Azure Scepter

Page 100

All he could see were severed limbs being thrown out one after another, blood splattering everywhere, and occasionally a fleeting glimpse of a sword flash.

The walking corpses were numerous and powerful, and their movements were agile and strong, but the speed of the corpse demons was unimaginable, and each strike was both light and deadly.

The corpse demon seemed to dance on water, its deadly dance of slaughter raising a barrier of cold blades. The horde of corpses fell one after another like clumsy dance partners unable to keep up with the rhythm, all happening in the silent moonlight.

Little Soms had seen many ghouls in Beaver Town, but none of them were like the one in front of him. This ghoul was terrifyingly powerful.

The blade reflected the moonlight as the corpse demon's ice sword slid down the zombie's collarbone and into its ribs, then melted through the rotting skin, severing the heart along with the bone, leaving a smooth, mirror-like cut.

Large amounts of thick, rotten blood rained down. Little Soms looked in the direction of the blade and then felt his heart stop.

—In the distance, more invisible corpses, like mist, silently infiltrated the city, and more silent killings erupted in a matter of moments.

Little Soms felt a chill run down his spine. He plopped down on the ground, completely unable to comprehend what he was seeing.

How could a cult group that could take over a city just disappear like that?

He was thinking this when, in the next instant, a piercing shriek ripped through the night sky—a cultist had used magic to set off an alarm before he died.

Magical fireworks exploded in the star-studded night sky, illuminating the silver moon behind the dark clouds and the entire battlefield. The tranquil night finally boiled over with the urgent chimes and anxious shouts!

"Bang bang bang!"

A figure dressed as a mage soared into the air. With a flick of his finger, several blinding beams of fire streaked across the night sky, instantly blasting the distant city hall into countless fragments. The burning debris splashed onto the clock tower, and within a few breaths, the entire wooden building was completely ablaze.

But the next instant, the mage's head was blown off by an arrow that appeared from nowhere.

Little Soms was stunned. He felt as if he had returned to the battlefield in Beaver Town, but by this time, the killing near the barn had ended.

The ground was littered with rotting blood and corpses, with severed limbs and scarlet entrails scattered like garbage.

The corpse demon turned its head and looked at Little Soms, its eerie blue soul fire in its eye sockets carrying a cold scrutiny.

In an instant, Soms felt a chill run down his spine, and a sense of dread, as if he were facing the dragon Aurelius, suddenly rose in his heart.

Perhaps a moment passed, or perhaps a long time, but the moneylender on the ground continued to groan. The ghoul paused for a moment, then looked away from Little Soms. Afterward, it took a medicine bottle and a bandage from the cultist and threw them directly at Little Soms.

Little Soms got up and caught it. When he looked up at the ghoul again, the ghoul had already turned its head and slowly walked into the distance.

For some reason, little Soms suddenly blurted out, as if possessed, "Lord Trier?"

The corpse demon's fluid movements suddenly froze, as if it were suddenly controlled by invisible threads. Half a breath later, it turned its head again.

Chapter 200 Harassment Tactics

The corpse demon slowly turned its head, its deep, dark blue soul fire burning quietly in its eye sockets.

Soms' teeth chattered, and he felt as if his tongue was tied in knots. He swallowed hard and then asked again, "Lord Trier, is that you?"

A sudden night wind swept through the treetops, the sparse leaves rustling like the wails of a dying man. Suddenly, the soul fire in the corpse demon's eye sockets burst into flames, and a chilling, oppressive feeling inexplicably rose in Little Soms' heart.

Little Soms' breathing quickened, his exhaled breath condensing into a cold mist in the moonlight. He was startled to notice that the corpses scattered at the ghoul's feet suddenly began to convulse wildly as if wound up in a machine, the shadows everywhere seemed to come alive, and the inexplicable darkness slowly twisted along the gaps in the light.

Without a doubt, the powerful being controlling the corpse demon has projected its will here.

Little Soms swallowed hard, feeling a pang of regret.

I must be crazy. Lord Trier is an upright, brave, and honest paladin. He could never control undead creatures. I must have lost my mind to be spouting nonsense.

Now that's settled, the corpse demon has noticed him, and he's definitely going to die this time.

He sighed inwardly, "What a fool I've been!"

However, the next moment, the corpse demon slowly sheathed its ice blade, lowered its head, and looked coldly at Little Soms.

"What...do...you...want...to...say...?"

The corpse demon's withered lips opened and closed, and a murmur, like that of a dying person, poured out from its mouth.

Soms' mind went blank. He asked again, "Are you really Lord Trier?"

The ghoul did not respond. Its towering body cast a tidal wave of shadow as it slowly approached Little Soms.

Young Soms gritted his teeth, deciding to trust his intuition. He closed his eyes, prayed silently, and then immediately said, "There's pirate treasure in the barn!"

The corpse demon didn't stop its pace. It crouched down and, with remarkable skill, gave the moneylender, who was groaning on the ground, first aid.

Its movements were not unusual, but the moment the corpse demon finished bandaging, the moneylender's face, which had been deathly pale from blood loss, suddenly regained its color.

The lender's eyes snapped open, glaring at little Soms: "Are you insane?! All that treasure is ours!"

In the pitch-black room, the faint candlelight flickered, and the fading flames vaguely illuminated Trier's silhouette.

[XP+50]

[XP+50]

[XP+200]

[XP+1000!]

Tips flashed across his eyes like a screen full of images, while golden light, like a tsunami, flowed continuously into Trier's body from the distant horizon.

He didn't pay attention to the constantly refreshing information panel, but instead focused a lot of his attention on the corpse demon in the barn.

Hearing the conversation between Little Soms and the moneylender, the time traveler couldn't help but find it somewhat absurd: what pirate would bury treasure in an inland barn? That's pure nonsense.

Not to mention that most pirates were desperate people who lived for the day and never saved money—even if they could save money, wouldn't it be more reliable to bury it on a small island that nobody knew about than to bury it thousands of miles inland?

Moreover, in the original history of the game, no one ever unearthed any treasure near Danles City.

In conclusion, it is highly likely that Soms was talking nonsense due to mental stress.

At this moment, the raid on the Silent Whisperers' garrison in Danles City has been largely successful.

As is well known, ghouls are also undead, so uncontrolled plague infected would not attack Trier's ghoul army at all. The Silent Whisperers were too careless in their defenses, and by the time they realized that an undead army had launched a surprise attack and began to organize their defenses, they had already suffered heavy casualties and were almost wiped out.

This was a great victory. Only one ghoul was reduced to ashes by the Silent Whisperers' mages using Hellfire Rays. Overall, the casualty ratio between Trier and the Silent Whisperers had reached an unbelievable level.

However, the remaining Silent Whisperers had reorganized, and continuing the fight would be a head-on assault. Furthermore, Silent Whisperers' mobile support forces could arrive at any moment. Therefore, Trier mentally ordered the Corpse Demon army to retreat.

However, before retreating, Trier decided to satisfy his curiosity.

He was indeed curious as to why the militiamen who fought alongside him in Beaver Town would come to such a far place, and the moneylender's angry and surprised reaction was indeed rather strange.

Driven by curiosity, the transmigrator controlled the corpse demon and followed Little Soms to the barn door. He then gently pushed it, and the rotten double wooden door of the barn collapsed to the ground.

"boom!"

Dust filled the air, and the stench of decay spread like a heavy hammer blow.

Trier glanced around casually, then froze completely.

Beside the moldy haystack was a mountain of gold dragons, interspersed with golden goblets inlaid with finger-sized gems, thick books with silver-plated pages, mithril daggers, and fine gold gloves.

The golden dragon, resembling a small mountain, reflected a dazzling light, so bright that even through the eyes of the corpse demon, Trier felt it was somewhat blinding.

Is there really a treasure?!

Trier, who was always in control, was completely dumbfounded.

He subconsciously took two steps forward, then was astonished to find a large pit next to the treasure pile: the pit was filled with layers upon layers of cubes wrapped in kraft paper.

Trier blinked; he recognized the cube wrapped in parchment—it was a type of military rations typical of the elves, Basilan biscuits.

Basilan biscuits can be simply understood as a magical version of compressed biscuits. They are high in oil, sugar, and protein, and one biscuit is enough to sustain the calories needed by an adult male during high-intensity combat.

Trier gasped in shock; this was simply outrageous!

The sheer volume of Basil's biscuits in this pit would be enough to supply an army of several thousand men for months; the value of these compressed biscuits is no less than that of a mountain of treasure...

Why would pirates who buried treasure keep all this stuff? Did they want to rebel?

No, with so many resources and treasures, why would they become pirates? They could easily go to a slightly chaotic place and establish themselves as kings.

Confused, Trier controlled the ghoul to jump into the pit and bent down to pick up a Basilan biscuit.

The biscuits were unopened; the kraft paper was well-sealed and exceptionally dry. He turned them over and discovered the star emblem of the Elven Star Council printed on the back, with the production date written next to it.

Stardew-Valley Year, the month when grapes ripen.

—The elves' calendar is different from that of humans. If we convert the Stardew Valley year to the human calendar, it would be about 10 years ago.

Trier grabbed the white thread at the top of the cookie packaging and pulled gently to open it.

Under the moonlight, the brick-hard biscuit did not reflect light; it emitted a faint sweet aroma of grains and malt, completely uncontaminated by the blood plague.

He casually handed the opened Basilan biscuits to the little Soms behind him, then quickly began searching through the pit.

Soon, he found a parchment scroll with sealing wax on it at the edge of the pit.

Trier opened the parchment, which contained only a short passage in Elvish: "The purple crystal on Suyar Island is more valuable than we can imagine. It can grant the wearer incredible power to closely monitor the movements of the Church of the Radiant and try to prevent them from interfering with our actions—map attached."

The time traveler raised an eyebrow; he knew the letter referred to the Suyar Crystal.

The Suyar Crystal is formed from the blood of fallen divine beings. If someone wears it for a long time, they will suffer irreversible damage and become deformed, but they will also gain some special abilities.

However, to be fair, those so-called special abilities are quite ordinary and basically dispensable.

It's fair to say that this crystal is practically useless, barely even suitable for creating cannon fodder. Trier vaguely recalls that in the original game's history, a half-elf pirate once tried to use this crystal to create a mutated army, but it seems that it didn't cause much of a stir.

In conclusion, Trier believed that this junk was not even as valuable as the coffee beans from Suar Island.

The time traveler shook his head, banishing irrelevant thoughts from his mind, and then refocused his attention on battlefield awareness and command.

Chapter 201 A Counterattack

Under Trier's control, the undead arrived silently like the frost of early winter, and then retreated swiftly as if the ice and snow were melting in the warm spring.

Within half an hour, the city of Danles, filled with the dead, was turned into a sea of ​​fire. When the terrified cultists finally mustered the courage to cautiously chase after them out of the city, the horrific undead had completely disappeared. If it weren't for the corpses lying everywhere, the leader of the Silent Whisper Society would have even suspected that the swift and bloody attack was just his hallucination.

Meanwhile, Trier had already led his army of undead to empty the treasures from the barn.

The time traveler did not keep all the treasure for himself; he only took all the cookies, leaving the treasure to the moneylender and Little Soms who first discovered it.

However, just as Trier was preparing to control the ghouls and make a complete retreat, the moneylender offered a rather unexpected insight.

“Sir,” the heavily wounded moneylender stopped a corpse demon and said solemnly, “Although I don’t know who you are, if this wealth can help you defeat the Silent Whisperers cultists, then I must not greedily possess it—you must know: the golden dragon in motion is the true wealth. The value represented by this wealth is far less than the value brought about by the smooth circulation after the Silent Whisperers cultists are eliminated.”

Trier didn't stand on ceremony. He gave the moneylender, whose face was covered in blood, a deep look before letting the ghoul carry the treasure away.

Before leaving, he controlled the corpse demon to make a promise to the moneylender: "If...you...can survive...this crisis...there will be a reward."

After saying that, Trier completely severed the control link with the army of undead.

The candle had burned out, and the melted wax had solidified on the table. The crevices of the solidified wax emitted a scent similar to incense.

Trier slowly opened his eyes, then stretched out a long yawn.

He got out of bed and walked slowly to the window. At that moment, the distant mountains were beginning to show a hint of dawn.

"It's already morning." He muttered to himself. "Time really flies. If Moyu can react quickly, their mobile reinforcements will arrive in Dans around 8 or 9 o'clock. Then we can launch a surprise attack."

"Forget it, we'll see later. Let's see how much experience we get first."

Upon realizing this, he immediately whispered the message to the information panel in his mind. As his thoughts surged, the cobalt blue information panel slowly unfolded before him like mercury spilling onto the ground.

Looking at the experience bar, Trier nodded in satisfaction.

Through a quick raid in one night, he gained nearly half a level of experience.

—As his personal professional level increases, the experience points required to level up will also increase. Getting half a level's worth of experience points in half a night is already an astonishing speed.

Moreover, Trier's plan includes a total of fourteen other locations like Danles City that must be raided. Even if he doesn't wipe them out, the experience gained from these fallen cities alone would be enough to elevate him to Legendary rank.

“It’s time to consider the issue of advancing to a legendary class.” Trier sat in his chair, relaxing as he looked at the map on the wall. “But there’s no rush.”

"Well... nothing unexpected has happened so far, so we can continue with the original plan."

Upon realizing this, the time traveler immediately straightened his back.

He picked up the quill pen on the table, pondered for a moment, and then began to write a summary of the prophecy.

The pen moved swiftly, and black ink rapidly soaked into the paper.

He wrote about the little girl's origins, about her hiding in a burning brothel, and about the bishop of Vercingetorius capturing her. But when he wrote about Edith confronting the lich-like monster, his pen suddenly stopped.

Before his time travel, Trier had always looked down on the popular Edith, believing that all the suffering the princess had endured was entirely self-inflicted.

Because she lacks wisdom, she easily falls into traps; because she is weak-willed, she cannot face the consequences of her decisions; because she lacks strength, she cannot overturn the table when she is deeply involved in a conspiracy.

In short, Trier originally believed that it was only natural for a person who lacked outstanding intelligence, exceptional willpower, and even strength to be manipulated and controlled by others, and even to die. But now, Trier hesitated.

Based on his analysis of interests, he has already completed most of his arrangements among the upper nobility of the Southern Duchy. Edith's value is no longer that high. The only thing left to do is prevent her from being possessed by the ancestor, Lorraine.

However, after spending time with him with ulterior motives, even malicious intent, Trier's perception of Edith changed significantly.