Master the Abyss, starting from an apprentice priest.

Chapter 409 Thomas: Huh? (5k3, monthly ticket required~)

The Acropolis of Latama is half empty.

After announcing the news to the "Saint Protectors" of the Acropolis and its surroundings, Luo Xiu issued a new mission to the players:

The "nightmare" difficulty mission, [Nightmare Latama], gives players quite generous completion rewards, as well as quality specialties ranging from "common" to "rare" to "epic"!
This is all for the first "monster spawning point" that the players of Red Maple City will encounter.

It allows players to devote themselves more to hunting the "Abyss Beast" and at the same time, advance the quest "Divine Oracle" - "The Disaster of Ratama City" as much as possible.

While thinking about this, Luo Xiu glanced towards the Acropolis.

Dazzling red lights burst out from the ever-widening cracks in the ground, like the prelude to a volcanic eruption.

“——Roar!!!!”

The air was filled with a strong smell of blood. Countless terrifying monsters emerged from the ground like a tide. Their bodies were twisted and strange. Some had sharp claws, while others were covered with thick scales. They were emitting deafening roars in groups, stirring the night sky.

At this time in the Acropolis, the players who triggered the commission mission [Nightmare Latama] were full of energy. They followed the instructions of the bishop and went to the entrances and exits of various streets in the Acropolis and guarded there, not letting any abyss beasts escape from the Acropolis.

The clergy of the church and the border knights brought by Albert have gathered in front of the three gates of the Acropolis.

The players stationed here quickly opened the door for the priests and supreme knights, allowing these true elites to enter the Acropolis.

……

"Land smoothly!"

Thomas, equipped with the "Rune Wings", glided down from the halfway point of the Desolate White Hills and landed steadily on the top of the Acropolis just now.

He witnessed the entire process of the "bishop" proclaiming the decree to all the patron saints, as well as the clergy of the church and the knights of the border court entering the Acropolis.

At the moment, those "Abyss Beasts" are mainly concentrated in the eastern urban area of ​​the Acropolis.

The place where Thomas landed smoothly was the northern wall of the Acropolis. Many of the "Abyss Beasts" that emerged from the ground had indeed escaped the encirclement of the players in front and were about to escape to the wall where Thomas was.

And in his eyes, he saw a deep beast with eyes all over its body and black light wriggling on its fur——

[Black·Scorching Eyes Demon (lv.38)]!
That was the same kind of abyss beast that attacked him when he fell to the bottom of the ground fissure!
Next to the [Black Burning Eyes], there are several [Gray Burning Eyes], [Red Burning Eyes] and [White Burning Eyes]. They are howling and blasting scarlet waves of light at the players who are constantly chasing them from the surroundings!

They are indeed frighteningly strong, with a kind of numerical beauty—

But Thomas didn't care about these. He just checked the panel of these "accidentally encountered" Burning Eye Demons one by one, and saw clearly that there were two "Madness" level, six "Twisted" level, and several "Dangerous" level among them.

After using the panel to detect their details, Thomas's mouth curled up subtly.

Isn't this a good opportunity for revenge! .jpg
If we could kill them all...

——Doesn't this just meet the mission objective of [Nightmare Latama]? !
Thomas thought so.

While he was thinking this, he had already raised his arm and activated the "Seal of the Isol Court" on the back of his hand. The white engraved light flashed on it.

Before those abyss beasts discovered him, his figure had already become illusory and blurred.

He teleported himself back to the "Holy Abyss".

After a few dozen seconds, he was teleported back to the top of the Acropolis wall.

And in his hand, there was a sphere covered with scarlet lines.

——【Skull of the Martyr】!
……

Soon after entering the Acropolis, thousands of elite extraordinary warriors of the expeditionary force began fighting with the abyss beasts that were wreaking havoc in the city.

The clergy provided sufficient fire cover for the Border Knights. In front of them, the howling, bloodthirsty abyss beasts could never break through the solid wall formed by the golden and red light.

The "bishop" of the church, Ross Carlos, was suspended in mid-air. He had already completed several prayers of holy arts and blasted a terrifying surge of annihilation light at several "mad" and "natural disaster" abyss beasts in the Acropolis!

And that "Thunder General" Albert - he had also entered the city from the east gate of the Acropolis and started fighting with the most powerful "natural disaster" abyss beast that he had already locked onto!

Blood splattered everywhere, and the players' encirclement of the Abyss Beast continued to shrink.

And when these "disaster beasts" that emerged from the ground were halfway hunted down.

——Boom boom boom! There were bursts of thunderous explosions coming from the north of the Acropolis.

The golden and scarlet lights surged against each other, illuminating the darkness on the other side into two colors, and amidst the huge roars, there seemed to be the continuous screams of monsters.

Luo Xiu, Albert and the others could hear it.

That was the sound of the "Protector" detonating the [Skull of the Martyr]!

At least hundreds of abyss beasts were reduced to powder and ashes in such a horrific self-explosion.

Those [Skulls of Martyrs] were originally distributed to the Guardians of the Saints so that they could blow holes in the walls of the Acropolis and allow the clergy and elite knights from the border court to rush into the Acropolis.

But now the "Black Fangs" and "Fang Heads" in the Acropolis are almost all dead, and the executioners stationed in the city of Latama have not yet appeared - coupled with the emergence of the tide of Abyss Beasts, the [Skull of Martyrdom] has other and better uses.

——Boom! Boom boom boom boom!!
The horrific sound of bombings surged in waves, and extremely hot air rushed in from the west and north of the Acropolis. Those two urban areas should have turned into a purgatory-like sea of ​​fire by now.

"——Crack?"

Opposite to "Thunder General" Albert, he was fighting a "Disaster+" level abyss beast. Its three eyes rolled around and its two heads turned slightly towards the direction of the explosion, as if it could not suppress its inner curiosity.

And the moment it turned its head, half of its body was engulfed by the scarlet light, while the other half was shattered by the brilliant golden light surging from top to bottom.

Albert held the [Thunder Wolf Slash] in his hand, and urged his spiritual power to slash at the monster in front of him with a burst of crimson energy, while the "Bishop" Luo Xiu ordered dozens of Holy Annihilation Swords to fall from the sky and circle down. Their coordinated attack instantly annihilated a "natural disaster" abyss beast.

Then, the "Bishop" Ross Carlos slowly descended from the sky.

When he confirmed that the "kill reward" belonged to him, he landed at the same height as Albert.

"…Is this the oracle you received from the Suncaster, Luo Xiu?"

Luo Xiu heard Albert speak in a low and somewhat hoarse voice.

He then turned his head to look over there, and saw a deep expression on Albert's face, as if he was suppressing some shock and astonishment.

"Yes."

Luo Xiu nodded, a serious expression appeared on his face, and said:

"That is exactly what I saw from the oracle of the Sun's Moment - no, the scene I saw was much more chaotic and blasphemous."

"Now, the tide of these 'disaster beasts' that appeared here is much better than the purgatory-like scene I saw from the 'Oracle'."

"..."

"I can probably imagine what you saw, Luo Xiu."

Albert sighed and said, "Before I came to Red Maple City, a similar disaster had broken out outside of Red Maple City."

"At that time - it was you, Baines and the others who quelled the disaster together. The Law Office of Songyuan Territory had already given Baines the reward he deserved, but it seemed... that was not enough."

"..."

Luo Xiu no longer responded to Albert. His attention was already focused on a new wave of abyss beasts that had just emerged from the ground crack not far in front of him.

Another "natural disaster" abyss beast appeared, and that should be the last one.

Luo Xiu and Albert ended their conversation, and at the same time, they released their surging spirituality and rushed towards the newly emerged "natural disaster" abyss beast.

……

The fierce battle in the Acropolis to resist the tide of abyss beasts lasted until dawn.

After the first wave of Abyss Beasts that emerged from the ground were basically killed, the players, clergymen, and border knights had also surrounded the eight largest "wounds" on the ground -

That is the "monster spawning point" where abyss beasts will continue to emerge.

The first wave of Abyss beasts had been killed, and the second wave of Abyss beasts seemed to have not yet formed a beast tide. However, the aura emanating from these eight "wounds" was much darker and deeper than the first wave.

But no matter what, the first wave of beasts has been suppressed at this point -

Temporarily, no more abyss beasts emerged from the fissure in the ground, and the "bishops" and clergy of the church released the spiritual power of "glory" and used the skill of "Golden Barrier" to seal the fissure in the ground from which the abyss beasts were overflowing.

In this way, the next time a "deep beast" emerges from the bottom of the earth fissure, the perception of the shining golden barrier can give an early warning.

……

The work of sealing off the "scar" continued until almost noon.

At the same time, the clergy and supreme knights who had already stationed in the Acropolis also imposed complete martial law around the eight scars, not allowing any unrelated people with "double destiny" or below to pass through.

They have all received instructions from "Bishop" Rossouw - the expeditionary force will not stay in the Acropolis of Latama for too long.

Now that the first wave of disaster beasts has ended, a new round of fortifications will be built around the edge of the martial law zone, creating a protective wall that is taller and stronger than the walls of the Acropolis.

This project will be completed by the two deans of Fangbei Academy and various engineering puppets controlled by the warlocks of Fangbei Academy - "Great Alchemist" Elvan and "Great Rune Master" Eureka. Their puppets have also brought enough construction materials and have indeed received relevant knowledge support from the Main Academy of Songyuan City.

After that, the isolation and protection effects of the "Golden Barrier" will gradually fade, and the second wave of Abyss Beasts that were blocked will emerge again.

But they cannot break through the high walls outside and can only wander around in the curfew area, constantly killing each other and accumulating numbers.

And these constantly accumulating "Abyss Beasts" are the "monster spawning points" prepared by Luo Xiu for the players, and are natural hunting grounds.

……

At noon.

After all eight "wounds" were sealed, "Thunder General" Albert ordered the three gates of the Acropolis to be fully opened to allow the expeditionary force camped on the plain outside the city to enter the city.

The hundreds of thousands of expeditionary forces on the plains were divided into three large military formations, which gradually poured into the Acropolis of Latama and settled down under the arrangements of their respective camps.

At this point, the "Acropolis" of the city of Latama was truly occupied.

……

Thomas the Tank Engine#Dead

[Your number of deaths this week is 8 times]

[Resurrection countdown: 00 minutes and 01 seconds]

【…】

[You can be resurrected]

[Please select the resurrection location——]

【…】

"……call."

Thomas, who was watching the game from the perspective of death, finally breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the resurrection countdown finally jump to 00.01.

He quickly chose to resurrect in a nearby safe zone, and the soul-state's "watching perspective" quickly zoomed downward, and along with the spiritual threads drawn from his "corpse", it floated to a blank area on the side.

Thomas felt a black screen in front of his eyes and his body became heavy, as if a hydrogen balloon that had been floating in the air was suddenly tied with heavy stones.

He knew that this was the feeling he would experience every time he was "resurrected" -

And when Thomas' vision returned to color, the first thing he did was blink and open his "mailbox panel".

Before, he carried the [Skull of the Martyr] and launched rounds of attacks on the continuously emerging abyss beasts. When his blood volume was about to run out, he decisively detonated it.

That was quite effective indeed—

In Thomas's mailbox panel, he used the [Skull of Martyr] to self-destruct and died together with three "Madness", eight "Twist" and a dozen "Dangerous" abyss beasts!

It can be said that it was a fruitful one!

These kill rewards will not disappear upon death. In Thomas' experience, it seems that killing a "mad evil" monster has a small chance of dropping an "epic" quality, and a guaranteed "rare" quality specialty. "Twisted" monsters have a medium chance of dropping a "rare" quality specialty.

But no matter what the rewards for these kills are ultimately calculated as, at least all of [Nightmare Latama]’s extra rewards can be obtained!
Thomas rubbed his hands together excitedly.

He then began to collect the kill rewards one by one, starting with the "dangerous" level Abyss Beasts. After calculating the kill rewards for more than a dozen Abyss Beasts, he only got a specialty of "ordinary" quality.

Thomas felt a little embarrassed, so he rubbed his hands and face, and began to calculate the rewards for the "Twisted" level Abyss Beasts.

He killed a total of eight "twisted" level abyss beasts, but it was not until the sixth one that a "rare" quality specialty finally appeared.

"I'm going!!!"

Thomas roared inwardly, but a somewhat hideous smile appeared on his face.

Playing games is all about howling! .jpg
After calculating the kill rewards for the "Dangerous" and "Twisted" levels, but seeing nothing but blue sky and white clouds, Thomas's gaze then fell on the two rewards for "Madness" on the panel.

This is the last chance!
Thomas stared at the two rewards lying in the mailbox. He felt that his pupils might be trembling a little. He saw that the red dot on the panel was actually shaking slightly.

As a materialist who believes in what he believes and is firm in his disbelief, Thomas has already turned on the NetEase Cloud Music in the background and played "Good Luck Comes" on a loop.

Then, at a moment of inspiration, Thomas received one of the two "Madness" rewards -

【…】

[Rewards for killing the Mad Doom boss are being generated...]

【…】

[Kill rewards generated]

[Obtain the expertise "Monster Hunter (Rare)", free attribute points*5]!
"Gaia!!!"

Thomas cried out in anger—

"Rare" quality expertise, this seems to be the guaranteed reward for the "Mad Doom" level boss in the triple destiny settlement!
"Good Luck Comes" is identified as useless! .jpg
Although he was angry and grief-stricken, Thomas still carefully looked through the new "rare" specialty [Monster Hunter] to find out what its specific effects were.

[Monster Hunter (Rare): You are a monster hunter, and you have hunted countless monsters. You sharpen your bloodthirsty blade with this, and the monsters hate you, but they also fear you.

Gain a basic correction of +5 to the "Strength" attribute. At the same time, the damage you cause to monsters with a threat level of "Madness" or below is increased by an additional 30%; and the damage you cause to monsters with a threat level of "Madness" or above is increased by an additional 15%. 】

【…】

Yeah...

Seems to be ok?

After carefully reading the details of [Monster Hunter (Rare)], Thomas suddenly felt that "rare" specialties were not bad, just like this one was quite good!

Thomas then confirmed the settlement.

His eyes also fell on the final reward calculation for "Madness" -

I thought about listening to "Good Luck Comes" in its entirety and then clicking on the checkout button at the beginning of the chorus, but after thinking about it, I felt that it was not exciting enough.
Suddenly, he remembered a cyber sacrifice ritual that was popular in university dormitories and was quite effective at certain times.

"Uh, it seems like the big crocodile has a partner?"

"Soybeans? It's useless even if I give them as gifts!"

"..."

Suddenly, Thomas thought of someone——

"It's you, Bishop!"

"——I offer Bishop Ross Carlos ten years of celibacy!!"

"smoke!!!"

Just at the moment when the blessing of "sacrifice" finally faded, he calculated the last killing reward of "Mad Evil".

【…】

[Rewards for killing the Mad Doom boss are being generated...]

【…】

[Kill rewards generated]

[Gain the expertise "Burning of the Devourer (Epic)", free attribute points*5]!
“——Fuck!!!”

Thomas' eyes sparkled.
When he saw the last settlement feat, the excitement in his heart surged like a tsunami!

It actually is an "epic" feat!
Thank you, Bishop!

He couldn't wait to look down -

[Burning of the Devourer (Epic): The end of our devouring is burning - burning! Burn me first, and then our anger will be freed from the cage!
Your "Strength" and "Constitution" gain a +8 basic attribute correction. At the same time, your mana value is calculated as a base, and you gain an additional 5 times the value of the "Constitution" attribute.

When you consume your "mana" to less than 20% of the upper limit, you will be forced to self-destruct, causing 300% of your upper limit health + 300% of your upper limit mana damage to a large area, 1/3 of which is "Erosion" attribute damage, 1/3 is "Fire" attribute damage, and 1/3 is "Origin" trauma. 】

[You will die after self-destruction, and this death is not affected by immune death effects. ]

【…】

"……what?"

……

(End of this chapter)