Chapter 152: Trapped!

So that was it. It was just an ordinary level 65 black wolf. If that was the case, trading it for a True Sight skill was definitely worth it!

I was busy calculating my gains and losses as I bid farewell to the prophet.

My field of vision had improved significantly. After walking south for less than ten minutes, the canyon described by the old man indeed appeared before me. The level 65 black wolves should be right inside!

There were basically no monsters along the way. As I rounded a cliff, my gaze was instantly drawn to a faint, distant glow.

What was that?

Filled with astonishment, I immediately activated stealth and rushed forward.

As expected, that eerie glow was emitted by a sword, and that very sword happened to be the target of my trip—the Sword of Arcane Arts!

Taking a few more steps forward, I was completely dumbfounded.

The old man had not lied to me. Guarding this magical greatsword were indeed level 65 black wolves, but not just one—a whole pack of them!

A rough count revealed at least a hundred!

I couldn't help but gasp. What should I do? Should I abandon this quest, or go over and give it a try?

Challenging this huge horde of level 65 monsters all by myself seemed a bit beyond my abilities. Normally, dealing with monsters ten levels higher than me was already difficult enough to handle easily, let alone a whole swarm of level 65 ones!

Looking around, my eyes suddenly lit up. Right nearby, a convenient fissure appeared on the cliff wall, as if it had been custom-made just for me!

Having made up my mind, I immediately activated Swordsman's Quickness and dashed rapidly around the perimeter of the monsters, successfully luring all hundred-plus black wolves without missing a single one. This trick, which ordinary players would consider a stunt, was something I could pull off as effortlessly as my daily routine. Perhaps this was what they called gaming talent.

There was no time to be smug. A massive horde of wolves was already charging fiercely toward me, while I skillfully bypassed the leading black wolves and dived straight into the crevice in the cliff wall—just the right spot where only a single wolf could attack me at a time.

Everything went as usual, but the speed of killing monsters was incomparable. With my attack power of over 800, even when striking level 65 enemies, every hit landed solidly. The black wolves, notorious for their high damage, did not disappoint either; every time their claws swiped past, they shaved off several hundred points of my health. Fortunately, I had brought sustained-healing potions, and more importantly, my inventory was already packed with health recovery potions I had brewed over the past two days. Even so, it was still quite a struggle. After the system update, the cooldown for drinking potions had been extended from 8 seconds to 60 seconds, which was a fatal blow to a solo maniac like me.

Luckily, I had the Ice Slash skill to buy myself some time, and the 1200 HP restored by the tier-2 potions was still quite substantial. The level 5 passive skill, Glacial Sword, with its 20% activation rate, greatly accelerated my monster-killing speed. Every time the skill triggered, a large swathe of the wolves opposite me would be beaten into a wretched state, and on the rare occasion it triggered continuously, a massive front wave of wolves would be instantly vaporized in a flash!

My experience points were soaring rapidly. If not for the heavy consumption of potions, this would truly have been a fantastic leveling method.

After killing for nearly two hours, I grew frustrated. Why were there still wolves outside? I clearly remembered telling myself I would pack it in after slaying eight more, but there were still a dozen left. What was going on here?

My heart hammered. My hands were practically cramping from the endless monster slaying, yet the monsters outside kept continuously respawning, and their respawn rate seemed to match my killing speed in perfect equilibrium. Damn it, what a harmonious society!

I had been fighting for nearly three hours when I finally reached my limit, bursting directly out of the monster encirclement. After a few failed attempts to pull monsters, I finally reached the sword, grabbed it, and stuffed the item into my inventory!

Paying no heed to the wolf pack behind me, I cast Enhanced Stealth to enter the void. The few wolves still in pursuit instantly lost their target, wandered around in circles for a bit, and finally retreated back into the canyon.

Being able to secure the quest item without wiping out all the monsters was a truly agonizing lesson.

The old man was still standing there. The moment he saw me return, his wrinkled old face instantly broke into a smile.

"Young warrior, did you get the Sword of Arcane Arts?"

I pulled the sword from my inventory and said, "Got it. Is there any quest reward?"

The old man was stunned. After a long moment, he said, "This is only the first half of the quest! There are still matters where I need your help!"

I checked my inventory. The health recovery potions I had spent two days brewing were mostly gone. The black wolves I had spent so long killing earlier had dropped a few items, all of them level 55-ish green gear, which were currently useless since no one could equip them. Still, I had to admit the importance of gear levels; the defense of a level 57 green armor actually surpassed that of Murong Shanshan's purple armor!

The old man picked up the sword, observed it carefully for a long time, and then said, "The following quest will be extremely harsh and brutal. I do not wish for you to regret this, so I would like to brief you beforehand. If you manage to challenge and complete the entire quest, your rewards will be bountiful. Of course, you may also quit the quest right now, but in that case, you will not receive any quest rewards. However, one thing is certain: the difficulty of this quest definitely exceeds your imagination. Given your current level, it might be a bit of a stretch!"

I was momentarily stunned and asked, "What do you mean by that?"

The serious expression on the old man's face gradually gave way to a smile. He said, "It's just a routine quest notification. Which quest doesn't have any difficulty? Now, are you willing to continue this quest?"

"Ding~!"

System Prompt: Do you wish to accept the follow-up quest?

Judging by past experience, this kind of quest ought to have substantial benefits, so I immediately chose to accept.

"Ding~!"

System Prompt: Special quest initiated—Unlock the barrier of Prophet Ronin! You cannot quit during the quest. Quitting or disconnecting will be treated as a quest failure, resulting in a loss of 3 levels and the random loss of three skills!

...

Looking at the system prompt, I suddenly had the urge to cry. What kind of quest was this? Failing to complete it would dock my levels, and what was even more terrifying was losing three skills! I only had a handful of skills as it was; if I happened to lose Enhanced Combo and Ice Slash, I might as well just delete my character!

An old-fox-like smile appeared on the old man's face. "Very well! Take this Sword of Arcane Arts and help me break the long-sealed barrier!"

For the first time, the old man's body shifted slightly, and immediately beneath his robes, I caught sight of a ring of azure magic array. At its center, several vine-like luminous tentacles were gripping the old man's feet tightly.

Damn it, he was actually trapped by an NPC debuff!

I felt like crying without tears. The reason the old man hadn't moved all this time was simply to use his robes to conceal the confinement array afflicting him. What an old fox!

The old man coughed heavily a few times and said with a hint of fatigue, "Young man, I am not truly trying to deceive you. It's just that I have extremely important matters to attend to, but I have been imprisoned here by an evil magical beast using its unique sealing array. I had no other choice. If I do not rush to the stronghold within a week, the consequences will only be worse. Therefore, I sincerely hope you can complete this nearly impossible task..."

Before he could finish, the old man started coughing again. Judging by his condition, his time was running out.

Concerned, I asked, "Old sir, are you alright? You look like you're coughing terribly!"

The old man smiled, raised his head, and looked at me. "It's fine. When a person gets old, this body of mine is particularly uncooperative. I've had this coughing ailment for almost three hundred years now."

"Damn it, looks like I was worrying for nothing!" I cursed inwardly, then asked, "Old sir, how should I remove your confinement? Should I use this sword?"

"Actually, it's not a sword..." The old man desperately suppressed the urge to cough and explained, "This Sword of Arcane Arts is actually a key leading to a spiritual space. Only with it can you open the door to the space of that evil magical beast. Once there, you will encounter that evil giant beast; slay it, and you will grant me my freedom once again!"

Deeply puzzled, I brandished the "key" and asked, "Then how do I use this key to open the door to the spiritual space?"

"It's very simple." The old man raised both hands and gestured in the air. "You just need to swing this sword vigorously. If the sword reaches a certain speed, it can communicate with the spiritual elements wandering within space, and then you can use the sword to hack open a spatial rift. You yourself will be able to pass through the rift!"

"So magical? Sounds pretty mystical!" I muttered, and then began to furiously wave the long sword in my hand.

The old man opened his eyes wide and kept chanting, "Good, that's it. A bit faster! Yes, just like that, even faster!"

The old man's cries grew increasingly urgent, and the speed of my swinging also accelerated. Gradually, I seemed to sense something...

"Swoosh, swoosh~"

An almost imperceptible sound reached my ears. Several black electrical currents appeared in the air, and a white texture materialized out of thin air right before my eyes!

"That's it! Hurry up and cleave it!" the old man shouted excitedly.

Following his instruction, I swung down with all my might, and a massive spatial rift instantly appeared before me.

"Wait!" The old man stopped me just as I was about to jump into the rift, smiling as he said, "Entering with your current abilities is nothing short of suicide. In light of your utter sincerity, let me help you with one final favor!"

While I stood there in astonishment, the old man suddenly raised his hand, hovering it over the top of my head. Several strands of pink light cascaded down, and my gear, which had already grown quite dim, suddenly burst into dazzling brilliance!