A Sliver of Hope Was Still Worth Holding On To

There were dozens of people joining the group, so he left these matters to Usop.

Night Town had three entrances. He assigned one of them to a level 52 Elite Mage who had just joined the Imperial Guard. He also handed Humar over to the Tauren, Heavy Fist. Humar was still a coward and not particularly bright, but with his buffs, the nearly ten thousand points of health could help him weather a wave of attacks.

Meanwhile, Sun Busong returned to Commander Althea and the mayor.

As soon as he opened the door, he asked outright, "Have you figured anything out? Is there really no way to kill that undead mage?"

The mayor shook her head helplessly. "It's not a matter of whether we can think of a way. That undead has been alive for hundreds of years, and wanted posters have been put up everywhere. It still hasn't been caught or killed because its magic is too powerful. Only Silver Elite Paladins or Priests can stand against it—listen carefully, stand against it, not defeat it! To kill it, we'd need at least five level 60 Elite Priests or Paladins working together."

"Then what are we supposed to do? Just sit here and wait to die?" Sun Busong wasn't afraid of dying, but the Imperial Guard had only just been formed. Little Niu and Usop had only just become wholeheartedly committed to fighting alongside him!

He wouldn't let this happen. The Imperial Guard couldn't just die here like a bunch of helpless fools!

At that moment, Commander Althea, who had been sitting silently with her head bowed, finally spoke. She sat with her elbows on the table and her hands covering her face, her voice barely more than a whisper. "Our only remaining option is to wait. Use our lives to hold the undead back until Stormwind sends help. I've already sent someone on horseback to the nearest town to request reinforcements."

"But will Stormwind actually send anyone?"

The mayor asked the question, but Sun Busong treated it like nonsense. If Stormwind sent reinforcements here, he'd eat shit upside down!

They couldn't just sit around and wait. Sun Busong activated several of his Grandmaster-level profession skills and flipped through the recipes one by one, hoping to find some piece of equipment or device that could counter the undead mage, or even kill it.

Before long, it was already midnight!

There were two hours left before the undead mage, Mobent Fel, launched his village-wide slaughter.

Just then, someone pounded urgently on the commander's office door.

"Come in!"

A Night Watcher rushed inside, covered in wounds and with his hair disheveled. He dropped to one knee and choked out, "Commander, it's bad! The team we sent to get help was all killed! The zombies ate all their flesh, and they even turned the Night Watchers' corpses into Skeleton Soldiers!"

"That damn undead mage! I'll kill it! I'll kill it! I'll—" Her voice broke into sobs. "Won't someone come save us?"

When Commander Althea Eberlock heard the news, she fell apart!

She screamed, no longer acting like a commander at all. Tears streamed from her eyes as she wailed hysterically!

Her anguished cries carried all the way downstairs.

"You coward! Was the head of the Night Watch blind? How could they choose a useless wreck like you to command the Night Watch in Duskwood?"

Seeing Commander Althea collapse to the floor and sob, Sun Busong's long-suppressed fury erupted.

"My people are preparing to defend Night Town to the death, and what about you? You're the one responsible for protecting this town! What right do you have to cry? Get up, you idiot!"

"Get out of this room and face the Night Watchers waiting for your orders! Face the people of Night Town, who are desperate to be saved! Go cry in front of them! Let them know it's all over, that Night Town is finished, that they're finished! Not one of them will survive—they'll all be eaten! And their bones will be turned into Skeleton Soldiers, commanded by the undead to kill even more people. They'll never find peace!"

The mayor was so frightened her legs trembled. Sun Busong's eyes were bloodshot, his hair stood on end, and veins bulged all over his body. The ones at his temples looked ready to burst.

Althea was so frightened she stopped breathing. She stopped crying, too. She looked up through her tears and stared into Sun Busong's bloodshot eyes. She stared for a full minute!

Then she stood up, turned, and walked over to her cabinet. She opened it and took out a broad sword more than a meter long. Then she began to undress, until she was left in nothing but her underwear.

The mayor hurriedly lowered her head, but Sun Busong didn't look away. He stared at Althea's back, his face full of anger.

Once she had put on her leather armor, she came over to Sun Busong. "I'll hold the western road. That's where the most undead are, and they're high-level, too. I'll have your people fall back and defend the other two entrances. I won't cry anymore. This might be the last time we speak, the last time we see each other. I only have one last thing to say."

She looked at Sun Busong with a hint of regret. "If only you'd come to Night Town two years earlier!"

With that, she left the commander's office.

The mayor didn't want to be alone with Sun Busong either.

"I'll rally everyone in town who can still fight and have them gather to follow your orders. I'll head downstairs first."

Sun Busong didn't answer. He stared blankly ahead, unable to understand what Althea had meant.

"Everyone, move it! Hurry! Get those stones to the western gate. Its defenses are a little weak! You, take that bundle of explosives to the eastern entrance. Use it if things get desperate!"

"I have some thick planks at home. I need a few people to help me carry them to the barricades!"

"I've got weapons and armor here! Come and get them! We have to hold the line!"

Some of the villagers preparing to fight the undead mage to the bitter end were using the last of their time to build defenses.

The mayor also began gathering people and making pre-battle preparations, at the very least ensuring the fighters had logistical support.

Sun Busong focused all his attention on his profession skills. He started with Alchemy, but after searching for a long while, he found only one item: Shadow Protection Potion: Required Level 17.

Use: Absorbs 675 to 1,125 Shadow Damage. Lasts 2 minutes. (1-minute cooldown)

Since the undead mage used shadow magic, this potion would offer some protection. The ingredients were plentiful in Night Town, too. They were called Grave Moss, and there was plenty to gather in the cemetery.

That was all he found. His profession skills might be Grandmaster-level, but he still needed materials to make anything, and many Master-level potions had level restrictions.

After searching Alchemy, he moved on to Tailoring, but couldn't find a single piece of equipment that could counter the undead.

Next, he checked Leatherworking and Blacksmithing. At last, he really did find a piece of equipment in Leatherworking that could damage the undead mage!

Red Drake Gloves (Green Equipment):

Item Level 24

Leather Gloves

52 Armor

Durability 25 / 25

Required Level 19

Item Level 24

Equip: Has a 5% chance to deal 50 Flame Damage to an enemy when you hit it.

The gloves were Green Equipment, and their item level was only 24. Anyone level 19 or higher could wear them, whether they were a class-holder or not.

From the mayor and Althea, he learned that the reason Mobent Fel was so hard to kill was that the disgusting creature was immune to physical damage! In other words, only magic attacks from casters could reduce its health. If you tried to kill it with a weapon, you'd never manage it in your lifetime.

So the way to kill it was to use magic attacks. But the Imperial Guard's members were all too low-level, and only five of them could hurt the undead mage. Still, if they could make a batch of Red Drake Gloves, even if they only dealt Flame Damage once per second with twenty people, it might work. A quantitative change could lead to a qualitative one.

"Mayor! Mayor! Has anyone seen the mayor? Get him up here, quick! I need him!" Sun Busong opened the window and shouted down to the people below.

A short while later, the mayor hurried up to the second floor. "Sir, what is it? Is there something you need me to do?"

"No time to explain. Organize some people right now. I need Grave Moss and Red Drake Scales, as much as you can find. We're in a hurry. Are there any Leatherworkers or Alchemists in town? Get them all here. I'll teach them the recipes."

"Huh?" The mayor froze. At a critical moment like this, he was asking for materials to make equipment?

"Move! Don't waste time. There are only a little over a hundred minutes left until two o'clock!"

"Right, right! I'll take care of it!"

After the mayor went to gather materials and people, Sun Busong continued checking his profession skills.

When he opened Engineering, he found plenty of devices that could be used against the undead mage, but apparently only people trained in Engineering could use them.

"What the hell?"

Sun Busong angrily slapped the table, but he still found one item he could use.

Simple Throwing Bomb IIID (White Device):

Required Level 30

Use: Deals 213 to 287 Flame Damage to targets within a 5-yard radius, provided the bomb works properly. (1-minute cooldown)

"A bomb for non-engineers. It almost never explodes in your hand, and packs twice the punch of a standard Simple Throwing Bomb!"

Sun Busong had a large stock of Solid Bombs among his materials. This thing was powerful, so he decided to make several hundred of them first.

Then he spotted another type of bomb, one that required Engineering to use. It was powerful, but the only downside was how scarce the materials were. They were practically impossible to find in Duskwood.

Arcanite Grenade (Green Device):

Requires Engineering

Use: Deals 300 to 500 Flame Damage to all enemies within a 3-yard radius and incapacitates them for 3 seconds. Any damage will break the effect. Has reduced effect against targets above level 67. (1-minute cooldown)

The required materials were Arcanite Ingots and Runecloth! They could only be found in areas above level 50, but Sun Busong still had some in his bag. During the year he'd spent learning skills from Master Hammer, he'd often visited the black market and the trading district. He didn't have much, but he had enough to make ten or so.

Finally, he checked his Blacksmithing skills, but after searching for a long time, he couldn't find anything useful right now.

Still, he wasn't discouraged. The fact that there was a chance of killing the undead mage was the best news he could have hoped for. While waiting for the mayor, Sun Busong used the materials in his bag to make 18 Arcanite Grenades and 200 Simple Throwing Bomb IIIDs.

He also made seven pairs of Red Drake Gloves. There weren't enough Red Drake Scales to make more. Then he made 127 Shadow Protection Potions.

Just after he'd used up the materials in his bag, the mayor returned with six people.

"Sir, these are the people you asked me to find, and this is the bag of materials you wanted. If you don't need anything else, I'll head back downstairs." The mayor now felt an inexplicable sense of obedience toward Sun Busong.

"Don't go yet. There are a few more materials I need you to find." Sun Busong stopped the mayor, who was lowering his head and preparing to head downstairs.

"More materials?" The mayor was puzzled. There was less than an hour left. He still wanted to make things? Were they not going to fight?

"Just go find them. Why so many questions? You can buy the materials I need from anyone in town. As long as everyone's still alive after the fighting is over, they can come to me for their money."

"You mean you're buying them?"

"Yes! I'll pay double the market price. I'll take as much as you can find!" Since arriving in this world, Sun Busong had never been troubled by money.

After the mayor left, Sun Busong patiently taught the six people how to make Shadow Protection Potions and Red Drake Gloves.

But of the six the mayor had brought, only two were Alchemists, and they could just barely learn to make Shadow Protection Potions. Another two were only apprentices; they couldn't even understand the recipes.

As for the two Leatherworkers, although they were Leatherworkers, they'd never had enough materials or a chance to practice. They had the title, but no practical experience—they were all theory.

"Forget it. I'll make them while you watch. If you learn, you can use this to earn some money later. If you don't, you can only blame yourselves for being stupid."

These Drake Gloves were genuinely great. Once someone reached level 20, having a pair would make their class-holder advancement trial much easier.

When the mayor returned with more materials, there were only 30 minutes left before the undead mage's attack! Sun Busong was running out of time. He had the mayor take 36 pairs of Drake Gloves, 350 Shadow Protection Potions, 200 Simple Throwing Bomb IIIDs, and over a thousand Greater Healing Potions to the fighters guarding the entrances. He also told him to come back upstairs at regular intervals and bring down whatever the others had made for the people who needed it.

The mayor knew good equipment when he saw it. He took one look at the four items in his hands and was stunned. Every one of them was desperately needed for this battle.

But he was a little puzzled. Why were there over a thousand Greater Healing Potions that could be used at level 21? If they'd been level 35 high-quality potions, the odds of winning this battle would have increased by more than twenty percent.

Seeing the mayor's confusion, Sun Busong explained helplessly, "My people aren't very high-level. The highest is only level 26. These potions are for them."

That explained it. The mayor finally understood. "Don't worry. I'll make sure these things get to your people first."

With that, the mayor quickly went downstairs.

"Hey! Wait! That's not what I meant!" Sun Busong hurried after him, but the mayor had already disappeared.

Seeing that the mayor was long gone, Sun Busong didn't follow. Everyone had their own self-interest, and he was actually glad the mayor had done that. After all, having someone beside you die was nothing like watching someone die on TV!

Welcome to all the new readers! Thanks to [Between Life and Death] for the seven recommendation votes! Thank you.

Back to writing! If something is out of my hands, what's the point of worrying about it?