Doomsday Lord

After everyone else left the village, Cheng Yang walked over to the instance of the Blood Soaked Cathedral and selected the next level of difficulty, Hard. After a few seconds, Cheng Yang found himself alone in front of the instance’s large gates.

The Blood Soaked Cathedral, like most instance dungeons, was separated into four difficulty levels: Normal, Hard, Nightmare, and Hell.

Each increase in an instance dungeon’s difficulty was quite substantial. All of the monsters, from the mobs to the Boss, would have their levels raised by one. Cheng Yang remembered very clearly that in his previous life, no one had managed to clear a Low-Grade instance dungeon on Hell Difficulty. That was because the Boss for the Hell Difficult was a Standard Grade Mature monster while the highest level humans were only Pinnacle-Grade Apprentices. Besides, the cheat with the tree couldn’t be used since the Boss was able to scale the tree as easily as a human could.

Fortunately, whether it was the Hard or Nightmare Difficulty, the cheat could still be used to some extent. The only trouble you would have is facing the few mini-boss level monsters that appeared in the cloisters.

Before, when Cheng Yang was only a Standard Grade Apprentice Mage and didn’t dare to attempt the Hard Difficulty, but now that he had leveled up, he was willing to take the risk.

Cheng Yang’s Mana had improved greatly and he could use Magic Missile 29 times before needing to Meditate. His damage was high enough to kill most Standard Grade monsters in three shots, as long as the number of monsters didn’t exceed ten, it was possible for him to destroy an entire wave of mobs with ease.

Of course, there were many places in the instance where he wouldn’t be able to solo the monster hordes, like the main courtyard. If Cheng Yang allowed the monsters to reach him, it could get dangerous. Luckily, Cheng Yang knew the map well and could escape most situations using the low walls and windows.

The rooms could also be used to stop monsters. If the hardwood doors were closed, it would take them some time to break through, giving him time to lose them. He didn’t use this trick in the Normal Difficulty instance since he wanted to train Liu Hau and Old Lee in using their shields.

The battles were very smooth as Cheng Yang would rush in and attack monsters without fear and when he was overwhelmed, he would use his speed to escape to hidden areas such as rafters or closets then Meditate. Once he had fully recharged his Mana, he would leave and repeat the process.

Killing the mini-bosses was also easy with his high speed. He would lead them into the main courtyard and then continuously kite them. In the end, he used the tree cheat to kill the Boss.

Like this Cheng Yang leisurely obtained the first clear for the Blood Soaked Cathedral on the Hard Difficulty.

Cheng Yang dropped down from the tree and pocketed the ring that the Boss dropped, without checking its properties then rushed over to the chest at the end of the dungeon. Since this was the first clear, there was bound to be something good at the end.

When he opened the chest, he found a crystal ball the size of his fist. He had never personally seen one of these in his past life, but he knew what it was, a skill inheritance crystal!

Angelic InspirationAfter killing the Demon Duke Bathin, High Priest Roswald Ashton was infected with demonic energy and on the brink of death. After watching a Throne deal a fatal blow to Bathin, he created a skill in a fit of inspiration. Using the last of his life force, he sealed that skill in crystal so that it could be passed on to future generations. Grade: Purple SilverClass: PriestRequirements: Low-Grade ApprenticeLearning Cost: 400 Experience FragmentsCast Time: 1 minuteMana Cost: 25Effect: Fill a person with divine inspiration for ten minutes, increasing their damage by 8% per level in the skill

“Ha ha ha ha! It’s really Angelic Inspiration!” Cheng Yang couldn’t hide his excitement. He hadn’t expected to find such a high-quality skill so quickly. With the Priests of Phoenix Village would easily be the most powerful in the world!

The Angelic Inspiration skill was powerful enough to put Priests that had learned it in an entirely different class from those that hadn’t.

Cheng Yang remembered in his last life that the only three groups had obtained this rare skill. An American territory somewhere in New York had obtained it from the first clear of the Hard Difficulty. As for the others, they obtained it after clearing the Nightmare Difficulty an uncountable number of times. Cheng Yang smirked, those Yankees would cry if they learned they such a treasure stolen by him.

Since the reward for the first clear of the Hard Difficulty was so extravagant, one could only imagine how powerful the item gained from the first clear of the Nightmare Difficulty would be. Cheng Yang didn’t know what it was though. In his past life, no one had announced that they had the first clear, so no one knew what the reward was.

In the early stages of the apocalypse, 400 Experience Fragments was a hefty cost. A Priest could only gain about fifty to sixty Experience Fragments a day, so even if they gave up two times cultivation speed, it would take them seven or eight days to collect enough.

If it was Cheng Yang, four hundred Experience Fragments wasn’t a huge cost. After all, he was planning to use three hundred and twenty Experience Fragments every night for training soon. He could obtain around seven hundred Experience Fragments a day, and now that he had leveled up, he would be able to earn even more. Just with his clear of the instance dungeon he had earned over five hundred Experience Fragments

After calming down, Cheng Yang checked the three pieces of equipment he had found.

At this level of difficulty, finding Black Iron equipment was quite common. Since this was the first pass, every one of the ones Cheng Yang found was that good.

Guibert’s BootsA pair of boots weaved from the feathers of an Oodra for a cowardly merchantGrade: Black IronClass: UnrestrictedRequirements: Low-Grade ApprenticeDurability: 60/60Effect: Increase Movement Speed by 1Effect: Increase Physical Defense by 2

Standard Battlemage HelmetA helmet mass produced by the Nubines Citadel for its famed battlemage infantry Grade: Black IronClass: MageRequirements: Low-Grade ApprenticeDurability: 60/60Effect: Increase Mana by 20Effect: Increase Physical Defense by 1

Rotten Wooden RingOnce a powerful artifact, this ring made from a holy tree has been nearly destroyed by demonic energyGrade: Black IronClass: UnrestrictedRequirements: Low-Grade ApprenticeDurability: 60/60Effect: Increase Magic Attack by 3

After reading their properties, Cheng Yang was overjoyed. Although he had been worried that none of these items would be for mages, it turned out that he would be able to use two of these Black Iron pieces of equipment! The equipment he had was now far better than that in his previous life, which made him indescribably happy.

With those two items, Cheng Yang’s power would be greatly increased. The increase in his Physical Defense would be a lifesaving blessing in the future, but what Cheng Yang truly cared about was the increase in Mana and Magic Attack.

As for the boots, although they were a good item, they weren’t very useful to Cheng Yang. He could already completely tank a Low-Grade monster’s attack, so it would be more useful to give the boots to a Warrior. For Cheng Yang to obtain them was just the icing on the cake.

After equipping the helmet and ring, Cheng Yang’s Mana was increased to 168 and his Magic Attack was 30.3 now. The reason the increase was greater than the actual bonus was that research bonuses applied to stats gained from equipment. This meant that Cheng Yang could now deal 33.3 damage with his Magic Missiles. This was enough to insta-kill even Elite Low-Grade monsters or variants with abnormally high Health or Physical Defense.

The only types of equipment that increased damage were weapons and jewelry. Of the two, jewelry dropped far less frequently, but the bonuses were usually much higher than weapons of the same quality. That Cheng Yang could obtain a ring today was incredibly lucky.

At the same time, the fighting in Cloud City had reached its climax.

The military had rested in the city overnight, and when they noticed the glimmer of light in the center of the city, they were able to learn about the safe zone from some of the rescued citizens.

At the beginning of the apocalypse, everyone in the military had heard the announcement from that so-called god, but no one had understood it. After learning about the safe zone, the garrison executive had a suspicion that the secrets of evolution were hidden there.

Right now the safe zone was surrounded by over ten thousand monsters. The light curtain covered several square kilometers, and monsters were irresistibly drawn to it. Monsters would gather from kilometers around, even ignoring humans as they rushed towards the safe zone, which is why so many were now surrounding it.

The army’s troops assembled about a kilometer from the safe zone, watching the massive horde of monsters in horror. No one knew how scary monsters were better than them. A healthy monster could survive even a direct hit from an RPG. If they wanted to kill all the monsters around the safe zone, it would take nearly all of their remaining ammunition.

Unfortunately, there was no way to avoid this fight. They needed to reach that safe zone in order to survive.

At nine in the morning on the third day of the apocalypse, Military Garrison Commander Yuan Jianzhe sent out the official order to attack the monster horde. The sounds of war echoed throughout the entirety of Cloud City. Even the people staying in Phoenix Village thirty kilometers away could faintly hear explosions in the distance. This was partly because no other noises were concealing it, but also highlighted just how fierce the fighting was.

The army took the initiative to launch a massive barrage of explosive weaponry at the monster before conducting a charge towards the safe zone. Under the intense gunfire, hundreds of monsters were mown down. As long as they could make it inside the light curtain, they could kill the monsters from the other side.

The monsters were determined not to let the humans through. Even when the monsters in front were turned into meat paste, the ones behind them immediately rushed forwards, not leaving a single gap. Unlike humans who would collapse after a single shot, monsters would keep charging even after being hit by a dozen.