Chapter 673: The Sword-Warlock Class-Change Scroll

"Stone, you’re absolutely vicious!"

After Marcus sent the Black-Robed Corpse General flying yet again, SoulfireBlade and SoulSync finally finished off the thirty Level 50 minions and made their way over with their pets. "Vicious? He’s downright monstrous!" SoulSync laughed as he added his own comment.

Lydia, still as seductive and alluring as ever, watched Marcus from the side, her already-crafty eyes seeming to grow even more calculating. ’Unbelievable.’

They were actually standing around chatting as though they had just finished an easy dungeon run instead of fighting a Level 60 Golden Boss. The only one still putting in any real effort was Goldie, who swept through the air with her golden wings spread wide, unleashing a massive dark firestorm upon the Black-Robed Corpse General.

Marcus immediately put on his most aggrieved expression. "Guys, could you attack a little faster? My charge skill is almost out of uses. At this rate, I’m going to be unemployed."

"You absolute liar!" SoulSync burst out laughing. He could see straight through Marcus’s act, but he still turned around and gave the order. He and the prepared members of his team immediately unleashed a torrent of magic upon the Corpse General.

By now, Marcus’s repeated critical hits with Holy Shield Charge had already stripped away 80,000 HP. Now that four mages, an archer, and seven attacking pets had joined the assault, red damage numbers erupted across the boss’s body as its health bar began dropping at a frightening speed.

Seeing the situation, SoulfireBlade couldn’t help shouting, "Brothers, pound it! I’m throwing us a victory banquet!" The Soulfire elites immediately went all out. Ferocious.

The difference between their previous two attempts and this run was simply too enormous. During their earlier attempts, they had struggled just to survive against the Corpse General’s attacks. This time, with Marcus controlling the boss almost effortlessly, the entire battle had become a one-sided beating.

They were thoroughly convinced. One powerful knight really could change the outcome of an entire battle.

Barely three rounds of concentrated attacks later, the Corpse General’s HP had fallen to only 5,000. It was time. Marcus had already stopped using Holy Shield Charge, relying only on Taunt to maintain the boss’s attention while quietly waiting for this exact moment.

"Holy Shield Charge!"

The Adamant Shield was already prepared in his hand. With a surge of power, Marcus brought it crashing down like the roar of a dragon. ’Please.’

They had already agreed that everything dropped by this Level 60 Golden Boss belonged to him. There was no way Marcus was going to let someone else land the killing blow after carrying the fight this far. Besides, with his exceptionally high Luck, he naturally wanted to claim the final hit himself.

Boom! The shield smashed into the Corpse General. A critical hit erupted.

A brilliant yellow damage number appeared above its head as the Black-Robed Corpse General finally collapsed, ending its brief and thoroughly miserable existence as Marcus’s personal punching bag.

Ding!

[Congratulations, player Stonehaven, for killing the Level 60 Golden Boss, Black-Robed Corpse General. Reward: 300 Reputation].

As the system notification sounded, the Corpse General’s body collapsed completely. At last, it was nothing more than a corpse.

Clink. Clank. Several items fell to the ground.

Marcus immediately cast two Gathering skills over the corpse, but there was nothing else of value to be extracted from the body itself.

SoulfireBlade was already looking excited. "Stone, the body is mine!" He hurried over and began extracting the Soul-Severing Needle from the corpse’s heart meridian, completing the old man’s quest in the process.

Meanwhile, Marcus calmly gathered the items that had dropped from the boss.

Special bosses, unique quest bosses, and monsters created specifically for system quests were different from ordinary monsters. Since these bosses only appeared once per server, they often carried rewards that couldn’t be found anywhere else.

The Black-Robed Corpse General was exactly this kind of unique boss, and the rewards were excellent.

The first item was the black warlock’s staff the Corpse General had been carrying throughout the battle.

—

Black-Robed Warlock Staff: The warlock staff once used by the Black-Robed General, Jasper. Possesses the ability to summon and control summoned minions. Black Mythic Artifact. Effects unknown. Unusable.

—

Marcus’s eyes immediately lit up. This was the very staff the Corpse General had used to summon its minions. A Mythic Artifact.

Too bad it had fallen into Marcus’s hands. The Corpse General hadn’t even gotten the chance to display the staff’s full potential before being repeatedly beaten into the ground.

’Mine.’ Marcus put the staff away without hesitation.

Next was the longsword responsible for Witchblade Barrage. Unlike the staff, it wasn’t a Mythic Artifact; it was only a Golden weapon.

Black-Robed Longsword. Marcus cast Appraisal on it.

—

Black-Robed Longsword: Golden Weapon

Requirements: Level 50+ Swordsman or Warlock

A longsword once wielded by the Black-Robed General, Jasper. After accompanying him through countless battles, the ordinary blade gradually underwent a transformation, eventually evolving into Golden equipment.

Effects: Attack +300

Bonus: Focus +50

Adds 150 Dark Damage to attacks made by the user and their summoned creatures.

Possesses a powerful Bloodlust attack bonus.

Witchblade Barrage: Active Skill. Transforms the Black-Robed Longsword into a dozen flying blades that attack enemies within an area. Damage is at least twice that of normal attacks. Cooldown: 30 seconds.

—

’Not bad.’ In fact, it was a rather impressive weapon.

Unfortunately, it was a warlock-oriented weapon, which made it practically useless to Marcus. Still, one detail caught his attention.

Warlocks could actually use longswords in combat. That was interesting.

It also made Marcus realize that the warlock class had far more room for development than he had previously assumed. A warlock wasn’t necessarily restricted to standing at the back and throwing spells. With the right equipment and class combination, there were clearly some very unusual possibilities.

There were also three pieces of Level 50 Golden equipment among the drops. Their stats were fairly decent after appraisal, but none of them particularly surprised Marcus.

Then he saw the next two items. His eyes widened. A class-change scroll, and a skill book.

"Ohhh! A class-change scroll!" Marcus’s excitement immediately shot through the roof.

An item capable of allowing a player to change classes was extraordinarily valuable. The drop rate was notoriously low, and ordinary players might never see one in their entire careers. Yet he had just obtained one.

And it wasn’t even an ordinary class-change scroll. It was a hidden-class class-change scroll.

More importantly, the class was exactly the one Jasper had possessed. A Sword-Warlock, a class capable of combining sword combat with warlock abilities, including summoning.

Marcus hurriedly checked its details.

—

Sword-Warlock Class-Change Scroll: Extremely rare scroll. Success rate: 80%. Allows any class above Level 50 to change to the hidden class Sword-Warlock. The player’s original class will disappear upon completing the class change.

—

Marcus’s heart practically skipped a beat. An 80% success rate was already extraordinarily high for something this valuable, and the Sword-Warlock class itself was clearly powerful.

Then there was the skill book. It was the very skill Jasper had used to summon his minions.

—

Minions, Heed My Call: Advanced Skill Book. Learnable by Level 50+ warlock-type classes. A skill created by the Black-Robed General based on his experience commanding troops. Depending on the skill’s level, the user can summon different numbers and types of minions to fight alongside them.

—

’Excellent. Absolutely excellent.’ Marcus was genuinely pleased.

Helping SoulSync with this quest had definitely been the right decision. The two sides had already agreed beforehand that the boss’s drops would belong to him, and SoulSync clearly had no intention of questioning what he had obtained.

There was no need for Marcus to explain himself, either. But then he looked at the class-change scroll and the skill book again, and a thought occurred to him.

’Who should receive them?’ His thoughts drifted toward his women, and Marcus began considering his options carefully.