Chapter 1053: Chapter 662, Dazzling Talisman
[Day of Grace, the quest begins!]
A system notification sounded.
Instantly, the sky lit up with a streak of rainbow light, flashing by.
Fang Hao immediately checked the map and noticed several new special symbols appearing in the highlighted areas.
Ancient ruins!
Spread irregularly around the territory’s perimeter.
“Come, follow me,” Fang Hao said, mounting the Bone Dragon.
Carrying Demitrija and Anjia, they hurried towards the north of the city.
The Bone Dragon flew for about twenty minutes.
They were already near the ruins.
Below, they could see Petty, the Pigmen Clan Leader, rushing northward with nearly a hundred Orc soldiers.
Descending along the way, Fang Hao asked, “Petty, what are you doing?”
“My lord, someone discovered collapsed buildings and enemies near the ‘Bloody Mountains.’ I am about to lead my troops there,” she replied.
What she mentioned seemed to be in the same location as the ruins he was searching for.
Fang Hao stayed on the Bone Dragon without dismounting and said directly, “The rest need not go, Petty, come up with me and let’s take a look.”
Petty turned her head, briefly instructed the soldiers behind her,
and then climbed onto the dragon’s back, sitting in the rear saddle.
Petty, now a 7th tier warrior, possessed significant combat power.
Once seated securely, the Bone Dragon stomped its foot.
Its form shot up from the ground again, heading towards the target.
This time, it was only a five or six-minute flight.
In the air, Fang Hao had already spotted the ruins that suddenly appeared.
A considerable ruin nestled in the dirt; collapsed arches, piles of rubble made up the ancient castle, displaying a stark contrast with the surrounding environment.
It was as if a piece had been cut from somewhere else and pasted onto this area.
Within the ruins, aimless wandering shadows were visible.
Their movements were rigid, like that of a Rotten Corpse.
As the Bone Dragon approached, it landed directly.
They entered the area on foot.
The ground, originally covered in mud and weeds, was now paved with beige bricks.
The bricks, eroded by time, were blotchy and spotted.
“Are these alive or dead?” Anjia whispered.
Ahead, several shadows roamed back and forth.
[Ancient Guardians (Level 8)]
The Guardian troops mainly consisted of three types:
Shield and Sword Warriors, Spear carriers, and Crossbowmen.
In groups of three, they patrolled continuously along a set route.
They looked just like humans except stiff in their movements and expressionless faces, more akin to resurrected Rotten Corpses.
Past the front-line Guardians and looking further inside, there were still quite a few wandering enemies.
At least a few hundred.
So many people that even if it were indeed a reward quest, ordinary transmigrators would find it difficult to break through.
“They’re called Ancient Guardians, Level 8 warriors,” Fang Hao replied.
“What do we do, rush in?”
“There’s no need for us,” Fang Hao said.
Gathering magic power.
Whoosh!!
The next second, two massive stone pillars covered in intricate patterns appeared in front of everyone, unfolding like a tapestry.
Forming a vast, spatially distorted stone gate.
Through the stone gate, the scene behind was no longer the original forest but a dim Troop Hiding Cave.
Inside the cave, dense Skeleton warriors were visible.
Fang Hao felt the drain of his magic power and immediately commanded, “Kill, eliminate all enemies ahead.”
As soon as he spoke,
Whoosh~!
The Skeleton warriors from within the stone gate sprang into action.
Flooding out of the gate, they rushed towards the inner parts of the ruins.
The Ancient Guardians patrolling along the route heard the commotion below and looked back in confusion.
They saw a massive wave of Skeletons, madly charging up the stone steps towards them.
The three Guardians had just prepared their battle formation when the Crossbowman released an arrow.
It was soon overwhelmed and swallowed by the wave of Undead.
In the ruins, a deep horn sounded.
All the ‘Ancient Guardians’ readied themselves for battle, but the oncoming Undead surged like unstoppable floodwaters, spreading relentlessly upwards.
Until all enemies were overwhelmed.
About half an hour later,
The scene suddenly quieted, the Skeletons standing still, entering standby mode.
Fang Hao knew the battle had ended.
“Anjia, Petty, organize the skeletons to clean up the battlefield. Demitrija, come with me to take a look inside,” he instructed.
“Yes!”
The group divided their tasks and began to move.
Anjia and Petty started organizing the Skeletons to clean up the battlefield, as the ‘Ancient Guardians’ had dropped some items.
Fang Hao led Demitrija, making their way upwards.
They went straight into the stone castle.
The arch-shaped stone door of the castle was already somewhat eroded and weathered.
The cracked crevices and falling debris on the ground seemed like they could collapse at any moment.
Fang Hao glanced at it and still walked inside.
The space inside the stone castle was not small, centered around a tall stone platform.
Atop the platform, there was a mud statue with half of its head missing.
On the statue’s neck hung a pendant, thick with dust.
[Radiant Sovereign Talisman (Orange)]
[Category: Talisman]
[Ability: Increases damage reduction by 50% under sunlight.]
(Description: A relic from a once-flourishing empire, scattered across different lands.)
An orange pendant.
This surprised Fang Hao.
In this world, orange-grade equipment was among the top tier.
A ruler or clan leader possessing one or two pieces of orange-grade equipment could treat them as national treasures or heirlooms.
Among the equipment, accessories with special properties are even scarcer than weapons and armor.
Each one that appeared could be sold for a sky-high price.
Now, Fang Hao had obtained another one.
“See if there’s anything else in the hall,” Fang Hao said to someone beside him.
“Okay!”
The two spread out and began to search the spacious, dim hall.
Soon, the sound of heavy objects scraping the floor was heard.
Demitrija was seen dragging a red chest toward him.
Fang Hao was delighted to see another chest.
He was about to open it when he saw its attributes and paused mid-action.
[Resource Chest]
(Description: Upon opening, you can obtain resource rewards, including but not limited to building materials, forging materials, food ingredients, etc.)
A Resource Chest, not an Equipment Chest.
It can’t be opened yet, as opening it would cause a major appearance of materials.
People would need to be arranged to transport them.
Suppressing the urge to open the chest, he stored the ‘Resource Chest’ in his storage space.
Then they both took the pendant from the ‘mud statue’ and headed outside.
…
Outside the Stone Castle.
Anjia and Petty had finished cleaning the battlefield and were chatting together.
Seeing Fang Hao approaching, they both greeted him.
Petty said, “Sir, we’ve collected over a thousand pieces of equipment, but all are severely corroded and damaged.”
“Any bodies?”
“No bodies, the enemies’ bodies quickly decay and vanish after death, leaving only the equipment and these ‘Blueprint fragments’,” Petty continued.
Fang Hao took them and examined them.
[Guardians’ Sword Damaged Blueprint]
[Guardians’ Brass Shield Damaged Blueprint]
(Description: Collect ten damaged blueprints to obtain the complete blueprint.)
The fragments could be combined into complete blueprints; this task was forcing transmigrators to clear out the minor monsters outside.
Only by clearing them could you obtain the corresponding blueprints.
Otherwise, getting one or two pages had no use at all.
“How many do we have?”
“We have ten of each type.”
“Give them to me.”
Petty handed all the blueprints to Fang Hao.
[Combining ‘Guardians’ Sword’ Complete Blueprint]
[Combining ‘Guardians’ Brass Shield’ Complete Blueprint]
Light flashed, and the damaged blueprints turned into two complete blueprints.
[Guardians’ Sword Blueprint (Blue)]
[Guardians’ Brass Shield Blueprint (Blue)]
Just blue!
Fang Hao felt somewhat disappointed.
He stored the blueprints and didn’t continue to look at them.
Reopening the intricately inscribed ‘Gate of the Worlds,’ he ordered the surrounding undead, “Carry this equipment, all back to the Troop Hiding Cave.”
Clattering!
The Skeletons resumed their activity.
Carrying the scavenged armor and swords, they re-entered the Troop Hiding Cave.
Soon, they vanished out of sight.
“Let’s go, get on the Bone Dragon, and continue to the next site.”
Several people mounted the Bone Dragon and soared into the sky once more.
…
In the area channel.
“Damn it, what kind of enemies are these, so fierce, and they use tactics.”
“My forces just rushed in and were wiped out by the other side.”
“The enemies this time are toxic, huh? I lost some troops in the first wave, and when I took new troops over, I found that the enemies had equipped themselves with the gear we lost, what’s going on?”
“I rushed over from miles away only to give them a bunch of experience, damn!”
“Quick, let’s form a team, I’m near Cold Tooth Mountain, any brothers forming a team?”
“Looking for teammates in Chaotic Burial Valley, local brothers form a team, missing three, powerful casters priority.”
“Missing one for a five-man team, looking for partners.”
Fang Hao, sitting atop the Bone Dragon, read through the chat in the area channel.
The rewards seemed good, but the difficulty was certainly not small.
Like the ‘Guardian Army’ Fang Hao just faced, several hundred eighth-tier soldiers.
They could coordinate tactically, and most transmigrators would be just delivering themselves on a platter.
But there wasn’t really much danger—no one mentioned enemies from the ancient site pursuing and killing outside.
Forming teams was also a good method if you couldn’t beat them alone.
He continued to open the domain channel.
It was also filled with complaints, mentioning high difficulty and severe losses.
But since people in the domain knew each other, it was easy to quickly find a team to join.
Fang Hao thought for a moment; this opportunity was indeed rare.
So he typed in the domain channel.
“Those who can’t beat it, register with their respective ‘Lord’, to receive a ‘Stone Monster Construct Body’ to aid in battle beforehand, those who want to buy it, wait until after the task and purchase it at a set price.”
Stone Monster Construct Bodies, though fifth-tier.
But with tough skin, high magic resistance, they make excellent living shields.
They are well-suited for this kind of situation.
“Thank you, boss.”
“Yay! Thank you, boss.”
Voices of gratitude appeared.
…
As they neared the second ancient site, Fang Hao also closed the Book of Lords.
He descended from afar.
Fang Hao looked toward the enemy within the ancient site.
[Iron Armored Rhino Cavalry (Eighth Tier)]