Zhang Yang took a look at the quest timer. Currently, 24 minutes had passed and there were only 6 minutes left before the King of the Merfolks arrives to get Meryl!
Protect her to the end!
Another two minutes passed, and the five guards had finally come out of the passage and stood right in front of Zhang Yang. They shouted, waving their weapons, and charged towards Zhang Yang.
Zhang Yang flipped onto Whitey and let Meryl climb behind him where she hugged him tightly. After tightening his teeth, he gulped down a transmuted Level-5 [Troll Recovery Potion], with the additional effect of having a 3% rate to recover 25% health points when hit by enemy. It was equal to recovering 0.75% of health points every time the enemy struck him. The health points of Zhang Yang after mounting onto Whitey is about 60,000 points, it would mean that he would recover 450 points every hit!
Furthermore, with the additional effect of the [Troll Recovery Potion], he could probably hold on for a long time!
After activating his {Blast Wave}, the five guards were all stunned!
These henchmen were carrying the effect of {Pursue}, so they could catch up with Zhang Yang and Meryl much sooner. Furthermore, they ensured that Krishan kept moving at a snail’s pace, so Zhang Yang had to keep them alive, he could only use his Status Effect Skills to restrict their movements!
4 seconds later, the five guards had recovered the stun effect and resumed their pursuit of Zhang Yang.
They were like gazelles, Zhang Yang could not shake them off, even while mounted! In just a short while, the five guard had already caught up to him and were hacking at Whitey’s plump rump!
Zhang Yang could only turn Whitey around to face them all head on.
If he was alone, Zhang Yang could simply jump down from his bear mount and activate his {Heroic Leap} and {Thunder Strike} to slow down the guards. But now that he had Meryl by his side which appeared to be a burden to him, he could only use Whitey to shield her from being taken away while he was on the mount. Because if he jumped off Whitey, Whitey would switch from being a [Mount] to a regular pet, and the paraplegic Meryl would end up lying on the floor helplessly!
Zhang Yang defended himself from their attacks, constantly moving about to avoid taking more hits than necessary. He was buying time for this {Blast Wave} to cool down, in order to restrict their movements without hurting them too much.
He was losing health points constantly, but he had used a transmuted [Troll Recovery Potion] which constantly fueled him with some health point recovery effect. He could last for a bit this way!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Heavy steps could be heard approaching the exit of the passage, and then came Krishan from the exit. He revealed a crazy smile on his face and said, "You are not getting away from me!"
Piak piak piak! Meryl was in a panic and she could not stop slapping Zhang Yang’s shoulder and said, "Warrior, he has caught up with us! What should we do? What should we do!"
Zhang Yang was getting annoyed by her repetitive questions, and he roared in anger, "If you won’t calm down, I’m going to throw you straight to him!"
Meryl was shocked, and she dared not prod Zhang Yang anymore, so she fell completely silent.
Zhang Yang kited the five guards around the platform in circles, while Krishan was like a big boss, following his minions closely.
2 minutes left!
But the five guards were not weak in their assaults as well. Every single hit from them inflicted Zhang Yang with at least 1000 damage, and Zhang Yang had already activated his life-saving skills once! Now that his health bar had almost hit the bottom again, he could only activate his life-saving skill one more time! It was lucky that his life-saving skill had already cooled down.
1 minute left until the quest timer reaches it’s end!
Suddenly, a stream of vertical white light emerged on the surface of the lake from afar, and a tall wave of about two to three meters high was vaguely visible from where Zhang Yang stood. The wave was rolling towards their location aggressively, as if it was intent on washing away everything that stood in its path!
"Zhan Yu, just hold on a little longer, my father is about to arrive!" Meryl was screaming in joy and excitement.
The tide of wave seem familiar somehow. It looked similar to the one that had capsized his boat when he was arriving at the Emerald Island! Could it possibly be that King of Merfolks, was it all his doing?
"Father has no idea where mother is, so he had been searching for her all these years. Sometimes he would release his frustration by stirring up big waves!" Meryl gave an explanation that make sense, "These are the things I was told by Gethelo and the others!"
"Quickly, kill that bastard!" It seemed that Khrishan could feel that something was off, so he quickly commanded his five guards to finish off Zhang Yang.
40,000!
30,000!
The health points of Zhang Yang were decreasing without a pause!
30 seconds left! 20 seconds left!
The high wave was approaching closer and closer by the second, and vaguely, Zhang Yang could see the a shadow of a merman right on top of the wave! The merman held a golden trident in his hand, letting out thunderous roars to express his rage!
"Quickly! Quickly!" Khrishan could not move fast, so all he could do was to command his guards to do it for him!
20,000! 10,000! 5,000! 1,000!
Shoof! One of the guard threw his axe at Zhang Yang! Zhang Yang had already used up all his life-saving skills, and he had been dodging their blows endlessly! But the forth attack was so sudden and near, it seemed like he could not dodge it!
The blade of the axe came closer and closer to his face, if this attack lands on his face, he will be a dead man!
‘Ding!’
Just when everything seemed lost, a golden trident was hurled from afar, deflecting the axe right before it could land on Zhang Yang’s face!
The flashing of sparks was blinding!
Kiang!
The golden trident surged with incredible power! After deflecting the axe, it embedded itself, deep into the surface of the rocks in the direction it was flying towards. A third of the trident was already buried in the solid rock!
Zhang Yang had once again escaped death! He let out a breath of relief and turned his eyes to the quest timer. The quest timer had already reached 0:00!
Boom!
The wave had arrived, and the water spouts were splashing all over the platform, causing enormous thunderous sounds all around that shook the ears of everyone within range. The Snake Eels were like small little mud fishes, washed up by the huge impact of the wave! Their dead, white bellies lay motionless above the surface of the water!
It was at that moment, when the merman stepped on the water and leaped over to the ground on the platform. He waved his left hand and a white light surged through his body. Every single droplet of water on his fish tail was instantly dried up, and the tail transformed into a pair of macho legs. He stood right in front of Zhang Yang like an unmovable mountain!
[Gethelo, The King of Merfolks] (Mythical, Humanoid Creature)
Level: ???
HP: ???
Defense: ???
Wow, a very important person (VIP) has arrived!
The moment the timer of the quest reached it’s end, the two effects on Krishan had also disappeared automatically, and Khrishan had regained his normal movement speed. Of course, his attack had also restored back to his default setting, he was no longer a ridiculous, unkillable being! He pulled out the sword that hung from his belt and said, "Human and Merfolks have a peace treaty, and neither have broken them. That mermaid had made an oath with me, are you trying to go against the oath you merfolks had sworn?"
Gethelo raised his right arm and moved his arm towards the location of where the trident landed, and the trident emerged from the rock and flew right into his hand.
He spun his trident around in a circle on top of his head and stirred up a strong wind around him. Then he pointed his trident at Krishan and spoke in a calm, commanding manner, "I’m here for my daughter!"
"Father, it was him who imprisoned mother. It was him who forced mother to lived in agony! It was him who pushed mother to her death!" Meryl pointed her finger at Krishan.
Wow, from ‘Gethelo’ to ‘Father’ in an instant! She really adapts fast! Because he’s royalty?! Zhang Yang thought to himself disapprovingly.
Gethelo was staring straight aright at Krishan with murderous eyes and said, "Human, you dared to imprison my fiance, this crime must not go unpunished! You will pay, now!"
"He forced mother to marry him, all because he saved her!" Meryl began to accuse Krishan of his crimes.
Gethelo was enraged after hearing all about it, and he shouted, "You worthless piece of human, how dare you mistreat my Siniia! Unforgivable! Unforgivable!"
Krishan laughed out loud and said, "So you are the man that Siniia thought about everyday! It was such an unfortunate event that she could not see you for one last time before she departed from this world!"
"You bastard! Die!" Gethelo was bristling with anger, he waved his trident around and charged at Krishan.
"Haha, then I shall kill you, before I take your daughter for myself!" Krishan was laughing madly while swinging his sword at Gethelo. He barked at the five guards, "Go get them, boys!"
The five guards immediately raised their weapons at Gethelo and charged forward.
"Get lost!" Gethelo let out a thunderous roar and spun his trident around. The swing was swift, and instantly, the five guards were inflicted with a damage of about 30,000 on each of them!
Mythical bosses are indeed strong!
Two seconds later, Gethelo spun his trident once again and did another 30,000 damage to each of the guards! The elite guards only had about 70,000 health points on each of them. After two rounds of attack from the trident, they were only left with not more than 10,000 health points each!
Zhang Yang flipped down from the back of Whitey, and then he placed Meryl at one corner. Now that Gethelo was at the scene, Meryl would definitely be safe!
He used a [Bandage] and recovered 16,000 health points, and then he flipped himself back up on the back of Whitey and charged towards the five guards.
With a {Horizontal Sweep}, he inflicted 4,000+ damage to each of the guards. It wasn’t necessary at all, for they were one more swing away from death anyway. He was simply bored of just standing by and watching!
As expected, Gethelo spun his trident around once again and put down all five of the guards on the ground for good.
After taking out the trash, it was natural for Gethelo and Zhang Yang to turn their attention towards the big boss! However, Zhang Yang did not dare charge in front, as all his life-saving skills were still on cool down period, and his health points were far from recovered. If he were to charge into Krishan now, he would just end up being smashed to death!
Gethelo let out a long shout, and he stomped on the ground with an aura emerging from his feet before he charged over to Krishan! Shoof! He stabbed his trident out in an attempt to pierce Krishan’s chest.
Of course, Krishan would not just stand there and do nothing about it. Immediately he raised his sword to counter the attack. The two leader-grade NPCs engaged in battle!
Zhang Yang followed Gethelo from behind. He knew that he could not do much damage to the boss, but he could at least lend his aid to Gethelo by applying five layers of {Cripple Defense} to weaken the defense of the boss! It was definitely better than doing nothing at all!
Furthermore, if the monster is slayed by the NPC all by himself, the player will get nothing at all!
Although they were both leaders, a Mythical grade creature was two grades above a Yellow-Grade! Their levels were different as well, resulting in Krishan being outclassed in every aspect!
Gethelo was stabbing and slashing Krishan with incredible speed and strength.
Splashes of blood were oozing out from Krishan’s body in flower-blooming patterns as Krishan was stabbed and slashed by Gethelo. The trident really did a great number on Krishan!
90%, 80%, 70%... Although Krishan had a large amount of health points, it was dropping at an alarming rate!
Krishan would activate his {Tornado Cleave} once in a short while, and very frequently too. He would activate the skill once in every 10 seconds. But Zhang Yang had {Block} to counter the attack, as long he timed his {Block} well enough, he would not have to receive any damage from the boss.
Since that Gethelo was keeping the boss busy at the moment, all Zhang Yang had to do was to reserve his {Block} for the boss’s {Tornado Cleave} attack.
50%, 30%, 10%!
Under the ridiculous onslaught from the Mythical-grade boss, Krishan had no other choice but to die in tragedy.
Shiik!
Gethelo pierced through Krishan’s chest with brute force, and then he pulled his trident back out from Krishan’s chest and gave another horizontal strike on Krishan’s chest, tearing flesh out from the already gaping wound! Fresh blood was oozing out from the cuts on the body!
"No---" Krishan let out a pathetic cry while puking blood as he choked on his own blood. Then he collapsed onto the ground unwillingly and died.
Pak, a silver-white piece of metal dropped from Krishan’s dead body. Other than that, the boss did not drop anything else.
Zhang Yang reached out for the silver-white metal piece and picked it up, and immediately, he received a system notification.
‘Ding! You have obtained an item: [Key of the Void Fragment 2]!"
Zhang Yang had no other choice, because during the final battle with the boss, Zhang Yang was just poking around like a small little bee, the outcome would be the same with or without him around! The system was already very generous for giving him the fragment of the key he was looking for.
So now, he would just have to wait to see what kind of reward he would receive after completing this quest!
Meryl and Gethelo had finally reunited, the scene of a daughter reuniting with her father was presented in front of Zhang Yang. Of course, they were exchanging their sweet nothings to each other as warm tears dripped down their cheeks.
After a long while, Gethelo had finally turned his attention towards Zhang Yang, and he thanked Zhang Yang, "Warrior, you have saved my daughter from harm, now I am in great debt with you."
‘Ding! You have completed a quest: Buying Time, acquired 10,000,000 experience points!"
Zhang Yang was touched by the moment when they had finally realized that he was still there, even after their most melodramatic reunion.
He said, "Curbing the violent and assisting the weak is just my duty, nothing else!"
Gethelo nodded and said, "The Merfolks will forever be your friends! Farewell, my friend!"
Are they trying to toy with him? Zhang Yang was just pretending to be modest in front of them and they did not give him anything in return! It would still be reasonable if they didn’t give him some legendary weapon, but at least they could have provide him something good!
What kind of stingy quest is this! Only one fragment of the [Key of the Void]!
It was still fortunate that the experience points earned from the quest was really abundant, which elevated Zhang Yang by 1 level! At least it was worth his time after all!
"Zhan Yu ---" the status of Meryl had been elevated by three grades after she had reunited with Gethelo. Now that she had become the ‘Princess of the Merfolks’, her grade had been elevated to Violet-Platinum grade, and she had inherited all the spells of Gethelo as well. With just a gentle flick of her fish tail, all the water droplets on her tails were gone, and her tail transformed into a pair of long legs.
She walked up to Zhang Yang and bowed to him, and then she thanked him, "Thank you so much for everything you have done for me!"
Since he had already pretended to be modest, let’s proceed with it! Zhang Yang smiled and said, "Meryl, I shall miss you!"
Meryl instantly blushed and she smiled, her face was as red as a tomato. She took out a little turtle of a size of a palm out of nowhere and gave it to Zhang Yang, "This is a present that my father gave to me, I have decided that you should have it instead! So whenever you see this little turtle, you will think of me!"
After that, she walked away with a crimson face and leaped into the water of the lake.
‘Ding! You have acquired a new [Battle Mount: Mythical Turtle]!’
Gethelo had a funny look as he witnessed his daughter handing the turtle over, and after staring at it for a while, he too, leaped into the lake. A few seconds later, the father and daughter appeared hundreds of meters away from the shore, riding a wave, leaving Zhang Yang behind.
From afar, Zhang Yang could vaguely see the image of the princess of Merfolks, Meryl blushing in front of him.
He could not help but smile, and then he brought up the attributes of the [Mythical Turtle] to have a look.
[Mythical Turtle] (Violet-Platinum Battle Mount)
Level: 0
HP: 50
Right in the middle of Zhang Yang’s backpack, a [Lease of the Mythical Turtle] automatically appeared and occupied one slot of the backpack.
[Lease of the Mythical Turtle] (Violet-Platinum Battle Mount)
Use: Summons or unleash a [Mythical Turtle] that can be mounted on into battle. Movement speed of the [Mythical Turtle] will be reduced by 90% when on land. However, underwater movement speed of the [Mythical Turtle] will increase by 300%, and you will be able to breathe underwater. If you die while mounting the [Mythical Turtle], you can only summon the [Mythical Turtle] again 10 minutes after death. You can only summon one [Battle Mount] at a time. Summon time: 2 seconds.
Required Level: 30
Bound upon pick up.
A Violet-Platinum grade, underwater [Battle Mount]! Awesome! No wonder Gethelo looked like he was having a constipation when Meryl handed the [Mythical Turtle] over to him. It was a priceless gift meant for his daughter afterall!
Zhang Yang could not help but smile like an idiot, because he just earned something very useful for future usage!