The cold wind cut at my cheeks like knives. Although the forest around us was lush and green, the ruins of Dharan City were as cold as hell on earth. It was hard to believe that there was such a cold and death zone in the middle of the continent where it was spring all year round.
The Phantom Wolf King was crawling on the ground, its fur standing on end as it let out a low growl. It seemed like it had discovered something.
We pushed aside the bushes at the edge of the forest. We were only a few dozen steps away from the totem pillars of Dharan City, which was covered in green vines. The truth of history would be revealed in this adventure. Heavenblessed's secrecy system had always been excellent, and the identity and background of the Nine Sovereigns of Purgatory had always been a mystery waiting for the players to unravel.
… …
I stood under the totem pole and looked up. The images of Beast Gods that looked like horned dragons were sitting on top of the totem pole. They were probably the Dharan Empire's totemic divine beasts. Behind the totem poles, there were ten majestic stone statues. Five of them were warriors. One was wielding a sword, two were wielding a battle axe, and the last one was wielding a spear. All of them had sword-like eyebrows, and it looked like they were still angry at the distant invasion. Two of the other five statues were wielding bows and arrows, and two of them were wielding staffs. The last statue was that of a woman in full armor. She was kneeling on one knee, and a giant broadsword was stabbed into the moat in front of her. It looked like it had been washed by the passage of time.
I couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief when I saw the scenery in front of me. The ruins of Dharan City were only visible from up close, and it was as majestic as the miraculous Sky City. It was hard to imagine that such a prosperous and powerful human empire's main city would be taken over by the undead in the blink of an eye and turned into the lair of Ovia the Bloody Finger, one of the Nine Sovereigns of the Purgatory.
… …
I looked up at the ten majestic stone statues and smiled. "The Ten Heroes? Interesting."
"Big bro, look! There's someone over there!" Beiming Xue pointed to the right.
Everyone hurriedly looked over and saw almost a hundred NPC warriors standing quietly at the foot of the city walls. Their IDs were green, indicating that they were our allies. In fact, I could tell that they were all from Vanished God City because the city emblem on their shoulders was identical to Stranger of Three Lifetimes'.
I urged my mount forward and saw that their armor was covered in black blood. Clearly, they had fought against the undead, and human blood wouldn't look like this.
The leader of the group was a young warrior who looked to be around 25 years old. He stopped what he was doing when he saw me approaching and asked, "Warrior from afar, are you from Sky City?"
"Mn."
I nodded. "That's right. I received a quest to infiltrate the ruins of the Dharan Empire and explore this area that's been occupied by the undead."
I looked at the NPC's name and was shocked — [Cloudstack?
Malfurion] (Immortal Rank Boss) Level: 200 Attack:???
Defense:???
HP:???
Skills:???
Introduction: Cloudstack is a noble from Vanished God City. He has been practicing combat since he was a child, and it is rumored that he is the number one expert of Vanished God City's Academy of Magic and Force. After he graduated, he became the commander of Vanished God City's main army. Cloudstack has hated evil since he was a child, and as the fifth son of the king of Vanished God City, his goal has always been to eliminate the Night Creatures. He has never participated in the struggle for the throne, and he is loved and respected by the people of his country...
I hadn't expected this young and handsome warrior to be a prince. Everyone else looked at him normally.
I pressed the Dragonlight Helmet on my head to hide my Eyes of the Asura King before asking, "Your Highness, why have you come to this dangerous city?"
Cloudstack lowered his voice and said, "It's not that I want to come to this damned land of death, but the Night Creatures have been invading our borders. I also received a report that the Eye of the Purgatory at the center of the Dharan Empire ruins is showing strong energy fluctuations, and a large number of undead are coming to this plane from the purgatory. I suspect that that damned devil, Ovia the Bloody Finger, is plotting something again, and I'm sure that his plan is directed toward Vanished God City. Hmph, Ovia the Bloody Finger has been eyeing Vanished God City for a long time now, so I decided to risk my life and come to the Dharan Empire ruins to investigate."
Lin Yixin blinked once before asking, "Then why send a prince like you into danger? Is there no one else in Vanished God City?"
Cloudstack gritted his teeth before replying indifferently, "Hmph, those nobles only care about drinking and fighting for power. Not a single one of them is willing to spare a second thought for the Night Creatures. They think that the fortress at the border is strong enough to defend their territory, but in reality, they just don't want to live a luxurious life. Someone has to attack the undead, and since they're unwilling to do so, I have no choice but to do it myself!"
I nodded in admiration before glancing at the group behind him. I was a little speechless. "Your Highness Cloudstack, there are only so few of you. If Ovia the Bloody Finger discovers your whereabouts, you'll be in grave danger!"
Cloudstack gripped his sword tightly and replied through gritted teeth, "That's right. A while ago, we were ambushed by a group of Corpse Scavengers while we were passing through the forest. I was commanding a 20,000-strong cavalry, but the undead simply couldn't be killed. My soldiers fell one by one, and only a hundred or so survived in the end. But even if only one of us survived, we'll find out what happened here and report it back to the garrison at Vanished God City.
Beiming Xue gripped her bow tightly, but her eyes were filled with worry. She grabbed my hand and said, "Let's help them, big bro. If we don't, this prince is going to die."
I nodded. "Mn."
Then, I turned to Cloudstack and said, "Your Highness Cloudstack, we may be adventurers from Sky City, but we are also warriors of the Silver Moon Alliance. We are willing to help you complete this quest!"
Cloudstack smiled in pleasant surprise. "With everyone's help, I'm sure I can succeed. The fact that you've made it this far is proof of your strength, so please join us!
Also, I used to be good friends with Princess Karinshan of Sky City, and I've visited her many times as an envoy!
This time, let's have Vanished God City and Sky City work together! "
"Okay!"
Of course the NPCs wouldn't form a party with us, so we just followed them.
… …
Cloudstack lowered his voice as he stared at the top of the city walls. "Although there aren't many undead soldiers in the city, we can't afford to be careless. There are about ten axe warriors on the walls, and we have five ropes in total. We'll climb up the walls and kill them without alerting the giant beasts guarding the city."
"Mn."
There were two ropes next to us, and I immediately grabbed one of them. Then, I canceled the Armored Ice Qilin Horse and climbed up. Lin Yixin grabbed the other rope, and Beiming Xue and Lian Xin followed closely behind us. Murong Mingyue was at the very back, and Cloudstack and a group of NPC soldiers were climbing the other three ropes as well.
When we reached the edge of the city, I poked my head out and saw three axe warriors dozing off not far away from us. As expected, these filthy undead didn't have the guts to attack right under Bloody Finger's nose.
I turned to look at Lin Yixin and stared at me with her big, watery eyes. "Are you going to do it?"
"Yes. I'll take the two on the left, and you can take the one on the right. Fans like to read:!"
"Okay!"
I abruptly leaped onto the city wall, my Soul Suppressing Cloak fluttering in the wind. With a wave of my other hand, I used God Binding Art and bound one of the axe warriors. Before the other one could wake up, I activated Charge and stunned both of them. Then, I summoned the Phantom Wolf King and slashed at the axe warrior's body repeatedly with my sword.
Beiming Xue and Lian Xin had also climbed up the city walls and raised their staffs and bows. Their single-target skills were incredibly powerful, and the axe warriors' HP dropped rapidly. In less than half a minute, all three axe warriors were dead. Even Beiming Xue and Lian Xin were dead.
I turned around to look at the source of the commotion, and I was stunned by Prince Cloudstack's clean slash. So this is the power of a Level 200 Immortal Rank boss? It's not something a player can compare to. He can deal over a million damage with a single swing of his sword, and I'm afraid we'll never be able to do that. That's the difference between us and the boss.
"Watch out, over there …"
Cloudway pointed to the right, and everyone looked over. We saw a Level 210 Immortal Rank boss dozing off in front of the city gate. There was a large group of undead archers dozing off next to it. Thankfully, we hadn't attacked the city from the front. If the Immortal Rank boss and the undead archers combined their attacks, I wouldn't be able to survive even a single round of attacks even with my shield at the ready.
… …
We carefully crept down the side of the city walls without alerting the giant beast. There were too many undead soldiers around it, and it wasn't that I didn't want to kill the boss, it was that I couldn't. There were at least a thousand dread-rank mobs and an Immortal Rank boss, and if they were all aggroed together, we would be wiped for sure.
At the same time, the quest "Help Prince Cloudway scout for military intelligence" popped up in the quest window. It was an SSS + quest, so it was obvious how difficult it was. Both Lin Yixin and I exchanged a worried glance with each other. We were taking too much of a risk this time, and we were practically pulling chestnuts out of the fire.