Chương 78: Chapter 77: The Silver Oath Arrives

Three days after setting out from Blackstone Town, Gern stood at the entrance to Rockspring Town, his face ruddy and filled with disbelief. Beside him, Roderic kept surveying the town ahead, his gaze moving from the streets to the surrounding buildings.

"We actually... made it back in three days..." Gern stood there dazed for quite a while before finally noticing what Roderic was doing. After spending the past few days together, he could say with confidence that these paladins were genuinely good people. Even so, they occasionally did things he never saw coming. Roderic was a perfect example.

If not for the full set of paladin gear he was wearing and that gentle yet resolute face of his, someone might honestly mistake him for a thief casing the town for information.

"Is something wrong, Mr. Roderic? Did you notice anything unusual?" Gern could not help asking. He was genuinely a little worried that the paladin had spotted something wrong with the town.

"Oh, our Lord says He wants to see how this place differs from Blackstone." Gern nodded in understanding. Sure. Hard to tell whether your god wants a look around or you lot do.

"By the way, do you want to stop by the Guild first? Or maybe get some rest?" Roderic shook his head, then gave Gern a slight bow.

"We will have to trouble you to guide us to Rockspring Dungeon next, Mr. Gern. The sooner we finish dealing with this matter, the sooner we can rest without worry." Gern thought about it and realized that made sense. He quickly nodded and pointed in one direction.

"Fair enough. Follow me. The dungeon isn't far outside town." A faint smile tugged at the corner of his mouth as he scratched the back of his head.

"Sorry to put you through all this. You only just got here, and now you have to head right back out." Maeve unhooked the warhammer from her waist and gripped the handle with both hands. Her eyes narrowed slightly as a smile appeared on her face.

"Please don't worry. I can restore everyone's stamina whenever necessary." The other younger paladins immediately chimed in as well.

"Purging evil is our mission!"

"That's right! Clearing out Demonic Tides is what I do for fun!" Gern's hand slowly slid down from the back of his head and landed heavily against his thigh as he stared blankly at them. Wait. Somehow, this was even stranger. Why weren't these people worried at all? And even if their bodies never got tired, what about their minds? Gern's thoughts wandered for a moment. A divine art that restored stamina like this... If someone took it to a mine or somewhere like that...

Wouldn't it turn into a divine art straight from hell? The corner of Gern's eye twitched several times. He decisively gave up on continuing the conversation, turned around, and led everyone toward Rockspring Dungeon. By the time Gern reached the camp outside the dungeon, he discovered that the entire area had been sealed off. Two town guards were sitting outside the cordon keeping watch. Gern instinctively glanced into the camp, but he could not see a single adventurer anywhere.

Were they really that short on manpower already? The two guards quickly stood when they saw him and called out a greeting.

"Hey! Old Gern! Weren't you headed to Blackstone? What, miss Rockspring so much that you came running right back?" One of the guards laughed and tapped his companion's breastplate. Then he turned toward him.

"See, Miller? Told you we'd be seeing him again before long." Miller, however, was completely focused on Roderic and the others behind Gern. He remained silent for a moment, patted his companion on the shoulder, then walked over and hooked an arm around Gern before pulling him a short distance aside.

"Gern, are those the reinforcements headquarters sent?" Miller lowered his voice. His expression was tense, and a thin sheen of sweat had even formed across his forehead.

"The Guildmaster didn't spread the news after receiving the warning, so only a handful of people know about it right now. But the town has started coming up with an excuse to evacuate the residents." Gern quietly let out a breath of relief. When he saw how few people were guarding the place, he had worried that Rockspring Town's Guildmaster had not taken the warning seriously at all.

"Speaking of which, what excuse did you come up with?"

"We're saying Goldwheat Town is holding a Winter Lake Fishing Festival and has invited residents from several nearby towns to come join in." Miller shrugged.

"You know how it is. Rockspring's lost so many adventurers lately that the whole town's been dead quiet and everyone's been in a slump. The moment that news got out, it caught plenty of people's attention." Gern blinked.

"Is there actually such a festival?" Miller pursed his lips and rolled his eyes.

"What do you think?"

"Haha. Fair enough. Staying alive is more important." At that moment, Roderic also walked over and gave Miller a friendly smile.

"Greetings. I am Roderic, a paladin of the Church of the Silver Oath. We have been dispatched to eliminate the wicked demon core." Miller glanced at Gern, then tilted his head slightly as he looked back at Roderic.

"Demon core? What's that? Something to do with Demonic Tides?" The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Roderic paused for a moment, then seemed to realize what had confused Miller.

"Yes. I mean the dungeon cores that cause Demonic Tides.

'Demon core' is simply a term used within our church. I sincerely apologize for the confusion." Miller stared blankly at Roderic. After a long moment, he leaned sideways toward Gern and whispered into his ear.

"Hey, where did these people come from? Church of the Silver Oath? Never heard of it... A bunch of religious types showing up dressed like this. Doesn't something about them seem suspicious?" Gern answered with a heavy elbow to his stomach. Ignoring Miller as he dropped to his knees and dry-heaved, Gern led the others past the cordon. After briefly explaining the situation to the other guard, they finally prepared to enter Rockspring Dungeon. ◆ ◆ ◆ Inside the Core Chamber of Rockspring Dungeon.

Ever since receiving the Soul Energy Forsworn had given it, the Rockspring core had not stopped creating monsters. It had also spent the past few days thinking through the problem of the Adamantite-level fighter. There was no possible way Blackstone could have created an Adamantite-level guard on its own in such a short amount of time. The reason was simple. Blackstone had no subordinate dungeons and nowhere else that could gather energy on its behalf.

More importantly, it was impossible to create an Adamantite-level guard before reaching Tier Three. In other words, the Adamantite-level fighter who had appeared in Blackstone probably had not been created by the traitor at all. If that was the case... As long as the strongest guards Blackstone could actually create were only at Orichalcum level, it still had a chance! The dark-red core swayed faintly within the mass of sticky flesh.

"Traitor... alone... lacking... energy..."

"Still... worth... a gamble..." Skeleton after skeleton slowly crawled out from beneath the dungeon floor. Not a single crack could be seen across their bones. Instead, every bone was smooth as polished jade. Then streams of black mist poured from their surfaces and gradually condensed into plates of pitch-black armor, covering the skeletons from head to toe. Before long, fully armed skeleton warriors packed the entire passage. The dark-red light across the Rockspring core flickered faintly.

"Now... time to collect... some interest..." Just as it prepared to awaken the skeletons and unleash them as a Demonic Tide to devour Rockspring Town, a shrill system alert rang through the Core Chamber. [High-Risk Targets Detected: Gold-rank ×2, Silver-rank ×4] The Rockspring core froze. The next instant, a piercing shriek tore through the entire Core Chamber.

"Im... possible!" It shrank back anxiously on the stone pedestal. At the same time, the energy it had painstakingly stockpiled began draining away like water.

"Invasion... eliminate..."

"Demonic Tide... devour!" ◆ ◆ ◆ Roderic led the paladin squad slowly down the damp stone steps and into Rockspring Dungeon. The longsword with its silver-winged hilt was drawn in his hand. There was no trace of his earlier gentleness left on his face. His brows were tightly furrowed, his lips pressed into a thin line, and disgust filled his eyes as he stared down the dark passage ahead. Gern had not followed them inside. He had chosen to remain at the dungeon entrance. It was easier for everyone that way.

Gern might be at the peak of Bronze rank, but to Roderic and the others, he was still someone they would have to divert attention to protect. Beside Roderic, Maeve murmured something under her breath. Before long, a large sphere of light appeared beside the group. Its soft but brilliant glow quickly drove back the darkness around them.

"Torren! Brant! You're with me on the front line!" Once both men nodded, Roderic turned toward the other two female paladins.

"Zoe, keep your destruction divine art ready. Tanisha, wait for the right moment to use your barrier divine art, just like I taught you." After confirming that no one had any objections, Roderic finally turned and met Maeve's eyes. Maeve slowly closed her eyes and raised her warhammer high in her right hand. Silver-white light quickly spread along the patterns carved into the hammer's handle.

"Pure White Sight! Illuminate the path ahead! Let no enemy remain hidden!" The next instant, a powerful wave of silver-white light swept down the passage ahead. The light caused no damage wherever it passed. However, within the darkness that had previously been impossible to see through, white points of light began appearing one after another, stretching all the way into the depths of the cavern. Every one of them marked a monster revealed by the divine art.

The tunnel ahead was nearly packed solid with black-armored warriors. Tiny red lights flickered deep within their helmets. Torren and Brant tightened their grips on their longswords at the same time. The next instant, Roderic raised his kite shield at the front of the formation. Bang! The rock beneath his feet burst apart, leaving two craters. He launched himself straight into the black-armored warriors, forcibly smashing a path through the densely packed skeletons.

Broken bones and fragments of armor flew everywhere in his wake. Before the surrounding black-armored warriors could even react, Roderic's longsword swept horizontally. An arc of silver light flashed through the skeleton horde. The next moment, every black-armored warrior surrounding him was severed in half. Broken bones and shattered armor crashed to the ground one after another.

"Demonic minions! Meet your end!" The black-armored warriors farther back immediately began surging forward. But with a sharp shout from Tanisha, a transparent barrier of light suddenly rose and divided the entire passage in two.

"Pure White Prayer! Protection Light Grid! Bar every enemy from our path!" The black-armored warriors trapped behind the barrier raised their longswords and warhammers and began striking it again and again. Cracks gradually spread across the transparent light grid, but they still failed to break through. Meanwhile, the black-armored warriors trapped on the near side had been nearly wiped out by Roderic and the other two. By then, the barrier Tanisha had created was also close to breaking.

"Torren! Brant! Take cover!" At Roderic's roar, he drove the lower edge of his kite shield into the rocky ground and lowered himself into a half crouch. Torren and Brant did not hesitate for even an instant. They ducked behind him, crouching low with their arms over their heads.

"Wings of the Silver Crest! Sacred Shield of Protection! Keep us safe from all harm!" Silver-white light burst from the kite shield. It transformed into a pair of enormous wings that extended outward from both sides of the shield and wrapped tightly around all three men. The next instant, a white sphere of light shot past them from behind. At the exact moment the light grid shattered completely, the sphere raced through the now-unobstructed passage and flew directly into the depths of the cavern. BOOM!

A violent tremor erupted from ahead. Blinding white light exploded deep within the cavern. A roaring gale followed, carrying broken stone, dust, and grit toward them. The expanding white light swept all the way back toward the entrance, swallowing every black-armored warrior it touched. The violent shaking continued for more than ten seconds before gradually subsiding. Roderic straightened and pulled his kite shield free from the ground.

The silver wings that had surrounded the three of them were now badly torn and ragged. Fortunately, the kite shield itself appeared undamaged.

"Nicely done, Zoe. Dawnfall Annihilation truly is formidable..." Roderic could not help marveling at the result. With that kind of power, even he probably would not fare much better than those black-armored warriors if he took the attack head-on without any preparation.

"It's all thanks to your excellent teaching, Instructor. Hehe." Maeve walked over as well and reached out to rub Zoe's head.

"But those were only the appetizers. Bronze-level creatures like these definitely aren't the main force." The moment she finished speaking, Roderic suddenly turned toward the depths of the cavern. A violent series of noises was coming from farther ahead. At the same time, a deep, dense aura of dark magic began spreading slowly out from the depths. Roderic's expression immediately turned grave. Several beads of sweat slid slowly down his cheeks.

"Something big is coming! Everyone, form up!" He raised the longsword in his right hand high and pointed it toward the depths of the cavern.

"We have to eliminate these monsters. We cannot allow them to threaten the town outside!" Heavy footsteps sounded from the depths, one after another. Before long, a tall figure slowly stepped into the light cast by the glowing sphere. It was a skeleton completely encased in black steel plate armor. The heavy plate left almost no gaps exposed, and bronze-colored patterns had been engraved across its surface. A long spear rested in its left hand, while its right gripped a broad-bladed longsword.

As it drew closer, two ghostly blue soul flames gradually ignited beneath its helmet. Roderic's expression grew even more serious. The magical power radiating from the creature alone far exceeded that of the black-armored warriors from before.

"Peak Gold-level..." He slowly raised his kite shield.

"Everyone, be careful." Roderic gave the enemy no chance to attack first. Silver light instantly flared across his longsword. Bang! The rock beneath his feet burst apart once again. He launched himself forward and slashed at the skeleton warlord's arm. Clang! Sparks flew everywhere. The skeleton warlord's longsword snapped up to meet his, and the two weapons slammed violently together. Roderic felt an enormous force surge through his blade. His wrist was knocked sharply aside, sending his blade off course.

The skeleton warlord immediately seized the opening and swept its longsword sideways at him. Roderic hurriedly twisted aside. The blade passed so close that it nearly brushed his body, yet still carved a deep gash across his armguard. The skeleton warlord gave him no chance to recover. Roderic's pupils abruptly contracted. The razor-sharp spearhead was already driving straight toward him. He immediately raised his kite shield and blocked head-on. Bang! The enormous force sent Roderic sliding backward.

His iron boots gouged two long tracks into the rocky ground. The spear continued driving forward. Roderic immediately swung his longsword and struck the shaft hard, finally knocking the skeleton warlord's thrust aside. He quickly lowered his gaze. A small dent had appeared in his sturdy kite shield. Just as the skeleton warlord prepared to pursue him, a streak of silver-white light flashed in from the side and slammed heavily into its body, forcing it to stagger backward.

A warhammer glowing with silver light followed immediately afterward and smashed into its chest. Bang! A small dent appeared in the hardened breastplate. The figure did not linger. It kicked off the skeleton warlord and sprang back to Roderic's side. Maeve. She held her warhammer in her right hand, while a massive transparent silver shield of light had formed in her left. Roderic met her gaze and smiled. Then the two of them took their stances at the same time, facing the skeleton warlord head-on.

"Monster, prepare to die!"