Chapter 115: Act 48 – The Disturbance
The surroundings suddenly fell into darkness—
The screams of ladies immediately echoed throughout. Brendel and Lohn had no time to look around, already drawing their long swords from under their cloaks. Balthom and Charles reacted just a moment later; the red-bearded mercenary unstrapped his broadsword from behind and placed a hand on Lohn’s shoulder nearby—cautious that this guy might pull some tricks—then stood with the young wizard apprentice, protecting the ladies in between them.
Lohn made a slight grunt, seemingly indifferent on the surface.
After the ladies panicked and screamed, angry shouts and questions from the men rose from all around and above.
However, the first-floor hall appeared rather quiet, for most of those seated were experienced adventurers or mercenaries. Many of them had been through multiple battles, allowing them to remain composed and preventing the disturbance from escalating further.
“Brendel, what’s happening?” Merchant Miss asked curiously in the dark, her voice revealing no hint of fear.
Antinna sat behind her, nervously clutching the hem of her skirt, her fingertips turning white. Yet, she squinted her bright eyes, not letting her inner fear show.
“Shh—” Brendel said, as he spotted some restless young nobles not far off lighting matches or glowing gemstones on their staffs.
However, some lights flickered on and off.
Basic light spells weren’t uncommon in Vaunte’s everyday life; even in some large cities, the streetlights were composed of enchanted gemstones.
Lohn possessed a ring that could emit light, but he didn’t rush to activate it. Raising a light source in the dark would only make one a conspicuous target.
But sometimes, things go against one’s wishes.
Just as Brendel and Lohn were on guard for danger, the sword in the young man’s hand shimmered, and he halted momentarily, then watched as his long sword emitted a faint glow.
At first, the light seemed like a layer of fluorescence coating the blade, but the next instant, brightness surged forth, illuminating the surrounding area stark white—
In that brilliant light, before Brendel and Lohn could express their astonishment, they saw four uninvited guests in cloaks swiftly navigating through the narrow aisles between the rows of seats, heading straight for them.
Their hands were tucked beneath the cloaks, evidently gripping weapons below.
Enemies, not friends.
“Brendel!” Balthom shouted from behind.
Brendel remained silent, decisively raising his left hand, and with a flurry of ‘swish’, a series of crossbow bolts shot forth from beneath his sleeve, nailing the lead cloaked figure instantly.
The all-steel crossbow bolts struck with immense force at such close range, causing the lead cloaked figure to grunt and fall onto his back, rolling as his comrades shifted from either side, raising their heads to look in Brendel’s direction.
Brendel happened to catch sight of a pair of burning orange flames deeply hidden under their hoods.
“Undead…” He paused, realizing how these cursed creatures could appear in this place and at this time. But the situation left him no room for further thought; the three cloaked intruders buried their hands beneath their cloaks—one of them revealing a dry hand adorned with armor—gripping a peculiar one-handed scythe tightly.
Brendel didn’t even know if that bizarre weapon should be called a scythe, as it looked more like a bright, semi-circular starfish, with hooks and sharp blades suggesting it was clearly not just a mere decoration.
Curses affected the undead with diminished effect, so in an instant, the young man decided against wasting cursed crossbow bolts. He pulled Little Romain behind him and retreated to position himself between Balthom and Lohn.
However, the three cloaked invaders had already shed the barrier, charging ahead—clearly targeting Brendel—swinging their singular scythes without hesitation.
Brendel raised his sword and clashed it against one of the cloaked intruder’s scythes with a loud ‘clang’, the massive force reverberating through his body almost causing him to stumble back three or four steps, nearly toppling the seats behind him.
Little Romain let out a scream, but Antinna had already grasped her hand, dragging her towards safety. The noble lady clutched Merchant Miss tightly, lowering her body to crawl in another direction.
She was extremely tense, yet her mind seemed eerily clear, as if each of her movements was instinctual.
Balthom also reached out from behind, blocking another cloaked intruder with his long sword, but he quickly groaned, clearly feeling the pressure.
“Black Iron’s upper-tier strength.” The red-bearded mercenary shouted.
“Golems!” At that moment, Brendel recognized the identity of his foes.
Golems are a type of puppeteer creatures; it’s just that the necromancer infused the soul of a warrior into empty armor, creating these evil beings. In the game, level 31-33 golems were the backbone of Madara’s second-tier army, but their agility and stealth also gave them another identity—
Madara’s assassins.
Brendel sensed that the golem directly confronting him was at least of captain level, with abilities nearing silver tier. While not top-tier within Madara’s second-tier forces, in contrast to Instalung’s Undead Army facing Bruglas, they were still elite frontline troops.
Were they targeting him?
Brendel found himself momentarily confused, but the lurking golems in the hall began attacking in all directions, eliciting panic and rage-filled roars from the mercenaries and adventurers.
Feeling outmatched, Brendel quickly shrank back, grabbed a chair, and hurled it at his opponent. The golem captain swung its scythe backhandedly—a chair instantly shattered. But the young man seizing this moment thrust his sword toward the heart of the golem—where the soul flame resided.
The golem captain let out a raspy roar, swiftly gripping Brendel’s elven sword. Silver flames instantly surged from its fingers, the purifying fire scorching deep into its soul and bone, causing the undead to scream.
Yet, it didn’t let go. Instead, it swung its scythe at Brendel’s arm.
“Damn it—” Brendel clenched his teeth; he had faced golems in the ‘Amber Sword’ before. But that had been much later; even so, their reckless tenacity left a strong impression on him. Thus, the moment the golem captain caught the ‘Glorious Sting’ in his grip, he felt a sense of danger.
He quickly released his grip and backed away, avoiding what would have been a certain hit.
At such close range, losing the Glorious Sting left Brendel nearly weaponless; he could use the Wind Queen’s Ring—but he was reluctant to risk injuring Romain and Antinna nearby.
The holy sword card lacked sufficient earth elements to activate; the energy loss wouldn’t help either. He could use the Wind Elemental Spider, but at this distance, he feared he wouldn’t have time to summon it before the opponent could tear him apart.
He hesitated for but a moment.
Brendel immediately crouched low and lunged forward, grabbing the golem captain’s waist and forcefully tackling down. The golem captain stumbled, both staggering backward, and they crashed into three rows of chairs, Brendel feeling as if his entire body were about to break apart. But his mind remained clear, and he quickly scrambled up almost in tandem with the golem captain.
The golem captain reached for its scythe.
Brendel instantly grasped the elven sword that had fallen to the side.
The golem captain struggled to stand, attempting to regain the initiative, but Brendel was quicker; he activated a charging skill and slammed into the undead’s chest. The force amplified tenfold was terrifying, sending the empty armor flying back—yet, even so, the near-silver level golem captain managed to swing its scythe at Brendel’s shoulder at the last moment.
“Trees are sturdy!” Brendel mentally shouted. His skin rapidly hardened to wood, but even before that, the golem captain’s scythe broke through the faint blue light surrounding his body—that was the magical protection granted by the Conflict Aura—and sunk deep beneath his wooden exterior.
Blood flew momentarily.
Brendel gritted his teeth, stifling a scream, despite the pain causing cold sweat to bead on his forehead. He yanked the scythe free and tossed it to the ground, then looked at the golem captain that had fallen into the crowd, not daring to waste time, swiftly drawing out the Wind Elemental Spider card from his pocket.
“Reveal, Fate Card—Wind Elemental Spider.”
A row of attributes immediately projected onto his retina:
Wind Elemental Spider, 8 health points, 4 mana points, strength 1.9, agility 2.7, constitution 1.0, the last three attributes are ‘—’, attack method is bite (base damage 1-1), special ability is incorporeal.
Incorporeal creatures generally deal only one-third of their damage, making it very difficult for a golem captain devoid of weapons to kill even one spider. However, Brendel understood that what the golem captain faced wasn’t just a single Wind Elemental Spider.
But fifteen of them.
He pointed forward, and fifteen swirling blue vortices immediately appeared behind him. From each vortex, spiders, their bodies half composed of winds, shot forth like streaks of blue light—turning sharply as they rushed toward the just-rising golem captain.
One Wind Elemental Spider possessed nearly 2 energy levels; although the power of the fifteen couldn’t be simply added together, it was enough to hinder an action from a golem captain nearly at silver strength.
They clung to it, fiercely biting. The golem captain let out an angry scream, trying to pull off the spiders and throw them away, but its actions felt futile. Because Brendel had seized the opportunity.
While the golem captain was distracted by the Wind Elemental Spiders, he charged forward, thrusting a sword into its chest. The terrifying undead attempted to resist at the last moment, but its contorted movements, tugged by the spiders, exposed such glaring openings in Brendel’s eyes.
A sword through the heart.
The golem captain let out a cry of unwillingness, and the devastating blow to its vital spot caused the purifying fire on the Glorious Sting to yield nearly four times the lethality. Brendel watched dazedly as the undead swayed, dissolving into a pile of gray-black armor remnants amid pure flames.
700 experience points acquired.
He turned back to see Balthom, Charles, and Lohn working together, being forced to retreat under the attacks of two more golems, while Antinna had dragged Romain to safety in another direction.
Then a loud crash echoed from above the auction hall—
Brendel looked up to see a shadow plummeting from the upper box, crashing to the ground with a thundering boom. The direction fell silent for a moment, then erupted into a chorus of screams.
“Sir Rosar!”
“By Martha, it’s Deputy Captain Rosar of the Constabulary!”
“They killed him!”
Brendel felt a tightening in his chest upon hearing that. It seemed these damned armored frames were not solely targeting him. Did Instalung want to attack Bruglas’s higher-ups? What did he intend? Such an event was not documented in history.
As he pondered this, he suddenly saw the trapezoidal-shaped ‘theater’ side door swing wide open—five doors in total, and rows of snow-white skeletal frames emerged, bows raised, from behind them.
The young man’s pupils constricted instantly.
So many undead? What on earth was the auction hall manager doing? What was the Constabulary up to? What were the Silverwing Cavalry and the security team doing?
How did they get in?
At that moment, Brendel felt an urge to curse.
(PS: It’s been tragic; suffering through only a small bowl of plain porridge at each meal is tough. Today I couldn’t help but eat a strip of squid and a bit of dry rice, and now it’s acting up again. I don’t know if it’s the squid or the rice causing the problem. It’s a fate worse than death, everyone must pay attention to their health.
Suffering right now, so just this chapter today; please forgive me.
As for those asking for votes, I’ve lost face =__=)(To be continued; to know what happens next, please log in for more chapters, support the author, and support legitimate reading!)
