Undying Warlord

"Is that deep enough?" Dilan asked as he looked up to Sven, who observed the huge pit with a complex expression.

"It will be fine. We need more traps than one. Let's not waste too much time digging the pits," Sven answered after a few seconds. He motioned his hand and Dilan jumped out of the twenty-meter-deep hole with ease.

He cleaned his blue-scaled gloves while ensuring that none of his new pieces of equipment made the wearer uncomfortable. It would be annoying if they would feel uncomfortable when battling. Dilan wanted to avoid the distraction if possible.

"Let's move on, we don't have much time," Pierre suddenly appeared near them, wearing several new pieces of equipment, while he was holding several crimson-colored pipes with a pointy end.

Old Jeff walked next to Pierre, surveying him and the equipment with squinted eyes. He held his hands behind his back, which made it seem like he was an old lord, who was observing the work of his subjects.

It was an interesting sight but Dilan's feeling about Old Jeff's presence quickly disappeared as the old man jumped down the pit, where he would install the [Burning Touch Spikes]. As the name suggested, they would be ignited the moment someone touched them after they've been installed.

The Burning Touch Spikes were not high-grade forged goods but they would certainly be able to hold back the Vampires, who fell into them…for a short time, at the very least.

Dilan meanwhile walked off after seeing Old Jeff, who had emerged from his enlightenment room not too long ago.

"By the way, are you sure that you picked enough treasures? If I'm not wrong, you exchanged your gloves, put on a necklace, and a new ring as well. Oh, and your boots seem to have been replaced as well," Oliver observed and noticed the changes as he looked at Dilan.

Oliver didn't need many new pieces of equipment. Thus, he ended up with Dilan the moment he exchanged some of his unused stuff with the Thunderbolt Dagger that Dilan had sold at the trading hub.

"That's more than enough. I mean, everyone can pick up as many pieces of equipment as they want but if they chose too many, either their body won't be able to keep up with the high increase of stats, or they won't even be able to use all your equipment because your mana control is too bad," Dilan stated as he looked at his new equipment.

[Boots of Yamil] <Gold Tier-1> treasure

[+20 Agility]

These boots once belonged to the Scout-Unit that was extremely loyal to the Yamil Kingdom and would even sacrifice their lives while serving them. They're comfortable, easy to wear, and adjust to the foot size of the wearer. Wearing them will make you feel light like a feather!

[Aquatic Gloves of Heretia] <Silver Tier-1> treasure

[+5 Health], [+5 Stamina]

[Minor Water Control] – The wearer can control the surrounding water for 10 Seconds. Mana will be drained according to the amount of water the wearer desires to control! –

The gloves have been manufactured from the hide of an Elite Lamia and a Wytera Starfish's scales. On the outside, they are hard as stone but on the inside, the gloves are warm and cozy. You will never want to let them go after wearing them once!

[Necklace of Replication] <Silver Tier-1> treasure

[+8 Mana]

Special trait – Can store/replicate one ability per day. Any replicated ability can be used a total of five times! –

Special necklace that once belonged to the Doppelganger race.

[Ring of Ice] <Bronze Tier-1> treasure

[+3 Mana]

[Icicle] – The wearer can use between 1 and 5 Units of Mana to manifest and control an Icicle!

Dilan chose most treasures because of their special abilities and traits. The additional status points might be quite helpful but they were only an additional benefit. In order to protect himself in the best possible ways, Dilan wanted to have all the treasures' abilities. Whether he would have to use them later or not was actually not important.

He already felt that he had picked up a lot of treasures. All of them had to be empowered by a tiny bit of highly potent mana. Only someone at Tier-1 would be able to possess such potent mana, which was also why most Tier-1 treasures could only be wielded by Tier-1 Ascenders.

Of course, there were exceptions, but these Ascenders were special.

"We don't have much time left. Let's focus," Dilan said when he finished looking through his new equipment once again.

He looked at the others, who were a bit tense, especially Sven as he wanted everyone to be fully prepared for the battle that lay ahead of them. Dilan thought that it was impossible to be perfectly prepared for anything but it was obvious that preparations were important, even if it was just to stay mentally calm. Sitting idle in the face of impending danger was hardly a smart choice.

Hours passed and everyone was a bit exhausted when they finished setting up their traps. Everyone, who would join the fight, had put on some new pieces of equipment. They were ready to fight with all their might and the new equipment would definitely be helpful.

More than 1300 Ascenders were ready to fight, which was much more than Dilan would have expected. In the end, the 1000 Ascenders were put in groups of five. This set-up was basically the best because it was preferable to have a designated team for a specific function namely healing others, supporting them using stat-amplifying abilities, fighting long-range, a meatshield that would block all advances, and a close-combat fighter group, who would deal the most damage.

This set-up was quite simple but it allowed the small group to fight a wide variety of opponents. As long as the healing and supporting Ascenders were protected and nobody overestimated their own prowess, nothing would go wrong with that plan.

That was what many thought and they followed the common group set-up they had been introduced to.

However, Sven also created various special groups, where everyone was focused on long-range attacks, assassination, and protection or the use of elemental attacks.

There were numerous Ascenders with unique Occupations and abilities in their group. Creating a perfect group might be possible with them but this would take up too much time to test out the teamwork of various Ascenders, and gauge if they were even able to perform what Dilan and the others presumed them to be able to work out together.

Today was not the time to fool around, which was what everyone understood clearly.

A single mistake could lead to the death of an entire group and that was not something anyone wanted to happen.

Safety was much more important than an overwhelming win, which was also why Dilan wanted to make sure that all-powerful opponents would be taken care of by him and the other powerful Ascenders.

"Nobody was able to reach the requirements to advance to Tier-2 yet, right?" He asked just to ensure himself while looking over to Yvonne and Kathrine, who were still bickering with Victoria. The beautiful Vampire stood in between the sisters, smiling lightly as she acted as if she couldn't understand why they were angry with her.

"Huh? What?" Kathrine asked when she realized that someone called out her name. Yvonne had understood Dilan's question, which was why she took away her sister's opportunity to earn brownie points.

"A bunch of Ascenders, including Kathrine, have reached Level 25. Just like you thought it is the highest level one can reach Tier-1. The advancement requirements are different from before and we need to complete 'missions' according to the path we want our occupation to advance.

These missions are quite difficult, which is why nobody has been able to complete their advancement until now!" Yvonne explained in a simple manner and she looked at Dilan as if she was expecting something.

"But that doesn't mean the Vampires were not able to advance to Tier-2. I guess, we have to be prepared for everything…" Dilan just mumbled, ignoring Yvonne's gaze as he heard something from his right.

A car horn honked loudly and its sound echoed through the entire base before a simple yet impactful comment reached them.

"They're coming!"

**

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