บท 23: Chapter 23: Guild Action, Confronting the Corpse King
Today's target: 100 Poison-type Corpse Cores.
Zhang Yue and Su Jinyan arrived at the garrison's camp and bypassed the areas dominated by Fire and Ice Zombies, moving straight into the territory of Level 17–19 Poison Zombies.
At first glance, Poison Zombies seemed easier to handle than their Fire and Ice counterparts, since they didn't possess a [Fire Shield] or [Ice Shield]. However, in reality, they were far more troublesome.
This was because Poison Zombies had one terrifying skill:
[Poisonous Physique: The Poison Zombie's toxic body causes anyone who attacks it or gets hit by its attacks to be poisoned for 5 seconds. This poison, which cannot be cleansed, causes the target to lose 6% of their maximum health per second (triggered only once per target).]
Essentially, every time you kill a Poison Zombie, you'll lose at least 30% of your health!
On top of that, their stats were formidable:
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[Mutant·Poison Zombie] (Magic Type·Ordinary Monster)
Level: 17
Magic Attack Power: 245
Physical Defense: 170
Magic Defense: 180
Health: 1,720
Skills: Poisonous Physique, Poison Spit
Description: A zombie emitting toxic fumes. Approach with extreme caution, or you may find yourself dead from the poison...
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Zhang Yue glanced at his own stats: with 310 Attack Power and the Lord's Battle Ring providing 20 points of penetration, his damage output should still be respectable.
"Let's get started," Zhang Yue said to Su Jinyan.
"Got it." Su Jinyan nodded.
Just as they were about to engage, a flying message window suddenly popped up in front of Su Jinyan:
Yanyu Pavilion, General (Chen Jun): "Jinyan, where are you? Let's team up and level together. Don't go solo—it's dangerous. Come to me, I'll protect you."
"Thanks, but no need," Su Jinyan replied briefly before closing the message.
Boom!
Su Jinyan unleashed a Fireball, dealing 132 points of damage to the Poison Zombie.
She stuck out her tongue, feeling a bit embarrassed by her own damage output.
But it wasn't as bad as it seemed.
Su Jinyan was only Level 13, four levels below the Poison Zombie.
As she attacked the Poison Zombie, she was instantly afflicted by its poison, with 32 points of damage ticking over her head every second!
Taking advantage of the Poison Zombie being immobilized by Su Jinyan, Zhang Yue swung his Frost Staff and launched his own attacks:
Fireball + Ice Spike + Flame Missile.
Triple Strike!
-420! -50 Burn! -50 Ice Damage!
-563 Critical! -50 Ice Damage!
-248 Critical! -165! -165! -50 Ice Damage!
The three skills totaled over 1,700 damage, wiping out the Poison Zombie's entire health bar!
They had easily one-shot the Fire Zombies.
They had one-shot the Ice Zombies.
And now, they had one-shot the Poison Zombies too.
Su Jinyan, standing nearby, was completely numb at this point.
Her thoughts were in turmoil, 'Oh my god! Just how high is his attack power?'
After defeating the Poison Zombie, they earned 100 experience points.
Zhang Yue picked up 7 copper coins from the ground, and the two moved on to their next Poison Zombie.
Thanks to the Poisonous Physique of the zombies, after every battle—even without being physically hit by the Poison Zombies—both Zhang Yue and Su Jinyan still lost 30% of their health due to the poison.
But it wasn't much of a problem.
At worst, they just had to chug a Level 3 Health Potion after every two kills, though it did mean burning through resources a bit faster.
The two continued grinding in this way for the entire morning.
Before they knew it, it was 11 a.m.
Zhang Yue counted the Poison Cores in his bag and realized they were still more than 60 cores short of their 100-core goal!
At this moment, Su Jinyan suggested, "It's almost lunchtime. How about we log off for a meal? My treat."
"No need," Zhang Yue replied, pulling a Health Potion from his storage space and downing it in one gulp. "I'm on the outskirts of Linhai City—it's far from the city center."
"Alright then," Su Jinyan agreed, "Next time you're free, I'll treat you."
Just as they were chatting, a message window popped up for both of them:
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[Yanyu Pavilion Guild Chat] (Group 194):
[Yanyu Pavilion, General/12th Level Elite Royal Archer (Group Leader): @Everyone, gather at Corpse City within ten minutes. Anyone late will be penalized.]
[Yanyu Pavilion, General: @Everyone, I'll repeat: this is an important guild operation. Be at Corpse City within ten minutes, no exceptions.]
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Reading the guild chat, Su Jinyan frowned slightly. "What is Chen Jun up to again? No explanation, just ordering everyone to gather. So annoying."
"Since it's a guild event, let's head over," Zhang Yue suggested.
And so, they left the garrison camp and followed the map's directions toward Corpse City, a Level 15 area located north of Notting City.
At the same time...
In the northern wildlands of Notting City, outside the gates of Corpse City...
Around a hundred players had already gathered.
Every one of them had the "Yanyu Pavilion" prefix before their names, marking them as members of the Yanyu Pavilion Guild.
Among the crowd was a slim, black-clad assassin known as [Yanyu Pavilion, Sin].
He turned to the man standing beside him—a sharp-eyed, chiseled-featured warrior in golden armor and a silver crown—known as [Yanyu Pavilion, General], and said, "Guild Leader, almost everyone's here. Can we start?"
"Wait a bit longer," General replied calmly, his arms crossed. "Jinyan isn't here yet. She's our main damage dealer. We need her, a legendary Forbidden Mage, to control the Corpse King. Only then can we defeat it."
As they spoke, two figures appeared in the distance.
"There she is."
The moment Su Jinyan arrived, Chen Jun hurried over with a wide smile, "Jinyan, you made it."
But then Chen Jun noticed Zhang Yue standing beside her, and his expression immediately turned wary. "Who's this?"
Su Jinyan had never liked Chen Jun much, and for good reason—she knew exactly what kind of person he was.
With an air of indifference, Su Jinyan replied, "He's in the same guild. You're the Guild Leader, yet you don't know who's in your own guild?"
Chen Jun pressed, "That's not what I meant. Why are you alone with him?"
"Do you need to know where I go or who I'm with?" Su Jinyan shot back, her voice calm but cold. "Don't forget, you're not part of my Su family."
Zhang Yue, standing to the side, was surprised—he hadn't expected Su Jinyan to have such a forceful side to her.
And Chen Jun, knowing better than to offend the second young miss of the Su family, quickly backpedaled, "No, no, I was just worried... about you, Jinyan. I didn't want anyone with bad intentions getting close to you..."
"Relax, I know who to trust," Su Jinyan replied coolly. "Now, what's this operation about?"
The skinny assassin, [Yanyu Pavilion, Sin], pointed to the distant Corpse City and explained, "Miss Su, we've found a Corpse King boss inside that city."
"A boss?" Su Jinyan raised an eyebrow.
She was aware that apart from World Bosses, each world had its own regional bosses. However, bosses had an extremely low spawn rate.
Chen Jun chimed in, "If our Yanyu Pavilion takes down this boss, the guild's reputation and overall strength will see a massive boost."
Su Jinyan nodded. "Alright, let's go claim that boss then."
But just as they were about to move, Chen Jun suddenly stepped in front of Zhang Yue, glaring at him coldly. "You're not coming."
"Why not?" Zhang Yue asked.
"Because you're a Beast Tamer." Chen Jun sneered, looking Zhang Yue up and down. "I'm not sure how you passed the higher-ups' review and got into Yanyu Pavilion, but I know this much: you don't belong in a top-tier guild like ours."
It was clear that Chen Jun was acting out of personal spite.
After all, he had seen Zhang Yue and Su Jinyan together and wasn't happy about it.
Chen Jun's jealousy was practically written all over his face.
And since Chen Jun was the Guild Leader, other members, eager to curry favor, quickly jumped on the bandwagon:
"Beast Tamers have low stat growth across the board and are difficult to develop. Are we sure he's here to contribute and not just to waste our guild's resources?"
"Look at his gear. He doesn't even have a hat or leg guards, and the rest of his equipment is all dull and white-grade garbage. How poor is this guy?"
"People like him joining our guild will only drag us down. I suggest we don't let him in, or else he'll just waste our revival scrolls and deplete the guild's resources."
Seeing Zhang Yue in such an awkward position, Chen Jun's face lit up with a smug smile.
At this moment, Su Jinyan stepped forward.
Standing firmly by Zhang Yue's side, she pointed at Chen Jun and said, "Do you even know who he is? He's..."
Before she could finish, Zhang Yue interrupted her, "You're the guild leader; it's your call. I won't go in, then."
With that, Zhang Yue turned and prepared to leave.
But just then, Su Jinyan spoke up again, this time addressing Chen Jun directly: "If you're not letting him in, then I won't go either."
What Su Jinyan had in mind was that the boss's experience points and energy rewards were considerable. And even just by participating, one was guaranteed to receive at least 30% of the rewards.
She wanted Zhang Yue to share in those benefits with the guild.
Faced with Su Jinyan's firm stance, Chen Jun had no choice but to relent. "Alright, alright, Jinyan, don't be mad. I was only concerned that he might be too weak and end up dying inside. That's the only reason I didn't want him going in."
Then, turning to Zhang Yue, Chen Jun spoke in a colder tone: "Bring your own revival scroll. Understood?"
"Alright, let's move out. Into the city, and let's take down the boss."
At Chen Jun's command, the hundred members of Yanyu Pavilion marched toward Corpse City.
As they did, Su Jinyan pulled out a revival scroll and handed it to Zhang Yue. Feeling somewhat guilty due to Chen Jun's earlier targeting of him, she softly said, "Take mine. I've got two of them."
"It's fine," Zhang Yue replied. "I've got my own."
And with that, the two of them followed the group as they entered Corpse City.
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