Chapter 370: The Land Devastated by Underworld Creatures—The Buried City

Gold Digger Babe encountered an almost identical scenario to Qin Ruo’s—only the name of the NPC and the monster that tagged along were different.

Qin Ruo could only smile bitterly to himself.

Judging by the scale of the pressurized attack, not to mention the Bandit class that usually only excels in sneak attacks and lock picking, even Warrior classes like Brother Da, Little Apple, and iLittle Arrow might not thrive better than Gold Digger Babe under such circumstances.

As Qin Ruo had claimed, while he was still talking to Gold Digger Babe, iLittle Arrow, and Brother Da’s voice came through the party channel successively, “I have failed too.”

“Shit. What an asshole mission. The monster is so uncooperative. It helped the NPC a lot but when it’s my turn, the monster obviously did not use its full strength. I would have survived if not because of that,” Brother Da’s foul mouth blamed the temporary battle partner irrationally. He paused after he realized Gold Digger Babe and iLittle Arrow were also present, and said laughingly, “Hey, lassie and Little Arrow, you two were killed too? Not bad, not bad. At least I am not the first who failed.”

His boastfulness lasted less than two seconds and it was mercilessly shattered by Qin Ruo. “Lassie is a Bandit while Little Arrow is a Bowmaster. Obviously, these two classes will not be capable of withstanding the army. You still dare to claim that you are not the first to fail? I reckoned Little Devilite is still surviving eh?”

“Ah?!” Brother exclaimed. “How possible? The pretty Devilite is not killed yet? This is surreal. Oh my god! Me, the impressive Brother Da, is the worst of us all?”

While Brother Da howled tragically, iLittle Arrow gave her opinion through the voice channel. “I think it’s not surprising that Devilite is still alive. She learned quite a few things from Violet Orchid recently. Beside, Radiant Priest happened to be the kryptonite of spectral creatures. If I am not mistaken, Little Fang had reached Tier 4 as well. With the help of the Ice Python that is blessed by few Devilite’s buffs, I think to her the attack is entirely manageable.”

“Er, Little Fang has reached Level 40?” Brother Da immediately stopped howling. Indeed, with Devilite’s support, the battle power of the Level 40 Ice Python would be brought up close to a Level 45 creature. Collectively, the Radiant Priest and Ice Python definitely had a better chance of surviving as compared to Brother Da who fought alone.

In their opinion, party leader Slayer’s Heart and Burning Rose certainly could pass the three minutes’ challenge without a doubt, but it was not as optimistic for the other four players still remained in there…

***

The most relaxed player in the party was no other than Qin Ruo. Among those who still persisted in the defensive battle at the moment, he was the only one who had the spare time to converse with those players that had been eliminated from the Buried City. Others were most probably highly tensed and focused wholeheartedly in the battle right now.

As time passed, surprisingly they did not welcome another new voice in the channel. Gold Digger Babe, Brother Da, and iLittle Arrow who waited at the warp portal at Savis Town also did not see any comrade being sent back through the resurrection circle.

This sustained until the three minutes’ challenge came to an end.

***

Darius who rested behind Qin Ruo for three minutes had all his wounds healed. After the designated time was over, he immediately repositioned himself into the battle and recovered the defensive duty against the spectral army from Qin Ruo’s hands.

With a light swing, a mighty sword energy was discharged from Darius’s weapon.

This led to a series of painful groans. Specters and hellhounds within the thirty-meter radius evaporated instantly under this single swing attack.

The Swordmaster had just elegantly defused the danger at the mountain path and avoided the barrier from being breached with relative ease.

Mission complete!

A crisp notification sound rang in Qin Ruo’s ears. That was when he removed the no longer needed Million Arrow Sleet and retreated deeper into the barrier.

“Thanks, brave warrior!” Darius had just made another slash while taking the window opportunity to turn his head and thank Qin Ruo sincerely.

Your contribution has been recognized by Darius—the system notification rang again.

The other six adventurers who passed the trial had also received the same notification. They all began to understand the tragic fate that befell the Buried City as the Demigod NPC began to narrate the past history using his deep and sorrowful voice.

***

The Buried City was once a great city full of rich history and crypt culture. Before the Eternal War took place, the city was one of the few indispensable locations on the Mythical Continent.

The Ruler of the Buried City, Ary Carqis, was a king well known across the Mythical Continent for his greatness and empathy.

Unfortunately, a few hundred years ago, his decision doomed the crypt’s thousand years of legacy into devastative destruction. Worrying that the war happened above the Mythical Continent might bring an unforeseen catastrophe to the people of the Buried City, Ary Carqis decided to voluntarily block off the eight city entrance linked to the above ground. This completely cut off the connection with people at the other end and made the Buried City an inaccessible quarter hidden underneath the continent.

However, beyond everyone’s wildest imagination, such an act not only had failed to keep the underground people safe, but it also brought the people down to an eternal abyss which they had suffered in ever since.

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The Underworld.

It was a world different from the Mythical Continent. It existed in another dimension and possessed a force not inferior to that of the Mythical Continent—the pure force of death.

Numerous years ago, the master of the Underworld, Hades, had sent out his spawn with several other God-tier Champions to secretly open up pathways into the Mythical Continent and infiltrated the mortal world from different corners. After their cover was blown by Champions at the Mythical Continent, the battle ensued for an extended period of time and they were being defeated back to the Underworld time and time again. Those specter and dead souls that were left behind at the Mythical Continent were targeted by both Angel and Demon Factions at that time and could only survive at some dark and remote environment.

The constant defeat did not make Hades dispel the idea of infiltrating the Mythical Continent. They seized the opportunity of the closure of the Buried City and penetrated the city discreetly. Not long after the Buried City had completely cut itself off, the Spectral Warriors that disguised as humans created a warp portal within the city and imported mass specters into the city center.

The Spawn of Hades had arrived personally along with a group of Spectral Shamans and a large Spectral Army that was not afraid of dying since they could be easily resurrected by the shamans. Within a week, the army of dead souls massacred through the entire Buried City!

The Ruler of the Buried City, Ary Carqis, died in the battle.

All the crypt residents were turned into soul-less undead specters by the Spectral Shaman and became part of the loyal Underworld army.

At the end of the battle, only ten Demigod guards who protected the Eternal Barrier at the ten Eternal Peaks outside the Underground City were all that remained.

Darius told Qin Ruo that ever since the Buried City had fallen, the ten of them were the only force left in this inaccessible land that were still resisting the Underworld. By keeping the Eternal Barrier up and running, they also kept their final straw of hope alive. As long as the Eternal Barrier remained, they woukd be able to open a temporary warp portal near the eight sealed entrances. This would then allow them to deliver the SOS message to the Mythical Continent and get the reinforcements that they much needed from the upper ground.

But there was a risk in doing so…

This was because the opening of the portal would use up much of the caster’s energy. The guard would enter a weakened state later on and that was where and when the help from the summoned Champions was badly needed.

If the summoned player could hold on and pass the trial, they would be of great help and thus could stay in the Buried City to work on subsequent missions. Otherwise, the summoned player would not have any purpose to continue staying in the Buried City.

***

Qin Ruo passed the trial in flawlessly. He finally realized what a horrible world he was in after getting the details regarding the Buried City from Darius.

The rumored beautiful, prosperous, and glorious Buried City no longer existed.

The current Buried City had become the nest of the spectral creatures. It now served as the warp point for the Underworld to spread their influence into the Mythical Continent.

“What can I do to help you and the city?” Qin Ruo curled his lips and asked Darius who stood in front of him sympathetically.

Even though he did not find the legendary city filled with gold and fortune, it was still a rather good spot. In a short three-minute span, Qin Ruo had gained quite a huge amount of experience!

This was because there was only him and Poochie around. Every defeated monster granted Poochie roughly five to six hundred experience points. Its level had shot up to Level 39 by now. Even if he could get any reward by the end of this, farming levels here itself was an unexpected gain.

“Yes.”

Darius passed the mountain path duty to the giant wolf by his side. He took a glance at the Amethyst Orc beside Qin Ruo and asked hopefully, “I sincerely wish that you can give me a hand, my friend from the Angel Faction.”

Qin Ruo scanned through the mountain path that was littered by numerous specter corpses. Aside from eliminating the specter army rushing up the mountain, he could not really think of what else he could help Darius with.

“I would like you to go down the mountain and kill twenty Spectral Shamans under the giant peak…” Darius requested.

“Spectral Shamans?” Qin Ruo was first stunned, then he looked down, where the huge horde of dead souls was all he could see. He swallowed a mouthful of saliva and asked, “Are you sure I need to get down there?” Killing monsters which rushed up was entirely different from throwing yourself at them by going downhill. There would be lots and lots of ranged attacks and spell coming at him on his way down without the Barrier protection, not forgetting those Skeleton Dragons that hovered above the mountains.

‘This will be extremely difficult.’

Darius did not notice Qin Ruo’s reluctance in his tone and continued to explain, “It was because of these damn Spectral Shaman that I have to maintain my 120% focus all the time to deal with the spectral troop. If you can help me defeat them, I will abide by the mercenary hiring principle and pay you a corresponding handsome reward.”

As soon as he finished the sentence, the system notification rang in Qin Ruo’s ears.

Darius’ Request!

Kill twenty Level 52 Minibosses, Spectral Shaman under the peak.

The quest reward will be a Legendary-tier Equipment.

‘What the hell! Another time-limited mission?’