Chapter 438: Act 190 – The Final Moments (6)
Faina suddenly tugged at his sleeve, and Brendel turned back, “Do you want to go over there?” The noble lady mouthed the words, pointing to the street in the center of the ruins, tangled and covered in vines.
Brendel nodded.
“You’re crazy,” Faina looked at him incredulously, “Wait, are you planning to use that cloak?”
If the cloak was usable, Brendel couldn’t help but think it would have been nice. But some forgetful old fool hadn’t left him a start-up spell, and who the hell knew how to use that thing.
He shook his head.
Faina looked at him in confusion, but the young man had already raised his hand to signal her to stay behind. He then crouched down and turned to crawl out.
This action startled Faina; she watched as Brendel crawled to within ten feet of the ruins, her mouth agape in fear, but she couldn’t make a sound—
But of course, Brendel wasn’t crazy; he knew very well what would happen if he lurked out like this. While he had some experience with stealth, he understood he was nowhere near the level of those true high-end Nightingales and Rangers.
Even they might not guarantee that they would go undetected in front of a monster like Andisha, especially in a forest—let alone him.
Brendel had always been self-aware; he was merely advancing to observe. In the forest, merely watching from a distance didn’t yield any conclusions, and he had no habit of wasting time, so all he could do was choose the path of risk.
He hesitated, crouched beneath the bushes, gazing past the branches of the heath and fixating on the desolate ruins nearby, his mind racing with thoughts on how to safely cross this area.
However, it seemed a bit far-fetched; Andisha wasn’t an idiot; her presence here meant she had a hundred percent certainty of being able to find him. Brendel stared outside, utterly clueless, and his mind drifted to some unrelated thoughts.
He thought, if this were just a game, then there must be a method to complete the task, right?
At this point, Brendel suddenly felt a spark of inspiration flash through his mind; he recalled some details from past games. He vaguely remembered how when Amber Sword first entered testing, the game had caused a stir due to its stark differences from traditional games.
In most conventional games, the design philosophy was geared towards testing the player, but no matter how difficult a task was designed, there would always be a path left for the player to complete it.
In simple games, this path was unobstructed. In difficult games, it was fraught with thorns.
Yet a thorny path still at least constituted a path.
Amber Sword, however, employed a completely different design philosophy, pursuing the utmost realism. The designers had once made a rather famous remark among players:
“There are no roads in the forest; you must rely on your courage and wisdom to forge one.”
Thus, in Amber Sword, there were no “inevitably completable tasks,” like that old joke from the Emerald Peaks—“The design team actually created a drop list for the Verdant Dragon, which they could have completely omitted”—because the Verdant Dragon had been labeled a world boss that could never be killed since the beginning of the game.
(Note: Due to having the only supreme ‘Eternity’ element in the entire Vaunte world, the Verdant Dragon is defined as existing simultaneously across countless parallel universes, making it impossible to kill at any one specific location, at any specific time—it’s virtually immortal. Thus, in Amber Sword, it’s claimed to be unkillable, leading players to humorously suggest the drop list had no significance since it would never be utilized.)
But this was the philosophy of Amber Sword; the designers offered the possibility referred to as reality. Though players initially criticized this reality as being troublesome, they eventually accepted this design notion.
“If Amber Sword wasn’t the only virtual reality game at that time, it probably would have been abandoned long ago by players who always pursued game mechanics over logic,” Brendel couldn’t help but muse.
It was precisely so that he suddenly felt he had grasped the idea.
If the original intention of the game was to provide a possibility called reality, which seemed like a challenge to players, in fact, it abandoned the past game’s concept of “the one or few paths.”
If there were no so-called “guides,” then one had to create their own “guide.” This was the spirit of Amber Sword.
Brendel took a deep breath; he finally thought of a plan. If he couldn’t perfectly complete the task, then abandoning a pawn to save the king might not be a bad option. He glanced aside, then calmed down and cautiously returned the way he came.
However, as soon as he exited the bushes, he first saw Faina looking at him with a pale face, as if he had done something heinous.
“Being with you will at least shorten my life by ten years!” she glared at him.
“If this truly shortens your life by ten years, I might as well end up dying directly later,” Brendel glanced at her and replied.
“Wh-what do you mean?”
“Do you see that ruin? Later, we can quietly sneak past it using its cover. I checked carefully just now; that’s the most feasible route. The others are basically dead ends.”
Brendel explained his reasoning with gestures, but Faina looked at the direction he pointed and opened her mouth wide.
“That way looks good, but you didn’t notice that the last stretch has no cover at all. We will surely be discovered no matter what!” she protested, unable to suppress her frown, “I mean, that woman is one of the twelve High Priests of the Shepherds. Don’t underestimate her—her appearance here means she must have the confidence to catch us!”
“I know that, and I’m aware of it,” Brendel shook his head in response, “But I also know she must be aware that after our previous encounters, she wouldn’t underestimate us. Thus, she might not pay much attention in that direction.”
“I understand the concept of doing the opposite,” Faina furrowed her brows, “But what’s the use of just sneaking past the first half if the second half is an open square? Even if she doesn’t notice, she’ll certainly find us.”
Brendel didn’t answer; he knew that perfection was not an option. But at least they had to figure out half of it, and the rest would depend on their own efforts.
At this moment, avoiding any risk was impossible, especially since he didn’t have much time to waste. Although William was assisting him, it was still uncertain how long the Druids outside could hold out.
So he shook his head.
“Hey!” Faina almost cried out in agitation, grabbing Funiya beside her, “Funiya, quickly persuade your elder brother here. This madman wants to commit suicide, and I have no intention of accompanying him!”
Funiya looked at the two of them, shook her head, indicating she wasn’t planning to oppose—Brendel’s decision was her decision.
The noble girl was left speechless.
“Stay here,” Brendel said. He had no reason to take the noble lady along, especially since it seemed somewhat suicidal.
Yet at this moment, the princess from the Flowerleaf Domain hesitated; for some reason, she felt a bit flustered. Logically, she should agree, but looking at Brendel and Funiya, she inexplicably became angry.
“No, you must take me with you!” she said defiantly, raising her eyebrows.
Brendel found himself unable to understand the young lady’s logic for a moment, and he couldn’t help but say impatiently, “Don’t you think you’re a burden?”
“Who told you to forget to leave me with Lady Veronika earlier? Country bumpkin, you brought me here, so you need to take responsibility. You want to leave me behind and run away? Are you still a noble?”
I’m not even a noble, Brendel almost exclaimed. But looking at Faina’s serious demeanor, it was as if she would follow him whether he agreed or not, which gave him a headache.
He glanced at Funiya and finally compromised—after all, taking one was the same as taking two, right? Moreover, Brendel even felt a bit maliciously amused, thinking this was her decision to follow to her possible death; if anything happened, he wouldn’t be to blame.
So he sighed and reluctantly agreed to Faina’s insistence.
The noble lady stared at him—at this moment, it seemed she was relieved, as if she had finally gained the upper hand after a long struggle.
“Are we departing immediately?” she asked.
Brendel wanted to say “It’s me, not we,” but at this moment, he could only nod. After all, having convinced this noble lady, he indeed needed to begin taking action.
However, in fact, if it were just him alone, getting through that ruin would be effortless—though of course, the square behind would still be a significant issue.
Yet now, with Faina and Funiya along, the problem had become much more complicated. He didn’t dare to let Faina and Funiya follow him, but instead, he returned twice to carry them across.
This sounded a bit comical, but the truth was that Brendel’s stealth skills were much stronger even while carrying one person than Faina’s solo efforts.
His first time carrying Funiya through the ruins went rather smoothly; he carefully exited the dense side of the jungle and used the cover of a broken wall to slip into a half-ruined stone house—just as he had previously judged, this direction faced away from Andisha, and the woman hadn’t paid much attention here. In fact, she only needed to focus on that square to be certain that no matter how capable Brendel was, he would still be discovered.
After placing Funiya safely, he turned back to fetch Faina. His movements were quick, and he passed through the bushes with hardly a sound, a skill so refined it almost left the noble lady from Cruz in awe.
She had seen enough to know that only the most skilled scouts in the army could achieve such detail, and generally, nobles wouldn’t study these skills unless they were of a particularly special status.
For example, royal spies.
Faina had interacted with spies under her father before, but their level compared to Brendel’s achievements at this moment was akin to a mere façade.
However, this noble lady still didn’t know that Brendel himself looked down on his own stealth skills, and she couldn’t imagine how frightening the stealth techniques of professional Nightingale and Ranger players in the game could be.
Once a stealth skill reached over level ten, one could even achieve visual deception, meaning he could stand in front of you and you might not even notice.
And achieving above level fifteen mastered the legendary technique of vision concealment, where one could seemingly disappear right in front of someone, a feat that nearly required magic.
But magic can dissipate; stealth cannot.
The skills of high-level Nightingales certainly weren’t simple.
Yet those were trivial matters; when Brendel picked up Faina, the noble lady finally came to her senses and nearly cried out in fright, had Brendel not quickly covered her mouth.
Brendel glared at her, reminding her to be aware of her surroundings. Faina blushed; despite it not being the first time he had carried her this way, it was the first time she had been reminded of such closeness—last time was during a leap from a bottomless cliff; she had been so terrified then that she hadn’t thought about it.
The second time was to evade the attack of the Saint’s Multi-headed Dragon—she had basically been just as stupefied.
Only this time, her mind was clearer—yet Faina wished she weren’t so aware, at least not so shamed and flustered, her face felt as if it were on fire.
By the time she regained her composure from the sheer panic, Brendel had already put her behind half a broken wall.
So far, Brendel had made several trips and finally moved both Funiya and Faina to the last segment of this ruin, just in front being the square, leaving the rest as previously mentioned:
It would rely on their struggles now!
He nudged the noble lady awake, mouthing the question, “Are you really not going to stay behind? It may result in death soon?” Brendel decided to try once more to scare this noble lady off, but once again the answer was still negative.
This woman didn’t know what had gotten into her; it was as if she was determined to accompany him, steadfastly shaking her head. It felt almost as if the Cruz spirit of never abandoning a comrade was genuinely embodied here, prompting Brendel to feel quite strange.
“Forget it,” he sighed, “I’ve done my best.”
He then peeked out, looking at how to traverse the square. However, as he did so, his expression changed dramatically, and it wasn’t just him; Faina nearly screamed, “Ah!” too.
Because they saw a figure dressed in a red robe standing right at the opposite end of the square.
“Damn, I knew it!” Brendel couldn’t help cursing inwardly; he thought the other side would at least have some oversight—if only there had even been an oversight in the first place.
However, he hadn’t expected Andisha to be so meticulous, with a cohort guarding the other side of the square—there was simply no chance left for them.
Brendel backed away, unable to restrain his gritted teeth; he couldn’t think of any solutions.
At this moment, however, Faina grabbed his hand: “We’re so close. Why not try the cloak? The duration should be enough!”
The cloak? Brendel paused, suddenly remembering it was the one William had given them.
He felt a bit dejected, thinking he would’ve used it earlier if it could work. Moreover, if that cloak was as William described and could evade the Dragon King’s perception, then deceiving Andisha with it would be a walk in the park.
However—
There were no ifs.
He couldn’t help but pull his hand away from Faina, doubting whether the young lady had been so scared that her mind had gone blank; she should have been aware of the reason—unless William’s old man’s amnesia was somehow contagious?
But unexpectedly, Faina grabbed his hand again, asking, “Hey, do you really think that thing can’t be activated? Have you forgotten what I do?”
Brendel was taken aback: “What do you do?”
“A noble lady?”
“Go die,” Faina glared at him through gritted teeth, “Country bumpkin, I’m a magic swordsman! Analyzing spell texts is my specialty!”
“Huh?” Brendel was genuinely stunned this time: “You can? That thing is at least a mythological object; the arrays upon it are very different from what we currently know. If I remember correctly, haven’t you not even officially advanced in your class yet?”
“That’s because I’m a noble,” the princess from the Flowerleaf Domain said with an unamused expression: “I cannot participate in the Adventurer Guild’s job evaluations; as a noble, the things I learn are usually much more refined.”
Brendel froze for a moment, suddenly feeling like there could indeed be a possibility. He stopped and seriously asked for the first time, “Really possible?”
“I don’t know; we’ll need to try,” Faina didn’t dare to make grand claims, but speaking of her expertise, she became much more serious and less pretentious than before.
Brendel nodded, handing over the cloak wrapped around his hands. Faina took the cloak and ran her fingers over it—this was purely a physically demanding task, as the cloak was indeed as enormous as William had said.
However, just a few minutes later, Faina suddenly exclaimed with joy—her voice was small, but it startled Brendel so much that he nearly jumped. He immediately turned around to look towards the ruins—thankfully, Andisha hadn’t noticed at all.
He quickly turned back to glare at Faina; if it weren’t for the certainty that couldn’t happen, he would almost question whether this young lady was a standard mole.
This time, the noble lady seemed to realize her fault for the first time, her face showing a hint of embarrassment as she stuck out her tongue, but she still cheerfully mouthed to Brendel:
“Country bumpkin, I’ve learned the array of this item!”
“You’ve learned it?” After the initial surprise, Brendel quickly turned his frown into a smile; he could scarcely believe such a coincidence. If Faina had indeed studied this, finding its activation spell should be no trouble at all.
By Martha’s grace, he felt that luck hadn’t completely abandoned him yet.
……(To be continued. If you like this work, feel free to vote for it on Qidian (qidian.com). Your support is my greatest motivation.)
