69: Chapter 69 Plague City
Jiang He's mouth twitched violently.
However, he did not refuse, as he had originally planned to make the dungeon guide public.
Although the first kill had already been secured, the experience points and generous rewards after clearing the dungeon were still highly valuable and would be of great help in raising the overall level of players in Chang'an City.
Subsequently, he explained the key points for clearing the dungeon in detail one by one.
Entering the dungeon required a ten-person party.
The configuration required 5 Mages, who needed to be level 30 and have learned the Frost Spell skill.
2 Priests, and the remaining 3 could be chosen from Ronin or Knights, responsible for holding aggro and chopping down the bronze pillars in the early stages.
Once the guide was released, the entire city was abuzz.
Mages and Priests suddenly became hot commodities.
Especially the Priest players, who all straightened their backs and acted quite arrogant.
In the past, when forming parties to grind monsters or kill bosses, Priests were often only assigned to the back row to heal, and sometimes they were even rejected by parties when grinding monsters of the same level.
Today, the tide had turned abruptly, and in order to secure a Priest for their party, many players immediately became sycophants just to get a Priest to join.
Returning to the inn.
Inside the room, several people gathered around Jiang He.
"Da He, is it done? What are your stats?" Zhao Yun asked eagerly.
At this moment, Jiang He's fingers were trembling slightly with excitement.
He had just consumed 42 Equipment Advancement Cards and successfully upgraded the annihilation set to Tier 3.
The current stat panel was simply shocking.
ID: Game ID
Class: Holy Spirit Priest
Level: 30
HP: 13000
Energy: 4000
Strength: 22000
Defense: 8000
When this panel appeared before everyone's eyes.
Everyone gasped.
"Is... is this the kind of stats a level 30 player should have?" Old Demon swallowed hard.
Blood Blade, standing to the side, was about to rub his eyes blind.
A Priest's HP, defense, and attack were actually far higher than his, a Knight?
Especially since his own level was ten levels higher than the other party's?
"Brother, this is... too ridiculous, right?" Mumu said, her small mouth slightly agape in shock, her eyes wide open.
She had been playing this game for some time and had some understanding of the average combat power of players at various levels.
However, her brother was only level 30, yet his stats were already approaching the level of a level 50 player, and could even touch the threshold of level 60.
The admiring and envious gazes of the crowd made Jiang He feel quite uncomfortable, so he coughed twice to cover it up: "Ahem... Alright, let's discuss serious matters."
Everyone recovered from their shock, and their expressions immediately became serious.
"Da He, are you really sure you want to go to that place?" Zhao Yun asked with a worried look, his voice slightly tense.
Jiang He nodded solemnly: "Yes, there are only four days left until the beast tide. The primary task now is that you all must reach level 40 within these few days."
Level 40 was an important watershed; at that point, they would not only be able to learn new skills but also change into level 40 equipment.
Currently, in the entire Chang'an City, only Blood Blade had reached level 40.
If there could be a few more, the odds of resisting the beast tide would increase by a few points.
Currently, Zhao Yun was level 37, Old Demon level 38, Xiao Yao level 38, and Xiaoxue level 37.
These four needed to break through the level 40 mark within four days.
And Jiang He, Mumu, and Li Qing needed to sprint to level 35 during this period.
To achieve such a large leap, the only way was to challenge monsters above their level.
Therefore, Plague City became their first choice for leveling.
It was a level 45 map, and no players had entered it yet.
The number of monsters there was enough to support their eight-person party in leveling up rapidly.
But the premise was that they had to complete the clearing.
After finalizing the plan, the group left Chang'an City and set off towards the east.
One hour later, the group arrived at the outskirts of a village.
The so-called Plague City was more like a village that had been abandoned for many years.
Before they even entered, a thick, pungent stench of rot rushed towards them.
This smell made the few girls in the party retch, their faces turning pale.
"How can we fight like this? We haven't even seen any monsters, and they're already about to vomit until they faint?" Zhao Yun shook his head with a bitter smile.
Jiang He also felt it was quite tricky.
They hadn't encountered any monsters yet, and the smell alone had already made the girls want to retreat.
"Xiao Yao, how about we change places? Actually, going to Liyue Forest is fine too." Jiang He proposed after careful consideration, really unable to bear it.
The girls kept dry-heaving, and even if they forced themselves to enter, their combat effectiveness would inevitably be greatly reduced.
Settling for the next best thing, choosing the level 40 map Liyue Forest might be more appropriate.
Bai Luoyao dry-heaved again, then waved her hand, trying to act calm: "It's okay, it's just psychological. Once we get used to this smell, it should be... ugh."
Next, the group wandered back and forth at the village entrance to adapt.
About twenty minutes later, a miracle happened; they really stopped dry-heaving!
Jiang He asked curiously: "How do you feel now?"
Mumu blinked, as if the discomfort from just a moment ago had never happened: "I don't feel anything at all. Got used to the smell... uh, it seems... it really doesn't smell bad anymore?"
"..."
Human adaptability was indeed stronger than one could imagine.
Stepping into the village, ruined walls and broken remains were visible everywhere, and large areas of buildings had long since collapsed.
The air was filled with a thin white mist.
"Did you hear that?" Xiaoxue lowered her voice and warned.
Everyone nodded solemnly without speaking.
A faint, low roar had been coming intermittently just now.
However, there was no sign of monsters around.
This eerie situation made people feel puzzled, but they had to continue moving forward.
As they walked, Old Demon suddenly sensed something wrong and immediately shouted: "Wait, look over there!"
He pointed to a pile of collapsed house ruins not far away.
The scattered stones on top of it were trembling slightly.
Bang.
A cyan-black, withered arm suddenly burst out from the ground.
Immediately after, a head with a highly distorted face and atrophied muscles struggled to push its way out.
[Mutated Zombie · Level 45]
HP: 70000
Strength: 9000
"Damn! 70,000 HP? 9,000 attack?" Li Qing exclaimed in shock.
Taking advantage of the fact that the zombie hadn't completely broken free from its restraints.
Jiang He struck first, a Blood Speech Technique shot out.
-20000
Immediately after, he dashed forward, his dagger stabbing directly at the zombie's vital facial area.
-29000
Another two precise finishing blows.
The zombie hadn't even managed to crawl out of the ruins with its full body before it wailed and dissipated into fly ash.
Generous experience points immediately surged over everyone's heads.
Jiang He was secretly delighted; the experience points of the monsters here were actually at least 30% higher than in Liyue Forest!
Just as he was secretly gratified.
The few people behind him all had sour expressions on their faces.
They had just been nervously calculating how to deal with this powerful enemy, while he had eliminated it in an instant.
"Hey, Da He," Zhao Yun deliberately drew out his tone, with obvious teasing, "Why don't you just clear the place by yourself? We can just take a break?"
Before the words had even faded.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom...!
From all directions, beneath the ruins, dense cracking and exploding sounds suddenly erupted!
One after another, cyan-black arms, accompanied by hair-raising, low roars, scrambled to reach out from the ground.
Looking around, at least forty Mutated Zombies were struggling to crawl out from the wreckage.
"Assemble." Jiang He shouted.
The group instantly gathered towards the center.
Immediately after, they quickly took their positions according to the pre-planned formation.
The front row was spearheaded by Blood Blade, leading Zhao Yun, Old Demon, Li Qing, and Mumu to form a barrier.
Jiang He stood in the back row with Xiao Yao and Xiaoxue, focusing on ranged attacks and auxiliary support.
As for why Jiang He stayed in the back row, there was a reason.
His Blood Speech Technique could not only attack but could also switch to Healing Spell at any time.
The two healers in the back row healing simultaneously could significantly ensure the HP of the front row.
"Prepare for battle."