Chapter 1460: Soul Collector

"How does that damned brat have so much strength? Dammit!"

The remaining Eldritch Night Watchmen panicked and summoned countless fireballs by waving their bloody lanterns at me. It was definitely the skill "Eldritch Flame Dance”. The skill dealt magic damage, so I had to treat it seriously. Magic damage would always be the pain of metal-armor players. Anyway, a couple fireballs struck my Guardian Dragon Armor—

18,327!

21,732!

MISS!

MISS!

12,373!

……

Not giving the mobs any more chances to deal damage, I unleashed my Burning Blade Slash a second time and turned the final row of Eldritch Night Watchmen into real corpses.

Pop pop pop…

At the end of the battle, the 20 Eldritch Night Watchmen dropped some equipment and cards, and my HP was at 100%. Tsk tsk, the 50% lifesteal of the Xuanyuan Sword was truly insane[1]!

I picked up the equipment and cards curiously, but they all turned out to be major disappointments. Was this all the mobs of the Purgatory had to offer? How disappointing.

I stood still on the wet, rotten ground and checked the map screen again, but it remained as useless as ever. This Purgatory was 100% a virgin land to players, so much so that not even the system had a map that could be of any help!

Suddenly, an angry rebuke interrupted my train of thoughts—

"Collect carefully, you filthy worms! The boss will skin you alive if you accidentally shattered these beauties’ souls!"

……

Swhoosh!

Sensing an opportunity, I immediately dashed into a nearby bush and turned off all of my equipment luster. Killing all the mobs on the first floor to find the way to the second floor was an option, but it was also the last resort. It would consume too much time that Xinran didn’t have.

There was a small, winding road just ahead of the bush I was hiding behind, and the bloody moon in the sky illuminated a squad of 50 or so Eldritch Night Watchmen on it. They were split into two groups—one group protected the front, and the other the rear—and they were escorting a group of black-robed people. According to the stats screen I captured with Dark Pupils, these black-robed people were called "Soul Collectors". They had no Attack, and they all carried a bamboo basket with a blood-red altar goblet in it in their left hand, and a blood-red net on their right.

"Soul Collector?"

I was puzzled. I had never heard of a unit like this.

It didn’t take long before my horizons were broadened. A group of Soul Collectors spread out and threw their nets on top of a bunch of greenery with tiny balls of white light attached to their surface. They then deposited the white balls into their altar goblets.

Swhoosh!

Suddenly, one of the white lights struggled before assuming the form of a 19-year-old girl. She struggled against the net while yelling angrily, "Why did you capture me? Let me go, you bastard!"

The commotion immediately caught the attention of an Eldritch Night Watchman Captain. When he saw the girl, he immediately broke into a salivating grin and said, "Haha, this is quite the catch! Give me her soul goblet later. I’m going to take her back to the Samsara Realm and train her to warm my bed!"

The Soul Collector replied dumbfoundedly, "I think that’s against the rules, captain. None of us can stand the wrath of the Lord Sovereign if he decides to punish us for the loss of a soul…"

Angry at his disobedience, the Eldritch Night Watchman Captain slapped the Soul Collector across the face hard before erupting, "Who’s the boss here, you or me? She’s my woman, and that’s that! Now give me her soul goblet already!"

The girl screamed as her soul was sucked into a soul goblet which was immediately snatched away by the captain.

I looked up and saw countless white dots falling from the sky like feathers. In that moment, I realized that they were the souls of all who had died in the Human Realms. Was this how the Purgatory enslaved the dead? This was definitely a whole new experience for me.

Even the most powerful expert was destined to become a soul after they died. Until they found a way to escape this form, it was always possible that they might be abused by an evil Eldritch Night Watchman like the one in front of me. My killing intent immediately churned in my stomach. I was here, so these Eldritch Night Watchmen wouldn’t be getting away with their crimes!

……

The ring of Divine Deterrence beneath my feet, I dashed out of my hiding spot and rained my Burning Blade Slash, Summon the Storm and Myriad Swords Obliteration right on top of the mobs. After the first skirmish, I was now certain that these Eldritch Night Watchmen couldn’t kill me even if I let 20 of them execute a full attack cycle twice. They would only deal 400k damage at most. I was sitting at 4.46 million HP after using the Undying Berserker Card, and I had 50% lifesteal from the Xuanyuan Sword. I would have to actively commit suicide to die in their hands[2]!

The Eldritch Night Watchmen dropped like flies to my Burning Blade Slash. Their superior numbers were absolutely meaningless against me. It only took me one minute to end the battle!

Bang!

I cut open the Eldritch Night Watchman Captain’s lantern before seizing the mob’s throat. While lifting him into the air like a chicken, I took out the soul goblet he stole, broke it and released the girl’s soul. She immediately gave me a bow of thanks before saying, "Thank you, handsome human warrior! But why are you in the Purgatory?"

I simply smiled and said, "This is not a good place to chat. Run before the Soul Collectors catch you again…"

"You’re right. Thank you again!"

The girl quickly flew to the distance, but it was only a matter of time before she would be caught and stuffed into a soul goblet once more. The reason I said this was because the entire Purgatory was currently ruled by Lin Na right now, and saving one person wouldn’t change this one bit. The only way to truly save the souls of the dead was to uproot the entire organization that called themselves the Purgatory Legion!

……

"What do you think you’re doing? Let me go, you devil!"

The Eldritch Night Watchman Captain cut my arm again and again with its blade while roaring, "You will be hunted to death, insolent brat! Your soul will be scattered like dust for the crime of intruding the Purgatory!"

In response, I slapped him right across the face. This NPC seemed to possess incredibly high AI, which was exactly what I was looking for!

I quickly left the road and arrived at a wilted forest. After stabbing the Eldritch Night Watchman Captain through the shoulder and nailing him to a huge tree, I favored him a sinister smile and said, "Be good and answer a couple of my questions."

The Eldritch Night Watchman Captain still roared, "Dream on! I will never strike a deal with a human!"

I chuckled and fished out a pitch black dagger from my bag. It was a Heaven-grade dagger I had dropped from an Eldritch Night Watchman I had killed. It was okay for an average player and absolute trash for me, but right now it was the perfect tool for what I had in mind.

……

I grabbed the Eldritch Night Watchman Captain’s left hand and swung my dagger. There was a fleshy sound, and a little finger and copious amount of black blood sailed into the air. The mob screamed in pain, "Give it up, devil! I will never obey your wishes!"

I smiled grimly. "That’s not a problem. I’m a patient man!"

Chink! This time, it was his ring finger that was chopped off.

The Eldritch Night Watchman Captain screamed some more. Even for an undead, it couldn’t possibly be a pleasant sensation.

When I chopped off his seventh finger, the exhausted Eldritch Night Watchman Captain finally relented and drooped his head. "You… you sinful devil… what is it that you wish to know?"

I smiled and withdrew the dagger. Then, I pulled out the Xuanyuan Sword, returned it to its sheath and backed a few steps away from the mob. I crossed my arms in front of my chest and asked coolly, "What happened to Wind Singer Xinran after she entered the Purgatory?"

"Wind Singer Xinran!?" The Eldritch Night Watchman Captain’s complexion instantly turned purple. "How could I possibly know anything about that sovereign?"

My eyes turned colder. "Two days ago, she fell into the Purgatory with Lin Na. Are you seriously going to tell me that you know nothing about this?"

The Eldritch Night Watchman Captain shook his head bitterly. "I’m just a lowly eldritch captain. Forget knowing, I wouldn’t even dare to inquire about a Sovereign. A divine expert like you could never understand my situation…"

It looked like the Eldritch Night Watchman Captain really knew nothing about the incident, so I asked my next question, "The Undying Realm is the first floor of the Purgatory. How do I enter the second floor?"

The Eldritch Night Watchman Captain shot me a blank look before answering, "As you have noticed, the Undying Realm is the space where the souls of the dead are collected. It is also the Purgatory’s first defense line. A huge army is stationed on this floor, and there is no way you’ll be able to kill them all. We have raised over ten million Soul Collectors to collect the souls, deposit them in the soul goblets, and transport them to the Samsara Realm. There, an even greater defense force awaits. If you dare to barge in by force, you will definitely be blasted into smithereens! There are plenty of divine experts who were killed in the Purgatory, you know!"

He was about to let out another cackle until I shoved my foot into his mouth. I asked, "How can I enter the second floor?"

The Eldritch Night Watchman Captain swallowed before answering, "There is only one way to enter the second floor, and that is through the passage where the soul goblets are transported. However, a Sovereign is guarding it, so you still won’t succeed in your ploy. Actually, you won’t even get that far. At least a million undead soldiers are guarding the area. Haha, you are so dead, boy! I can’t help but rejoice when I imagine your dead body in my mind…"

I grinned. "Don’t worry, I still have a job for you!"

"What are you planning to make me do, you devil who masquerades as a god!" the Eldritch Night Watchman Captain screamed on top of his lungs. Someone who didn’t know better would think that I was about to rape him or something.

I simply laughed and gazed toward the distance. "Your job is very simple. All you need to do is to escort me to the second floor entrance!"

"And how am I supposed to do that!? Even a blind dog can see that you’re an outsider!"

"Thank you, I’m well aware how outstanding I look compared to the rest of you. That is why I will be donning a disguise."

"Donning a disguise?" The corners of the Eldritch Night Watchman Captain’s mouth twitched.

1. E/N: Someone is smoking something, and it isn’t me. Do not blame me for this pathetic damage, pathetic numbers, and magic attacks that literally can’t outdamage Lu Chen’s 1%/second HP regeneration. It’s surely Xuanyuan Sword! And yes, I’m completely taken out of my immersion seeing these pathetic damage numbers from BIG BAD MOBS OF THE BIG BAD PURGATORY! :) ☜

2. E/N: Seriously, you only realized it now? I deleted it, but he literally said that they dealt sizable damage, that it hurt, and earlier he had even said that 20 of them COULD BE DANGEROUS ☜