Chapter 40 - Shadow Priest

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation  Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

“There’s one that’s not frozen.” Tian Xin leapt backward away from the Scarlet Warriors. There was one that could still move about!

Windwalking!

Lin Fei moved with incredible speed as she charged toward the Scarlet Warrior. A series of afterimages lingered in the air as she passed.

Lin Fei caught up to the Scarlet Warrior in no time. She lifted her hand and brought the dagger down mercilessly onto the Scarlet Warrior’s back.

These overlooked monsters were Xiao Ling’s responsibility. When he saw that Scarlet Warrior being immobilized, he cast his spells without holding back.

Peculiar demonic sigils floated in the air.

The flaming clouds gathered above them once more, radiating scorching heat toward their surroundings. The atmosphere became suppressed and gloomy. Tian Fei shouted in a deep and hoarse voice.

Meteor Fire!

Beautiful red flames spread out like fireworks. Balls of fire rained down heavily onto the group of Scarlet Warriors.

A cacophony of wails could be heard. It was like hell on earth. The flames burned the Scarlet Warriors and a charred smell filled the air.

Tian Kuang’s eyes shone with various colors before finally settling on a black as dark as ink. His black eyes shone with a dark godly light.

Excruciating Pain!

The peculiar black vein lines on his light gray priest robes flowed. His Withered Staff emanated faint dark aura. Dark Priests were clerics who sought the power of darkness. They sacrificed their own healing abilities for powerful curses and attacks. In Xiao Ling’s eyes, Shadow Priests were weak. Perhaps they had an advantage compared to Holy Priests if they were operating alone, but for a team, a Dark Priest rarely contributed as much as a Holy Priest.

However, the aura Tian Kuang was currently exuding surprised Xiao Ling. The purity of this energy was not inferior to the dark power of a Demon’s aura.

A spellcaster’s powers depended on the deity they worshipped and the amount of power they could obtain from their deity.

Judging by this energy aura, it was clear that the god which the Shadow Priests worshipped was not inferior to the Warlocks’ Demon God Terhida.

Black auras streaked from Tian Kuang’s staff. They circled around the Scarlet Warriors. Their screams intensified.

This spell was an AoE curse!

Xiao Ling could not help but take a few more glances at Tian Kuang, who was now covered in a black aura. With every wave of his staff, fatal curses were cast. So Shadow Priests were powerful as well. It was just that the Shadow Priests he had encountered before were too weak, and he did not understand this group much.

“We’ve abandoned the belief of light and sought dark power. We gave our souls up to the shadows and gained control over death.” Xiao Ling never understood what these words of the Bards were. He seemed to understand them a little now.

Xiao Ling and Lin Fei took care of that Scarlet Warrior. They looked toward the others. The 30 Scarlet Warriors were in their dying throes.

They combined a high-dps AoE spell and an AoE curse! That was scary!

Occasionally, a couple of Scarlet Warriors would escape Meteor Fire’s range, but they were quickly dealt with by Xiao Ling and Lin Fei, who were now unoccupied.

The battle ended in two short minutes. The flaming clouds slowly dispersed. Tian Kuang returned to normal as well.

The ground was littered with corpses. Experience points filled the screen. (About the term “screen”, some readers found it illogical since they can’t visualize the screen[1. I think we replaced it with ‘sight’ in at least some places. So it seems like it’s more like augmented reality.]. I think that it’s useful to think about mecha anime, where a virtual screen would pop out in the air, displaying the system messages, and the characters can tap the various options with their fingers.)

Although killing one Scarlet Warrior only gave them several dozen experience points, with more than 30 monsters here, they were awarded with nearly 1,000 EXP. Xiao Ling found this kind of leveling much faster than when he was doing it alone.

Lin Fei began picking up the dropped items. Tian Kuang and the others sat down. They drank spring water to replenish their mana. Lin Fei departed to attract more monsters after she cleared the area of items.

“It’s much faster than soloing, right?” asked Tian Kuang with a chuckle.

“Mm-hm, it’s much faster,” Xiao Ling agreed. It was a nice experience leveling with them. If they farmed here for a whole day, he should be able to gain three levels.

Soon enough, Lin Fei brought another batch of monsters toward them. There were many Scarlet Mages among this batch. They stuck to their previous procedure which they used against the batch of Scarlet Warriors. The scattered Scarlet Mages were left to Xiao Ling and Lin Fei.

His experience bar was quickly filled. It had only been three hours, and Xiao Ling shone with a white radiance again. He was now at level 12. He wore the warlock’s robe and his stats rose. The dark robe was embroidered with a scarlet pattern of a demon. It did look flashy.

“There’s a Cobalt Gem,” Lin Fei said as she walked toward the others. She cradled a navy gemstone the size of a dove’s egg in her hand.

Tian Kuang smiled and nodded. “Not bad. We should be able to sell that for a good price.”

Xiao Ling beamed. This Cobalt Gem was one of the required materials to build a mechanical gargoyle. However, they were the ones who caused this item to drop, and his contribution was small, at best. It was already a show of extreme benevolence for them to apply the take-what-you-need rule to Xiao Ling as well. After all, they all had top-grade equipment already, and had no need to swap it. When spellcaster items were dropped, they would give everything he could use to him. If Xiao Ling wanted this Cobalt Gem as well, he would come across as greedy.

A Cobalt Gem cost more than 3,000 gold coins! That was no small amount.

Xiao Ling hesitated. He did not have the money to buy the Cobalt Gem himself. The most valuable items he had were in his vault, and they might not even be what the others would want.

The only option available to him now was to take this Cobalt Gem on credit. If he let this gemstone go now, he did not know when he would able to get his hands on a similar material.

Players could sign pacts as a form of I.O.U.s in the game. If the debtor did not pay up once the loan term was up, the creditor could take forceful action.

There were deities above their heads, and the gods were omnipresent throughout Endace Continent. Any pact or vow connected to the gods could never be broken.

Xiao Ling considered it before speaking up. “Can you sell this Cobalt Gem to me?”