Chapter 763: Empyrean Guards

From top to bottom, the Impartial Guardian Emperor Equipment Set consisted of seven pieces. Once all seven pieces were equipped, three powerful special effects would be triggered, and all three special effects were unbelievably powerful.

Back in Li Yi’s past life, Brother Windcloud Nine did not possess a Territory Power. However, with the aid of the Impartial Guardian Emperor Equipment Set, he had managed to squeeze his way into the God Wars which only accepted a hundred players.

In this life, Brother Windcloud Nine was similarly unrestrained. Upon completing his Emperor Equipment Set, he immediately set off to Infuse it, and a day later, his Holy Value had reached 517 points. Once that was done, he set off to Reinforce his armor, and only after all the pieces were Reinforced to +10 did he finally take a break.

When it came to reinforcing Level 130 Equipment, even a single enhancement, successful or not, would cost players over a hundred thousand Gold Coins. If a player had rotten luck, it was possible for them to spend over ten million Gold Coins just to raise the equipment to +10.

Due to the exorbitant price of Reinforcing equipment and the ineffectiveness of Reinforced equipment against players, very few people would intentionally Reinforce their equipment. After all, it was only effective against monsters, and even then, players could defeat monsters even if they did not have Reinforced equipment. The only difference was that it took a bit more effort in order to do so.

Brother Windcloud Nine displayed the stats of his Impartial Guardian Emperor Equipment Set in the World Channel, and upon doing so, he attracted a bunch of comments.

If players were to follow the natural progress of the game, they would need at least 2 years in order to craft an Impartial Guardian Emperor Equipment Set as the requirements for creating it were even tougher than Li Yi’s Night Emperor Equipment Set. For this reason, Brother Windcloud Nine had frantically purchased Emperor’s Invitations with total disregard towards his wealth. Had this been any other player, the thought would not have even crossed their minds.

The Impartial Guardian Emperor Equipment Set that Brother Windcloud Nine had crafted was the first-ever Emperor Equipment Set produced in King of Pantheon. As such, the moment he donned the scintillating Emperor Equipment, it was hard for him to remain discreet…

“Well, it’s clear now who’s rich and who’s not…”

“Brother Nine, you really are rich.”

“You’re absolutely, definitely, not lacking in money.”

“I never thought that dumb-looking Sister Nine would have such an eye for treasure. To think that she found such a rich tycoon for herself.”

“Argh, I’m so jealous…”

Players from all corners of the Pantheon World were now embroiled in a heated discussion regarding Brother Windcloud Nine. Regardless of how much he spent, he had really managed to craft an Emperor Set, two years earlier than any of the regular players. Now, that was true strength!

After sending a congratulatory message to Brother Windcloud Nine, he then followed Jiaojiao, Little Elf from the Magical Realm, Qian’er, and Pale Blue Elegance to enter the City in the Sky dungeon.

The City in the Sky was located up above the clouds, but it did not require players to have their own mounts as the NPCs within the dungeon would prepare special mounts for the players. These mounts all shared the same SPD.

“The Sky Emperor’s about to awaken! Brave warriors, please halt its ambition. You must not let it descend to the earth!”

The moment the five players entered the dungeon, they were greeted by a beautiful white elf NPC that was groveling while praying. Behind her, were five Pegasi with beautiful white manes that were restlessly shifting their hooves.

The sky suddenly went dark, and the beautiful white elf NPC raised her head in terror. She then screamed, “No! The Sky Emperor’s power is growing stronger! I sense that the Empyrean Guards that protect it have been revived! Warriors, please get on my Pegasi and stop them in their tracks!”

Ding!

A crisp sound rang out, and all five players received a quest at the same time.

[Battle in the Sky: Ride Carine’s Pegasi, kill all the Empyrean Guards, and prevent the Sky Emperor’s revival.]

“Move out!”

Li Yi flung his hand forward and demonstrated the method of riding the Empyrean Warhorses¹ to the party.

The moment Li Yi got on the horse’s back; his image suddenly changed. He now wore armor from the middle ages, wielded a gun lance, and donned on a cow-like helmet. He was now a full-fledged Empyrean Rider.

The moment players mounted the Empyrean Warhorses, they would be unable to use their original class skills. All they could use were the Empyrean Riders skills; Sudden Impact, Assist, and Prayer.

Sudden Impact was for attacking, Assist was for helping comrades, and Prayer was a minor heal that recovered the health of the player and their allies. All three skills had their respective cooldowns.

While players were in Empyrean Rider form, they would not experience any external benefits, and all players would share the exact same stats. In other words, it made no difference whether the players had equipped any equipment.

The four ladies got onto their respective horses. However, unlike Li Yi, their posture was way worse.

Riding the Empyrean Warhorses was nothing like riding one’s own mount as the only way of controlling the mounts were via the reins. When players pulled down the reins, the Empyrean Warhorses would head upwards, and if they tugged the reins upwards, the Empyrean Warhorses would head downwards. Also, if players rapidly shook the reins, the Empyrean Warhorses would accelerate, and conversely, if they loosened up on the reins, the Empyrean Warhorses would slow down.

Among the four women, the one with the greatest compatibility with the Pegasi was Qian’er. After struggling for a few moments, she figured out the technique of riding the Pegasus and was now standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Li Yi.

As for the remaining three, their actions were a bit too absurd. Even after fluttering around like a butterfly, doing several barrel rolls, and being tormented for a long period, they still could not grasp the technique for handling the Pegasi.

“Warriors, please inform me once you’re prepared. I’ll give you my blessing!”

Down below, the white elf NPC, Carine was still anxiously ushering them. Since it was the players’ first time in the sky, the players needed time to master the Empyrean Warhorses’ controls. As such, the system would provide the players with a long training period when they got on the horses.

“Nope. I can’t do this. It’s like a roller coaster… Hahahaha… how can I stop? Lil Yi’zi… Brother Yi… Boohoohoo…”

When Jiaojiao took hold of the reins, not only did she do several cartwheels, she had also flown in several circles, but still, she could not figure out how to stop…

Since Lil Chili had clamped her hands tightly on the reins, it was only natural for the Empyrean Warhorse to go out of control.

“Stop tugging at it! Relax! Relax!”

Li Yi had become a teacher, and after patiently lecturing the four ladies, they finally made some progress.

‘It’ll be a miracle if we don’t get wiped out…’

“Alright, listen to me. I want you girls to take off all your equipment and put it in your backpack.”

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Although players would not lose any of their items in the City in the Sky, their equipment would still lose 50% of its durability upon the players’ death. This was a hefty deduction, and it would cost quite a bit of money to repair the equipment.

Since they had another set of armor covering their body, the four ladies would not expose anything by taking off their armor. As such, the four of them heeded Li Yi’s words and obediently took off their equipment.

“Division one of the Air Force is ready! Main gunner, ready!” roared Li Yi as he lifted his gun lance up high.

“Secondary gunner, ready!” Jiaojiao took Li Yi’s lead and imitated his actions.

As for Little Elf from the Magical Realm, Qian’er, and Pale Blue Elegance, however, they unanimously shook their heads…

Li Yi shouted downwards, “Lady Carine, we’re ready to depart!”

“Warriors, I’ll pray for you!”

The white elf, Carine kneeled onto the ground, and the buff, Carine’s Blessing was cast on the party. Its effect was to increase the chance of players instant killing their enemies by 30%.

Hngggggg…

The sound of a horn came thundering from the clouds, and from above, five gun-lance-wielding Empyrean Guards came crashing down. They were mounted on black Empyrean Warhorses and they were charging towards Li Yi and his party.

“Take care guys, we need to dodge their charge, and focus all our Sudden Impacts onto a single target!”

After hurling a skeletal mark onto the Empyrean Guard closest to him, Li Yi rapidly shook his reins, and with a long neigh, his Empyrean Warhorse rushed ahead.

Qian’er quickly followed suit. On the other hand, Jiaojiao shot upwards, and Pale Blue Elegance was even worse, she crashed into the ground, and stayed still for a long time afterward…

Tch-tch-tch—

The two forces collided head-on, and when the five Empyrean Guards used Sudden Impact with their lances raised, Li Yi and Qian’er easily dodged them. Then, the two unleashed a Sudden Impact of their own onto the Empyrean Guard marked with the skeletal insignia.

Two white silhouettes pierced through the Empyrean Guard, taking out twenty thousand of its HP. Each Sudden Impact would deal ten thousand damage, and if they managed to crit, the damage would be doubled.

Since the Empyrean Guards had a hundred thousand HP each, even if Li Yi and Qian’er ganged up on the same target, they would not be able to finish it off in one blow.

Tch-tch-tch—

Four Empyrean Guards surrounded Little Elf from the Magical Realm and cast Sudden Impact on her. The Missus was now in a pinch, and while she had originally intended to evade them, she made a blunder and took the Sudden Impacts head-on, dying on the spot.

On the players’ end, under circumstances where no Prayers were used, all it took was three Sudden Impacts for them to perish.

Li Yi and Qian’er pulled back their horses. Once again, they launched Sudden Impacts onto the target marked with a skeletal insignia. Luck was on their side this time, however, as both of their hits had been critical hits, which allowed them to take out 40 thousand HP out of the Empyrean Guard.

Tch-tch-tch—

The other Empyrean Guards suddenly came barreling towards Li Yi and Qian’er. Spotting them, Li Yi immediately tugged his reins upward, allowing the Guards to whistle past him. On the other hand, Qian’er’s reaction was slightly delayed, and she had taken a Sudden Impact head-on, losing one-third of her HP.

‘Damn, it’s all messed up now. There’s no order to the party, and we’ve already lost three of our members before we’ve even truly faced the enemy. How are we supposed to make it?’

Seeing that the situation was not in their favor, Li Yi flew down, got off his horse, and dived onto the ground.

He had used Pseudocide to escape from battle…

By the time Qian’er and the other girls had spotted the shameless male who only had his underpants on as he laid on the ground, they spat in unison.

It was just too shameless, as he had chosen to save only himself…

Qian’er’s reaction was actually pretty good. She managed to make the most out of a bad situation, and had controlled her Empyrean Warhorse to fly towards the exit, allowing her to escape successfully from the dungeon…

As for the remaining three, they had all died.

After corpse running and waiting for a while, the small party had reassembled…

There was no second try. If they failed again, it would mean that their skills were inadequate and that they were not nimble enough to master the Pegasi.

The second time the ladies got onto the horses, Li Yi continued to drill lessons into them. He first trained the ladies to mimic his actions perfectly.

“Line up and fly forward!”

The ladies fluttered away like butterflies, and once again, their formation was messed up…

“Gather up! We’ll try it again!”

Practicing was an absolute necessity when one attempted the City in the Sky. After all, if the players could not even handle the most basic of formations, what chance did they have in battle?

This time, Li Yi patiently trained the girls for over three hours before nodding his head in satisfaction and announcing the end of the training.

“Listen to my command! Line up, single file!”

The four ladies tugged at the reins, and they stood neatly behind Li Yi.

“Depart!”

Hngggg—

Another horn sounded from above, and five Empyrean Guards appeared with their black warhorses once more.

“Listen! On my mark, attack the one with the Skeletal Insignia! 1,2,3 Charge!”

Upon Li Yi’s signal, the five Empyrean Warhorses left afterimages in their wake as they gallantly pierced through the Empyrean Guard with the skeletal insignia. [Critical!] hits popped up from the guard’s head, and it died from their combined blow.

When five players used Sudden Impact simultaneously on a single target, the chance of landing a critical hit was a hundred percent!

It was a tried and tested feature!

“Very good. Alright, now, target the guard with the skeletal insignia on my mark. 1,2,3, Charge!”