade Castle. It would be impossible for me to be a filthy tomb raider! Truth be told, I was sent here by Queen Serena herself to investigate the cause of the plague!"
"Queen Serena? Queen?" Helena tensed up a little upon hearing the word queen, "When did a Queen appear on these lands? What year is it now?"
"It’s the year 10,086!"
"WHAT?!" Helena was shocked, "So it has been so long since I died! 21 years! It’s been 21 years!"
Looks like this princess is quite ‘young’.
Zhang Yang did not say anything after she stopped talking. He did not want to do anything to aggravate the matter. After all, she might just lose herself and vent it all out on him! Zhang Yang would not want to waste his {God of War Transformation} for a stupid reason.
Fortunately, Princess Helena was a calm and wise lady. She managed to calm herself down very quickly each time. She walked quickly towards the door, as she wanted to take a look outside the mausoleum. Zhang Yang followed her closely. The Crown of the Living Frost was still on top of her head, so there was no point for Zhang Yang to remain in the room.
After walking out from the mausoleum, Helena raised her head and looked into the sky. Then, she let out a roar that shook the air. Her voice was heard across the distant land as well.
From afar, countless Spectral Maidservants came towards her. The number of the monsters was so abundant that Zhang Yang felt a chill going up his spine. He would definitely be as good as dead if he ever gets targeted by so many monsters. The only solution on his mind now was to hop onto Thunderhawk and fly as far away as possible!
"Your Highness!"
"Princess Helena!"
Even though these Spectral Maidservants were just low Tier monsters like the skeleton soldiers, they were approaching Princess Helena. After all, it was their loyalty to her that had made them this way.
"Everyone ---" When Princess Helena saw that her maidservants had been turned into Spectres and were walking towards her like an army of the walking dead, she was instantly struck by grief and rage. She took a deep breath again and turned to Zhang Yang. Then she said, "Adventurer, I should have sentenced you to death the moment you trespassed my tomb! But now, I will give you a chance to redeem yourself! Go forth and inquire about a certain person’s whereabouts for me! His name is Banct Roland! Find out where he is and get as much information as you can for me!"
‘Ding! Princess Helena has a quest for you: Search for News. Do you accept?’
Since he had nothing in his hand at the moment, Zhang Yang nodded and accepted the quest. Then he said, "Your Highness, Zhan Yu is willing to serve you!"
However, it would not be easy at all to search for someone’s whereabouts in the entire Chaos Realm. It might be even worse than finding a needle in a haystack! So Zhang Yang quickly asked, "Your Highness, who is this Banct Roland? It would be very hard to find a person just by name."
Helena hesitated for a moment, and said tentatively, "He is my lover... back then ... he made a promise to me. I have been waiting for his return here ever since! Even after the plague, I did not ever leave! But he never returned to me! I need to know... did something happen to him or did he abandoned me? Did he disappoint me? Our love? I need to know! Truth be told, I can leave this place to search for him myself, but .... look at them... I must find a way out for them! They are my people!"
Zhang Yang could not help but admire the princess. She would put her people before herself! He saluted her and said, "Your Highness! Rest assured that I shall locate Banct Roland for you! I shall not fail!"
Spectres only come to being if they had strong emotions or attachments to something. It would cause their soul unrest. What Helena could not let go was her love for this man. It was really hard to imagine what would happen if this Banct Roland betrayed her. This princess would surely unleash all her resentment, and the only God knows how many people would die just to calm her wrath!
"He used to live in Castle Anjar, located in the Juval Mountains of Grandu Ice Ridge. You can start by taking a look there."
"Yes, Your Highness."
Zhang Yang hopped onto his Thunderhawk. With a flash of deep blue lightning, Zhang Yang blasted off to the skies.