Chapter 493: Act 341 – An Unexpected Turn of Events
The two of them had an incredible understanding. The moment Charles turned around, he spread his arms wide, disregarding the spiders and other multi-legged bugs that were scrambling from the stone coffin, and grabbed the scattered funerary items, rushing outward. Meanwhile, Brendel suddenly leaped to the side, rolling to avoid the heavy stone slab that came crashing down from the ceiling, landing right beside the skeleton that was leaning awkwardly against the coffin.
He scrambled up and spat out the sand from his mouth. A glance around revealed several fate cards beneath the skeleton. At that moment, the sand and dirt from above had begun to pour down heavily, almost burying those cards. Brendel hurriedly reached out to dig them out, but as he did, he noticed the skeleton he hadn’t previously paid attention to. Two gleaming red lights flashed in its eye sockets, and suddenly, with a clattering sound, it stood upright, extending a pair of claws toward Brendel’s neck.
Brendel was startled. To say that it was merely a pile of bones was an understatement; even the lowest-level skeleton soldiers from Madara wouldn’t fall below this level. Under normal circumstances, he wouldn’t give it a second thought. But at this moment, as dozens of soil and stones were crashing down above him, any hesitation could result in being buried alive in the tomb.
In this life-threatening moment, a bright arrow of flame shot perfectly from behind him, grazing the side of Brendel’s face and slamming into the bony claws that were reaching for his neck with a loud explosion. Sparks flew everywhere, and Brendel almost felt his hair curl from the intense heat. However, the skeleton’s claw clearly couldn’t withstand that level of attack and shattered with a crack. With the pressure lifted, he quickly grabbed the fate cards and retreated frantically, hearing a thunderous crash behind him as a quarter of the tomb completely collapsed, nearly burying the central stone platform.
Brendel broke out in a cold sweat and turned to see who had the composure to cast such a precise spell in this dire moment. This level of accuracy was rare in his gaming experience—he couldn’t recall many elementalist apprentices under Charles having such bold and careful skill.
But upon looking back, Brendel was astonished to see a face he never would have expected. There, at the entrance of the tomb, Little Romain was proudly raising her finger at him, a satisfied expression on her face, with a flickering flame dancing at her fingertip. It looked as if she wanted to say something, but was quickly pulled back by the leader of the Female Mercenary Band.
“When did this lady learn magic!”
Brendel couldn’t help but think that this girl might actually have a talent for spells; her casting was more accurate than many high-end players. Yet, he quickly considered a more terrifying possibility—it was likely that Little Romain hadn’t aimed carefully at all, but rather had gotten lucky in “missing” her target.
The thought sent a chill down Brendel’s spine. The more he considered it, based on the girl’s track record, the more he believed it to be the truth. He immediately resolved that he must not let that little witch continue her contact with magic; otherwise, he could very well find himself cooked by fireballs from behind one day.
At this moment, a few people remained at the tomb entrance, while most had retreated. Brendel made a hand gesture to the remaining ones, signaling them to hurry up. He then dashed toward the tomb’s entrance himself. The others probably saw their lord had escaped danger and also began to retreat. Just then, at that moment, Brendel suddenly heard a clear and strange sound behind him:
“Crack!”
Instinctively, a warning surged through him like lightning, causing Brendel’s hair to stand on end. He instinctively sidestepped. A colorful crystal spear shot past where he had just been standing, and if he had taken another step forward, it would have undoubtedly pierced a hole through his chest.
He barely managed to avoid a near heart attack. Turning around, he saw a crystalline creature climbing out from the stone coffin, shining with a glimmering crystal-like sheen. The creature resembled a crystal statue—its crystal body vaguely showing an outer robe. It stood about five feet tall with a robust build, but lacked a head. Brendel estimated that if the creature had a head and neck, it would be considered large even among the Erluin.
There was no doubt that such a creature could not have fit inside the coffin earlier, and Brendel immediately thought of the pieces of crystal. However, he had never seen such a BOSS in his time playing Amber Sword. He felt a sense of curiosity; it was seldom that he encountered creatures he didn’t recognize under level forty.
At this point, the creature had fully emerged from the coffin. Though completely made of crystal, it moved rather fluidly. Brendel estimated its agility to be at least seventy, about half of his own, but the sound of the crystal spear whistling through the air lingered in his mind, indicating an attack power comparable to that of a non-elemental Veronika—this creature was a powerhouse.
Moreover, it was skilled in mental attacks.
Brendel felt a chill inside; this data suddenly reminded him of something.
It had only been a year since he crossed over into this world. He could still vividly recall the final version just before his crossing, ‘Eclipsed Night,’ followed by another known as ‘Resurgence of the Land.’ This expansion, according to custom, had no introduction, but during the late stages of the Stone Tablet War, following the downfall of the wolf lord Echis, Fanzan clashed fiercely with Madara, bringing the eyes of the entire world onto the desperate battles between the two factions of players.
The war he fought in the mountains of Alkaesh was merely the tip of the iceberg in this massive conflict.
The cause of that battle was essentially a struggle for resources; an untouched area in the eastern wilderness discovered by a group of adventurers set off the flames of war. Brendel still remembered the tales of the East, about unprecedented new life forms found in the wild.
Crystal Mass.
A life form with resilience a hundred times greater than humanity, wielding formidable psychic power.
But why would there be a Crystal Mass here? This was neither a hundred years later nor in a far-flung eastern domain; this was Erluin, within the bounds of civilization.
Though Brendel couldn’t be certain whether Crystal Mass existed over a hundred years ago in Vaunte, especially within Erluin—if it did exist, then the game designers had indeed left a remarkably long line in place, considering this was the first version of the game—an actual time span of nearly ten years. Nevertheless, with this perplexing thought in mind, he drew the Earth Sword, for the crystal creature had reached out its hands, and another crystal spear came whistling toward him.
In that moment, Brendel saw the spear shooting from behind the creature. He countered with a sword strike, shattering it mid-air. However, the impact left his arm slightly numb; although he hadn’t yet used the Frenzy ability of the Dark Dragon, nor enhanced the crystal, it was sufficient to indicate the issue at hand.
This creature’s attack power was indeed on par with a peak-level forty BOSS.
A sense of foreboding struck Brendel. Under normal circumstances, facing such a BOSS would bring him immense joy; while he had already secured the spoils, BOSSes typically yielded more experience than regular monsters, and they often possessed special alchemical materials that couldn’t be found through normal collection. But the timing wasn’t right; the tomb was shaking violently, liable to collapse at any moment, and it seemed the creature didn’t want to let him leave safely.
Brendel realized this was a part of the design of the dungeon, but with the creature’s potent attack power and reasonable agility, if it attempted to keep him there, it wouldn’t bode well for him. Even though the creature’s mental attacks were ineffective against him, solving the problem in a timely manner was no simple task.
Besides, judging by the creature’s previous actions, its intelligence couldn’t be too low.
“Please don’t mess with me; you’d be crushed too, right?” he silently urged the creature while cautiously retreating along the unsteady corridor. He could see the tomb door was nearly within reach. Just as he was about to breathe a sigh of relief, the creature suddenly lunged at him as if it had gone mad.
“Damn it!”
Brendel couldn’t help but activate his Charge skill, transforming into a streak of light as he shot toward the tomb’s exit. However, the creature seemed to have anticipated this and suddenly stopped, emitting a resonant vibration that made the entire dungeon shudder. Brendel saw a flash of white light ahead, and a thick crystal wall appeared before the tomb’s door.
His heart sank; he realized that in order to escape, he would likely have to defeat the creature first. Cursing under his breath, Brendel turned back to face the monster, but unexpectedly, after casting its spell, the creature simply paused. It glanced at Brendel—
Brendel was certain the creature was looking at him. Although it lacked a head and eyes, he felt a sense of being watched at that moment. It looked at him for a moment before retreating, and Brendel saw it climb back onto the stone coffin and then leap down.
It jumped completely down.
Then it vanished.
Brendel was convinced that the depth of the coffin wasn’t sufficient to conceal the creature entirely. Seeing this scene, he couldn’t help but be stunned for a moment, before realizing, “There’s a hidden passage!”
Brendel immediately understood what the creature was trying to accomplish; it intended to trap him here. Of course, he wasn’t encountering such a cunning BOSS for the first time, but the thought of this creature trying to deceive him left him slightly incredulous. Was he still a novice?
…(To be continued. If you enjoy this work, please visit Qidian (qidian.com) to cast your recommendation and monthly votes. Your support is my greatest motivation.)
