Show Me the Money

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Chapter 185 - Misfortune Square

In the gray sky, ashen wisps of smoke drifted. A completely decimated city with crumbling walls and the remains of homes crouched in the middle of the vast landscape.

"This is the Paradise of Misfortune?" Everyone was a bit startled. The scene before them was completely different than what they'd imagined.

Recalling Sevik's words, someone asked, "Isn't the Paradise of Misfortune supposed to be within the Nation of Misfortune? How'd it become such a dump?" If the country of a Legendary expert was in this condition, what does it mean?

Everyone was greatly shaken as they all came to the same conclusion. "The God of Misfortune has fallen!"

This would be the first Legendary expert they knew of to have fallen. In the past, Undead Marshal Lei Ting had only just materialized his Nation of Darkness when he died. He was still Celestial-tier then and had yet to level up to Legendary.

"What sort of good loot is found in the nation of a Legendary expert, I wonder?" Everyone grew excited. Any of the items a Legendary expert left behind would be enough to crush anyone.

"You guys, don't get too excited. Check your statuses," Fatty said in a low voice. On their status panels, a state stood out: Curse of Misfortune.

The squad gasped. "This is indeed the Paradise of Misfortune. Just standing here alone afflicts us with the curse."

Standing at the half-collapsed city gate, the squad had a small discussion and decided to split up. "Let's split into teams of five, go collect items, then gather up and report later."

Fatty, Qian Xiaoqian, Xiao Jian, Han Shen and Purple Bell teamed up and chose a route to search.

The ruined city already showed signs of weathering. Flanking the road, the majority of the residences had collapsed, revealing countless skeletons among the rubble.

"Could it be that the nation of a Legendary expert can create a complete world?" The group grew more and more shocked as they traveled further. Every single place in the city indicated how prosperous it once was.

The end of the ruined road led to a square so huge a person couldn't see the end of it. In the plaza, thousands of massive stone pillars stood, each over a hundred meters tall and wide enough for ten people to encircle. "Misfortune Square," a sign greeted the team the instant they entered the plaza.

The curse had persistently affected the squad the whole way there. They were hit by random objects that flew outta nowhere and somehow followed the wrong path only to encounter numerous strange incidents.

"There seems to be nothing left in this place," Qian Xiaoqian gently remarked. While they were troubled by the Curse of Misfortune, the team hadn't come across any monsters or events.

"Stay on your guard," Fatty said solemnly and headed into the square.

As Fatty approached, the nearest stone pillar suddenly radiated a white glow. Creak… Within this glow, the pillar, itself, started to disintegrate into pieces. Rock fell away to reveal a monster right before everyone's eyes.

A knight with a tall, robust build was completely encased in black armor. His hand held a black lance streaked with trails of blood. The knight sat astride a tall horse also completely covered in black armor. The creature's bowl-sized hooves stomped against the ground as they were freed, and it eyes stared fixedly at Fatty's team.

"Anyone who invades the Paradise of Misfortune, dies." The knight announced emotionlessly as if stating a simple fact. He then lifted his lance and goaded his dark horse to charge.

Appraisal. Fatty tossed out the skill to instantly snag the knight's info:

The Guard of Misfortune

Level: ???

…

Notes: An expert killed by the God of Misfortune. His soul is sealed inside the Nation of Darkness as its protector. While his power has been slipping away, it still shouldn't be underestimated.

"It's actually around level 60!" exclaimed Fatty in shock. His Appraisal was able to tell the complete stats of any monster up to fifteen levels above himself. If he couldn't retrieve the details, it meant his opponent should be around level 50 or 60.

"Leave the square!" The five hurriedly ran for the exit. However, the Guard of Misfortune's lance quickly caught up with them.

"Wheat," Fatty softly called. In an instant, Wheat's body, the size of a mature bull, appeared next to the knight and violently rammed the enemy.

Bang! Caught off guard, the knight stumbled a little to the side, and his rush was interrupted. Crrrack! Simultaneously, a bolt of thunder struck and briefly paralyzed the knight.

Coil. Fatty took the chance to make his move before immediately retreating.

Han Shen immediately followed up after Fatty, Ambush. However, his attack couldn't knock the knight unconscious.

Imprison. Purple Bell's pet, Butterfly Fairy, lived up to its reputation as a former Divine-ranked Celestial. A blue phosphorus light fell upon the knight and bound him in place. The Guard of Misfortune immediately froze in midstep. Yet, the fierce light in his eyes was enough to scare the team away.

"Everyone spread out," Fatty commanded. There was no knight or priest among the five of them, so they couldn't face the knight head-on.

The five fanned out. Fatty and Han Shen quickly constructed several traps around the knight. Once they were done, Purple Bell attacked, releasing the knight from his bindings.

"Roaaah!" The Guard of Misfortune raised his head to the sky and let out a quaking roar, and his horse dashed toward Purple Bell.

Snap! The traps activated. The horse's front hooves tripped, bringing the knight to the ground with it.

"Attack!" Fatty roared and pounced on the knight with a Combo Attack.

-105

-100

-98

His attack only wiped out 300 health and was unable to break through the knight's defenses.

-385

-396

Bang! Bang! Purple Bell and Qian Xiaoqian's skills hit at the same time, dealing a bit more damage than Fatty. Next was Han Shen and Xiao Jian, but their damage didn't do much to the knight's max health.

After the first round of attacks, the knight's HP had only dropped by 5%. The lack of progress gave everyone a headache. Such a defense truly lived up to level 60 monsters' reputations. The power was a major leap above that of lower level creatures the team had encountered before.

Xiao Jian furrowed his brows. "His def is too high. Only magic attacks are able to deal some damage."

"Using just magic attacks is too slow." Fatty's brow also creased. "But, we have no better options."

Then, with Purple Bell and Qian Xiaoqian as the main attackers, the three guys tried to hinder the knight's movement, and they managed the fight quite well. However, as Fatty had said, the fight progressed too slowly. It took nearly half an hour to slay one knight.

Thud! The Guard of Misfortune collapsed, dropping several decent-looking items.

Harvest. A soul spark, flickering with a warm black flame, appeared in Fatty's hand. In the realm behind the Door of Misfortune, the elementalist had acquired eight soul sparks. Yet, he hadn't expected this place to have them too. The team was too lazy to check the loot, so Fatty retrieved the lot to be distributed later as usual.

"You guys wait here; I'll go scout the situation." Fatty carefully approached the square once more.

Crackle! As soon as Fatty entered the plaza, another pillar crumbled, and the exact same type of knight as the one before rushed him.

"I see." Fatty understood.

Fleeing the square, the group used the same strategy to deal with this knight. As they attack, Fatty said, "Once we get within a certain range, a knight attack is initiated. We have to think of a way to walk around them."

Everyone effortlessly finished the knight with tight coordination, but it still cost them more than twenty minutes.

"I wonder how the rest are doing." From the party channel, they could hear the sounds of everyone shouting and fighting. Evidently, they had all come across monsters.

"This place isn't bad. We can stay here to level up first. The Misfortune gear can wait," suggested Xiao Jian.

"You're right. It's hard to find monsters at this level outside. Not to mention, the equipment they drop is pretty good."

And so, everyone reached an agreement. Fatty would repeatedly approach and kite a monster out of the plaza so that they could kill it together.

Gradually, the team moved closer to the center of the square. The monsters from the pillars were no longer guardian knights, but a new type of headless knight coated in black flame.

The headless variety had a tall, big, sturdy body and wore heavy, black armor ensconced in drifting black flame. It sat astride a strong horse and carried a long, dark spear in hand. As if the head had been sliced off by an extremely sharp knife, the top of the knight's neck was perfectly flat. But, despite its headlessness, the monster still possessed a presence intimidating enough to make people's hearts skip a beat.

Headless Knight

Level: ???

…

Notes: A headless knight from the Demon Realm whose soul is sealed inside the Nation of Darkness as its protector.

"Be careful; this one is very strong." Everyone could already feel how formidable the creature was without Fatty's warning.

They followed the same old formation with the two mages as the main attackers. However, the damage they dealt was much smaller than when they'd fought the Guards of Misfortune.

"It's actually proficient in both physical and magical defense." Everyone felt a headache coming. If this went on, they'd be hard put to slay the Headless Knight.

"Lemme try," said Han Shen. A thread of black flame suddenly appeared on his dagger. The fire was gloomy and eerie, and the temperature it emitted wasn't warm, but rather a little icy. "Underworld-O'-Wisp Blade," Han Shen growled. With a nimble slide, he evaded the Headless Knight's attack and fiercely stabbed at its body.

Sizzle… The attack sliced like a burning blade though butter, and black fire suddenly burst from the monster's body. But, the core of the flame was laced with a hint of pure blue, distinguishing it from the Guard knight's flame. The Headless Knight trembled and staggered back and forth amidst the sizzling sounds. When the fire finally vanished, everyone was shocked to see the monster's health had dropped by a half.

"It really works!" Han Shen was overjoyed. "This skill of mine specializes in dealing with souls. I didn't think it'd be this effective!"

"Again!" cheered Fatty.

Han Shen rolled his eyes. "Boss, this skill has a cooldown. I can only use it once every hour."

Burned by the Underworld-O'-Wisp, the knight's domineering presence that shook the heavens and made people unable to look directly at him seemed a little less daunting now.

"Let's pounce then!" Fatty summoned his Skeletal Dragon and crudely dashed in.

Bang! Rattle! Bam! The Skeletal Dragon and the Headless Knight collided. While the knight was strong, it was repeatedly slammed backward by the dragon's massive body.

Fwish! Wheat popped up from nowhere and bit into the leg of the knight's horse. With all its might, the rodent wiggled its body and twisted at the limb. Crack! A snap was instantly accompanied by a tragic whiny. With its leg broken by Wheat, the creature uncontrollably fell to the side.

"Now's our chance!" Everyone's eyes shone brightly. They began attacking altogether.

"Reckless Blow!" Fatty and Han Shen shouted in unison.

Clang! Despite its bad state, the knight swung his spear and parried two of the team's attacks. Han Shen and Xiao Jian's strikes failed, and only Fatty was able to get past the defense.

Whoosh! Just as Fatty's attack was about to reach the Headless Knight, the elementalist just… slipped and almost tumbled to the ground. Hastily, he tilted to the side to evade an incoming attack.

"The Curse of Misfortune," Fatty groaned.