Chapter 33: Act 25 – Minutes and Seconds
Brendel followed her gaze, nearly dropping his shining blade along with its sheath.
What kind of situation is this?
Below in the canyon, between the jagged rocks, grotesque monsters resembling clumps of bushes were weaving through, trailing behind the necromancer Kabuka as it climbed upward, resembling a dark tide rising in layers. On the other side, in his line of sight, a slender figure was struggling to ascend the rugged mountain path, her back laden with a massive package, from which dangled a sword that swayed with the girl’s long ponytail as she leapt against the stony wall.
Freya?
Brendel rubbed his eyes, almost convinced he was mistaken. But while he could be wrong, Romaine wasn’t – the Merchant Miss looked tense—it was indeed Freya. But wasn’t she supposed to be heading to Dagger Bank with Marden? How could she be here? Brendel certainly didn’t believe she would abandon her third militia squad.
“It’s Freya, Brendel.”
“I see her. Don’t make a noise; I’ll think of something!”
“Brendel, Freya will be caught up with. We have to help her, right?” the Business Lady turned back and asked eagerly.
“No, Romaine. You don’t need to help; I’ll manage.”
Unfortunately, he couldn’t even let himself go frantic; the situation was delicate, and the key to changing it didn’t lie with him, but rather in whether Lady Martha was in a good mood today. But unfortunately, it didn’t seem likely—
On the other side, danger was also mounting. Brendel turned back to see the necromancer unhesitatingly dislocate its own tibia to allow the decaying beast that had grabbed it to slide back into the horde of monsters. The creature then flipped over, using its bony hands to support itself as it crawled up the rocks; its power rating of 1.7 was enough to propel a not very heavy bony frame swiftly through the craggy rocks—only Kabuka hesitated for a moment as it reached the top.
Kabuka lifted its head, its eye sockets glowing with ghostly green flames, reflecting the shocked and angry face of a young human above. It initially found this life wave somewhat familiar, but for an undead, this was irrelevant, as it raised its bony staff and swung it towards Brendel.
Human refuse, it thought.
At that moment, Brendel finally couldn’t be bothered by anything else, drawing his jewel-encrusted sword with a clang. The Blade of Radiance emitted a dazzling light in the darkness as he thrust it downward into Kabuka’s skull—there was a snap as a golden flame burst forth from the necromancer’s forehead, scattering in all directions.
“Grak—” Half of Kabuka’s voice got caught in its throat as Brendel’s sword was so fast it didn’t even give it time to react before it felt its eternal life drawing to a close.
It had thought it would become a great necromancer.
It used all its strength to fall back, but the young man caught its bony hand. Kabuka momentarily dumbfounded, wondered why the other party was saving it. But as an undead of the disaster dragon, how could it accept the assistance of a lowly human? Just as Kabuka was in dilemma, it saw the other swiftly pull the ring off its finger bone.
“Damn it! This human refuse, thief…”
Three experience points.
That was Kabuka’s last thought before the soul fire in its eyes extinguished. However, Brendel was surprised to find that this necromancer had a pretty decent ring—a Web Ring, +0.2 perception, with a familiar pattern; he had once owned one and had kept it as a memento.
Perception is the ability that represents a character’s capacity to sense their dimensional situation, enhancing their understanding of space and matter through hearing, smell, vision, touch, and taste. This was a very important attribute in the game. Back in Bruglas, there was a low-level instance called ‘Public Tomb’, where players couldn’t use open flames because they had to dodge a predetermined high-level monster in the complex underground tunnels, so high perception and agility gear had once been very sought-after.
This ring was given to Brendel by a friend. Thinking back, it was indeed bittersweet; in order to gather enough for a set of 10Oz perception gear, he had almost gone bankrupt—only to ultimately fail to clear the ‘Public Tomb’.
Speaking of ‘Public Tomb’, he suddenly recalled there was a great item for warriors in that instance—a Badge of Courage, +2 military swordsmanship. He slapped his forehead, almost forgetting about it; he had gone to great lengths for that badge back then.
“Brendel, Brendel!” Romaine’s voice came, filled with urgency.
Brendel was startled; the Business Lady was not usually this anxious. Did something happen to Freya? He hurriedly discarded the bone frame in his hand and turned back just in time to see a decaying beast catching up from behind to the fleeing Freya on the spiky rock. It extended its twig-like claws to hook onto the strap of her backpack, then yanked her backward.
“Freya, be careful!” the Merchant Miss exclaimed, getting up and wanting to rush down. But Brendel pulled back this out-of-it girl; it was a joke to let her cause trouble now.
“You stay put here!” He casually tossed the Web Ring to Romaine, instructing her to keep it safe.
A character’s equipped magical items were limited. In the eyes of witches, this was related to an individual’s source of magical power, but for Brendel, anyway, a 2-level mercenary carrying a total of 40Oz of gear was already at the limit.
“Alright, Brendel, but—”
Brendel looked around and found that leaving this clumsy Merchant Miss here was also worrying. He had already drawn the Blade of Radiance; its brilliance had long made him a target, and leaving Romaine here might draw further attacks—
If little Romaine got hurt, he would be utterly blamable. But Freya was also in danger. He had long regarded this persistent and kind-hearted girl as his most valuable ally, how could he remain indifferent?
Indeed, it was a dilemma.
Of course, these thoughts flashed through Brendel’s mind in an instant. Below in the valley, Freya struggled to shake off the grip of the decaying beast, running a few steps forward before collapsing—she had seen the two of them, and a glimmer of hope ignited in her panicked eyes.
“Brendel—” she barely managed to call out before being yanked back.
“Draw your sword!” Brendel shouted.
“It tangled my backpack; I can’t reach it—”
This idiot! Brendel decisively handed the Blade of Radiance to Romaine: “This sword is effective against them; keep yourself safe!”
“And you, Brendel?”
The young man shook his head, signaling her not to worry, and turned to dash toward Freya. After all, it wasn’t the first time, and Lady Martha liked to joke with him; if she wanted to, let her.
However, like in the game, monsters tended to prefer picking on the weak first—before he could jump down two levels, a spiny humanoid bush had already blocked his path.
Decay Beast Juvenile, level 7 monster, strength 2.2, constitution 3, agility 1.2, dark attribute, fire weakness, slash weakness, half immunity to piercing. Memories of the past floated through Brendel’s mind; the main characteristic of plant-type monsters was high constitution, but they often had weak agility—especially since this one was dark-attribute with weaknesses to fire and slash, the Blade of Radiance was practically their natural nemesis.
Unfortunately, he had none; he couldn’t help but curse this devil of a situation through gritted teeth. All he could rely on now was his agility of 2.1; he had no intentions of getting entangled with it.
However, it seemed the decay beast juvenile had no intention of reaching an understanding with him, as it emitted a rustling sound and lunged towards him. Although the decay beast was humanoid, it ran on all fours, looking almost like an uncivilized primitive.
Brendel sidestepped to evade its claw; the spiny branch swept across his forehead, leaving a few blood trails—thankfully, it wasn’t undead, otherwise the corpse poison in his body would have deepened.
But he hadn’t had time to rejoice when a line of ghostly green text appeared on his retina:
“Urgent Warning: Paralytic toxin invasion.”
Damn! He almost forgot; Brendel nearly cursed aloud. Because he had been above level twenty, he could generally avoid areas with decay beasts. He had completely forgotten that this thing’s attack was poisonous—even if it was just the most trivial paralyzing toxin, when combined with the corpse poison on him, it was unbearable.
But cursing aside, he didn’t dare to slack off. Brendel pushed against its spiky claw, then set his target on the dark red decay beast beside Freya, unleashing a charge.
It turned out to be an adult.
He couldn’t help but take a deep breath; the strength of the adult decay beast at 4.7 was even greater than the gargoyle—first-level strength wasn’t to be taken lightly. However, it was strange; logically, with a full-grown decay beast around, Freya should have been taken away by now.
But regardless, Brendel used the momentum of the decay beast juvenile to leap out, completing a turn in mid-air, and activating a charge, suddenly accelerating as he soared over a jagged expanse of spikes, like a shadow constantly linking across the stones.
Dozens of meters were covered in an instant—
“Let go of the backpack, Freya!”
But Freya was clutching her backpack tightly, shaking her head. One hand was gripping a protruding rock, almost slipping. But Brendel managed to reach her first. “Duck!” he firmly called out, drawing the sword from Freya’s back, then slicing through the strap of the adult decay beast’s grip on her backpack—
The dark red humanoid bush immediately lost its balance and fell backward, attempting to grab onto something for stability, but Brendel had already kicked it in the chest, sending it tumbling into a deep crevice behind.
Decay beasts were light, so it wouldn’t die from that fall, but it would take a while to find a way back up. Seeing this, our protagonist finally relaxed, but he turned back, his tone suddenly severe:
“Are you trying to get yourself killed?”
Freya looked up at him with bright eyes, seemingly not expecting him to be so furious. She pursed her lips and stubbornly turned her head away.
But Brendel suddenly noticed her hand was all bloodied from abrasions, and hesitated, unwilling to scold any further. Moreover, the crisis wasn’t resolved yet. He sighed and helped her up, saying, “I have many questions for you, but let’s talk later. Romaine is waiting for us above.”
“Mm.”
Unfortunately, just as Brendel was about to turn back, he saw two points of golden light flash and sink into his chest. Two experience points—he looked up in surprise—seeing Romaine with one hand holding her skirt, while the other held the elven sword, hastily chasing down. The previously intimidating decay beast juvenile had been stabbed through the heart by her, turning into a pile of ash.
The Merchant Miss seemed stunned, not expecting the sword in her hand to be so powerful!
“How come you came down too?” Brendel suddenly felt an urge to smack this girl.
“But I thought seriously, Brendel, I don’t think I can protect myself.”
Brendel found himself momentarily speechless.
