Chapter 18 18 Sitting up in shock from a dying illness, he laughs and asks where the reward is.
Chapter 18 18.Sitting up in a dying sickness, laughing and asking where the reward is?
At midday, the caravan that had left the village of Moorland toward the filthy swamp was dead silent.
The thirty or so Midnight Hunters gathered by Miss Phimis would be spread out in luxurious coffins in ten vehicles falling into a wonderful hibernation.
For these orthodox vampires, no outings were allowed on such a damned clear day.
The sunlight would burn their overly “delicate” skin, and although their resistance to the sunlight increases as their strength grows, their aversion to light is a tradition, and the more noble the bloodline, the more so.
This creates a strange situation.
In the entire caravan, only the blood servants were moving, obviously the elite force of the vampires, but a group of human beings dominated the direction, and among them, there was also a foreigner hiding in the last caravan holding a handwritten book to study seriously.
Murphy’s stubborn human habits kept him energized during the day, and allowed him to take advantage of the perfect opportunity to gather the players for a general meeting without his fellow vampires catching on.
“Pull over, eat and rest, we’re leaving in an hour.”
The blood servant of Missy who was driving at the very front, a mature woman wearing an elegant housekeeper’s uniform and holding a black umbrella, with a cold face but a rather hot body, gave the order to the drivers, and the entire caravan came to a halt in a wilderness.
This unapproachable lady was named Adele, and the blood servants respectfully called her Mrs. Adele.
It was said that she was the only personal blood servant of Miss Phoebus so far, and also her most trusted human “friend”, currently in charge of the logistics of the entire caravan.
Miriam and Maxim were sent to the cauldron by Murphy, while he himself snuck out of the caravan wrapped in a hood and summoned the players in a forest.
Unfortunately, since Murphy was still a rookie, the dark spiritual energy in his body was not enough to summon all the small players at once, so he had to summon them in two batches.
When the small players were summoned out, they obediently surrounded Murphy’s body, they had already heard about the “hidden favorability” in the game group, so now they looked at Murphy as the mainline NPC’s eyes became more eager.
Being stared at by a group of men with “affectionate feelings” made Murphy a little too uncomfortable.
Blanch!
These guys are too realistic, right?
“Ahem, before we have a formal conversation, I have to fulfill my promise.”
Murphy maintained his elegant demeanor as a Blood Clan member, and took out a folded scarlet cloak from his furry psychic bag as the players watched, and then tied it onto the shoulders of the “high favorability” Precipice Bull with his own hands.
The luxurious cloak was of excellent texture, wrapped around the bull’s tall body and fastened with delicate snaps at the collar, and the most elegant part of the cloak was its own collar with a circle of embroidered golden threads.
After the bull put on it has a kind of anime fantasy villain feeling, instantly make him become the most beautiful boy in the crowd, and Murphy also has a bloody midnight hunter mask in his hand.
Made of metal, it’s clearly a set aesthetic with the cape, and can be secured to the raised collar and protect the throat.
This should be a very cool pendant, but the bull is just a rookie player, wearing a “newbie pants” down and out.
It didn’t match the luxurious cloak at all.
If you have to describe it, it’s like a hip-hop black dude who bought a tuxedo for zero dollars and grabbed it, full of all kinds of grooves, a good midnight aristocratic style cape was worn by him as if he had stolen the robe of the black bear spirit, a profound interpretation of the perfect interpretation of the word “monkey in the crown”.
Next to him, Spicy Goo Goo Chicken’s eyes widened as he exclaimed:
“Holy shit, this is a VIP +8 at least, this is what the tycoon fashion is giving out? Is this Alpha Company finally figuring it out and installing a recharge window in the game?”
Murphy glanced at him and replied with the calm demeanor an NPC should have:
“I can’t understand what you’re saying, Warrior, this may be an otherworldly compliment, well, I’ll take it as such for now.
This cloak is a reward I have secured for you from the cunning and aloof Miss Fimis, and although it is only a decorative item, possessing it means that you are officially under the protection of the Blood Vulture Clan.
You each have it!
Those few warriors who have not yet recovered have them as well.
However, as you do not have your own psionic packs at the moment, I will keep them for you for now.”
These words made Brother Woo Meow blink, and he whispered to the few small players beside him:
“This is ‘fashion’, right? And any way you look at it, it should be that ‘Closed Beta Reward’ that the administrator was talking about earlier?”
“Definitely.”
Badger watched Bull look rather misty-eyed as he swung his cloak in a triumphant manner, and he stared at the low-profile Elder Armor on Murphy’s body and said with gusto:
“I reckon this might still be a set, so we’ll be able to get it all together once we’ve taken care of the advance test.”
“Equipment for newbies is estimated to have average attributes.”
Old Qu, the Electronic Phantom next to Brother Woo Meow, also whispered:
“But if this game comes out with an illusion system later, then we’ll be awesome, this is definitely an absolute version of the thing, wear it out on the street that’s definitely cool.”
Murphy secretly observed the small players tugging at the cape on Niu Niu’s body, and a smirk appeared in his eyes.
Aiya, his cute little players were really easy to satisfy.
See, they don’t even want money! A set of clothes to get rid of, this was a really good quality that definitely deserved to be carried forward, and it also fully proved that he really did understand the preferences of the little players.
The previous move of approaching Missy Femis for a cape and gown was the right thing to do.
This kind of ceremonial clothing every high-ranking vampire had at least one cabinet, preferring luxurious things was a habit shared by all vampires.
Don’t look at Tris has been down and out for more than a hundred years, now there are several pieces of good clothes that can only be worn on formal occasions, and even Murphy won’t let her hand wash them for fear of damaging them.
For Miss Phoebus, these “fashions” are just a handful, but for Murphy, this can become his incentive for small players “carrot”.
However, this kind of trick can occasionally play a game, the players after all is the reality.
Their pursuit of strength is never-ending, so they will have to find a way to stock up on a number of powerful equipment as the real reward for the mission.
“Alright, my warriors, it’s time to get down to business.”
Murphy reached out and pressed his hand down slightly, so the players quieted down and listened to their mainline NPC give them an outline of their next actions.
However, Murphy’s knowledge of what this operation entailed was limited to what Missy Femis had told him.
He had no idea about the goods being transported by the enemy or the number and size of the enemy, but the fact that Missy had gathered Midnight Hunters along the way didn’t seem to intend to use any more clan forces was telling.
The enemy might be tricky.
But they shouldn’t be so numerous as to be an actual army of sorts either! Otherwise there would be no need to use the smuggling passage that had been abandoned for years.
The Filthy Swamp that bordered the dangerous outer reaches of the Dark Mountain Range wasn’t a good place, and it would be difficult for a large group to get out of there safely, so Murphy guessed that the size of the transportation group should be between 100-200.
“Day, this is the rhythm of using us as cannon fodder!” One of Brother Woo Meow’s best friends, Black Silk, whose ID was “Black Silk Under the Keyboard”, cursed:
“Even if we add our three NPCs, there are only 18 people in our team, so what’s the difference between intercepting a 200-member transportation team and sending them to their deaths? If the witch hunters are so difficult to deal with, won’t the official army kill us like chickens? It’s not like other games where you can revive for a short period of time and use the number of people to pile up!
3 days of resurrection time is too much.”
The expressions of the other small players didn’t look too good, even the six brothers and sisters of the dormitory who had the least social experience here could realize the sinister and difficult nature of this mission.
“Ahem, let me explain, my warriors, the witch hunters are actually not as weak as you think.”
Murphy explained as he whispered next to them, adding the basics of this world:
“Although the witch hunters of the old religion are at a disadvantage in front of the vampire warriors, they have also stepped into the realm of transcendent power, these guys are demon hunter warriors selected from childhood by the old religion’s councils of elders all over the world and nurtured by using all kinds of natural secret arts, their life force and destructive power are far superior to that of ordinary soldiers.
But even the most elite veterans of the Goldfinch Kingdom are still within the realm of normal humans, I mean, the gap between you and the veterans is definitely much smaller than the gap between you and the witch hunters.”
“No wonder!”
Hearing this, Lumina Yang Trace instantly clapped her hands and said with a sudden realization:
“I told you that the witch hunter from yesterday wasn’t right, it’s quite unscientific to be hit by a lead bullet from a smoothbore gun of that caliber at that kind of distance and actually just spray blood.
If this was a normal person, one shot would have broken even the bones.”
“Right, right, right!”
Black Silk said, waving his hand:
“Brother Woo Meow and I stabbed that one-armed old man hard with a dung fork for a few minutes, but we didn’t finish him off, I told you that the bloodstain was a bit too thick to be overkill, and after all that it turned out to be a ‘Psychic Reformer’.”
“But don’t get too happy too soon.”
Murphy threw another timely splash of cold water as he narrowed his eyes and said:
“The escorting soldiers of the Goldfinch Kingdom are good to deal with, however that powerful human country possesses more than just soldiers, their official psychic organization ‘Tower of the Ring’ possesses the largest number of psychics on the continent.
If this escort mission is really as important as Miss Phyllis-sama said, it will definitely be pressed by psychic masters.
And just as the Blood Vulture Clan had helped the Portia Confederacy fend off the Goldenrod Kingdom, there was another vampire force secretly active on the enemy side as well.
The clan of those bastards was named ‘Wolfsbane’.
They are the lowest, most violent and unruly group of assholes in the entire vampire society, they are not as good as the Blood Vultures who can fly in the sky, but they are extremely good at melee combat and can summon the Star Realm Wolves to help them in battle.
I’ve heard that their clan leader Edward Sr. has a secret pact with General Loren, the frontline commander of the Canary Flower Kingdom, and that the Wolfsbane Clan are the best scouts and assassins under his command.
Therefore, I have enough reason to think that we might encounter those Wolfsbane thugs.”
Murphy paused as he looked around at the small players and said in an aggravated tone:
“That’s why we can’t fight against them, so we can only outwit them!
I reiterate to you, my warriors, that while your otherworldly essence will not truly die in this world, I will not use you as cannon fodder to be sacrificed.
I will not stake the future of all of us for the selfish interests of the Blood Vulture Clan.
They are not worth it!
I have seen your courage and strength, now I need your wisdom to brainstorm a tactic for us that will minimize our losses.
Are there any professional soldiers among you? Or experienced commanders?”
“No, my lord.”
With a feigned salute, obviously taking the opportunity to brush up on his goodwill, Brother Woo Meow stepped forward and feigned mystery as he whispered to Murphy:
“But I have professional friends in my homeland who possess a certain amount of military savvy, and perhaps I can ask him for stratagems.”
“So have we.”
Pigeon Treasure and Badger looked at each other and stepped forward:
“I also have classmates who went to military school, I can ask as well, my lord, leave this to us. We’ll definitely be able to come up with a suitable ploy before the operation begins.”
“Very well!”
Murphy nodded in satisfaction.
He actually had his own plan, but since he was playing a game he had to take care of the little players’ gaming experience, and anyway, there were still two days left until he reached the Filthy Swamp, so he decided to let the little players let go and have a great time.
He himself was able to participate in this matter in real time in another capacity on the forums, with them coming up with a plan of action that they would execute.
In this way, as long as they could win the fight, the fifth ring of that difficult novice guide quest of his own could be completed successfully.
“Then you may return to your preparations, my warriors.”
Murphy said with a big wave of his hand:
“I’m already in the process of securing the best armor and weapons for you, I’ll take care of the logistics, and show me the fire of your wits! In the name of the grand plan, we must complete this challenge!”
“In the name of the Grand Plan!”
The ten small players waved their hands and shouted in unison for a while, before agreeing to another time with Murphy and disappearing from his sight in a severance call.
Murphy bent down to collect the scarlet cloak that had fallen off of Bull, and he walked back to his wagon with his hands behind his back, humming, but stopped abruptly on the way.
Murphy felt as if he was being watched, but he looked left and right and couldn’t find any silhouettes, and repeatedly recalled the time when this feeling appeared, and after confirming that the watcher should not have seen the scene of the player’s appearance and disappearance, he stopped paying attention to this and quickly went back into the carriage.
This is a caravan of vampires and blood servants, if there is no Missy’s eyes out there that would be a ghost.
Murphy had always been 200% wary of these kindred spirits.
After Murphy returned to the carriage, his expression was cold but his figure . Well, Mrs. Adele, who has at least D and may reach E, quietly appeared in a shadow at the edge of the forest.
It happened to be near the place where Murphy had a meeting with the players earlier.
This human stalker who looked to be in the middle of her mature charisma period looked around rather professionally trying to look for traces, but the cunning Murphy had already erased all traces of the place with a psychic shock before leaving, and even more professional reconnaissance wouldn’t be able to find anything useful.
The lady frowned and decided to note the discovery in her handwritten journal to report back to Missy Femis tonight.
Murphy, a seemingly ordinary and not too threatening person on the fringes of the family could be a bit of a problem, and her Missy had to be on her guard as a result, although with that peculiar personality of Missy, odds were she probably wouldn’t care about that is all.
(End of chapter)