Scourge Messenger

Chapter 54: Fourth Level Demon
"How about we both stay up for half an hour tomorrow and then leave?"

The first thing Qun Yushu said after emerging from the Mansu Forest was a wry smile: "I'm just a mere second level cultivator. I really can't hold on as long as you guys."

"You're clearly the most energetic, and you even have enough energy left to go out and kill a few demons." Jie Zilong laughed and said, "Your soul strength... is almost at the third level, right?"

"Far, far behind." Qun Yushu came out and looked around, then turned back to glance at the individual scoreboard: "They really haven't come out yet."

"Yuan Shao and the others were able to hold out for an hour yesterday, and today they will last even longer." Jie Zilong said calmly, "The results they accumulated yesterday will become the cornerstone for today."

Qun Yushu and Chen Linchuan looked at each other. They still didn't know what the internal mechanism of the Mansu Forest was. The Jie family and the merchants were very tight-lipped, so they could only guess a little based on the few words revealed by Jie Zilong.

"They should be facing the third wave of demons now." Jie Zilong didn't seem to care about keeping secrets and casually revealed important information about the Mansu Forest: "It seems that we can faintly hear the roar of demons."

"Indeed." Qun Yushu approached the entrance to the Mansu Woodland and pricked up his ears. "And it's very clear. It's probably because they are the only ones left in the woodland, with no other demons interfering."

"We held out for half an hour. Although we took breaks, we were always besieged by the same group of demons." Chen Linchuan suddenly asked, "How did they manage to deal with these undead demons?"

Jie Zilong smiled but said nothing. After a while, he suddenly said, "Listen, the noise has subsided. They have survived the third wave of demonic frenzy."

"They should be coming out soon, right?" Qun Yushu guessed, "Let's wait for them."

They waited for another half an hour. Half an hour later, they heard the monster's roar again, and this time their expressions all changed.

"I seem to hear the voice of the five-headed demon king." Qun Yushu stopped being indifferent and closed his eyes to listen to the sound.

"Barbarian Bull Demon, Stone Beast, Peach Blossom Demon Ape, Mud Crab, and the extremely fast Dragon Fly!" Chen Linchuan's hearing was better. He took a deep breath and said, "We have to fight five third-level demon kings at the same time?"

Jie Zilong looked at the Mansu forest quietly without saying a word.

After about a quarter of an hour, the roar of the demon became lower and lower until it disappeared. Jie Zilong slowly breathed a sigh of relief: "It seems that they are still confident."

"Hurry up and prepare lunch." Qun Yushu summoned the servants: "The warriors are coming back, and we must prepare a feast for them!"

Everyone watched the entrance to Mansu Woodland, waiting for the four of them to return. However, a quarter of an hour passed, then another quarter, and the banquet was ready, but the entrance was still silent.

"They... haven't come back yet?" Chen Linchuan couldn't believe it. "The fourth wave of demons has already seen five demon kings, and they still dare to face the next wave?"

"Yes, even the Five-Headed Demon King has appeared." Qun Yushu glanced at them and said, "What kind of demon should appear in the next wave to be more powerful than the Five-Headed Demon King? A Seven-Headed Demon King? If that's the case, it's not so bad. If fewer Demon Kings appear, they might be in danger."

This was strange. Why would the decreasing number of demon kings actually make it more dangerous? But everyone present understood. Jie Zilong couldn't maintain his composure anymore. His expression was extremely serious as he stared at the Mansu Forest.

After an unknown amount of time, everyone suddenly shuddered, their hairs running down their spines. The sunny Mansu Woods were covered in dark clouds, and a lightning-filled storm suddenly struck.

"Roar--"

A roar, like thunder igniting the earth's fire, erupted from the depths of the Mansu Forest, crushing the camp like a storm. Almost everyone was frightened and fell to the ground, trembling and their legs weak. Only Jie Zilong and the other two could still barely stand, but their faces were pale and it took almost all their strength to stop themselves from turning and running.

"A fourth-level demon, the Thunder Lion!" Chen Linchuan's voice trembled slightly, not knowing whether he was excited or frightened. "Followed by thunderclouds and roaring violently, this is definitely the Thunder Lion!"

"A rank four demon has appeared in the Mansu Forest!"

"They actually dared to fight against the fourth-level demon!"

……

...

"The fourth-level demon, the Thunder Lion." Jie Yuanshao stared at the fanged beast roaring in the thick fog. Even though she was a hundred meters away, she still held the hilt of the sword tightly, and goose bumps appeared on her arms.

"It's recorded in the Ancient Forest's secret realm. It's not a demon king, but rather an ordinary demon found everywhere in the secret realm, often hunted by a male lion and multiple lionesses. The Ancient Forest is probably the easiest tier in the fourth-rank secret realm, and the Thunder Lion is also a relatively weak type of fourth-rank demon, so there are relatively many records about it."

"It possesses no talisman, relying solely on its sharp claws and fangs to attack. Its only unique feature is its innate lightning entanglement, which paralyzes any enemy it strikes."

"But it's still a fourth-rank demon, a foundation-building creature far superior to a third-rank demon!"

wow——

The Thunder Lion stepped out of the thick fog, its mane gleaming with lightning. Unlike the other demon kings, it was the size of a normal lion, perhaps two meters tall. Its mouth seemed to be drooling, as if it was swallowing thunder.

boom!
As thunder roared, it suddenly shot out like lightning, and in the blink of an eye it crossed a distance of more than ten meters. In less than three breaths, it was close to the outer wall. Then it used its hind legs to jump gracefully, and its four feet kicked the outer wall casually like a dragonfly skimming the water. This action reminded Yan Qing of the cat he had seen before, which also liked to kick on the wall.

However, the outer wall of the castle, which was strong enough to withstand the waves of demons for a long time, was shattered into pieces and collapsed with a loud bang by a kick from the Thunder Mad Lion, just like tofu hit by a fist!
Such speed, such power, such ease!

"Move like thunder."

Shang Xinlei's voice trembled slightly, as if she was both afraid and excited: "This is the power of the fourth level... and it's only the weakest fourth level!"

Six statues were unsealed at this moment: the Blade Warrior, the Chaos Warrior, the Dragon Slayer, the Narcissus Mermaid, the Funeral Mermaid, and the Condor Archer. Under the overwhelming might of the Thunder Lion, these demon kings, feared throughout the various secret realms, seemed so weak at this moment.

The castle's two arrow towers had already taken the lead in the attack, but Thunder Mad Lion paid no attention to these two basic, unupgraded towers. Like a cat shooing away flies, he simply swept his tail to deflect the fine steel arrows fired from the Beast Hunter's bow. He stared at the six incoming demon kings, two streams of electricity emanating from his nose, his disdain evident.

In fact, Yan Qing built eight statues, but two of them were left with little health in the fourth wave of attack. If they were to appear now, they would definitely break at the slightest touch. Therefore, Yan Qing kept them as a reserve force. If all six statues could not be defeated... he would send these two statues to cover everyone's evacuation from the Mansu Forest.

At the same time, twelve silver warriors arrived at the city walls, firing arrows with bows. They also had longswords at their waists, ready to draw their swords if any monsters intruded upon the walls. In the first and second waves of the offensive, they alone would have been enough to clear out the herds before the Demon King. Yan Qing only expected them to slightly harass the Thunder Mad Lion's movements.

In reality, Yan Qing knew how to completely defeat the fifth wave of attacks: upgrading the statues. Each statue had an upgrade option, and these statues were already at level three, so after upgrading, they would be at least level four. Beating the Thunder Lion was like beating his son.

Unfortunately, the resources required to upgrade the statue are really too much.

The Narcissus Mermaid requires 60 gems and 50 crystals, the Blade Warrior requires 60 crystals and 60 sulfur, and the other statues are similar. The only one that is a little loose is the Archer, which requires 300 wood and 50 mercury. If Yan Qing only chops wood for an hour, he can save about 300 wood.

With such a huge amount of resources required, Yan Qing couldn't even raise a statue, but he was not unprepared.

After discovering the "Pearl Tear Alliance" bond between the Narcissus Mermaid and the Funeral Mermaid, Yan Qing finally realized that this dungeon stitched together the key gameplay of survival construction + auto chess, and the most important mechanism of auto chess is the bond system. Gathering characters from the same faction will greatly improve combat power.

Forming bonds is undoubtedly the fastest way to improve the combat power of statues, but Yan Qing has no idea about the factions of these statues, and no relevant information is provided in the construction list. It is obvious that the official hopes that players will learn more about the background stories of these BOSSes and guess which of these BOSSes can form bonds.

But it doesn’t matter, if you don’t have enough knowledge, you can make up for it with quantity.

"Reincarnation in Valhalla: The number of randomly constructed statues per round has been increased to three. Resources can be consumed to reincarnate, refreshing three new random statues. The more reincarnations you make, the more resources you consume. Once a statue is built, it cannot be reincarnated."

Hall of Valor also consumes a lot of resources, but its only additional function is to re-select the statues that can be built this round. The re-drawing process also requires resources. Although you can use cheap resources like wood and stone, the resources will be depleted very quickly if the re-drawing frequency increases.

This was like gambling. If Yan Qing didn't find the statues he needed, his resources would be wasted. Furthermore, he didn't know which statues would form bonds, so he could only filter by name. If he couldn't determine the base faction by name, Yan Qing was sure that every year at this time, countless players would ask the planner if he was a wholesaler.

Fortunately, he won the bet.

"Comrades: When the number of comrades is ≥ 2, each comrade around you gains +100 HP and +100 Agility. All comrades will support each other. (Blade Warrior, Chaos Warrior, Dragon Slayer)"

(End of this chapter)