Chapter 637: Night Ambush
The Star Conferring Platform was a large open s.p.a.ce with a high platform directly in front of it. It looked a bit similar to the speech center of a plaza which was generous and simple.
As Chen Rui’s mind moved, he had come to the high platform. He felt that the open s.p.a.ce below had turned into an endless starry sky. At the same time, the Star Conferring Platform appeared in his mind with its corresponding functions.
The role of the Star Conferring Platform was to grant star positions. Those who get the star position t.i.tle could have special attributes and characteristics. The attribute power and quota of the star position were related to the Pole Star Level of the Pole Star Emperor. At present, there were 3 star positions that Chen Rui could grant with his Blue Star level: Star General, Star Servant, and Star Apprentice.
Among them, there was 1 spot for Star General, 2 for Star Servant, and 3 for Star Apprentice.
Star General- Star buff: Power S-. Feature [Break Army]: Increases damage and doubles destructive power.
Star Servant- Star buff: Spirit power A+. Feature [Concentration]: Accelerates magic casting speed and spirit power recovery.
Star Apprentice- Star buff: Speed A. Feature [Ligtning Dash]: Accelerates movement speed and attack speed.
It meant that the person who had obtained the star t.i.tle could directly have the corresponding level of buff attribute and characteristics. The conferred person must be a spiritual link contractor or a firm believer who met the requirements of the level of faith. Not only that, if the quality of the conferred person did not meet the minimum requirements of the star position, an extra faith crystal must be paid to conduct the confer.
For example, Zola was now at the peak stage of the Demon Overlord. After obtaining the t.i.tle of ‘Star Servant’, the A+ spirit power effect would be added on to her original spirit power which was equal to S+ plus A+. For Zola, who found it difficult to make progress as her power had reached the bottleneck, this spirit power might be the key to defeat enemies of the same level. As for the special effects of [Concentration], it was the best support for magicians.
But if this Star Servant t.i.tle was to be conferred to the imp Slee whose power was only Lesser Demon, his spirit power could jump directly to A+ after obtaining the t.i.tle. However, due to Slee’s own strength, Chen Rui must pay a lot of faith crystal to complete this t.i.tle conferral.
What made Chen Rui a little speechless was that these 3 star positions not only had restrictions of quota and star position requirements, he also needed to spend a lot of money to activate the faith crystal. It could be said that MONEY was required everywhere!
Although there are still about 10,000 faith crystals, and Shura has the ability to steal faith power, the number is still far from 1 million after all. It is about Isabella’s life and death. Before I have absolute confidence, I must not spend it lavishly.
In addition to the Star Conferring Platform, some great stuff also appeared in the exchange center. Coincidentally, those things not only needed aura, but they also needed faith crystals to be exchanged. Therefore, as a non-P2W player, Chen Rui could only watch the various scam features that cost a fortune in the ‘free’ game, ‘Pole Star Emperor of the Super System’.
When he was feeling aggrieved, he sensed a strange movement. Chen Rui, who had been keeping his eyes closed to rest, immediately quit the Super System and opened his eyes.
A burst of rustling sound approached from afar. Immediately afterward, there was a neighing of horses mixed with screams outside.
“Enemy’s ambus.h.!.+”
“Snake!”
“It’s viper! A lot of them! We are surrounded!”
“Be careful…”
As it was late at night, the members of the Iron s.h.i.+eld Mercenary Squad were caught off guard, but they quickly formed a defensive formation under Ina’s command.
The mercenaries formed a circular defensive formation, guarding the panicked Fatty Pastor and others in the center. An astonis.h.i.+ng number of snakes appeared around the circle. These snakes were fast and had fierce attack power; most of them were poisonous. The mercenaries could only barely maintain the defense circle after fighting with much struggle. A few of them were brought to the middle for treatment after they were being poisoned.
Ina’s weapon was a huge s.h.i.+eld. She stood in the forefront. The 3 magicians in the team played a key role. They released a circle of [Fire Wall], effectively blocking the vipers’ invasion. However, the vipers seemed to be driven by some force. Despite many being burned in the fire, they still rushed forward one after another.
Seeing the vipers’ terrifying appearance under the firelight, Fatty Pastor was in utter shock. His clothes were soaked in cold sweats. He usually went out for many long trips. At most, he encountered a few ignorant thieves. With the protection by the mercenary squad and the reputation of the church, he basically didn’t encounter any major troubles. However, he encountered this kind of terrifying ambush after only leaving Town Gudam today!
The vipers’ attack became more and more fierce as they came one after another. The strength of the 3 magicians was not strong. 2 of them were only the early stages of the Warrior (Lesser Demon F level), and the other was the intermediate stage of the Warrior (Intermediate Demon E level). After the continuous casting of magic, their spirit power was almost exhausted.
As the power of the [Fire Wall] gradually weakened, more and more vipers pa.s.sed through the flames. The mercenaries were on the edge of collapsing.
“Hold the line!” Ina’s voice sounded. She lifted the huge s.h.i.+eld with both hands and slammed toward the ground. A circle of power rippled forward, and the approaching vipers were shocked by a strong force. A giant mutated snake just trembled backward, then it wriggled forward at a faster speed. The hideous snake head appeared on the s.h.i.+eld and rushed toward Ina.
Under the flame light, the 2 rows of sharp teeth could already be seen in the widely opened mouth.
Ina had just launched a shockwave, so she had not recovered her strength. Just as she was about to be bitten by the giant snake, a long spear with a sharp wind thrust and penetrated the snake’s head at a critical moment. A crimson flame emerged from the tip of the spear, burning the struggling giant snake into a c.o.ke.
Ina looked back at Lucio holding the spear in surprise, and she nodded at him. Lucio was a little surprised too. The appearance of the spear given by master is not amazing, but it is several times stronger than I imagined. It also has the power of the flame buff. It is simply tailor-made for my own trick [Flame Thrust]. Could it be, like those gloves, it is…
Lucio shot 3 times in a row, piercing the approaching 3 vipers. While Ina commanded everyone to hold on to the defense loudly, she launched the shockwave with the help of Lucio to knock out the vipers close to them.
Seeing the defensive circle getting smaller and smaller, the wind leopard next to Pastor Mana showed an extremely vigilant look. Although its strength was better than any viper, it was definitely a dead end to rush into so many snakes.
The terrified fatty finally couldn’t help but yell, “We can’t hold on anymore, quickly protect Richard and I to leave this place!”
At this moment, the vipers suddenly stopped their attacks, and they retreated in panic. They disappeared into the night soon.
After confirming that the viper had evacuated, the mercenaries all breathed a sigh of relief and began to count the casualties and treat the injuries. Due to the sudden attack of the vipers, 2 of the 3 mercenaries patrolling at the outermost periphery died. The bearded Silva was spared as he was better than his peers, but he was also badly poisoned and dying. Many of the remaining mercenaries were injured or poisoned. 4 of the mounts were dead, and half of them ran away.
Mana brought along 2 friars who were trainers of light element magic on this trip. They began to help with the healing of the mercenaries. The effect of light element’s [Treatment] and [Dispel] wasn’t inferior to that of water element’s [Healing] and [Detoxification]. The [Dispel]could also remove some common debuffs. With the help of 2 friars, the wounds of the most severely injured mercenaries were temporarily controlled. The other mercenaries who were slightly injured used herbs and potions to heal themselves.
“This is by no means an accident, but a planned ambus.h.!.+ Those vipers must be controlled by someone!” Ina, who squatted down to bandage the squad members, punched the ground angrily. She initially thought that it was just an ordinary escort mission. She never expected to encounter such an ambush. She lost 2 companions on the first day of departure and suffered a huge loss.
“Is it the enemy of us, Iron s.h.i.+eld Mercenary Squad, or Sir Pastor?”
“Is it the Holy Feather Mercenary Squad? They were humiliated this time because of the iron grenade bee mission and they even offended Sir Pastor.”
“By the way, doesn’t the Holy Feather Mercenary Squad have a beast tamer named Chelse? It must be him!” The fatty felt that it was more and more possible when he thought about it. He couldn’t help but burst into a rage, “How bold the Holy Feather Mercenary Squad a.s.sault the clergies. I must report to the church to send Light Knight and send them all to the torture frame!”
“The attacker must be at least a high level beast tamer to manipulate so many vipers. Chelse does not have the capability yet…” As the commander of mercenaries, Ina didn’t lose her mind because of anger, “It’s very likely that there is someone else.”
The 3 words, ‘beast tamer’, reminded the fatty. He suddenly thought of the most important partner, and he quickly asked Lucio, “Where is Richard?”
Lucio shook his head and said that he didn’t know. The fatty looked around and found that Chen Rui had disappeared. His heart tightened, and his cold sweat began to burst again. He yelled, “Richard! Where are you?”
“I’m here.”
A dark figure flew out of the forest and fell to the ground, completely motionless.
The fatty was startled. There was already another person beside him; it was Chen Rui.
Chen Rui glanced at the man on the ground and said to Ina, “This guy is the one who manipulates the viper. I think you should not be short of interrogation means.”
Ina was shocked, “It turns out that you were the one who made the vipers retreat just now…”
Chen Rui nodded without saying much. He threw 2 bottles of potion to Lucio, “1 bottle is a special detoxification potion, and the other is a special healing potion. Go help them treat their injuries.”
The fatty wiped the cold sweat on his forehead, “Richard, I was worried about you just now. I didn’t expect… thanks to you this time.”
“Don’t worry, my friend,” Chen Rui smiled and comforted the fatty, “There should be no more enemy ambush tonight.”
When the 2 were talking, Ina’s surprised voice came, “That guy… is dead.”
Chen Rui frowned slightly while the fatty said angrily, “What do you mercenaries do for a living? When the viper attacks, you will only hide behind the defense cowardly. Even the protected employee has to catch the enemy! Now my friend brought the captive for you to interrogate. You actually killed him so quickly?”
These words made the mercenaries of the Iron s.h.i.+eld Mercenary Squad reveal a raging expression, but what the fatty said was the truth, so they were speechless for a while.
Ina didn’t refute. She just said, “This guy is from the Dagger Brotherhood.”
The name ‘Dagger Brotherhood’ made the fat on the fatty’s face tremble. His excitement seemed to be splashed in cold water, and he suddenly stopped speaking.
TL: Dagger Brotherhood? Are they the sworn enemy of the church?