Chapter 21: The Death-Speech Orb and the Blood Clan’s Legacy
Bang!
Bang!
Deadly Shot.
Two gleaming silver bullets tore through the gray mist, striking the heads of the elite guards almost simultaneously.
The elite guard staggered, losing nearly seven thousand health points, his health bar instantly dropping to about half.
Bang!
Bang!
Two more shots, both Deadly Shots again.
Normally, skills have cooldowns and cannot be triggered twice in quick succession, but after ascending to legendary rank, Deadly Shot was enhanced.
Previously, a single skill-imbued bullet was fired from that silver-white pistol; now, six bullets discharged—an entire magazine.
Each bullet dealt over three thousand damage. After five shots, the elite guard was left with just a sliver of health. One more shot would finish him off.
Yet, at the brink of death, the jet-black heavy armor worn by the elite guard suddenly radiated a dark glow.
Skill activated: Iron Guard.
Instantly, the nearly defeated elite guard gained immense damage reduction.
Skill activated: Spinning Blood Blade.
With damage immunity, the elite guard dragged his iron chain and swung his massive axe, attempting to unleash his strongest strike.
But by now, the Blood Lord was at his peak—how could he just wait to be killed?
Bang! Bang! Bang!
A few shots from the black pistol shattered the Iron Guard’s damage reduction.
Then, like a wraith, he flashed behind the elite guard.
At the exact moment the blood-red great axe was hurled, a gleaming silver bullet struck the back of the elite guard’s head with pinpoint accuracy.
Bang!
Kill confirmed: Fallen Guard Elite LV.9, +795 experience.
Loot acquired: Death Whisper Orb x1.
Death Whisper Orb
Quality: Rare
Effect: Each kill or assist charges 1 stack of [Whisper of the Dead]; each stack grants a 5% all-attribute bonus.
Note: The Death Whisper Orb’s effect requires manual activation; upon activation, stacks reset and the all-attribute bonus lasts for 1 minute.
Note: If the wearer dies, stacks reset.
A rare-grade orb!
Each kill or assist accumulates a 5% bonus to all attributes!
Unlike ordinary orbs, the Death Whisper Orb’s effect must be actively triggered.
In other words, even if you accumulate 20 stacks for a 100% bonus, you gain no effect unless you activate it.
---
After some thought, Gu Chen decided to equip the Death Whisper Orb on the Nightmare Sovereign.
First, the Nightmare Sovereign can freely shuttle between dreams and reality, boasting greater survivability and less risk of death, which helps accumulate more stacks.
Second, its skill Deep Dream inflicts area continuous damage, maximizing the orb’s effect during its one-minute duration.
After equipping it, the Blood Lord pressed onward.
Passing through a courtyard and dispatching a batch of guards, Gu Chen arrived at the main hall’s entrance.
Pushing open two heavy doors, at the center of the main hall beside a toppled massive statue, a tall figure cloaked in black robes loomed.
Alien: Black-Robed Steward Elite
Level: LV.13
Health: 35,000
Attributes: Strength 125, Agility 127, Stamina 132, Spirit 135
Skill I: Gray Mist Curse
Skill II: Ultimate Darkness Assault
Skill III: Damage Transfer
Still the Black-Robed Steward, only now leveled up.
Level 13, average attributes around 130, and health skyrocketed to 35,000.
Though the skills remained unchanged, the figure was larger, more shadowed, and the Gray Mist Curse in the hall was intensified.
Gu Chen felt the weakening effect suppressing all his attributes by 40%. Fighting in such a state would halve his combat effectiveness.
Fortunately, the Blood Lord had used a healing potion granting immunity to the Gray Mist Curse for ten minutes; otherwise, fighting while weakened would be hopeless.
At the same time, numerous Fallen Guards began spawning from the hall’s corners.
In the blink of an eye, over fifty armored towering figures appeared around Gu Chen.
Within the dream, Lin Yuan and the others saw countless guards from all directions, their scalps tingling.
“So many? The last main hall didn’t look like this!” Lin Qingqing frowned.
“There are too many to count—this is terrifying!” Su Ran said.
“We’re really in big trouble now,” Wu Ziyi said gravely.
“What do we do? Even with the Nightmare Sovereign, this many monsters isn’t enough!” Lin Yuan panicked.
In the hard-level dungeon, the Black-Robed Steward had only about twenty guards, with the highest being just two level-5 guards.
Now, the number of guards had doubled, all at least level 5, with some reaching level 7 and 8.
Remember, the Black-Robed Steward has the Damage Transfer skill!
These fifty-plus Fallen Guards weren’t just minions—they were walking health pools.
Level 5 guards each had 2,900 health, level 6 had 3,500, level 7 had 4,200, and level 8 guards had 5,000.
Assuming an average of 4,000 health per guard, their combined total health neared 200,000!
---
In other words, the Black-Robed Steward had 35,000 health himself, plus an additional 200,000 health distributed among his guards!
He was a veritable blood tank!
No, a blood tank doesn’t do him justice—he was a blood reservoir!
“What can we do? Over 200,000 health—won’t our guns just blow apart trying to chip through that?” Lin Yuan fretted.
“Not necessarily.”
A voice sounded by his ear. Lin Yuan turned to see Gu Chen had appeared in the dream as well.
“Old Gu, how did you get in here?” Lin Yuan asked, puzzled.
“The upcoming battle will be chaotic. I’m afraid of friendly fire,” Gu Chen replied coolly.
Chaotic battle?
Hearing Gu Chen, the four turned to watch.
The Blood Lord’s five fingers clenched and then opened, releasing five streaks of crimson blood light that shot into the bodies of the guards outside the main hall.
The next moment, the corpses’ eyes snapped open, glowing with malevolent bloodlight as they slowly rose from the ground.
Bloodline Inheritance: The Blood Lord can consume his own health to transform fallen units into descendants of the bloodline.
The Blood Lord sacrificed 5,000 health to revive five corpses into bloodline guards, his health bar dropping slightly above half.
The bloodline guards retained their original levels: three level 7s and two level 8s.
They gathered behind the Blood Lord, their crimson pupils fixed on the surrounding Fallen Guards with predatory ferocity.
“Kill!”
The Blood Lord uttered a single word.
The bloodline guards, wielding longswords and heavy axes, launched themselves wildly into the ranks of the Fallen Guards ahead.
Robust constitution and rapid regeneration were innate to the bloodline; under normal circumstances, these guards would hold the advantage.
However, under the Gray Mist Curse, the level 7 and 8 bloodline guards could only focus on killing the lowest level 5 guards first.
Meanwhile, the Blood Lord zeroed in on a level 8 Fallen Guard attempting to attack his bloodline guards.
Bang! Bang! Bang! …
A rapid volley of silver bullets struck the level 8 guard.
Kill confirmed: Fallen Guard LV.8, +616 experience.
Five bloodline guards fought against many, the battle fierce, and soon Fallen Guards began dropping one by one.
Kill confirmed: Fallen Guard LV.5, +113 experience.
Kill confirmed: Fallen Guard LV.5, +113 experience.
Kill confirmed: Fallen Guard LV.6, +234 experience.
Kill confirmed: Fallen Guard LV.6, +234 experience.
...