Scourge Messenger

Chapter 6 Conflict
Karasuma Ryu looked at the swordsman and shieldman and said, "Go out and ask Wakaguchi to come in. I'll split your bounty with him. Is that okay?"

The swordsman nodded, "No problem."

The swordsman and shieldman returned along the same route, and soon a new swordsman and shieldman came in. Yan Qing then understood why the Wuhuan clan had selected a group of reserve troops - if someone in the combat team couldn't hold on, they could immediately go out and be replaced.

During this break, Yan Qing pretended to stroll around, letting Yan San pick up all the fallen items from the servants' corpses. Not to mention the food and materials, he also got another 500 Lingyu. Yan Qing was quite excited. If he could collect 9000 Lingyu in the next few days, even if the theft failed in four days, he could still pay the fine and get away with it!
Perhaps because many soldiers were injured, the morale of the team was somewhat low. Karasuma Ryu realized that this situation could not continue and took the initiative to speak to Yan San: "Yesterday at the city gate, you clearly stabbed me but it had no effect. Do you know why?"

Yan San: "Why?"

Karasuma Ryu: "Because I have this mask, the keepsake, the demon mask."

Karasuma Ryu took off his mask and raised it high above his head. The mask, seemingly made of iron, suddenly emitted a dark aura, attracting everyone's attention.

The game also pops up a message:
Devil's Mask

"Grade: First Turn"

"Equipment requirements: 5 points of health, 5 points of spirit"

"Effect: Devil Guard: The moment you are attacked, summon a demon to defend you from damage. Each point of spiritual power can offset 25 points of damage. Each trigger consumes at least 1 point of spiritual power and a maximum of 4 points of spiritual power."

"Effect: Haunted by a demon: Continuously wearing the demon mask will gradually increase your energy and blood, and your sense of pain will gradually weaken, but your face and body will also gradually become more demonic."

"Evaluation: If you want to survive, you have to give something."

Karasuma Ryu said loudly, "As long as you are strong enough to be promoted to a Messenger and have enough merit, then any of you can exchange this Devil Mask and become a Devil Knight with strength far exceeding that of ordinary people. From then on, mortal bows and crossbows will never be able to harm you again!"

"And if you want to improve your strength, the best way is through actual combat, bloody battles, and fierce battles! Apart from secret realms, is there any other place where you can fight without any worries? No!"

"Back then, I also followed General Duan into the secret realm to fight. It was only after surviving a near-death experience that I was able to hone my Crescent Blade skills to perfection and become a Martial Arts Messenger. As long as you have enough experience and hone your skills to perfection, you can become a Messenger too!"

After hearing what Karasuma Ryu said, everyone's morale was obviously boosted.

However, Yan Qing looked at the words of Karasuma Ryu, "honing skills to the extreme" and "martial arts messenger", and an idea came to his mind -

Could it be that all the practitioners in this world who are able to change their professions are able to perform miracles through great strength?

Although Yan Qing has not played "The Messenger", he knows that one of the highlights of this game that has become a top MMORPG is that it allows you to change jobs every ten levels.

The system will offer three job transfer options at every ten levels, based on the player's combat style, weapon selection, and even quest experience. Hardcore players will undoubtedly plan their strategies to maximize the benefits of each job transfer, while casual players who don't particularly enjoy challenging levels will also be able to experience new gameplay possibilities every ten levels.

Generally speaking, players will change their jobs immediately after reaching level 10, but if the player refuses to change jobs, the system will not force them to do so.

To attract new players, The Courier offers free access to new accounts until their first job change, requiring a monthly membership fee. If players don't change jobs, they can continue playing for free, effectively reaping the benefits of The Courier.

But there is one exception.

That is, when the player has honed a certain skill to the extreme, such as level 10 basic spearmanship, level 10 basic swordsmanship, level 10 basic calligraphy, or level 10 basic musical instrument, and the character level is ≥ level 10, the system will force the player to transfer to a "hidden profession" - a martial arts messenger or a literary messenger.

At this time, free players will mistakenly think that they have triggered the game's hidden profession, and they will recharge their monthly cards to continue playing...

Then they will soon find out: Hey? Why doesn’t my hidden profession seem to be particularly powerful?
It's simple, because all of this is a conspiracy by The Courier to attract new users.

The Martial Arts Messenger and the Literary Messenger are indeed hidden professions. As long as the players who have not changed their professions hone any basic skills to the maximum level, they will automatically change their professions. However, the strength of these two hidden professions is just so-so, and it is not worth wasting time to change their professions.

But the job change system belongs to the players, and the people in this world obviously don't have the privilege of 'choosing to change jobs at level 10'. So Yan Qing can easily draw a conclusion: if the people in this world want to make their first job change, they probably have to hone their basic skills to the maximum level to work miracles.

Taking advantage of the high morale, Karasuma Ryu immediately led them to continue advancing. When they arrived at the courtyard garden of the mansion, they did not see anyone, but Karasuma Ryu went directly behind the rockery and opened the hidden trapdoor, and a passage leading to the underground suddenly appeared.

Although he had never played this dungeon before, Yan Qing suspected that the underground passage would only be discovered by searching other rooms for clues. Wu Wanliu and his men had already thoroughly researched this dungeon, so they naturally chose the correct route. Following the tunnel down, they emerged into a training ground. Racks of weapons were filled with steel swords and spears. Eight fully armed, armored retainers were sparring inside. They bore the designation "Elite Retainers" above their heads. As Wu Wanliu entered the training ground, they immediately rushed forward, triggering a battle.

At this moment, Karasuma Ryu pulled Yansan to his side and said, "You and I will block the stairs together. If you retreat, you will die! If you survive, you will be Baibaoqi!"

It would be impossible for five soldiers to hold back eight servants, but if they took advantage of the terrain at the stairs, only two people would be needed to block the servants, while the archers behind them could shoot from a high position. It was a perfect tactic.

But the question is who will block the stairs!

The first two waves of ordinary servants were already difficult to deal with, and the "elite servants" here are even stronger in both appearance and name, and there is almost no room to dodge at the stairs, so you have to fight head-on!
Karasuma Ryu, the martial arts messenger who had a protective token, was naturally not afraid, but the other Baibao Knights were just mortals. Even if they won the battle with this group of elite monsters who were trading injuries for injuries, they would still be covered in wounds.

At this time, Yan Qing finally understood why the Wuhuan clan was so good to Yan San, and even brought him into the Baibao military camp without any review. Even though Yan San had high blood and strong combat power, it was still too lenient... It turned out that they wanted to use him to fill in the line at this staircase!

Predictably, this is where the highest casualty rate in this dungeon should be, and those injured must be elite soldiers of the Hundred Guards, otherwise they would be unable to stop the elite retainers. So when Karasuma Ryu discovered that Yan San possessed the combat power of a Hundred Guards Knight while shopping, he must have been extremely delighted—to find such a high-quality filler among ordinary people!
Even now, the Karasuma clan has not forgotten to make promises, hoping that 'Yan San' will fight to the death.

Luckily, I'm using a small account, so it doesn't matter if I die, and...

If 'Yan San' really survives and completes this dungeon, it will be hard to say who will have the final say.

However, after one round of confrontation, Yan Qing felt something was wrong.

The elite retainer lost 10% of his HP, and Yan San lost 7%. Although there were archers in the back row, they prioritized attacking the retainers in the back who were not participating in the battle, so Yan San had to deal with the enemy alone.

This seems to still have a health advantage, but the problem is that when this elite servant dies, the second elite servant will take his place, unless the archers kill all six remaining servants before 'Yan San' kills the elite servant - but judging from the changes in health, the archers' output is not yet that high.

We can't go on like this... but retreating is impossible either, the sword and shield soldiers behind us are blocking our retreat... Sword and shield soldiers?

Yan Qing had an idea, threw away the spear, turned around and punched the swordsman and shield man behind him!

"asshole!"

"How dare you—"

Just when Wuhuanliu and others thought that Yan San had turned against them, Yan San picked up the sword and shield of the soldier behind him. During this period, he was stabbed twice by the elite servants, but when he held the sword and shield to the top line, his blood volume immediately stabilized.

"You have mastered the Basic Sword Technique, and your current level is 1."

"You have mastered the Basic Shield Technique, and your current level is 1."

"You've realized..."

His sword and shield skills were constantly upgraded. The elite servants could only knock off 3% of his health, but later they couldn't even break through his shield defense.

When all eight elite servants fell, Yan San's sword and shield skills reached level 5, and his level rose two levels to level 9, just one step away from changing his job!
However, Yan San's attack on his comrades had clearly aroused the dissatisfaction of the others, but they had not reacted due to the fighting. Now that the battle was over, the soldiers whose swords and shields had been stolen immediately came over, raised their fists and were about to hit Yan San: "Your mother-slave—"

Yan Qing made a perfect dodge to trigger the slow time state, then knocked him down again with two punches, and even learned a new skill.

"You have mastered the Basic Boxing Technique, and your current level is 1."

Seeing Yan San dare to fight back, someone from the archery team behind him drew his bow and aimed at him. However, Yan San looked around without a trace of fear. He picked up his spear and sneered at the fallen soldier, "If I had died just now, would it have been your turn to take the blame? Did I save your life by holding on until the end? How dare you repay kindness with hatred?"

Zhan Bing's eyes were bloodshot and he looked like he was going to pounce and bite someone, but Yan Qing was not afraid at all - he was not there.

"I'm holding off the enemy, and you're still aiming your arrows at me?" Yan San pulled out another meat bun and ate it, sneering, "Alright, alright, this is Bai Bao Qi. If you've got the guts, wait until I finish this bun and see who dies here!"

(End of this chapter)