Sword Among Us

Panda Novel

“How can this be…”

“There’s one more level?!”

“And I thought that the Ninja King just now was the last monster.”

The disciples from the four sects surrounded Happy when they reached the end of the first level. Upon seeing the staircase leading downwards, their expressions instantly changed, but naturally, most of them looked surprised and delighted.

They had all borne witness to the high drop rate in the royal mausoleum!

No matter what, they would be slightly regretful if they cleared the entire map so quickly. They might even feel a little unsatiated. The appearance of the second level made them instantly have a new aim and goal, and it was only par for the course that they wanted their wallets to fill up even more.

The other reason behind it was that Happy’s identity had filled many people with hope. They wished to take a step to get to know him and form a connection with him.

Most people would not want to immediately part with a super elite right after they met them.

“Actually, the person I killed just now is one of Ninja King’s clones. I thought it was rather strange, so there should be an even stronger Boss in the royal mausoleum. He should be the real Ninja King!”

Happy’s words made the group suck in sharp breaths. They could see the worry in each other’s eyes.

If Ninja King’s clone was already so strong, then if they ran into the real Ninja King, there was simply no way the four sects could stand up against him.

“So if any of you run into Ninja King while he is dressed in golden armor, please be careful and don’t be rash,” Happy said.

“Don’t worry, we will definitely notify you the moment we see him.” Ouyang Qing was a very smart person, and he believed he understood what Happy meant.

But at that time, he guessed wrong.

Happy smiled wanly. “If we run into the real Ninja King, it’ll be useless even if you notify me. We have to be careful to avoid him. If one of the Ninja King’s clone is this strong, the real Ninja King will definitely be a realm higher. He will definitely be at Moksha Realm and not anything lower. Even if we surround him, we won’t be able to win against him.”

“Ah!”

Everyone’s expressions changed. They did not expect that even Happy would be wary of Ninja King. But since he said that, it was only natural that he was not trying to deceive them. Since the four sects did not have the ability to fight against Ninja King, there was no need for him to lie.

“Everyone, please remember that you must be exceptionally careful in there.”

The words of caution were passed down through the group.

Then, the people’s eyes landed on the stone stairs that served as the entrance to the second level.

However, no one took the initiative to go down them first.

The tragedy they faced when they entered the first level of the royal mausoleum was still fresh in their minds. More than two hundred people had died, so there was no way that they would forget it. No one could afford to be injured, so for a time, an awkward atmosphere filled the place.

“One Circle, come with me.”

Happy did not show that he intended to act independently. After thinking about it for some time, he decided to pretend that he wanted to be careful and had One Circle follow him down while he instructed the others to come after them.

The people from the four sects nodded.

With Happy and One Circle luring the firepower away, the pressure they faced going down would be reduced by a lot. No matter how dangerous of a situation they would meet, they could have some chance of catching their breath.

‘Let’s go!’

Happy and One Circle exchanged a glance. Then, the duo activated their body fortifications before they summoned their full strength so that they reached the peak of their power!

One Circle was decked in black armor made from his true qi, and he looked like a mobile fortress or a door god. As for Happy, once he summoned his full strength, a vague golden bell slowly took form, and it stayed half a foot away from him based on his will. The golden light was full of vigor and flowed about. It also looked as solid as steel, just like a golden bell placed in old temples thousands of years ago.

The duo walked side by side down the stone stairs into the second level of the royal mausoleum.

The tunnel was dark, but there was nothing inside. Fortunately, it was not long, and soon, they saw light before them. A small semi-circular hall appeared in front of them, and not a single shadow of a ninja could be found inside.

Next to the walls, there were several broken pots of varying sizes. There were also two stone statues in the form of soldiers positioned beside them. They held halberds in their hands and stared ahead of them while looking almost alive.

No one said anything.

One Circle swept a glance over the situation inside before he released a sigh of relief. The nervous look on his face faded away slightly, and he turned around to call the people behind them to enter.

But at that very moment, Happy took two steps forward with a grave look in his eyes.

Crack!

The two soldier statues loosened up their limbs, and the grayish-white skin tone of their bodies swiftly faded away.

Crack!

The two soldiers became alive. They turned their necks and let out a clear sound, then, their cold gazes were fixed on Happy with mercilessness. However, they frowned the next moment before their expressions turned contemplative, just like those of humans. They then redirected their gazes at One Circle, who was behind Happy.

‘Hmm?’

Happy’s senses were very sharp. He instantly noticed that the two soldier puppets’ killing intent had been redirected to One Circle, who was at the entrance. He could not help but be stunned for a moment.

Crack!

One of the soldier guards suddenly exerted force in his arms and lifted the halberd. The motion made a dull sound rise into the air.

The other soldier guard raised his foot and took a step forward like a machine.

Thud!

He took a loud step forward, and dust and stone fragments fell off his body.

The players who entered the second level at that moment were met with its freezing gaze!

“One Circle, careful!”

The two soldier guards looked around coldly, then right before everyone’s surprised gazes, they did not attack Happy, who was the closest to them, but bypassed him and moved toward One Circle at the speed of lightning.

Once Happy shouted the warning, he watched dazedly as the players after him faced the soldier guards. He could not understand the situation at all.

The soldier guards were a rather unique feature of the second level of the royal mausoleum; they were powerful combat puppets. Their bodies were made of an ore which was much sturdier than normal metal, and it meant that they were much tougher than the Stone Giants in the ancient tomb. Each of the puppets had great combat abilities, and they were near the peak of Mystical Realm. However, the most terrifying things about them were still their body fortification techniques and their fighting mindset, which made them fearless of death.

The soldier puppets used high-tier body fortification techniques, and they were all at Grandmaster Realm. Once that was combined with their extreme fighting instincts, they could attack their closest enemy with recklessness!

Just then, Happy had intentionally approached them because he had wanted to trigger the mechanism within the soldier puppets before everyone squeezed into the semi-circular hall so that they could be wary.

However, the soldier puppets’ special treatment toward him left Happy at a loss.

It was the first time he ran into such a situation—he had actually been ignored by the puppets!

Once the others crushed the two soldier puppets and made their bits fall onto the ground in a flurry of motion, he went to the stone pile and found some of the silver coins from the previous dynasty. Then, Happy sighed.

“What’s going on?”

“Why didn’t they attack you just now?”

Everyone questioned Happy before he could even answer it to himself.

Happy spread his arms, smiled wanly, and shook his head. “I don’t know, man…”

He paused, having remembered something. He then brought out a small incense pouch Murong Clan had prepared for him.

“It might be because of this.”

“Why?”

Everyone was even more curious.

Happy was not the only person who had that item. One of the other people who had it was Ouyang Qing, but he was also attacked by the soldier puppets. Also, that item was only effective when they passed through Eight Trigrams Bewitching Matrix. What use did it have when it came to fighting against the soldier puppets?

Happy sucked in a deep breath in the face of inquiries and decided to be honest.

“This royal mausoleum is the royal mausoleum of the previous dynasty, Yan Dynasty! Murong Clan is Yan Dynasty’s royal descendants, and they are the guardians of the royal mausoleum!”

The crowd was left speechless.