Chapter 55: The Power of Natural Disasters

Unlike the Alliance of Pearls and Tears, the comradeship bond did not unlock the second keepsake for statues such as the Blade Warrior. Instead, it purely enhanced their numerical stats. So, how did this translate into actual combat effectiveness?

Outside the city wall, three warriors charged ahead toward the Thunder Lion. Leading them was the Dragon-Breaking Warrior, clad in massive armor. His height reached two meters and thirty centimeters after donning the armor, and his shoulder width approached nearly a meter, making his head look deceptively small. At a glance, he resembled a dragonfly warrior.

He wielded a greatsword as tall as himself, charging like a runaway dump truck. Sensing a threat, the Thunder Lion performed a backflip in place to build momentum, then slammed a paw crackling with lightning and sparks toward the Dragon-Breaking Warrior!

Clang!

With a deafening explosion, the Dragon-Breaking Warrior’s arm was beaten backward at an unnatural angle. The Thunder Lion attempted to press its advantage, continuously flailing its claws, but by then, the Blade Warrior wielding a long saber and the Chaos Warrior holding a sword and shield had already arrived. The three of them swarmed around the Thunder Lion, miraculously holding their ground against this Foundation Establishment beast!

This was the power of +100 Vitality and +100 Agility—even players who primarily focused on Vitality and Agility would generally only have around 100 Vitality and 100 Agility upon reaching level 39.

Even if a Demon King's base stats were high, they could only be so high. A bonus of +100 Vitality and +100 Agility effectively doubled their strength. Furthermore, this effect stacked with every additional person in the comradeship, meaning their Vitality and Agility were already well over 300!

Though the exact stats of the Thunder Lion were unknown, Yan Qing vaguely remembered that if an elite player chose Vitality Foundation Establishment, their highest starting point upon entering the fourth transition was roughly 1,000—with ordinary players being one to two hundred lower. Calculating based on this, as a fourth-transition beginner monster, the Thunder Lion's Vitality should be between 500 and 800. While it still outclassed the three Comradeship Warriors, it could no longer kill them with a single slap.

In just that brief span of time, the Chaos Warrior and the Blade Warrior were injured again, but the Dragon-Breaking Warrior’s previously bent arm had already healed completely. The formidable recovery granted by 300 Vitality was sufficient for them to mend their wounds rapidly during combat.

However, the same applied to the Thunder Lion.

Even though it was covered in wounds hacked by the trio, the Thunder Lion's injuries were healing at a speed visible to the naked eye, stopping the bleeding almost the moment it was slashed. If the Mandorla Woodlands hadn't forced it to attack the sanctuary, Yan Qing and the others would never have stood a chance of slaying it—if it got injured, it would just flee to regenerate health, and return once healed. Who could possibly defeat that?

By now, however, the Narcissus Mermaid, the Undertaker Mermaid, and the Eagle-Shooting Archer were also in position for concentrated fire. With their interference and crowd control, the Thunder Lion's plight became even more dire, and its angry roars shook the heavens.

Seeing that the situation had stabilized, Yan Qing decisively manipulated "Jiang Shi" to jump off the city wall and join the battlefield. Despite having defensive keepsakes, participating in such a high-tier melee still carried immense risk. Given the Thunder Lion's speed, six claw strikes per second were entirely possible, and "Jiang Shi" could potentially be swatted to death instantly.

Yet, Yan Qing trusted his own technique more. He felt that his dynamic vision and operational precision had already surpassed his seventeen-year-old self. Having transitioned into a Martial Dao Courier, he was now fully capable of unleashing the maximum performance of his gaming avatar.

Seeing this, Qian Gongyu instinctively wanted to charge out as well, but she was immediately grabbed by Shang Xinlei: "She is going out there to break her limits, but you're just marching to your own doom!"

"It's far too reckless," Jie Yuanshao remarked. "Why is she in such a hurry? With her innate talent, she could clearly reach the peak through gradual cultivation."

"Rather than saying she's in a hurry, it's more accurate to say she is resolute," Shang Xinlei said. "She's different from us... She is exceptionally clear about her path, taking every single step without hesitation, and she has never regretted a single choice she's made, not even for a second."

Qian Gongyu looked somewhat surprised. "Do you mean to say that you two hesitate and regret things?"

"Of course," Jie Yuanshao replied in a low voice. "My family views me as the most promising candidate of this generation to attempt the fourth transition, but is my path truly the right one? I have a talent for swordsmanship, saber techniques, and spear arts, but I chose swordsmanship... Can I really push swordsmanship to the absolute pinnacle and knock upon the gates of the immortal foundation?"

"I don't have the heavy family responsibilities of Miss Jie, but I tend to be... rather willful, often doing things my family forbids," Shang Xinlei said. "Even though I'm happy doing them myself, I occasionally wonder if I've made a mistake."

Qian Gongyu mused, "I thought that with bloodlines as noble as yours, you would have your lives planned out long in advance..."

"True nobility does not stem from inherited bloodlines, but from the iron-willed determination forged through countless trials."

Jie Yuanshao gazed at the distant battlefield where life and death intertwined, a look of admiration crossing her unsmiling face. "Though I still don't agree with her reckless style of doing things, I have to admit..."

"I truly want to witness her future, everything about her."

After a grueling half-hour war of attrition chipping away at its health, the Thunder Lion finally could no longer endure the torture of a thousand cuts. With a final roar, it staggered a few times and crashed heavily to the ground. Yan Qing’s side wasn't faring much better, however: all three Comradeship Warriors were left at critical health, the Undertaker Mermaid had been accidentally swatted to death, and only the Narcissus Mermaid and the Eagle-Shooting Archer remained unscathed.

However, as the system prompt popped up, all the toil turned into joy:

"Milestone 'Bronze Hunter' achieved."

"Iron-Blood Saber (Jiang Shi's exclusive blood weapon) seal lifted; you may now take it out of the Mandorla Woodlands."

"You have comprehended 'Advanced Footwork', current level 3."

"You have comprehended 'Advanced Saber Technique', current level 1."

"As the player has broken through the fifth stage for the first time, the next wave of monsters will launch an attack in 59:59."

Yan Qing found it somewhat strange. During the third and fourth waves, in order to let his teammates acquire combat power as quickly as possible, he had intentionally let many monsters slip past so they could unseal their blood weapons. Consequently, his current kill count was only a little over two hundred, still some distance away from three hundred. Why had it suddenly unsealed?

Upon closer inspection, he realized that because his damage output share against the Thunder Lion was 10%, the game had rewarded him with fifty kill counts.

In other words, solo-killing the Thunder Lion was equivalent to directly slaying five hundred monsters.

Yet, who could solo a fourth-transition monster using first-transition keepsakes? A seventh-transition player?

The more Yan Qing played, the more he felt this dungeon had plenty of hidden content left to explore. Unfortunately, his level was too low, and if he wanted to come back again, he would have to wait until next year.

"Tomorrow we will have half an hour of scavenging time. We must strive to push through the tenth stage."

"Fourth-transition demons have already appeared by the fifth stage. What kind of monsters are going to show up at the tenth stage?" Qian Gongyu sighed.

"Is pushing to the tenth stage very important?" Shang Xinlei asked with acute sensitivity.

"Very important."

"Then let's go back and get a good rest, and work hard tomorrow," Jie Yuanshao said. "Let's discuss our architectural plans over dinner tonight."

As the four of them stepped into the fog, Qian Gongyu let out an exclamation: "My iron claws are gone!"

"My flying rings are gone too. Failing to gather enough kills means I really can't bring them out." Shang Xinlei glanced sideways at "Jiang Shi". "Can you bring your blood weapon out?"

"Mn."

"Can you conceal it?" Jie Yuanshao looked at "Jiang Shi," her tone devoid of commands or demands, purely inquiring.

Seeing "Jiang Shi" compliantly put away the Iron-Blood Saber, the others relaxed somewhat, stepping out of the thick fog with light footsteps.

"Yuanshao!"

"Welcome back, everyone."

"Did a Thunder Lion appear in there just now?"

"Did you guys defeat a fourth-transition demon?"

The moment they stepped out of the Mandorla Woodlands, the people who had been lingering outside for over half an hour immediately swarmed them. Aside from Jie Zilong, who was concerned with whether Jie Yuanshao was safe and sound, Qun Yushu, Chen Linchuan, and the others were far more interested in what had happened inside. They blocked the path of the four-member team, their expressions full of curiosity and excitement.

When Shang Xinlei gave an affirmative reply, Chen Linchuan’s pupils constricted and his mouth opened and closed as if he wanted to say something, but in the end, he said nothing at all. Qun Yushu, on the other hand, was very straightforward, directly giving them a thumbs-up with a face full of admiration: "Awesome!"

"You had the ability to defeat the Thunder Lion?"

A pale-faced middle-aged man behind them suddenly asked, "You don't even have a single third-transition courier among you. How could you possibly withstand the Thunder Lion's attacks?"

Qian Gongyu blurted out, "Well, of course by—"

"You're hungry." Shang Xinlei directly covered Qian Gongyu's mouth. "Sorry, we're exhausted and starving. We can talk about other matters later."

The middle-aged man nodded. Just as everyone thought the topic was temporarily concluded, his right arm suddenly stretched out in a bizarre fashion, striking toward "Jiang Shi" like a venomous snake!

Snap!

The first to react was neither "Jiang Shi" nor any of the other third-transition couriers, but Qian Gongyu, who was closest and most attentive to "Jiang Shi"!

She reached out to intercept the middle-aged man's snake-like hand, exchanging three blows in the blink of an eye amidst sparks!

"Stop!"

"Lord Lu!"

The surrounding people immediately separated the middle-aged man from Qian Gongyu and the others. Jie Zilong’s expression turned extremely unsightly. "Lord Lu, you traveled thousands of miles to the Mandorla Woodlands just to use force to control the situation? Is this your own idea, or the imperial court's?"

"Lu Wangji," Qun Yushu also smiled without any warmth in his eyes, "If we have matters to discuss, we can talk things through slowly. Why resort to physical action? Your Vanguard Guards' habit of testing people really needs to change."

However, the middle-aged man merely stared fixedly at his own right hand, wearing an expression as though he had seen a ghost. He glanced at Qian Gongyu, who was hiding behind the crowd, and slowly raised his right hand, revealing three bloody scratches across his palm to everyone present.

"Lu Wangji, has your strength declined to the point where even a little girl can injure you?" Chen Linchuan scoffed derisively.

The middle-aged man shook his head.

"My Heart-Protecting Mirror has been active the entire time. Her silk thread hand keepsake is decent, but no matter what, it shouldn't be able to penetrate the sevenfold mirrors of the Heart-Protecting Mirror," he stated. "Her attack didn't even shatter the first mirror layer, yet I was still wounded."

"Furthermore, several breaths have already passed, and my wound is still bleeding."

Hearing this, the expressions of Jie Zilong and the others shifted slightly, and they turned their heads to gaze at Qian Gongyu. Having never received such intense scrutiny before, Qian Gongyu instantly grew nervous, taking small, cautious steps backward to hide behind "Jiang Shi."

"Ignoring keepsake authorities and suppressing vital-qi self-healing—as far as I know, only one kind of power can achieve this."

The middle-aged man, Lu Wangji, slowly uttered a term that Yan Qing found somewhat familiar:

"The power of natural disaster."