Apocalypse Lord

Last time, on Apocalypse Lord: Winter is over and the monsters return in a big way.

This chapter has been brought to you by me and Smash10101.

Chapter 57 – Siege 1

In some places, there were hundreds of people. Others had only fifty or sixty people. But in the north, there were two to three hundred. The players all attacked, the kills for whoever could steal, and there were no rules to speak of.

Someone saw the situation was in chaos and left. He thought, when the mages had no more MP, and the archers had no more arrows, wouldn’t it be time for the close combat players to fight?

There would be chances, no need to be so urgent.

Someone saw Lu Chuan out of the corner of his eye and could not help but cry inside — who said that the north were all lone players, and there were no teams competing? The Standing Post Demon King stood there, it was like a team was stationed here!

“Pay attention to the rhythm, and withdraw when you should,” Lu Chuan warned, and then drew his bow.

The arrow flew and hit its target. Then two arrows split off and hit the two monsters on the side.

“Damn! Splash shooting!”

A player recognized this, and was speechless. “Is he planning to hold the north by himself? He is eating all the meat, but is not giving others the soup?”

Luckily, Lu Chuan did not do this. After shooting a few rounds, he stood there motionless, and gave the chances to the others.

“This is good.” The players were reassured, and then started to shoot and cast skills.

One archer had a hesitant expression and suddenly said, “After a winter, have the monsters gotten stronger?”

At these words, the other players all agreed.

“Yes, I feel they are stronger. Before you mentioned it, I thought I remembered it wrong.”

“In the past, with the skill, I could kill one with three arrows. Now……I have to attack four to five times.”

“They are not just stronger, there are more drops. Just now, I had a kill, and the drops were 8 copper coins and two white equipment! When was there something this good in the past?”

The residents talked to each other and immediately recognized that this was not good.

How evil was the game?

The items in the drops increased, so the difficulty in killing monsters also increased.

If more monsters came to attack, could the safety area get breached?!

Everyone’s heart sank, and they had bad feelings.

**

Apocalypse Calamity never failed the hopes of the players, and their bad feelings were never wrong.

After a round of attacks, after resting for less than a quarter of an hour, the monsters came attacking again.

The mages had been generous in their attacks before, and most of their MP had been used up. So they moved to the rear.

The archers had shot recklessly, and used up most of their arrows. Now, they suddenly realized. “Do we have enough people?”

They originally thought there were too many competitors stealing monsters with them. Now, they thought that just these few people were not enough to stop the monster attacks.

The reversal came in an instant.

“There are so many monsters, no need to fight over them.” Lu Chuan started to give directions. “Archers, stop attacking, warriors, go forward, priests, pay attention and heal.”

In games, high level and capable players undoubtedly possessed more speaking power.

Lu Chuan spoke reasonably, the players unconsciously moved according to his orders.

The close combat players stepped out of the territory, and soon started to fight with the monsters. Sometimes, when they were tangled up with the monsters and could not attend to the surroundings, they were almost ambushed.

Lu Chuan would take arrows out of his quiver and shoot at the necessary time.

Exploding, Freeze, Burning, Penetrating…many special effects took their turn.

The monsters were either frozen into ice, seriously wounded or dead. Their ambushes failed.

One priest at the side looked at Lu Chuan with a complicated expression. For some reason, text ran through his mind.

Standing Post Demon King kills and kills.

Standing Post Demon King is going to rage.

Standing Post Demon King is unstoppable.

Standing Post Demon King controls the field.

When they followed Lu Chuan’s words, they got rich gains, and did not have to worry for their own safety. The players gained great respect for them.

Someone did not agree and snorted. “Trying to please the public with claptrap!”

Then, he drew his arrow and attacked randomly.

But after working a while, either the monsters were killed by the warriors or Lu Chuan killed them first. In the end, he got nothing.

The archer was dumbfounded.

Lu Chuan did not even look at this person, and controlled the entire field.

If you did not listen to him, he would treat you as an opponent!

When controlling the field, those in the way would be suppressed.

Later, when the archer realized, he felt a wave of cold.

This time, he did not dare to speak nonsense and followed the plan.

The monsters came from all directions and constantly attacked the territory.

Yun Ling wore soft armor and a cloak, holding the Fish Scale Shield and fighting within dozens of wood people.

Fire flashed. Each second, the surrounding enemies would receive 3 points of fire damage.

The monsters used wood pieces to hit their targets, but Yun Ling did not feel pain and ignored it.

With the special effects of the skill and the bonus of the equipment, her defense was strangely high, and the enemy could not easily cause high damage against her.

As a result, the effects of the damage reflect were almost nothing. But similarly, her defense was high, she could last for a long time, and the flame cloak would create high spell damage against the enemy.

After twenty seconds, a large number of the wood people had fallen, and dropped many copper coins, equipment and skill cards.

Yun Ling was energetic and in a good state. She charged towards the next group of monsters.

After killing her way several times through the monsters, she was satisfied, and finally started to pick up the items and clean up.

Seeing the battle still going, Yun Ling thought for a moment, and turned to walk to the tailor shop.

“Lord, what are your orders?” Tailors A, B, C, D, E and the others were waiting for orders.

Yun Ling commanded, “Stop all the work you are doing, and put all your efforts into making simple bandages, high quality bandages, white quivers, and blue quivers.”

“Yes.” The tailors responded.

Then, Yun Ling went to the restaurant.

“Take down all the winter specialties.”

“Starting today, make recovery food that is simple to prepare, low priced, and that has adequate materials in the warehouse. For example, mixed grain steamed buns, rice porridge, rice cakes, rice soup, and black bread.”

“The battle will likely last several days, the more food prepared, the better. No need to worry that they won’t be sold.”

The shelf life of the game materials was very long, and the food that was produced also had a long shelf life.

In the past, the food was made and sold on the same day because Yun Ling thought there was no need to hoard. Now, when the fires of war were burning, and no one knew when it would end, she had to prepare.

In any case, even if they could not be sold, she had a lot of NPCs with big appetites, and they could eat the food before it spoiled.

She sent the order, and Chefs A, B, C, D and E started to get busy.

Then, Yun Ling went to the blacksmith workshop.

“Make a few more small animal traps. I have a use.”

“Yes.” The blacksmiths responded.

If the small animal traps were dug and placed into the ground, once small animals stepped in, their legs would be injured, and they would be trapped where they were.

While they were called “small animal traps,” they were actually effective against mid- and large sized monsters.

Once a mid-sized monster stepped in, its movement speed would greatly decrease.

Once a large-sized monster stepped in, its movement speed would slightly decrease.

The small animal traps looked unremarkable, but in melee battle, they could be of great use.

Also —

[Name: Defensive Shield]

生命值：20000/20000

HP: 20000/20000

Use Effect: Block incoming enemies Base Recovery Speed: 2 HP/minute.

Note: Recover can be sped up by spending copper coins.

The defensive shield was an important defense building.

If possible, she wanted to kill the monsters before they reached the territory and avoid the HP of the defensive shield dropping.

While she could spend copper coins to recover, upgrading buildings also required copper coins, and she wanted to save as much as possible.

Yun Ling was very thrifty.

**

The battle outside the territory did not stop, and there were conflicts everywhere. Qiao Qiao could not help but show a worried expression. “They are fighting like this. How can I go out to forage?”

She did not dare to risk going out. She treasured her life and did not dare to be reckless.

But if she did not go out, what could she do in the territory? She had spent the winter basically in the territory, and was almost depressed.

“Qiao Qiao come quickly,” Grandmother Qian called.

“Oh, coming, what is it?” Qiao Qiao hurried over.

“Xiao Fan and the others are fighting monsters, and greatly need recovery items,” Grandmother Qian explained. “Did you not learn blueprints? Make some recovery items quickly and deliver it to them.”

Just recovery items? She also knew how to make bandages and quivers!

……Hm?

Qiao Qiao’s eyes lit up, and she knew what she should be doing.

Moments later.

[Name: Mixed Grain Steamed Bun]

Quality: Normal

Use Effect: Base recovery speed +1 HP per minute (lasts 1 hour)

[Name: Rice Porridge]

Quality: Normal

Use Effect: Base recovery speed +1 MP per minute (lasts 1 hour)

[Name: Simple Bandage]

Quality: Normal

Use Effect: Restore 20 HP every 5 seconds.

[Name: High Quality Bandage]

Quality: Premium

Use Effect: Restore 50 HP every 5 seconds.

[Name: Quiver]

Quality: Normal

Equip Effect: Automatically refill an arrow each minute. At most, this can hold 10 arrows.

[Name: Brown Leather Quiver]

Quality: Premium

Equip Effect: Each minute, it automatically refills an arrow. At most, this can hold 20 arrows.

Special Effect: The arrow storage is very large, storage +20.

The Brown Leather Quiver could not add attributes, but in total, it could hold 40 arrows. When fighting, this was undoubtedly a powerful weapon!

“Okay, give these to them first, and make the rest later,” Grandmother Qian said.

“Okay, I am going now.” Qiao Qiao grabbed the backpack and excitedly went out.

The battle raged on and Pang Yu had a worried expression. “Really cannot go out now, what to do?”

He could not rest.

His neighbors had rested 20 days in the winter, and almost starved to death. With a living lesson in front of him, Pang Yu had a feeling of danger, and did not dare to rest for a moment.

But now, it was not a matter of whether he worked hard, but the conditions did not allow him to. This was very irritating.

“During the winter, the hunting teams went out in the cold wind, and did they catch prey?” his wife comforted him gently. “Sometimes, it is good to be a life skills player, and sometimes better to be a combat player, and sometimes a foraging player. They come in waves.”

“If you want to be able to deal with everything when they come, you have to be skilled at everything, be a life skills player, combat player, and foraging player.”

Pang Yu grimaced, “If I had the talent at fighting, I would have gone into a hunting team already, and not delayed to today……”

“It will be fine, let’s think of other ways,” his wife comforted him.

“I saw many close combat players have clothes and belts that were cut up, and they are making cloth armor right now. The fighting is so intense, it will use up the equipment, the close combat players will need to get new equipment after this.”

“I will make a few more, and we will earn the money for food. No need to worry that we will starve to death.”

“You are making cloth armor, so what will I do?” Pang Yu was thinking hard.

His wife urged him, “It is fine if you cannot find something to do. You worked hard for so long, you should rest.”

Pang Yu could not keep idle. He thought for a while, and then suddenly stood up. “I cannot just sit here doing nothing. I will walk around the town, and see if I can find a new job.”

“It is good to go out for a walk.” His wife was focused on the work in her hands, her mood calm and her expression sedate.

**

In the west.

Wang Guo An directed calmly, “Archers, prepare, fire!”

“Mage crowd skills, fire!”

“Warriors, advance, block the monsters, and do not let them get close to the territory.”

The team members were used to fighting together, and carried out the orders. In a flash, a large patch of monsters fell.

“Warrior team 1 come back, Warrior Team 2 go,” Wang Guo An said.

Just as he finished speaking, five warriors came back to the territory. Five warriors passed by their teammates, and headed to the front lines.

“Take the time to rest, and later, you will take over for Team 2,” Wang Guo An said. Then he refocused on the battlefield and calmly directed.

The warriors who had come back sat down on the ground, not caring for their image.

“These monsters are pretty strong,” one person muttered. “There are many of them, they are hard to deal with, and attack at a high rate. If our equipment was not good, and we didn’t have an increase in our HP as official Rising Cloud Town residents, I would not have returned just now.”

A fellow said, “If we were not in Rising Cloud Town, and had an increase in base recovery speed, just us few people could not have dealt with them.”

It was lucky that they chose to live here.

As they talked, the chef that the team had trained up came with hot food. “You are all tired? Eat, this can increase the base recovery rate of HP and MP.”

[Name: Crab Meat Buns]

Quality: Premium

Use Effect: Base recovery speed +3 HP per minute (lasts 3 hour)

[Name: Corn Cake]

Quality: Normal

Use Effect: Base recovery speed +1 HP per minute (lasts 1 hour)

[Name: Rice Soup]

Quality: Normal

Use Effect: Base recovery speed +1 MP per minute (lasts 1 hour)

The wrapper of the crab meat bun was as thin as paper, and the soup delicious. The filling was made out of crab meat and roe along with jelly made from chicken soup. After drinking the soup, adding in a bit of vinegar, the taste was so great!

“I never thought that I could eat crab meat buns in the apocalypse.” One warrior was going to cry.

The chef said with a smile, “There were residents who caught crabs, and sold them. If I lack materials, no matter my skills, I cannot make them.”

“Guard Rising Cloud Town! Drive away the enemies! Let the residents forage more food materials!” someone started to shout.

In an instant, the members were very motivated, and their tiredness was swept away. They were very spirited, and wanted to charge onto the battlefield to kill enemies.

After the meal, the chef left with empty bowls and plates, his deeds hidden.

In the north.

The people on guard were mostly casual players. After fighting awhile, they found something was not right.

“The monsters have very thick skin, and the wood weapons…they seem to be ineffective?”

“How come this monster knows to spray fire?! My headscarf!!”

“Damn, my straw sandals are almost worn out. I am going to change into new one.”

Some people left, and some came back. What did not change was Lu Chuan was in charge of the battlefield.

After an unknown amount of time, the monsters finally stopped attacking. After three minutes, no new ones came charging.

“Finally stopped.” One archer rejoiced inside. “My quivers are empty. This wave was a bit strong.”

Lu Chuan opened his quiver and looked. He slowly sighed — if the battle did not stop, he would have used up his arrows.

“The monsters have been driven back!”

The news quickly spread to every corner of Rising Cloud Town.

“The monsters have retreated?” Pang Yu had seen the monsters attacking the territory like they were mad, and thought they could not make it through the spring season. Hearing that the monsters had retreated, he was shocked and surprised. “Then the residents can go out to forage again?”

“It is hard to say.” The friend who told Pang Yu the good news was slightly hesitant. “Do not go too far from the territory. Based on the current situation, it seems the calamity of the spring this year is the monsters going mad.”

“Then I will just stay around the territory.” Pang Yu said farewell to his friend, went home to pack, and then excitedly went out.

**

The monster siege was dangerous, but after killing the enemies, the benefits were rich.

Equipment, skills, copper coins, and materials piled up together into a dazzling mountain.

Yun Ling was inventorying her income in the warehouse, her smile bright.

She inspected the territory attributes and saw it showed —

[Territory Name: Rising Cloud]

[Level: Town.]

[Population Capacity: 5000]

[Existing Residents: 2512 (Temporary Residents 1419)]

[Unlockable Buildings: 10]

[Existing Buildings: 10]

[Existing building detail:

Warehouse (level 2): Omitted.

Mission Hall (level 2): Omitted.

Woodworking Workshop (level 2): Omitted.

Tailor Shop (level 2): Omitted.

Residence (level 2): Omitted.

Defensive Shield (level 2): Omitted.

Restaurant (level 2): Omitted.

Ice House (level 2): Omitted.

Farmland (level 1): Omitted.

Blacksmith Shop (level 2): Omitted.]

Yun Ling calculated. “To prevent the enemy’s powerful attacks, I have to keep some money to repair the defensive shield.”

“If I save a bit more, I can save enough to upgrade one building to level 3.”

“The sea is full of resources, and it will be a pity if it is not used. If no one knows how to make boats, after the territory is upgraded to a city, I will just unlock the wharf.”

Planning the future development of the territory, Yun Ling sank into her own thoughts.

In the meeting room, the air was terrifyingly still. Everyone was silent, not daring to speak.

Zhou Qi was expressionless, and said slowly, “Ordering the life skills players to make rain gear overnight was my wrong decision.”

If he had not insisted and ignored advice, then now there would not be a large pile of bamboo hats and straw raincoats in the warehouse.

A mistake was a mistake. He admitted to his mistakes.

His deputy thought for a moment, and slowly said, “It is good to hoard some more rain gear. While we cannot sell for money, if it starts to rain or snow, we will have stock to deal with the emergency.”

At these words, the members all agreed. “While we guessed wrong, we did not suffer any losses. At most, Aunt Lin, Uncle Wu, and Grandfather Zheng will be more tired for a few days.”

“The trash game is so cunning, who could have guessed it? At least, I never thought, rain in spring for the first year, but in the second year, it is the siege of the monsters.”

“Wasn’t today’s income very good? How about we celebrate?”

The team members changed the topic to the celebration.

No one demanded him to be responsible.

No one complained.

Everyone was optimistic, and looked forward.

Zhou Qi’s heart relaxed, and he gave a smile. “Yes, I will have the kitchen make a few more dishes today. Everyone can eat well and celebrate.”

**

The Tailor Shop.

A fat man and a tall and thin youth were buying things.

The fat man kept on murmuring, “There is a group of people packed there, but they will have to rest sooner or later.”

“I think that the monsters attacking the safety areas is not a coincidence, but the main theme of the summer season.”

“Let’s first buy equipment, and then recovery items. When we are prepared, we will have a sleep. Get up in the night, and when most people are resting, then it is on us to guard the territory!”

The tall and thin youth, “……”

The new spring had just started, and he had arranged everything? He was so confident. What if he was wrong?

As he was thinking, the news came. “The monsters have withdrawn!”

The fat man was alert. “Look, what did I say? The monsters attacking the territory is the main theme of the summer. They will not breach in one go, but keep on harassing.”

“If we hold on, the game continues. If we cannot, the safety area will be destroyed.”

“Go, take the bandages, and go back for a good sleep.”

Then, the fat man left in large strides, preparing to go back to the wood house.

What could the tall and thin youth say? Of course he followed.

“Mutton leg! Delicious mutton leg!”

“Intermediate Sewing skill card, trade only, not selling.”

“3 copper coins for 1 piece of linen cloth, 2 copper coins for 1 piece of wood, 1 copper coin for 1 silk thread. If you want, come and buy!”

In the mission hall, Yun Ling would send missions in the name of the territory, but the purchase price was very low.

Some players found it troublesome, and handed materials in at the mission hall when they got some.

Other players did not bear to sell their hard work for so little, and were willing to set up a stall and slowly sell.

In the mission hall, 1 piece of linen cloth was 1 copper coin, 1 piece of wood was 1 copper coin, and 3 silk threads were 1 copper coin. If there was a lot, they could make some money?

Some even went to the life skills players, and tried to discuss, “These are materials for making belts. You help me make a white belt, and I will pay you in the remaining linen cloth, how about it?”

Hearing this, the tailor’s eyes lit up, but they bargained. “Not enough, you have to give me five more silk threads.”

When materials were rare, it was impossible to buy them even with money!

If someone was willing to pay with game materials, the life skills player was very happy to agree.

The customer thought for a moment, and agreed. “Deal. The condition is the belt has to be good, have to have high durability. I will not take it if it is less than 20/20.”

“Do not worry about my work.” The tailor was confident.

There were also people holding food materials and searching for life skills players with cooking skills.

“Do you know how to make mixed grain steamed buns? Rice porridge? Black bred? Rice soup?” Jiang He started with four questions.

“Of course.” The life skills player was full of confidence. “These are the simplest dishes. I can make them well.”

Jiang He was very cautious and asked, “What is your cooking level?”

The life player’s smile froze. “……elementary.”

Jiang He, “……”

He turned and left without hesitation.

“Hey, you come back! We can discuss the price!” The life player shouted.

Jiang He ignored the other trying to keep him and kept on walking out.

Because —

Elementary Cooking, 20% chance of failure, 75% chance of success, and 5% chance of increasings food’s quality.

If this was a player who was really skilled in cooking, from the start of the game to now, their life skill would be at least intermediate, and they would not be stuck at elementary.

Because of this, that person had inflated their skills and was not trustworthy.

Jiang He kept on walking with his head down, and saw a BBQ stall ahead. He asked, “Could you help me grill meat? What will you charge? What level are you?”

The stall owner said, “I can help you grill.”

“Each piece will be 10 copper coins, regardless of success or not.”

“Right now, I have the life skill ‘Advanced Barbecue.\'”

Elementary Barbecue, 20% chance of failure, 75% chance of success, and 5% chance of increasing food quality.

Advanced Barbecue, 80% chance of success, 20% chance of increasing the food’s quality.

Advanced BBQ! 10 copper coins to help grill one piece! What kind of magical player was this?

Jiang He was overjoyed, and took out raw meat from the backpack. “Help me grill eight pieces!”