The Earl of Monte Cristo (Two-in-One Chapter)

"Hurry, hurry, everyone charge in! First group, take the walls, take the gate! Defend this place! The rest of you, charge in!"

As the gate opened, in the blink of an eye, Xiao Yu led a large group of Undead into the back gate of Fang Fortress.

Thousands of Undead slowly filled the plaza inside the back gate of Fang Fortress.

Having secured key positions such as the city gate, Xiao Yu began preparing for the next phase of the operation. Although he had already occupied the area, he did not immediately launch an attack on the defending troops fighting on the main city wall.

For him, whether or not he captured Fang Fortress was of no particular significance. Moreover, once he penetrated deep into Fang Fortress, the garrison would definitely launch a massive attack to reinforce it. Even if he could disrupt the enemy and allow the Undead army to conquer the castle, he would then have to confront the enemy head-on, which was not the outcome he wanted.

Moreover, despite having thousands of Undead under his command, they are actually not very useful in a real battle. There are over ten thousand adventurer players in the city alone, and he would be overwhelmed if he sent even a few thousand. Not to mention the large number of Priest and paladins from the Church of Light and the Church of Order.

Therefore, Xiao Yu had no intention of advancing, but instead quickly deployed defenses.

Although the operation was swift, the commotion of the thousands of Undead still attracted the attention of the city's garrison, and a patrol of several dozen men was sent to investigate.

"Isaac, what on earth happened!? My God, how come there are so many Undead! How did they get in?" A knight led his soldiers over and asked Chenghong Moli in surprise.

He raised his longsword, ready for battle.

However, with a soft thud, a longsword pierced his abdomen. The knight stared in disbelief at the Chenghong Moli before collapsing to the ground with a thud.

As soon as he died, his soldiers rushed up to seek revenge, but the surrounding Undead were no pushovers. They swarmed forward and wiped out the soldiers in the blink of an eye.

"Well done, Chenghong Moli. You're getting better and better at the game lately," Xiao Yu said, pointing to the players who were being controlled by the evil spirits.

"Let's take care of these soldiers too. Oh, and do you want to leave this person? Otherwise, it'll hurt a bit."

Chenghong Moli said, "No rush. I'm quite happy with this body. Use it for now. You can kill those soldiers if you want."

"Whatever you say."

Xiao Yu said that Isaac had temporarily escaped death, but the soldiers controlled by the evil spirits were not so lucky.

Because the control that demons exert over humans is very unstable, strong light or attacks can break them free. Moreover, the demons that controlled these soldiers could not exert much combat power and could not use the soldiers' combat skills at all, so there was no point in keeping them. Therefore, these soldiers were quickly killed.

"What is our objective? Should we attack the enemy's rear?" At this moment, the Sword of the Fallen Angel asked somewhat anxiously.

Xiao Yu shook his head. "There's no need. Don't forget we're all players. Players pursue profits. Our goal is the armory of Fang Fortress."

The Fang Fortress is stocked with a large amount of weapons and equipment, all of which can be seized. Although they are all just ordinary standard equipment, many of Xiao Yu's skeleton swordsmen and skeleton Warrior are still running around naked.

Because the loot from dungeons is terrible, you might get a piece of equipment on your next run if you're lucky, but you might not get anything at all if you're unlucky. And you always get crushed when fighting adventurers in the open world.

Complete sets of equipment became extremely scarce, and most people couldn't collect enough, so they had to wear whatever they had.

Now that there's such a great opportunity with the armory, as the guild leader, of course I should take the chance to benefit my subordinates.

Therefore, Xiao Yu had already sent his shadows to scout the location of the armory, and now he led the main force to rush towards it.

From a distance, you could see a huge warehouse-like building with its iron gate wide open. During the war, all the iron gates were opened to facilitate the access to equipment.

Moreover, since the main force had all gone up the city walls, there were very few soldiers left here to guard the equipment.

Xiao Yu roared, "Everyone, charge in! Everyone gets a share of the spoils!"

Upon hearing Xiao Yu's voice, the crowd cheered and charged towards the armory.

The armory was guarded by only a few dozen soldiers, who were no match for so many Undead. They were all slaughtered in the blink of an eye.

Xiao Yu led his army into the armory, and everyone's eyes widened in astonishment. The armory was filled with rows and rows of swords, spears, shields, bows and crossbows, and all kinds of armor and protective gear.

And all of them are items that can be picked up.

This was absolutely awesome! The Undead players roared and charged towards the equipment.

Pack as much equipment as you can onto yourself, get a few pieces first.

Unfortunately, this game has a weight system, and the equipment is quite heavy. Usually, wearing a full set and then stuffing a few more pieces into your bag will fill it up.

Those ghost players are in a worse situation right now, because they can't wear equipment, and ghost players have lower carrying capacity, so they get the least loot.

Xiao Yu also got himself a set of exquisite plate armor, but like the other equipment, it became rusty as soon as he put it on, reducing its defense by about two levels.

"Hurry up, everyone! Once you've got enough, go back to the back of the city wall and replace those who don't have any equipment!" Xiao Yu shouted loudly, but his men were in complete chaos, picking through the equipment and ignoring everyone else.

"Damn it, get the hell out of here! If you don't obey, I'll kick you out! Haven't you ever seen equipment before?!"

Xiao Yu cursed a couple of times in the guild channel, which finally sent some players who had picked up enough equipment out in groups to keep watch.

After much effort, Xiao Yu finally managed to arm everyone and also dispatched some guard troops. Luckily, they were in skeleton form, otherwise they would have been working themselves to the bone.

Xiao Yu thought to himself that the team's morale was low, making it difficult to lead. After all, players were different from NPCs, and commanding them was incredibly difficult. At this moment, Xiao Yu couldn't help but miss his old NPC subordinates.

Fortunately, he has now advanced to the rank of Skeleton General, and is accompanied by four recruited skeleton soldiers, who are quite obedient.

Just as they were pondering what to rob next, several shadowy figures suddenly rushed in from outside the armory. "It's bad, boss! The enemy has launched a counterattack! Lots of adventurers have arrived!"

Although Xiao Yu did not actively attack the vicinity of the city wall, but only seized the armory and showed no intention of advancing further, his invasion still had a huge impact. After all, the large-scale entry of the Undead into the city and the capture of the armory were signs of a very bad situation.

The general of the Kern Kingdom, who was directing his troops to defend the Fang Fortress at the city walls, immediately ordered the recapture of the armory and the expulsion of the Undead from the city.

Of course, since the defense of the main city wall could not be relaxed, he directly issued a bunch of tasks to the adventurers who came to help. Anyway, these adventurers were holding back and not putting in much effort, so it was better to let them take back the armory.

To encourage adventurers to sign up, the rewards for the quests will naturally be higher.

Upon seeing this, the players who were fighting the Undead on the city wall immediately accepted the quest.

"Die, you scum!" With a roar, a Priest clad in heavy armor smashed a skeleton Warrior to pieces with a single blow. Turning around, he suddenly realized that the adventurers behind him had all vanished, leaving only a few NPC soldiers still fighting.

"What happened? Why is everyone gone?"

He grabbed a passing wandering swordsman and asked curiously.

"An Undead boss has stormed into the city with a horde of Undead. The general has issued a mission to drive away that Undead boss."

"Oh, what's the name of that Undead boss?"

"He's an Undead Warlord named King's Return," the ranger said.

"The King's Return, huh? Hmph, I didn't expect you to be doing so well, rising to the Undead Warlord so quickly. No wonder you were the man who defeated me." The Warrior's face showed a gritted-teeth expression.

"Hey, do you want to come along?" the ranger asked the Warrior, giving him a curious look.

"That's natural," the Priest said, and immediately followed.

"My name is Qingwu Feiyang. By the way, what's your name?" the wandering swordsman asked casually as he walked.

"My name is The Earl of Monte Cristo, you can just call me the Earl."

Soon, Qingwu Feiyang and the Earl of Monte Cristo arrived before the general. The area was already packed with adventurers waiting to accept missions, so the general had to have two of his lieutenants help issue the missions.

"Qingwu Feiyang, come this way!" a voice called out. The two ran over and saw a mage lining up Qingwu Feiyang for them.

With the two men by his side, the Earl of Monte Cristo quickly accepted the mission.

Mission Name: Fortress Guardian.

Mission objective: Defeat or drive out the Undead Warlord, the King's Return, who has invaded the city, and reclaim the armory.

Quest Rewards: You will receive 100 bonus experience points for each invading Undead you kill, and 1000 bonus experience points and a magic item as a reward for killing the King's Return of the Underworld.

This reward is incredibly generous. You have to understand that many people haven't even seen magical equipment yet, and even the worst magical equipment can be sold for real money.

All three accepted the quest, and together they called upon two familiar Warrior to join them, triggering the quest.

"By the way, what level are you all?" the mage who had helped them queue up asked as they walked.

The group announced their levels: the two Warriors were both level 8, Qingwu Feiyang was a level 8 ranger, and the mage was already level 9.

The Count of Earl of Monte Cristo has the lowest rank, only level 6.

"Damn, only level six? How come your equipment is so good? Are you Warrior?" The two Warrior looked at the Earl of Monte Cristo's magnificent black plate armor and winged helmet with envy.

"No," the Earl of Monte Cristo shook his head, "I am a level 1 Priest and a level 5 Blasphemers."

Both Warrior nodded. Blasphemers were already quite common in the game, but because the method was only recently revealed, their levels were generally low. No wonder the Count of Earl of Monte Cristo was so low-level; it was clearly a new alt character created by a high-level player. Suddenly, a few people felt something was off. "Wait a minute, can Priest also be Blasphemers?" the mage asked curiously.

This is actually a very simple principle: only those who believe in God can become Priest, and once Priest has faith, he cannot be Blasphemers.

The Earl of Monte Cristo smiled slightly, "My role as Priest is rather special; it's a hidden profession—a demon hunter. I don't need to believe in any god."

The group nodded to each other, all feeling a bit impressed but not quite understanding. This game had many hidden classes, but the fact that this player had managed to get into one meant that he was quite skilled. Besides, the Sniper Demon Slayer sounded pretty cool.

"Okay, then you can join us in the front row later."

As the group talked, they gradually approached the armory.

The Earl of Monte Cristo suddenly raised his hand, "Wait a minute!"

"What's wrong?"

"There is an eye following us, "the Earl of Monte Cristo said, and suddenly a Detect Evil was released, causing a ripple in the air.

"It's Shadow!" Someone recognized it immediately, but it was no use in detecting it. The shadow flashed red light for a moment, then quickly returned to its invisible state and tried to leave.

The Earl of Monte Cristo sneered and suddenly pulled a crossbow from his back.

He reached his other hand into the quiver at his waist.

Level 2 Divine Spell, Arrow of Holy Light!

(Bless a bag of arrows, imbuing it with holy damage against the Undead and demons.)

As he cast the spell, he suddenly pulled out an arrow.

A flash of white light streaked across the sky, followed by a mournful cry as the shadow was obliterated by the arrow.

"Alright, you can go now."

"Holy crap, how did you do that? The shadow didn't even show itself!" The group was dumbfounded.

The Earl of Monte Cristo smiled smugly. "Just an intuition."

They hadn't gone far, and before they even got close to the armory, a squad of forty Undead appeared before them at an intersection.

Level 3 Divine Spell: Holy Energy Bomb!

The Earl of Monte Cristo hurled a silver orb, which burst forth with dazzling silver light the moment it hit the ground.

In an instant, the first few Undead charging at the front were reduced to ashes under the light, and the Undead behind them screamed in agony, clearly seriously injured.

The teammates were somewhat surprised; this Count of Earl of Monte Cristo, though not high-ranking, was surprisingly strong.

The mage over there didn't hesitate either, throwing out an Exploding Fireball.

With a deafening boom, several wounded Undead screamed as they were obliterated by the blast.

"Foolish humans, give up your futile struggles, this world is destined to fall into the embrace of God of Death," a ghost said eerily.

"Enough talk!" The Earl of Monte Cristo raised his hand and shot an arrow; the ghost screamed in agony and was instantly killed.

Damn it, he's a Priest! I'll take down the Priest first!

Several waves of negative energy shot towards the Earl of Monte Cristo.

Second-tier divine spell - Divine Protection!

Golden light emanated from the Earl of Monte Cristo, rendering the negative energy utterly useless, like a clay ox sinking into the sea.

Several people rushed into the horde of Undead, hacking and slashing left and right, while more adventurers rushed over to join the battle.

"Guild Master, the enemy is attacking us. More and more adventurers are surging nearby, and our entire defense force has been overwhelmed."

"Then let's retreat!"

Xiao Yu said that his goal this time was still to plunder and build up a high enough reputation for himself in the guild. Fang Fortress and the like were not even on his list of objectives.

"However, we can't retreat completely. We just need to hold the back gate. We need to put some pressure on the city. Also, take all the equipment from the armory and throw it into the streets!"

Xiao Yu led the Undead army in a hasty retreat towards the back gate, quickly reaching the city wall behind the Fang Fortress.

With the city walls providing a commanding view and their sheer numbers, they were not afraid of the adventurers' attacks.

However, the adventurers started fighting amongst themselves. It turned out that they had also their eyes on the equipment in the armory. Players are all the same; seeing so much equipment, they simply started grabbing it.

If it were stored in the armory, they wouldn't dare to touch it, because these equipment belong to the Kern Kingdom. Stealing them would lower their reputation and might also incur the hatred of the Kern Kingdom.

However, once these items are thrown into the street and have passed through the monsters' clutches, they become the monsters' possessions, so you can pick them up freely.

Therefore, these players no longer cared about reclaiming the backdoor.

On the other hand, although Xiao Yu did not launch a large-scale attack into the city, his rear incursion greatly weakened the defensive forces on the city walls. Because several thousand players had been sent back to reinforce the city, the defensive forces on the city walls were severely insufficient, and it looked like the city was about to be breached.

With Emperor Odyssey deploying several thousand elite troops, and the city walls on the verge of collapse, the soldiers of the Kern Kingdom were scattered and even deserted.

But at that moment, a bugle call sounded.

The players on Fang Fortress all looked in the direction of the sound, and on the distant hillside, a line of cavalry appeared in their field of vision.

Clearly, reinforcements from the Kern Kingdom have arrived.

P. S.: I wasn't feeling great, so I posted a little late. I'll try to update earlier tomorrow.