Chapter 199 (1/2)

Chapter 199: Let’s See Whose Traps Are Better

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio  Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

As the voices got closer and closer, the three of them relied on Vance’s Traceless spell to hide silently in the shadows of the hall entrance, patiently waiting. At this moment, they were like hunters lurking in the shadows, ready to lunge and attack the prey at the right moment. After a few seconds, the voices became much clearer. One of them was deep and dark sounding, laced with a hint of anger.

“Get your ass out of here!” said the voice. “Go back and tell your master that unless I die, there is no way he’ll get anything from me!”

“That’s the bastard Necromancer swordsman that took over my underground palace,” whispered Vance. “His name is Dorians, and he’s a typical cheapskate!”

The other voice then emerged. This one sounded cold and eerily calm, clearly none too pleased by the other’s words.

“Dorians, you must understand,” said the other voice, “this isn’t a request but an order. If you disobey this order, then you will face the master’s wrath! There would be no use for regret then!”

“Your master is nothing but a bandit!” roared Dorians. “Let him come then! I’ve got so many sturdy Warriors under me; I’ve got armed beasts, and I’ve got axe-wielding Warriors! In this underground palace, no one’s a master but me!”

The other voice went silent after this outburst by Dorians. Now their footsteps approached Link, and the other two got closer and closer. After about ten seconds, two figures emerged from the entrance.

One of them was very tall—about 7 feet tall. He was wearing a dark purplish-red war armor, and through the faceplate, sat a pair of eyes that were glowing in bluish white light. They were glowing so bright that they seemed to be emitting a five-inch-long light column. His weapon was an extraordinary giant sword, of which the hilt was made into a shape of a demonic goat’s head. The goat’s eyes were made up of two black crystals which emitted a strong Mana fluctuation.

The other figure was wearing a luxurious black robe, covered by a large hooded cloak. This was the standard attire of a Magician. The figure was also holding an oddly-shaped wand in his hand—its main body was a pure black rod while at the tip of the wand was a small skeleton. A pair of greenish flames were burned in the eye sockets of this small skeleton.

“That Warrior is Dorians,” whispered Vance. “He’s got a strength of a Level-6 Warrior, and that sword of his was my precious treasure. I called it the Giant Sword of Gloom. Not only is it an impressive slashing weapon, but it’s also a magic wand. Its core contains compressed Mana where I stored two spells: one was the Level-5 offensive spell, Soul’s Attack, and the other was the Level-4 defensive spell, Crystal Shield.”

Vance stared at the Magician in silence for a while to try to identify him.

“I know the other bastard as well,” said Vance. “He’s called Morestern; he’s a Level-7 Voodoo Magician who escaped from the Azura Tower as well. I didn’t think he’d find a master so quickly, hahaha.”

Link didn’t pay much interest in those words but was instead staring keenly at the Magician’s skeleton wand. This wand had looked so familiar to him. Link was sure that he’d seen it in the game before, although it might look slightly different from the one in the game. Link had no way of confirming his suspicions, but he knew that there must be something significant about the wand.

“Vance,” said Link, “do you recognize the wand in Morestern’s hand?”

“The wand?” replied Vance. “Let me see…” Vance then diverted his flaming eyes from the swordsman towards the Magician. After scrutinizing it for about ten seconds, Vance seemed to jump in shock suddenly.

“Link,” said the Lich in a perturbed voice, “I’m afraid there’s no way we can win this fight today. We should go back for now.”

“What do you mean?” Celine asked the exact question in Link’s mind.

“I’ve been too rash!” said Vance as he slapped his head in annoyance. “Morestern has a very powerful wand in his hand. Its full name is the Night’s Stare, the Dark Arbiter’s Wand. Among all epic-quality wands associated with dark magic, it is definitely one of the top three most powerful wands. Its biggest strength is that it allows the wand holder to instantaneously cast one Level-7 spell per day.”

Instantaneous spellcasting? And a Level-7 spell at that?!

Link and Celine stared at each other. They both realized that this meant the opponent could attack and instantly kill at least one of them with only a single move. And if the opponent used Dorians’ underlings to trap them in the middle and cast a wide-range attacking spell on them, then Link was sure not even his Dimensional Jump could save them then.

Furthermore, such a small battle wouldn’t warrant the use of the highly invaluable White Prophetic Stone. All in all, this powerful opponent was just too much of a hassle to fight, and the best thing they should do now is to escape. They all saw how the two figures were now only about 100 feet away from where they hid; it was their last chance to run.

“Let’s hide out in the cave for a while,” whispered Link. “Once the Magician’s gone, we’ll come back and deal with the Swordsman.”

“That’s the only choice we have,” said Vance nodding.

They then started to furtively escape.

But they’d only taken three steps when they noticed the Voodoo Magician stopped dead in his tracks as though he sensed something. He then directed his eyes straight towards the spot where Link and the other two were hiding.

“What’s wrong?” asked Dorians impatiently. He hadn’t sensed anything yet.

“It’s probably nothing,” said Morestern. “But I feel as if something is awry.” He withdrew his gaze in Link’s direction and continued to walk forward.

Only the gods knew how soaked Link and Celine were in cold sweat. They looked into each other’s eyes and could clearly see the gratefulness to their luck. Even Vance was so frightened that they could hear his teeth chattering.

The three of them then continued to make for their escape under the cover of Traceless. They moved as fast as possible, even faster than Dorians and Morestern.