Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The walkway and halls of the main keep were full of severed limbs that once belonged to guardsmen and servants, with many Lemures now roaming around it.
From the broken equipment and incomplete forms of those Lemures, many of the slain guardsmen had their souls demonically corrupted due to their overwhelming fear before their demise. As such, their corpses were raised as the most inferior spawns of hell, being the middle ground between demons and spectral.
Meanwhile, night had quietly arrived. None of the servants had the time or thought to light up the interior since most who were supposed to do so were dead or too busy fleeing for their lives. That left the entire castle in profound darkness—coupled with the blood, corpses and the Lemures walking around within, Xi Wei felt as if his Believers were playing Resident Evil in a fantasy setting.
The Lemures’ levels were determined by their ability when they had been living beings, which was around 5 to 10. Their templates were also just a little more powerful than Skeletons, and if Players would never lose at all if they were at a wider venue.
That being said, the Silver Eagle Castle was an iconic building in Tunaya that occupied a vast area, and slowly looking for their target here was no different from a trip around Disneyland.
It was simply taking too much time.
Nonetheless, Angora realized that continuing their brainless rush was not going to do any good after the group had punched through droves of enemies to somehow end up at the dining hall. He might be familiar with the routes, but the critical problem at hand was that they had no idea where their target was.
Therefore, he quickly asked Kinley the alchemist apprentice who had just fled the main keep only to end up back here with them.
“Kinley, where did my father confront Cecil?”
Kinley, however, was shaken at the moment.
She had a hunch that these retainers are definitely formidable. Why else would they launch a counterattack into the main keep?
Even so, she was left stunned by the players’ incredible ability.
‘How could this bunch be capable of firing beams and shockwaves out of their swords? What, that’s a sword skill? Not even the Qi cultivators of the Temple of Glory would fool around like that!
‘Why, whenever that oversized lump of meat hammers his chest armor he conjured out of nowhere and yells ‘come to daddy’, the Lemures would ignore closer targets and attack him instead? Is a larger chest more seductive to the Lemures?
‘And why are all the Lemures struck by the Ranger’s arrows left floating in the air? I’ve already turned a blind eye to your sliding around, but isn’t that a little beyond common sense?
‘Still, the mage seemed relatively normal… not! How could he cast spells without materials, incantations or even gestures? It would have made sense if you claim that you’re an accomplished mage, but there’s no need to scream the name of your spell if that’s the case!
‘And why is that little girl who was tamely eating sweets flinging her tome around like a meteor hammer? Not to mention that it would split heads with every shot—that is a crazy level of power!’
“Huh?”
Nonetheless, Kinley finally recovered from being mind-blown by the Players’ performance to promptly answer Angora’s question. “Oh. Uncle Horan and the others have retreated to the highest floor at the central tower of the keep!”
Angora knew where it was, but he also became a bit more nervous—that floor was certainly easy to defend, but there was no place to retreat from there. Horan had clearly been cornered, hence deciding to make a final stand at the tower.
“Oh no, my milk pudding…”
Nearby, there was sadness on Eleena’s little face when she saw that the Lemures had knocked down a fridge (not a modern refrigerator, but a chest holding ice inside) and the puddle of what was once a pudding.
“Just hold on a little longer. I’ll treat you to butter cake when this is over!” Angora consoled her in the rush.
“Okay!”
The little girl became spirited once again, and swung her meteor hammer (tome) to smash the head of another Lemure—her innocent smile and the blood-soaked meteor hammer (tome) was such a remarkable and distinct contrast that the nearby Kinley was left shuddering.
***
Having lived in the castle for over a dozen years, Angora led the Players to the central tower like it was a walk in the park.
Still, it was on the floor beneath the tower that they ran into the toughest obstacle so far.
“One, two, three… damn it, why are there so many Lemures here?” Jessica stared worriedly at the gloomy pack of enemies.
Indeed, there were almost twenty Lemures guarding the entrance into the spiral staircase leading up to the top floor.
“Be careful, everyone! Those Lemures were my brother’s… I mean Cecil’s bodyguards.” Angora understood who the Lemures had been the moment he saw their equipment.
Moreover, the Players were not only given pause by those Lemures which bodies were in perfect condition—at the center of that horde was one particular Lemure which was clearly head and shoulders taller than the others, with tight and robust body muscles as well as a long, powerful arrow-shaped tail. The name over its head read ‘Lemure Warchief’, and there’s a high chance that it was once the captain of Cecil’s personal guard.
It was level 25 and held an elite template. While the players could have handled it if that Lemure was alone, there were over twenty more normal Lemures that it was buffing at the moment, and that stops the players from their fair and just group assault.
“Well, the game is up… Vela, take the liege up the tower while we come up with something to deal with these guys.”
After scouting out the situation, Edward quickly drew up a strategy after brief thought.
He knew that Angora had a wand that could summon a powerful familiar, which to a certain extent meant that Angora was the most powerful amongst them and did not have to worry about an enemy that was morphing into a demon right now. Moreover, Cecil could be considered a personal problem for the Faust family, which was why Edward decided to have Angora face the real threat.
That said, his group should also avoid suspicion if they could.
As for Vela, well, ahahaha…
Angora nodded in agreement since he understood Edward’s reasoning. After all, he was a Lord who has not participated in battle, and it was better to listen to professional players in the arranging of a fight.
“Lady alchemist, please stay outside the door and run at once if we can’t hold them back. Joe, taunt those buggers. Gou Dan, run interference and try to attack them where they are vulnerable. Jessica, watch Joe’s HP. I’ll be the main attacker. Eleena, uh… can you not steal kills this time?”
“Rua—!” The girl brandished her tome and made an utterance that sounded as much as an agreement as a refusal.
After that, the Players and Angora tacitly glanced at each other and smiled determinedly.
Then, all of them cried out at once.
“For the quest!”
“For items!”
“For EXP!”
“For butter cakes!”
“For justice… eh?”
In the very next second, the battle started.
