Chapter 154: Act 87 – The Undead and the King (2)
Brendel smiled to himself, thinking that they, of course, would never understand the true value of the Ghost Knight Crystal. This item had been hyped up to an astronomical price of three hundred million Thor in the “Amber Sword,” and even in the mid-second era, only a handful of RMB warriors could afford the equipment inscribed with ‘Ghost Knight Crystal.’
However, to actually obtain an inscribed crystal seemed a bit wishful thinking. In other words, it was like the clouds floating on the horizon—beautiful to look at, but ultimately meaningless.
Because even Brendel himself had never believed this statement.
The inscribed crystal was a product of the monster’s own properties sublimating and purifying, whether dark or evil, flying or floating—any kind of inscribed crystal had an exceedingly rare chance of generating, not to mention the Ghost Knight Crystal, which had a drop rate of roughly seven places after the decimal point.
The chance of stumbling upon such an item was just slightly higher than the probability of crossing into another world.
He raised his heavy crossbow and asked, “Do you have magic arrows?”
“Yes.” Two elementalist girls among the Lubis mercenaries immediately answered in unison. The two girls were twins, with gray-brown hair styled into fine braids around their long ears, and they were actually Wild Elves from the mountainous region of Orkash. In his previous life, Brendel had fought for quite some time against the undead in Orkash and was not unfamiliar with this ethnic group.
Wild Elves were, in fact, children of the Goddess Gaia and thus were closer to the Dwarves of the Stone Tribe. The two races often had intermarriage traditions, and their customs were vastly different. However, the Wild Elves were martial, producing hunters, elementalists, and cavalrymen—three classes that all had significant offensive capabilities, demonstrating their fierce national character.
When Cruz’s fourth king, Halston the Longblade, invaded the realms of Lubis, he suffered great losses at their hands. Although he ultimately prevailed, it came at a heavy cost.
As a result, Cruz’s people and the Wild Elves remained mutual adversaries to this day.
It was precisely this fierce and open national character that allowed many Wild Elves to enter the world of humanity. The professions they chose were equally aggressive—mercenaries. In this regard, this matriarchal culture oddly aligned with the Lubis people, which is why Lubis mercenaries were in fact a coalition army composed of Wild Elves, mountain Dwarves, and Lubis individuals.
Therefore, Brendel was not surprised to learn that two of the elementalist mercenaries were Wild Elves. If there were two war priests, however, that would have shocked him. The Lubis and Cruz people were age-old enemies.
“Aren’t there any of the other mercenaries?” Brendel asked.
“Of course not. We’re the only two capable of creating magic arrows,” one of them, whose face was a bit more pointed and whose skin was fairer, explained with a sweet voice.
“I can make ten if I don’t hold back my magic,” the elder sister said.
“I can make six.” The younger sister answered cheerfully.
“That’s enough,” Brendel interrupted. “Give me seven of each type, and make two guiding arrows with the rest.”
The sisters exchanged glances, both puzzled. They looked at their captain, and finally, the elder sister quietly asked, “Lord, we can understand the Windbound Arrows and Icebreak Arrows, but guiding arrows… aren’t guiding arrows generally not used alone?”
They were not lying. Guiding arrows were typically meant for crafting expensive dual or even multi-magic arrows; after all, high-level magic arrows were costly and couldn’t be retrieved. However, magic arrows would only take effect if they hit. It was like someone losing a dragon-slaying arrow; that would be a huge loss.
Thus arose the so-called dual-magic arrows, also known as guiding magic arrows. But it had never been heard of using a guiding arrow alone, except perhaps by nobility hunting to cheat—
But Brendel had other plans. He smiled slightly, “It’s alright. Just focus on doing it. You don’t need to hold back your magic. After you complete my task, you can go rest with Romaine and Antinna in the back. The next battle will be handled by the others.”
The elder sister nodded. Although she still had some misgivings, she understood that human lords often acted stubbornly. Thus, this more mature elven girl wisely chose to stay silent. However, her younger sister frowned and continued to ask, “But, my lord…”
“Diya,” she called sternly.
The younger sister looked at her elder with surprise, grasping her meaning, and obediently quieted down.
Brendel was momentarily taken aback. He couldn’t help but think of Charles. Sometimes, it was truly hard to believe that these beings, with their own judgments, memories, and emotions, were summoned from a card. Anyone else would probably not be able to tell the difference.
Yet he couldn’t help but smile wryly. Did he really seem like a cold and unfeeling lord? Although he was somewhat serious in front of these mercenaries, it was merely his personality; it shouldn’t lead to such a misunderstanding, right?
He turned his head, noticing that Antinna was obviously trying to suppress a laugh, and Romaine was looking at him with a smile as if enjoying the scene. “I say, am I still your lord? This attitude of yours isn’t quite appropriate!” Brendel grumbled inwardly, but forced a smile on his face.
“No need to mind…”
He replied with a dry laugh.
…
Fourteen magic arrows were quickly delivered to him. In fact, based on Brendel’s peak level of proficiency, he estimated that he could manage with only half this amount. But this was no longer the past, and he was no longer that level 130 warrior, so he might as well prepare as much as possible.
After all, with two novice (black iron downstream) elementalists, they wouldn’t be much help in the upcoming battle.
He inserted the arrows one by one into the loops of his armed harness for easy access. Then he looked up and saw that the mercenaries in the forest were now all in position. This gave him a bit of reassurance—but just as he had started to relax, that face of the middle-aged man beside him, full of weariness, made him feel even less pleasant.
“I said, it’s fine, Husher.”
Brendel sighed, no matter how he explained, Husher still stayed behind with a worried look. The reason for the middle-aged mercenary captain was simple: like Charles, he understood their relationship with Brendel and naturally wouldn’t let him take risks.
“It’s alright, my lord. Just let me stay. Anyway, if I die, I can resurrect, so just consider me a meat shield,” Husher replied calmly.
This statement sounded so familiar. But resurrection may be possible, yet that would require waiting until tomorrow morning and paying an extra maintenance fee, dear Husher!
Brendel was both amused and exasperated at Husher’s reasoning. He glanced back into the forest, confirming that Romaine and the noble girl had walked far away before asking, “Have they all left? Does it mean among the twelve mercenaries, only you understand this?”
Husher nodded, not denying it. “Every summoning-type destiny card has a core, which can also be referred to as the leader. Aside from that, the others are considered derivatives. In this card, I am that core—the role of the core is like that of a magician’s assistant, managing the derivatives produced by this card or attached to it with other cards or spells.”
“Is there such a setup?” Brendel was taken aback and thought of another thing: “So every core possesses unique knowledge?”
“Of course, it relates to the card itself,” Husher replied.
“Then do you know anything? Do you know how to retrieve a card from the graveyard?” he joked.
“The black cards are mysterious and ever-changing, life and death can be exchanged. If you want to use the graveyard tactic, you’ll need to gather a dark elemental land card first. Such cards generally populate marshes, graveyards, and areas where undead creatures gather,” Husher articulated.
Brendel nodded, taking a deep breath and looking ahead. He lifted his heavy crossbow. “Then you stay back and don’t make things difficult for me.” His gaze swept over the desolate shrine standing alone in the moonlit clearing—
Ever since the Erluin people left here, it had probably been two centuries, and no wise beings had entered that dilapidated temple again.
He pondered these unrelated matters while calculating the time. In past games, aggro was a technical skill—real masters could make their opponents appear in the expected positions, following their intended routes.
For low-level AIs, it only required memorizing the opponent’s judgments. For high-level monsters, it was about the clash of human minds.
Brendel hadn’t forgotten any of these things. While he wasn’t a hunter specializing in aggro, most teams weren’t that detailed. As a warrior, it was one of the standard duties.
Eight, seven…
Brendel quietly counted, and the mercenary captain clearly had no idea what he was calculating. After all, the combat methods of the natives were completely different from the players.
For players, no matter how real this world seemed, it was still digital; everything was expressed in data, and Brendel was no exception. Their thoughts inevitably transcended the game, recording every change in numbers like a precision machine.
Everything was governed by rules.
He calculated the time and then pulled the trigger. The first arrow fitted onto the crossbow string was a hollow sound arrow, which immediately let out a sharp cry as it flew out. The hollow arrowhead sliced through the air, leaving a white airflow on both sides, and arced into the shadow of the shrine.
Six, five…
The shrill sound alerted the hostile undead, and a glowing knight quickly appeared beside the shrine. Here it comes, Husher pressed a hand on the handle of his flying axe, his body tensed.
But Brendel immediately discarded the heavy crossbow and drew the short bow he had bought after summoning this card into the graveyard. Although it wasn’t as effective as Charles’s specially designed bow, it was better than nothing.
Brendel gestured to Husher.
“Fall back, immediately!”
(To be continued. For more chapters, please visit our website to support the author and read the original text!)
