Chapter 76 - “Locust Calamity 1”
This chapter has been brought to you by me and Smash10101.
Last time on Apocalypse Lord: This whole thing is just a cruel April Fool’s joke.
Chapter 76 – Locust Calamity 1
“Did you hear? If we fulfill the clearance conditions, time will go back, and everything will be restored to the start of the game. Doesn’t this mean that our dead relatives will come back to life?”
“Damn! They should have told me long ago! I was so worried, thinking about how the game survivors would live after this. I worried for nothing……”
“At the end of the third year, any server has >1 remaining territory, and >100 players to pass? Then it will work! Just Rising Cloud City will be enough to finish the mission and exceed it.”
“There are still 60 days! After the game ends, I can buy clothes, go to the restaurants and go see movies!”
The players ran around and spread the good news.
The territory was instantly full of a lively and defensive air. Everyone was in high spirits as they talked with their friends.
Someone rejoiced inside. “So this is a cooperative game. Lucky that the players in the territory did not kill each other……”
**
Yun Ling walked out of the stone house, originally wanting to meet up with the NPCs, but message kept on coming. She had to stop walking and looked through them.
You Qing Wen: “If we pass, we can return to just a year ago, ahhhhhhhhhh!!!”
[Basswood Town — He Rui: I had wanted to move to Rising Cloud City, now that I have received the system notification, I have decided to not move.]
[Basswood Town — He Rui: It is just a game, and everything will restart after the end. It does not matter if I die.]
[Basswood Town — He Rui: Sorry, I asked about Rising Cloud City and promised to move, but now, I am not doing so.]
[Basswood Town — He Rui: The reason I had decided this before was not because I feared trouble but that I did not know what trouble autumn would bring. I always feel that having more safe areas remain unbreached is better.]
[Osmanthus Town — Ding Wen Xu Xuan: We are players on the same side, we should not divide ourselves! Simple bandages, high quality bandages, recovery items, do you have extra resources you can use to help? The friendly forces cannot hold!]
[Locust Tree Town — Guo Song Lin: The game is coming to an end, it is better for the high level players to gather together. You said that Rising Cloud City has more than four thousand players. I am going to meet up with the big army.]
From the same notification, different players read different meanings. They acted based on their own understanding.
After reading, Yun Ling gave simple replies, and then closed the messages, looking at the rankings. She found that after the drought of the summer, there were only four safe areas left in S City.
They were Rising Cloud City, Basswood Town, Osmanthus Town, and Locust Tree Town.
“Four out of 200, this elimination rate……” Yun Ling was speechless for a while.
**
After hearing the good news, the players were mad with happiness. They wanted to have a celebration right away.
However, Yun Ling thought that life had to continue. The game had not yet ended, and nothing was settled.
“Day 311, autumn, calamity day,” she thought. “In the past, the autumn was harvest day and peace days, I wonder what this year will be like.”
Her thoughts turned, and she left with the team.
The summer season was hot and Yun Ling split the NPCs into two teams. One went far to go exploring with her, and another took the foraging team to move close by.
After 30 days of sweeping, all the materials around the territory were gone.
They walked more than forty minutes, and did not see any useful plants.
It was so clean……Yun Ling was convinced.
She looked into the distance, and picked a direction to move in.
Step, step, step, Yun Ling sensed that something was wrong.
They had come out for such a long time, but why had no bosses attacked?
Even if all the crops had been harvested, on the way here, they should have encountered at least one refreshed resource point.
Unless……
Thinking of a certain possibility, Yun Ling’s heart sank.
Unless the calamity of the autumn was a famine, the monsters disappearing, and the resource points not refreshing.
There were more than four thousand people in the territory, and the amount of food used up each day was sky-high! If there was nothing coming in, how long could they last?
Thinking of this, Yun Ling’s expression turned cold, and she was deep in thought.
“Look! There are wheat fields there! !” one player shouted in excitement.
Looking over, there were golden ears sways in the wind like they were nodding at them.
Yun Ling said, “Harvest first.”
Hearing this, the players excitedly charged at the wheat fields, and got to work.
Yun Ling stood at the side, on guard as she examined the surroundings.
The trees were green and very lush.
There were weeds on the ground that could be cut and used as poor firewood.
Everything looked northerly, but there were no edible plants to be seen.
“Is it because the residents had over harvested?” Yun Ling thought. “If we walk far, maybe there are rich resource points?”
Just as the thought formed, she heard a “cha cha” sound in the air.
What sound was this? How come she had never heard of this before? Yun Ling looked up in confusion.
In the next second, she saw a swarm of locusts charging down at the players.
Some landed on the golden wheat and wantonly feed, others jumped onto the players, biting and attacking.
“What are these!!” The players of the foraging team were in a panic.
There were too many enemies! Looking over, there was a black swarm, about four to five hundred.
“Save them!” Yun Ling had no time to speak and raised her shield, charging into the locust swarm to protect.
Fire and light flashed. The Fire Feather Cloak automatically created magic damage to the enemy.
After a few short moments, a dozen locusts powerlessly fell down, and were still on the ground.
“Burning Heavens!”
“Great Fireball.”
“Meteor Shower!”
The mages all attacked.
“Charge!”
“Block.”
“Shield Attack.”
The warriors protected the players, and helped block the attacks.
“Chaos Stick!”
“Arrow Rain.”
“Volley.”
All the NPCs attacked, wanting to immediately kill the enemy.
But there were too many of the enemy. Even though they had destroyed more than two hundred, there were still two hundred left.
“Ah!!” A scream suddenly sounded, and then suddenly stopped.
One player who had bad equipment and low stamina was targeted by dozens of locusts. One bite would be 3-5 points of damage.
After two rounds of attacks, they were dead.
“Foraging team members, retreat!” Yun Ling said as she charged into the swarm.
Fire lashed, and created considerable damage to the enemy troops.
Some locusts leapt on Yun Ling, wanting to surround her. But after taking a few bites, they were dead.
“Meteor Fall.”
“Ice Needle.”
“Waterfall.”
The NPCs took the opportunity to attack.
The locusts fell to the ground in a thick black layer.
There were only thirty who were left.
The archers aimed, the assassins made ambushes, and after a while, the remaining monsters were killed.
The battle finished.
Several players dropped to the ground, unable to recover for a long time.
“I have a fear of crowds, this was so scary.” One person was still full of fear.
“Just four hundred have such power, if there are thousands, how will the players live?” Some were very worried.
“Am I the only one who carries about the dropped items?” one person said. “Copper coins, wood, linen cloth, silk thread, cotton cloth. They are good thing, but they cannot be eaten.”
“The wheat fields are ruined, how much wheat has been eaten?”
Yun Ling sighed. “This is the calamity of autumn.”
**
At noon, many teams hid back in the territory in a panic.
“The bosses of spring and summer were hard to deal with. The autumn’s locusts are also difficult! There are several hundred that come out together, and they cover the sky!”
“You need crowd attack skills to kill the locusts, but most members of the team have single target skills.”
“The locusts have low attack, low defense, and low HP. They are not hard to kill, but there are too many of them. After killing one, several dozen will leap.”
“If you have less than thirty people in your team, do not go out, if you do, you are just going to die.”
“You are all worried about safety? Am I the only one worrying about food? The locusts have eaten all the crops, so what will we eat?”
In less than half a day, the joy brought by the system notification was swept away. The residents were worried, thinking about how to survive.
But just as the question was asked, someone answered, “You can open farmland in the territory, sow seed and get the crops.”
“You can go hunt in the sea, going into the water to pick seaweed.”
“You can plant the seeds outside the defensive shield, and everyone can take turns standing guard.”
The players were shocked, and all turned to look at the speaker.
The resident who made the suggestion said, “Since we are working together to clear, then I will not keep this secret. Everyone can work together to live.”
The air grew very quiet.
After a moment, the players all expressed their views. “Yes, we need to unite and defeat the trash game!”
“The sacrifices are not important, the most important is clearing.”
“Has someone thought of other methods? Speak so everyone can discuss.”
At these words, the residents worked together to perfect their plans.
**
Near dusk, the Tailor Shop.
Yun Ling and the NPC workers were quickly sewing with their needles and thread.
[Name: Fire Feather Cloak]
Quality: Rare
Durability: 70/70
Equip Effect: +10 Stamina.
Special Effect: Each second, will create 3 fire spell damage to surrounding enemies.
Fire crow feather was needed to make the cloaks. There were not many of them in the warehouse, so the products they could make were limited in quantity.
But even though they could not make Fire Feather Cloaks, they could make corresponding equipment.
[Name: Ice Banner (One Use Item)]
Quality: Rare
Use Effect: With the spot the banner is planted as the center, will create 12 points of ice magic damage to all enemies within an 8 by 8 area each second. (Lasts 30 minutes)
To make this, one needed the ice thread that dropped after ice silk worms were killed.
[Name: Combat Boots (Equipment)]
Quality: Rare
Durability: 70/70
Equip Effect: +10 Agility.
Special Effect: Each second, will create 3 fire spell damage to surrounding enemies.
To do this, one needed the leather dropped after a flame lion was killed.
[Name: Mer Belt (Equipment)]
Quality: Rare
Durability: 70/70
Equip Effect: +10 Stamina.
Special Effect: When attacking, 30% chance of activating the C-rank crowd skill “Tide.”
To make this, one needed the mer silk after killing merpeople.
With the mer belt, one just had to fight like they usually did. Once it was triggered, the system would automatically use the “Tide” skill to attack the enemy.
“The life skills players are very strong!” Yun Ling muttered as she sped up.
**
That night.
The Fire Feather Cloak, The Ice Banner, the Combat Boots, and the Mer Belt were placed on the system shop shelves.
Other than this, they were also being sold on the market, but only in trade, not direct selling.
Looking at the attributes of the equipment and items, the players were so happy. They were even in the mood to shout. “With the cloak in hand, I have the world!”
“Once the flag is planted, the locusts will die.”
“Wearing combat boots, if I control the distance, as I keep on running, the enemy will die……”
“With the mer belt, I will be the most beautiful on the street!”
Others were crying. “It is autumn, why is the equipment from the system shop still so expensive! Is this worthy of the brothers who had fought and guarded the territory together?!!”
His friend urged him. “Never mind, it is good to be able to buy rare equipment……no matter how expensive.”