Chương 218: Chapter Two-Hundred-and-Eighteen

Adam's fireball died in his hand as the judge activated her closed eye talisman. The effect was like a dark ripple through the air moving at the speed of sound. KNEEL! Adam was forced to his knees by an overwhelming pressure on his shoulders, and next to him Natalia and Seo-Yoon folded as well. Only Chien was left untouched by the dark power, and before harm could come to Adam or the two women, he roared, "I am the First Light's Chosen!"

The shout triggered his taunting cape and drew all of the enemies' attention to him. He rushed up the steps to the castle's door, barrelling through the soldiers with swings of his hammer, and doing his best to side-step the arrows whistling through the air to get him. Adam pulled on his raiment to uncurl his body, though he felt his tight muscles protest against the armour, accompanied by tearing sounds produced by his own skin and flesh. [You have taken 50 points of damage from self-inflicted mutilation. Self-harm is not negated by your Defence rating.] Before he could hurt himself more, he eased off on his control of the raiment, dropping his body back to the ground. But he didn't give up trying to fight, firing his gauntlet fingers from his hands to assist Chien, sending them flying up from where he knelt to explode the heads of several archers before they could hurt him.

As the Lightbringer finally reached the forlorn judge at the top of the steps, his opening swing was blocked by a casual flick of the boss' flanged mace. However, the distraction was enough to break the spell of the talisman, releasing them from their humiliating prostration. Chien was knocked back by another wave from the talisman, but it only slowed him down, since he seemed to have some resistance towards the judge's powers.

Adam fired a gauntlet finger into the talisman, exploding it and freeing Chien, allowing him to charge back into melee range. At the same time, Natalia flew up the steps, having apparently charged her boots while kneeling. Her blade cleaved through eight soldiers before they could even react, bisecting them and sending their tumbling bodies down the steps. Seo-Yoon activated her lucky charm and fired the bright sun flare from her staff, stinging Adam's eyes as it zipped through the air.

The flare made the soldiers flinch back and it struck the judge right in the closed eye of her helmet, dispelling all of the shadows on her. As the knight was made momentarily vulnerable, Adam shot five fingers through her, destroying her arms and legs, allowing Chien to ram his war hammer into her throat, knocking her back. [10 Afflictions applied.] Natalia, Adam, and Seo-Yoon tore apart the soldiers while Chien smashed his hammer down into the boss over and over, each strike like the ring of a dull bell.

[Forlorn Knight defeated.] < < Optional Stage Objective Complete > > < Defeated the Forlorn Judge >"That was scary," Seo-Yoon remarked as they walked up to join Chien and Natalia. All of the soldiers had dropped, and Adam expended a bit of mana to absorb two to refill what resources had been lost by his attacks. When they reached the top of the steps, Adam pulled the core of darkness out from within the judge's chest cavity, adding it to their collection.

"My rosary is charged," Chien said to Adam. He nodded.

"Good, we'll likely need it for the jailer." He turned to regard the others.

"Sorry, I hadn't expected us to be stunned like that. I should've guessed from the judge's pendant effect we saw in the market."

"You can't know everything, Adam," Natalia replied. Seo-Yoon clapped him on the back with a grin.

"By the way, what was that tearing sound I heard?" Natalia asked. Adam shrugged.

"I tried something stupid, but I'm feeling fine, so it's not an issue." Chien looked to his cube and asked, "How much health does Adam have left?" [Player Twilight, also known as 'Adam', has 302 Health out of 352 remaining.] I didn't know it could analyse other players in a group like that.

"See, I'm fine," Adam told them.

"Why do you have so much health?" Natalia asked and Seo-Yoon nodded.

"The Blood Mage Class comes with a lot to start, and it's part of how my magic works, since I drain my own health, so I made sure to get more," Adam replied, once again telling half-truths.

"More importantly, why does the cube call you 'Twilight'?" Seo-Yoon asked with a big grin.

"It's part of a thing I do with my friends. We bet on various things in each stage, and the winner gets to change everyone else's names," he explained.

"What are you betting on?" Chien asked.

"For the last stage, it was about who could catch the rarest fish," Adam said.

"What about for this one?" Natalia asked.

"We bet on whose group would have the most players remaining."

"That is a good thing to bet on," Chien remarked.

"I thought so too," Adam agreed.

"I want to be part of the bets!" Seo-Yoon insisted.

"I'll see what they say after we get out of here," Adam told her.

"So, the winner just gets to change everyone's names?" Natalia asked.

"That's kind of disappointing."

"It's not possible to exchange points or relics through the tavern, so we don't have anything else worth rewarding," Adam replied.

"Surely the point is the bragging rights," Chien commented. Adam nodded.

"Exactly. Anyway, enough dawdling, let's hurry up and deal with the jailer before the sun starts to set."

"I would like a healing potion first," Chien said.

"I lost seventy health in that fight."

"How much do you have in total?" Natalia asked.

"150," he replied.

"Since we are going towards another knight, I would like to be topped off."

"A medium potion won't top you off, but it'll get you close," Adam told him, handing him one of the two medium potions from his belt. Natalia still had two more, and a stamina potion as her third, so it would hopefully suffice until they returned to Gothershall to restock afterwards. After consuming the potion, Chien looked into the darkness past the open gate.

"Do you know the layout of the castle?" he asked Adam.

"No, but the jailer is below ground and to the north. The judge was somewhere in the southern wing, not too far from here."

"And the twins?" Natalia asked. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"I can only sense one of them, because the other uses invisibility, but they're almost directly ahead of us when we go through the gate. It's supposed to be a straight line from the gate to the throne room that they're guarding. So long as we stay off the carpeted path, we should be fine," he explained. The interior of the castle was dark as night, with shadows covering every window in sight, preventing the sunlight from piercing through.

Adam led the way inside, and a foreboding pressure and surrounding melody of wickedness and tainted magic met him as soon as he passed the threshold. Seo-Yoon made a disgruntled noise, mirroring his feelings. The others seemed less affected, so Adam guessed it was likely a kind of pressure mainly felt by those with mana. He quickly located some torches with the light from a flame summoned into his hand, and gave one to each of the others after lighting them with a bright and long-lasting flame.

Castle guards quickly ran towards them from up ahead, coming from the direction of the throne room that was directly east. Adam quickly shaped a spell pattern for Heart Lance with his bright fire and tore the four soldiers apart before the others could act. Without a word, he led them left to the northern wing.

"We've gotta hurry," Adam said.

"Many of the soldiers we've killed will get back up soon, and we don't have time for Chien to deal the killing blow to everyone we encounter. We've just gotta deal with them quickly and then get out of here before they can block us from leaving the dungeons."

"Do you think a direct hit with a true flame would kill a knight?" Seo-Yoon asked.

"With Chien's rosary charged, we can start the fight with our special attack." Adam shook his head.

"We've gotta break open their shadowy protection first, like we've done every time before. I think we use the sun flare again and try to have Chien kill the jailer, but it's fine if any of us do it, since we've got a true flame to spare. We'll save the cross skill from Natalia's ring for the twins tomorrow."

"Do you think blessing the corpse would work?" Chien asked.

"It's worth a try if we get the chance," Adam replied. The castle was made entirely of stone, with coarse slightly-porous bricks used for the walls and ceiling, and smooth flagstones for the floor. In the light of their torches and Adam's summoned flame, they got a good look at the absolute disrepair and filth that'd befallen the edifice.

Most furniture was smashed, large paintings on the walls were ripped and their frames bent and broken, banners of royal-blue were withered and drained of colour, and the remains of many battles stained everything in sight. Some bodies were left where they'd fallen, long-decayed to the point that only bones, papery skin, and wispy hair remained. Seo-Yoon remarked that they were just like the bodies of Alisé and the fishermen they'd seen earlier.

Adam wondered if more of this world's living possessed the same blessings on their bodies, but he thought it was unlikely, given that Seo-Yoon had made no mention of seeing it, and because he hadn't felt any of the intense heat of holy blessings from the many NPCs they had interacted with. After fighting through a few more clusters of guards, they finally reached a spiralling stairwell that led both up and down.

From outside, Adam had noticed a few spires rising from the Forlorn Castle, and he guessed the stairs led up to one of them. If we get the chance, I want to search this place for treasure. There has to be a lot here, I'm sure. He'd consulted his compass a few times, and so far, it had only pointed towards the jailer's location when he'd asked about secrets. Everyone was ready, so Adam led the way down the spiralling steps without wasting any time, with the rest following right behind him.

The stairwell led to a thick metal door that was locked. It looked like they should be able to open it without the key, but Adam doubted the System would let them. He slotted in the key he'd gotten from Alexander Tobias' house, unlocking it with three turns and accompanying clicks. The door swung open to reveal a tunnel that broadened from a narrow space allowing only one person to walk between the walls to one where four could walk abreast.

Where the tunnel fanned out were tall rusted iron bars lining the walls, forming large cells on either side. Stone walls separated each cell from its neighbour, and judging by the many skeletons within the first two they could see, it was clear that many of the attackers, whose friends' bodies were strewn across the halls upstairs, had been brought here and either starved to death or succumbed to their injuries.

Adam fired the bright fireball from his hand and down the length of the tunnel towards where he sensed the melody of the forlorn jailer in the back. Sure enough, the bright light of the fire caught on rusted chainmail draped over a large rotund figure whose fists each grasped several long chains. An iron mask with a wide toothy grin and round eyes covered the decayed face of the knight, and his wispy dead hair flowed out from behind it.

Adam's attack struck the top of his chainmail-covered torso ineffectually, snuffed out by the unnatural darkness that flowed between its links. The jingle of chains echoed through the tunnel. < < Optional Stage Objective > > < Defeat the Forlorn Jailer >"I'm doing it!" Natalia announced, running ahead of them and then activating her new necklace. The sound of rushing water filled the tunnel as a smaller version of the Blue Vein river rushed from below her feet and down towards the jailer.

The boss had been about to rush them, but instead he was pushed back against the wall by the powerful current, while Natalia ran through the centre, the water diverging around her. Seo-Yoon took a careful step into the water and almost tumbled, until Adam used his control of the centipede construct still wrapped around her, keeping her rooted in place to allow her Cloudmaker staff to do its thing. Chien stayed back, knowing he couldn't contribute much, and instead he guarded their only exit out.

The enemies hadn't yet sent reinforcements to clog the spiralling stairwell, but it was only a matter of time. Adam flung bright fireballs past Natalia's rushing figure, reflecting it off of the water she'd summoned and filling the tunnel with a thousand tiny lights. All of them struck the boss ineffectually, smothered by the shadowy blanket hidden within his chainmail armour. However, the water of the river's echo pushed back the Shadows protection, reminding Adam of how they'd defeated the amalgamated knight.

He immediately fired five gauntlet fingers through the blue water, reaching the boss' legs before Natalia got close enough to swing her katana. The jailer released a thrumming boom of energy and whipped out four chain whips to meet Natalia, but then Adam received the announcement from his cube. [10 Afflictions applied.] As Adam's overlapping bleeds took hold, he grasped the mana-charged black blood spouting out from the jailer and into the rushing water, pushing it back in and activating Blood Crystal.

[1 Affliction applied.] Two heartbeats passed and then the jailer's body and chain whips went stiff as a board, dead but not defeated. His body crunched like it was filled with glass as he slumped down onto the ground, the rushing water pushing him with ease.

"He's dead!" Adam yelled. Seo-Yoon hadn't even been able to launch whatever attack she'd been preparing, but she immediately switched to respond, presenting her staff towards Chien who came running without needing to be told.

"Watch out!" Seo-Yoon warned Natalia, her voice echoing down the tunnel. Adam had the forethought to burst through the metal bars of a cell to get clear, and then a second later a golden flame swept past, its aura only half a metre from where he was pressed against the wall. [Forlorn Knight defeated.] < < Optional Stage Objective Complete > > < Defeated the Forlorn Jailer > The Blue Vein's echo disappeared and they were all able to run down the tunnel to link back up with Natalia.

Like Adam, she had burst through a cell wall to escape the true flame in the narrow corridor. In front of the back wall was a pile of wet ash. There was no relic nor weapon left behind, which Adam thought was a shame, since it had seemed like the boss ought to have dropped his whips, given that they might fuse with the chain whips from one of the Berserker evolutions.

"I'm surprised we've been able to take down the knights this quickly," Natalia remarked.

"We've found a good way to crack their defences," Adam replied.

"It should not go unsaid that we have also been very fortunate with our team composition," Chien added.

"With Seo-Yoon's sun flare and cloud attacks, Adam's snares and detection, Natalia's reflexes and speed, and my own ability to disable the Forlorn Shadow's power, we have something very powerful in this stage. It is only a shame we lost two of our companions to greed and demonic influences." Adam wanted to push back, but his mind was more focused on what lay within the cell that Natalia had used for cover.

Six brown bottle-shaped eggs sprouted from a torn canvas bag in the hands of a dead skeleton whose cranium had a large hole above its right eye.

"Let's grab our reward and get out of here," Adam told them, going over to the eggs and grabbing one. < < Secret Relic Obtained > > < Assassin's Egg (Epic) — Wriggles with inner life > Epic rarity? That definitely matches the effect that Beck described. Unlike Weaver, Builder, and Fisher, the Assassin had some insane utility that he couldn't imagine going without, and it would be especially powerful given that he would start every new loop with the secret vendors and denizens available. Hmm.

There's one for each of us, but Diwa and Heiner won't be able to claim more than one, so I may as well take theirs. However, when he tried to grab a second egg, it burst the moment he touched it.

"Hey!" Natalia exclaimed.

"Don't destroy the rewards!"

"There's more than enough for us all," Adam told her.

"I was just trying to see if I could grab a second one."

"How do we use it?" Chien asked.

"You just carry it on you as you enter the Interim Island market. It will do the rest by itself," he explained. Once they all had an egg, they quickly left the dungeon tunnel behind. It was just in time too, because forlorn soldiers were coming towards them from the way they'd travelled. Natalia and Chien let loose, breaking open a way out and Adam used a scything blade of bone to deal with the rest.

Once they were back outside the castle, he wrapped a construct around Natalia and Chien, and then flew the four of them down the large steps and across the castle town, before shooting them up into the air once they were out of reach of the Forlorn Shadow's anti-air defences near the castle's roof.

"I'm looking forward to never travelling like this ever again," Natalia remarked, her melody making it clear she was fighting a losing battle with her own body, on the verge of throwing up. Chien slumped peacefully in the construct that carried him, knocked unconscious by the speed, altitude, and unnatural motion. Adam grinned despite himself. They were so very close to finishing the stage with an almost perfect score.

Defeating the forlorn twins was a foregone conclusion to him, and his mind was already working on the issue of how to get away from the Forlorn Shadow. If only Emelia had gone into more detail about how they defeated the secret boss. Adam let out a sigh. He had faith in his team. Despite it all, they had come this far and made the last few knights seem like weaklings thanks to their coordination and strategy. We'll get out of here together. I have no doubt about that.