Chapter 77: The Skeletal War Horse!
Vanguard’s Aggression. The name itself suggested the skill’s ability to risk the caster himself to protect the others!
“With this skill, the team’s survival rate will increase tremendously!” Hundred Shots got excited. He was in fact, part of the team. If there was anything that could be done to improve the team’s efficiency, he would definitely be happy for it!
“But, the noob tank is more likely to die!” Little Snow sighed, “Looks like there’ll be more work for me again!”
“It is alright, <Shield Wall> can be learned when I reached Level 30. My HP will not be dropping too much when I activate these two skills together!” Zhang Yang said while smiling.
“Hmph! I just hope that’s the case!”
Although they already picked up four items from the corpse, as this was Shurian’s first death, there were still more items to obtain from him!
[Absolute Defense Ring] (Gray-Silver, Ring)
Vitality: +12
Strength: +8
Equipment: 20 points Defense attribute will be granted for every successful <Block>. The maximum stacked effect is 5. Lasts for 30 seconds.
Level Requirement: 30
“What in the world... How can the Gray-Silver equipment be so powerful?” Fatty Han stared at the ring with his eyes wide open. The Black-Steel and Green-Copper only had random bonus attributes, but Gray-Silver equipment’s special effect was very strong!
“That’s why equipment is the foundation to be a professional player!” The name of the ring itself was assigned for the tank. Zhang Yang took the ring since no one else in the team was suitable to wear it. “But, if I were to be fighting with you, I can take off all my equipment and fight you with only a weapon in my hand!”
“Haha! Looking down at me huh!” Fatty Han said.
[Skeletal Cape] (Gray-Silver, Cape)
Vitality: +10
Strength: +10
Equip effect: Increase 2% critical rate.
Level Requirement: 30
Normally, a Hunter would not be suitable to use pure strength equipment. Zhang Yang gave up his roll and let Drizzler obtain that cape. Unfortunately, even after receiving their battle loot, they did not reach the level requirement to equip it all.
[Treasure Map Piece (II)] (Gray-Silver)
Use: Put together all 3 parts of the [Treasure Map Piece] and obtain a [Complete Treasure Map].
“Let me have it!” Zhang Yang said, “I have the [Treasure Map Piece] I and III with me, so I can make up a complete treasure map!”
Four of them gave up their rolls and Zhang Yang received the [Treasure Map Piece]. He immediately used the item and a progress bar appeared on the side. Two seconds later, three parts of the [Treasure Map Piece] disappeared and a complete treasure map was formed.
[Gray-Silver Treasure Map]: You have read and research on many maps and finally deciphered the secrets of the treasure map. The treasure is located in the Valley of Lost Souls.
After opening the treasure map, an old parchment appeared. There was an “X” marked on the top right of the map and certainly, it was where the treasure would be located at.
“I wonder what’s inside the treasure chest.” As always, Drizzler loved anything related to treasure chest.
Zhang Yang casually traded the treasure map to Drizzler and said, “If you want to know, dig it out yourself!” Sometimes players could get good stuff from the treasure chest or sometimes get struck by a trap filled with monsters or status effects.
“Okay, okay!” Drizzler hurriedly took over the treasure map. She was so happy that she smiled from ear to ear.
“Little Yang, you are being biased! But, this is for the growth of Loli1, I like it!” Fatty Han accidentally had a slip of the tongue.
“Rot in hell Fatty!”
Fatty Han had to be beaten up so that he could finally be well disciplined.
“That’s all?” Zhang Yang asked when he saw Drizzler stopped opening the corpse.
“That’s all!” Drizzler shook her head.
“That’s not right. The corpse was supposed to disappear after everything have been looted. You must have missed something!” Zhang Yang crouched down and started to touch under the Boss’ body.
The expression on Zhang Yang’s face changed suddenly.
“What happened?” The party asked.
“I think... We hit the jackpot!” Zhang Yang could hardly contain his excitement and revealed what was on his hand. At the same time, a Roll-the-Dice window popped up on everyone’s interface.
[The Leash of Skeletal War Horse] (Mount)
Use: Teach you to summon the Skeletal War Horse.
Level Requirement: 30
Item bound after used.
It actually dropped a mount!
Five of them looked at each other. After some silence, they all cheered loudly.
That Boss’ Mount was something extremely rare, and everyone would wish to have it! Everyone knew that the drop rate of the mount was less than 1 out of a million. Although they were cheering for the item to drop, none of them actually thought that the mount would appear!
“1 out of a million, and yet here it is! What unbelievable luck!” Zhang Yang murmured.
“What a fortune!” Fatty Han’s eyes were already blinded.
They were silent all of a sudden. Because of the rarity of the mount, everyone wanted it so bad but no one dared to ask the others to give up the mount for themselves.
Zhang Yang gathered his thoughts and said, “The mount is rare and I understand that everyone wishes to have it. Thus, no one is allowed to pass their roll. Everyone roll the dice and the mount belongs to whoever rolls the highest number! We shall do this fair and square! We are a team! I know that the drop rate of this special mount is low, but as long as we are still a team, we can still take on other bosses! Who knows? By that time, we can even ride dragons, phoenixes or even tigers!”
“Yes! We are a team!”
Everyone came to a realization that so long the squad was strong enough, they would still have the chance to get the rare items!
Five of them rolled the dice respectively.
Little Snow, 97 Points.
Drizzler, 12 Points.
Hundred Shots, 58 Points.
Fatty Han, 44 Points.
Zhang Yang, 100 Points!
“Crap! Little Yang! You used up all your luck in this life for this roll!” Fatty Han drooled as he said.
Zhang Yang smiled. He did not care much about the mount since Level 100 players could get a Flying Mount. By then, who would still ride a regular mount then?
He did say that the mount belonged to whoever rolled the highest number and was not allowed to transfer the mount to anyone else. Therefore, he just accepted the mount as it was better not to break his own rules.
If the rest of the party knew what Zhang Yang was thinking then, they would perhaps just, in a simpler manner, f*ck him inside out.
Damn, you should have just given it up if you did not want it!
The Boss’s corpse disappeared immediately and five of them completed the adventure with a happy ending.
“Little Yang, you must hurry up and get to Level 30 so that you can bring me around the Capital for at least ten rounds to show off!” said Fatty Han as he wiped off the tears and snorted.
Zhang Yang consoled him and said, “Perhaps the boss will drop the mount again next time!”
“In your dreams!” This time, four of them booed Zhang Yang together. Did he really think that it was so easy to drop an extraordinary mount?
Five of them tore the [Teleportation Scroll] simultaneously and returned to White Jade Castle. They then proceeded to the Plains Cloud Mountain to beat Martyr Unduin.
Zhang Yang and the girls had killed Martyr Unduin before using the terrain bug, but they kept it as secret from the others. Why would they share their method to the others when they could quietly kill him off and claim the goods for themselves?
The huge rock that was the Achilles Heel of Martyr Unduin was still there. No matter how powerful Unduin was, he could not escape his fate. The five of them worked together and killed Unduin under ten minutes.
However, since this was the second time Unduin was defeated, the drops were much lesser than before. The skill book <Eagle Eye> that Drizzler and Fatty Han were so envious of did not appear. That skill book drop rate was slightly higher than [The Leash of Skeletal War Horse], but it still did not appear here!
Zhang Yang’s luck was good and he obtained a Gray-Silver glove.
[Fist of Penitence] (Gray-Silver, Heavy Armor)
Defense: +12
Vitality: +24
Strength: +12
Dexterity: +4
Level Requirement: 20
Zhang Yang equipped the glove and his basic attributes rose.
[Player: Zhan Yu]
Level: 23
HP: 2,140
Vitality: 127
Dexterity: 48
Defense: 76
Luck: 4
Melee Damage: 362-384
Critical Rate: 11%
Lucky Strike: 0.4%
By the time everyone was done, it was almost 7:00pm! Zhang Yang hurriedly disbanded the party and asked everyone to have their dinner and to rest. After a short discussion, Zhang Yang announced in the guild channel: There will be a Hardcore Mode of Bangar Crypt raid at 9:00 PM. As usual, whoever has the higher contribution points in the guild will have the priority to join in the raid.
After making the announcement, he decided to disconnect from the game.
During a boss fight, the most stressful player would have to be the tank as he was not allowed to be careless. In addition, Zhang Yang needed to command the team and it was even more tiring.
“I should find someone who can command and lead the team next time. Otherwise, I will be exhausted while doing both the tank and commanding roles.” Zhang Yang finished his lunchbox and laid on the sofa. He put his feet on the coffee table and happily enjoyed his hot tea.
Zhang Yang disliked smoking but he really loved drinking tea. Because of this, Fatty Han said that Zhang Yang behaved like an old man.
In his previous life, famous commanders could be found in strong guilds. Presumably, they must be trained since the low levels and must be the key players of the guilds. Thus, it made it even harder to coax them over to join Zhang Yang’s side.
It seemed that Zhang Yang needed to train a commander of his own.
Among the four teammates in the squad, Drizzler was not suitable to be a commander as she was not mindful and impatient. Zhang Yang ignored considering Little Snow as a commander because being a healer was much harder as a tank; it would be much of a burden for her to be a commander. As for Fatty Han, although he had a lot of improvement, he did not have the talent to lead a team. Perhaps he could lead the team for the siege wars, but in a dungeon raid, a commander must have a keen sense of observation, be able to calculate, motivate the teammates and be able to dispense the rewards and punishments fairly. Unfortunately, Fatty Han had none of that!
Hundred Shots? He was not passionate enough. If he were to lead the team, the team would be spiritless. Even if he led the team and successfully killed the bosses but the team would just fall apart after a few rounds.
It was not easy!
Zhang Yang rested for a while and he logged in at 9:00 PM. It was the same as yesterday; Zhang Yang led a team and Little Snow led another team. However, Little Snow and her teammates were unwilling to compete with Zhang Yang this round.
By combining their AoE skill damage, Drizzler, Fatty Han, and Hundred Shots were stronger than Zhang Yang! However, which tank could be as strong as Zhang Yang to perform the One Straight Flush method?
In this dungeon raid, Zhang Yang carefully observed his teammates’ performances. He sent private messages with compliments to the few who performed well. They were excited after having a conversation with Zhang Yang.
Who was Zhang Yang? He was a powerful man who had the first clear for the Hardcore Mode Dungeon Raids three times continuously. Who would not be happy after being complimented by such a powerful person?
Zhang Yang noticed a phenomenon that happened in the guild. He realized that the levelling speed of the guild members were fine. Normally, a player between Level 11 to Level 20 would require about one to two days to gain a level, but a few people actually gained two levels since yesterday. They were obviously interested in Marzerway’s Lair.
Besides, it was good since the guild’s EXP has increased to 29%.
TL Note:
1Loli – Japanese origin noun to describe an underage and petite girl.