Chapter 162: Fighting the Walking Corpse
Although Li Wen had already anticipated that it would be difficult to find a normal operating transcendent gathering place in Leicester under these circumstances, she was still a little surprised when she arrived at the Wanderer’s Tavern and saw that the doors were closed and a sign indicating recent cessation of business was hanging on it.
It was now around 6 AM in Leicester’s game time. At this hour, most people who came for the treasure, whether players or locals, were more or less mentally or physically exhausted from a night of killing and fighting. Coupled with the gradually brightening sky and the approaching dawn, they had tacitly moved their battlegrounds to the shadows, avoiding the Disciplinary Bureau and security personnel who were searching everywhere. At least, on her way, Li Wen had not encountered any undiscerning transcendent.
So, in theory, even if the tavern owner intended to disguise the tavern as a place only for ordinary people’s leisure and entertainment, they should have opened for business at this time. Otherwise, in the eyes of those sharp-witted Disciplinary Bureau investigators, this tavern would become unusually conspicuous.
However, in this situation, it either meant that the tavern itself had ties with official forces, or… someone had gotten there before her.
Li Wen tried to push the door. As expected, the seemingly closed tavern door was pushed open by her.
Before she could step into the dim interior of the tavern, a strong, viscous, and damp smell of blood assailed Li Wen.
She frowned slightly and walked in.
The tavern was as messy as if it had been robbed. However, apart from overturned tables and chairs and broken wine glasses, Li Wen found no corpses or bloodstains. Yet, the strong smell of blood, spreading various fears into her nostrils, spoke of some truth.
She shifted her gaze to the entrance of the stairs leading to the second floor. It was pitch black there. If someone was ambushing there, they could definitely catch others off guard.
If the opponent was a transcendent skilled in close combat, even Li Wen, with her Witch Form on cooldown, had a considerable chance of getting injured. However, she walked in that direction without hesitation, not even intending to conceal her footsteps.
As she approached step by step, the viscous smell of blood became more and more intense, so intense as to suggest that a brutal murder had just occurred right in front of her. At a step away from the entrance, Li Wen stopped.
A slight rustle came from the darkness, like the subtle sound of clothes or hair accidentally brushing against the wall or the ground. But in the dark and silent tavern, this sound was still too loud.
It seemed the other party could not hold back any longer.
Li Wen’s expression remained unchanged. The Original Text, symbolizing the end, had appeared in her hand. With an invisible influence spreading, a muffled groan reached Li Wen’s ears.
Seeing that Poem of Paradise had triggered the High Tower effect, Li Wen unhesitatingly raised the Raven Feather Dagger. A dazzling light filled the dagger’s slender blade in an instant, and then was unleashed along with her slashing motion.
The light arc hit the attacker. The usually invincible Spell-less Arc Light encountered an opponent this time. The sharp arc blade seemed to cut into an object of extremely high hardness and could only advance slowly. The assailant, however, forcibly broke free from the Tower’s control effect amidst intense pain. With a flash, he narrowly dodged the subsequent damage of the arc light.
However, as the light dissipated, Li Wen had already seen the attacker’s face.
The opponent appeared to be a tall man, wearing the black trench coat that Disciplinary Bureau investigators always wore. However, his entire being exuded a different aura than that of a law enforcer. His skin was as pale as a corpse, his face was covered in dried and solidified bloodstains, and his cold, harsh gaze held the silence of the dead. A huge wound that cut deep to the bone had been inflicted on his chest by the Spell-less Arc Light. Yet, there was no sign of blood gushing from such a potentially fatal wound.
At his feet lay a corpse that looked like it had been dead for no more than a few hours, peacefully resting there. The inside of the corpse’s chest was empty, and only the strong smell of blood was constantly spreading.
This guy was not human, otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to break free from the effects of Poem of Paradise so quickly, Li Wen quickly made her judgment.
At the same time, her next attack was already unleashed. As the one who was ambushed, Li Wen would not let the opponent go for no reason.
The dagger, flashing with blinding light, stabbed towards the attacker. However, the opponent directly grabbed the blade with one hand. The astonishing strength and reaction speed were secondary. What truly surprised Li Wen was that his fingers were not cut off by the Raven Feather Dagger.
One must know that this was a purple-quality weapon enhanced by the Spell-less Arc Light Enchantment.
Li Wen raised her eyebrows, dodged the punch that the opponent swung at her, and whispered a prayer, flinging a Dark Word Curse at him. Then, she seized the opportunity when he was blinded and retreated a few steps, pulling her weapon back.
“Walking Corpse…”
After two brief encounters, Li Wen had formed some conjectures about this guy’s identity. Strong and powerful, quick reaction, skin as hard as iron, resistant to control effects, and liking to eat the internal organs of corpses. Considering these common non-human creatures that Li Wen could think of, only Walking Corpses fit.
Moreover, this was at least a Walking Corpse equivalent to a Stage Two transcendent, otherwise, her Spell-less Arc Light alone would have been enough to cut it in half.
But why would a Walking Corpse of this level appear here?
This was neither a graveyard nor a place with large accumulations of corpses, lacking the environmental factors that could give birth to a high-level Walking Corpse… Therefore, it could only be a monster artificially created by a transcendent of the Decayed Lineage.
Thinking like this, Li Wen stealthily glanced at the second floor. Since this Walking Corpse had an owner, the other party would not be far from their creation, and perhaps that unidentified transcendent of the Decayed Lineage was hiding on the second floor, paying attention to the movements here.
Walking Corpses had powerful bodies, no sense of pain or fear, and were very skilled in close combat. Furthermore, Stage Two Walking Corpses did not have magical abilities. Therefore, Li Wen was naturally unwilling to risk fighting it in a confined space. She quickly created some distance, moving the battleground to the more spacious tavern hall.
The Walking Corpse, lacking high intelligence, let out a roar and lunged at Li Wen with its bloody, bulging hands, but it was easily dodged by her nimble footwork. At the same time, her dagger drew a long, narrow wound on the back of the Walking Corpse.
Li Wen did not take such an unintelligent monster seriously. Even if she couldn’t break the Walking Corpse’s defense, the blood erosion effect caused by continuous damage from the Raven Feather Dagger alone was enough to end the battle. In contrast, the missing transcendent of the Decayed Lineage was more threatening.
Just as she thought, although the Walking Corpse was powerful and agile, it was still being toyed with by Li Wen, who utilized the chaotic terrain of the tavern hall. Before long, it fell into a clear disadvantage. Just as Li Wen was about to cast Spell-less Arc Light again to end the battle, a faint gray light flew out from the second floor of the tavern. Li Wen, who had been guarding that direction all along, stopped her attack and rolled over.
However, the gray light, which should have missed, turned with Li Wen’s evasive movement and hit her without surprise.
Li Wen felt an unbearable pain as if her brain was being stirred by a foreign object. Her Life instantly decreased by 30%.
At this moment, the seemingly wounded and weak Walking Corpse roared, as if everything it had shown before was a facade. Its pupils glowed with a Scarlet light, and it charged forward.
