Chapter 59: Yellow Turban Warlocks
In a certain dilapidated temple.
Players gathered around a ball of light to celebrate.
The Fourth Calamity Army had completed the first mission of this expedition.
"Done!"
"The Fate Crystal Stone has been successfully activated!"
"This blessing teleportation point is now lit, so we won’t have to travel long distances across the map anymore."
Players had teleported from the main camp to Hexi Village, then took a boat with the help of villagers to He Ting Town, spent half an hour entering the ruins of He Ting Town, and then spent several more hours finding the Fate Crystal Stone.
They originally thought that the BOSS Xu Feng had been eliminated.
That this mission would not be difficult.
But in the end, they still underestimated the maliciousness of the damned game designers!
Although the source of pollution, Xu Feng, was no longer in He Ting Town, there were still a large number of dangerous monsters and traps left behind, including a group of randomly distributed Yellow Turban Headless Fiend Soldiers, which caused considerable trouble for the players.
Although, with the current strength of Ye Li Meng, Black-Eyed Rui Ge, Lone Boat, and others, dealing with Level 3 elite monsters was not too difficult.
The problem was.
The fiend soldiers could turn invisible.
That made it extremely tricky!
They would approach silently and suddenly backstab, making it impossible to defend against them.
Twisted Three Kingdoms was not merely a numbers game; even if the level and stats differed greatly, a sneak attack to a vital spot could still result in instant death.
After suffering more than a dozen casualties, they finally cleared all the fiend soldiers nearby.
The Fate Crystal Stone of He Ting Town was not in the ruins.
It was eventually found inside a nearby broken temple.
According to research and archaeology by players like Chenxi, it was deduced that this temple was used by villagers near He Ting Town to worship the Luo River, located less than a mile north of the ruined village, about four or five miles south of the Luoshui Execution Ground.
Although wherever a town once stood, there was a high probability of a Fate Crystal Stone forming.
Places like He Ting Town, however, which had already been destroyed, could not generate sustained operating income like Hexi Village.
It could only bring the Lord one-time Destiny Treasure Chest rewards.
Of course.
The players were unaware of this.
They only knew they had activated another teleportation node.
It would cost 40 Contribution Points to teleport from the main camp, which was over a dozen miles away.
This brought great convenience to players exploring the most dangerous core areas of the map.
"Everyone’s here!"
"Having teleportation is really convenient!"
"Even if you accidentally die, you can quickly return to the team!"
"Exactly. If elite monsters refresh here, we can immediately teleport over to grind them."
"Although humanoid monsters don’t drop materials, they drop more Essence, and their talismans and equipment are quite good too!"
After a brief rest.
Ye Li Meng said, "Brothers, activating the He Ting Town teleportation point was just a small side task. Now that everyone's here, we should take further action."
Black-Eyed Rui Ge nodded and said, "According to the intelligence provided by the villagers, the Luoshui Execution Ground is only four or five miles away. At our pace, we can reach it in half an hour."
Salted Fish Thrust said, "I can only say that the location of this teleportation point is critical. It saved us a lot of traveling time. As long as we defend this teleportation point, we can continuously replenish our forces."
"Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go!"
"……"
Although activating the He Ting Town teleportation point had cost a little, compared to the benefits brought by the new teleportation point, the cost was negligible and not worth mentioning.
With this excellent forward base as a springboard.
The players felt even more confident in attacking the core pollution zone.
Thirty-five players left He Ting and headed north for three or four miles.
Along the way, there were many undead.
They wore tattered clothes, had vacant eyes, and wandered aimlessly across the ruined and desolate land.
Occasionally they would utter meaningless murmurs and howls.
Although they were aggressive, their attack desire was not strong and they would only attack targets within about a hundred and eighty meters.
This actually made it a good place to grind monsters and level up.
The undead were just ordinary monsters, like walking corpses, and not difficult to hunt.
The players continued to press deeper.
The environment around them and the ground under their feet visibly changed, highlighting an increasingly desolate and apocalyptic atmosphere.
The air grew thicker and murkier.
The bloody mist went from faint to dense.
The strong scent of blood not only affected visibility but also perception.
The closer they got to the core, the more corrupted the ground and plants became, mutating into many unknown deformed plants.
The earth was also covered in a sticky red fungal carpet, making it feel like they were stepping on slimy flesh.
"Everyone be careful!"
"Up ahead is definitely the pollution core!"
"The mutation here is worse than anywhere else."
"So tense. It’s really a sanity-draining scene. Who knows what’s inside!"
"Exciting! I love it!"
"I give full marks to the scene design and atmosphere here!"
"……"
Although the players were somewhat nervous in the face of the bizarre environment, they still pressed forward without hesitation.
Almost at the same moment, a prompt sounded in their ears.
【Prompt: You have approached the core pollution source. You are affected by the Abyssal Aura. All attributes -16%!】
As the players stepped into the execution ground area, each of them felt a cold aura invading their bodies from all directions, making their limbs icy and their movements sluggish.
"Dammit!"
"There’s a field buff!"
"My attributes dropped by 15%!"
"Holy crap! Mine dropped by 20%!"
"……"
Players discovered that the Abyssal Aura affected each of them differently.
The general suppression of attributes ranged from 15% to 20%.
Although it would not completely cripple the Fourth Calamity Army’s combat strength, it was enough to significantly weaken them.
"So difficult!" Black-Eyed Rui Ge sighed. "Even at full power, we might not beat the BOSS, let alone now with our attributes suppressed. This is pure hell-level difficulty!"
"Don’t think too much!"
"Let's find Ma Yuanyi and complete the mission first!"
"Yeah, I’m ready to die a few times anyway. With the He Ting Town teleportation point, we can quickly come back each time."
"……"
Encouraging each other, the players continued moving forward.
At this moment, a burst of sounds split the air as a dozen arrows shot out from the bloody mist ahead.
"Ambush!"
Lone Boat and Rui Ge rushed out with Gale Steps, slashing down several arrows.
The two rangers of the Fourth Calamity Army had incredibly fast reactions and movements.
After all, Rui Ge’s Gale Steps was maxed out, and Lone Boat had a Level 9 Gale Steps along with a Bloodstain Sword that gave him an extra 5 Agility points.
Mad Blade Old Wang, Salted Fish Thrust , and several warriors timely raised their shields to block the front.
They blocked quite a few incoming arrows.
Of course, even though the players were vigilant and quick, many arrows still managed to penetrate the crowd, with at least six players getting hit.
Ye Li Meng stood at the very front and got hit by three arrows himself.
Fortunately, thanks to his Great Wild Bull Set and Iron Armor Technique, he only lost a small amount of health, and was immediately healed by Midnight Pig Slayer behind him.
Other players were not so lucky.
Three of them were shot dead.
"Dammit!"
"Quick, heal the wounded!"
"Don't panic, hold the formation."
"It’s just some Yellow Turban fiend soldiers. They can't pose a real threat!"
Everyone quickly locked onto the attackers.
Ten Yellow Turban fiend soldiers appeared ahead, most of them wielding longbows and continuously firing arrows, trying to inflict more casualties on the players.
At the same time.
A dozen more fiend soldiers carrying swords and spears stealthily closed in.
After getting close, they suddenly revealed themselves and launched sneak attacks, causing more damage.
Fortunately, the players were not facing them for the first time and had been on guard, so they were not caught completely off-guard.
"Everyone look over there!"
Human Cannon loudly warned, "There are some monsters we haven’t seen before!"
Black-Eyed Rui Ge immediately looked towards the fiend soldiers ahead.
Among the six or seven archers, four or five much stranger headless Yellow Turban monsters stood out.
Although they also had empty necks, they held black staffs with human heads hanging from them and wore robe-like cloth garments similar to Taoist robes, giving them an eerie and cultish appearance.
【Yellow Turban Headless Warlock】, Level 4 Elite… Introduction: Once Warlocks of the Yellow Turban Army, they practiced Taiping Dao spells and possessed considerable magic power. After being corrupted into abyssal monsters, their danger level only increased.
Level 4 Elites!
New monsters they had never seen before!
This was undoubtedly extremely dangerous!
New monsters meant unfamiliar combat mechanics.
In these kinds of games, even the smallest monsters couldn’t be taken lightly.
Let alone Level 4 elite monsters? If they failed to figure out their abilities in time, the upcoming battle would very likely end in disaster!