Chapter 41: Act 33 – Before the Assault
Brendel glanced at the steep cliff in the distance, resembling a knife-cut wall, while turning back to ask Romaine to wear the Web Ring. He noticed that the Business Lady’s perception was surprisingly sharp, and this ring could effectively enhance her ability.
Romaine had been eyeing the beautiful black and white patterned ring for quite a while, and was naturally delighted, but still curiously asked, “Is this also a magical ring, Brendel?”
“Yes, it allows you to hear more clearly. Keep an eye on the ground; if there’s any movement, alert Freya. I’ll be back soon.” Brendel knew that aside from the Golden Magic Tree, there was also a stone-spike worm lurking in the valley. That creature was also from the elemental plane of earth and was considered a rare elite in the game; it had once appeared unexpectedly and nearly caught him off guard.
“Are there other enemies?” both girls asked in unison.
“There might be; it’s better to be prepared, isn’t it?” Brendel hesitated to act like a prophet. The key was that it would be difficult to explain later, so he could only respond ambiguously.
However, Freya nodded in understanding, gripping her longsword tightly in its sheath in front of Romaine. “I will protect Romaine; please be sure to go and return quickly.”
“Hmm?” Brendel looked at her in surprise. Since when had this girl become so cooperative? It left him a bit at a loss, but she didn’t seem to have any ulterior motives—after hesitating, he set down his backpack, took out a coil of rope and a hook, and then cautiously climbed out.
“Freya, is it okay for Brendel to go out alone?” Romaine whispered.
“Brendel has his own plans; we can’t help out anyway. All we can do is not worry him about this side.”
“Freya?”
Freya flicked her long ponytail back, her bright eyes showing a serious expression. She wasn’t giving up; she simply realized that her strength could only achieve so much—this future Valkyrie was thinking seriously that her power might not be enough. To become the captain, she had to be stricter with herself.
Taking a deep breath, she held her sword close to her chest, making a firm resolution.
Meanwhile, Brendel, carrying the rope, was advancing along the steep cliff. He estimated he was still about thirty meters away from the crack in the stone wall he remembered. He couldn’t help but take a breath and look back. Fortunately, the Golden Magic Tree and its magical servants relied on sound and magical fluctuations to detect targets rather than vision; otherwise, his position would be very noticeable.
He grasped a protruding rock, and gravel slipped down through the crevices, but that noise was nothing to worry about. He was only concerned about making a large commotion, so he tried to move as quietly as possible.
Less than thirty meters left—getting close.
He hadn’t dropped any soul crystals on the way, but Brendel knew he had one last chance. There was a treasure in that crack up ahead—though calling it a treasure wasn’t entirely accurate. Although players referred to all secret places providing items and resource rewards as treasures, he understood the items there were actually remnants.
According to the storyline in the game, about ten years ago, a young noble named Borg Neesun, who loved adventure, had come to this canyon. He and his companions got separated during an attack by the Treants, and he alone managed to escape here, but ultimately couldn’t escape death due to his severe injuries.
He left behind his belongings and tokens, which could be used to complete a task in Bruglas. Although the reward was meager at the time, it was certainly better than nothing for Brendel.
However, the possessions left by that young noble were interesting because they were random; with a bit of luck, anything could come out. Brendel’s best luck before had yielded an amber raw stone. Of course, he didn’t expect that this time; he hoped to at least obtain some soul crystals, as he remembered their chances of appearing here were quite high.
He quickly climbed into the crack, which was shallow but difficult to spot from the outside. Once inside, he saw the unlucky noble’s skeleton toppled to one side. To his astonishment, every detail matched exactly with the game, momentarily creating an illusion that he was still in that past world.
However, Brendel soon calmed down. He carefully sidestepped the skeleton and focused on a small pouch next to it. He hesitated for a moment because he saw that the pouch lightly held a piece of parchment that was dusty and crumbling.
That didn’t exist in the game.
He gently picked up the parchment and found that it was a will, written in just a few short sentences:
“Lady Martha, I may not have much longer to live. If I die and the person fortunate enough to see this will, I wish to legally transfer all my belongings to this person. Furthermore, I have a secret inheritance which I wish to divide into three parts—one part for this person, one for my wife, Cede, and one left for my daughter (the latter part is unclear)…
If the person seeing this will is interested in this inheritance, please send this will along with my token to my wife, and tell her ‘the appointment at the Baden Ball’; she will understand what I mean to convey.
Lastly, I am sorry to Cede; may Lady Martha punish me—”
Brendel finished reading and couldn’t help but be stunned. He was increasingly sure that he had never seen this before. Previously, this quest line only required him to take the signet ring from the noble’s finger and turn it in at Bruglas’s civic registration office to receive a bonus. The quest line ended there without further continuation.
But what was the reason for this? Did this place differ from the game? Brendel shook his head, instinctively reluctant to believe this judgment. At least every point he had discovered aligned perfectly, so it made no sense for there to be an exception here. So what was the reason?
After thinking for a moment, he suddenly realized that perhaps only the first person to discover it had such a task? There were many unique or first quests tied to amber, but did this also exist in dungeons? No one had ever mentioned that.
He hesitated for a while and could only carefully fold the will and the signet ring together and keep them close. He felt this task seemed somewhat familiar; perhaps someone really had completed it back in the day—but unfortunately, the segment about the daughter’s name and home address had become unclear, otherwise, the task would have been straightforward.
However, Brendel didn’t care about that. The more troublesome the task, the richer the rewards. At worst, he could start with the civic registration office in Bruglas. At least he still knew two clues—that was the noble’s name and his wife’s name. And that was a matter for later. He still had to face his own challenges for now.
After securing the will, he began to inspect his spoils. The pouch contained two rubies, some coins worth about thirty silver coins, which was quite a fortune. In addition, there was a pipe, a piece of dark gray stone, and a glass bead. Brendel emptied these items out and, after a careful search, disappointedly found no soul crystals, which caused him to let out a sigh.
If this were in the game, these spoils would be quite impressive, but now what he needed wasn’t materials or money, but items that could instantly enhance his power. However, though disappointed, Brendel still swept everything into his waist pouch. He didn’t have time to sort out what was useful and what were mere decorations; he simply prioritized getting to safety first.
After cleaning up his spoils, Brendel took one last look at the skeleton and returned along the route. Everything went smoothly, and upon returning to the crack in the stone where Romaine and Freya were, he clearly saw the two girls let out a sigh of relief.
“Brendel, you’re finally back. You were gone, and Freya and I were so tense! There was no sound all around, so quiet.” Romaine patted her small chest and breathed a sigh of relief.
“Don’t drag me into this—” Freya blushed.
“I just went to check the situation around; outside there’s only a patrol. We need to take them out quickly.”
“Do we need to go out?”
“We could also wait a bit longer and leave from the other side of the mountain path. That way, we could avoid fighting, but time might be tight.” Brendel replied.
“How tight?” Freya asked.
“About two hours late.”
The girl paused for a moment. “How far is it from here to Ridenburg?” She had only gone as far as Veebin in her life. Although she often heard adults mention Ridenburg, it was merely an impression.
“Let’s put it this way: if we’re two hours late, we’ll have to race against Madara’s Undead Army.” Brendel glanced at Romaine. “We might arrive at Ridenburg first, but then we wouldn’t have much time left.”
“Would it be faster if we went out and killed that tree?” she asked.
“There’s a secret passage behind it, which was dug out by merchants to bypass the checkpoint. I read about it in Bruglas’s municipal documents when I was still in the Bruglas militia—” our protagonist lied without batting an eye. However, he hadn’t genuinely deceived Freya about the secret passage; he just learned about it in the game.
Freya looked at him with skepticism.
“Is that tree dangerous?” she pointed outside.
“Very dangerous; we have a fifty percent chance of failure.” Brendel answered seriously. Although he wanted to take a gamble to take down the Golden Magic Tree, he reminded himself that he needed to accurately convey to Freya how much risk they needed to take since he had to be responsible for the lives of all three.
In a team, everyone had the right to make choices about their own lives. That was the fundamental rule of the Amber Sword. No one could force anyone else.
Freya fell silent.
“Romaine, what about you?” she asked.
Romaine shook her head. “I like adventures; life should be used for meaningful things.”
Only then did Freya retract her gaze. She nodded, “I understand, Brendel. Please take us to defeat it. If we fail, I won’t regret it.”
Brendel smiled; he hadn’t expected Freya’s reaction to be so intense. “It’s not that serious; I’ll tell you how to deal with it. But first, we need to take care of that patrol of Treants. You’re already very familiar with them, but this time we need to end the battle in an instant.”
Then he led the two to the edge of the crack, looking outward to see that squad of Golden Magic Tree’s offspring clearly. Brendel gestured for a range: “We’ll ambush from here. Watch my signals to launch a surprise attack. Before the battle begins, move as quietly as possible; we cannot let them detect our sounds.”
“We have at least half an hour, so we don’t need to rush.”
“Freya.”
“Here.”
“Romaine and I will attack from the right; you hide under that rock on the left. When we launch our attack, you target the last two—do you remember their weak points?” Brendel positioned Romaine and himself on one side, which was also to protect her and lessen Freya’s pressure. After all, the Business Lady didn’t have much combat power.
Freya nodded. The weak points of the Treants were their limbs since all their sensory organs were in their limbs; losing them rendered them completely non-threatening. But she was feeling a bit nervous. Previously, they had dealt with the Treants using unexpected strategies, like rock slide traps. This time they would have a frontal confrontation and needed to end it in an instant—she wasn’t worried about Brendel’s capability.
But could she handle it? Freya wasn’t sure.
Brendel glanced at her and understood what she was thinking. Every newbie faced various issues; while Freya should be considered an ‘NPC,’ she probably wasn’t an exception. After thinking for a moment, he encouraged, “Don’t worry too much. Your Queen Wind’s half armor is very effective against them; you should attack with abandon—”
Freya nodded.
