Volume 3: The Crypt Chapter 4 Are You Dead?
The iron wall war song of Nocturne in B flat minor helped us overcome the greatest crisis. It increased our protection ability in time when our armor was corroded. Under the effect of the war song, our life recovery speed slightly exceeded the speed of life reduction, reaching a balance point in our favor, which made our originally extremely difficult battle safe.
On the other side, the half-orc warlock Ding Ding Xiao Ge was always in an awkward state of being dispensable.
As we know, the sorcerer's familiar is not a living thing, it is just a magical projection of some powerful alien life in our plane. It can be temporarily destroyed, but it cannot be truly killed. When Ding Ding Xiaoge's summoning spell cooled down, he immediately summoned the Ice Witch again, using the "Ice Cone" to support us from behind, shooting those skeleton monsters from a distance.
Although the "Ice Cone" technique is powerful, its firing frequency is very slow. In fact, the Ice Witch cannot provide us with much help.
In addition to the attack spells of familiars, the warlock, as a spellcaster, also has some unique magical attack methods. These adventurers who trade with powerful rulers of other worlds seem to have a special preference for darkness. Their best trick is to shoot out their own shadows to cause great damage to the enemy. This spell called "Shadow Arrow" is powerful and hidden, making it difficult to defend against.
From beginning to end, Tintin Xiaoge had been chanting spells, trying to gather the magical power in the shadows into his own hands, and then...
...crush them in the palm of your hand.
Yes, he had been trying hard to cast the "Shadow Arrow" spell, but it never worked.
"Don't just stand there like an idiot! Attack now!" Seeing his innocent and stupid look, Niu Baiwan was furious. He stuck out his big nose and shouted at the orc warlock, "Your little ghost girl is much more useful than you!"
After crushing two more shadow magic balls, Ding Ding Xiaoge's long, sleepwalking voice finally reached our ears:
"...I don't want to either...There's a huge delay here...The skeletons I aimed at...have all been...chopped to death by you...I don't have...a target..."
"Then change to other skills, don't just keep busy there! You have to do something!" Niu Baiwan yelled with red eyes, looking like he wanted to swallow Ding Ding Xiao Ge in one gulp and spit it out, swallow it in and spit it out again, swallow it in and spit it out again. The reason I guessed this is because minotaurs have four stomachs and, like their non-intelligent cousins, have the habit of ruminating.
Niu Baiwan's roar reminded Ding Ding Xiaoge. He hesitated for a while as usual, then stopped his futile efforts to release the shadow arrows and whispered another strange spell. Because of the strange magic of "delay", his voice was dragged out with funny inflections. This was obviously a longer and more complicated spell. Although I couldn't understand the magic language that summoned the power of other worlds, these sounds sounded gloomy and evil to me, and definitely didn't sound like a good spell.
When he ended the spell with a "bleating" sound similar to that of a sheep, a slowly swirling light green mist suddenly fell from the sky and surrounded us. Then he pointed his right hand towards our heads - this finger was obviously the ending action of this spell, but this kind of "last-come-latest" spell was no longer a new thing for him.
If the bard's war song was the turning point of the battle, then Ding Ding Xiaoge's spell had a decisive impact on the battle.
This spell is called "Attenuation Cloud", and enemies affected by this spell will have their vitality and defense reduced during the spell's duration. Although this is just a simple elementary spell, the attenuation effect on this group of skeleton monsters is not so obvious, but when our battle is evenly matched, it becomes the last straw that breaks the camel's back.
The touch of the long sword cutting bones immediately became soft, as if the hard bone shells of these monsters had lost a lot of calcium in a short period of time, suffering from the terrible "rickets". When the "saber-tooth tearer" in my hand bit the somewhat brittle bones, I could even hear the unsatisfied hissing of the long sword from the pleasant friction: in front of these vulnerable opponents, this sharp weapon had lost its meaning of showing off its power, and was just used as a crude killing tool.
The best part is that this "Attenuation Cloud" is a range magic, and its negative impact can affect every enemy that enters the magic range, not just a certain opponent. This makes the impact of the "delay" problem on Ding Ding Xiaoge less obvious.
This was a wonderful thing. A simple, low-level spell expanded our originally very weak advantage to an immeasurable level, allowing the five of us to take the absolute initiative when facing an opponent that was several times our number. In the face of our weapons and magic, those crude and terrifying skeleton monsters could no longer hold out, and they continued to collapse in front of us like a broken earth wall. The chopped bones kept falling to the ground, making a messy noise, and then we ruthlessly stepped on them into pieces.
Fighting is the nature of adventurers, and it is the passion flowing in their veins from the source of life. Regardless of whether they are strong enough, I think that in front of these brave and intelligent people, any danger can be overcome. As long as these people are still fighting, there will always be some magical things happening, and there is no so-called "inevitable" failure.
If this battle proves anything that can be called "inevitable", it is only one thing: five people are always more powerful than four!
With this successful experience, the following things began to become simple. After a short rest, we lured the remaining groups of skeleton monsters in batches and used the same method to eliminate them one by one in the narrow corridor. For a while, the war song of the dwarf bard Nocturne in B-flat minor, called "Eighteen Touches", floated solemnly and sacredly above the cave, accompanied by the sincere praise of the elven druid girl from time to time:
"Can't you play a different song?"
…
It didn't take long for us to destroy all the brutal and warlike skeleton monsters in the cave, eliminate all the enemies around Robert Willanster's lost hammer, and clear a path for our orc warlock to pick up the quest items.
Ding Ding Xiao Ge finally stood safely in front of the glowing red hammer. When he bent down to pick it up, he suddenly froze there without any warning, as if time had suddenly stopped. I even subconsciously stretched out my fingers to look at my palm to confirm that this was not the effect of some powerful magic like "time stop".
"No way, it's stuck here again?" Niu Baiwan wailed in despair. He rushed to Ding Ding Xiaoge in two or three steps, stretched out his hand and pinched his face anxiously, "Brother, we risked our lives, went around in such a long circle, killed so many skeletons, and made a mess here, all to help you complete the task. Seeing that the task is about to be completed, you can't just say that you are disconnected at this time... Otherwise, our hard work will be in vain... Wake up... Wake up... Wake up... Wake up..."
Seeing that he had no reaction, Niu Baiwan shouted anxiously and stretched out his broad palm to slap the orc warlock a few times, as if trying to wake him up from his coma.
The Minotaur's method was obviously effective. Just when he was enjoying the fight, a red light suddenly flashed in our eyes, and the hammer on the ground immediately disappeared. Then, Ding Ding Xiaoge's right hand belatedly touched the empty space where there was nothing.
"Stop... stop hitting me... I... am not offline... but my face... is almost swollen from you..." Ding Ding Xiaoge's voice suddenly came.
Niu Baiwan was slightly stunned, then he blushed and apologized repeatedly, "Oh, sorry, sorry, I thought you had fallen off... It was an impulse, an impulse..."
"Next time... when I delay... again... if anyone hits my... face again... I will... fight him to the death..." Ding Ding Xiaoge's cheeks were red with anger - perhaps because he was beaten at this moment - and his voice had a strange accent, as if he wanted to express his inner anger, but the slow rhythm made his tone seem helpless and gentle.
…
After Tintin successfully obtained his quest item, we all turned our attention to the only remaining skeleton in the cave - "Robert Willanster" who was standing quietly at the entrance of a cave.
If these decayed creatures who have lost their souls but refuse to die have some kind of personality, then this short skeleton with thick bones may be a proud and reserved guy. From beginning to end, he has never joined our battle, and even turned a blind eye to the battle that is close at hand, just watching us tear apart and smash his companions - if he still has eyes -
During the fight, I accidentally got close to a skeleton while fighting him. I was ready to take his attack, but he ignored me. He looked a little different from the other skeletons - I don't mean his short and stocky figure, but his eyes.
Like the other bloodthirsty and violent monsters, there was nothing in his eye sockets except a dark void. But although it was also pitch black, the darkness in his eye sockets seemed particularly deep and long, as if it contained something magical and indescribable . It seemed to be some kind of...
...Some kind of emotion?!
Can you imagine? It was just a skeleton. Oh, yes, for some reason we don't know, maybe he can move, maybe he doesn't look as... like a skeleton, but he is. And I can see emotions that should only belong to living people from his empty eye sockets.
It was a complex emotion, pity, sadness, self-blame, regret...many painful feelings gathered in the empty blackness in his eyes. I think it's ridiculous, but I believe I did see it all.
"It looks like there's another mission here." Nocturne in B-flat minor pointed at the undead and said casually, "Who's going to talk to him?"
"I won't go. It's scary..." The fairy came down to earth and shrank behind Niu Baiwan with her face on the ground and a look of disgust. She showed half of her head with fear and curiosity, but she couldn't help looking in the direction of "the undead Robert Willanster".
"Don't be afraid, I will stand here to protect you!" Niu Baiwan stood in front of the druid girl with great enthusiasm and said loudly. However, it seems that in addition to protecting the fairy from descending to the earth, the more important meaning of this sentence is that he has made up his mind to "stand here". As for why he didn't stand next to the skeleton - from his somewhat empty and trembling tone, we can already get some obvious answers.
"Forget it, I'll go," I said to them. As a warrior wearing heavy armor, if something unexpected happens, I can hold out longer than the dwarf bard with low protection.
When I walked up to the short skeleton, I suddenly felt inexplicably embarrassed - after all, just a moment ago, I was fighting a life-and-death battle with this ugly and terrifying thing. Now you let me talk to him face to face like this, I really don't know what to say.
"Well... um... sir, are you... dead?" I know it's a stupid thing to ask a hollow skeleton with transparent parts "Have you eaten?", but after I said it, I felt that this question was even stupider.
Originally, the four guys were standing behind me with weapons in hand, ready for battle, but after hearing my question, they couldn't help but snickering.
Damn it, if you knew what to say, why did you push me here?
Just as I was mumbling to myself in an unbalanced state, the skeleton suddenly made a few "click" sounds and turned its neck towards me:
"You are finally here, warriors from the ground. I have been waiting for you. Thank God, the Most High God heard my prayers..."
Did he speak? Did he really speak?
His voice was eerie and flat, with each syllable sounding the same rhythm, completely devoid of the ups and downs we normally hear in conversation. This cold, mechanical voice made me feel cold behind my back. I didn't know how he made the sound, but it was obviously not coming from his long-rotten vocal organs, but from his body - but in his current state, it seemed that he no longer had any "body" to speak of.
