Doomsday Lord Ch. 16 | Blood Soaked Cathedral

It wasn’t long before Chéng Yáng’s group of five was ready to challenge the Blood Soaked Cathedral. Instance Dungeons had a limit to the number of people that could enter a time, so Chéng Yáng selected those who had an S-Rank Innate Ability.

Typically, in order for people to enter the same instance, they needed to be in a party that had registered at an Adventurer’s Guild office. Of course, Phoenix Village didn’t have one. Neither did the Xiāngyáng Safe Zone. Once Phoenix Village reached the High-Grade level Chéng Yáng would be able to build one.

As for the Safe Zone, the facilities they had would always be those of a Settlement one level higher than the highest one in the vicinity. This is why they currently had the six shops Phoenix Village would unlock when they reached the Standard-Grade level. So far, Chéng Yáng had overlooked this detail. Those hadn’t appeared until a few months after the apocalypse in his previous life and it was unknown how this would affect the development of the forces in Xiāngyáng.

The only other way to make sure a group entered the same entrance was to be in physical contact with all of the party members when one of them entered the portal. So, Chéng Yáng’s group stood in front of the Instance Dungeon holding hands, then Chéng Yáng stepped inside.

With a gut-wrenching flash, the scenery completely changed.

The group was standing at the entrance of a walled compound surrounded by a dank forest. The walls were overgrown with vines and covered in filth. Over the tops of the walls a few buildings could be seen, including a large western cathedral in the back!

In front of the compounds large wooden double doors stood a pair of strange humanoids. They were half a meter tall with dark red skin, a hunched back, and a pair of short pointed horns on their hairless heads. Each one carried a sharp wooden spear that they raised threateningly at the group the moment they appeared but didn’t attack.

These were Lesser Mephits, and similar to Graveseekers, they belonged to the lowest level of monsters, F Rank. Despite its name, they weren’t any weaker than other F Rank monsters. They were only lesser compared to other Mephits.

Chéng Yáng reviewed the layout of the Instance Dungeon in his mind. The compound in front of him was rectangular and covered roughly a square kilometer of space and was divided into two main areas. Eight cloisters with paths in between filled the first three fourths of space. Each one had several rooms surrounding a small courtyard in the center. The remaining space was occupied by a large cathedral.

There were also three gates, the north gate they were currently at, as well as an east and west gate. Two Lesser Mephits would guard each and a couple dozen more would patrol the inside of the compound. Half of the cloisters had a Mephit mini-boss and a few Lesser Mephit minions in the surrounding rooms. The rest were empty. Finally, there would be a Greater Mephit, the D Rank boss, in the cathedral.

As for the forest surrounding the compound? It didn’t matter in the slightest. It was just set dressing and continued onward, seemingly forever. Although many groups had tried exploring it, they were unable to find anything of value and concluded that it was totally empty.

“Yángzǐ, where are we?” Liú Hào asked warily.

“I’m not totally sure.” Chéng Yáng answered, “Just treat it like a pocket dimension. Our goal is to beat the boss hidden in that cathedral over there. So long as we are the first to do so, we’ll receive something special as a reward.”

Liú Hào and the others nodded in affirmation. Even if they were inexperienced, they knew that the first person to eat a crab would be surprised by the taste.

After waiting for Niú Bīng to summon a wolf, the group advanced towards the two Lesser Mephits guarding the door. The wolf was in front with Liú Hào and Lǐ Wànshān following close behind. Chéng Yáng and Niú Bīng were in the middle since they had the lowest Health, and Yú Kǎi acted as the anchor.

The Lesser Mephits hadn’t attacked before since the Instance Dungeon hadn’t been started yet, but as soon as the wolf came within thirty meters of them, they charged.

Although Knights were the main tanks of any group, creatures summoned by Druids played a special role. Any damage they did generated twice as much aggro as other combatants, allowing them to pull the attention of monsters away from more vulnerable group members. They were also completely expendable and could be used to block attacks in a way that most Knights would object too. This made them an obvious choice for the first line of defense when handling monsters.

Since neither side had powerful Skills, when the wolf and the Lesser Mephits clashed, the fight immediately devolved into a bloody brawl. Once the rest of the group entered the fight, it ended quickly. When they died, the Lesser Mephits exploded into flames, taking the wolf with them to the grave.

Although a shield couldn’t fully block area of effect damage, it still provided a 50% damage reduction if you blocked it, so Liú Hào and Lǐ Wànshān didn’t suffer too badly. To them being covered in guts was far worse. Compared to them, the wolf who simply turned to dust when it died was far better.

“When we head inside, don’t wander around.” Chéng Yáng said after waiting for Niú Bīng to summon another wolf, “If we’re not careful we could get surrounded, so its better to take things slowly.”

The others nodded in acknowledgement, then the Knights pushed open the doors, and they entered the compound in an orderly fashion.

Once inside, they found themselves surrounded by buildings and pathways lined with overgrown plants. Straight ahead of them was the cathedral with a small plaza in front of it that had a fountain. Just from where they were, the group saw over a dozen Lesser Mephits. Naturally, the Lesser Mephits saw them as well. Unlike those guarding the gate, these ones immediately charged towards the group once they noticed them.

“This is bad! We can’t fight that many monsters at once!” Liú Hào gasped.

“Don’t worry about their numbers.” Chéng Yáng said with a calm smile, “Bīngzǐ’s wolf will draw their attention for a few seconds. While it does we’ll break into one of these buildings. No matter how many of them there are, they’ll only be able to trickle in and attack one at a time.”

“That would work, but look!” Liú Hào said. “The doors are closed and probably locked, how will we get in?”

“Even if it’s locked so what?” Chéng Yáng retorted, “Just bust it down.”

“That’s true,” Liú Hào flexed and a smile appeared on his round face, “I’m at the same level as Superman now.”

While they were talking, they had rushed towards the nearest building under the cover of Niú Bīng’s wolf. Once they got close enough, Liú Hào knocked the door off its hinges with a single kick, then they went inside.

A few moments later, the first of the Lesser Mephits arrived in the doorway.

Without needing a reminder, Liú Hào and Lǐ Wànshān stood firm in front of their doorway, using their shields and bodies to block the monster’s advance.

While Yú Kǎi and Niú Bīng attacked from over the shoulders of the Knights, Chéng Yáng quickly searched the cloister. Once he had confirmed that there weren’t any monsters he let out a sigh of relief. Only half of the cloisters had monsters in them, and if this was one of them they would have to fend off attacks from two sides. Although it would be manageable, it was still better not to have too.

Over the course of the next five minutes, the group systemically slaughtered the Lesser Mephits that were wandering around inside the compound. For the two Knights it was a fierce battle of attrition where their only role was to block the endless attacks coming their way. For the others it was a rather leisurely experience.

Chéng Yáng couldn’t help but admire the advantage Knights had over other Players in the early stages; their shields were just too overpowered! They didn’t provide any bonus Attributes or Skills but the shield itself was indestructible. This was the unique feature of starter equipment. Any other equipment one could find had a durability value and would eventually break if it didn’t receive frequent maintenance.

This indestructible quality wasn’t particularly obvious obvious on the other types of starting gear since the durability of weapons decreased rather slowly. On the other hand, shields and armor might be destroyed in a single fight! No small number of people had died in his previous life because their otherwise impressive shield had shattered leaving them defenseless. In comparison, the starter shield was far superior since it would never fail.

By the end of the slaughter, Liú Hào and Lǐ Wànshān were on the verge of collapse. Although they hadn’t taken much damage, blocking so many attacks was exhausting. It felt like their arms might fall off!

Chéng Yáng let them rest for a few minutes before having Niú Bīng send another wolf out to run around attracting attention. He had been keeping track of how many Mephits they had killed and determined that there were still a few left outside.

After a few more rounds, Chéng Yáng was certain that they had killed all of the Lesser Mephits that weren’t stationed in specific areas. Now they had to kill the remaining gate guards and clear the cloisters. Although they could leave the instance after killing the boss, the end chest with the Cleric Idol would only spawn if every enemy in the instance was killed.

After taking some time to rest, the group killed the Lesser Mephits in at the east and west gates, then began exploring the cloisters. The first one they checked was empty, but the second had a monster standing in the courtyard, a Mephit, an F+ Rank monster. It looked like a Lesser Mephit but was taller, carried a metal spear, and had a long barbed tail.

At the moment it was alone, but Chéng Yáng knew it would summon the Lesser Mephits in the surrounding rooms after it started fighting. The best strategy was to lure it out of the cloister, then have one of the Knights block the entrance, preventing the Lesser Mephits from coming to help. The other four would then surround and kill the Mephit.

Chéng Yáng had already discussed this plan with his teammates, so before the Mephit had reacted to their presence, Niú Bīng’s wolf had already run it, swiped it across the stomach, and rushed back out.

With a roar, the Mephit chased the wolf out of the cloister, ignoring Lǐ Wànshān who was next to the door.

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