I have an Apocalypse City
Chapter 1034 - Chapter 1034 Chapter 1036 The Key of Oblivion_1

Chapter 1034: Chapter 1036: The Key of Oblivion_1 Chapter 1034: Chapter 1036: The Key of Oblivion_1 Song Jian flew in midair, with the Flame Light Wings behind him constantly shedding sparkling points of light. Directly beneath him was a dense jungle, resembling a green ocean, stretching endlessly out of sight.

He was over three hundred kilometers away from Doomsday City. Along the way, many roads had been abandoned, and Song Jian couldn’t keep driving his motorcycle. He had no choice but to proceed on foot, a time-consuming and exhausting endeavor. At that moment, he profoundly realized how wise it would have been to have a biological mount, and that he had been overly reliant on his Flame Light Wings and Sword Flight Art.

He had circled the jungle twice or thrice from above. As the sky began to darken, he still hadn’t found the fortress that his instructor, Duan Jian, had mentioned.

“Could it really be that I need to walk into this jungle on foot to possibly find that fortress?” Song Jian thought to himself, recalling the specific instructions his instructor had given him when he accepted the mission.

“That fortress is protected by a mystical force, and it’s impossible to find from the air no matter what you do. You must enter the jungle on foot from the outskirts and follow the route on this map I’m giving you to find it!”

“Deep inside the fortress lies a bronze coffin with a great monarch from three hundred years ago. In his right hand, he holds a king’s scepter, and in his left, a scroll of golden parchment. I need you to retrieve that golden scroll for me. Once the task is completed, this Sword Spirit crystal will be yours…”

……

Song Jian had originally thought that the instructor was just speaking casually. When he arrived here, he hadn’t felt the so-called mystical force and thus hadn’t heeded the instructor’s words, considering the difficulty of searching on foot through the jungle compared to from the air was incomparably greater.

Left with no alternative, Song Jian descended from the skies. Long hours on the road left him showing a hint of fatigue. Standing on the outskirts of the jungle, he took a deep breath and slowly started walking into it.

Following the map given by Instructor Duan Jian, Song Jian had walked about two or three kilometers when he finally saw a vast lake. It’s worth noting that although he had circled this jungle from above before, he hadn’t spotted this lake. It was only now that he believed the jungle truly was shrouded in a mystical force that he could not comprehend.

“Follow this lake eastward for another two kilometers, and you should see the abandoned fortress!” said Song Jian, glancing at the map and walking towards the lake.

The lake was large, and Song Jian saw many wild beasts drinking at its edge. On hearing the noise, they looked towards Song Jian and then scattered in fright.

These beasts were only about level twenty. Sensing the terrifying aura emanating from Song Jian, they dared not linger. The instincts of wild beasts are sharp, and they can typically sense danger well in advance.

Song Jian glanced at the lake. Its azure waters, smooth as a mirror, were occasionally disrupted by small fish over a foot long leaping out, causing ripples to spread and momentarily shattering the mirror-like surface.

“The environment here is nice, a pity it’s too remote and desolate. Otherwise, it would be a splendid spot for a leisurely vacation,” Song Jian mused.

Just then, a streak of black light reflected off the shattered surface of the lake, causing Song Jian to freeze, staring intently at the lake.

Before long, the lake calmed down again, returning to its mirror-like state. The black light that had appeared vanished as if it were all an illusion.

Song Jian narrowed his eyes, picked up a stone, and threw it towards the surface of the lake. A “thud” echoed as the surface broke, sending ripples in circles. That patch of black light appeared again in Song Jian’s sight.

“At the bottom of the lake, the sight is only revealed when ripples spread across the surface. Otherwise, it’s hidden by the water body…” Song Jian’s heart sank. That patch of black light was exactly the same as the one emitted by the Abyssal Shadow Replica of the pyramid previously encountered.

Song Jian dived directly into the lake, which turned out to be much deeper than he had imagined. The lakebed was covered in fine sand, and numerous large rocks were deeply embedded within it. In the middle of the lakebed, the base of a black pyramid peaked upwards, its sharp point thrusting into the sand, faintly emitting a black metallic luster.

“Indeed, a level three Abyssal Shadow instance…” Song Jian swam towards the black pyramid.

These Abyssal Shadow instances were coordinates projected by Abyssal Hell into the game worlds. By these coordinates, Abyssal Hell would establish passageways to the game worlds, allowing endless Abyssal creatures to invade through these channels, plundering resources. For humans in the game worlds, this was an apocalyptic catastrophe.

Nearly all humans in the game worlds had started to destroy the Abyssal instances. Only by clearing the real difficulty of the entire instance could they unlock the option to completely destroy it. Once an instance was destroyed, that coordinate would vanish, and the Abyssal Passage could no longer be established nearby.

However, the game world was too vast. Even with everyone’s combined efforts, it was impossible to destroy all the Abyssal Shadow instances. They could only destroy those near their cities to prevent the entire city from being the first to fall to the invading Abyssal creatures.

Since Song Jian had already cleared the highest-level Abyssal Shadow instance, he could directly select the highest real difficulty in an instance of this lower level.

After approaching the inverted Abyssal Shadow instance, Song Jian’s figure vanished, and more than half an hour later, the pyramid crumbled into fine sand grains which scattered and disappeared under the lake’s currents.

Song Jian’s figure reappeared at the lakebed, holding a key that flickered with black light. A look of surprise crossed his face as he kicked off towards the surface of the lake.

“Another black quality item…” Standing by the lake, Song Jian fiddled with the black key dropped from the Abyssal Shadow instance, feeling somewhat astonished.

Black quality items in the game were special and did not fall within the regular item grade sequence. Such items could have tremendously powerful properties or might be as trivial as a toy.

“The Lost Key, properties unknown…” Song Jian stared at the black key, appearing pensive: “Maybe it’s a quest item, or it needs a specific environment to reveal its properties. I’d better keep this safe; it could turn out to be an unexpected windfall!”

The value of black quality items lay in their rarity. Most players, even after playing the game for over a year, had not even heard of black quality items. Some newcomers, having stumbled upon such items by chance, would destroy them as junk, primarily since their inventory was too small and the game had too many useful items.

After securing the key, Song Jian continued towards the fortress indicated on the map.

…

PS: Thanks to “Reader 151110221537253” for the 100 starting coins donated~