232 Chapter 232. Fields of Hatred
Unfortunately, the Wanderers passing through that zone would be placed under his influence and forced to fight against other Wanderers they might meet.
Upon killing each other or other monsters in that place, they would obtain something called Seeds of Hatred. These objects could then be purified and sold in Alzuuda in exchange for special items.
If that wasn't enough, the two strange modifiers appearing above his experience bar were even more worrying.
[ You are inside the Fields of Hatred!
Those who are 'Bloodmarked' may attack or be attacked by any other Wanderers in the area.
You can 'Mark for Blood' by issuing a verbal challenge to someone you want to kill.
You cannot summon your mount to escape while being attacked by other Wanderers!
Killing another Wanderer:
*Drops their Seeds of Hatred
*Heals you for 15% of missing Life Points
* Reduces your Cooldowns by 10 seconds. ]
And if that wasn't bad enough, the second one was even worse.
[ Constant bloodshed has altered the flow of combat in this area
* +20% Damage over Time
* +40% Control Impaired Duration Reduction
* +35% Potion Orb Drop Rate
* -35% Potion Healing
* +8 Seconds to Potion Cooldown
* -50% Minion/Companion Health. ]
The strange buff/debuffs worried the Necromancer quite a bit. He wasn't strong enough to mess around with other Wanderers.
Those who would walk the Fields of Hatred were confident in their prowess. As someone who hasn't finished his Second Class Awakening and barely opened his Paragon Page, he wouldn't stand a chance after meeting a possible enemy.
Deciding to stay low, he found the Quest Marker for the 'rebuilding of Sanctuary' and tracked a large group of people preparing to leave the outpost walls.
Hearing one of the people being addressed as Lakren, Michael approached the man.
"Hello. I saw your recruitment notice. How can I help rebuild Sanctuary?"
[We start with one bring at a time. That is my belief!](Lakren)
Those surrounding the man passionately yelled at the top of their voice to show their agreement with that statement.
Raising an eyebrow, the Necromancer patiently waited for the Mason's next words.
[And with great works come even greater rewards. Meet us at the Lost Monument to start rebuilding this world.](Lakren)
Before he could ask more questions, the man led the crowd following him outside the outpost walls and into the wilderness.
Confused, Michael wanted to follow them but was stopped by two things.
First, the Sanctuary updated his Quest related to Lakren, and second, a second Side Quest was waiting for him at the gates.
[ Side Quest update - Malign Devotion
Objective: Meet Lakren at the Lost Monument
Description: Lakren suggests you can rebuild Sanctuary one brick at a time. You need only to meet him near the Lost Monument on The Scarred Coast to begin this great work. ]
[ Side Quest: The Unlucky Ones (Level 50+)
Description: A guard seeks an uneventful shift. ]
Looking at the departing group walking toward the Lost Monument, Michael realized he should have sufficient time to accept one more Side Quest before following them.
He quickly found the Questgiver, a guard named Nayan.
"Why are you here alone, Nayan?"
[I have the worst luck. We cast lots for this shift, and I lost again! Barely made it back alive last time. The pay is high, but what good is coin if the undead make a meal of me?](Nayan)
"That's true. What can be done? How can I help?"
[I don't have a solution for the corpses. I just want a quiet shift. If you can give me that, I'll give you half my pay.](Nayan)
Since he was in a hurry, Michael agreed without thinking too much about it.
[ Side Quest issued - The Unlucky Ones
Objective: Slay zombies along the Scarred Coast (0/50)
Description: A guard has the unfortunate task of patrolling Alzuuda's surroundings and protecting it from the undead. He's promised you half his pay if you deal with them and give him a quiet shift.
The Scarred Coast is swarmed with enough undead to keep you occupied for a while. ]
Curious, he turned back to Nayan, asking him about these monsters.
"Why are so many undead here?"
[I don't know how they originally came to be. Same as anywhere else, I suppose. All I do know is that the old Zakarum march did piss all to quell their numbers. Added to them, in fact. No one has tried to get rid of them since.](Nayan)
"Zakarum march? What's that?"
[Is what we call it. They organized a large number of their followers and armed guards to try clearing the Scarred Coast of these pests. You can imagine the rest by yourself.](Nayan)
Nodding thoughtfully, Michael bade farewell to the guard and followed the large group of builders.
At least forty Wanderers surrounded them - probably paid to protect them while they worked and traveled - so they should be temporarily safe.
Thinking that, the Necromancer got busy and killed all the undead he could find while trailing behind the Lakren and his group.
By the time he reached the area named Cenotaph of the Devout, he had already reached 96/50 for his Quest objective, which made him worry about Alzuuda's overall safety.
Unfortunately, as he was ambushed by a large number of Shambling Corpses and Wrathful Phantom, he lost sight of the group.
They were nowhere to be seen, even if the road they took led to the top of a cliff where a strange temple was built. A statue atop a platform also stood out in the ruins.
"Well... that can't be good..."
Seeing the blue icon of a temporary Dungeon appear, Michael grimaced and quickly entered the Lost Monument Crypt.
As its name implied, after descending through some strangely well-preserved halls, he found Lakren tying up and dragging the unconscious Wanderers and craftsmen in front of a tomb.
A large ritualistic array was drawn on the floor with blood, making it obvious what the Mason's plan was.
[Blessed Mother! Grace me with your power. Grant me the strength to continue to carry out your will.](Lakren)
"You mean Elias's will, right?"
[Haha! Welcome, traveler. Your day of glory is at hand. With your sacrifice and theirs, the rebuilding of this world can begin.](Lakren)
"*Sigh* As expected, there was something wrong with you. Fortunately, I came before you could cause a shitstorm."
Ordering his minions forward, the Mason was quickly beaten to the ground. Then, it teleported in front of the tomb, grabbed a strange book, and roared at the top of his voice.
A Demonic Overseer Elite appeared in his place, the man vanishing entirely. After dealing with the demon that had the Teleportation modifier, Michael approached the strange book left behind.
It slowly crumbled into dust as he touched it, giving him time to read only a small paragraph from a page.
[ Covenants, Verse 7
In the mountains, the Mother and I saw a village. The people, cold and hungry, prayed to a Light that would give them no warmth.
But in her presence, a new fire was stoked in their hearts. They would never go hungry or feel cold again. ]
Snorting while complaining about the misleading way through which their hunger and cold were abated after being turned into demons, the Necromancer prepared to return to Alzuuda.
[ Side Quest complete - Malign Devotion
Reward 1: 16,896 experience points
Reward 2: 2,080 gold coins
Reward 3: Ore Cache. ]
It was already noon. He would hand over the completed Quest to the unlucky guard and then wrap up his final mission by traveling to Jirandai.
Hopefully, he could find the jar seller's kids without much trouble.
"Nayan, I'm back."
[You returned! How is it?](Nayan)
"The undead near the Scarred Coast have been cleared. I can't stick around longer, but hopefully, this makes your shift quieter."
[Hmm... usually, there is a group of at least 40 to 50 Shambling Corpses attacking at night. How many did you kill?](Nayan)
"About 90 or so."
[Damn! Nice! It will be quiet here, thanks to you. Here's your coin. Come by often. I'd love to have peaceful shifts every now and then.](Nayan)
Seeing how easily the man believed him, he couldn't help but wonder how the Quests worked for the Questgiver.
Did the Sanctuary inform them about how their request went and whether it was completed?
Adding the question to the list of things he should investigate, Michael waved the man goodbye as the Quest was marked complete.
[ Side Quest complete - The Unlucky Ones
Reward 1: 16,896 experience points
Reward 2: 2,080 gold coins
Reward 3: Salvage Cache. ]
Scratching his head at the almost full inventory, Michael first found the local Purveyor of Curiosities and proceeded to buy four more Whispering Keys.
Even if the loot from Silent Chests wasn't anything worth bragging about, his Murmuring Obols were almost maxed out. He couldn't open the Murmuring Cache in his inventory without losing some.
With the Obols dropping to 428/515, the Necromancer immediately opened the cache, and the number increased to 478/515.
As he opened the other three caches, he added another Paragon point into a Magic Node, increasing his Life Points by an extra 2%, bringing it to 2,571.
Smiling, he then found the local blacksmith and salvaged his entire inventory. Adding the items found in the caches, he gained a total of 53 Iron Chunks, 5 Silver Ores, 15 Rawhides, 4 Superior Leathers, and 25 Veiled Crystals.
'My inventory is clear, and my experience points reached 25% of my current level. *Sigh* Gaining four Paragon points per level is not as much as I initially thought. Especially since leveling up became so hard.'
After finding Tuya and bribing her with another 1,000 gold coins, he asked what the safest way to cross The Fiels of Hatred was.
The information he exchanged for was rather simple: don't get off your mount and just charge your way through it.
Planning to do just that, the Necromancer bade his farewell to the mercenary woman after exchanging contacts and stepped into the Akhai Prarie.
His luck, though... couldn't be said that it was good or even remotely decent.
*Neigh*
With a painful sound, his mount was instantly obliterated and sent back to the stable master in Kyovashad.
Seeing the creature soon to be responsible for his loss of 100,000 gold coins, Michael felt the 'hatred' Erol spoke about earlier.
[ Seething Abomination (Boss) - Level 60 ]
He had somehow managed to run into a wild Boss!
"Motherfucker! Rather than running into this ugly thing, I wasn't I randomly ambushed by it!? What sort of crap is this!?"
Complaining while avoiding the giant's arms punching at his head, the Necromancer quickly summoned his minions.
Two minutes later, his small army, including his Golem, was sent back to the Shadow Realm, leaving a speechless man running wildly with a huge deformed goatmen hot on his trail.
Fighting the damned Boss head-on was plain suicide, as it had a weird modifier similar to Poison Enchant. Every time its fists or feet collided with the ground, it created a dark green poison puddle extending over five meters.
After stepping into such a puddle to test the damage, Michael's boots' durability decreased by a whopping 30% in an instant, scaring the shit out of him.
'Fuck this! I can't get rid of this bastard, I can't shout for help in case some Wanderer decides to come over and clean up both myself and this fucker, and I can't run from it since it keeps summoning fucking minions to block my path! What sort of bullshit is this!?'
From one point of the Fields to the other, the Necromancer kept running until he was out of breath. Then, he would use Blood Mist to avoid attacks and recover some of his stamina while using Corpse Explosion and Corpse Tendrils to deal some damage to the Boss and its minions.
When he became utterly exhausted, he would use Raise Skeletons and bring back his followers to serve as meatshields while he collapsed behind some bushes to catch his breath. Unfortunately, the time his minions could resist the retarded Boss became less and less with each summons.
Fortunately, after almost an hour of running around, he reached the eastern end of the Fields of Hatred and, after kiting it relentlessly, successfully killed the Seething Abomination.
"Fucking son of a bitch! Where's the fucking experience!? Are you fucking kidding me!? I didn't gain even a single point!? What... huh!?"
The Boss's corpse dissolved, and loot appeared in its place.
Leaving aside a Legendary dagger and a Rare item box, Michael gained 2,280 gold coins and 2,014 strange seed-like items. The pinkish-red things felt odd to the touch, so he didn't dare play with them too long, seeing the system identify them as Seeds of Hatred.
Throwing them in his inventory and deciding to forget about them for now, he left the cursed place and stepped into the Galtmaa Bushlands. With doing so, the two 'buffs' he gained in the Fields of Hatred vanished from above his experience bar.
Unfortunately for him, there was no time to rest yet.
"Motherfucker! I can't seem to catch a fucking break today!"
