Chapter 148: The Calamity Curse Knight

East of the Plaguelands lay the ruins of a town destroyed by the Scourge.

The coordinates were some seventy or eighty kilometers away from Chu Cheng, but after receiving Lei Ming's message, Chu Cheng rendezvoused with them in just five minutes.

With exact coordinates, Fang Xi could cast a teleportation spell to open a gateway leading directly to the location. Emerging from the portal, they arrived about a hundred meters away from the abandoned warehouse where Lei Ming's team was stationed.

This was the true utility of a Mage.

As long as the coordinates were precise, one could teleport straight to the target destination; the greater the distance, the larger the margin of error.

Furthermore, teleportation was restricted to the current realm and could not reach across different planes.

Meeting up with Lei Ming, Chu Cheng asked right away:

"Where is the Cursed Knight?"

Lei Ming pointed toward the nearby town ruins and said:

"The Cursed Knight is inside the town."

"However, another team has already set their sights on it, so we have to wait in line."

"Wait in line?"

"Yeah, they discovered it before us. According to unspoken rules, they get first dibs unless they lose interest or fail to beat it, at which point it falls to us."

"Of course, we could also pay a hefty sum to buy out the ownership rights."

Chu Cheng gazed off at the ruined town and asked:

"Will they not sell?"

"No."

"There are over thirty of them, and they want to handle it themselves."

Chu Cheng asked in surprise:

"Over thirty people? Aren't you worried they'll actually take down the Cursed Knight?"

Lei Ming shook his head and replied:

"I am, but what can we do if they refuse to step aside?"

"Still, it's not a major issue; the chances of them failing are high."

"A transcendent-tier Lord boss isn't so easily slain. Once they fail, they'll naturally yield the spot."

"Oh."

Since he put it that way, what more was there to say? They would just have to wait.

Besides, Zhang Chaosheng's team hadn't arrived yet, and without the full roster, they couldn't accomplish much anyway.

Their team lacked magic users and had to trudge over on foot.

Fortunately, they weren't too far away and could make it in about half a day.

Chu Cheng stood atop the broken roof of a windmill outside the warehouse, surveying the town. The dilapidated settlement was shrouded in a layer of gray mist that obscured the interior, but the town itself was dead silent, bearing no signs of an ongoing battle.

At that moment, Lei Ming leaped up beside him and asked:

"Have your weapon skills reached the Master level?"

"How did you know?!"

"Yao Ning and the others were bragging about it, I overheard."

Lei Ming gave a thumbs up and praised:

"Not bad!"

"High-level weapon skills are one of the core prerequisites for becoming a powerhouse. Reaching the Master level at this stage shows incredible talent in this area. You'll probably ascend to Grandmaster within a few years."

"By the way, what level are your other weapon skills at?"

"My personal advice is to bring your two-handed sword skill up as well, and take up a ranged weapon as a secondary discipline—either a bow or javelins."

Chu Cheng nodded:

"I've been thinking about that."

He certainly wasn't going to mention that he planned to elevate all weapon skills to the Master level in pursuit of the Weapon Master title.

That sounded far too absurd; no one would ever believe it.

"Oh? They've started fighting."

Lei Ming pointed toward the town. Two consecutive flashes of magical light bloomed within the mist-veiled settlement, accompanied by the faint rumble of distant noises.

The two exchanged glances and spoke in unison:

"Go take a look?"

"Alright."

They vaulted off the roof and sprinted swiftly toward the town.

The undead around the settlement had long been cleared out by the team inside, so the two entered without bothering to conceal their presence. Weaving through piles of architectural ruins, they soon spotted a group surrounding and assaulting a troop of undead knights in the central plaza.

In the center sat a tall knight mounted atop a Nightmare warhorse, clad entirely in bone armor.

Cursed Knight Offman (Lord): One of the Four Horsemen of the Scourge, Level 50, 980,000 health.

"His health is only about half that of the Plague Knight?"

As the two drew within a certain range, a wave of biting cold washed over them. Chu Cheng saw a series of notifications pop up on his panel:

"You are affected by the Scourge Knight's (Curse) Aura of Despair. You take 75 points of negative energy damage per second. Your talent absorbs 75 points of negative energy damage. You take 0 points of negative energy damage per second."

"You are affected by the Scourge Knight's (Curse) Aura of Despair. Your attack power is reduced by 50, your defense is reduced by 10, and your magic resistance is reduced by 10%."

"You are affected by the Scourge Knight's (Curse) Aura of Despair. You suffer a random curse effect. Fortitude saving throw in progress..."

"Fortitude saving throw failed. You are affected by the Damage Amplification Curse; all damage you take is increased by 20% for 1 minute."

"???"

Chu Cheng said in profound astonishment:

"This Cursed Knight's aura is a bit formidable."

Lei Ming nodded:

"Indeed. While the Cursed Knight's aura isn't as lethally direct as the Plague Knight's, it's far more obnoxious."

"Then let's back up a bit so we don't get feared."

"Agreed."

In the town square, the battle had escalated to a white-hot intensity right from the start.

There were 34 people in total, including five tanks, divided into five squads.

Two squads each kept a Death Knight chieftain occupied, one squad handled standard Death Knights, and two tanks took turns tanking the Cursed Knight.

Their tactics mirrored the strategy Chu Cheng's group had used against the Plague Knight: concentrate firepower to instantly burn down the ordinary Death Knights first. The thirty-four-person team included five spellcasters and a dozen ranged marksmen, delivering a ferocious burst of damage when combined.

Various AOE spells interspersed with visibly heroic-tier abilities rained back and forth, melting the pack of Death Knights in under ten seconds.

Following that, the team pivoted to focus down one of the terror-template Death Knight chieftains. Under the relentless barrage of heavy firepower, the boss's health plummeted rapidly.

Just as it seemed destined to be burned down, an accident occurred over on the Cursed Knight's front.

Several members consecutively fell victim to fear and confusion curses.

The Cursed Knight was half-knight, half-spellcaster, capable of unleashing various curses. Under the influence of its aura, everyone was afflicted with a curse effect every fifteen seconds. Depending on the type of curse, targets had to pass a Fortitude or Will saving throw to remain unaffected; failure resulted in a random curse being applied.

The tanks possessed extremely high Fortitude and could forcibly resist a portion of the curses, but the Will-based afflictions could not be shrugged off and relied entirely on teammates for dispelling.

Beyond that, the team had quite a few Agility and Strength-based classes whose Fortitude and Will stats were mediocre, making it impossible for everyone to resist the effects.

Some curses could be cleared using cleansing potions or dispelling spells, but others could not—such as the Fear Curse.

Once feared, a person could no longer use items or cast spells and had to simply ride it out.

The Frenzy Curse caused victims to lose their minds, attacking friend and foe alike with utter disregard for allegiance.

However, the greatest threat to the group was the Confusion Curse. Those afflicted would be mind-controlled by the Cursed Knight and turned around to slaughter their own comrades.

This team had done their homework and possessed a decent understanding of the Cursed Knight. The Fear Curse was manageable—at worst, it caused people to scatter, but since the undead in the town had already been cleared out, there was no fear of pulling other monsters.

Yet if the Confusion Curse wasn't lifted immediately, turning their guns around under the Cursed Knight's control and unleashing a volley of heroic abilities would spell disaster.

Heroic-tier characters controlled by the Cursed Knight wouldn't hesitate to blow through their hero mana and heroic skills the way the players themselves might, and a delayed purification would drain your scarce hero mana pools in a flash, making life utterly miserable.