Chapter 166: The Ruined City

The entire environment of the Martial Soul Secret Realm was exceptionally unique. A desolate wilderness stretched as far as the eye could see, and there was no sun in the sky. Only a faint, dim light filtered through the gray clouds to illuminate the earth. The atmosphere was oppressive and gloomy, with scarce vegetation, while even the few scattered dead trees possessed eerie, blood-red branches. The whistling wind blew past, and a sense of bleak desolation rushed over them.

"This feels more like a ruined world than a secret realm that merely exists because of a Martial Soul," Jian Qingcheng said thoughtfully as she looked at the broken walls and collapsed structures in the distance. Judging from the ruins, a massive city had definitely once stood here.

"Perhaps. The entrance to the underground world is within those city ruins. Let's move," Ye Chen said, pulling out the Abyssal Staff from his back and turning to remind the girls, "Everyone, be careful. There might be some wandering Martial Souls in the ruins. Make sure you don't get ambushed."

Hearing this, the girls immediately percerked up, drawing their weapons and preparing for combat at any moment.

As the group drew closer to the city ruins, the surrounding environment grew increasingly eerie. Mirage-like phantoms occasionally flickered in the void, and headless knights roaring fiercely would charge toward the group with lances at the ready. At first, the girls thought they were actual Martial Soul attacks, but once the headless knights rode their black steeds straight through their bodies, they realized these were merely illusory specters.

Clop, clop, clop—

Just as the group arrived before the dilapidated city gate, the sound of hoofbeats echoed from the mist ahead. Immediately afterward, a black steed with gleaming, ghostly eyes charged out from the fog, carrying a rider that looked no different from the previous phantoms. The girls had grown somewhat accustomed to this, except for Lin Ziyi, whose courage was slightly lacking, so she leaned closer to Ye Chen. The bold Li Yitong, on the other hand, even wanted to hug the knight, something she frequently did along the way.

"Careful, this one is real," Ye Chen hurriedly called out. On his mini-map, this guy had a small red dot; phantoms never behaved like that.

Hearing this, the girls were startled, and by then the knight had completely emerged from the mist, revealing a blood-red name above its head.

[Headless Knight] (Bronze Martial Soul)
HP: 10,000
Level: 37
Skills: Copper Skin, Iron Bones

Seeing the Headless Knight's two skills, Ye Chen's eyes lit up. 2058 had listed many Martial Soul skills for him, and among them, these two were relatively practical. They belonged to the category of skills that could enhance defensive capabilities. For players looking to bolster their defense, a Martial Soul with such skills was undoubtedly the best choice.

"Yitong, fall back!" Jian Qingcheng cried out anxiously as she watched the Headless Knight roar and charge toward the hunter Li Yitong, drawing her longsword and dashing forward to intercept the enemy.

Li Yitong's reaction was also swift. The moment Ye Chen shouted a warning, she knew something was wrong. With a wave of her hand, she commanded her snow wolf pet to step into the fray, narrowly blocking the Headless Knight's initial attack.

Thwack. -518! The Headless Knight's lance swept across the snow wolf's head, inflicting damage that instantly shaved off a quarter of the little meat-shield's HP. This frightened Li Yitong into turning as pale as a sheet. Her own defense and HP were even lower than the snow wolf's; if that blow had landed squarely on her, it would have cost her half her life. Fortunately, Ye Chen's warning had come just in time. This fierce young miss felt a rare surge of gratitude toward Ye Chen in her heart.

Swish! Jian Qingcheng dashed in, brushing past the Headless Knight, and slashed her sword diagonally across the monster's waist.

-325

The damage number dealt made Jian Qingcheng pause slightly. Her attack power exceeded 600 points, yet... the Headless Knight's defense was simply absurd. Those wandering swordsmen from earlier certainly didn't possess this kind of strength.

"Lingyue, pull the aggro!"

Seeing the Headless Knight turn to pursue Jian Qingcheng, Ye Chen shouted softly to the main tank, Lingyue, and quickly began chanting the incantation for the Consecutive Fireballs spell.

Piercing Thrust! Lingyue stepped forward, holding her spear straight and thrusting it out.

-236

Although the damage dealt by Lingyue was not as high as Jian Qingcheng's, the aggro value generated by the Piercing Thrust skill was extremely high. The Headless Knight immediately abandoned its pursuit of Jian Qingcheng, whirled its horse around, and swept its lance toward Lingyue.

-218

A blood-red number rose above Lingyue's head. While the group heaved sighs of relief, they couldn't help smiling inwardly—it was a true clash between two knights, evenly matched.

At that moment, Ye Chen also finished chanting the Consecutive Fireballs incantation, and three black fireballs whistled through the air, hurtling straight toward the Headless Knight.

-1321, -1210, -2506 (Critical Hit!)

The Headless Knight instantly let out a furious roar and unexpectedly abandoned Lingyue, turning to charge directly at Ye Chen. The output was simply too high, causing the aggro to transfer...

Seeing this, Lingyue let out a cry of surprise and used another taunt-type skill, but the Headless Knight ignored her completely, charging toward Ye Chen with single-minded determination. Lingyue was so anxious she was almost in tears, and the complexions of the other girls darkened as well. This damage output was simply too fierce...

"Ye Chen, fall back! Heavy armored players, step up and block it!" Jian Qingcheng didn't even have time to scold Ye Chen for dealing too much damage, hastily commanding the other heavy infantry to intercept the Headless Knight. She couldn't quite fathom why Ye Chen, who always displayed such high competence, would make such a basic mistake.

The Headless Knight on horseback was clearly much faster than Qingyu's heavy infantry by a wide margin. Before the heavy infantry could reach their designated positions, the Headless Knight had already rushed right in front of Ye Chen. What shocked the girls even more was that Ye Chen showed no intention of retreating whatsoever; instead, he stood his ground, unhurriedly chanting his magic. At this point, even the second eldest, Zui Xiangsi, grew somewhat angry. Just as she was about to curse Ye Chen as an idiot, she witnessed a scene that made her almost bite off her own tongue.

They saw Ye Chen finish chanting his magical incantation, abruptly wave his staff upward, and then countless golden radiances burst forth from the staff. At the same time, Ye Chen's body was dyed with a metallic sheen, and even his mage robes appeared as though they were crafted from metal.

Clang! -226!

The Headless Knight's lance pierced Ye Chen's chest, yet it failed to leave even the slightest scratch, instead producing the sound of striking metal.

They froze. All thirteen girls present, including the stern-faced Jian Qingcheng, were completely dumbfounded. Lingyue and Lin Ziyi even rubbed their eyes fiercely, thinking they were seeing things.

Good heavens, the Headless Knight had only dealt 226 points of damage to Ye Chen! How was this possible? Ye Chen was a dyed-in-the-wool magical class; how could he possibly be as tanky as Lingyue, who originated from a knight class?

The girls all felt their thought processes descend into utter chaos. They wouldn't have found it strange for Ye Chen to have high attack power—everyone already knew that, which was why the damage from the Consecutive Fireballs only surprised them slightly. But this current scene completely transcended their imagination, leaving their minds entirely blank.

Crack! A crisp thunderclap snapped the girls back to their senses. Raising their eyes to look again, they saw a dark-cyan lightning bolt descend from the sky, striking directly onto the Headless Knight's head.

-2315 (Critical Hit!)

A single Dark Demon Thunder, and the Headless Knight's health bar was visibly reduced to less than one-fifth.

Paralysis effect! The Headless Knight stood frozen in place.

-1310, Black Fireball.

The Headless Knight was reduced to absolute sliver health. Breaking free from the paralysis state, it let out an angry roar and once again swept its lance toward Ye Chen.

-235

In truth, Ye Chen could have easily dodged this lance strike, but he had no intention of dodging at all. It was merely a little over two hundred damage, anyway; stepping back would interrupt his magic. With the time it took to dodge, he could finish casting another spell to finish off the Headless Knight. Since that was the case, there was no need to waste that time.

-1325

A blood-red damage number rose from the Headless Knight's head. This sliver-health Martial Soul let out a final despairing roar and crashed heavily to the ground.

The girls, who had still been preparing their spells without getting a chance to cast them, stared blankly at the defeated Headless Knight, temporarily speechless. This was a Bronze Martial Soul with a defense exceeding their expectations and a massive pool of 10,000 HP! Yet, it had been taken down by Ye Chen using just four spells—and he had brought it down while weathering the Headless Knight's attacks head-on!

A defense comparable to a main tank, paired with unmatched artillery-grade attack power. Ye Chen's image at this moment completely subverted the girls' understanding of Dark Priests.

"Little Yezi, that skill you used earlier where your whole body turned the color of metal—does it add a huge amount of defense?" Zui Xiangsi was deeply impressed by that spell. Even his skin had turned a metallic luster, infusing Ye Chen with an exotic charm that was rugged, robust, and utterly masculine.

"Mm, a lot. It matches about half the defense of a Silver-tier set," Ye Chen smiled and replied. For the girls in the studio, there was nothing worth hiding about this skill's attributes anyway, and no one would leak it.

Half the defense of a Silver-tier set... If that buff were applied to a heavy armored class...

Thinking of this, Jian Qingcheng's eyes lit up instantly as she asked, "Can it be used on other people?"

Upon hearing this, Lingyue and the other heavy armor girls also cast burning gazes toward Ye Chen. If it could, then the value of this magic would truly be immeasurable.

Ye Chen gave a bitter smile and shook his head, saying, "It can only be used on myself. Otherwise, I would have cast it on you guys long ago."

"As expected." Jian Qingcheng nodded in understanding. If this status could truly be cast on others, it would indeed be a heaven-defying spell. Such a skill might appear in the future, but given the players' current levels, its appearance was practically impossible.

While the two were speaking, Lin Ziyi, the curious little loli, had already skipped over to the corpse of the Headless Knight. Reaching out, she picked up the items dropped by the monster: one was a Martial Soul Sealing Card used to seal Martial Souls, while the other was a strangely shaped skill book. Lin Ziyi initially thought it was a skill book for players, but upon closer inspection, she let out a soft exclamation and called out in the party channel, "Look at this skill book! It's actually for Martial Souls."

[Defense Enhancement] (Attachment Skill): After Martial Soul attachment, it can additionally increase the player's defense by 30 points.

Looking at the attributes of the skill book shared by Lin Ziyi in the party channel, everyone's eyes lit up. Thirty points of defense was already enough to rival a rare piece of equipment! The crucial point was that these 30 points of defense didn't occupy an equipment slot, making its value immense. No wonder the officials had stated that Martial Souls would become an important component of a player's strength; looking at it now, that was completely true. Jian Qingcheng and Zui Xiangsi, however, were thinking even further ahead. With Defense Enhancement, there would undoubtedly be Attack Enhancement and HP Enhancement. Martial Souls were going to alter the landscape of God's Descent, and Qingyu had to secure an advantage as early as possible.

"Ye Chen, where did you say the entrance to the underground world was? Let's just head straight there," Jian Qingcheng said, feeling somewhat eager as she thought about outfitting every member with an elite Martial Soul as soon as possible.

"There's no rush for the underground world. I suggest we circle around the area once more. Since this Headless Knight has gone down, another one will surely respawn immediately. Who knows, that one might just be a White-name Martial Soul," Ye Chen said. He had originally been about to agree when he suddenly noticed a small white dot appear on his map—the marker for a White-name Martial Soul. Clearly, this White-name Martial Soul had just respawned.

"Little Yezi, what kind of joke are you playing? Killing one and instantly spawning a White-name? Where would you get luck that good?" Zui Xiangsi rolled her eyes. The odds of such a fortunate event happening were as low as winning the lottery jackpot. Was that even possible?