Chapter 413: Chapter 385, Glory Cemetery_2
The group had been traveling since morning and had continued all the way till nightfall. Everyone began setting up camp.
Fang Hao’s encampment was set up right beside Eric’s team.
They erected each tent one by one.
After lighting up a fire and tossing in some hotpot ingredients, everyone began to eat.
As soon as the hotpot began to heat up, Eric followed his nose over.
“Hotpot, how did you bring hotpot here?” Eric exclaimed with wide eyes.
The Enjoyable Hotpot Restaurant was quite renowned in the city.
Practically everyone present had tasted their food.
Particularly Eric, being a large and robust foodie, was unmistakably familiar with the smell.
“Yes, we brought some. Come sit down and eat with us!” Fang Hao invited him.
“Tho-those, how could I,” Eric stammered, feigning politeness. But his body had already begun settling down.
They added some strips of meat and vegetables to the pot, and everyone began eating.
After dinner, the night watch was arranged and Fang Hao returned to his tent to rest.
Anjia now shared a tent with Fang Hao.
She could thus protect him up close.
…
The next day.
The group set off again.
Several wild animals began to follow them on the road, as well as a minimal number of monster attacks.
After travelling for half a day.
They finally arrived at their planned destination.
It was the ruins of a city.
Large parts of the city walls had collapsed.
Through the broken city gates, the collapsed homes and buildings within the city could be seen.
Broken walls and desolate buildings now sported new growths of plant life.
In the desolation, there was a sense of vitality.
Everything within the city was clear to see, but they did not spot anything dangerous.
“We’ve arrived? But there aren’t any enemies?” Eric found this quite curious and asked a nearby mercenary.
The mercenary replied, “Isn’t the absence of enemies a good thing? Stroll around and then receive 5 gold coins once we return, what a great job.”
Unlike Eric and Fang Hao, the mercenaries did not wish to see any monsters.
On the contrary, they preferred to casually stroll around and receive their rewards afterwards.
“Guess you’re right.” Eric nodded in agreement.
Everyone may have thought so, but the Dragon Scale Mercenaries weren’t fools. Why would they hire them just for a leisurely stroll?
The captain of the Dragon Scale Mercenaries, Pulimo, halted at the gate and shouted to everyone, “Everyone take note! Stay in place for 10 minutes, take care of your needs and check your equipment. We are about to enter a dangerous zone.”
At the sound of Pulimo’s warning, everyone became tense.
No one responded, but the leaders of each team had already begun to urge their members to check their equipment.
They didn’t want to suffer unnecessary losses due to minor issues during combat.
Upon hearing that the fighting was about to begin, Eric’s face reddened once again, a mixture of excitement and anxiety showing in his expression.
“Fa-Fang Hao, let’s keep our teams close, it’s good to have each other’s backs.” Eric had a tremor in his voice, one hand placed on his longsword.
“Okay!” Fang Hao had no objections.
His goal was the treasure chest in these ruins. Having someone to watch his back would make the task easier and was certainly welcome.
The ten minutes passed quickly.
Pulimo waved his hand and the group continued to march forward.
Without any delay, they went straight through the city gates and into the ruins.
Perhaps due to Pulimo’s earlier warning, the atmosphere among the mercenaries was tense.
No one was chattering or goofing off, everyone had their weapons drawn and were on high alert.
Screech… Screech!
A weird luring cry came from the ruins.
Some creatures that looked like skin-flayed monkeys suddenly appeared from nowhere, hunched over and standing on the broken walls, their gazes fixed on the sudden intrusion of humans.
As they weren’t too far away, Fang Hao could see them clearly, he was instantly alerted to their presence.
[Ruin Ghouls (Tier 5)].
They were actually Tier 5 creatures.
In a territory conversion, Tier 5 wasn’t high.
But amongst the mercenaries present, Tier 5 was already considered quite high.
Except for Demitrija and Anjia, the only other individual of high level was the captain of the second team, Pulimo, who had reached Tier 7. The remaining majority were mostly between Tier 3 and Tier 4.
In a one-on-one battle, it would be quite difficult to deal with such a creature.
The Ruin Ghouls looked like monkeys suffering from skin pigmentation disease.
Their pointed ears, protruding teeth and disproportionate facial features were quite menacing, their long arms and pointy claws added to the terror.
They all had massive misshapen tumors protruding from their backs, like carrying torn burlap sacks.
“Archers, clear out the white monkeys on the ruins.” Captain Pulimo ordered.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh…
As the order was given, the airy sound of arrows flying instantly filled the air.
Even for the melee units, most were also equipped with long-range weapons.
All pulled out their bows and started shooting at the Ruin Ghouls in the surroundings.
Upon being attacked, the Ruin Ghouls let out menacing, dangerous cries.
Meanwhile!
The surrounding area quickly filled with even more white monkeys. In the blink of an eye, there were seventy or eighty of them, and their numbers were still increasing.
The next moment, all the white monkeys launched an attack on the crowd.
“Pick up your weapons, form a circle for protection.”
“Damn it, one of my men was dragged away by those monkeys, damn it….”
“These bastards’ blood is poisonous, don’t let it get in your mouth or eyes.”
“….., damn it, their numbers are still increasing.”
The various mercenary groups seemed somewhat chaotic.
Fang Hao’s team was right next to Eric’s mercenary group.
They formed a defense circle together, executing swift kills on the attacking white monkeys.
Except for Demitrija and Anjia, the rest of the members were all mountain bandits by origin.
They exhibited a more ferocious fighting method than the white monkeys.
Fang Hao only pulled out the longsword at his waist without casting any spells.
He chopped down any attacking monkeys.
But as he stayed protected in the center, opportunities to attack were scarce.
Fortunately, their large group had a numerical advantage.
After leaving behind dozens of corpses, the white monkeys also chose to retreat, hiding far behind the ruins, waiting for their next chance.
Everyone took advantage of this opportunity to regain their strength and take some Detox Potions.
“Eric, are you okay?” Fang Hao asked Eric, who seemed a bit nervous.
“I’m fine, one of my team members got injured and is currently getting detoxified.” Eric replied.
Their two teams moved together.
Despite having a smaller size, they suffered the least injury and casualties after the battle.
The presence of two heroes contributed greatly to this result.
Not only did they alleviate most of the pressure, their heroic characters also provided many attribute bonuses.
….
“Everyone, brace yourselves and move forward.”
Seeing that the battle’s loss was not significant, Captain Pulimo ordered to go deeper.
People, while still on the alert of the white monkeys following them, kicked aside the bodies beneath their feet and pressed onwards.
Fang Hao and his party continued to follow suit.
But his eyes fell on the surrounding buildings.
He furrowed his brows. The buildings still carried some rune symbols and gave an overall religious vibe.
Could it be, there is a connection between this place and the temple?
Before Fang Hao had much time to ponder, the team had already moved away from this place, continuing their journey deeper into the ruins of the city.
Increasing numbers of lurking monsters started sneaking around them, apparently preparing for a second strike anytime.
But Captain Pulimo still led the team deeper into the city.
This made Fang Hao ponder the objective of this Dragonscale Mercenary Group.”
The task released by the Dragonscale Mercenary Group this time was confidential.
That is to say, before coming here, all the other mercenary groups had no clue of the purpose and goal of the mission.
And now, the mercenary group was moving deeper into the city, rather than clearing out the surrounding monsters.
It seemed that they had a fixed target.
They were probably retrieving something, knowing quite well the exact location of this object.
After repelling two waves of monkey attacks, the mercenary group finally neared the core building.
It was a huge Stone Castle.
Parts of the Stone Castle had collapsed, and vines covered the walls.
But the various symbols and patterns relating to religious temples and fragments of colored glass were still vaguely visible.
In front of the Stone Castle stood a massive stele.
Pulimo moved forward, chopping away the vines that covered the stele.
The clear words “Glory Cemetery” were revealed.
“As I thought, it’s here…”
Seeing the words, Pulimo’s face showed relief.