The Amber Sword

TL: Kind of late again, cough. I’ll be seeing you guys next Wednesday.

Chapter 87 – The kings and the undead (2)

Brendel smiled and showed off his white teeth when he thought about the Spectral Knight’s Crystal.

[Three Billion Tor. That’s how high a price for the ‘Engraved Spectral Knight’s Crystal’ was sold for in the auctions. Even up to the second era in the game, there were only a few pay-to-win gamers who could afford this artifact. The chances to get it is incredibly rare, up to the 7th decimal point as a loot drop. Nope, it’s definitely impossible to get this item.]

He slung the crossbow over his shoulder and asked: “Do you have magic bolts?”

“”Yes.”” The two Elementalists immediately answered. There were female twin Elves, with grey-orange long hair neatly braided into thin strands behind their pointy ears. Brendel recognized them as Wild Elves from the Orrgesh region. When he was still a member of ‘The Godly Force’ guild, he had spent a long time fighting the undead and was familiar with the natives there.

The Wild Elves were the children of the female goddess, Gaia, and were closely related to the Rock Dwarves. Their customs were quite similar, and the Wild Elves were closely attuned as Hunters and Elementalists, as well as Woodsman Knights. These three professions had strong attacking stats, and it was quite easy to recognize their daring exploits.

When the Fourth King of Kirrlutz invaded the Lopes’ capital, he suffered a great deal of pain under their defense. Even though he won in the end, he paid a great price, till the point where the people of Kirrlutz bore hatred for the Wild Elves.

It was also because of their nature that many of the Wild Elves permeated the human mercenaries, allowing the formation of Mercenaries of Lopes.

“My lord, which type of bolts do you wish to have?” The older twin with a sharper chin and paler skin asked with a melodious voice.

“Bolts of Ice and Wind, how many of these two bolts can you create altogether?”

“If I use all my magic, I can create ten.”

“I can create six.” The younger twin answered with a crisp voice.

“Good,” Brendel cut them off: “Give me seven each for the two types I asked for, then give me two Bolts of Guidance.”

The two sisters exchanged puzzled looks with each other, then back at their lord. In the end the older sister asked with a small voice: “My lord, I understand if you wanted the Bolts of Binding Wind and Bolts of Shattering Ice, but isn’t the Bolt of Guidance paired with an additional Magic property?”

Bolts that were created with magic could have multiple properties applied to them, especially when if higher ranking magic was used. If someone wasted the usage of a Dragon-Slaying Bolt, that would be a great loss. Therefore the Bolts of Guidance would have a prefix usually placed in front, and the most common type of such bolts was the Fire Bolts of Guidance.

The only time when the Bolts of Guidance were typically used, was when the nobles who wanted to cheat during a hunting competition—

Brendel answered with a cheerful smile.

“Don’t worry, the both of you just need to follow what I asked for. When you’re done, go behind the back and rest alongside with Amandina and Romaine. You can leave the battle ahead to the other mercenaries.”

The older sister nodded. Even though she had her doubts, she knew that her lord was overly confident and incredibly stubborn, and wisely chose to not question his decisions. However, her sister frowned deeply and asked: “But, my lord—”

“Tia.” The older sister shouted with strictness in her voice.

Tia looked at her older sister in surprise, understood her intentions, and ceased any thoughts of speaking again.

Brendel’s eyes went wide for a moment.

[Surely…… These are real people. Though all of them here are summoned from a card, they had their own judgment, memories and feelings. Even Amandina thought they are truly my retainers.]

Brendel thought about Ciel’s sacrifice for a moment, and a bitter smile formed on his lips.

[Did I appear like a cold and cruel lord? Am I not smiling enough in front of them? The sisters’ reactions feel like they are treading carefully around me. Surely there isn’t a huge misunderstanding somewhere right?]

He suddenly turned his head back and saw Amandina trying to suppress his giggles while Romaine was smiling freely at him, as if they were watching a great show.

[Am I still your lord? What’s with your attitudes!] Brendel grumbled in his mind but tried to squeeze a cheerful smile.

“Don’t worry about it…….” He said to the girls.

The bolts were quickly handed over to him after a short while. Brendel required only half of them back in his world, but he made sure to be cautious because there was no second try in this world.

[Two Elementalists of the Second Circle would not be able to help out much in the battle ahead, so it’s good to allow them to rest now and prepare for any unforseen events later on.]

He placed each bolt to the holding area of the heavy crossbow to allow the quick access to them. He raised his head and found the mercenaries to be in place. He was more relaxed now that the mercenaries followed his orders carefully, but the Nightsong Tiger crunched his already weathered face into further furrows and wrinkles as he observed his lord’s actions.

“I already said everything is going to be fine, Commander.” Brendel sighed.

No matter how much he explained, the Nightsong Tiger refused to leave his side. He had the same concern as Ciel had, and if there was any danger that arose, he would be able to sacrifice himself to give Brendel enough time to escape.

“My lord, please allow me to accompany you. Even if I am to perish, you can still revive me. Please treat me like a shield.” The Nightsong Tiger answered without any fear.

[Revive, revive. Hear, hear, that would mean that I have to pay an additional maintenance fee for you and I have to wait an additional day to resummon you, Ser Nightsong Tiger!]

Brendel listened to his reasoning with exasperation and humor. He looked back at Amandina and Romaine, making sure there were far enough where Romaine was unable to hear them, before whispering to the Nightsong Tiger in the softest voice possible.

“Do your men know about the Planeswalker’s magic to revive you?”

The Nightsong Tiger shook his head: “Each Card of Fates has its own core, or you can think of them as the leader. My men are branches of the main core, and within this card, I am the core who helps the Planeswalker maintain the branches and attach this card to another related card or magic.”

“There’s a setting like that?” Brendel furrowed his brows as he thought of something: “That would mean each ‘Core’ has their different knowledge about the Planeswalker?”

“Yes, and it has something to do with the cards themselves.”

“Then do you know how to get a card out of the Graveyard?”

“The Black Cards are mysterious and could easily shift out of life and death. If you wish to use a strategy around fishing the cards out of a Graveyard, then you would probably need to acquire the cards with Dark Elements. Such cards are typically found in swamps, graves, or places with the undead like to gather.” (TL: Some terms are a little fuzzy to me, so I need to check exactly what terms were used.)

Brendel nodded and prepared his bow.

“Very well. You can stay here, but do not make any sudden moves.” He gazed on the derelict temple beneath the cold moonlight.

[It probably has been two hundred years since any sentient life entered here, ever since the citizens of Aouine left this place behind.]

His thoughts strayed a little as he checked the time. In the game, luring a monster was a considerable skill, and pro-gamers were able to predict their path down to their position. Against monsters with lower intelligence, remembering the path was sufficient, against sentient monsters, it was a battle between wits.

Brendel had never stopped practicing this particular skillset, even though it was mostly a job that Hunters took. However, a party was sometimes found lacking of such a profession, and as a Warrior, it was expected to have some experience in luring.

“Eight, seven……” He muttered to himself.

The Nightsong Tiger did not understand what he was counting. His actions were completely bizarre to the natives of this world.

With the advancement of the technology in the world, the artificial intelligence in the game had reached to a point where they accurately mimicked humans. However, the gamers still perceived them as numbers and data to a certain extent, and calculated their actions like a precision machine to perceive fluctuations in the data.

Everything had their own rules.

Brendel estimated the remaining time, and the crossbolt’s trigger was pressed with his finger. The first bolt notched into the crossbow was an ordinary bolt, which sang across the air with a shrilling scream, parting the misty air into two as it flew in an arc to the temple’s grounds covered with shadow.

“Six, five……”

The noise from the bolt immediately attracted the attention of the hostile undead, appearing quickly to the sides of the temple to investigate.

[Here he comes!] The Nightsong Tiger was tense as he gripped his axe tightly.

But Brendel threw away his heavy crossbow and took out a shortbow which hung from his waist belt, another incomprehensible action in the Nightsong Tiger’s eyes.

Brendel merely signed with his hand.

‘Retreat, now!’