Chapter 762: Act 116 – Eternity XVII
The silvery liquid in Brendel’s eyes resembled mercury, but judging from the distribution of the surrounding Frost Giant corpses and the sword embedded in it, it was almost certain that this must be the corpse of some creature, or rather, a monster.
“A type of metal subspecies mud monster?”
“No, the corpse of a mud monster obviously cannot survive for thousands of years or longer. Moreover, I’ve never heard of a mud monster among the Dusk species.” Brendel instinctively shook his head. Over his long gaming experience, he had encountered most of the monster types in Vaunte – including their states when alive and dead: beast and humanoid monsters typically leave behind corpses, elemental types crumble and return to their origin, while demons and the like are banished back to their original planes before death – the only ones that turn into a puddle of water are mud monsters or water-type elements (including their ice-type subspecies) shortly after dying.
But what lay before him was clearly beyond any common understanding. Brendel slid down the ice wall and went to Medisa’s side. Squatting down beside the silvery liquid, he dipped his index finger in it.
However, at the instant his fingertip touched the liquid, he suddenly retracted his hand as if electrocuted: the “mercury” was not viscous, and it did not feel like biological fluid; it resembled an inorganic substance. What made Brendel cautious was that he felt a slight loss of power the moment his hand was submerged in the liquid.
A chill ran down Brendel’s spine. He clearly sensed that the liquid was draining his strength, as if it were conscious. “Be careful; this thing is strange. Stay away from it.” He quickly pulled Medisa to her feet and warned her alertly.
“Ah—!”
At that moment, a sharp scream suddenly came from the ice cave on their left. Brendel turned back – it was the scholar’s voice. “Shi Do?” His expression changed.
“Not good! Miss Shi Do said she was curious and went over with Xi to check on other corpses,” Medisa replied anxiously.
“Damn it!” Brendel immediately heard sounds of a struggle, followed by a dull thud of something colliding with the ice wall. It was unclear whether Xi or the scholar had been hit. But Brendel continued to hear heavy footsteps on the icy surface; the footsteps were loud and sounded more like a large male creature than either Xi or Shi Do.
Brendel’s brows furrowed. Before Medisa could react, he turned and drew his longsword in that direction. The Sword of the Dark Land was just unsheathed when a flash of silver light from the ice cave caught both of their eyes, revealing a bizarre creature before them.
If Freya were here, she would surely gasp in surprise, as the humanoid monster facing Brendel and Medisa had a streamlined, silvery body, with a head that was oval-shaped and devoid of eyes, nostrils, or ears, leaving only an open mouth as if it were perpetually grinning silently.
The monster paused at the cave entrance, appearing somewhat astonished, perhaps not expecting the presence of others in this direction. But it suddenly cracked its mouth open, extending its right hand forward. Like flowing liquid metal, it formed a silver blade over five or six meters long aimed at Brendel and Medisa.
The silver blade, like a flickering band of light, quickly reached Medisa. The Silver Elf Princess was startled and instinctively raised her spear to try to block it. But Brendel shouted, “Be careful!” and pulled her back while simultaneously thrusting the Sword of the Dark Land upward. The resonating force summoned a rock spike from beneath the ice, crashing into the silver blade and shattering it into countless pieces.
Brendel saw the silver blade from the creature’s hand smash against the rock spike and, along with the hard rock, scatter like a waterfall, bursting into innumerable tiny silver droplets and shards. But instead of soaking into the ground, those droplets gathered towards the creature, and in an instant, formed back into the monster’s shape, which promptly sprouted a new arm.
“Be careful; this thing is not easy to deal with.” Brendel shielded the Silver Elf Princess with one hand and managed to finish his warning: “Do not come into contact with it in any form; it may absorb energy to sustain its regenerative abilities.”
“Ah?” Medisa had never heard of such an ecology before and couldn’t help but gasp slightly. But as soon as the monster heard Brendel’s words, it turned its head; although it lacked eyes, Brendel was unexpectedly aware that it was looking at him.
He suddenly felt a surge of vengeful killing intent.
The silver humanoid being paused briefly before lunging forward again, moving at an astonishing speed; it was like a ray of silver light. Not to mention Medisa, even Brendel almost lost sight of it.
“…At least an elemental-level physical quality.” Brendel’s heart tightened; the creature had already slipped from his line of sight, but without even looking, he swung his sword backward. With an angry scream, Brendel felt his blade stab into something. Turning back, he saw that the monster had nearly been split in half from its rib to its chest. Yet, with one claw pressed against its wound, it continued charging forward, about to leap up the opposing ice slope.
“Curse it!”
Brendel had not expected this thing to escape even after suffering such a grievous injury. Fortunately, Vaunte had similar monsters, and in that moment he reacted quickly. He halted his right foot, raised the Sword of the Dark Land, and struck down violently onto the ground. With a dull roar, a stone dragon sprang forth from where Brendel’s blade struck the earth, extending a straight, raised line aimed at the monster’s rear.
The speed of the silver humanoid monster was astonishing, but the stone dragon burst forth from the ground even faster. In a split second, they were both right below the creature’s feet—the resonant effect of the Sword of the Dark Land transmitted equivalent full damage from the attacker, which meant this strike was entirely Brendel’s full power. With a loud boom, the terrifying impact erupted from beneath the ground, sending the monster flying into the air, its right leg entirely disintegrating into countless silver droplets.
As the monster spun in mid-air, Brendel immediately released the Sword of the Dark Land and raised his right hand, feeling the Wind Queen’s ring begin to accumulate energy. The lord bared his teeth like a beast, lifting his right hand high and letting out a low, incantation-like growl from deep within his throat.
The next moment.
Wind bullets spun and shot out, hitting the monster, which was mid-air; the wind bullet almost penetrated right through the mass of silver liquid, generating a bright, circular blast.
From the moment the monster passed by Brendel, to when he struck it and then unleashed the wind bullet, the entire process took only the blink of an eye. The explosive battle even left Medisa momentarily stunned, marking her first time witnessing Brendel comprehensively display the combat talents from the game—although the Silver Elf Princess was slightly slow on the uptake, she still absorbed the entire fight into her vision, her eyes sparkling with brilliance.
Brendel was human. Ignoring the fact that this lord earl was merely a young man in his twenties, the reflexes he exhibited at that moment would have fully matched those of a standard Silver Elf warrior in Medisa’s view.
But if the Silver Elf Princess were to realize that, in fact, Brendel was far from his peak performance at this moment, even slightly regressing, she might not know how to feel.
Since the battle with Aibodun, Brendel had faced opponents that were either too weak or excessively strong, causing him to become somewhat out of touch with his former expertise from the game.
The monster had been thoroughly obliterated, collapsing onto the ground like a pile of mud. Brendel hoped these few strikes would finish it off, but contrary to his wish, the silver liquid quickly began to writhe, and within moments, it reshaped back into humanoid form and started to slide toward the ice slope above.
Its movement speed was simply beyond reason, even faster than the rushing rivers beneath glaciers during its meltdown. By the time it reformed into its humanoid shape, it was already nearly a hundred meters away from Brendel and Medisa. Even if Brendel wished to pursue, he was already too late, not to mention that the creature’s physical quality might not be inferior to his own, with both of them possessing comparable speeds.
Brendel watched as the creature quickly approached the top of the ice slope, unable to hold back a cry of regret. He had seen the silver monster’s skin grow dim, resembling the silver liquid he had seen before, no longer glossy, indicating that the magic sustaining its vitality might be running low.
“What a pity, just one more moment!” he lamented, but it was just then that he spotted a figure appear at the top of the ice slope.
Brendel paused slightly, realizing it was the son of the Crusian king—the young man who had proudly introduced himself as Rainwright Aurelius. Rainwright clearly also noticed the monster charging toward him at that moment. He reacted quickly and drew his sword from his waist.
“Be careful, don’t touch it!” Brendel knew that the crown prince was only at an average level, and his actual combat ability might even be below average. The royal family typically employed extraordinary means to cultivate their heirs, yet their actual combat experience was usually lacking, prompting Brendel to hurriedly remind him.
However, the Crusian prince responded with an unsettling calmness; almost simultaneously with hearing Brendel’s warning, he took a step back and swung his longsword downward. The power of the Gold Tier infused into the ground, instantly slicing through a nearly fifty-meter-wide expanse of ice before him. The falling ice layer triggered a terrifying avalanche.
The collapsing ice and snow bore down upon the monster, which could do nothing but punch a massive ice stalagmite apart. That single strike clearly drained much of its strength, and its skin became even duller. With no options left, it had no choice but to leap upward, trying to jump over the tumbling ice layer.
Yet Rainwright seemed to have anticipated this move. He looked up, extended his left hand, and the ring on his left index finger glimmered with white light, sending forth a burst of wind that perfectly struck a stalagmite above the cave.
With a tremendous explosion, the stalagmites along with nearly half a meter thick layer of ice came crashing down. The silver monster had nowhere to evade, and was directly crushed from above, rolling into the cascading ice mass and pushing down towards Brendel’s feet.
Brendel was left dumbfounded, unable to repress the need to glance at Rainwright, thinking how this guy’s fighting style was strikingly similar to his own—always leveraging the environment rather than engaging directly, and possessing a chilling calmness.
If this was his first battle, it was rather terrifying.
“Lord, his ring can also release wind bullets,” Medisa couldn’t help but quietly remark.
Brendel nodded, unable to refrain from giving a thumbs-up to the Crusian prince. He had to admit that the previous fight was executed splendidly. If Rainwright hadn’t responded quickly, they might have let that thing escape.
But the Crusian prince merely glanced at him, not reacting to his praise; his face remained stern as he examined the stability of the ice slope before turning back.
“Damn…” Brendel was nearly exasperated. He lowered his hand and sighed at Medisa: “That’s why I hate the Crusian people. Those guys’ faces seem to be inscribed with arrogance. By Martha, you can hardly imagine how their pride grows.”
“Actually, the Silver Elves are somewhat similar, Lord,” Medisa replied with a smile. “To us, the Cruisians are also insignificant.”
“Is that so? I don’t feel it at all.”
“Because we must maintain a necessary elegance. You see, the Silver Elves smile and are courteous to humans, but in their hearts, they are saying, ‘Foolish creatures, what do they know?’”
Brendel suddenly turned his head.
He stared at Medisa. “Enough, Medisa, I understand… Stop smiling at me.”
The Silver Elf Princess couldn’t help but cover her mouth, doubling over in laughter.
……
(PS: Today I spent some time on a little experiment that felt pretty good. If all goes well, it should basically resolve my writer’s block issue. However, I estimate it will take time to verify; I’ll post a chapter first~) (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, please consider casting your votes and monthly tickets at Qidian (qidian.com). Your support is my greatest motivation.)
