Chapter 204 – Summon Lightning Storm
Several players had just looked up when they saw a massive red figure flying toward them from afar. In an instant, it swept overhead, the gusts from its beating wings whipping their hair into a frenzy and nearly knocking them off their feet. The sheer span of its wings alone seemed to blot out the sky, its presence overwhelming.
"Look—there's someone on the dragon!" Jinse shouted.
Everyone lifted their heads, and sure enough, a figure was standing on the dragon's back. One hand pressed down on the brim of his hat, he wore an elaborate shirt, and his black trench coat flared dramatically in the swirling wind.
With his handsome face and refined, scholarly air, he looked extremely familiar—in fact, every Apocalypse player knew him well.
This dragon rider was Wayne Sturwell!
"Hubby, you're awesome!"
Jinse, the little fangirl, waved frantically at him, her eyes sparkling.
"Quit drooling, this is probably just a cutscene," Wrath of Thunder-Chasing Winds said bluntly, unable to stand it any longer. His teammate shot him a glare.
Sure enough, amid the rousing execution march, Wayne Sturwell didn't so much as glance at them. Instead, he gazed into the distance and said lightly:
"Slifer the Sky Dragon, use Summon Lightning Storm!"
Almost instantly, the dragon named Slifer the Sky Dragon opened its massive jaws and released a colossal sphere of electricity, glowing with a dreamlike radiance.
In just an instant, the giant sphere split into countless smaller ones, a flood of electric orbs surging forward and striking every inch of the battlefield. In the blink of an eye, lightning flashed across their entire field of vision, and every monster in their path was instantly annihilated.
Even the dungeon's gatekeeping boss, the great traitor Mekgineer Thermaplugg, who stood far away on a distant platform, wasn't spared—he was reduced to a puff of smoke.
The remaining lightning orbs didn't stop; they engulfed and destroyed everything, surging toward the group of players.
"What the hell?!" everyone cried out, scattering in all directions.
Moments later, all five members of the party were instantly killed. Their vision blurred, and they found themselves back in the shop.
[Dungeon "Gnomeregan" failed]
[Dungeon cooldown: 3 hours]
Even back in the shop, they stood there in a daze for a few seconds, glancing around blankly.
They had come out thinking they'd pick up a quest, but no one had expected to be forcibly ejected in that way.
Worse still, after killing Electrocutioner 6000, they hadn't even had time to loot the bodies. Thinking of the top-tier gear possibly rotting away inside those corpses made their hearts sink.
A protagonist this powerful, and with a giant dragon to boot—wasn't this total world-ending power?
…
After a moment to calm down, Jinse and the others hurriedly opened their faction panels. Sure enough, the quest page showed five main storyline quests, all still unclaimed.
After some discussion, they decided to stick to the plan they'd made in the dungeon: the Deep Blue and Star Moon clubs would jointly buy a main quest.
Half an hour later, they pooled their funds, and Seabed Starfall stepped forward to claim the quest "A Secret Unknown to Others."
Afterward, he tried to pick up another quest but was told that this questline could only be accepted one at a time—no other quests from the series could be taken simultaneously.
Everyone: "…"
"This is daylight robbery," Wrath of Thunder-Chasing Winds complained. He had thought they could grab them all.
But with this being a seller's market, they had no choice but to all take the same quest, A Secret Unknown to Others.
The moment it disappeared from the quest panel, it caught other players' attention. The forums lit up with speculation about who had taken it.
Using the exchange rate—1 Veckta could be donated for 2 contribution points—3,500 contribution points meant 1,750 Vecktas. Add some cash, and that was enough to trade for two Devil Fruits. Most people guessed it had to be a guild move, since with most players only having a few dozen Veckta to their name, only a big guild could scrape together that kind of money.
…
The PR teams of Deep Blue and Star Moon knew how to ride a wave. They quickly announced that the two clubs had jointly purchased a main quest, releasing a recording of the dungeon run to boost their star players' profiles.
Compared to cold, hard currency numbers, the apocalyptic dragon that appeared at the end of the video struck right at the players' excitement centers. Discussion threads flooded the forums, with the dragon—called Slifer the Sky Dragon—setting off wild speculation and bizarre fan theories, further boosting Zhou Ning's fame.
This was the first time such a mythic-level creature had appeared in the game, and its power didn't disappoint—obliterating everything in sight with overwhelming force.
And this insanely powerful dragon was merely Wayne Sturwell's mount!
Many players suddenly felt the Apocalypse Forecast NPC power rankings for the next issue would have to be redone—Wayne Sturwell was surely number one in the world!
Some experts speculated that the dungeon's cutscene was taken from a past event—that the protagonist had already been through this dungeon in the past, commanding the dragon to kill all the monsters. Maybe, if they moved faster, they could clear it before the protagonist appeared.
Most players agreed, since nearly every dungeon worked this way. For example, the only other known dungeon, the Heretic's Nest in the Byron Republic, had been taken from the Earth Temple's raid on the heretics three months ago.
Naturally, Zhou Ning also saw the forum chatter.
To be honest, even he had been startled when Slifer the Sky Dragon appeared in the video.
If he remembered correctly, this came from his very first crossing into Empire Tempest, when "Duel King" Zhou Ning—proficient in Puppet Alchemy—summoned Slifer the Sky Dragon in Gnomeregan, destroying half the place.
He hadn't expected the dungeon's group-stone version to include that segment.
That essentially meant the dungeon had a built-in time limit—once the clock hit, the cutscene would trigger, wiping the party. Even Zhou Ning himself couldn't interfere.
Still, that was fine. At least it reminded players that aside from being handsome, stylish, and a crack shot, he was also a badass dragon rider.
That thought made him remember that he still had a miniature Deathwing and a blueprint for Slifer the Sky Dragon—requiring Master-level Puppet Alchemy to learn.
He was currently at Advanced level, not far from Expert, and then it was Expert → Master → Grandmaster. With the right formulas and enough money, leveling up shouldn't be hard.
Thinking of this, Zhou Ning hurried toward his alchemy shop. From the forum posts, it was clear many players were already eager to join his Starry Sky Guild—some probably hoping to freeload on his main quests.
For such players, Zhou Ning had only two words: Naïve! They had no idea about the power of pro players and the wealthy.
When he arrived at his shop, he found a dense crowd of players, many unfamiliar faces. By the looks of it, some high-level players had probably maxed their reputation and left the starter villages—maybe even coming from other starter zones.
As usual, he sold items and taught skills. Maybe it was the dragon rider footage's influence, but he felt the players' smiles were unusually warm today, and sales were strong.
Even the Stone Mask, which had never sold before, finally found a buyer—a six-out-of-ten-looking streamer girl. She insisted on becoming a vampire in broad daylight without any sun protection, and the moment she transformed—"Ah!"—she was burned to death by sunlight. Ten seconds later she revived, still cheerful, only to die again in exactly the same way. A complete dimwit.
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