Chapter Seventy-Six: Attack! The Battle of Yuxiao City (IV)

With a single, furious punch, the fist landed heavily upon the city wall. The entire fractured section of the wall trembled uncontrollably, and the players gritted their teeth, holding on with all their might as a barrage of powerful spells descended upon the domain of the Voodoo Lord.

Yet, area-of-effect spells bore a glaring weakness: their lack of true damage. Against the Voodoo Lord’s immense health and extraordinary defenses, relying solely on such magic was tantamount to courting death.

Realizing their attacks yielded little effect, the players swiftly shifted tactics. Facing such a formidable threat, they had no choice but to target him with greater precision, disregarding the other monsters for now—there was simply no time to spare.

One after another, devastating single-target skills crashed down upon the Voodoo Lord. Even with his towering health, the relentless onslaught took its toll, especially with the aura of Yuxiao City negating level disparities. No matter how sturdy the foe, numbers would always prevail—such was the unchanging truth.

Right before the Voodoo Lord retreated, he summoned all his might for a final, ferocious kick. At last, after prolonged assault, the wall’s endurance dwindled to nothing. The entire fortification collapsed in a storm of dust that enveloped half the battlefield. The players atop the wall vanished in flashes of white light, and the remaining archer sentries, left unprotected, were quickly overwhelmed and devoured by the swarming monsters.

The tide of battle shifted abruptly.

Yuxiao City now stood without its wall, defenseless before the approaching horde. In the next moment, every player would have to confront the surging monsters head-on. This was the ultimate trial. Thankfully, the wall’s resistance had already greatly diminished the strength of the assaulting creatures.

Though the wall had fallen, Yuxiao City was not without means to retaliate.

The Earth Dragon Knights had long since formed ranks. At the command of Lord Fan Yunshan, they launched a charge from which there would be no return! Countless earth drakes thundered across the plain, their hooves beating as one. Gleaming steel lances lowered, and the mounted knights, proud and unyielding, plunged into the monster horde pouring across the ruined wall.

Blood sprayed in all directions—whether monster or knight, none could say. The clash was brutal, and the players too unleashed their fiercest powers.

Some monsters, isolated from their kin, found themselves beset by squads of players. With the city’s formidable buffs, it was entirely possible to hold one of these creatures at bay. Most, however, chose to cooperate with the guards to slay even greater numbers of foes. Spells and sacred light rained down upon both monsters and knights, the sheer might of the masses fully unleashed in that instant.

All of this was witnessed by Li Ren as he approached the shattered ramparts.

So much time had passed, and now the wall had crumbled. The NPC guards’ attention was almost wholly consumed by the monsters breaking through. This was his perfect moment to strike—or, more precisely, to seize opportunity from the chaos.

Summon! Skeletal Guardians!

A full hundred skeletal guardians materialized at his command, conjured by his innate skills. Admittedly, these minions would be nearly useless now—caught in such ferocious crossfire, they would be reduced to ashes in an instant. But Li Ren had not summoned them to fight. Their true value lay in the unique, inherited talent they possessed: Blood Essence Conversion.

Corpses lay strewn everywhere, both monster and NPC defenders—creatures of a caliber rarely seen on any ordinary day. Their attributes were formidable, and with Li Ren’s doubled absorption rate, the points he could amass would not be mere trifles.

The hundred skeletal guardians fanned out like corpse collectors. Wherever the system had yet to refresh and remove the fallen, they paused but a moment, and the corpses dissolved into streams of blood-red light, which flowed into the skeletons and ultimately transferred, point by point, into Li Ren himself.

He could feel the power continuously coursing into him from each of his minions. Though each was not especially strong, together their force was astonishingly great.

Experience points surged upward as well, and Li Ren wasted not a moment. He put his Ashen Ring to full use—wherever he walked, every piece of equipment dropped by players or monsters, regardless of level, vanished into his possession. None could track the fate of these items unless they followed his movements with unwavering attention.

Amidst the chaos of the battlefield, an inconspicuous skeleton who made no aggressive moves was simply beneath notice.

Just as Li Ren reveled in his windfall, a thunderous cheer erupted from ahead. A dazzling flash of white light swept across the city; the first lord-level boss in this assault had finally fallen, overwhelmed by the sacrificial efforts of the Earth Dragon Knights, and the devastating attacks of archers, mages, and players alike.

“Look! Red-tier equipment!” someone in the rear ranks shouted.

Instantly, all eyes were drawn to the place where the Voodoo Lord had fallen.

There it was—an indistinct piece of gear, shrouded in an extraordinary crimson glow.

In “Realm of the Gods,” the higher the gear’s level, the lower the odds of obtaining it. Unless one was exceptionally lucky or managed to slay a monster far above their own level, blue-tier gear was all one could hope for in regular quests; the drop rates were simply abysmal.

Purple gear had become the mark of elite players, gold gear was a symbol of nobility—each piece so renowned that every player knew who wielded them. Sauron’s twin golden blades, Endless Tempest and Night Sever; the mage’s staff, Dance of Flames—all were legendary.

Dark gold gear had never been seen, and as for red-tier equipment—rarer still, so rare as to be almost mythical, perhaps even impossible to obtain.

In an instant, the crowd erupted.

For this one siege battle, even if they died ten thousand times and lost every level, to acquire that legendary, unimaginable red-tier equipment would be a fortune beyond compare!

Players who had lingered in the second line now surged forward in a frenzy. At the same time, Li Ren’s attention was also drawn by the crimson light, and he heard the greedy shouts of players echoing in his ears.