Chapter 718: Act 77 – The Lost Name I
After confirming that there were no more valuable items among the pile of skeleton knight bones, Brendel packed up the equipment and decided not to proceed further. Ahead lay a greenhouse where a portal had been destroyed by the wizard during his lifetime, causing temporal disturbances; beyond that was a labyrinth area with some scattered equipment, but it would be a loss to venture there.
They retraced their steps, returning to the second floor and then back to the main hall, just in time to meet Charles and Medisa, who were returning from the wizard’s tower for the third time. By now, the magical creatures in the forest were few and far between; from the tower, one could see flickering lights in the darkness, resembling the remaining lanterns.
Brendel used his mental link to call Charles and Medisa over. After numerous battles, Charles looked somewhat fatigued, while Medisa appeared to be in good spirits, likely due to lower-level warriors having greater endurance than spellcasters. However, Medisa’s silver-gray elf armor had distinct burn marks from magical flows, and there was a trace of blood on her snow-white face.
“Lord.”
“My lord.” The two greeted Brendel respectfully upon seeing him.
Brendel did not respond immediately. He waved his hand in front of Medisa and Charles, revealing two pale blue light screens. Before entering the tower, both Charles and Medisa were at level 27, and now they were nearly level 32, having jumped from an unstable Silver initial rank to mid-tier Silver, which was a notably rapid progression.
Brendel finally smiled slightly, “Well done.”
“Thanks to the tower you discovered, my lord,” Medisa replied softly, always maintaining a polite smile.
“Hey,” Charles exhaled, appearing somewhat curious, “But my lord, you must have known there was a high-level exorcism formation here, right? Otherwise, how could you have seemed so confident before?”
This guy’s curiosity always seemed to spill over, but what’s more, he was quite astute, noticing details that others overlooked. Brendel straightened his face, “The Black Tower wizard wouldn’t build a decorative pavilion here.”
“That’s true. I was just thinking that there doesn’t seem to be a better defensive facility than a high-level exorcism formation here; it feels almost… tailored for us.”
“That feeling is indeed quite comfortable. What about you, Medisa? Do you feel the same way?” Charles turned to ask while simultaneously stealing glances at Brendel from the corner of his eye.
“Yes, a little,” Medisa gently nodded.
However, the young wizard’s sneaky behavior made Brendel feel a bit helpless— not just Brendel, but even the young prince looked perplexed, wondering what had gotten into the chief wizard under his tutor. Naturally, Brendel wasn’t fooled by Charles’s little antics and perhaps wasn’t even trying to be; he pointed to his forehead and said, “Because you are also part of the Black Tower wizard, which proves that the thought process of excellent defenders is consistent—unless you think of yourself as a fool.”
“I see,” Charles found himself sincerely convinced by his lord’s words. But he quickly thought of a new question, “But wait, I seem to not be—”
Before he could finish, Medisa stepped on his foot. Both Brendel and the Silver Elf Princess caught on; it seemed he was about to blurt out that he was already a Silver Robe Mage, but such words should not be tossed around thoughtlessly. After all, this wasn’t a game where one could change classes at will, and if word got out about him being a Silver Robe Mage and his close ties to the Bud people, it could lead to unnecessary trouble.
Brendel shot Charles a glare, and the latter, knowing he was in the wrong, awkwardly smiled and scratched his head in silence.
Among the remaining three, the young prince might have had questions in his mind, but likely wouldn’t voice them, even to his sister; Phillas hadn’t even noticed the details; he had been completely absorbed in admiring the vanity mirror of the Goddess of Night; as for Xi, perhaps she saw it, or perhaps she didn’t; even Brendel sometimes wasn’t quite sure what was on the mind of this mountain girl.
“My lord, there are hardly any magical creatures outside now. Why not give the order for everyone to charge out? After we clean the battlefield, we can advance further. Have we not already delayed enough time in the Anlase Forest?” Medisa spoke up softly at the right moment, steering clear of the topic.
Brendel nodded. Among all those around him, besides Antinna, this Silver Elf Princess was perhaps the most reliable. But it was indeed time to continue; Medisa was right; too much time had been wasted in the Anlase Forest, and now they needed to seize every moment.
He immediately ordered Charles and Medisa to gather everyone—mainly the guard knights and the original members of the caravan. Most of these individuals were elite members of the princess’s entourage, and having rested in the main hall for quite some time, they were already prepared to move at the command.
Before departing, Brendel let Charles recall the wizard’s tower back to its original position. Although the tower could not be moved, it could serve as a favor to the Black Tower wizard in the future. It was well-known that wizards were never short on cash.
The battles in the forest had actually come to a halt. Outside, Freya and Himelam were merely hunting for the few stragglers among the woods. The others’ tasks mostly involved cleaning the battlefield; magical creatures in “Amber” were particularly disgusting monsters— for players, troublesome monsters weren’t necessarily repulsive. But monsters that were both difficult to deal with and stingy with loot were invariably regarded as detestable, and magical creatures firmly ranked among those.
This was proven when hundreds of magical creatures yielded only two pieces of Chaos Fragments. This item’s name sounded impressive and powerful, but in reality, it was just a condensed form of dark magic, a rare but largely useless alchemical material.
But it was certainly better than nothing. Brendel thought to himself as he recalled that the one leading the battlefield cleanup was Nemeses, and felt relieved. However, he was somewhat fearful, as Laurena’s hands were even dirtier than Nemeses’s; it seemed history couldn’t always be trusted, and the good fortune of that knight couple indeed had to be attributed to Phillas.
He looked at Laurena and then at Nemeses, a dark label suddenly affixed in his mind regarding females with the profession of knight. He glanced one last time at Freya resting in the distance, resolutely deciding never to let the Valkyrie open corpses in the future.
After clearing the magical creatures from the Abyssal Pool, the team was finally able to advance. It was now deep night within the forest, but according to Brendel’s copper watch, it was barely after noon; he planned to camp out at midnight, aiming to cross into the courtyard before the day ended.
As they passed through the forest, the terrain on both sides began to open up. Brendel recognized this area as the first half of the entrance to the ‘courtyard’ based on his guidebook’s descriptions, where indeed signs of Dusk Hounds began to appear. These creatures were similar to a hybrid between wolves and foxes, larger than black wolves, with five toes on their paws. Legend had it that they were the ancestors of all wolf-shaped monsters, and the magic wolf Fenrir that existed prior to Echis was a Dusk Hound.
In “Amber,” Dusk Hounds were typical pack monsters known for their special abilities of teleportation and flickering, as well as a spitting attack. Their spitting ability, known as Dusk Breath, would permanently petrify any creature it struck, which was rather terrifying.
However, Dusk Hounds were not without weaknesses. In “Amber,” aggressive and agile monsters often had weak defenses; Dusk Hounds were no exception. Their flickering and teleportation became ineffective under the dimensional anchor spell of a law wizard. The only uncertain factor was knowing where they would appear first— and where to anchor the dimension.
But this was no challenge for Brendel.
In the first half of the ‘courtyard,’ they encountered a small group of Dusk Hounds. Based on Brendel’s judgment, this ‘pack’ consisted of around seven to eight adult individuals, accompanied by double that number of females and juveniles. The ecology of magical creatures was quite peculiar; some had animal traits, yet their reproduction methods were not entirely the same— overall, dens were still very important for magical creatures.
As soon as the pack of Dusk Hounds appeared, Brendel noticed them before everyone else— even before the creatures themselves. Dusk Hounds had highly predictable movement patterns; he had dealt with them in the Karanjar mountain range for half a year, alongside his senior, battling these beasts. Consequently, he sensed their presence from the traces of magical energy flowing through the forest.
The second person to notice these beasts was Nemeses, who reacted instinctively when the Dusk Hounds began tracking them. Brendel noticed her glancing back—that was indeed the direction in which those monsters were located.
Then Brendel ordered the team to halt and instructed Charles to set up the dimensional anchor. As everyone looked confused, the pack arrived just as expected, and as if on cue, they charged straight into the trap laid by Charles.
As for the fight that followed—
The ensuing battle could easily be described as one-sided. Having lost their abilities to flicker between dimensional states to evade attacks and teleport away from dangers, the fragile Dusk Hounds became perfect targets. Although they still possessed their spitting ability, their clumsy breath attack was not particularly effective against warrior-type enemies. After a few exchanges, the entire pack was wiped out, these magic creatures embodying the combat power of nearly sophisticated Gold rank were reduced to experience points for Brendel and the others.
Having gained this experience, the rest quickly fell into rhythm. Under Brendel’s command, they slowly moved through the valley and encountered several more Dusk Hound attacks along the way. However, Brendel relied on the same strategy, making the battles even simpler than before.
This continued until Charles exhausted all his spells and Brendel quietly summoned the Ether Dragon to recover mana while halting the entire team.
Due to consecutive battles against creatures of higher levels, Charles’s Silver Robe Mage level had now reached level 34, while Medisa and Himelam were at level 33. Since the few around them had consistently suppressed their powers in front of others, the group’s members did not immediately notice the gradual increases in their strengths, especially since Charles and Medisa had originally stepped into the Gold realm alongside Brendel; hiding their real capabilities, others wouldn’t think too much about it.
However, Brendel called for the team to stop because they had reached the end passage of the courtyard. This meant that the boss-level Dusk Hound was likely nearby.
…
(PS: I returned a bit late, but I still persevered in writing a chapter. Everyone bear with me a little longer; after the 15th, your daily updates will resume at a whopping 10,000 words! Keep the monthly votes coming~) (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, please go to Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets; your support is my greatest motivation.)
