Chapter 129
The Oriole Behind
Although he didn’t know what was happening over there… Antler realized that “Thunder’s” screams might attract the giants. Therefore, his first reaction was to randomly seal off three doors to paths he hadn’t opened. He didn’t know where these doors led specifically.
The two of them hadn’t found the kitchen or the banquet hall—the place where the “Magic Pot” was—nor had they found the giants’ bedroom. To avoid blocking the door to the “Magic Pot,” Antler didn’t seal off any room doors. But they had already clearly explored more than one safe route. Even if they were chased by giants, they would have their own escape path. In this situation, blocking unfamiliar doors was definitely not wrong. He didn’t know if the giants could be blocked… but at least he could block the paths for other teams, or block Thunder’s escape route. If they were lucky enough, they might even trap the strongest, Alistair, in a dead end! For an assassin who could stealthily move in this dark environment and a necromancer who could turn corpses into immediate combat power, their team had an advantage by further compressing everyone’s activity space when no one knew the way.
As a spellcasting profession, necromancers were very reliant on. Their spellcasting mediums were related to bones, either bone staffs made from bones, such as tibias or spines, or ritual tools made from skulls, or shields built from bone fragments. Without spellcasting mediums, his casting would become very slow. He had to go through long chants or rituals to use spells. After a low chanting of seven to eight seconds, a dark yellow, semi-transparent beam of light shot out from his hands, piercing the darkness he had grown accustomed to.
The beam of light shot towards the door at extreme speed, leaving a noticeable petrified trace on the bronze door. Using the faint light provided by the beam itself, Antler aimed the petrifying ray at the doorknob. After about two to three seconds of petrification, which turned the doorknob into stone even more brittle than bronze, he stopped casting.
“How much mana do you have left?” Lily suddenly asked.
“Still a lot,” Antler replied calmly. “Reviving fresh corpses consumes almost no mana; the longer they’ve been dead, the more mana it consumes.” His words carried a slight warning. He keenly perceived a hint of malice in Mr. Gray’s voice. To deter his temporary teammate from attacking him, he reminded him, “You must have some trump cards too, right? I do too—don’t forget I was the first one here.”
Mr. Gray did not reply. Lily had decided to kill him but was still waiting. She waited as quietly as a spider on a web. When Gray and Antler arrived, they found that the giants had not yet come. Unexpectedly, there was a faint lamp light here. This was the first light Lily had seen since entering the ritual. After adapting to the darkness, the lamplight was even dazzling.
There were three people here. One of them had fallen unconscious and lay to the side. Another person, with an unpredictable expression, squatted beside the unconscious one. And a third person, who seemed to be in poor mental condition, stood calmly away from the lamplight. He leaned casually against the wall, with only his chin slightly illuminated by the light. He raised his hand and greeted Antler, who had just arrived, and “King,” who was beside him, warmly. Glancing at King, who was silent, the man’s lips curved slightly. “I think you are Antler, right?”
Hearing this, the young warrior who was not unconscious looked up. “…Thunder?” Antler asked tentatively.
“No, I am Knight,” the young man replied. “Mr. Thunder has fallen unconscious… because of this Mr. Dark Clouds.”
“Can you blame me for that?” Dark Clouds asked with a smile. “None of the secrets I told you were false. Aren’t you still awake too?” The Knight let out a cold laugh, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.
Lily clearly felt a subtle but noticeable change in the Knight’s aura. It wasn’t corruption or madness. It was more like someone waking up from a dream, or a child suddenly growing up. What secret had he heard to cause such a drastic change in such a short time? Meanwhile, Antler suddenly reached up and touched his forehead. This was the secret signal he had agreed upon with Lily, meaning for Lily to kill one person first. —Whom to kill? Lily looked up. A gray spider web, visible only to her, spread out from her feet.
Mr. Thunder was unconscious, and the Knight was just a young man, guarding the unconscious Mr. Thunder. Therefore, the most threatening was the person the Knight called “Dark Clouds”… Lily gradually faded into the shadows, gliding rapidly. The next moment, gray threads silently appeared around Dark Clouds’ neck. An immense force from an unknown source dragged him backward, and in the blink of an eye, he disappeared into the lightless darkness.
“—Strangler Gang?!” The Knight frowned deeply and blurted out.
At this moment, “King,” who had been standing quietly beside Antler, suddenly rushed over and punched the Knight’s chin. Neither of them had weapons, but the bodies they used were very strong. Compared to the somewhat stiff movements of “King,” the Knight’s movements were very agile. He dodged the punch by tilting his head slightly, grabbed the linen cloth around “King’s” collar, pushed him hard backward, and then suddenly pulled, causing “King” to lose his balance. As “King” stumbled, the Knight hugged his head with both hands and simultaneously raised his knees, smashing them hard into his nose! —This blow was enough to cause a person to faint.
Therefore, the Knight looked up, warily at Antler. Compared to King, who was the last to enter the ritual, Antler, as the first, must have some advantages. Antler raised his right hand, subtly aiming it at himself. The Knight slowly sidestepped—prepared to sprint in the opposite direction and dodge the moment he saw something, then rush to Antler’s side and punch him!
But at this moment, his mind suddenly went blank. It was like blacking out from drinking too much… When he regained his sight, King, who he had just heavily struck down, had already appeared beside him like a ghost, without him noticing. His body showed no signs of being attacked by him, his movements were exceptionally agile, and his eyes showed no wavering. —But he had clearly just broken his nose!
“King” took something out of his embrace—the next moment, thorns like living things grew rapidly from between his fingers, turning into three whips. King suddenly raised his hand, and the thorn whips flew over, trying to entangle the Knight. Seeing this, the Knight tried hard to retreat, but his retreat speed could not match the speed of the vines’ growth. Just as he was about to back out of the light, he finally couldn’t help but make his palm into a blade and try to slash at the vines with all his might— A sharp gust of wind cut the vines, and at this moment, the Knight seized the opportunity, a burst of electric light erupted from his whole body, turning his palm into a fist, and he heavily hammered King’s chin! A crackling mass of lightning exploded at the spot where the Knight’s fist landed, even burning the Knight’s own fist.
But fortunately, this time King’s whole body erupted with several electric sparks, and after shaking for two steps, he finally fell. The Knight breathed a sigh of relief. Only then did Antler snap his fingers and calmly command.
“—Rise again.” As soon as he finished speaking, the fallen “King” recovered his injuries as if time had reversed, and then stood up unharmed once more. Roughly exhausting the Knight’s stamina, Antler thought. He put his ten fingers together, placed them on his chest, and began to chant the petrification spell in a low voice.
At this time, Thunder finally woke up. The moment he woke up, he saw someone attacking the Knight— He suddenly raised his hand, and a dazzling burst of light exploded in the air. Antler, the Knight, and Lily, who had just strangled that man, were caught off guard and hit simultaneously. Everyone was blinded by him and lost their sight. Antler’s spell and the Knight’s defense were interrupted at the same time. Only “King” was still acting normally, attempting to attack.
“—Undead!” he shouted loudly, and rushed forward, knocking King away with a shoulder charge. His fists glowed with a misty white light, and he unleashed a flurry of incredibly powerful consecutive punches. It only took him less than three seconds to knock King down, then he reached out and pressed the King’s face. With a burst of white light erupting from his palm, it pierced directly through King’s skull and exploded in all directions. After Thunder took his hand away, King’s head began to burn with flames. He tried to move, but gradually quieted down. King finally stopped reviving.
“What profession are you?” Antler didn’t rush to attack, but asked curiously. “I’ve never seen it before.”
“…Holy Knight,” Thunder replied briefly. His voice was hoarse, and his mental state was very weak. Antler pointed to the lamplight behind them. “Speaking of which, how did your lamp…”
Halfway through, Thunder suddenly lowered his head and bent over, raising his left arm—a circular light shield, arguably circular, condensed on his forearm, completely absorbing the petrifying ray shot by Antler’s raised right index finger. “I guessed it, Your Excellency,” Thunder’s lips curved slightly. “You still need to practice more… your intention was too obvious.”
“—And mine?” a sinister and evil voice sounded. A black hound suddenly rushed out from the blind spot of his vision. The moment he saw the hound, Antler didn’t hesitate, abandoning “Gray” and turning to run. Thunder immediately turned around and blocked with his shield, but the hound bit the light shield without hesitation—it only lasted for a moment before it was directly bitten through! The moment the light shield shattered, countless sea urchin-like blades suddenly erupted from the hound’s body, piercing Thunder’s body! Thunder’s whole body ignited with white flames, and he hammered the hound forcefully. But the hound melted away before his fist could touch it, disappearing on the ground.
A figure, continuously dripping black liquid shadow, slowly approached and appeared within the lamplight. He was entirely enveloped in shadows, leaving only a pair of eyes flashing with an eerie purple radiance. Another shadow hound reappeared in his shadow, circling him. A large area of shadow at his feet moved with his advance, bubbling and gurgling like a boiling mud pit.
“—What a coincidence, everyone is here,” Alistair said in a low voice. “It saves time on playing cat and mouse… doesn’t it?”
“You evil beast!” Thunder roared, and turned to the Knight, angrily ordering, “Run—go find the Holy Lance!” Seeing this, the Knight hesitated for a moment, then finally nodded. Alistair did not pursue him. He just stood with his hands behind his back, looking curiously at Thunder and asking, “What secret did that man tell you? Can you tell me?”
“I have nothing to say to you, Fiend!” Thunder replied loudly without hesitation. “Go eat shit with your demon master!” The next moment, a sharp spear made of shadow stabbed out from the bubbling shadow mud pit beneath Eivass, instantly piercing him. The shadow, capable of corroding grimoires, instantly corroded and disintegrated Thunder’s entire body into nothingness.
As silence fell around them again. Eivass squatted down, reached out and touched the hound, and consoled helplessly, “Don’t be so agitated…”
“…There should only be two of them left,” Lily appeared silently behind Eivass. “Should we go chase and kill them?”
“No need. It’s only the first Ascension Ritual. To win wasn’t difficult originally,” Eivass shook his head. “The purpose is to seek lost history from the Dream Realm and obtain stronger traits… I’ll see if I can get a higher-level Shadow Affinity. Besides, I plan to go see the Holy Lance—do you want to go?”
“I’ll go with Young Master,” Lily said softly. “Wherever you say I go.” In her voice, there was a faint trace of sadness.
Seven thousand characters, update complete!
