Chapter 130: Metamorphosis! Druid’s New Form!

Chapter 130: Metamorphosis! Druid's New Form!

Cao Xing was extremely satisfied with Braum's stats.

The bald-headed Braum also walked over with a cheerful grin.

Cao Xing praised, "Braum, not bad."

Braum raised his shield and laughed, "With the Lord's glory protecting me, Braum will definitely not fail."

Cao Xing nodded.

So far, all of his subordinates had experienced decent improvements in strength.

Now, they just needed to wait for news from Andrew's side.

Previously, Andrew had already failed once.

This time, he couldn't possibly fail again, right?

A few seconds later, the aura on Andrew gradually grew even more formidable. Aside from the beast-like presence, a wise temperament also emerged around him.

And Cao Xing also realized that he might have successfully broken through!

Sure enough, a system prompt immediately followed.

[Your territory member: Andrew has successfully advanced to a Boss-grade creature. Base stats increased by 30%. New skill learned: Moonkin Form]

[Moonkin Form: Andrew transforms into Moonkin Form, increasing armor by 20% and spirit by 30%. Additionally masters the skills 'Starfire', 'Moonfire', and 'Astral Communion'. Moonkin Form lasts for 120 seconds, with a cooldown of five minutes.]

…

Seeing the system prompt, intense joy appeared in Cao Xing's eyes.

"A new form unlocked, and it seems to be a spellcaster form as well."

Unable to wait, Cao Xing checked the three newly acquired skills of Andrew.

[Starfire: Condenses the power of the starry sky to hurl down a star, dealing 154% magic damage to a single enemy, cooldown 4 seconds.]

[Moonfire: Communicates with the power of the Moon Well to drop a cluster of flames, dealing 118% magic damage to enemies within range, cooldown 5 seconds.]

[Astral Communion: Communicates with the power of the astral realm. Within 20 seconds, casting speed is increased by 50%, and the cooldowns of 'Starfire' and 'Moonfire' are reduced by 50%. Cooldown 180 seconds.]

…

After reading the skill introductions, Cao Xing's pupils instantly constricted.

"Holy shit! Such powerful skills!"

Obviously, both Starfire and Moonfire were very strong.

One was single-target, one was AoE, and both had very short cooldowns.

Coupled with [Astral Communion] which could directly reduce CD by 50%, the two skills could be used almost without interruption.

And what was the most crucial part?

The most crucial part was that the skill [Astral Communion] would most likely be affected by Cao Xing's [Eternal Power] talent, turning into a permanent state.

In other words, as long as he was in Moonkin Form, Andrew could maintain [Astral Communion] throughout the entire duration!

Directly transforming into a bomber plane!

Cao Xing nodded with satisfaction, "Good, good, good! Andrew's strength has also skyrocketed by a huge margin!"

Furthermore, this way, he could also switch between melee and ranged combat, making him quite versatile.

Cao Xing checked Andrew's stats.

[Tundra Druid: Andrew]

[Race: Druid]

[Level: Level 17, 32 / 70,000 (Tier 2 Boss-grade Creature)]

[Detailed Stats: Click to View]

…

"Very good! Over 5,000 health points and over 200 armor—he is truly both tanky and capable of dealing damage!"

Cao Xing was extremely satisfied.

Although this battle had a very high difficulty, similarly, the harvest was also massive.

Everyone had received a considerable improvement.

For the next three shrines, Cao Xing also had even greater confidence.

At this time, Renice reported, "Lord, the shield of the magitech gate has been lifted. You can now insert the stone talisman to open the gate."

Cao Xing nodded.

Then he came to the front of the gate and placed the stone talisman into the groove.

"Creak! Creak!"

The sound of rotating wheels rang out.

A system prompt appeared.

[Shield Shrine gate is opening…]

Rumble!

Under everyone's watchful eyes,

the huge stone door before them slowly lifted.

Then, a spacious hall appeared before them.

Blue flags were planted on both sides of the hall, imprinted with the emblem of the Ascalon Kingdom.

In the middle was also a humanoid statue about five meters tall, holding a giant shield in one hand and making a defensive posture.

However, this statue had already collapsed.

Aside from these, throughout the entire hall, dust-covered coffins were scattered everywhere.

Taking a rough glance, there were at least one or two hundred of them.

"Holy cow… So many? Are there Ascalon undead inside all of these?"

A trace of astonishment appeared in Cao Xing's eyes.

But on second thought, the more coffins there were, the more burial items he would be able to find.

Although not every coffin would contain a burial item bag, with such a large quantity, he should at least be able to loot dozens of burial item bags, right?

Thinking of this, Cao Xing gradually grew excited!

"Holy shit! I'm going to make a fortune this time!"

Amidst Renice's puzzled gaze, Cao Xing rushed forward eagerly.

Then he used the stone talisman to open all the seals on these coffins.

"Creak! Creak!"

The sound of stone slabs pushing apart was endless.

In no time, the more than one hundred coffins inside were all opened.

Just as Cao Xing expected, inside every single coffin appeared an Ascalon undead.

Over a hundred undead gathered together, and the chilly aura emanating from them caused the temperature of the entire Shield Shrine to plummet drastically.

Wearing a wolfskin coat, Cao Xing was shivering from the cold.

Meanwhile, Braum, who was bare-chested, was trembling even more violently from the cold.

This fellow said with chattering teeth, "Gods above, this is much colder than my hometown…"

Cao Xing checked the temperature overhead.

[-67°C]

Good grief, it was almost reaching -70°C. No wonder it was so cold!

At this moment, an undead officer whose aura looked similar to Lieutenant Karlhan outside stared at Cao Xing and the others on the scene.

Then he drew his weapon and asked vigilantly, "Who are you? Why did you break into our Ascalon underground palace and open our seals?"

"State your identities, or we will treat you as intruders and kill you on the spot!"

The other undead also successively drew their weapons, saying in icy voices, "Kill them on the spot!"

Seeing this group of undead ready to attack at any moment, Cao Xing was left entirely speechless.

"Renice, explain it to them."

As people of Ascalon, they naturally noticed Renice as well.

This was also the main reason why they did not attack Cao Xing and the others immediately.

Renice slowly spoke up, then explained to them what had happened in the underground palace and what their purpose was.

Following Renice's explanation, these undead gradually understood the whole sequence of events.

They looked at Cao Xing with strange expressions on their faces.

Originally, they thought this was an intruder.

Now it seemed they were actually here to save them.

That undead officer floated over and said, "I am the Ascalon Guard Captain: Fara Capo. On behalf of all Ascalon undead, I thank you for your help!"

With that, all the more than one hundred undead in the entire Shield Shrine bowed deeply to Cao Xing.

A trace of a smile appeared at the corner of Cao Xing's mouth.

Although these undead were not very easy to talk to, at least they were clear on gratitude and grudges.

They expressed gratitude to those who showed them kindness, and killed intruders without hesitation.

Cao Xing nodded, "Well, Sarah has already told you the basic situation, and we don't have much time."

"Without further ado, you should leave this place as soon as possible and go outside to rendezvous with Karlhan."

Listening to Cao Xing's concerned tone, expressions of emotion appeared in the eyes of this group of Ascalon undead.

Including that guard captain, who once again gave a military salute to Cao Xing.

Yet in truth, Cao Xing was just trying to urge this group of undead to leave this place quickly.

Otherwise, if these undead remembered that there were still their burial items inside the coffins and took them all away, he would suffer a massive loss!

The undead officer said in a deep voice, "Then, we will take our leave first. This human friend, good luck!"

"May the sunken glory shine upon you!"

After saying that, he led the undead army, quickly passing through the wall and leaving the place.

A system prompt appeared.

[Quest progress has been updated.]

[Head to the Four Shrines: Shield Shrine quest completed, current progress: 1 / 4]

Cao Xing secretly nodded, then said to his subordinates, "Search everywhere and collect all the Relics of these departed ones."

Assam and the others obeyed the command, beginning to carefully search the more than one hundred coffins, leaving no corner of the entire shrine unchecked.

As for Cao Xing, he walked straight to the collapsed statue.

Because he faintly saw a flash of white shadow beside the statue.

Drawing closer to take a look, a silver-white treasure chest, likewise covered in a thick layer of dust, appeared amidst the ruins.

Joy welled up in Cao Xing's heart, "Sure enough, there is a treasure chest hidden here, and it's even a Silver Treasure Chest!"

A system prompt appeared.

[Discovered Unlocked Silver Treasure Chest * 1, whether to open]

"Yes."

[Opened successfully.]

[Obtained Magitech Water Storage Device Construction Blueprint * 1]

[Obtained Mercenary Light Armor (Blue) * 1]

[Obtained Intermediate Elemental Crystal * 3]

[Obtained Medical Pack * 2]

[Obtained Small Resource Pack * 5]

…

"Oh? A piece of light armor dropped?"

Cao Xing glanced at its stats.

[Mercenary Light Armor (Blue) Lv10]

[Quality: Excellent]

[Armor: 31 ~ 37]

[Attached Special Effect ①: Agility +5, Constitution +5]

[Attached Special Effect ②: Lightly Equipped (Attack speed increased by 10%, 50% chance on attack to additionally increase attack speed by 20%, effect lasts for 60 seconds)]

[Attached Special Effect ③: Mercenary Code (When attacked, there is a 30% chance to reduce damage from this attack by 20% and increase own attack power by 5% for 60 seconds)]

…

"As a blue equipment, the stats are alright."

Cao Xing directly tossed it to Liu Muxue. It just so happened that she was still wearing green plate armor.

Liu Muxue caught it, then looked at Cao Xing and smiled sweetly.

Without saying much, she directly put on this equipment.

In an instant, it accentuated her proud chest to appear even more sizable.

Coupled with the wolfskin coat draped over her exterior, she appeared poised and magnificent.

Meanwhile, Assam and the others had already looted all the coffins inside this temple.

Then, they handed all the burial items they had harvested over to Cao Xing.

[Obtained: Ascalon Burial Item Bag * 34]

[Obtained: Ascalon Captain's Burial Item Bag * 3]

…

"Whoohoo! Over thirty bags at once!"

Cao Xing was pleasantly surprised!

"Calculated at 2 to 3 brass ancient coins per bag, the bags I have in my hands can yield at least one or two hundred brass ancient coins."

"That means I can directly exchange them for two ancient treasure chests!"

Thinking of this, Cao Xing couldn't help but become even more excited.

Afterwards, he led the recruited creatures and walked straight out of the Shield Temple.

Cao Xing ordered, "Let's go, the next location, the Holy Sword Temple."

After returning to the hall outside the Shield Temple, several passage entrances appeared before Cao Xing and the others once again.

Ji Xinyue also quickly took out a map and began studying the route to reach the Holy Sword Temple.

She softly said, "Great Lord Cao Xing, this time we will take the passage on the right."

Cao Xing nodded.

Braum, who had already become an elite creature, was extremely excited at the moment, holding his shield and charging ahead as the vanguard.

After everyone's strength improved, Cao Xing felt much more confident in his heart.

Soon, they entered a corridor once again.

Cao Xing vaguely saw that there seemed to be a few unopened coffins ahead.

Before he could go over to open the coffins, the figures of six or seven soul-eaters appeared.

Upon seeing the humans in the passage, they immediately rushed over!

Cao Xing raised his hand and ordered, "Charge, head-on combat!"

They were just a few ordinary soul-eaters; there was no need to use any tactics.

Braum cracked a smile, revealing two rows of large white teeth as he laughed, "My mother often said, walk steadily like an iceberg, and strike as fiercely as throwing an iceberg!"

"Now, Braum strikes!"

"Boom!"

Raising his shield, the big guy violently charged forward.

The tremendous impact actually sent three soul-eaters flying several meters away!

"Hiss! Hiss hiss!"

The soul-eaters were extremely furious, all waving their sharp claws and frantically attacking Braum.

Crack! Crack!

After the three layers of the Holy Shield shattered, the sharp claws of the soul-eaters landed on Braum's shield!

[-174]

[-185]

[-193]

After Braum advanced, his defense increased once again.

He blew on the big mustache at the corner of his mouth and proudly said, "Aha! Didn't expect that, did you? I have double protection!"

However, before he could act arrogant for long,

a soul-eater suddenly slammed into him, and the immense force directly sent Braum flying.

"By the True Gods, these soul-eaters have such formidable strength!"

Seeing that Braum was about to be swarmed by the other five soul-eaters, a strong sense of crisis enveloped his heart.

At this moment, the bald giant shouted, "Lord, save me!"

Cao Xing was left speechless.

Braum had only just broken through to the elite rank and was acting like he was invincible.

"Hilda, save him."

"Tch! All flash and no substance, you bald giant!"

Hilda also sneered, but she still quickly spat out a web.

"Puff!"

A soul-eater that was about to pounce on Braum was instantly restrained in place by the web.

Cao Xing ordered, "The rest of you, attack as well."

The next moment, Assam had already rushed out, holding his longsword.

As for Andrew, he directly entered the Owlbeast Form.

His body gradually grew taller, stretching from nearly two meters originally to two and a half meters.

At the same time, thick feathers grew all over his body, and his facial features also transformed towards those of a bird.

Not only that, but a pair of nearly half-meter-long antlers also grew out of his head.

[Your territory member: Andrew cast the skill [Owlbeast Form]. Affected by the talent [Eternal Power], this skill has become a permanent state.]

(Note: State-type skills, after being blessed by Eternal Power, can be exited and entered at any time with no subsequent cooldown.)

The next moment, Andrew slowly raised both hands and softly said, "Power of the starry sky,"

"Starfire."

As the words fell,

in this dim underground palace, bursts of starlight actually lit up, and a meteor unexpectedly appeared overhead.

Then, it suddenly appeared above the head of the soul-eater and violently smashed down.

"Bang!"

[-674]

A damage number appeared, and the health of the soul-eaters instantly dropped by a chunk.

Seeing this scene, Cao Xing was inwardly delighted, "This damage is really high!"

Although Starfire was a single-target spell, its cooldown was only 4 seconds, and it could also be significantly reduced by [Astral Communion].

Cao Xing shouted, "Andrew, try using Astral Communion."

Even the [Owlbeast Form] could receive the blessing of Eternal Power.

Therefore, Cao Xing was even more eager to verify whether Andrew's [Astral Communion] could receive the blessing of [Eternal Power].

Andrew nodded, then chanted, "Vast and infinitely great Astral Realm, I pray here devoutly to establish a bridge of communication with you…"

The next moment, the owlbeast feathers on Andrew's body stirred without wind.

It was as if a powerful force had been blessed upon him.

At the same time, a system prompt appeared.

[Your territory member: Andrew cast [Astral Communion]. Blessed by the talent [Eternal Power], this skill has become a permanent state.]

…

Cao Xing was instantly overjoyed, "It really works!"

"Great, this way Andrew can use Astral Communion infinitely!"

Andrew at this moment also realized that the temporary channel communicating with the vast astral realm had actually been blessed by a powerful force, turning it into a permanent existence!

He raised his hand and said with emotion, "To even affect the mysterious astral realm, the Lord's power is truly boundless…"

Meanwhile, Andrew felt endless power surging into his body, and his casting speed skyrocketed dramatically.

Lifting his hand, the power of the starry sky surged, and 'Starfire' smashed down fiercely.

Bang!

[-654]

Starlight brilliant, splashing up a damage number.

Before the starlight disappeared, a crescent moon closely followed, emerging above its head.

"Rumble!"

A ball of flame fell.

[-443]

[-473]

[-412]

[-421]

Patches of burning damage appeared.

Before this group of soul-eaters could react,

Andrew raised his hand, and another 'Starfire' fell.

"Bang!"

"Rumble!"

'Starfire' and 'Moonfire' fell almost without interval, continuously bombarding them.

At this moment, that battlefield was completely enveloped by starlight and flames, and the health of the six soul-eaters plummeted rapidly.

This battle seemed to have become Andrew's personal show.

Cao Xing was pleasantly surprised, "Too fierce!"

"This Astral Communion directly allowed Andrew to complete a qualitative change, and his output capability is comparable to boss-level creatures of the same tier!"

Liu Muxue and Ji Xinyue were also watching Andrew, who had turned into an owlbeast, with faces full of astonishment on the side!

Moreover, it wasn't just Andrew whose strength skyrocketed; the strength of the other members also ushered in a significant improvement.

"Whoosh!"

An arrow shot out!

Renice and Sarah launched their attacks simultaneously.

[-2483]

[-677!]

Their damage had both noticeably increased.

Cao Xing nodded with satisfaction.

He also began channeling [Ice Arrow Rain].

Right at this moment, a 'ding' sound suddenly appeared in his ear.

[This casting successfully triggered the equipment special effect: Shadow of the Snowy Mountain.]

Cao Xing chuckled, "It actually triggered the Shadow of the Snowy Mountain special effect."

The ice arrow rain went from one wave to two waves, and densely packed ice arrows instantly fell like a torrential rain.

Two minutes later, the battle ended.

These six soul-eaters once again contributed quite a bit of experience to everyone.

Compared to the previous battles, this one could be said to be very relaxed.

And Cao Xing also picked up all the materials they dropped.

[Obtained Sharp Claw (Green) * 12]

[Obtained Evil Spirit Dust (White) * 17]

[Obtained Intermediate Magic Book * 2]

[Obtained Intermediate Chaos Book * 1]

…

Afterward, Cao Xing came before those few coffins and unlocked the seals.

Four Ascalon undead crawled out from inside.

As soon as they came out, they similarly looked at Cao Xing with hostile gazes.

As for Renice, she skillfully stepped forward to explain things to them.

Upon hearing this, the four Ascalon undead fell silent for a moment, bowed to everyone, and then walked straight out of the underground palace.

[Successfully rescued Ascalon Undead * 4, quest progress has been updated.]

[Rescue stray Ascalon Undead, rescued quantity: 16]

…

"Oh? Already rescued an additional 16 undead?"

"I wonder what extra rewards that guy Karlhan will give me."

Cao Xing thought with full anticipation.

Then, among those coffins, he searched out 3 more burial item bags.

He nodded in satisfaction.

Cao Xing led the team straight to the second temple, the area where the [Holy Sword Temple] was located.

Along the way, they experienced another three battles.

They finally arrived at the target area.

When Cao Xing saw the scene of the [Holy Sword Temple], his heart instantly sank.

Because that [Advanced Magic Energy Gate] that blocked the invasion of the soul-eaters had already been breached.

A gap fully two or three meters wide had appeared, and a large number of soul-eaters had already burrowed inside the temple.

Cao Xing was instantly startled, "Oh no, the Ascalon undead inside couldn't have already been eaten up, right?!"

"Then my damn quest won't be completed!"

Thinking of this, he hurriedly ordered, "Let's go, hurry over and take a look!"

…

Thanks to all the book friends for so many monthly tickets!!

Happy happy happy!

Thanks to book friend: Bu Zhi Ran Er for the 500-point coin tip!

Thanks everyone for your recommendation votes and subscriptions!