MMORPG: The Elementalist

Eternity Peak, Eternal Barrier, and Eternal Corridor.

According to historical recordings, those three structures seemed to appear around the same time the Buried City was established. Transcripts only briefly documented that the marvels were built by the greatest and most respectable artisans of the Underearth race. The Buried City was definitely the grandest and most unbelievable man-made megastructure throughout the entire Mythical Continent.

However, up to that point, not many could claim that they understood the Buried City thoroughly because more and more secrets were found or rumored to be hidden within the giant establishment.

Not only did the well-known Elders on the Mythical Continent not know much about the Underworld, but they did not have a lot of information regarding the locked-down Buried City too.

For instance, in the current age, nobody could actually explain how the ten Eternity Peaks that surrounded the Buried City were developed by the Underearth race.

Furthermore, no scholar was able to describe how the Eternal Barrier was maintained and where the never-ending source of energy came from.

Last but not least, the Eternal Corridor engraved into Eternity Peak, which connected the ten peaks in different directions and was suspended mid-air right above the Underground City, also remained a mystery. None could understand how such a giant structure came into existence and was installed without any supporting pillar.

The Underearth people were tight-lipped about the external structures, so naturally, they did not pass down much information on how they managed to construct a city greater than Sin City from scratch underground, where resources were scarce.

Now, almost the entire Underearth race had been annihilated. As a result, details on the miraculous constructions were also buried together with them. Only twenty Demigod Guardians were left at the ten Eternity Peaks to hold the last line of defense and continue to resist the Underworld forces that had conquered their homeland. It was through the narration of these guardians, and the clues as well as hints given in the mission, that players could gradually grope some of the secrets once held only by the ancient Underearth race.

***

The secret passage beneath Eternity Peak, according to Darius, was a precautionary measure installed by the forward-thinking artisans of the Underearth race. It linked the outside of the city to ten well-hidden bunkers.

At a critical time, the secret passage could serve as an escape route as well as an important tactical base. With the presence of the Eternal Barrier, which could nullify all sorts of ranged attacks and bar the entry of evil beings, the corridor was hard to attack but easy to defend.

Unfortunately, when the Underworld forces infiltrated the Buried City, the Eye of Hades was activated immediately, and that left the residents with no chance of retreat. They simply identified the attack way too late and were slaughtered clean within a short span of time.

Hence, the secret passage had yet to serve its purpose until today.

Similar to the secret passage, the Eternal Corridor was also built with the same consideration. It was a safety measure used to ensure the protection of the Buried City from external threats. Sadly, despite having godlike craftsmanship, the artisans were no fortune tellers, and they could never have predicted the future. Since the colonization broke out within the city itself, the Eternal Corridor turned into a useless wartime decoration.

***

The mission given by Darius this time was to make use of the two abandoned defense pathways.

First, the players needed to infiltrate the Secret Dungeon through the secret passage. Then, they would need to break into the secret room and retrieve the Golden Key.

Only a few in the Buried City knew the existence of the Secret Dungeon, and even lesser knew about the Golden Key in it and its function.

Since the key was very well hidden, Darius was confident that it still had to be in its original location, waiting to be discovered by Hades’ avatar. If players managed to bring him the key, Darius would be able to activate the Eternal Corridor from inside the Barrier and drop the corridor down so that it would link up with the city wall. Of course, he was not going to activate it before they gathered enough reinforcements at Eternity Peak. The Demigod dared not simply provide a direct path from the Buried City to the peak, as that would only welcome more assault from Hades’ avatar.

Moreover, the spectral soldiers available in the Buried City were far more than millions.

To retaliate against such an overwhelming number of Underworld forces, the timing had to be just right. At the very least, they would have to reduce the number of Spectral Shamans and Liches to a certain level first…

***

The acquisition of the Golden Key was a one-time limited mission. As long as someone obtained the key and passed it to Darius, the mission would no longer be offered, and it would be replaced by a subsequent plot and different Story Mission instead.

After Qin Ruo was told the entry time of the previous two groups, he decisively chose the short cut and headed directly deep into the danger zone. He wished to beat the other four competitors and get to the core of the mission—finding the Secret Dungeon and Golden Key—first.

The secret passage may not be as safe as it sounded. After the Buried City fell, every corner of the city was ravaged by dead souls, and that most probably included the hidden passages as well. The tunnel underneath the Buried City was likely the same, filled with all sorts of spectral creatures.

However, the secret passages were all intercalated, and they led to practically all sorts of directions just like a giant maze. Creatures that wandered mindlessly inside the dungeon would not be able to find the correct way to Eternity Peak without proper guidance.

Qin Ruo considered himself lucky. He went around about two hundred meters away from the city wall and soon found the hidden entrance. After he drove the skeletons and zombies near the entrance away, he followed Darius’ instruction and activated the door mechanism to access the underground tunnel. He did not draw any unwanted attention from the Liches and Spirit Bowmasters stationed above the city wall.

He lined his wing vertically to fit himself through the entrance. Fortunately for him, the width of the door was just nice for him to glide through.

Underneath the entrance was a junction with two wide corridors. Once he dropped down from the ceiling, the door above him immediately shut close.

Howl!!

Before Qin Ruo could get a good look of his surroundings, few dark figures immediately jumped on him from the flanks with a unique “ka-cha” sound. It was like something created from running skeletons.

While he was still descending, Poochie had already bounced off his shoulder and met a Cerberus traveling towards his side.

Awoo!

The Cerberus groaned and rolled over funnily to the other side after it was knocked over by Poochie. It hit the corridor wall heavily.

The Angelic Wings on Qin Ruo’s back flapped steadily. He did not bother to check the condition of the Cerberus that had ambushed him and did not care about the Phantom Skeletons dashing at him from all directions of the cross junction. He did a quick scan of the environment and read the situation closely, then…

He found a unique pattern on the wall, which would not gain the specters’ attention. He knew what it was.

“Freeze!”

Two Aquaramparts, which entered the underground tunnel with him, transformed rapidly.

“Explode!”

Boom!!

The sound of a great explosion was heard throughout the underground maze.

***

As he flew over the tumbling specters and poor souls, Qin Ruo lamented silently, ‘This is indeed Master-Level Elementalism. I’ve only added a little Soft property and slightly adjusted the Elemental Density, yet the result is mind-blowing. This Tier 2 Frostburst skill has been instantly enhanced by more than one rank.’ After Elemental Array, the spell’s Attack had become sharper and stronger. The effects of the new Frostburst were close to higher-tier skills like Rapid Rupture, but because its Magic Attribute was not greatly enhanced, the amount of icy aura released by the upgraded skill was still far weaker than that of the latter.

It was regretful that the Elemental Array required an extra step, which was a rather time-consuming one. Thus, although the manipulation technique was quite useful, it was probably not applicable in most battles.

“That’s unfortunate.” He sighed silently and activated Tier 5 Elementalism—Gas!

Directly drawing the gas from the Water Element in the air was much simpler than assembling a condensed spell. This was because the Water Element in the atmosphere was sparse and much easier to manipulate. The only downside was the large area, so Qin Ruo needed three seconds to complete the Array and activate Elemental Perception.

However, once Elemental Perception was set, it would get easier, as he only needed to spend one MP per two seconds to maintain it.

Usually, in the midst of battle, that would be too much to bear even for those who were rich. To support dual defense and Elemental Perception at the same time was equivalent to burning ten bucks every second. Even a Tier 5 Supreme Champion would not be able to last for more than forty seconds in a normal battle with such a consumption rate.

In that aspect, Qin Ruo had a little advantage over the others.

Along the way, all the ordinary specters were unable to harm him. Skeleton Warriors as well as Zombies in his path could not even launch an attack against him, and they were immediately killed.

Every six seconds, a blue light would rise from one of the specters inside the underground tunnel.

The specters not only failed to slow Qin Ruo down but also served as Qin Ruo’s Mana bank. As soon as his MP got low, he would immediately restore it by using Mana Drain on the monsters.

That went on until Qin Ruo finally encountered the first Boss in the underground tunnel.

***

As time passed, the number of specters inside the corridor began to increase exponentially. The level of the incoming monsters had increased slightly too. At times, the monsters were able to penetrate his Water Element ribbon and pose minimal damage (single digit) to his Frostbarrier.

Qin Ruo was especially concerned by a type of Skeleton Archer known as the Darkspirit Archer. The moment the creature entered this Elemental Perception’s range, Qin Ruo could immediately sense the Archer’s agile and decisive moves. Its actions were exceptionally purposeful, and the creature was also quick when it came to magic condensation. It moved unbelievably quick and behaved like a top-tier Bowmaster player.

Just as Qin Ruo stepped into its range of attack, the sound of a bowstring was immediately heard.

A great fluctuation of force, which vibrated the entire space, was also vividly felt.

Three dark rays of light then flew straight at Qin Ruo.

Fortunately, Qin Ruo had estimated that he was right at the bottom of the city center and not very far from the Secret Dungeon, so the actual test was about to arrive very soon. He grew serious and brought forth the two strings of Water Element he had formed beforehand.

He became more vigilant as soon as he saw the incoming dark lights.

The dispersed Water Element was quickly turned into layers of water ribbons and laid in front of him. He planned to receive the attack of the Darkspirit Archer of unknown level head-on.

The arrayed Water Element neither slowed down nor weakened its attack as the array was shattered directly by the three dark rays of light, which subsequently hit the Frostbarrier with a strong force.

Bam!!

The powerful attack penetrated his barrier and forcefully halted Qin Ruo’s forward rush.

A crisp cracking sound rang in Qin Ruo’s ears.

His Darkfrost Shield had collapsed!