Volume 2 Spread Wings Chapter 222: Dungeon - Black Castle Attack and Defense
Soon Levi, Lightforger and others found the mage in charge of the dungeon. According to the mage, because teleportation magic will have a certain burden and impact on the body of people who are not strong enough, they can only enter this dungeon three times a week.
There are also several special instructions for the copy:
First, the number of people entering in each batch shall not exceed 200;
Second, there are only three ways to exit the dungeon: killing all enemies, completing the mission objectives required by the dungeon, and voluntarily admitting defeat.
If you choose the last method, the times you have used this week will not be refunded.
Third, since the Black Castle had changed hands several times in the past and many battles had taken place there, after entering the dungeon, the friendly forces and enemies they encountered might be from different races. This meant that each entry was highly random, but the system would perform a certain amount of camouflage so that they would temporarily look similar to the friendly forces in appearance.
Fourth, because casting teleportation magic requires certain materials, you have to pay to enter this copy, and the fee is charged per person.
Each subordinate costs 1 silver coin. If Levi wants to bring 200 subordinates with him, the ticket fee alone will cost 20 gold coins. Even if they try their best and finally clear the dungeon, it is not known whether they can make a profit.
Everyone was in an uproar for a moment, but soon when several quartermasters who came after hearing the news gave a brief explanation, Levi understood that they could get discounts based on their military positions, and the discount rate was quite high.
As long as he is a new recruit, he and his troops will get a 30% discount. Then the discounts for veterans, sergeants and non-commissioned officers will get higher and higher. By the time Levi is a lieutenant now, the discount has become 20%. In this way, even if Levi enters with 200 subordinates, it will only cost 4 gold coins. This is really a huge discount.
The other chosen heroes were also very satisfied, because after experiencing a series of battles, even if they had spent some of their military merit points on equipment, skills or recruiting troops, they could basically be promoted to the rank of sergeant or non-commissioned officer.
The Lightforged, who were more calculating, had successfully been promoted to lieutenant thanks to yesterday's battle, and thus saved a lot of money on the ticket.
However, most people still don’t quite understand why the initial price is so expensive but the discounts are so generous?
Levi had the same doubt at first, but soon he smiled and explained to the Lightforgers: "Perhaps the natives are very confident in this dungeon, so they want to make a fortune from other people."
The Lightforged suddenly understood. Indeed, the system had previously prompted that both the chosen heroes and the indigenous people could participate. If other races wanted to enter this dungeon, they would probably have to pay a higher price.
For example, the dwarves who are closer to here!
The Lightforged One immediately shook his head. If it was just a coincidence, then it would be fine. But if it was really intentional, then the natives were too targeted.
After all, dwarves cannot hold any military positions among the high elves, so naturally they cannot enjoy this discount. But they are also very rich, which is really...
But no matter what, the indigenous people came up with such a plan to make money in such a short time after the copy appeared, which shows that the wisdom of the person in charge should not be underestimated.
However, after saying this, Levi was stunned for a moment because he suddenly realized a problem.
If he and Donna lead their teams into the dungeon separately like they did in the Dwarf Hills dungeon, could they enter it twice a week?
So how should this discount be calculated?
Although according to Donna's current leadership, the number of troops she can lead is far less than her own, but there is still a big difference between the original price and the 50% discount.
And what kind of rules will there be for the special existence of teammates like Risa Dillan, who has not yet been truly hired by him but is already almost inseparable from him, and even for the Amazons on the other side?
I have confirmed that even if they are not recruited, Amazons can be hired temporarily, so they should be able to enter the dungeon.
So he immediately asked about this question, and then he found that the quartermaster and the mages were looking at each other for a while, as if they had never thought about this question at all.
Then they immediately paused the transmission, and the wizard began to use the communication spell, obviously intending to ask for instructions from his superiors.
Then within two minutes, an elf warrior wearing heavy armor and looking very powerful came here. Levi was no stranger to him. He was the general who caused Lisadilan to fall into such a situation - Ilan Dil.
After a few words of communication, the quartermaster quickly announced that if the indigenous heroes had already pledged allegiance to the chosen heroes, they would naturally be able to enjoy the same discount treatment. If they were in a temporary employment status like Amazon, the discount would be halved based on the discount for the chosen heroes who hired them.
For example, if Levi is currently offering a 20% discount, then the Amazon he hired is offering a 40% discount.
And because Levi pointed out this problem, the expenses for him and all the natives under his command entering the dungeon this month will be fully covered by the Quartermaster Department. In simple terms, he will not have to spend a single copper coin for the next month.
When he said this, Ilan Dil nodded slightly to Levi, quickly glanced at his many subordinates, and then left on his own.
The many chosen heroes next to them were certainly envious and jealous, but Lisadilan gritted his teeth because he knew that the other party had seen him. After all, as a stronger subordinate, he was standing behind Levi, but the other party's eyes did not linger at all.
He regarded the other party as an opponent and a goal to be surpassed, but after ruining his future, the other party seemed to have completely forgotten his existence. Is there any humiliation that could be more cruel than this?
Levi patted Risadiran's shoulder gently, but didn't say much. He just told him with his eyes: If you want to change this situation and want him to respect you, try your best to become stronger!
The chosen heroes around were discussing the matter enthusiastically, because soon a smart man realized a problem. If he could reach some kind of agreement with the adventurers among the natives, could they take advantage of the discount, bring the natives into the dungeon, and then make a profit from the difference?
However, someone soon raised an objection, saying that the number of entries into this dungeon was limited, so instead of serving the natives, it would be better to lead a team through the dungeon alone. Obviously, the latter would benefit more.
After all, playing a dungeon is not just for money, but also for experience points, equipment, and other special items that may exist.
But no matter what, this at least provides an idea. If there is an unlucky guy who has just been wiped out, he may be able to use this opportunity to make a profit and then try to make a comeback.
After such a short delay, someone had already paid the money. Then Levi immediately heard the other party shouting loudly: "What? There are more difficulty options? Why do I only have easy and normal? What's the last one?"
The wizard in charge of the transmission was not angry, but replied with the usual arrogance and calmness of the high elves: "The last one is difficult, you need to beat the normal difficulty before you can enter."
The God-chosen hero hesitated for a moment, and finally decided to choose the easy difficulty first. After all, he had three chances every week, so he could just choose the normal difficulty next time.
But if he chose normal difficulty right away, if the copy was too difficult, he would probably have wasted an opportunity in vain.
With a flash of light, he and his troops disappeared without a trace.
Levi, the Lightforger and others also heard the conversation between each other. They looked at each other and felt it necessary to send someone to investigate first.
Especially for Levi, this issue may be even more important. After all, at present, it is probably difficult for other chosen heroes to have reliable subordinates like Donna who can stand on their own.
At this time, Master and the others had also rushed over. Looking at the people gathered together but not moving, he couldn't help but feel curious.
After figuring it out, he patted his chest and said generously: "Let my people go and take a look first!"
Levi didn't give any time to refuse. The two mages brought their subordinates and entered the dungeon in different levels of difficulty.
Seeing this, the Lightforged were not willing to be left behind and sent four of their minions in at once. This was because the troops of their Temple of the Arcane were mainly equipped with golems, spears, archers and magic, and the difficulty that was suitable for them might not necessarily be suitable for themselves and others.
Then within a quarter of an hour, the mage in the Arcane Temple who had chosen the normal difficulty ran back covered in dust, with almost a quarter of his subordinates behind him gone.
Before they could ask any questions, he had already complained: "Boss, this instance is too random. I was assigned to the attackers' side, and I am attacking the Undead defending the city together with a group of Beastmen."
Upon hearing this, everyone couldn't help but cast sympathetic glances. As the most typical chaotic evil race, Beastmen, like Demons, were hated by everyone. Not only did they have no diplomacy, but the strength of each class and army was not very good.
Although it is said that after the level is increased, powerful troops such as Minotaur and Cyclops will appear, and Levi has also confirmed some of them, but at least at this stage, they are only slightly stronger than the goblins and ogres in the wild, and are basically equivalent to the wild monsters used for leveling.
But he hadn't finished yet: "The overall strength of the Undead isn't particularly strong. In addition to about five or six catapults on the city walls, they only have about three hundred graveyard guards and twice as many cannon fodder skeletons."
"The number of our beastmen is obviously much smaller, less than 300, and there is basically no command, they all rushed up at once. Fortunately, the wall of the Black Castle in the dungeon is not high, less than two meters, so they can jump over it with a little effort."
"But what's very strange is that in addition to having dozens of low-level undead wizards who can revive skeleton soldiers as cannon fodder and cast various curses, they also hired some human crossbowmen and musketeers to help defend the city. How can I defeat them?"
As soon as these words were spoken, many people laughed even more happily.
As we all know, what the undead lack in the early stages is long-range output means. After all, those skeletons and zombies have no brains at all and are unable to perform a series of complex actions such as drawing the bow, loading arrows, aiming and shooting.
To put it bluntly, low-level undead are just bones and rotten flesh revived by magic. They are far from the Tomb Kings, whose skeletons each have a soul.
But now these human mercenaries have filled this important link. It can only be said that this guy is very unlucky to have encountered such a tough opponent.
But what’s more interesting is that his troops inside were also disguised as beastmen, which seems quite strange.
Levi also laughed at first, but soon he thought of more things.
If humans can accept being employed by the undead for the sake of profit, then if the profit is great enough, can they do more?
Before, he was still doubting that the vampires were only entrenched in a small area like Silent Manor. Apart from the dark elves occasionally throwing some corpses to them, they had almost no other channels for recruiting soldiers. So how did they accumulate so many vampires?
In yesterday's battle alone, at least nearly a thousand vampires were killed. The demons obviously would not make that thing. It was most likely made by the vampires who had died at his hands and the organization behind him.
But with this reasoning, if even the black dragon of the Snake Cult can develop believers in human towns, it is only natural for vampires to establish bases there as well.
After all, as long as they don't appear in the daytime and cover themselves up a little, they look no different from humans at first glance, except that their skin is slightly paler.
Moreover, those towns did not belong to any well-known big countries. They were all places similar to colonies established by small human countries. There were various conflicts between them, and small-scale frictions occurred from time to time, which gave the black dragons and vampires more opportunities to intervene.
Unfortunately, even if he had guessed this possibility, he couldn't do anything for the time being, because the high elves were already busy with their own affairs...
At this time, Wange smiled and said to Levi: "Sir, just after you communicated, I noticed that several of your people seemed to be eavesdropping, and then they walked over there."
"Eavesdropping?"
Levi was stunned at first, then he followed the direction of Elegy's finger and found that it was the core area of Black Castle, which was currently forbidden for the chosen heroes to enter.
He quickly asked, "Can you tell whether they are subordinates of the God-chosen hero or ordinary natives?"
Elegy pondered for a moment and said, "Their attire is somewhat similar to that of shadow warriors, but they don't have bows and arrows. They should be agile swordsmen or assassins. I haven't seen similar attire in the teams of other God-chosen heroes."
“I see…”
Levi thought about it for a moment, and it turned out that the other party should be a special army from the Kingdom of Nagaryeth. They have a lot of this type of soldiers, but why would they eavesdrop?
Could it be that they were collecting intelligence? Perhaps the natives didn't fully understand what was going on in this instance?
But this had little to do with him. After casually scanning a few times and not finding any more aboriginals dressed in similar clothes, Levi nodded to Elegy: "Thank you, you did a good job this time."
He is obviously a violent output-type warrior, but he also has such keen insight. He is indeed worthy of being valued by the goddess.
Wange smiled and did not respond, but continued chatting with Donna. They had been separated for several years and had been separated by life and death. Now that they met again, they had endless private conversations to share, and she also had many experiences in other worlds that she wanted to share with her.
Levi didn't take it too seriously. After a few minutes, two more brothers from the guild reappeared in the magic circle one after another, but their expressions and the results of the battles were quite different.
One is to challenge the normal difficulty, where you have to fight side by side with the dwarves against the greenskins who are several times more numerous than you and come to attack the city. In the end, you are defeated, but you also gain a lot of experience points and a lot of spoils from the greenskins in the process. In short, although you don’t make much money, it is definitely not a loss.
The other is a simple difficulty, where you fight against the invasion of murlocs together with humans.
What else is there to say? Although the opponents are numerous, most of them are miscellaneous soldiers, and after the murlocs leave the water, their combat effectiveness will be reduced.
In addition, although the number of humans defending the city was small, they were a combination of halberd soldiers and musketeers, and they also had several cannons. They killed the enemy very smoothly and obtained a lot of experience points and spoils.
Roughly speaking, even after deducting the ticket money for entering the dungeon, you can still earn about 10 gold coins. The drop rate of this dungeon is still very high.
Upon hearing this, everyone couldn't help but get excited. If this was the case, then even if they only cleared a simple difficulty dungeon three times a week, they could steadily earn 30 gold coins. This was indeed a great temptation for the ordinary God-chosen heroes at this stage.
It seems that although the charging standards of the indigenous people are a little high, as long as you can pass the level successfully, you will definitely make a profit.
And those with stronger strength will obviously challenge the normal difficulty or even the difficult difficulty, trying to grab more spoils, and naturally earn more.
Presumably, after a period of fermentation, the chosen heroes and indigenous people of other races around will also come forward and willingly offer their gold coins.
From now on, this will become a long-term and stable income for Black Castle, and the amount will definitely not be low. There will be a daily turnover of at least several hundred or even thousands of gold coins. Even for the natives, this is definitely not a small amount of money that can be ignored.
After confirming the approximate number and level of the enemies again with a few people who had entered the dungeon once, Levi frowned.
He had originally planned to let him and Donna lead the team separately and fight three copies each, but now it seems that after they separate, if they are unlucky, they may not be able to win.
The main reason is that the enemies you face are too random. The few guys that come out, whether enemies or teammates you meet in the dungeon, are completely unique. I don't know how many races have occupied the Black Castle.
Moreover, the quality of the troops is not bad. There are 5th-level troops in normal difficulty, and there are more than one. If you are lucky, it is not impossible to encounter heroic units.
However, if it is just a simple difficulty, the witches Tiva and Leonidas who are still in Bitao Village should be able to pass it relatively smoothly. It seems that if there is a chance, they can also give it a try.
It just takes a little longer to travel by land, so we should go back to Ashridge Town, where we should be able to hire some boats.
After discussing with Donna, Levi finally decided to give it a try, so they divided their troops into two groups.
Except for Zhou Miyin, Simon and the elephant man Bayoru who continued to follow him, many other subordinates with names and surnames, as well as the Avalon sisters, some devout priests, and the most elite part of the Sky Eagle Archers and Silver Guards, were all in the same group with Donna.
Especially Elegy, Cindy and Lisa Dilan, the fighting power of the three of them is still very reliable.
Then the remaining archer troops and cavalry including the Caledo Sentinels, Silver Guards, Moa Archers, Silver Helmet Knights, etc., all formed a group with him.
Donna's side is going for elite forces, while Levi's side is going for quantity, with the help of magic and many summoned creatures. Although there is a big difference in numbers, I believe the combat effectiveness of both sides should not be weak, and they can both try to challenge the normal difficulty.
If you can pass it successfully, that would be even better. If not, then the worst that can happen is that we can just come together and challenge it again later.
In fact, Levi had planned to call for some external help to increase his success rate, but before he could set off, he found that the three Amazon sisters had already come with a large number of subordinates, and paid the money very readily, and even entered the copy before Levi.
He immediately realized that his plan had failed and the natives were not fools.
Especially when it comes to heroic units at the level of Anaconda and the others, even though they seem a little lacking in many aspects due to their experience and knowledge, he can clearly feel that they have grown a lot in these few short days. Perhaps this is the reason why their goddess let them out.
He was queuing up and preparing to enter the dungeon, and then he saw something that surprised him very much: an acquaintance of his, the mage Mikaela, had also come here.
Moreover, she was not alone, but brought with her a large number of elite troops, so her purpose was very clear, she also wanted to enter the dungeon.
Considering what Wange had just said, everything made sense. It was obvious that the natives quickly realized the true value of the copy and wanted to truly participate in it and confirm it in person.
Because if the facts are true, with dozens of heroes and thousands of elite troops, it is obviously much easier for them to clear dungeons than ordinary God-chosen heroes.
Compared with the troops led by many God-chosen heroes, the several types of troops following her were obviously much more elite.
There is no need to say much about the Avalon sisters. Although there are only a few of them under Levi's command, their abilities are truly too outstanding and completely crush other ordinary shooters.
Next came some White Lion Warriors who were holding two-handed battle axes, wearing scale armor and covered with white lion fur. They were level 4 and were among the few high elves who used battle axes as weapons.
It is said that they are from the Kingdom of Chrace and are particularly good at woodland warfare. In normal times, they are often used as guards for many princes and princesses in the ten kingdoms.
The second type is the 5th-tier soldier, the Swordmaster of Hoeth, who wears gorgeous armor and holds a two-handed sword that can almost reach the height of his nose even when it is standing on the ground.
Things like heavy strikes, sweeps, cleaves, and archery are all their specialties. Some of them are probably their advanced troops. When they wield their two-handed swords, they keep spinning like a small top, and are real infantry killers.
Levi saw with his own eyes yesterday that several sword masters joined forces and cut a level 6 six-armed snake demon into pieces in less than half a minute. The big sword in their hands seemed to be completely weightless, and they even swung it faster than the six-armed snake demon's long sword.
Although this may be related to the bonus provided by the indigenous heroes, their own strength is absolutely beyond doubt.
One is known as the Six-Armed Sword Saint, and the other has the word Sword Saint in his or her military branch's name. Both of them are by no means ordinary.
The last special type of soldier is dressed in dark golden armor, with a flying phoenix embroidered on the cloak on the back. The shape of the helmet is also very similar to that of a phoenix, with an exaggerated large wing on each side.
But the most special thing is the weapon in their hands, which is something similar to a combination of a halberd and an axe. It looks heavy and powerful. With one move, ordinary enemies would probably be cut in half.
They are the 5th-level Phoenix Guards. According to Levi's inference, they should be the best at fighting against large-scale troops, and they have extremely high physical defense and magic resistance.
Because in the previous battle, they had fought against Soul Judgement Demons of the same level 5. No matter the opponent's physical attacks or special abilities, they could not cause much damage to them. Even two Phoenix Guards working together could kill a Soul Judgement Demon in less than ten seconds, which was incredibly efficient.
Then there were several aerial war beasts such as giant eagles and griffins, as well as those probably used for air defense.
Finally, there were two teams of silver-helmeted knights and several crossbows. It was obvious that Michaela was well prepared this time.
After looking at the opponent's lineup, Levi felt that he still had a long way to go in the future, and he didn't know how long it would take him to put together the same lineup.
As he was sighing, it was finally Levi's turn. He waved to Donna, Elegy and others behind him and said, "I'm going first. You all should cheer for me too!"
Donna nodded nonchalantly. If those chosen heroes hadn't lied, it would be almost impossible for them to lose with their current luxurious lineup, especially since she was fighting side by side with her sister Elegy!
As the light flickered, Levi immediately found himself on the city wall, and a few hundred meters ahead, beyond the maximum range of the crossbow, were some large square faces with green bodies. Who else could they be but green-skinned orcs?
Their numbers are quite large. Looking around, there are at least seven or eight hundred green-skinned guys, more than two hundred green-skinned big guys, and over a hundred green-skinned wild boar boys, which add up to over a thousand. It can be said that with these troops alone, it will probably take less than a quarter of an hour to flatten an ordinary novice village.
In the most central area, there are thirty to fifty fat and ugly river trolls, as well as several huge guys that are green to black and larger than ordinary greenskins. They are the elite among the elite among the greenskin troops, the 5th-level black orcs.
Not only are they stronger than ordinary greenskins, but more importantly, they all have certain military qualities and are no longer like ordinary greenskins who allow themselves to be dominated by their chaotic nature. They strictly abide by order and are the most favored guards or low-level commanders of almost all greenskin heroes.
As soon as Levi saw this lineup and the ordinary greenskins who were busy setting up simple battering rams and ladders, he knew that the difficulty of this battle would definitely not be low.
He immediately commanded his subordinates to enter a defensive state and cast many summoning magics.
Looking back around, he saw that there were only two types of soldiers on the city wall, spearmen and sea guards. With their martial arts talents, they should be able to resist, but their output was not very optimistic.
There were supposed to be arrow towers on both sides, but now they have become ruins and are obviously useless. Instead, several high elves are urgently debugging a crossbow.
Then there is a team of level 3 Elion cavalry in the city, but if it is a pure city defense battle, there is no need to count on them at all.
The situation seems quite serious, but the only good thing is that the black castle in this copy is no longer known how many years old, and its overall area is completely incomparable to the black castle outside, so the area they need to defend is much smaller.
At this moment, a system prompt popped up, saying that his goal was to hold out for two hours under the fierce attack of the greenskins, by which time reinforcements would arrive and the copy would be successfully cleared.
If the defending troops are wiped out or the city's Office of the Interior is destroyed during this process, the mission will fail directly.
At the same time, the system also reminded him that the high elves in the copy would only concentrate on completing their tasks, which was to guard the city walls and gates, so they would never retreat to the further areas.
When he saw this, Levi suddenly had an idea. If he didn't retreat, what if he took the initiative to attack?
If we use the cavalry units in conjunction with our many summoned creatures, can we lure a considerable number of greenskins away from the front battlefield?
Then I could stand on the city wall and bombard it with magic in a very cool way.
And there is not much danger. The greenskins' strongest point is close combat. In other aspects, whether it is ranged or magic, they are far inferior to the high elves.
Although the system says that you can win if you persist for two hours, if you kill all the enemies before the reinforcements arrive, can you get a higher reward?
Thinking of this, he directly issued a series of orders, and soon the side door was opened. Simon led dozens of cavalry troops out of the city first, and then the flying Mastiff-headed Sub-Kings and Supervisory Sub-Kings also took the initiative to step forward and try to attract the attention of some of the stronger greenskins.
Sure enough, even though they couldn't reach them for the moment, the greenskins couldn't stand this kind of provocation. They roared excitedly and tried desperately to catch up, especially the greenskin wild boar boys.
Soon after the Mastiff Chief Yakong met up with Simon, they became more excited when they saw more enemies, and the black orcs didn't seem to have any intention of stopping them.
So at once, at least two or three hundred greenskins were dispersed, and at the same time, more greenskins began to look back frequently, as if they wanted to join in, but the black orcs seemed to be stricter with them, and they shouted at them and urged them to concentrate on their work.
As soon as he saw this scene, Levi laughed, knowing that his plan would probably work.
If we let Xiao Qi out and find an opportunity to use magic to kill those black orcs, the success rate of this plan will be even greater.
Although he had fought with the greenskins several times before, looking back now, those were just minor fights. But thanks to this copy, it seems that he can gain a lot of combat experience before really fighting with the blood-boiling beasts!
