Chapter 269: Oscard's Notes
Four minutes was enough time. During this period, the fewer skills he used, the less Concentration he would consume, which could extend the duration by another one or two minutes.
A faint smile appeared on Zhou Ning's lips as he commanded his Mithril Golem to launch an attack. The Mithril Golem had a total of four skills: Charge, Heavy Hammer, and Sweep—the first three Zhou Ning had already seen. But what surprised him was that this Mithril Golem actually had a hidden ultimate move. Aside from its normal attacks, it possessed a charged group attack called [Energy Strike], which could unleash a whirlwind to indiscriminately sweep an area, dealing terrifying damage.
The Mithril Golem under Zhou Ning's control relentlessly attacked the other two. Although its own HP was dropping quickly, with Zhou Ning's trait bonuses, its stats were higher than the others, allowing it to fight on equal footing for a while.
Zhou Ning picked up his ebony wood and white ivory guns, skillfully loading them with extraordinary bullets imbued with bonus damage. He began firing. Wrapped in three-colored Haki, each shot made -324, -296 float above their heads. He wasn't using many skills, but the rapid rate of fire gave him the edge. Occasionally, a critical hit would land, inflicting more than 500 points of damage.
The three enormous golems were locked in close-quarters combat, their limbs entangled, but Zhou Ning's bullets always found their mark, striking his intended target.
Under the combined assault of the two Mithril Golems, Zhou Ning's controlled golem's HP had nearly hit bottom.
But it was the enemy that collapsed first. After nearly two minutes of fighting, the Mithril Golem on the left had its mithril core pierced by one of Zhou Ning's lethal shots, its HP bottomed out, and its massive body crashed heavily to the ground.
[You have slain Ancient Mithril Golem (Lv70). You gained 84,000 EXP.]
[Quest Progress: Slay or Defeat 10 Boss-class Creatures above Level 60: 5/10]
With one down, the remaining Mithril Golem was easy for Zhou Ning. Even without a tank, he could take care of it.
With careful control, one minute later, the other Mithril Golem also collapsed under his gunfire. His controlled golem barely had a sliver of HP left.
[You have slain Ancient Mithril Golem (Lv70). You gained 114,000 EXP.]
[Quest Progress: Slay or Defeat 10 Boss-class Creatures above Level 60: 6/10]
"At last." Zhou Ning took a deep breath and walked toward the fallen golems. In his previous life, he had never heard of anyone coming here, but judging from the strength of these golems, this was conservatively a level 70, 20-man dungeon—a terrifyingly difficult one.
He collected the Mithril Golem corpses into his inventory, careful not to waste them. Mithril was hard currency in the field of mysticism. If he could find a way to smelt it, the haul here would be worth around 400,000 Vecktas. He could finally say with confidence: I'm not poor anymore!
Mithril was used in forging extraordinary weapons, rune smelting, even as a catalyst in alchemy potions. Although flooding the market would affect the price, an income of 600,000–700,000 Vecktas was guaranteed. (Originally written as 200,000, meaning each, but many misunderstood it as total, so it was corrected.)
With those two golems down, Zhou Ning's quest progress to lift his level 60 cap reached 6/10. He wasn't far from completion, and it seemed likely he could finish it here.
He had the remaining Mithril Golem stand by. Earlier, he had triggered a mechanism that shut the tomb door, and with his current attack power, breaking it down himself wouldn't be easy. He would need the golem's help. He then turned toward the silver coffin in the center of the chamber. According to Molly, ancient elves liked to be buried with their most treasured possessions. From the looks of it, Elf King Alfred and his great archmage were… very close.
The silver coffin was unlike ordinary ones, with not even a seam—more like a solid rectangular block. A line of ancient Elvish text was carved on the lid.
"Here lies Elf King Alfred's right hand, the Grand Archmage Oscard. In his lifetime, he forged 17,980 weapons of war. May darkness be with him."
Molly softly read the words, though whether she was guessing or not was unclear.
Zhou Ning lowered his head and felt around the coffin, finding something like the palm imprint mechanism he had used earlier. Most likely, this was the trigger! He carefully pressed down and quickly retreated behind the Mithril Golem, ready in case something unexpected—like a zombie—emerged.
The sound of gears grinding came from inside, and the lid slowly lifted open, releasing dust that made him cough and a pungent odor of decay.
Inside lay a high elf dressed in pale-gold robes. Despite the passage of countless years, the corpse had not decayed. His features were strikingly handsome, fair-skinned and unmarked—somewhat reminiscent of Orlando Bloom. But his hands rested stiffly over his chest, nails fallen off, expression far from peaceful. Deep claw marks covered the inside of the coffin lid. Excluding the chance of corpse transformation, he had likely been buried alive.
Zhou Ning drew a deep breath. The pale-gold robe Oscard wore had remained intact for millennia, still looking new—a remarkable extraordinary item. But Zhou Ning had no habit of desecrating the dead, so he left it untouched.
Beside Oscard lay several dried rare materials and a crimson-covered book. Zhou Ning reached out and picked it up.
Book: [Oscard's Notes]
Legendary Tome
Reading grants a vast amount of forging experience.
Prerequisite Skill: Ancient Elvish (Beginner)
Click to Read.
"Let me take a look… Hmm, this book should be called the Starry Mage's Diary. It must record many secrets from ancient times. Let me read it later."
Molly's voice again echoed in his ears. Zhou Ning: …
You're just guessing the words, aren't you? Definitely guessing.
Though he couldn't read it, the system prompt told him what it was: a fairly uncommon life-skill book that would grant massive experience in life skills, with a chance of learning recipes.
But being buried with the Grand Archmage, and dropped as a reward after a dungeon boss fight, this was certainly no ordinary book. It was likely to contain extraordinary crafting schematics—very possibly the blueprint for the Mithril Golem. Zhou Ning immediately stored it away without hesitation.
Aside from the book, there was nothing else of value in the coffin. Zhou Ning gave the pale-gold robe one last glance, then lowered the lid.
"Count yourself lucky. If another player had come, you'd be stripped bare."
By then, Zhou Ning's Concentration bar was nearly depleted, signaling the end of his control over the Mithril Golem. He commanded it to march to the tomb door, raise its spear, and unleash Energy Strike.
A deafening boom erupted, white light flashing and spreading. The heavy stone door burst open, a gaping hole left in its wake, light streaming through.
Ra… Lux?
That was some serious firepower. Zhou Ning's heart skipped a beat. Fortunately, the golem hadn't used this move earlier. If it had hit him, he might not have survived.
After releasing the strike, the Mithril Golem's eyes dimmed. The attack had clearly cost it dearly. Zhou Ning calmly waited for his Concentration bar to bottom out. Once the golem's name turned red again, he pulled the trigger.
"Bye-bye!"
[You have slain Ancient Mithril Golem (Lv69). You gained 94,000 EXP.]
[Quest Progress: Slay or Defeat 10 Boss-class Creatures above Level 60: 7/10]
Closer and closer to his class advancement! Zhou Ning stored the final golem in his ring, carefully checked the tomb for anything left behind, then squeezed through the hole blasted open by the Mithril Golem.