Chapter 283 - Tomb of Ashkar, again?
"Let"s keep moving," Demetri said.
The guild alliance reorganized themselves into square formations of one thousand players and moved toward the east.
Time pa.s.sed slowly as the alliance moved. They were attacked several times by monsters in the Deep Wilds. Weretigers, Blood Wolves and even Giant Mud Toads.
Players fell and died with every encounter, slowing the army more and more. At one point the alliance had to cross an enormous chasm.
Mercy and Tess remembered this area. Behind it was the Red Forest. It"s the area that the Smolzys inhabited. There were a few bridges linking the two sides of the giant rift.
"Demetri, we should take a detour," Mercy said.
"Why is that?"
"This is an area where a tribe of small people lives. They are indestructible. They have 800,000 Magical and physical defense each. And there are tens of thousands of them. We must not fight them," Mercy said.
"Do you see any other way to our destination?" Demetri asked.
"What"s the problem?" White Ghost came and asked.
Mercy recounted their encounter with the Smolzys tribe while covering some facts about Dave"s quest to the tomb of Ashkar of course.
"Do you still have their bestiary log?" White Ghost said.
Mercy shared the bestiary log of the Smolzys with White Ghost.
"d.a.m.n, these guys are like little devils. Mercy"s right. Scouting unit, come here." White Ghost called over the scouting units.
Ten rangers and beast tamers came over.
"I need you to scout the way ahead, if you encounter a tribe or small creatures report it instantly."
A ranger in camouflage green leather armor nodded and led the rest across the bridge.
The army waited patiently for information from the scouts. After half an hour the first report came.
"I am looking at a giant tribe of Smolzys. They are cooking weretigers for lunch. These guys are mean f.u.c.kers I don"t think it"s worth it to fight them."
Another player gave his own report.
"Reporting, there are Faeries here. They"re blocking the way. We can"t go from here either."
More reports came in. All of them had the same message. The path was blocked by monsters.
"Reporting, I believe I found a way through the red forest. There are a few monsters here, but they could easily be dealt with. There is a path leading to an old domed building surrounded by high walls. It"s possible that this is a dungeon."
"A dungeon?" Demetri frowned.
Mercy perked up, she asked, "Send footage of the area."
A moment later it was as Mercy thought, this was the Tomb of Ashkar"s dungeon.
"This is a large enough area to set up a camp. And it"s easily defendable. I say we should go there, we might even raid the dungeon," The White Ghost said.
"Didn"t we agree to keep going until we get to the Eastern Kingdom?" Demetri asked.
The White Ghost shook his head "You are leading players, people. So far, we have been logged in for two days. Some have a social life and they need to rest." White ghost said.
"True, let"s take a rest there, and in the meantime. We can even raid the dungeon." Wan Yi said. He didn"t look like someone that will feel sleep deprived for staying awake for just two days.
"Sorry to inform you, Skelly already raided and killed the dungeon boss there," Blaster said.
"It"s you again. Blaster" Demetri said. "What do you know about this place?" he asked.
Mercy shook her head at Ralph but he smiled, "Don"t worry Mercy, Skelly won"t mind it. Listen, it"s true that this area is good for camping. It has some sort of power that inhibits the Smolzys from getting close. But when Skelly finished his dungeon run, the tomb crumbled and there are no monsters left. You can use it as a base that"s all," Blaster said.
"You look informed."
"Yeah, I was there with Skelly when he killed the boss."
"What"s your rank?" Demetri asked
"I"m a hundred-unit captain."
"You are hereby promoted to one-thousand-unit leader. Take command of the A-Unit 20 and clear the way for the guild to get to the Tomb of Ashkar," Demetri said.
"Blaster, be careful," Mercy said.
Ralph smiled like a goofball and nodded, he then moved toward unit A-Unit 20 and gave them the order to move ahead.
Tess looked mischievously at Mercy.
"What?" Mercy asked, her cheeks had a tinge of red.
"Noooothing," Tess said in a teasing tone.
All of the guild leaders had a strange expression on their faces. They never thought that the S legacy holder Mercy, daughter of the largest mafia gang in the USA. The coldest a.s.sa.s.sin in Conquest could ever show a blus.h.i.+ng expression. It was a new experience, and somewhat strange. Especially because her blus.h.i.+ng was for concern over a nameless player of the Devastators.
"Ahem, let"s wait for news from Blaster," Mercy said.
As ralph was walking to the frontline. He feared that the unit he will eb leading might disrespect him because he was hastily promoted and didn"t "earn" it.
When he arrived at the stationed unit he said, "I"ve been promoted leader of the A-20 Unit. We"ll be going to the Tomb of Ashkar. Please follow my lead, I know the way there."
Surprisingly, the units were organized and disciplined, they didn"t argue with ralph or demean his authority as he feared.
Following after Ralph, the units crossed the bridge and went to the right. Ralph already knew where to go. He went through the route that was scouted and met with the scout.
"You"re the new leader. Aye, see that?" the scout pointed.
"I thought about going in first, but every now and then those Smolzys come and inspect the surrounding. I didn"t want them to spot me and inform their tribe, so I waited for you guys to come.
"You did well man," Ralph said and informed Demetri about everything going on.
"Alright, we"ll have to go, everyone goes in single file. We have to get to the Tomb of Ashkar without being noticed. If by some chance we are spotted. We"ll make a run for it. Unit 6, 7,8,9, and 10 you will be our backline. If the Smolzys attack you will hold them off and retreat to the Tomb of Ashkar." Demetri said.
"That"s good strategic thinking, Demetri," Valentine commented.
"Yeah, you can pick up stuff from here and there when you are surrounded by smart people," Demetri said, he wasn"t a sn.o.bbish man and could admit his mistakes and listen to his underlings. That was a sign of a true leader.
The guild alliance moved in single file following after Ralph"s unit.
Ralph used the dial option and called his friend Dave.
"Supp Ralphy!" Dave replied.
"Hey man, what"re you doing right now?"
"Nothing much just finished a raid. I"m organizing some stuff and will probably go to check out the fourth raid zone."
"d.a.m.n man, you sure work fast. Listen. The guild alliance just reached the Tomb of Ashkar." Blaster said.
"Did they cross Urburg?"
"No, Urburg is way too far from where we are. I don"t think they can discover it or even enter it because you have the KeyMaster role. If you don"t allow them to enter, they can"t get in no matter what."
"You"re right, so that"s all you wanted to say, bro?"
"No, I meant that, don"t you think this is the best time to enter the wilds? Bring Dog with you and you can revive Spike."
"Right. You are right, the dragon is no longer in the wilds. This will make it much easier for me to bring back spike. He didn"t deserve to die like that. Alright, I"ll come over soon."
"Alright, just be careful. Heaven Dawn and the Blood Ragers have a grudge against you."
"Well, I have some pretty bada.s.s Undead right now. They"ll have to think twice before wanting to cross me."
"It"s a 100,000-army man."
"Hah, the more the better, you"ll see why soon," Dave said.
"Who was that you were talking to, unit leader?" A player said.
"Just a friend. Anyway, let"s get going, the last Smolzy patrol just moved past us. It"ll take 5 minutes before others come." Ralph said and ordered his thousand men to move to the tomb.
The players ran across the open fields and hopped over the broken walls of the structure surrounding the Tomb of Ashkar.
A few minutes later, another Smolzy patrol came to check the perimeter but they didn"t spot the players.
Another one thousand player unit came through the forest and joined the A20 unit.
After three hours, all the one hundred-thousand-man army was stationed around and inside the Tomb of Ashkar.
The guild leaders joined together and stood in front of the domed building. The door to the tomb was shattered and rubble blocked the way in. The dungeon was inactive the moment Dave defeated Ashkar.
"So, this is the dungeon Skelly conquered. That was a disgusting sight," Demetri said.
"Yeah, it was hard, to be honest," Blaster replied.
"Alright, we will take a 12-hour rest. Everyone, log out and rest. Tomorrow we will make a sprint all the way to the eastern kingdom border," Demetri said in the global chat.
"Demetri," Blaster said.
"Yes."
"When we came here the last time. We never went past this area. The whole land in front of us is unknown to us."
"It doesn"t matter. I"ll be sending pathfinders to scout for us. We just need to find the most appropriate and clearest road to the eastern kingdom border. From then on, we will take control of a city and this conquest will be in hand."
"Hopefully," Blaster said as he gazed toward the east.
The forest was dark and eerie, though it was so close to the east, it didn"t make it any easier for the guild members. Monsters much stronger than they faced waited for them.