In the morning of the next day, they resumed the expedition again. Since the army had decreased in size, they could not afford to have three vanguard troops as previously. Commander Quintus only spared Jack two hundred soldiers to be used as vanguard troops, with numerous individual scouts which spread out around the main army for early detection in case the orcs decided to return. Although a ceasefire agreement was reached with the orc army, they still couldn't afford to be careless. With only one vanguard troop, the experience gathered was less rapid, but still more abundant than if they did monster-grinding normally. Before the expedition resumed, Jack thought that he had caught up in level with the others after killing Wangombe. Only to find out dejectedly that the others had reached level twenty-eight in the war, still placing the others ahead of him. Jack did not see an increase in the soldiers' powers despite John and Jeanny's talents. He thought probably because the commander had appointed him as their leader instead of those two. So, their talent's effect was not triggered. The monsters they encountered were still mostly Giant Scorpions and Flame Tigers. Only when Captain Salem informed him that they were close to their destination that they met the last monster in Jack's Hunting quests, Tri-colored Cockatrice. The monster looked like a giant rooster with scaly skin, a lizard tail, and bat wings. Its lizard tail was green in color, its scaly body bronze, while its rooster head was red. Thus, the three colors in its name. It could not fly though despite the wings, so it's easier to organize the soldiers against them. Flying monster would just fly over the formation, making the formation useless. However, the fights were still tough. Apart from these monsters having an average level of forty after being sufficiently damaged, these cockatrices would unleash a projectile attack from their eyes that paralyzed the ones that got hit. The paralyzed soldiers would be immobile and open for attacks. Luckily, the cockatrices could not use this attack often, so another soldier just went up to cover for his paralyzed comrade. Nevertheless, these cockatrices liked to attack in a large number, so if they all used these paralyzing attacks at the same time, it still caused a headache since a large number of soldiers would be incapacitated for a duration. They continued to advance at a steady pace while obliterating the Tri-colored Cockatrice. Soon, the outline of a structure could be seen in the distance. Was it another mirage? In the two days since they resumed the expedition, they had seen such images twice, and both times had proven to just be mirages. When several small ruins were seen in proximity, they then exhaled a breath of relief, it was no mirage. When Jack opened his Map interface, he could see the large structure they saw in the distance had the name written, Temple of Divine Squall. They had finally arrived. The large structure in the distance was not the only ruins. There were lots of small size ruins spread out with the temple at its center. The layout made it seem that this place was most likely a bustling town in the past. Now, there were only ruins left, roamed by monsters. The vanguard troops continued onward as they cleared out the monsters and made their way to the temple. Suddenly, three strange-looking monsters blocked their path. It was unlike the Tri-colored cockatrices which they had been fighting all this time. These new ones looked more like a giant lizard than a rooster. Jack used his God-eye monocle to scan them. Ruin Basilisk (Elite monster, Magical), level forty-five "Warn the soldiers to not look at their eyes when they started to glow," Jack heard Peniel's urgent sound. Jack was puzzled, but he trusted the fairy enough to immediately relayed the command. However, it was too late for the ones at the front. The basilisk's eyes were already shining brightly even as Jack gave the command. The ones in front who were staring directly into the creature's eyes felt their bodies stiffened. To their comrade's horror, their bodies slowly turned into stone. 'Is that stone effect permanent?' Jack asked Peniel.
Chapter Comments (0)
Login to comment.