The air in the Deathknell Swamp was filled with the smell of rotten flesh, which had accumulated through the years. Occasionally, some vegetation would grow at the top of the pitch-black muddy swamp, but once they appeared, a large number of swamp monsters would be attracted to the plants and fight.
Also, many Devils liked to rest here and absorb the dark aura in the air to enhance themselves.
Deathknell Swamp spawned Elite monsters, and the probability of encountering a Rare Elite was much higher in the Deathknell Swamp than normal maps—that was the effect of the dark aura. To Devils, the Deathknell Swamp was a paradise of training for them, and the Undead race had also built a town there in hopes of occupying this map.
Lin Jie made his Silver-Feathered Eagle fly in the sky and keep its distance from Dark King and others, constantly observing the surrounding situation. Suddenly, in its line of sight, vegetation, the size of one’s fist appeared. That patch of withered grass was the most delicious food for swamp monsters. In an instant, large bubbles appeared in that part of the swamp, which was viscous and damp, and a huge ferocious mouth was revealed—it was a swamp monster!
[Swamp Devourer] (Elite)
Level: 65
Health Points: 100,000
Attack: 100-200
Defense: 0
Special Feature: Division (When the Swamp Devourer receives a Critical Hit, it will divide into two Swamp Devourers). Suck (Swamp Devourer will deal damage to surrounding targets, which is 1% of their maximum health points per second).
If one had to choose a most hated monster in the Swamp, it had to be the Swamp Devourer without a doubt! All swamp maps had such a monster. Although its attributes were awful, the extent of how disgusting it was was unparalleled.
When one attacked it, its Divide feature would be activated, and it would split into two completely similar monsters. After that, it would continue to split. A normal swamp monster could divide five times, an Elite seven times, and a Boss ten times.
Also, the swamp monster’s Suck could be stacked after it had divided! The Damage Dealt after being stacked could be compared to that of a Boss!
Also, its Divide special feature meant that one had to kill six monsters when facing a normal swamp monster. Of course, that was not what mattered. The most important detail was that even if one killed all those disgusting monsters, they would only be able to obtain the EXP of one monster.
“5 Consecutive Shots!” The Silent Killer, which was enhanced after being altered, looked like a sniper rifle with a long and deep barrel, giving off a metallic sensation. Lin Jie immediately aimed the Silent Killer towards the swamp monsters, and sparks flew out from the Silent Killer as the five bullets were instantly shot out, penetrating into the swamp monsters’ bodies and creating five hollow holes.
-827!
-893!
-836!
-846!
-863!
The swamp monsters’ bodies suddenly swelled up, and they roared ferociously. Instantly, like a torpedo had been launched into the swamp, the swamp monsters became crazily restless. The swamp monsters, which were in deep slumber, were awakened, and it was like tall mountains had risen from a flat ground!
‘Eight of them?’ Lin Jie’s eyes gleamed, and he took out a roll of Kusa Mochi. Naturally, one would stock up on food when going out, and Kusa Mochi was one of the rations with the worst taste. Its effect was similar to normal food—that was to recover 5,000+ health points in 20 seconds. As compensation for its bad taste, 200 pieces of Kusa Mochi only took up one space, which saved quite the amount of space in the backpack.
Upon seeing the Kusa Mochi, the swamp monsters acted like hungry wolves taking notice of sheep. In but an instant, Lin Jie’s aggro rose rapidly. It was comparable to an MT releasing a full set of aggro-pulling skills. Of course, that aggro was not fixed, one could get rid of the aggro just by throwing away the Kusa Mochi.
“Follow me, babies.” Lin Jie grinned, and his Holy Light Winged Armor transformed into spider legs, easily moving around the swamp. The restless swamp monsters, which rampaged around, also awakened other monsters in slumber, and they all followed behind Lin Jie. In a short span of 10+ minutes, the number of swamp monsters following behind Lin Jie had reached more than 30!
…
Graceful Snake seemed to have sensed an unusual aura and said, “Be careful, the NPCs coming this time will be even more powerful. I can sense the aura of life from the Guild and that smelly scent of Holy Light.”
Dark King was shocked. He immediately ordered everyone in the team to stop and be on guard. Their location was 30 minutes away from Deathknell Town, so they had to be careful not to fail at the last bit due to carelessness. He immediately arranged for his subordinated to be in a defensive formation and protected the messenger within. He also held the dual axes, which had made him famous, in his hands, and took strict precautions.
“Normally, in the process of the mission, a Boss would be spawned in the last moment. Everyone, brace yourselves! Graceful Snake, if the Boss is too powerful, then please help me to protect the messenger and send him to the destination. I can split with you half of the Blood Vigor Pedicle after obtaining it,” said Dark King.
“I’m not interested in the Blood Pedicle. Undead only desire the nutrients in corpses.” Graceful Snake took a look at Dark King and chuckled, saying, “Relax, even if you don’t let me kill, I won’t be able to resist either. A Boss-level corpse, devouring it can increase quite the attributes.”
A cold shiver could not help but run down Dark King’s spine. As an Undead player, devouring corpses belonged to their racial skill. However, most Undead players would directly use their skill to purify the corpse and absorb its essence, though the price was that it would be 10% less effective than directly swallowing the corpse. People like Graceful Snake, who would directly swallow the corpse raw, were in the few—she was a hardcore woman!
“They’ve come!” shouted Graceful Snake in a low voice as she turned her rotten eyes.
Holy Light descended! This time, the Paladins that appeared were much stronger than the monsters Dark King and the others had encountered on the way. The leader of that team of Paladins was a Holy Archer Boss and held a heavy crossbow in his hands. The heavy crossbow let out a sharp arrow-light aura.
The Holy Archer Boss’ eyes shone with the Holy Flame. “Holy Archers, kill that messenger! It’s all for Holy Light!”
“For Holy Light!”
In that instant, 20 Holy Archers descended!
Holy Archers were a high-level type of soldier in the Holy Light Church and could use heavy crossbows to attack from a far distance! After 20 Elite Holy Archers appeared, they directly shot a round of arrows vigorously. The Holy Light Arrows released filled up the sky, and two unlucky Orc Shield Specialists were instantly pierced and instakilled!
“Dark King, kill that Holy Archer Boss first! It seems to have a halo that enhances the Holy Archers.” Graceful Snake swung her jagged axes and charged towards the Boss.
Naturally, Dark King also realized that the strength of that wave of Holy Archers was not counted as very powerful. However, since they were NPCs from the Holy Church, their battling strength was just that when Blessing Spells did not enhance them. However, the Boss was the combination of a Holy Archer and Paladin, and it could activate its halo to enhance the Holy Archers, thus increasing the ability of the Holy Archers greatly.
“Dark Kingsnake Dual Axes!”
Dark King flung the two giant axes that he had been carrying behind him, transforming into the illusion of two Dark Water Kingsnakes. They wriggled their huge bodies full of vigor, and opened their mouths wide, revealing their poisonous fangs as if they were about to bite off the Boss’ head! That was Dark King’s signature skill and what had made him famous—Whirling Axes. Dark King’s job was not Berserker, but the Tribe’s exclusive job, Splitting Hatchet Warrior.
Only muscular races like the Tribe could use the huge axes as long-ranged throwing weapons. The Dark King’s Dark Kingsnake Dual Axes was a Dark Gold Set, and together with the powerful throwing skill of the Splitting Hatchet Warrior, it could deal destructive damage to the target unit!
The two axes were like dark whirlwinds spinning in the sky as they flew towards the Boss together with Graceful Snake. Meanwhile, the others in the team were trying their best to restrain the other NPCs’ attacks.
“Now!” Finally, Lin Jie, who had concealed himself for a long time, found the perfect opportunity. He lifted his Silent Killer, and five grenades, spattering sparks, instantly descended and exploded around the battlefield!
What immediately followed were 30+ restless swamp monsters! Those swamp monsters were just like a moving mountain that smashed downwards. At the same time, when the swamp monsters appeared, the grenades, which had just exploded, also emitted a fog that spread in the surroundings. Everyone’s line of sight instantly became blurry.
Dark King panicked at that moment as Splitting Hatchet Warriors were at their weakest when their Axes were not in their hands! Also, the team members started to become anxious from losing their vision and wantonly released their skills. They accidentally instakilled quite the number of swamp monsters. However, don’t forget, swamp monsters had the special feature of being able to divide! In the blink of an eye, the number of swamp monsters had doubled!
“Darn it, who is it?” roared Dark King.
At that instant, a green thing fell from the sky, and he grabbed it. Dark King took a closer look, and found it was a Kusa Mochi?!
‘Why would that appear here?’
Just when Dark King was still in doubt, he heard a “Boss, be careful”, and immediately after, the aggro of all enraged swamp monsters was gathered onto him! It was like the outburst of a flood! Dark King was instantly slammed onto the ground, and waves of damage values popped up.
A swamp monster could deal damage, which was 1% of the target’s maximum health points through Suck, so 30 was 30%, and 60 was 60%! A 60% maximum-health-points Damage Dealt per second, who could endure it?
Before Dark King could react, the swamp monsters had already sucked him to death, and even healing jobs could not save him no matter how they healed him! Also, because they were trying to heal Dark King, the aggro of that group of healing jobs had already risen rapidly, so it was impossible not to face those swamp monsters next. There were also Holy Archers eyeing them from the side, so there was already no possibility of victory!
Lin Jie’s plan, attracting aggro to Dark King by using the Kusa Mochi, easily broke the team formation. What immediately followed was a team wipeout! The only pity was that one would not be able to obtain Commendation Signet and battle merits.
Graceful Snake, who was moving at high speed, was also shocked. These monsters had appeared out of thin smoke! Was it possible that someone had been waiting to ambush them in the Deathknell Swamp all this time? Was it an NPC?
‘The team has already been dispersed. It’s impossible to kill this wave of Holy Archers, so we need to give up on them. However, that messenger has a mission that rewards Blood Vigor Pedicle. While Dark Craze has yet to revive, we can intercept this mission and complete it. Quite the amount of money can be earned and would be enough to buy a few Guild NPC bodies in the black market.’ Graceful Snake’s thoughts could be said to be meticulous—she had made her decision in such a short period. She immediately changed her direction and dashed towards where the messenger was.
At that moment, the cold light ray of a sword flashed across!
In that instant, the messenger’s head had been sliced into pieces, and the person who attacked was someone wearing black armor and had dark yellowish skin.
‘Human!?’
After that human killed the messenger, he snatched the messenger’s backpack and threw away the bones from the skeleton, which fell apart randomly.
“Who?” shouted Graceful Snake.
Lin Jie heard an outraged roar—that was not strange—but what he felt bizarre was that he could understand it! Different races or camps couldn’t communicate, so why could he understand her?