I have an Apocalypse City

Chapter 760: Desolate Highland

Chapter 760: Chapter 760: Desolate Highland

After reaching the maximum level, the Soul Wander skill greatly improved;

Soul Wander (Active), Level 12 (MAX), Instant Cast, Skill effect: Upon use, the player immediately enters a soul state, becoming immune to all damage. This effect lasts for 3 seconds, and during this time, the player’s movement speed is increased by 200%, allowing them to pass through any obstacles. After 3 seconds, the invincibility effect disappears, but only soul-based attacks can deal damage to the user. Skill duration: 9 seconds; Skill cost: 50 Spirit Points; Skill cooldown: 1 minute; Skill usage restriction: user Song Jian.

The invincible state increased from one to three seconds, movement speed increased by 200%, skill effect duration increased from three to nine seconds, and most importantly, the cooldown time was shortened from five minutes to one.

Although the skill cost was also increased, the formidable properties of this skill made the extra cost negligible to Song Jian.

“With a cooldown of only one minute, I can use it as a regular skill now.” In Song Jian’s mind, with a 9-second acceleration duration and a 1-minute cooldown, he could even use the skill to travel faster.

With a thought, Song Jian’s entire body became transparent and illusory. If not carefully observed, it would be difficult to detect his presence. Song Jian discovered an effect that wasn’t written in the skill’s description: in his soul state, he was like an invisible shadow. Although it didn’t reach the stealth effect of a rogue class, it was hard to detect his soul state in the dim Abyssal Hell. At the very least, it had an effect equivalent to “Concealment Effect +3”.

After returning his two battle pets to Pet Space, Song Jian rushed forward in his soul state. Even a powerful skill wouldn’t be able to display its full power if the user was not familiar with it.

Song Jian’s journey in the Abyss had just begun, and he was likely the only human player in the entire Abyssal Hell. He started to level up in the Abyssal Hell while searching for nearby towns.

Time passed slowly, and Song Jian encountered several groups of players in the Abyssal Hell leveling up along the way. With the assistance of his two battle pets, he killed quite a few players who had betrayed humanity, but many others escaped. After all, it was just him, and even with the Soul Wander skill, it was impossible to kill all players.

Killing players from different factions resulted in high drop rates, but since he acquired the Soul Wander skill scroll, it seemed that Song Jian’s good luck had run out, and the subsequent drops were all low-level equipment.

The players in the Abyssal Hell were of much higher levels than those in the game world, but the drop rates seemed to be much lower here. None of those killed by Song Jian even had a single silver-quality equipment, which was unimaginable in Doomsday City.

In Doomsday City, a level 30 player would have at least full blue equipment, and one or two silver or even gold equipment wouldn’t be surprising at all;

However, in the Abyssal Hell, most players had white and green equipment, while having a single blue-quality item was considered remarkable.

On the third day of exploration in the Abyss, the dark region of the map suddenly illuminated, revealing a corner of a city at the edge.

In the Abyss, almost everyone spoke the Abyssal language. Other human players in Hell couldn’t understand it, but for Song Jian, there was no difference between the Abyssal and human languages.

Song Jian had learned that he was in an area called Desolate Highland, which used to be the territory of Duke of Istanbul, the Abyss Demon King. However, ever since the duke disappeared a hundred years ago, the area had been in chaos and wars had lasted for a century.

At that time, dozens of large and small forces occupied the region, waging endless wars. However, the players in the Abyssal Hell enjoyed this chaotic situation. Whenever there was a war, the game system would issue hunting missions to players. These missions were also considered faction missions, and completing them was the most efficient way to join a desired force.

However, many players didn’t want to join the NPC forces so quickly. Today, they might take a task from one force to kill a target from another, and tomorrow, they would take another task to kill their previous employer’s forces, working as mercenaries to earn money.

The situation in Desolate Highland was a microcosm of the entire Abyssal Hell. All seven Demon Lords disappeared almost at the same time, leaving the Abyssal Hell without a ruler, and the wars continued for hundreds of years.

On the fourth day since Song Jian entered the Abyss, stories about him spread quickly among the players in Desolate Highland. Many players who had changed their classes to Abyss classes came to know about his presence. The fact that a human player dared to enter the Abyss without changing their professions seemed absurd and provoked animosity amongst the players. Some powerful players even began to form teams to hunt him down.

Moreover, at the Flame Forge, the only main city of Desolate Highland, the Mercenary Guild posted a permanent bounty;

Mission: Kill the human player Song Jian appearing in Desolate Highland, with a bounty of 300,000 Doomsday Coins!

With a bounty of 300,000 Doomsday Coins, even smaller guilds began to get tempted and organized their members to search for Song Jian in Desolate Highland.

The chances of finding a person in the vast Abyss of Desolate Highland were slim unless luck decided to bump into them.

Moreover, whenever Song Jian encountered a player, he would kill them directly, leaving only a few scattered survivors to report his whereabouts. However, by the time people arrived, Song Jian had long left the area.

Five days later, Song Jian had reached level 37, with the extra skill points added to his Sword Silk, which was already fully mastered.

At this point, the Sword Silk skill had reached level 8, its attack range increased to 12 meters, and the number of sword silks increased from five to six, with the power of each silk also being increased accordingly.

However, Song Jian was looking forward to the Sword Silk reaching level 10 and advancing to become Sword Web, which would likely result in a qualitative leap in the skill’s power.

Standing on a desolate, low-altitude hill, Song Jian looked towards a crimson city in the distance. This was the main city of the Desolate Highland area, the Flame Forge. To inquire about Abyss Demon King Istanbul’s information, he needed to enter the city.

But with Song Jian’s current human identity, he would likely be blasted into dust just by approaching the city, let alone the thousands of Abyss-class players within.

After hesitating for a moment, Song Jian summoned the Book of the Abyss and opened the Abyssal Gate, stepping into it and leaving the Abyssal Hell.

However, to his surprise, a pair of scarlet eyes were watching him intently from one side of the low hill all the time. When he left through the Abyssal Gate, the owner of the eyes slowly retreated.

…