Chapter 142: Scramble for the Holy Grail (2)
The exact name of the ancient historical site’s dungeon was the ‘Grave of Holdream’.
When they first entered the dungeon, the name of the dungeon that popped up as the ‘Grave of ???’ changed as they went into the middle and the event was activated.
Ian and Hoonie, as well as their party, were standing in front of the giant spirit of Holdream.
Holdream’s roar started.
• Foolish people that are greedy for the treasures…
Kuoooh-!
Holdream was an ancient king that ruled this central continent.
And his revengeful spirit remained and guarded the grave.
h.e.l.laim shouted.
“Knights, forward!”
Chuk- Chu-chuk-!
With perfect movements, the royal knights fully guarded the party.
And shortly after, the sandstorm that spurted from around Holdream raided the party, and a strong DoT dealing over 2 thousand damage per second began to come through.
“Healers, please heal!”
At Ian’s words, the healers of Lotus Guild that were on standby in the back quickly came forward and cast heals.
‘Should I have mainly brought healers…’
Amongst the 10 Lotus Guild users that were included in the party, there were just four healers.
He even thought that he had brought enough, but he definitely felt that the healing amount was lacking as they went on.
This was because there were only the most minimum healers within the royal knights.
On top of that, because those healers weren’t Priests, but Paladins, a healer-slash-tank, it couldn’t help but be difficult to care for everybody in a group of close to 100 people.
• I shall see if you have the right to enter this place!
Along with Holdream’s furious shout, a shock wave shot out in all directions, and an incredible amount of damage blasted out at the same time.
• The ‘King of the Desert Holdream’ has used the ‘King’s roar’.
• You have received critical damage!
• Your Vitality has been reduced by 29,845.
To call it an AoE attack, its Offensive Power was too enormous.
Fortunately, no one had died, but most of the gauge bars of the party, where everybody’s Vitality was at the maximum, were blinking.
And the users of the Lotus Guild, whom were at a comparably lower level, were in a critical condition.
• Keuhahahat! If you pa.s.s my test, then we should be able to meet again shortly.
After letting out a crazy sound for the last time, the spirit of Holdream disappeared into the air, and a bleak energy began to linger in the air.
• The ‘King of the Desert Holdream’s test has begun.
• The ‘Descendants of the Desert’, who were asleep in the bas.e.m.e.nt, have begun to awaken.
Thu-thud- Thu-thu-thud-.
As if boulders were rolling around, the whole dungeon began to vibrate along with clamorous noises.
“That’s so scary…”
Herz held up his sword and s.h.i.+eld as he stared at the front, and Fiolan also finished preparations so that she could cast her magic whenever necessary with a nervous expression.
“It’s seriously tremendous. I almost met a black screen with just one hit from that AoE skill just a moment ago.”
At Fiolan’s words, Ian smirked as he nodded his head.
“From now on, if you think that a slightly big-looking skill is about to explode, use your s.h.i.+eld first. Since it’s not like we’re lacking damage right now, your survival is more important, Fiolan.”
“Okay, I will do that.”
While the two spoke with each other, the centre of the grave, which was similar to a vacant ground that had nothing, cracked open laterally as a new s.p.a.ce was revealed.
Below, there were tons of golden coffins that were laid out.
The bleak, yellow energies of light that remained in the spot that Holdream disappeared from were sucked in through the cracks in the ground as if they were being absorbed, and along with that, the lids of the coffins began to move.
Keu-reuk- Keu-keu-keuk-!
Along with a fricative sound that was hard to listen to, the coffin lids began to open up one by one.
Hoonie, who just hunted without a word, opened his mouth towards Ian.
“You’ll need to be careful.”
At those words, Ian’s gaze automatically turned to Hoonie.
“What?”
At Ian’s cross-question, Death Knight Ballam, who stood next to him, responded instead.
• The Descendants of the Desert are strong. And they each have their own characteristics.
Hoonie knew of them.
This was because, although it was his first time coming into the central continent, he had hunted them until he was sick and tired of them while progressing through a preceding quest in s.h.i.+kar Desert.
Of course, the descendants of Holdream in s.h.i.+kar Desert were much weaker than these ones.
Ian asked.
“How do you deal with it?”
Hoonie wore a sour expression, but he still explained with quite a bit of detail.
“The ones holding axes share their Vitality. It’s best to catch them with an AoE attack.”
“They share their Vitality?”
“Yeah. So, no matter how much you beat up one of them to a pulp, the Vitality of the others will come in and fill up that spot. So, you need to catch them all at once with an AoE attack.”
If it was an AoE attack, it was an area that Ian was most confident in.
Ian nodded his head.
“Alright, and what about that one?”
There was an interesting-looking warrior, holding a spear and a sword in each hand, opening the coffin and coming out where Ian was pointing to.
“That one is an ignorant one that shoots that spear its holding by pulling it against a bowstring. Getting hit by one spear doesn’t hurt that much, but the more it overlaps, the more the damage is amplified.”
Ian, who heard a couple more tips from Hoonie aside from those ones, approached h.e.l.laim.
“Leader, please entrust the authority to command for a moment just in here.”
“Hmm…?”
“I just heard how we can deal with those, but to explain it right now…”
h.e.l.laim, who momentarily contemplated at those words, nodded his head.
“I will do so, then. I will try and trust you this time, Viscount.”
Because h.e.l.laim had never seen Ian command a battleground yet, he wore a slightly doubtful expression, but still, thanks to the faith Ian had piled up until now, he did hand over the authority to command.
Ian, who received the authority to command, moved quickly.
“Let’s drive into the left quickly! Attack the ones holding bows first!”
“Yes, sir-!”
At any rate, because he did receive h.e.l.laim’s authority to command exactly as it was, the royal knights quickly moved according to Ian’s order.
“Kaizar!”
At Ian’s calling, Kaizar replied with a brusque expression.
“Why are you calling me?”
“You see that one wearing the gold lion mask in the back there, right?”
Kaizar nodded his head.
“Please catch that one, retainer.”
Because Kaizar had followed his words well up until now without refusing, he spoke without much thought this time as well, but he shook his head.
“I don’t want to, it’s too bothersome.”
At that, Ian couldn’t help but be thrown aback.
‘Kaizar or h.e.l.laim need to take care of that one, though…’
It was an epic monster wearing a gold lion mask and holding two swords.
Because its level was close to a whopping 190, Ian couldn’t even conceive the idea of coming forward himself.
‘It seems that h.e.l.laim needs to move with the royal knights in order for his fighting power to increase more… What to do.’
In the end, there was no alternative that popped up who could take care of that monster besides Kaizar.
“Retainer.”
“What?”
“If you catch that one, I’ll give you the Heroic-rank armour that I got last time. You know what I’m talking about, right?”
He wasn’t certain that it would work, but he just shouted it out first.
However, Kaizar’s indifferent expression slightly changed.
“For… real?”
Ian let out a shout of delight internally.
“That’s what I’m telling you! It’s the one that I picked up while hunting with you back then. The one with the phoenix drawn on the stomach.”
Kaizar nodded his head.
“I know. That one’s cool.”
Ian, who thought that it was all set, quickly continued his words.
“The minute you catch that one, I’ll hand over that, so do me a favour, Retainer.”
However, Kaizar was still hesitant.
Using his last move, Ian slightly scratched his pride.
“Retainer, by any chance, it’s not because you don’t think you’ll be able to win against him, right?”
And at those words, Kaizar instantly stood up.
“Who do you think I am? Like that insignificant spirit!”
While looking at Kaizar, who unsheathed his sword in an instant and stood up and stomped forward, Ian wore a pleased smile.
“I like him because he’s simple-minded…’
As the image to face the enemies generally appeared, Ian let out commands to each of his Familiars as well.
“Ddukdae, go over there and buy some time as the opponent of the warriors, and Pin, Lake, you guys save your AoE skills. Later, when the warriors are gathered onto one side, you just need to pour it out then.”
At his words, the Familiars nodded their heads and after expressing their minds, they headed to the front.
Kku-ruk- Kkuk-kkuk-!
Deu-reu-reuk-.
Lastly, after Ian got on Halli’s back, he ran towards the side of the enemies that the royal knights infiltrated through with Ly.
‘But to shove Kaizar around from now on, do I need to make a tribute of one item each time…?’
Even the armour that he said he would give to Kaizar was an expensive item that would sufficiently equal hundreds of thousands of gold if it was sold in the auction house.
Ian’s stomach hurt a little, but there was nothing he could do about it.
‘Still, I’m giving it to my retainer, so in the end, it’s mine, I guess.’
Ian, who comforted himself with such plausible reasoning(?), quickly charged towards the battleground.
* * *
• You are the first discoverer of the Tower of War.
• Your Specialty Points have increased by 3000.
• With the obtained Specialty Points, you can exchange for goods in the tower.
• You can only enter the Tower of War for 30 minutes once a day. Will you enter?
While looking at the messages that popped up one after another, Shyakran let out a shout of delight internally.
‘As expected! It was the Tower of War…!’
There was a reason why Shyakran was able to find knowledge on the Tower of War and Holdream’s Holy Grail beforehand.
It was related to the Empire Quest of Kaimon that he was progressing with.
‘This, should I be thankful towards Lacromyu…?’
Lacromyu was the leader of the knights of Kaimon Empire, who suffered and died from Kaizar and Ian’s combined attack.
Shyakran had gained such information from him.
Although, due to Ian and Kaizar, Lacromyu died and he couldn’t carry out the quest until the end, but instead, through that, Shyakran was able to obtain a lot of information related to the central continent.
‘Since Lacromyu died, I was able to swallow up all of the material in the command and control centre at Pascal Islands…’
While thinking of this and that, Shyakran stepped foot into the Tower of War.
“I will enter.”
And Shyakran, who momentarily turned around, spoke towards his guild members.
“You can only enter this place once a day. Only people who have over 5000 Specialty Points, come in.”
As he completely went inside once he completed his words, most of the guild followed him and went inside.
As the t.i.tan Guild had just hunted continuously ever since coming into the central continent, mostly everybody had quite a bit of Specialty Points.
On top of that, as the first discoverer’s effect just now was shared, they even obtained 3 thousand Specialty Points, so there weren’t a lot of guild members whose total points weren’t at 5 thousand.
And amongst them, the one with the most Specialty Points was obviously Shyakran.
“Let’s see here… Are there any good items?”
The Tower of War reset every two days.
It meant that all of the items displayed inside completely changed into new items every two days.
And there was an item that Shyakran was looking for.
‘The Flag of the Pharaoh… That needs to be here…’
The Flag of the Pharaoh wasn’t as good as Holdream’s Holy Grail, but it was an important item.
This was because the number of soldiers that were trained in a base in the central continent with the Flag of the Pharaoh raised in it doubled.
Shyakran, who concentrated and studied each of the items as he went up, discovered a book that caught his eye.
‘What’s this…?’
And the item that he checked out of curiosity, was none other than a Legendary-rank Warrior-cla.s.s skill book.
Will of the Desert Warrior
Cla.s.sification: Skill book (Pa.s.sive Skill)
Skill Rank: Legendary
Consumption Price: None
Cooldown Time: None
The Warrior to succeed the Will of the Desert Warrior, will be able to focus their mind and create a curtain of swords.
The chance of the curtain of swords attacking is made up of 15% rate. It blocks off damage as much as 300% of the skill user’s Offensive Power, and returns 150% of the damage.
*Skill Acquisition Condition: The Proficiency of Swordsmans.h.i.+p must be Master lv 1 or higher in order to acquire it.
*Whenever the curtain of swords is cast, your Offensive Power will increase by 10% for 15 seconds, and this effect overlaps up to 10 times.
“…!”
It was a pa.s.sive skill book with an incredible option expected of a Legendary-rank.
Shyakran quickly checked the amount of Specialty Points that were required in order to purchase the skill book.
• Required Specialty Points: 12,000
It was a value that he could even pay if he used up all of the Specialty Points he possessed.
‘Do I need to buy this…?’
Shyakran was conflicted.
This was because it was a skill book that was so good that the 12,000 Specialty Points was definitely not a waste, but at this point, where a large-scale war was going to happen soon, it could be extravagant to use his Specialty Points for a personal item.
A momentary contemplation.
“Haa…”
However, Shyakran ended up grabbing the book.
• You have purchased the ‘Will of the Desert Warrior’ skill book.
• You Specialty Points will be deducted by 12,000.
• Remaining Specialty Points: 375
Shyakran rationalized with himself internally as he turned around and came out of the Tower of War.
Because he didn’t even have points now anyways, in order to not have any lingering attachments, he paid no attention to the other items on purpose.
‘That’s right, since by having me get stronger the guild will get stronger soon…’
However, Shyakran had no idea.
The fact that in the spot that he turned and left, there was an item that could completely determine the structure of the early phase of the power war of the central continent…