All of the 21 people here had learned multiple languages. Nie Yan knew the most at 13 in total, some of which he learned from the library and others while out exploring. Even those less concerned with learning new languages knew at least five. Everyone spoke Common and Ancient Common. Other fairly common languages were Orcish, Elvish, and Dwarven, each with countless dialects. Koradi was one of the minor dialects of the tauren language.
"What does it say?" Nie Yan asked.
"A lost world sunken into a realm of darkness, a place shrouded in eternal night devoid of all light, when the dimensional door opens, the ancient world will welcome the rays of dawn. Use your hands to make contact with the spirits, then chant out the name of the god, Sigola…" Xie Yao read out the lines. There was a large section of characters further down below, a message surely hidden within. But more conspicuous were the five symbols which matched the ones on the obelisks.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Undying Scoundrel asked in confusion.
At this moment, Sun and the other four had finished taking care of the five Two-Headed Hellhounds. They gathered over to look at the scroll and pondered the meaning of the characters.
Nie Yan gazed at the symbols on the scroll, then at the obelisks. They only differed in size, with the ones on the obelisks being several times larger. A peculiar energy undulated from these symbols, spreading out into the air.
A light bulb lit up in Nie Yan's head. He walked over to one of the obelisks, then slowly extended his hand. His mind turned empty as he chanted out in a low tone, "Sigola!"
The low and peculiar chant reverberated through the hearts of all those present.
"What's the boss doing?" Lustboy asked.
"No idea."
Suddenly, the obelisk started shining, emitting a white light like a lamp.
The team members gasped in wonderment.
Nie Yan withdrew his hand. Looking up at the obelisk, everything happened as expected. His conjecture was correct.
After lighting up the first obelisk, Nie Yan walked over to the second.
"Is there an order to lighting up the obelisks?"
"I think so, yeah."
The Masters quietly chatted. They didn't want to disturb Nie Yan.
The minutes ticked away. Nie Yan continued lighting up the second obelisk, then the third, fourth, and fifth. The sequence appeared completely random, but it was all according to the clues provided on the scroll.
When the fifth obelisk was illuminated, a large pillar of light shot up into the sky from the center of the five obelisks. At its base was a door opening, the other side hidden in darkness.
"A teleport gate?" Undying Scoundrel said with a hint of surprise.
"It's probably the world of darkness mentioned in the scroll," Summer Bug guessed.
"Boss, are we going inside?" Undying Scoundrel asked.
"Since we've already come all the way here, we might as well," Nie Yan said after thinking it over. The place beyond the portal was probably the heart of Barthe. He could find NPC Morphest there most likely.
Nie Yan led everyone into the portal, shadows dancing around them. When they opened their eyes again, they found themselves in another world. The sky was gray and murky as light trickles of rain drops fell down.
Looking off into the horizon, all they saw was a rocky wasteland with patches of vegetation scattered around sporadically.
You have discovered the Lost City of Barthe: World of Darkness.
Nie Yan knitted his brows. It turned out this place was the true lost city of Barthe. The NPC Morphest mentioned in Paternoster Warhammer's quest had to be here.
The monsters that spawned were hounds covered in ashen fur. They were ugly with rotting flesh hanging from their bodies. Their eyes glowed with a frenzied red, and their mouths were filled with rows of sharp teeth. They looked quite sinister.
No matter where they looked, these monsters were everywhere. Moving in packs of several hundred, they were impossible to get around. The sight of these dense masses of silhouettes dotting the landscape was somewhat unsettling.
When the hounds discovered the arrival of the intruders, they immediately swarmed over from all directions toward Nie Yan's team. There were thousands upon thousands of them. Some howled to the sky, calling over even more hounds from slightly further away.
Everyone turned vigilant. Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and Lei Su each took a corner, standing in a triangle; Dark Requiem and the Thieves filled the gaps; and the casters huddled up in the middle.
The hounds slowly closed in. They were only 50 meters away from Nie Yan's team.
"Shit! There's so many of them!" Undying Scoundrel gloomily cried out.
Nie Yan inspected one of the hounds with Transcendent Insight.
Dark Hound (Elite): Level 160
Health: 800,000/800,000
Most were Elite-class monsters. Only some were the size of lions, towering over the rest. They were Lord-class Dark Hounds with 3,000,000 health.
Their ferocious eyes locked onto Nie Yan's party, pacing back and forth at about 30 meters away. They bared their sharp teeth and let out low growls.
"Use Flame Wall! Lock us in! Quickly!" Nie Yan ordered.
Tang Yao, Summer Bug, Street Vulture, and the other Magisters quickly raised their staffs, erecting five-meter high flame walls all around them.
These flame walls were set up in close proximity to each other, no more than a meter separating one from the next.
Some of the Dark Hounds in the front were immediately engulfed by the flames. A string of damage values ranging from 30,000–40,000 floated up above their heads.
The Dark Hounds immediately became enraged. They rushed forward, braving through multiple flame walls, before pouncing at Nie Yan's team.
Seismic Slam!
Bladelight slammed down with his greatshield, rupturing the earth and sending the Dark Hounds in front of him flying. He raised his greatshield and swatted the airborne Dark Hounds away.
Though the Dark Hounds lost nearly 500,000 health pouncing through the flame walls, they still had enough health left to put up a fight.
An intense battle broke out. The frontliners formed a human wall around the casters. The Mages let loose with their spells while the Priests provided support. Everyone was working in sync.
Lil' Gold charged out into the fray and was quickly surrounded and attacked by a sea of Dark Hounds. Under their frenzied assault, Explosive Counter kept proccing non-stop, and the Dark Hounds soon fell down with dying wails. More came to fill their places, sinking their sharp teeth into his scales. A string of 10,000s floated up above his head. With so many enemies attacking, his health dropped fast.
Paladin Lafus immediately raised his sword and healed Lil' Gold back to full health.
A Dark Hound Pack Leader pounced toward Nie Yan. Because he had killed the most out of everyone, it targeted him.
Nie Yan met the Dark Hound Pack Leader midway with a roundhouse kick. BANG! It let out a loud whimper, as it was struck in the neck and sent flying several dozens of meters before crashing into the ground.
A second later, five Dark Hounds came lunging over towards Nie Yan.
Nie Yan slightly retreated and struck one of the Dark Hound's in the head with his elbow, smashing it into the ground.
Nie Yan's silhouette blurred as he employed the Shadow Steps to evade the countless attacks aimed for him. With Backbreaker, he ruthlessly drove Zennarde's Sword into the spine of another Dark Hound.
In the chaotic battle, one Dark Hound managed to sink its teeth into Nie Yan's foot.
A damage value of 10,000 floated up above Nie Yan's head. He tried to pull his leg back, but couldn't. A string of 2,000s floated up above his head.
"Careful, guys! These Dark Hounds can deal continuous damage with their Gnaw skill!" Smoke Stub shouted.
Another Dark Hound came lunging forward. Just as it was about to latch onto him with its teeth, Nie Yan slashed out with Zennarde's Sword! PSFFHT! A red streak cut across its throat as a damage value of 300,000 rose up above its head. It was a one-hit KO!
Nie Yan then slashed down with Zennarde's Sword, killing the Dark Hound chewing on his foot.
"Boss, there's too many of them!" Lustboy cried out.
"Yeah, they're everywhere. We'll be here forever at this rate," Undying Scoundrel chimed in. Looking into the distance, he couldn't even see the ground through the endless sea of Dark Hounds. If they allowed this to continue on, they'd eventually run out of mana and die.
"At least we're getting experience. It's pretty decent too." Summer Bug tried to look on the bright side.
"Let's just keep going for now. How many of you still have AoE Forbidden Magic left?" Nie Yan asked.
"W-wait. Are you suggesting...?"
"We can't clear them all without using Forbidden Magic," Nie Yan said. However, they would still have to be careful, lest they got caught up in their own attack.
"I have one," Tang Yao said after checking his skill window.
The other Magisters looked at each other. "Ours are still on cooldown."
Nie Yan glanced at Xie Yao. "How many AoE Forbidden Spells does the Earth Orb have?"
"Two," Xie Yao said after looking at the spells.
At present, they had three AoE Forbidden Spells. This was already pretty decent. By using them, they could wipe out quite a few Dark Hounds.