Chapter 179 – The Curse of Misfortune
“Maybe we did overdo it a little? The dude was our guide after all.” East Gate Blowingwind looked genuinely perplexed.
HeadofG.o.d rolled his eyes. “Just now, when we attacked, you weren’t any slower than the rest of us.”
“‘Guide,’ my b.u.t.t! Acting all arrogant and mysterious, talking a bunch of nonsense! This Lord Fatty can do that too!” Fatty rubbed his leg, and tossed Harvest on Kodeland’s corpse. To his surprise, he got a soul spark. He visibly brightened and felt his ankle hurt a lot less.
“What’s this that’s got you so happy?” Xiao Jian flocked over to him.
“Good stuff. You’ll find out later. This thing is useless to you guys, so I won’t be generous.”
Fatty stowed the soul spark and started sorting out the items on the ground. “There are a Violet, three Gold, and four Silver-tiered items and a lot of other junk,” he summarized for the group after he finished sorting and appraising what needed to be appraised.
Helmet of Misfortune (fake)
Violet equipment
Level Requirement: 50
Defense: 35
INT +20
Pa.s.sive: Whoever attacks the wearer will have their luck decreased by a percentage for a period of time.
Notes: Part of the Misfortune Equipment Set (fake)
Cla.s.s Requirement: None
Everyone took turns checking out the helmet before returning it to Fatty’s hands.
East Gate Blowingwind said, “We can put on whatever equipment we can use first. As for the rest, let’s keep them with Fatty for now and split it all after we get out of here. How’s that?”
The biggest problem for any team is not how to fight monsters, but how to split the loot after. If they don’t figure it out first, there’s a high chance it’ll lead to conflict later.
“Agreed.” Everyone nodded in agreement.
Fatty didn’t hesitate and temporarily retrieved the unusable items. Then, he distributed the useful equipment among the players.
There weren’t many items that could be used at the moment. Except for the kinda unique Violet gear, everything Gold and below was just so-so. The better ones only had superior stats and weren’t that special.
Of the two usable Gold items, the leather armor went to TheFugitive, and the other was a scroll. The skill recorded on it was, indeed, the Curse of Misfortune used earlier by the Envoy of Misfortune.
Curse of Misfortune Scroll: Applies AoE curse on enemies within range for one hour. Range is determined by user’s magic stat. Only affects players.
“Bell, you hold this scroll.” Among the players there, Purple Bell’s level and magic stat were the highest. The scroll had the most potential in her hands.
“Attention! Someone is approaching!” Ice Witch, who’d remained silent all the while, abruptly spoke up.
On the map, the twenty red spots, initially very far away, had suddenly closed in by quite a distance and were still approaching Fatty’s team at great speed.
“They best not bear ill intentions toward us, or we won’t let them leave even if they want to.” Jiangdong’s LittleOverlord laughed coldly. He took a step forward, yet suddenly stumbled as he nearly tripped over the bones littering the ground.
“The Curse of Misfortune!” someone exclaimed, and everyone’s faces turned ugly.
“What the f*ck is this skill?” someone blurted in anger. Tripping while just walking normally?! How the heck will we even fight at this point?
“Retreat!” Fatty’s face was ghastly pale. Although they had so many experts, they were actually forced to retreat before the fight even started. Anyone would be upset in such a situation.
Everyone packed up, got on their mounts, then fled for the hills. But, just as they could see the other party’s location, the other way around was true as well: The moment Fatty and his team departed, their pursuers immediately changed direction to follow and also increased speed.
“How bold!” After tripping without reason, Jiangdong’s LittleOverlord’s mood had become dark. “A mere little group of twenty actually has the guts to mess with us. Once this curse pa.s.ses, I’d like to see just how capable they are.”
“Ah well, Curse of Misfortune… It would’ve been no big deal if we’d had a Divine Sacrificer to straight up dispel it. So, I’ve noticed we’ve made a mistake,” Xiao Jian remarked in the midst of their flight.
“What mistake?” Fatty asked skeptically.
“You see, we have twenty-five people, but more than half are rogues. The rest are warriors and mages; not a single archer, knight, or priest. This is a very unfavorable distribution of cla.s.ses.”
“No prob! With only this many people, we don’t need priests for healing. If we do, then we’re too useless and should quit right now.”
In the Heavy Hammer Squad, upon seeing twenty-five red spots moving quickly in the other direction, the s.e.xy beauty turned to the leader and asked, “Captain, they’re fleeing?”
“Cowards!” raged the captain, urging his mount to speed up. “Hurry, everyone! Let us kill them all! Until we enter the Paradise of Misfortune, we can allow no other player to remain here.”
“Clearly, they come bearing ill will,” HeadofG.o.d snorted. “Only half an hour until the curse wears off. I’ll beat ‘em up good then for sure!”
Kla-kla-kla-klack! All of a sudden, a huge pile of white bones fell aside, and a ma.s.sive monster slowly rose from the mound. Although it lay with its stomach on the ground, it was still over seven meters tall. And, with its bone tail wiggling back and forth, it was over ten meters long.
“This is… a Skeletal Dragon! Oh heavens, how have we come across this thing?! Is it the Curse of Misfortune again?” Han Shen wailed.
“How big a deal can a Skeletal Dragon be? It’s but a mere variation of an Earth Dragon. We can kill it with this many of us,” remarked West Gate Blowingsnow coolly. Yet, just as he finished his sentence, the white horse he was riding suddenly stumbled over its front hooves and plunged into the ground. Its rider was directly knocked from his mounted state.
“d.a.m.n curse! I’ve tripped five times already!” West Gate Blowingsnow cursed in fury as he landed with a handsome flip.
“Stop with the nonsense and hurry up and get on your horse! Don’t let the skeletal catch up with you!” East Gate Blowingwind shouted.
“This is so f*cking irritating!” West Gate Blowingsnow cursed, shedding his cool persona. He mounted up again and hastily followed the group.
“Huh? Lil’ Sis Bell, how come nothing’s happened to you?” Qian Xiaoqian asked Purple Bell from her position in the sky. Qian Xiaoqian’s mount was a pretty Fire Bird, the only flying mount of the group.
Everyone in the group, barring Purple Bell, had at least tripped several times. The unluckier ones had fallen into random holes, and even the aerial Qian Xiaoqian was no exception.
“Maybe because the Yin Yang Inquisitor belongs to the Dark category, they can’t be cursed?” Unable to think of the reason, Purple Bell could only guess.
“My Underworld a.s.sa.s.sin cla.s.s is a Dark cla.s.s too. How come I’m still so unlucky?” Just as he finished his sentence, the Underworld Panther under Han Shen rammed into a hole in a bone wall, pasting him flat on that very wall.
Qian Xiaoqian raised her brows. “Who told you to grow up so ugly1?”
Roaaaah! The Skeletal Dragon turned its mouth to the sky and let out a soundless roar. With rapid, thundering steps, it chased after the group.
“I swear, after this curse wears off, I’ll definitely take care of the b.a.s.t.a.r.ds behind us! Then, I’ll tear this f*cking skeleton to pieces!” TheFugitive spat cruelly in his rage.
Bam! Perhaps to response to his words, a huge skeletal foot stomped down and blocked their path.
“A Skeletal Mammoth! Switch directions!” shouted Fatty after tossing Appraisal at the foot. Everyone skidded to a halt and barely avoided slamming into the huge monster. They quickly changed course and fled for their lives.
“O Heavens, this Curse of Misfortune is too horrifying!” Han Shen wailed tragically. He was nearly thrown from his mount earlier. Any other day, something like that would be practically impossible.
“Curse, curse, heh,” Fatty sneered. “Wait until we fight them later. Bell can throw out the Curse of Misfortune Scroll and let them have a taste of this.”
“Say, after they’re cursed, can they choke to death from drinking water alone?” TheFugitive suddenly asked.
“It’s worth finding out.” HeadofG.o.d stroke his chin. “I suggest you try it out.”
The group burst into laughter.
The team ran like mad with two ma.s.sive skeletal monsters and another party hot on their heels. Fortunately, they didn’t come across any other monsters; otherwise, someone might have just died because circ.u.mstances were already dire enough.
“Stop!” After a while, Fatty came to an abrupt halt. The rest hastily pulled at their mounts’ reins.
“Motherf*cker, finally!” Jiangdong’s LittleOverlord blurted, checking his status info. He was either inferior in his looks or character because the guy had been the most unlucky one out of the group. He’d fallen from his mount seven times.
Boom boom boom! The earth behind them rumbled as the two monsters approached.
“Kill them?” West Gate Blowingsnow was eager to try.
“We can finally fight without hesitation!” Behind Qian Xiaoqian, the Intel Minister of Rainreverlers heaved a sigh of relief, whereas the male players around her instantly grew sheepish.
“I think we should give a present to the fellows following us.” East Gate Blowingwind patted his mount.
“Let’s scout ‘em out.” HeadofG.o.d revealed a sinister smile. “Size up their strength first.”
At his word, the eleven G.o.d Familia members wheeled their mounts in unison and soon clashed with the Skeletal Dragon and Mammoth.
Whoos.h.!.+ Several rays of cold light shot from their hands. Without looking around, the small group pa.s.sed up the two monsters and continued onward.
“Roaaah!” The two ma.s.sive creatures made a wide U-turn, sweeping up a huge area of bones in their wake.
The s.e.xy beauty of the Heavy Hammer Squad was stunned. “Captain, they’re heading for us?”
“Only half of them. The rest are still standing over there. What are they up to?” The leader of the squad was a little surprised as well.
“Whatever they’re doing, if they come, we’ll kill them first, then take care of the rest!” A bulky knight bellowed.
“Something isn’t right. Can you guys hear it?” The captain remained alert. He dismounted and pressed his ear to the ground. Rumble, rumble… The sound of earth shaking echoed. Not only the leader, but even his comrade could feel it atop his mount.
The captain’s face instantly changed. “Not good, run! They’re leading the monsters to us!” he shouted frantically and jumped back on his mount.
“What’s there to be afraid of? Is there any monster we can’t handle?” the st.u.r.dy knight asked with contempt.
“Dacus, did you forget how our group was ma.s.sacred then?” the captain yelled, turning his mount in the direction from which they’d come.
“They’re here, Captain,” an archer calmly reported.
“To the friends ahead of us: Thank you for following us this far! Here, a small gift! Since simply showing our respect for you is not enough, please accept it!” HeadofG.o.d called out from afar.
1. Chinese joke. When some one got unlucky, others would tease that it’s because they have ugly looks/bad personality.↩