Chapter 235 Exploring Vo'sok (Part 2)
"Look at the map." Since when did he come online? I didn’t even notice his presence.
"I'm on the rooftop across the street. The map says that you're supposed to be nearby, but why can't I see you?" Fleeting Time was baffled. His map indicated that Ye Ci was in a house just across the street, but she was nowhere in sight.
Ye Ci adjusted a gaze to the houses in front of her, and was quick to spot Fleeting Time hiding in one of the houses that were in ruins, "I'm hiding underneath a window. The Goblin Compass warned me of an incoming danger 45 degrees to my left, and I heard the footsteps as well, but I can't see anything. Can you have a look around?"
Fleeting Time spotted Ye Ci, and cast his glance at the direction she provided. He spotted a large groups of Orcs marching down the streets.
"What do you see?"
"A group of Orcish soldiers." Fleeting Time was already in stealthas well, "There's around 50 of them. They're all Elite monsters that are above lvl60, and it seems that their aggro is linked. If we alerted even one of them, the entire group will surely come after us."
"Are there any mechanical dogs around?" Ye Ci was very mindful about the mechanical dogs after their first encounter. A mechanical dog had the senses of a real hound, and could spot their presence easily. If we're spotted by one of the mechanical dogs, only certain death awaits.
"There's none of them in sight yet," observed Fleeting Time, "Don't move, and don't make a sound. We should be safe as long as there are no Bloodthirsty Undeads around."
Every race in Fate had their own specialty. Elves were masters of stealth, while Humans had high levels of Intelligence. Undeads, on the other hand, had very high levels of Perception.
Even if they were classified as monsters, the Bloodthirsty Undead were still part of the Undead race. They shared the same high Perception possessed by the Undead race, and could easily detect the scent of intruders… Especially that of the living…
Ye Ci hid herself below the window as the Corrupted Orcs approached her position and held her breath in an attempt to conceal her presence.
Fleeting Time, on the other hand, hid himself behind the vines and growths surrounding the house and observed the Orcish troops. Unlike the monsters that roamed the Bloody WIlderness in tattered hide clothing, the Orcs wore shining armor and were armed with gleaming weapons. They marched forward, presenting an awe-inspiring sight to any onlookers. It was apparent that the Orcs were way superior than the Orcs in the Bloody Wilderness.
An Orcish soldier with even higher level followed behind his kinsmen, riding on the back of a blue Kodo Beast. The Orc's helm was decorated by two long feathers, and it was armed to the teeth. Fleeting Time cast Detection on the Orc to have a clear read on its stats.
Orcish Captain (Elite): lvl63, HP: 500,000/500,000
Fleeting Time analysed the situation for Ye Ci as he knew that she could not spot the orcs from her position, "There's a captain at the back of the group. He's a lvl63 Elite monster with 500,000 HP."
"That's insane." Ye Ci rolled her eyes. Even when the Orc's hitpoints was a small matter to them, it was still a lvl63 Elite monster. It was not easy to deal with the Orcish Captain especially so many of its subordinates around.
"There's no way we can take them on. Let's wait for them to pass." said Fleeting Time.
The Orcish troops stopped abruptly when they passed between the Duo. The Orcs at the front of the formation began sniffing the air, and spoke in the Orcish language that was not known by Fleeting Time, "What are they talking about? Have they discovered our presence?"
Ye Ci, who understood Orcish, listened in on the conversation. What was being discussed by the Orcs was not favourable to the duo.
"It's bad. They've discovered the scent of wild beasts on the streets. It must've been left by Ol' Four."
Orcs were natural born hunters. Unlike Elves, the Orcs were very good in tracking down their preys, which was why they were very sensitive to the scent of beasts.
"You've not entered combat yet. Log out of the game now." said Fleeting Time. A player could go offline in-game as long as he or she was not engaged in combat. And if the party was not disbanded, the player would still remain in his or her original position when he or she log back into the game, "Log back in 30 minutes later."
"Okay." Ye Ci was out of ideas. The scent of Ol' Four was lingering on her body. If the situation dragged on, the Orcish Soldiers would definitely discover her location. The only way for her to overcome the situation was to log out of the game.
Fleeting Time continued to hide as Ye Ci's icon turned grey. He did not summon Little Five after logging out of the game moments ago, which meant that he was safe from detection. He would be safe as long as he remained hidden.
With Ye Ci offline, the Orcs immediately lost the source of the scent. This caused the confusion among their ranks. After spending some moments sniffing the air, the orcs reported back to their captain, who did not appear to be interested in the matter. After waving his hand dismissively and speaking in a language that Fleeting Time could not understand, the Orcish captain ordered his men to continue their march.
*clack clack clack*
The Orcish soldiers immediately returned into formation after receiving the order from their captain, and the entire group of Orcs resumed their march down the streets.
Fleeting Time let out a sigh of relief after the Orcs were a safe distance away. That was too close! If Gongzi You did not go offline in time, they would've discovered the both of us.
With the Orcs troops gone, the street was once again quiet and devoid of life. After making sure that there was no signs of enemies, Fleeting Time emerged from his hiding spot and headed over to Ye Ci's last location.
He heard a raspy voice just as he entered the house, "Hey, outsider, what are you doing here?"
Ye Ci took the opportunity to find some food in the kitchen after logging off the game. Even when the nutrient pack connected to the cabins could provide Ye Ci with what her body needed, it did little to satiate her desire for good food.
When Ye Ci logged back into the game exactly 30 minutes later, the first thing she saw was a huge green face that was staring right at her. A startled Ye Ci then jumped backwards and drew her sword.
"Wah! Why did someone appear out of nowhere? You almost scared me to death!" shouted a voice.
It was a Goblin. A normal looking Goblin (judging by Goblin standards, of course). The Goblin's face appeared to huge as he was standing right in front of Ye Ci's spawn point.
"She's a friend of mine." said Fleeting Time, who was standing behind the Goblin, with a smile. He then sent a message to Ye Ci through the party chat, "I ran into him just now. Unlike the other NPCs, this little guy is actually friendly, and his mental state is quite normal compared to the other Goblins."
"Ahh, you're an Elf as well." the Goblin began studying Ye Ci with a wide grin on his face, "Hello there, I'm Nikky!"
"It's nice to meet you. I'm Gongzi You." Ye Ci sheathed her sword after listening to Fleeting Time's explanation and bowed to Nikky as a sign of respect.
"Hah! So this is the companion that you've been talking about, right? So does it mean that you can help me out now?" Nikky nodded at Ye Ci, and began talking with Fleeting Time.
"Of course. It's not a problem at all." replied Fleeting Time and he began his explanation to Ye Ci through the party channel, "I ran into him just now, and he gave me a quest. He wanted me to go to the Goblin Palace Courtyard and retrieve a parcel for him. I accepted the quest as we're headed to that place. Do you have any problems with it?"
"None at all. We're heading to the palace anyways." Ye Ci nodded. She was determined to complete any side quests offered by the dungeon.
Nikky happily handed the duo two red stones when he received the reply from Fleeting Time, "These are power cores used by Goblin Tanks. I'm sure you know that we Goblins are good in Engineering, and this is also why Vo'sok ended up like this. My parcel is in the palace courtyard, but it is occupied by a large number of Orcs and Undeads. Take these power cores to the building at the northwest of the palace courtyard. There's a lot of Goblin Tanks parked in that place. Those dumb Orcs and Undeads don't know how to operate the tanks, so they were left unused for a long time. They don't know that power cores are needed to activate the tanks."
Nikky was a talkative Goblin. After pestering Ye Ci and Fleeting Time with a bunch of nonsense, he finally went to the main point, "There are several types of Goblin Tanks. Some can be used for defence, some have high firepower, while some are used for repairs. Make your choice wisely and you'll be able to defeat the Orcs and the Undead in the Goblin Palace Courtyard."
When Ye Ci and Fleeting Time saw the row of tanks, they started a discussion about which ones to pick.
"The defensive models will definitely have higher defence values and HP. We will be sacrificing on firepower. Then again, if we don't have one that is capable of defence, we won't last long." said Ye Ci as she stood between an offensive tank and a defensive tank.
"Grab an offensive one. I'll go repair yours with a repair tank." said Fleeting Time as he inserted his power core into one of the repair tanks.
Ye Ci sighed, having one less member in a party is really putting us in a disadvantage. But if I go with the defensive model, we won't have much of a damage output. I guess I'll go with the offensive tank. She boarded her tank after inserting the power core.
Machines of war were fairly rare in Fate during the early stages of the game. However, in the later stages of the game, machines such as tanks, catapults, cannons and even planes would be introduced into the game. Players were able to enjoy themselves by operating such machines, but the learning curve of operating the machines was considered high. Machines found during Fate's earlier stages were easier to operate in comparison. With the experiences she had in her past life, Ye Ci had no problem operating her tank. Fleeting Time, on the other hand, was a first timer. Despite that, he was able to familiarize himself with his repair tank quickly after a few tries.
The duo then charged into the heart of the Goblin Palace Courtyard
An awe-inspiring sight awaited Ye Ci and Fleeting Time as they entered the courtyard. The courtyard was filled with a vast number of Undeads and Orcs. The duo was able to their opponent by casting Detection. Even when the Undeads and Orcs were not Elite monsters and were at a lower level, they could still overwhelm Ye Ci and Fleeting Time with sheer numbers.
"Heh, this is exciting." said Fleeting Time as he narrowed his eyes. There was a slight smile on his lips. It was the expression usually worn by Fleeting Time when his interest was piqued.
Ye Ci took in a deep breath, "I'll start with a corner to avoid attracting the attention of the entire horde. Let's pick some of them off first."
Fleeting Time nodded his agreement. Being careful was the right choice when the capabilities of their enemies remained unknown.
Ye Ci began clearing away the monsters from one corner of the courtyard. The offensive tank had three skills which included a single target attack, a medium AOE attack, and a large AOE attack. The large AOE attack dealed the highest amount of damage in a very large area, but it also had the longest cooldown. While having a lower damage value, the single target attack cooldown was almost instantaneous. Ye Ci began sniping at the odd stragglers with the single target ability, which was able to terminate her Undead and Orcish opponent with one hit despite its lower damage.
When Ye Ci's single target attacks attracted the attention of a larger group, she began firing the AOE abilities of the tank at the approaching targets. Despite its awesome firepower, the offensive tank had a low defence value. Ye Ci's tank would have been destroyed if not for Fleeting Time's repair tank.
Ye Ci came to a sudden realisation 5 minutes into the battle. She was able to stack the tank's attacks into hit combos, and a high combo rating would be able to reduce the cooldown of her tank's AOE attacks. Other than that, her tank was also able to charge up a certain amount of energy when the hit combo was stacked up. When the energy gauge was fully charged, Ye Ci's tank would release an energy wave that stuns enemies within a 50 yards radius of her tank for 10 seconds.
Ye Ci was overjoyed by her discovery. She was able to operate her tank better with each passing moment, dishing out damage to her enemies with ruthless efficiency. Before long, the entire courtyard was filled with the corpses of Undead and Orcs.
Alright peoples! Here’s another awesome release of the awesomesauce novel translated by an awesomtacular translator(which is me, by the way!). Hope you people enjoyed!!!
How are the FGO playing peeps doing? Lots of interesting rolls these days! Have you guys rolled for Enkidu? Or maybe Gorgon and Quetzalcoatl? I’m probably gonna do a 10x roll for Merlin the dik mage xDD and save the rest for King Hassan.
I have a lot of people asking me the following question: “Hey Jimmy, how does it feel like to see things without your specs?”
And here’s my answer: “Well, have you tried watching a video at 160p?”
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