Chapter 590: The Knight’s Frost Ring
The first item was the mask the navy captain had used to control Elder Eagle.
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Face of Nameless Fear: Gray Artifact. Requirement: Level 50. Originally a Mythic Artifact of the Demon Clan known as the "Darkness of Fear," it contained an immense amount of demonic energy. It was later obtained by a thousand-year-old evil ghost, who infused it with the Ghost Race’s deathly necrotic energy and absorbed countless vengeful spirits and lost souls, eventually causing the artifact to evolve into the Gray Artifact known as the Face of Nameless Fear.
Effect: Increases Strength, Constitution, Agility, and Focus by 50 each. Increases Attack by 20%. Attacks are infused with powerful dark demonic energy and deathly necrotic energy, giving them a high chance of inflicting Blindness, Dimness, Weakness, and other negative effects on targets. Attacks deal an additional 800 Dark damage and 800 Death damage. Increases resistance to Dark and Death elements by 60%.
Skills:
Nameless Fear (Passive): Enemies within 30 meters of the wearer have all attributes reduced by 15%. Their Critical Hit and Lethal Strike chances are also significantly reduced.
Vengeful Spirits (Passive): Vengeful spirits and lost souls automatically protect the wearer, increasing the failure rate of any scrying or detection attempt targeting the wearer by 80%. If someone attempts to probe the wearer, the spirits immediately counterattack and report the attacker’s basic information.
Roar of Fear (Active): A mighty battle cry releases a wave of black deathly energy, with a 70% chance of terrifying all enemies within 50 meters for five seconds. Terrified enemies suffer a 10% reduction to Attack and Defense and stumble around in panic, unable to flee, attack, or use skills. Cooldown: 10 minutes.
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The stats alone were enough to prove how formidable the mask was.
The Face of Nameless Fear had more than earned its Artifact status. If the navy captain hadn’t deliberately adjusted the mask’s abilities to counter Elder Eagle, restricting both their powers during that battle, the outcome might have been completely different. Even under those circumstances, if Elder Eagle had somehow managed to unleash the mask’s full potential, it was difficult to say which of them would have come out on top.
Marcus absolutely loved its ferocious appearance. The mask was covered in ghostly faces, with dark energy constantly swirling around it, giving it an ominous and murderous presence that matched his Corpse Demon set perfectly.
The moment he replaced his ordinary mask with the Face of Nameless Fear, a surge of dark demonic and deathly necrotic energy swept through his body. His entire presence changed instantly, becoming cold, brutal, and faintly terrifying, almost exactly like Elder Eagle had looked when he’d worn the mask.
With the pitch-black Corpse Demon set covering his body, Marcus looked downright intimidating.
More importantly, his stats had risen substantially. Fifty points had been added to all four core attributes, while his Attack had increased by another twenty percent. His overall combat power had jumped by a noticeable amount.
’Amazing!’
The difference between this mask and the Fluffy Rabbit’s Mask was enormous. The Fluffy Rabbit’s Mask was only a low-tier Artifact, and although its special ability was exceptional, its basic attributes simply couldn’t compete with high-level equipment like the Face of Nameless Fear.
But speaking of the Fluffy Rabbit’s Mask, Marcus’s expression became complicated as he remembered its incredible skill, Run for Your Life. That skill was simply too powerful.
He stared at the Face of Nameless Fear for a long while, repeatedly taking it off and putting it back on as he weighed his options. In the end, despite how much he liked the new mask, he still couldn’t bring himself to give up the Fluffy Rabbit’s Mask.
Life came first. No matter how powerful his equipment was, it would all be meaningless if he died.
After making up his mind, Marcus finally sighed and said, "I’ve decided. I’ll keep the Fluffy Rabbit’s Mask. At this point, I’m probably never going to part with it."
Alana, who had been standing gracefully beside him, was intimately familiar with his abilities and had clearly understood his hesitation from the beginning. She smiled gently.
"Master, you’re torn, aren’t you? You’re wondering whether you should use the Face of Nameless Fear or continue wearing the Fluffy Rabbit’s Mask."
"Yes." Marcus nodded. He was rather pleased that she understood him so well. "But I’ve made my decision. I’ll stick with the Fluffy Rabbit’s Mask. I’m probably never going to give it up..."
To his surprise, Alana shook her head. "Master, I actually favor the Face of Nameless Fear. I have a feeling that before long, you’ll end up choosing it yourself."
"Why?" Marcus looked at her curiously.
Alana only smiled. Her elegant beauty was quiet and refined, like an orchid blooming in a secluded valley. Leaning slightly closer, she whispered warmly into his ear, "You’ll know soon enough, Master..."
She wasn’t going to tell him! ’This girl...’
Marcus stared at Alana’s confident, delighted expression. There was something different about her smile this time, a subtle hint of mischief and seduction beneath her usual gentle elegance. He suddenly felt an irresistible urge to punish this graceful beauty for keeping him in suspense.
Her delicate floral fragrance drifted into his senses as she stood so close to him, and for a moment, Marcus found himself staring at her alluring lips, seriously tempted to lean over and kiss them.
Fortunately, the appraiser chose that moment to hand him the second item, breaking the spell before he could do anything.
It was a ring, and Marcus immediately took it from the appraiser and examined it with renewed interest. This was the Artifact dropped by the Iceflame Black Serpent Man.
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Knight’s Frost Ring: Artifact. Requirement: Level 50 Knight. In the great snowy mountains of the far north, a knight discovered a block of ten-thousand-year cold jade iron that had been frozen beneath the mountains for countless years. He entrusted the precious material to a master craftsman, who forged it into the Artifact known as the Knight’s Frost Ring. Unfortunately, the knight was later killed by other adventurers who coveted the treasure, and the ring eventually fell into the hands of monsters within the Black Serpent Cave before finally becoming the possession of the Iceflame Black Serpent Man.
Effect: Increases Water resistance by 30%. Attacks deal an additional 500 Water damage. The wearer is immune to all Freezing and Slow effects caused by Water-element attacks.
Frost Aura (Passive, Toggleable): Freezes monsters and enemies that attack the wearer within a 10-meter radius, reducing their Movement Speed and Attack Speed by 20%.
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"Damn!" Marcus couldn’t help but exclaim. It was another insanely powerful Artifact.
Complete immunity to Water-element Freezing and Slow effects was already an excellent defensive ability, and the Frost Aura made it even more useful. Any enemy that came close enough to attack him would have its Movement Speed and Attack Speed reduced, effectively giving Marcus an advantage the longer the fight continued.
For practical combat value, this ring was almost approaching the usefulness of a Divine Artifact.
Marcus didn’t hesitate. He immediately equipped the Knight’s Frost Ring. ’Incredible.’
For a close-combat knight like him, the ring was practically tailor-made. His own speed was already high, and with the Frost Aura slowing down anyone who tried to fight him at close range, his ability to chase down opponents would become even more frightening.
One or two enemies might still have a chance to escape. But three or four? They’d have a hard time getting away from him.
For the first time since obtaining the ring, Marcus genuinely wanted to find some opponents and test it out.
He glanced at the four rings he currently had equipped: the Ring of Greed, Ring of Resurrection, Horseshoe Ring, and now the Knight’s Frost Ring.
His eyes lingered on the Horseshoe Ring. Compared with the other three, it was unquestionably the weakest.
Unfortunately, rings, necklaces, and other accessories were notoriously difficult to obtain. Good accessories were even rarer, so for now, he had no choice but to keep using what he had.