Chapter 311: Taking Up a Job Class, the Undead Legion Attacks
[Holy Knight]?
So I really did figure it out—
Tang Zheng was startled for a moment, then an unexpected but pleasant surprise showed in his eyes.
He had only been trying his luck. The job classes of the several captains of the Holy Knight Order were not difficult to deduce.
What interested Tang Zheng were the Intermediate Job Class [Holy Knight] and [Evil Exterminator], though he wasn't sure if the latter was a Low or Intermediate-tier Class.
Apart from the latter job, which only Remedios possessed, the [Holy Knight] job was not rare; Deputy Commander Gustav before him also had it.
After a brief exchange.
Tang Zheng left on the pretext of needing to recover his magic power after just brewing some potions. He went to where the Evil Spirit Hounds were and leaned against Xiao Hei, pretending to rest.
In reality.
His attention was already on his stat panel.
"Acquire Job!"
Tang Zheng recited inwardly. He had wanted to acquire this job for a long time but never had the chance.
If it were a High-Tier Job Class, Tang Zheng wouldn't have acquired it right under everyone's noses. But for an ordinary Intermediate Job Class, the slight stat increase would be suppressed by the [Ninja] class and go unnoticed.
*Vmm—*
『Acquiring Job Class [Holy Knight], prerequisite Basic Job Class [Paladin] is required』
『Prerequisite Job Class already possessed. Job acquired successfully!』
Tang Zheng's eyes lit up, a faint, sacred light flashing within them.
...
Job: Holy Knight
Level: Intermediate Job Class
Ability Effects:
Passive·
"Power of Faith": When HP drops to half, immediately recover 10% of HP. Recovery magic has its effect increased by an additional 100%.
"Holy Power": Deal an additional 10% damage to all enemies that are Undead or have a negative Karma Value, and increase Dark Attribute Resistance by 10%.
Active Skill:
Concussive Holy Strike: Further enhances "Holy Strike," dealing holy damage and inflicting a 1-second stun effect. (100s cooldown)
Description: In the name of the Knight, we uphold justice and holiness. We shall shelter the weak and use holy power to drive out all evil!
(Note: Each level up increases MP, Physical Defense, and Magic Defense by 10 points.)
...
[Ability Table]
Innate Ability: [Player]
Comprehensive Level: 48Lv
Job: ...
[Experience Bar: 2,162,396 / 460,000]
Skill Points: 63
...
Looking at the information displayed for [Holy Knight].
"Two passives? That's one more than the [Sword Saint] and [Shaman Master] I acquired before."
Tang Zheng's expression was calm, yet he was still somewhat surprised. After reviewing all the information, a barely perceptible smile appeared on his face.
"As expected of a Paladin-type job class. The passive abilities and the direction of the stat increases are completely geared towards a tank build."
Among the job's abilities, besides the eye-catching passive "Power of Faith," the other abilities were all rather standard.
"With the level increase, the experience bar has also grown, going from the original 410,000 to 460,000."
"With two million experience points, I'll have to level up the job first before de-leveling to remove the [Sword Saint] job."
Tang Zheng thought, feeling a pang of reluctance.
Back when he raised [Sword Saint] to Level 10, it had triggered the High-Tier Job Class [Magic Swordsman].
Now, with the Basic Job Class [Paladin] combined with the Intermediate Job Class [Holy Knight], he should be able to trigger a High-Tier Job Class.
This was the normal method of job progression.
He hadn't dared to use it before, since he had no way to de-level.
"The traditional method of job progression is still easier to figure out." With a thought, Tang Zheng began to raise his level.
[Holy Knight Lv2]
[Experience Bar: 1,702,396 / 510,000]
↓
[Holy Knight Lv3]
[Experience Bar: 1,192,396 / 560,000]
↓
Comprehensive Level 51
[Holy Knight Lv4]
[Experience Bar: 562,396 / 630,000]
Skill Points: 72
"Oh?"
Tang Zheng noticed a change in his experience bar after reaching Level 50. The increase per level had changed from 50,000 to 70,000.
He continuously activated the [Ninja]'s passive, "Aura Concealment Mastery," to quickly suppress the aura fluctuations from his rapid level-up.
He looked up.
The sky had already completely darkened. The group had not lit any flames, allowing the moonlight to shine on the paladins' armor, giving off a cold, white gleam.
Seeing that no one had noticed the activity on his side, Tang Zheng's mind settled. "I didn't expect to be so lucky this time."
Acquiring a job by touching a weapon was one of the methods Tang Zheng had mastered!
However, Tang Zheng rarely used this method.
First, the job acquired by touching a weapon was not guaranteed; it was highly likely to be some basic job.
Second, this method was too troublesome, far less convenient and discreet than acquiring a job indirectly after obtaining a skill with skill points.
The only advantage was that it could save skill points.
Unfortunately.
The [Genius] job directly converted all basic jobs. Before he mastered the de-leveling technique, Tang Zheng wouldn't just casually take up an Intermediate-tier class, which was why he rarely used this method.
In reality, this wasn't the biggest problem.
The biggest difference between "Acquiring a Job by Touching a Weapon" and "Acquiring a Job with Skill Points" lay with High-Tier Job Classes!
Take [Curse Knight] for example.
"Acquiring a Job by Touching a Weapon" required possessing the prerequisite job. This wasn't a problem for Intermediate Job Classes, because the [Genius] job existed.
But it wouldn't work for a High-Tier Job Class, as he lacked the prerequisite Intermediate Job Class.
"Acquiring a Job with Skill Points" didn't have this problem.
Due to the special circumstances of this otherworld, it wasn't like a game. One could first learn a skill, then acquire the job through that skill, bypassing the need for a prerequisite job.
With no fire lit.
The area where the group was stationed was dim. Most Demi-humans could see normally in the dark, but Humans were far from having such an ability.
However, no one present was an ordinary person. Aided by the moonlight, they could still see things in their immediate vicinity.
"Black" Pabel, as the only archer who could maintain his vision at night, was specifically responsible for the night watch.
Tang Zheng, Gagaran, and "Red" Orland sat together on the ground, each holding a waterskin and eating somewhat hard bread.
"To not have encountered a single Undead yet is really strange."
"Red" Orland placed his horned helmet on his knee, took a large gulp of water from his waterskin, and spoke with confusion.
"On the contrary, that indicates something bad," Tang Zheng said softly.
"What do you mean?"
"Red" Orland's face, which looked like a rock weathered by years of wind and rain, showed a puzzled expression.
Gagaran's expression was stern.
"It means that the massive group of Undead are gathered together," Tang Zheng said unhurriedly after swallowing the bread in his mouth.
Just then, light, cheerful footsteps approached from behind.
Clementine, wrapped in a black robe, strode over with a joyful smile on her face. "Hi, little brother, Ogress, big beard, female Demi-human, and... eh, never mind."
Clementine smiled, her eyes narrowing as she swept her gaze over everyone, greeting them with nicknames in turn. When her eyes finally landed on Enri, she simply skipped past her.
"Hey, hey!"
"Red" Orland looked up, dissatisfied. His thick beard and eyebrows seemed to become even more prominent, and a look of wildness appeared on his face.
"I don't like people giving me random nicknames."
"Is that so, big beard."
Clementine grinned, sat down right next to Tang Zheng as if no one else was there, sniffed the air, and ignored "Red" Orland, turning her head to the side.
"Little brother, your scent seems to have gotten a little stronger."
"Is that so."
Tang Zheng took another bite of his bread and replied calmly, "Perhaps it's because I haven't bathed."
"Ahahaha!"
"Red" Orland couldn't help but burst out laughing at this response.
Clementine looked at "Red" Orland, annoyed. "Want to fight?"
"Sure."
A gruff voice responded without a hint of weakness.
*Screeeech—!*
From high above, a piercing screech suddenly rang out.
Following that, the perimeter magic set up on the outskirts was triggered, emitting a red glow that was exceptionally conspicuous in the night.
At almost the same instant!
"Enemy attack!!" came "Black" Pabel's roar.
*Boom!*
The air was pierced.
A volley of arrows glowing with white light flew high into the sky, seemingly colliding with some kind of creature, producing a series of muffled thuds.
Everyone reacted immediately!
"Holy Light!"
"...!"
"Holy Light!"
Several magic casters from the Cleric Corps cast their spells in unison.
A soft, non-blinding, sacred white light suddenly flared in the night, instantly illuminating the entire area.
It also made the monsters in the sky clearly visible.
They were low-tier Undead Skeleton Vultures, creatures made entirely of bone with fine, pale white hairs around their necks, and they were capable of flight.
There were well over a hundred of them!
This flock of Skeleton Vultures had been flying at a high altitude, so they were only discovered when they were directly overhead.
The range and power of "Holy Light" were limited, so it couldn't affect the Skeleton Vultures hovering in the sky.
Perhaps due to the effect of "Holy Light," the previously calm ground began to squirm over a large area as white bone claws and rotting bodies crawled out from underground.
As far as the eye could see, Undead were constantly appearing from all directions.
"Holy Knight Order, on guard!" Remedios shouted, holding her holy sword.
"Cleric Corps! Prepare to engage!"
Kelart quickly followed with her own command.
"Attack! Eliminate these filthy creatures!" Captain Nigun was even more direct.
In an instant!
Streaks of white, sacred light surged forth like a tide. A full 280 Second-Tier Guardian Angels were summoned.
The white, sacred light re-illuminated the night that had just dimmed after the "Holy Light" dissipated. Each Guardian Angel was like a pillar of light.
The sight was unexpectedly breathtaking!
Like the Cleric Corps, the Sunlight Scripture did not summon Third-Tier Angels, instead opting for the Guardian Angels, which had a lower magic power cost.
*Swish!*
*Swish!*
*Swish!*
The 280 Guardian Angels fanned out in a dense formation, attacking the Undead crawling out of the ground. A portion of them flew straight up into the sky to engage the Skeleton Vultures in combat.
Tang Zheng stood up, observing the Undead fighting the angels all around. "They're all just common Undead, their strength isn't high."
"Everyone, watch your feet. Undead might emerge from underground."
Tang Zheng spoke up to remind them.
The others also stood up, looking around warily.
Clementine was even more excited, constantly scanning the area, seemingly searching for an enemy that interested her.
However!
The difficult battle they had imagined never came. The number of Undead wasn't that large, only about five to six hundred in total, including the flying Skeleton Vultures.
Under the attack of the stronger Guardian Angels, which had a type-advantage, it took less than ten minutes for all these low-tier Undead to be annihilated.
A portion of that time was wasted simply because the Undead were too spread out!
"How boring."
Clementine pillowed her arms behind her head and spoke with boredom.
"These Undead are so weak."
"Feels like I could kill one with a single sword strike!"
"That's right, it doesn't seem difficult at all."
"Ha, if it's just a matter of numbers, we could handle tens of thousands of Undead of this level."
"......"
Low murmurs like these rang out from various places from time to time.
The unexpectedly easy situation left everyone, whose nerves had been on edge, with a strange sense of disbelief, as if they hadn't anticipated that this potentially fatal mission would be so effortless.
However, there were also some whose expressions were extremely grave!
Kelart's eyes flickered, her nose wrinkled slightly, and her light green pupils reflected a dangerous light. "That flock of Skeleton Vultures—they were being controlled by someone!"
On the other side,
Tang Zheng noticed the quickly cleared Undead. His gaze swept over the Guardian Angels hovering in mid-air on patrol, and a flash of realization crossed his face.
"I see, so that's the plan!"
"This is dangerous!"
Tang Zheng's gaze hardened as he realized something. He looked up, just in time to meet Kelart's eyes.
The relaxed atmosphere did not last long!
About an hour later, the previously calm ground began to shake again, and the screeching of flying Skeleton Vultures simultaneously echoed from the sky above.
This time, the number of Undead was even greater. As soon as they appeared, they came on like a black shadow, rushing toward the group's position.
And in that one hour, the Guardian Angels summoned by the clerics had long since dissipated.
Normally, a summoned creature's existence cannot exceed one hour.
"Hmph!"
Captain Nigun snorted coldly, his eyes filled with disgust and killing intent for the Undead. "Offer your faith to God!"
The members of the Sunlight Scripture all performed a simple prayer gesture, and a holy magical fluctuation once again emerged from their bodies.
"Stop!"
"Wait!"
Kelart's and Tang Zheng's voices rang out at the same time.
Everyone paused their actions, looking at the two in confusion.
"Your Excellency Nigun, we absolutely cannot waste magic power right now. The enemy is using waves of Undead attacks to drain our magic power."
Kelart spoke sternly, her eyes turning to Tang Zheng. "Leader Tang, you must be thinking the same thing, right?"
"That's right."
"Right now, it's not just about conserving magic power. We also need to leave this place as quickly as possible, otherwise we'll just be endlessly harassed by wave after wave of Undead."
Tang Zheng's expression was equally serious. "We need to rendezvous with the Demi-humans as soon as possible!"
(end of chapter)