Chapter 744: Taint

Chapter 744: Taint
Translator: Halcyon Translations Editor: Halcyon Translations
"Don't stare at me like that; it's giving me anxiety," the little Hunter said weakly.
"Hurry up," Hachi Chan scolded as she slapped her on the head. Their fragile friendship could no longer be salvaged from her envy. She wanted to be like her best friend too, having anything she wanted.
It didn't seem like Remnant Dream was worried too much about spinning to the left or to the right; she just grabbed the wheel and spun it carelessly.
Unsurprisingly, she received the weapon.
When Remnant Dream equipped the level 40 Dark Gold Bow, her damage stepped up to the next tier.
On the sixth floor, the level of the monsters was increased to 45. At this point, they had begun to surpass the players. The only player here who wouldn't feel the effects of the level punishment was Lu Li, who was level 44. The others were all only either level 41 or 42.
The level punishment in Dawn came into effect after three levels. Both damage dealt and damage taken became key factors that affected the efficiency of killing monsters. Previously, Rain Like A Wanderer had asked Lu Li to pull more monsters. This time, he asked Lu Li to stop before he had even begun.
For a tank, the most troublesome part of these high-leveled monsters was their Critical Strike.
"For this floor, it'll be good if we can just pass it. We won't be able to get an SSS grade, so we just need to try our best," Lu Li said. He hadn't even attempted this floor last time.
"These monsters give so much experience," Nuo Yu noticed as he looked at his experience bar.
He was an executive in the guild now and was the type to be really passionate about guild events. Previously, when they had fought with the Gangnam Royals, he always charged ahead and died four times within the span of a few days.
Even with his team members reviving him, he still lost half a level.
This time, Lu Li had brought everyone to do the trial tower. The SSS grade not only gave them prizes, but also rewarded them with an abundance of EXP. Their Experience bars had already increased by around 30%, which was about as much as they had lost.
The monsters in this stage gave even more EXP than an average elite monster.
The last semi-boss was very difficult to kill. It had an arsenal of skills and high damage, as well as a frustrating amount of health regeneration. When you dealt 1000 damage to it, it instantly regained 500 HP back.
Any other team wouldn't be able to sustain through this Boss.
When the system announced that they had completed the sixth floor and received an A grade, Lu Li and the others were surprised. They weren't complaining that the grade was low, rather, they were shocked that it was so high.
Regardless of the grade, they would receive a chance to draw a prize as long as they passed.
The items were more average this time; they were nothing compared to the previous five floors. Among the eight items that Lu Li had, half of them were rubbish. Two of the slots were skills that he had already learned, while another was a weapon recipe for an average Silver grade equip. The materials weren't cheap either, so making this weapon would be a waste of money.
His needle landed on a useless equip, and the others shared similar results. Only Remnant Dream's needle landed on a skill book. It wasn't an exquisite skill book, but it was still one that she hasn't learned yet.
The seventh floor contained level 50 monsters. Lu Li's team members wanted to try it, but he stopped them.
It was true that all the monsters in the trial tower were average monsters, with only the last one being a semi-boss. However, level 50 monsters were not to be underestimated, especially by players who were eight to nine levels lower.
Once you started the stage, you weren't allowed to end it forcefully unless you died.
Lu Li and the others exited from the trial tower, but there were still a great number of players inside. All 80,000 members of Ruling Sword were invited, as long as they participated in the events over the past few days. This came to a total of 60,000 players.
Since this was such a major event, the other guilds had already heard about it.
Not only did they know that the Ruling Sword players were frantically leveling, but they could even find out what their coordinates were.
The Gangnam Royals, who had been aiming their spears at Ruling Sword, couldn't sit still for any longer.
They sent out an army, numbering in the tens of thousands. Not only did they want to taint this holy ground of leveling and loot, but they also wanted their revenge. Hear of War would never admit that they had lost their battle because they weren't as good; he always thought that it was because Ruling Sword refused to fight them face on.
He wasn't being unreasonable either.
If they really engaged in a full-out a battle with Ruling Sword, they could fight five to one and definitely destroy them.
Thousands teleported into the Hinterlands and headed straight towards the forest that the trial tower was located at.
Although the other guilds didn't act, intelligence was floating around everywhere. They paid close attention to the Gangnam Royals and their advancement. As soon as the Gangnam Royals successfully entered the trial tower, it was fair game for the others.
With a numbers advantage, level 50 monsters posed less of a threat. They immediately died under the flurry of skills landed on them.
However, when the Gangnam Royals' 100-man team ran into a level 60 monster and was wiped, all the guilds lost their cheerful attitude.
This wasn't enough for people to feel hopeless – after all, there weren't a lot of level 60 monsters. They could easily sacrifice some players to distract and pull them away.
What really silenced the Gangnam Royals was the Raptor Boss, or rather, Raptor Bosses. They were only level 55, but who would expect three of them?
The Gangnam Royals lost many members this time. Around 700 players were slaughtered during their trip through this forest of death.
They soon reached the conclusion that if they sent in more than a hundred players at once, there was a good chance of a Boss appearing. As such, they decided to reduce the size of their scout team.
Within a short hour, the Gangnam Royals had lost three thousand players. This was more than in their fight against Ruling Sword in a day.
Eventually, the Gangnam Royals finally made it past the forest and to the trial tower. However, what welcomed them was a pre-emptive strike from Ruling Sword. Every last Gangnam Royals player died, having barely achieved anything.
The rational guilds had already decided to temporarily give up the trial tower. Although they were upset, it was better than them dying like the Gangnam Royals. Drizzle Court was the only one who persisted.