Chapter 475: Returning to the Winst Castle
That got Zhang Yang’s attention, so it might really be true that there was a treasure chamber deep within the Territory!
He smiled and said, "Alright, seeing that you are so sincere already, I shall help you one more time!"
"You! You only agreed to help because you heard about the treasure chamber!" Messick was annoyed, "You are even more shameless than I am!"
"Don’t you dare say something like that to my big brother!" Felice was annoyed by Messick’s words, so she raised up her lance and jabbed the sharp tip straight into Messick butt. Previously, Zhang Yang wasn’t aware of any of the arrows had really gone straight into Messick’s anus, but this time, he was very positive that the lance totally penetrated Messick’s ‘vital’ spot. Messick was in much pain that he kept howling towards the sky as he jumped about 3 meters high, with his hands pressed against his face! His face had turned really pale!
After recovering from the pain, Messick began to whine and complain, "I’d say you, my friend! You must educate this foul little lady friend of yours over here! I might just die thanks to her, before the underlings of that Duchess b*tch can get to me!"
Zhang Yang faked a cough and told Felice with a serious face, "Felice, you really should not do that. This fellow is just too d*mned dirty. You will just taint your hands by poking him with your lance! So just use your {Fire Missile} next time, if he tries anything weird again!"
"Roger, big brother!" Felice readily agreed to Zhang Yang’s words.
Messick rolled his eyes and frowned, "I’d say you, my friend. You must not mislead little girls! You see, I have more time than you do, so why don’t you let me aid you in educating her for a few days..."
Boom!
Felice had immediately turned into a magnificent Dragonhawk and had coughed out a blast of {Fire Missile} straight at Messick’s face. Messick let out a miserable cry once more, his face blackened with soot once again. So, he lay down on the ground, pretending to be dead.
Zhang Yang kicked him back up the Serpent and jumped on as well, "Felice, let’s get moving!"
So, the Serpent and Felice fluttered their wings and shot up into the sky in the same instant. The scene was beautiful, and spectacular! They flew towards the direction of the mountains.
Just like the Morning Town, the Winst Castle was right in the middle of the only route to travel in and out of the Ten Barren Seas from the Japan-Korea server. In other words, the only way of getting into the Ten Barren Seas would be through the Winst Castle! However, possessing a [Flying Mount] changes that. Zhang Yang and Messick could ride the Serpent and simply fly over the mountains and other obstacles on the ground. After about 10 minutes of soaring through the sky, they had crossed over mountains and arrived at a vast and snowy ice land.
The Serpent landed and lowered its head to let Zhang Yang and Messick dismount it.
Messick let out a yawn and stretched his back right after he got down from the ‘transportation’. Then, his eyes began to ‘lurk’ around, trying to seek for a chance to escape.
Zhang Yang gave a signal to Felice, and that little lady understood. She immediately opened up her beak and spat another {Fire Missle} straight towards Messick.
"Argh ---" Messick had lost count of how many times he had shouted in misery as he was once again standing in the middle of a sea of flames, like a rat, without a place to run.
Zhang Yang nodded at Felice again before she stopped her attack, and transformed back to her Humanoid Form. He laughed and said, "Phony tailor, it’s your turn to hold up to your end of the deal!"
Messick was at the end of his rope, so he resignedly said, "My friend, your little lady over here is too ‘hot’ for me! But, I like it!"
Zhang Yang frowned immediately because this fellow here was definitely on the same ‘level’ as Fatty Han and Endless Starlight! If Fatty Han takes him as a Battle Companion, then... well, things would surely get ‘merrier’!
Theoretically, players could pick any creature with limited A.I. as their Battle Companions. That would include monsters, NPCs, and even bosses! But, signing the Contract Bond to acquire a Battle Companion would be extremely difficult. The player must get the ‘consent’ of the monster or the NPC first, and they had to agree on their own accord!
As Felice was basically the first Battle Companion in the entire game, so her situation was slightly different. Normally, players would need to purchase a [Book of Contract Bond] in order to ‘persuade’ a monster or an NPC to become the player’s Battle Companion. Only after the player and the monster or NPC have both signed the Contract Bond, then only the process would be complete. That way, players would be able to store the Battle Companion into their personal Battle Companion Slot. After that, players would be able to summon these Battle Companions at will.
When he saw Felice getting furious, he quickly stopped her and said, "If you don’t want to turn into a roasted pig, you start talking, we had a deal! So, stop whining and get to the point! Now!"
"Alright! I’m not going back to Winst Castle to see that crazy b*tch anymore anyway!" Messick got to his feet and activated his {Light of Life}, and the burn marks on him vanished in an instant. He moved his arms and legs around a little bit and said, "You better empty out her Treasure Chamber, so that she learns well! Get her angry and run! Haha!"
Finally, Messick has told Zhang Yang about the hidden location of this Treasure Chamber and the method of operating the mechanism of it to enter the chamber. Right after he was done talking, Messick hurriedly left, as he noticed Felice staring at him murderously, yet again! As she had transformed into her Dragon-hawk Form again while he was still talking, that wretched Messick could not help but feel a chill down his spine! Fearful of being burned yet again, he had taken his leave in a hurry
Zhang Yang turned his sight towards the direction of Winst Castle, and said, "Felice, let’s go back to Winst Castle now!"
The Serpent took flight again, and under the cover of the lightless night, he managed to get back into the castle without being noticed!
Following the instructions that Messick had given him, Zhang Yang arrived at the tallest building of the entire castle. It was the same, conspicuous tower with the flag, that had gotten Zhang Yang’s attention when he first got here. Four statues of ancient gods were placed right outside the palace. Each of the statues held up a different kung-fu pose.
Zhang Yang began to lead Felice and the Serpent into the palace as the Serpent was struggling to fit its long and large body into space.
"Who goes there!" two heavily armored guards with lances in their hands suddenly leaped out from behind the pillars! Their lances flew at Zhang Yang, before he could even retort.
[Palace Guard] (Normal, Humanoid)
Level: 115
HP: 17,800
Defense: 100
Melee Attack: 5,103 - 6,103
These Normal Tiered monsters had no skills of their own whatsoever. They only knew regular attacks!
Felice answered them with her own lance. Slash! Slash! One slash at a time, she took out the two Palace Guards with ease! Having such a powerful Battle Companion, Zhang Yang became much more relaxed. Against normal monsters, he no longer needed to raise a finger. Felice would easily wipe the floor with them! Even if the monsters survived the first hit from Felice’s lance, the Serpent would finish them off! So, it did not matter, even if Felice does not manage to take them out with a single blow.
Proceeding forward like an unstoppable train, Zhang Yang ventured deeper into the palace. He stopped at a towering statue.
According to Messick, there would be a switch mechanism right on the back of this statue. All Zhang Yang needed to do to get the entrance open would be to turn the switch button 3 times to the left, 4 times to the right, and 2 times to the left. After Zhang Yang did what he was told, he heard a sound - ‘Click cluck!’. A door appeared right behind the statue, and the path that leads down to the underground seemed eerie and spooky.
Zhang Yang went down the stairs swiftly, Felice following closely behind. Meanwhile, the Serpent attempted to squeeze itself into the entrance, however, got its body stuck in between two walls beside it! The big fellow was unwilling to admit the fact that it was no longer a cute, little thing, but a giant beast. It blinked its two little eyes pitifully at Zhang Yang, trying to wriggle its butt in, as if it wanted to prove that it still had a slim, small body! Well, it looked more cute than pitiful.
As Zhang Yang could feel the dust falling from the ceiling, he could not help but to get worried that if Serpent continues forcing its way through, the entire underground tunnel might just collapse! So, he quickly unsummoned Serpent and continued his way deeper into the Treasure Chamber that he had been promised. As hoped, he did arrive at the Treasure Chamber! That Messick may not be all bad, after all!
The chamber was vast, and torches hung on the walls, illuminating the entire chamber. There was a large number of Treasure Chests lying around the sides of the room where Zhang Yang stood. Some of the Treasure Chests were open, and there were countless jewelry, gold, silver and other kinds of treasure within those chests! Illuminated by the torches, the treasures looked like a scene from a fairytale!
"Who dares to trespass into the Treasure Chamber of the Winst Family! Whoever you are, you must die!" Suddenly, a guard with a full set of Heavy Armor came out of nowhere and swung his sword towards Zhang Yang!
[Treasure Chamber Guard] (Elite, Humanoid)
Level: 115
HP: 1,150,000
Defense: 1,200
Melee Attack: 8,123 - 9,123
Skill:
[Heart Pierce]: Inflicts a massive blow to the target. The attack depends on the duration of the charge. Inflicts a basic damage of 100% melee attack. Damage will increase by 100% for every 1 more second of chanting period. Can stack up to 500% of damage. Chanting time: 1 - 4 seconds. Range: 30 meters.
Note: Loyal Squire of the Winst Family, guards the safety of the Treasure Chamber. Anyone who dares trespass the Treasure Chamber becomes their target for elimination!
This {Heart Pierce} was something to watch out for!
It was still manageable for Zhang Yang as there was only one monster coming at him with {Heart Pierce}. But, what if a few more monsters charged at Zhang Yang with {Heart Pierce}? What that was more impressive the fact that this monster was supposed to be a melee-type monster, but its {Heart Pierce} was actually a ranged attack! What the hell is this!
As he thought about this, Zhang Yang had already charged up to the monster, with his [Sword of Purging Devourer] drawn! He swung his sword across the air and the sharp edge of his sword cut through the armor of the monster. The sound of metal clashing into each other clanged across the area repeatedly, as Zhang Yang continuously slashing the monster without mercy.
Felice had also transformed into Dragon-hawk Form and had begun to launch her skill - {Fire Missile}!
The existence of this elite monster was definitely a nightmare to every other single player in the current stage of the game! Its normal attack was already 8,600 damage! Players would normally only have about 30,000 HP, even if the players are equipped with a full set of Yellow-Gold equipment. They would most probably die after four to five hits from the monster!
Zhang Yang was no such player, however.The normal attack of the Palace Guard could only deal about 3,000 damage, due to his ridiculously high defense. Even though the Palace guard had a terrifyingly long health bar of 1,150,000 health points, Zhang Yang and Felice working together was another different matter! It would only take about 1 minute for them to slay this monster.
Not long after the battle started, a progress bar suddenly appeared right above the head of the Palace Guard. Zhang Yang saw it with his sharp eyes and he reacted almost immediately. He smacked the Palace Guard with his shield and threw him off his balance. The progress bar of the monster was interrupted before it could even be launched!
Shoof!
However, the monster was still able to land one attack on Zhang Yang, inflicting Zhang Yang with a damage of 2,842 points!
Well, it was a Skill attack, and as long as the monster can lock onto a target, then the monster would definitely be able to hit its target! However, because the progress bar of the monster was interrupted by Zhang Yang’s ‘Supporting Attack’, the monster could only inflict Zhang Yang with 100% Basic Damage, and Zhang Yang did not feel a thing at all!
The battle raged on, with the sound of the metal clashing into each other. Zhang Yang had fully exerted the potential of ‘Supporting Attack’. He oppressed the monster with his crazy and powerful moves, to the point that the monster could not even regain its balance! Out of 5 of his poorly swung normal attacks, it would be considered to be very lucky if one of its attacks could even land on Zhang Yang!
In just a brief moment, the Palace Guard clanked to the ground, dead, dropping a pair of Gray-Silver Tier gloves. Unfortunately, Gray-Silver Tier equipment were no longer worth a penny at all! Maybe the gloves, shields, and necklaces could still be sold for hundreds of gold, but the gloves and chest plates of this tier would only sell for about 50 gold, at best.
Zhang Yang continued to push deeper into the Treasure Chamber. Naturally, Palace Guards would cut in and interrupt his process, coming in one after another. However, every single one of them fell quickly under his sword, providing a substantial amount of experience points.
As Serpent was too big to move freely in the Treasure Chamber, Zhang Yang summoned Whitey instead to move faster. Why didn’t he summon Mythical Turtle? The reason was simple, it was because the Turtle was simply too slow! Unless Turtle had a pair of rockets strapped behind it’s back, it would not be able to keep up with the rapid pace that Zhang Yang had set.
After pushing forward for a while, Zhang Yang found himself in a large hall. And finally, there was a more powerful monster in front of him!
[Guardian Tenbardu] (Yellow-Gold, Humanoid)
Level: 115
HP: 5,750,000
Defense: 2,000
Melee Attack: 9,820 - 10,820
Skills:
[Ground Crusher]: Cracks the ground open with extreme power, causing the floor to break, creating rocks that will be launched at its target, inflicting 200% Physical Damage to the target.
[Meteor Summon]: Summons a wave of meteors that will rain down upon an area of 10 X 10 meter square, inflicting 20,000 Physical Damage every second! Lasts for 5 seconds.
[Bleed]: Target will bleed continuously while being struck in the head, neck, chest and other vital parts of the body, inflicting an amount of health loss, equivalent to 1% of the target’s maximum HP.
Note: The left-hand man of the Duchess Winst.
This boss was completely bare-chested, only wearing a pair of trousers. He was similarly bare-footed, and he wore a pair of punching gloves on his hands. Vague, cold, light beamed from in between his fingers.
Zhang Yang had no worry of facing a Yellow-Gold boss, however, there were 5 fully-armored Elite Tier Palace Guards, standing right behind Guardian Tenbardu! Those were the deadly Palace Guards who were capable of using {Heart Pierce}! If they ever activated their skills at the same time...
Zhang Yang took a deep breath, preparing for a tough battle ahead, awakening his full potential!
"Felice, just follow my lead! Whichever monster I take, support me with everything you’ve got!"
"Roger, big brother!" Felice nodded.
With a throw of {Spear of Obliteration}, the battle finally began!
"Where did the rat come from? How dare you trespass the Treasure Chamber! Allow me, Tenbardu, to be the one who ends your life!" Tenbardu was not particularly tall, but his muscular body packed a lot of power. Those bulging, explosive muscles would twitch and jerk about whenever he moved.
His footwork was extremely swift, as he charged up to Zhang Yang at supersonic speed! He raised his fist and threw a punch at Zhang Yang’s head!
The Physical Attacks of the boss had a {Bleed} effect. Zhang Yang did not dare to let the boss hit his ‘vital’ parts! So, he quickly raised up his shield when he saw the fist flying at him! It would really be troublesome, if Zhang Yang ever lets the boss touch any of his ‘vital’ parts!
Kaboom!
The fist of Tenbardu landed on the shield solidly, pushing Zhang Yang two to three steps back! Obviously, the boss slightly overpowered him!
Zhang Yang already has a full set of Violet-Platinum equipment over his body, so he would have enough strength to literally crush a Yellow-Gold boss! But, his [Titan Wall] was just a Level 80 Violet-Platinum shield. It would not be a problem for him to crush a Level 80 Yellow-Gold boss! But, Tenbardu is a Level 115 Yellow-Gold boss! Those numbers made a lot of difference!
Furthermore, Zhang Yang was geared up for defensive battles. Naturally, he would be lacking in the offense department.
"Kill!" The five elite Place Guards also joined the battle. They started to surround Zhang Yang in a circular formation.
Zhang Yang picked one of the Palace Guards, and began to launch his assaults aggressively, with his [Sword of Purging Devourer].
Felice was unlike a [Mount] which would require Zhang Yang’s command to act, this little lady had a high amount of autonomy, which would allow her to adapt and act in various situations. She immediately joined the battle and supported Zhang Yang with her {Fire Missile}.
The moment that Zhang Yang had been waiting for finally arrived! The Rage Points that Zhang Yang accumulated was enough for him to strike! With a stomp on the ground, Zhang Yang activated his {Thunder Strike} and caught all 5 Palace Guards with slow down effects. He quickly ran out of their formation to minimize his injuries. But, the boss was not affected by his {Thunder Strike}. He continued punching at the face and neck of Zhang Yang, trying to inflict Zhang Yang with his {Bleed} effect!
Zhang Yang was not able to evade the swift punches of the boss, but he could at least put up his best efforts at preventing the boss from punching the ‘vital’ points of his body! His main aim was to avoid being afflicted with the {Bleed} effect!
The attack power of Felice was extremely powerful! With just a few strikes, she had already managed to hook over the aggro of the Palace Guard. However, Zhang Yang activated his {Provoke} to hook the monster back to him as a temporary measure.
After a short while, the five elite monsters suddenly stopped their assaults. Progress bars appeared on their heads, all of a sudden!
They were about to activate their {Heart Pierce} together!