Chapter 201 - Kingdom Quest

[Level 50; Dark Mage]

[Level 48; Dark Mage]

Liam gripped his sword tightly and dashed forward to first test the waters. In truth, it was not the level difference he was most concerned about, rather it was their skills and abilities.

Although he had just now faced numerous dark mages as a part of the invasion, he was not confident at all when fighting against these two in front of him.

This was because those mages were lower-level cannon fodder, incapable of casting any powerful spells. That was why they had been massacred by him.

However, these ones were different.

Because they were level 50, they should be capable of executing some special skills that tapped into the dark element.

The nether realm event that was going to start soon involved all sorts of dark practitioners and nether realm beings, so everyone had at least once or twice fought against this type.

Liam as well had personal experience of fighting against this type of monster and he knew very well some of the special skills that they had at their disposal.

These types of dark practitioners liked to fight dirty.

Their usual method of attack was to throw a slew of curses at the target, making them as helpless as a baby, and then slaughter them without mercy.

Of course, they also had their weaknesses. Any divine or nature-type player could easily overpower these guys.

But the problem was… this was not really Liam's forte.

So the only option he had was to barrage these guys with several attacks and kill them off before they could weaken him completely.

And if worse comes to worst, he always had the grenades as a backup.

[Mana Net]

[Swamp Vines]

Liam activated both trapping skills, as he lunged at the two cloaked figures.

He then slashed the crimson blade in a frenzy, wanting to deal the maximum damage that he could while they were stuck immobile.

Luna as well stood at the back and bombarded the two figures with fireballs.

But the damage numbers that came out were completely different for both types of attacks.

While Liam's physical attack was taking out huge chunks of health, Luna's magic damage was only barely scratching.

"I knew it." Liam gritted his teeth. "These guys also have high magic resistance. I need to finish this fast. Otherwise…"

He pushed his swordplay and agility as much as he could and squandered one-fourth of their total health.

But how could it be possible to finish off two Level 50 monsters in just a few seconds?

It was inevitable that the two trapping skills would eventually wear off as their effect lasted only for a couple of seconds.

And as soon as they were able to move, the two dark mages glided on the floor as if they were flying and instantly moved several feet away from Liam.

"No, you don't." Liam immediately rushed after them to close the distance between them again, but the two mages already started casting.

[Ding. You have been affected by the 'Weaken' curse. Your attributes are reduced by half]

"Fuck!" Liam's heart sank. This kind of curse might as well be a lethal killing blow to his head.

Even after everything, it looks like he had still underestimated the strength of a Level 50 opponent.

However, the next instant, another unexpected notification popped out.

[Ding. You have absorbed the dark element. The curse is ineffective]

Seeing this, Liam's jaw almost dropped to the ground. "What the fuck?" However, putting aside his confusion, he continued moving towards the dark mages.

He did not know why exactly this happened but he grinned in excitement.

Just like Liam was shocked, the two dark mages also revealed unsightly expressions and they began casting more curses furiously.

[Ding. You have been affected by the 'Plague' Curse. Your health is reduced by half]

[Ding. You have absorbed the dark element. The curse is ineffective]

[Ding. You have been affected by the 'Bleed' Curse. Your health reduces by 200 every second]

[Ding. You have absorbed the dark element. The curse is ineffective]

Hearing each curse that chimed in, Liam started sweating profusely. What if these spells had actually been effective?

His condition would have then been miserable. He would have suffered an absolute and total loss.

This was a painful reminder for him to not get carried away by the little bit of knowledge he possessed. In the future, he needed to make more preparations.

What he had right now was not nearly enough.

While he was wasting time hunting down the necromancy inheritance, the dangers around him would only keep on piling up.

Suddenly, Liam understood what had just happened. When he thought about it, it was obvious. His SSS-undead affinity!

Liam had a perfect affinity for the nether. The dark element and the nether were similar in many aspects, though they were not one and the same.

Perhaps because of his perfect affinity to the nether, he was impervious to dark element attacks.

Just like he could absorb nether into his body, he was also absorbing the dark element from the attacks.

This was unbelievable. Liam never knew such a thing existed. He was amazed at being able to absorb elemental essences for having an S-grade mana affinity.

But it looked like SSS-grade went a step above this, allowing him to absorb even attacks aimed at him!

"Bring it on." Liam grinned at this realization and slashed at the two dark mages. They waved their staffs, trying to thwart his attacks but it was completely useless.

Under a skilled martial expert, a staff can very well match a sword in attack power and technique, but these mages were skilled in dark magic, not martial arts.

So unable to fight back, they suffered under Liam's relentless attacks.

However, this advantage he had lasted only for a few seconds. It didn't take long for them to realize that the curses were ineffective against this enemy.

The two dark mages instantly switched to other attacks, sending out their own fireballs that were darker in color and wind blades with darkened edges.

"These guys can also combine two elements?" Liam smiled bitterly and did his best to move around, dodging as much as he could.

At the same time, he also used all of his mana to boost his physical attributes as he was only relying on that right now and his sword danced continuously claiming chunks of health.

Both parties suffered almost equal damages by exchanging blows. In the end, it seemed that the winner would be the one who could last the longest.

But, Liam already managed to come on top using the small advantage he had at the beginning when the two mages were caught off guard by their ineffective curses.

He made sure not to let them close this gap and after two whole minutes, the fight was finally over!

[Ding. You have gained 10000 experience points]

[Ding. You have gained 10000 experience points]

Just like the difficulty of the fight, the experience points as well were equally good, considering that these were only unnamed enemies. Also, the ten-level difference gave this bump.

Liam, however, collapsed on the ground immediately after the fight, not interested in the experience points.

He took a small break to catch his breath and adjust his condition. He also ate a recovery berry and dunked in a mana potion.

But he did not look happy at all. "Damn it. Only 2 guards and I am already at my limit? Just how many are going to be there inside the temple?"

Just as he was thinking about this, suddenly a quest notification popped up.

[Ding. Kingdom Quest: Kill the enchantress]

[You must kill the enchantress before she returns to the peak of her power]

[Time Limit: 1 hour]

[Quest Reward: 1000 Gold; Promotion to Duke status]

Liam's eyes almost popped out in surprise on reading this description. "A kingdom quest and the reward is so high?"

Since quests did not have clear classifications, it was the reward for a quest that displayed its monstrosity and its difficulty level.

And from what he saw, this quest was an insanely difficult one, almost impossible to finish!

Direct promotion to Dukeship was not a simple reward at all. It looked like the kingdom was offering so much to just kill one enemy and she was an enchantress.

This coupled with the fact that Shen Yue was gifted a Charm attribute for the first part of the quest, Liam could vaguely make sense of the whole thing.

This was probably an inheritance quest of sorts. Maybe Shen Yue could have unlocked a hidden class similar to enchantress from it?

Since they took too long and did not even attempt the quest, it probably triggered something else, and instant of being rewarded by the witch, they were being punished by her.

Also, he doubted that the punishment would stop with a simple death.

Maybe his sister who was unrelated to the quest would only suffer one death, but Shen Yue might lose some attributes, perhaps even a bigger chunk of her soul.

"I did a mistake. I didn't think they would be directly giving out inheritances in the gift box." Liam sighed.

He had so many things to keep track of and it was inevitable that one or two would slip on the side. However, this was too much of a loss.

Having a special class on their side would have tremendously boosted their strength. She could have been a powerful ally.

"What am I thinking? I am already giving up?" Liam closed his eyes, trying to clear his mind.

Perhaps the quest was not entirely lost yet?