World-saving Plan: The Only Savior

Chapter 1770 - 51: Plague Relics (7)_2

The Little Golden Man activated: Invincible and Immune Control, and his attributes once again received an all‑around boost, giving Zhang Xiaoman the chance to break through the encirclement of over a hundred Black‑armored Monsters and force his way into the interior of the palace.

The monsters seemed to sense the change in their opponent’s aura as well, and one after another they warily shifted into a Defense Magic Array.

Zhang Xiaoman moved. The instant he acted, the swamp under his feet was blasted into a massive whirlpool, roaring with a Thunderbolt‑like boom.

His whole body turned into a streak of Golden Light and shot toward the distant palace, while those monsters went mad trying to intercept him.

Their Long Spears turned into Swift lightning strikes stabbing at Zhang Xiaoman’s body, but he had no intention of dodging at all, instead bracing against their attacks as he leapt forward.

"Plague Guards! Stop him!"

The Black‑armored Monster in the lead roared hoarsely. It was speaking the Demon Clan’s language, but Zhang Xiaoman possessed the All‑Knowing Ability, so he could understand exactly what it meant.

However, no matter how those monsters attacked, their Long Spears simply couldn’t hurt Zhang Xiaoman in the slightest; they could only watch helplessly as he drew closer to the palace.

In just over ten seconds, Zhang Xiaoman had already forced his way through nearly one‑third of the distance under the interception of a ring of monsters. If he could keep up this pace, he felt he had a very good chance of charging into the palace interior.

The monsters seemed to realize that this wasn’t going to work, so they simply switched up their defensive strategy. They stopped using Long Spears for long‑range attacks and instead used their bodies to block him, bolstered by the Formation’s blessing, forming an iron wall in front of Zhang Xiaoman.

It had to be said, this method of theirs was effective. Zhang Xiaoman might be able to ignore control effects, but he couldn’t ignore the physical size of objects. This group of monsters sealed off his path, preventing him from continuing to sprint recklessly.

"These bastards... why do they feel so much tougher than at the start."

Zhang Xiaoman gripped the Purple Cloud Divine Sword and slashed down at a Black‑armored Monster blocking his way, but the effect was nowhere near as obvious as it had been at the beginning. It only carved a shallow scratch across the opponent’s chest, and the latter could still stand there full of vigor blocking his path.

"The Formation they’re using together is nasty. It looks like it can share out my damage."

Zhang Xiaoman’s gaze swept over the other Black‑armored Monsters and he found that their chests had also gained the same kind of scratch. He immediately understood what was going on.

The Purple Cloud Divine Sword’s power was indeed tremendous; if he struck a single monster alone, he would definitely be able to inflict massive damage.

But if these monsters split that damage among themselves—so many Plague Guards sharing it—the damage left on each one was pitifully small, only leaving that shallow mark.

A minute passed quickly. Zhang Xiaoman still hadn’t managed to break through the monsters’ encirclement and was stopped at the one‑third mark. These monsters were using their bodies as roadblocks, combined with their damage‑sharing Ability, leaving him no way to advance.

With no other choice, Zhang Xiaoman could only trigger Unlimited Teleportation and leave the moment his Golden Body ended.

In the Wildfire Tavern on the Erin Continent, this was a private room Zhang Xiaoman had set aside for himself; inside was his Star Alliance Marker.

Returning from within the Plague Relics, Zhang Xiaoman quickly slapped out the few remaining Little Flames still burning on his body, then, with a Heart Movement, dispelled the Star Shining Armor.

"Those Black‑armored Monsters are really a pain, and that Formation effect is seriously strong. With that damage‑sharing Ability in play, it’s hard for me to pick them off one by one—unless I use a large‑area, high‑damage Skill..."

Zhang Xiaoman felt a bit depressed. He glanced at the Star Shining Armor in his hand; just being one or two seconds late on his retreat had resulted in him taking over a thousand hits, especially from those three Peak Control Level bastards, which had blown several big holes straight through his battle armor.

"Looks like I need to come up with a better plan. Just charging in head‑on is a bit tricky. Next time I’ll see if I can sneak my way in..."

He spoke as he stored the Star Shining Armor into his Storage Space, unable to help feeling a stab of heartache.

The materials for this set of battle armor hadn’t been easy to obtain, and now that it was this badly damaged, repairing it would definitely take a lot of effort again.

Zhang Xiaoman thought for a moment and decided to head back to Water Blue Star first. On one hand, he’d find Ore to repair the Star Shining Armor; on the other, he needed to make some preparations for his next move. He now had a very strong feeling that the palace he’d just seen definitely contained some astonishing secret. It might very well be the Plague God’s treasury; he had a high chance of finding the Cultivation Technique he wanted in there.

...

Elsewhere, in the Plague Relics, at the Olharast Vein.

The Lan Family’s collection unit had already been mining this vein for almost a month. Large quantities of Olharast ore were being excavated and then loaded into one transport compartment after another.

The Destroyer they’d arrived on had already been unfolded and converted into a collection base, and those transport compartments had been formed by reassembling parts of the Destroyer.

Which also meant that once this mining operation ended, these people would no longer be able to ride the Destroyer directly back. Instead, they would have to escort the ore all the way back to the entrance. The journey would be extremely dangerous. Besides dealing with monsters lurking in the Relics, they also had to guard against ambushes from other families. It was clearly impossible to just carry the resources out easily and comfortably.

In Area Three of the Olharast Mine, a Bearded middle‑aged man was wielding a mining tool, constantly cutting into the ore layer in front of him.

"Ka‑chi, ka‑chi, ka‑chi~"

The blade of the mining tool touched the surface of the ore layer and easily sliced off the Rock. The shattered stone fragments didn’t even have time to fly out before they were sucked up by the tool and compressed into the internal waste bin.

After swinging the mining tool in several circles, the Bearded middle‑aged man finally cut down a basketball‑sized clod of earth and stone. What was wrapped inside was the target of this collection operation: Olharast Rock.

"Onorato, how’s your mining going? Have you hit today’s quota yet? How come every time I see you, you’re on break! You’ve barely been out here for three hours; your body shouldn’t be anywhere near overload yet. Why’ve you stopped so soon?"

Just then, a hoarse voice came from behind, and a man in similarly heavy Armor walked over.

"Boss, don’t wrong me. Take a look at this!"

The Bearded man, a bit displeased, shifted to the side so the newcomer could see the basketball‑sized stone at his feet.

"Oh? Such a big chunk of raw stone?"

The foreman took a few quick steps over and, through the gauntlet of his battle armor, picked up the stone. He squeezed hard, crushing layer after layer of ordinary Rock, which crumbled off and fell away, revealing the Olharast Rock inside.

"Ha! It really is a whole piece of raw stone. Onorato, you lucky brat. All right, I wrongly blamed you this time!"

The foreman straightforwardly admitted his mistake, clapping the Bearded man on the shoulder and giving him a big thumbs‑up.

"All right, with such a big piece of raw stone, your task for today is considered done. If you don’t want to keep staying in the mine, you can head back first and get a good rest. Continue tomorrow!"

The foreman seemed like a very reasonable person and immediately allowed the Bearded man to leave and rest.

The Bearded man was clearly tempted, but after hesitating for a moment, he still shook his head, giving up that enticing thought and deciding to stay and keep mining a bit longer.