Chosen Evolution: I can load the protagonist template

Chapter 203 I Hunt for Treasure Alone

[Balford, commander of the Silver Legion and a dual-sword knight, has fallen.]

All story quests related to Balford the Twin Swordsman will be permanently removed.

[The Silver Legion, morale -50, is on the verge of collapse.]

This is the spatial notification received by all players who participated in this Legion War and those who remained in the Silver Fortress of the Roman Empire.

While not everyone was exactly grief-stricken, the atmosphere was certainly not one of unbridled joy.

On the other hand, the British players, whether they were on the front lines or staying behind, received a message that brought them both joy and sorrow.

[Your fellow players have successfully killed the enemy faction's legion leader, the Twin-Sword Knight Balford.]

[Knights of the Round Table, morale +50, morale soaring.]

The joy naturally refers to the fact that defeating the dual-sword knight advanced the main quest.

The tragedy, of course, is that they didn't get even a tiny bit of contribution points from killing the Twin Swords Knights. Not only did they not get any treasure chest drops, but their final score related to the Twin Swords Knights in the main storyline was also only the most basic value.

But let alone them, even Arthur, who witnessed the whole thing, felt somewhat incredulous at that moment.

He could sense that Balford, who had successfully retreated back into the infantry ranks, was far from being seriously injured or weak; his vitality was still very strong. It was only under the influence of the sudden appearance of the monster and the petrifying ability that resembled a demonic curse that he ultimately died.

All of this is clearly directly related to Cheng Tian.

However, Arthur suppressed the idea of ​​"the Holy Grail Knight summoning a demon" and instead focused on deepening his communication with the Sword in the Stone.

As you can see, the sword blade, which originally maintained its steel color, has now taken on a faint golden hue.

As the only one who participated in the attack on Balford in this battle, Arthur naturally shared in some of the battle achievements. However, as a story NPC, Arthur's growth path is obviously different from that of the player.

The weapons and armor of the three knights, Arthur, Lancelot, and Percival, were all enchanted by the archmage Merlin, with the effect that they "can continuously grow stronger by accumulating kills".

In the game, characters can level up by getting higher scores and using special treasures. With each level increase, the character's appearance will change slightly, and these changes will mostly revolve around weapons and armor—except for Percival, whose hair will also fall out when his equipment is upgraded to a certain level.

He became the first playable character in gaming history to use physical changes to illustrate the idea that "I've gone bald, but I've also become stronger."

Arthur's Sword in the Stone, having absorbed the energy released from Balford's death—whether from his soul or experience points—transformed into its current pale gold color. Not only was its durability fully restored, but its Legion-level enhancement was also further improved, roughly equivalent to 0.5 times the "Dragon King Warrior Equipment Enhancement." Meanwhile, Cheng Tian, ​​controlling the red Minotaur, grabbed the silver-painted treasure chest dropped by the Twin Swords Knights and began attempting a breakout, wielding his great axe in one hand.

In fact, Balford was still alive when his head was severed, but once the petrification was completely lifted, as a human, he was utterly dead due to the separation of his head and body.

The strengths and weaknesses of the humanoid BOSS were fully demonstrated in this brief but decisive confrontation.

Bosses like the Ten Commandments and the Sun God are basically only killed by depleting their health bars. But Balford, who is both a human and a living being, has a data panel on his body and his health bar is still healthy. Even if he is beheaded or stabbed in the heart, he will still die.

As the petrification was completely lifted, Balford's headless body, left after being beheaded by Red Bull, collapsed and began to release the pressure within his body like a fountain, spraying blood high into the air. As his body completely collapsed, the treasure chest also fell out.

As the champion template unit, Balford's dropped chests should have been eligible for "team loot sharing," but unfortunately, Cheng Tian took all of Balford's health in this battle, so he naturally got to keep the chests for himself.

Moreover, not only is it exclusive, but the final drops will also be enhanced as an extra reward for his "solo" defeat of the Twin Swords Knight.

Incidentally, in faction-based dungeons, there are basic drop protection rules for items dropped by players when they kill enemies or other players. It's similar to the game "Legend" in that the player retains the right to pick up the dropped items for a certain period of time, and only after that time will they become unclaimed.

The main purpose of this rule is to prevent unscrupulous players from deliberately sabotaging their own NPCs, then looting the dropped items and escaping immediately after their NPCs are killed by the enemy. This also aligns with the underlying logic of the Chosen Space.

Correct efforts will always yield corresponding results.

Therefore, both the treasure chests dropped by Balford and the valuable treasures that Red Shock dropped are under protection. Only Cheng Tian and his servants and summoned creatures can touch and move them. Even if the players in the Silver Prince faction are very envious, they can only stare at Cheng Tian's treasure chests.

At this moment, the Silver Legion was actually in a state of polarization. One group displayed extreme killing intent and a desire to attack, while the other group chose to flee on the spot.

The soldiers who were brimming with murderous intent were Balford's personal guards. They had received considerable benefits under him and were essentially willing to risk their lives for Balford. These benefits were mostly obtained by robbing other soldiers.

Now that he's dead, whoever takes over the Silver Legion next, these soldiers, already branded as "Dual Sword Knights' henchmen," will at best be completely marginalized after giving up a lot of benefits, and at worst lose their lives. So all they can do is try one last gamble.

As for those who had only a casual relationship with Balford, the vast majority chose to run away on the spot.

Some players mixed in with the infantry seemed unwilling to give up and launched attacks on the very conspicuous Crimson Tyrannosaurus Rex, the two Minotaur demons who had been petrified and beheaded, and Arthur who was wielding the golden sword in the stone.

However, the players on the Knights of the Round Table side, almost all of them, were filled with a sense of tragic indignation at "not being able to gain any merit in the war," and began to vent their anger on the Roman soldiers of the opposing faction.

As for Cheng, who had been completely wiped out by the blue bar, he had already left the core of the battle and retreated to the edge area. Looking at the "crazy random movement" mode in front of him, with the random movement value changing N times per second, he helplessly clicked his teeth.

(End of this chapter)