Chapter 289

"Humans dare enter my city! Polluting the air!”

The Overgeared members were appalled the moment the blond man appeared. Ominous notification windows consecutively appeared in front of them.

[For the next five minutes, you can’t use ‘Wind Curtain,’ ‘Black Mace,’ and ‘Storm of Eternity.’]

[For the next five minutes, you can’t use ‘Shield Throw,’ ‘Damage Break,’ and ‘Guardian's Power.’]

[For the next five minutes, you can’t use ‘Multi-shot,’ and ‘Red Flame Arrows.’]

...

...

...

With the exception of Grid, all of them had at least two or three skills sealed off. Those who unfortunately had their main skills sealed were particularly disappointed. But that wasn't the end.

[All speed will decrease by 30% for the next five minutes.]

It was a very strong oppression. If just attack speed or movement speed was reduced, the user wouldn’t be able to exercise their true ability. This level of oppression was tremendous.

“Grid! Avoid it!"

Faker hurriedly exclaimed. But it was too late. The vampire earl, Elfin Stone. The furious master of the city was already attacking Grid.

Puhahahak!

A bloody curtain swallowed up Grid. Elfin Stone was convinced that Grid had died.

"Kukukuk, I will come back in awhile. I will kill another person, and then another one the time after that! This will be repeated again and again. I will show you the extreme taste of fear!”

Suruk!

Elfin Stone assimilated with darkness and disappeared like a mirage. The Overgeared members didn’t even think about chasing him. They were grateful that he left. Elfin Stone’s presence was that overwhelming.

"...”

After a few moments of silence. The curtain of blood lifted and Grid frowned.

“What the hell is this?”

Grid only had one point of health left. This wasn’t the end. His whole body was bloody and most of his defense equipment, excluding the Holy Light Armor, was in rags.

“Grid! Are you okay?”

The members came running. Anxiety was on their faces. In particular, Jishuka was deathly pale. This was a reminder that her heart was thinking of Grid.

“As you can see, I’m not okay.”

Gulp gulp.

‘Shit.’

Tears formed as the potion poured down his throat. Super Health Recovery Potion. It was a potion made by the alchemists of Reidan. The price of this top grade potion which restored 15,000 health was worth 10 gold. If he drank three bottles of this, he could buy two chickens in reality.

Peak Sword sighed with relief. "Phew, it’s fortunate. Surviving with only one point of health left, isn’t this a complete miracle? It is unbelievable despite seeing it with my own eyes. It’s surprising.”

Peak Sword didn’t know about Grid’s invincible passive. Grid explained to him. He thought Peak Sword needed to know if they were to be trusted colleagues.

“I have an invincible passive. If I die, my health will be fixed at one point and I will be immune to all damage for five seconds. The cooldown time is 24 hours.”

“Wow...”

Despite the long cooldown, it prevented Grid from dying? It was like having two lives! A complete scam. A legendary class was truly different.

Grid laughed at the envious Peak Sword.

"So always keep this in mind. In the worst situation, I will stand in front.”

Grid emphasized this. If a stranger heard this, they would think he purposely had Elfin Stone aim at him.

“Hey Regas. Elfin Stone never appeared earlier when you were explaining?”

“Yes, this is the first time I’ve seen him.”

"That's right. We explored for a month and never encountered him.”

"Then you were lucky.”

"...”

The mood became serious. This was because the strength of the city’s boss transcended the scope of the Overgeared members.

“Grid is the one with the highest health, but even his invincible passive was invoked. This means that we shouldn’t give him a chance to use the skill. However, the casting time is short and it’s difficult to prepare since we can’t detect when he will appear.”

"This means we will die one by one whenever he appears.”

"Should we do a full-scale attack rather than being wiped out one by one?”

“The result is that we will likely be wiped out. We can’t rule out the possibility that our main skills will be sealed.”

Five minutes was a long time in a struggle with a strong enemy. Having their skills sealed for five minutes was huge and beyond imagination.

“What should we…?”

“There is no answer.”

It was a completely depressed mood. Grid heard this and quietly muttered, "It wouldn’t be so desperate if I had more time.”

Yes, time to raise his level.

'If I reach level 300...’

Elfin Stone was obviously strong. It was around the same as Hell Gao when he had all his fire stones. In particular, the ability to erase skills was the best. Grid’s insight showed him the worst situation. But what if he achieved level 300 and his stats were awakened to the third level?

‘It will be possible to read when he appears and counterattack.’

If he could fight back with Pagma's Sword Dance, Revolve, he could cause fatal damage to him. He would be able to hold on for five minutes while his colleagues’ combat power was reduced.

‘Then the chances of this raid succeeding will dramatically increase.’

But Grid was only level 296. Since entering here, he had gained a lot of experience and could reach level 297. However, reaching level 300 wasn’t possible in a day or two. It was only possible if he drank an experience potion and swept away all the vampires in the city.

"Dammit."

Elfin Stone said he would come back later. It might be in five minutes, or maybe ten minutes. Grid had no time. The conclusion.

‘This expedition will fail.’

Grid’s expression darkened. There were 15 vampire cities to clear, but he was already stuck at the first one. It was frustrating.

“Dammit! The quest difficulty is too high!”

Grid was furious at the thought of losing 15 pavranium. The Overgeared members also looked desperate. They all realized that the expedition was likely to fail, so they couldn’t comfort Grid. But Jishuka was different.

Prior to Satisfy opening, she was one of the best players in the MMORPG ‘L.T.S.’ so she came up with an analysis that gave hope to Grid.

“The time it takes for Elfin Stone to reappear might be longer than we think. I don’t think the cooldown will be short when looking at the power of this skill.”

The monster’s rhythm usually followed the skill reuse time. Just like the Fusers of Skeleton Island. They appeared after exactly seven minutes, spat acid and ran away.

“If the period before he returns is long, there’s hope for us. Let’s raise Grid to level 300.”

“How?”

“Run away and give the experience to Grid. Given the amount of experience these monsters give, Grid can achieve level 300 in at least a week.”

“Once Grid reaches level 300, there is a higher chance to defeat Elfin Stone. But how should we deal with Elfin Stone who keeps appearing?”

"We can only hold out against his skill as long as possible. The first few times won’t be possible, so we will have to sacrifice ourselves. We might find a way to handle it eventually."

There was no method other than the one Jishuka proposed. All the members agreed to the Grid-building project. Grid felt ashamed.

"I’m sorry for putting you at risk due to my personal quest.”

“If you are sorry, work hard. Please try and reach level 300.”

He would surely do so. Grid nodded and opened the Reputation Store.

‘I need to save even one of these people.’

He needed to reach level 300 as soon as possible. Thus, he needed the experience potion.

‘This time I will draw it!’

Grid stood in front of the ‘Draw! Draw! Draw Everything!’ machine. He had 28,013 reputation. One try consumed 999 reputation, so he had a total of 28 attempts.

'I should at least get one out of 28 attempts. I will certainly do it. It is strange if I don’t get one.’

Rattle.

Grid pulled the machine. The result...

[This! You have failed! Unfortunately, please look for the next opportunity.]

[This! You have failed! Unfortunately, please look for the next opportunity.]

“Crazy!”

Two successive failures! Grid’s heart sank. If possible, he wanted to return to the time before he started drawing items. His reputation vanished for nothing. However, reality was cold and temptation was terrible. He couldn’t turn back time or stop the drawing.

Draw! In the past, it was the worst gambling system that plagued many gamers’ wallets and bloated the game producers. Now it was causing great pain to Grid.

“Shit! Yes! Let’s try it!”

In the end, Grid cursed and started the machine again.

[Congratulations! The best chocolate has been acquired.]

[This! You have failed! Unfortunately, please look for the next opportunity.]

[Congratulations! Block Toys to Help a Child’s Development has been acquired.]

[This! You have failed! Unfortunately, please look for the next opportunity.]

[This! You have failed! Unfortunately, please look for the next opportunity.]

Ah! Why were the odds so low the more he drew? Grid’s nervousness reached its peak as his reputation dropped below 10,000.

‘Putting aside the experience potion, why isn’t anything useful coming out?’

His head hurt and he was dizzy. He wanted to stop now, but his hand was turning the machine continuously. He wanted to get his money’s worth somehow. His remaining reputation dropped to 6,000.

[Congratulations! An Experience Increase Potion has been acquired.]

[Experience Increase Potion]

Increases experience gained by 20% for the next three days.

Weight: 0.1

“F-finally...!”

He was happy. He was happy, so why was his chest so sore? He felt like a loser because most of the reputation he earned over the past year was gone.

“Sigh... At least it appeared.”

Grid disciplined his mind and pulled Malacus’ Cloak out of the inventory. It was the moment when the cloak, which easily attracted monsters because of the bloody smell, was revealed after a long time. Grid passed it to Vantner.

"Put it on.”

“Uh...”

What could be done to speed up Grid’s experience gain? Vantner’s vision darkened as he was discussing it with the group.