Chapter 92 - Silvannus Fort - 2 (1/2)

Shadow knew that the game always provided an alternative method in such situations unless explicitly specified by a notification from the system. He began to slowly move around the fence in search for a weak point.

He went in a direction to the left of the gate but couldn't find anything. Failing that went back in the opposite direction. After he crossed the gate again, he heard a small commotion in the forest.

He knew that his team members weren't in the forest. If someone got portaled to this place due to a quest or any other reason, he needed to kill them as there was a high probability of them interfering with his optional quest. The last possibility was the existence of an NPC which was fighting the goblins. Either way it was advantageous for him to check it out.

He moved closer to the source of the sounds while in stealth. He could hear the screams of a few goblins. They were clearly fighting something. To be on the safe side, he climbed up a tree and slowly moved among the treetops towards the goblins. From the treetop, he could clearly see five goblins attacking someone.

[Rozarius Ludo] (Spectre)

Level: 12

HP: 3800/4800;

Though outnumbered the opponent was clearly dominating the fight. It was donned in full body steel armor and wielded a transparent blinking blade as it attacked the goblins. Moreover, the opponent looked like a human spectre NPC and had an orange dot on its head. ”Definitely an NPC. With an orange marker, it would probably only be friendly if I help it against the goblins,” thought Balthazar as he moved towards the fight. Choosing an opportune time, he jumped off a tree onto a goblin plunging both his daggers into its back.

The first attack itself slammed the goblin onto the ground making it lose a third of its HP. He pulled his daggers along its waist and pulled it out causing a high bleed effect of 500 HP per second. This was the reason that he always preferred ambushing with a high momentum as they caused high damage. He quickly slit its throat and moved on to another goblin. The goblin he attacked previously was already seriously injured and the bleed effects caused it to die before it even stood up.

With him joining the fray, the attention of the goblins diverted towards him too. The ghost was already able to fight on par with them alone. Now, with one of them down and it being reinforced by him, it easily managed to kill them in a couple of minutes.

”Who the hell are you? What are you doing here?” shouted the spectre holding its blade above his head. It looked like it was ready to kill him even though he helped it.

”Well, it is an orange marked NPC. This is to be expected,” thought Balthazar. At such times, it is best to give information that he would provide any other NPC, else he might be attacked.

”I am an adventurer from the White Heart City. I was just hunting in the forest, when I saw the goblins and fort. When I heard the goblins fighting, I came to help whomever was being attacked by the goblins,” said Shadow to the NPC.

”Why do you care about who is fighting the goblins?” asked the NPC without changing its posture.

”Goblins are vile creatures. If allowed to grow they would attack the settlements nearby. Moreover, the White Heart City is quite close. If I inform them, then the city would probably send reinforcements to capture the fort and kill all goblins,” said Shadow. It was a good explanation seeing that the spectre was really angry at the goblins.

”You intend to capture the fort!!!” shouted the spectre as it attacked him with full force. The sudden reaction from the spectre shocked him and he barely managed to avoid the blade.

”What the hell?” thought Balthazar confused by the actions of the spectre. ”Is it a protector of the fort? In that case, I doubt I would get any help from it.”

”I don't intend to capture the dilapidated fort in the middle of the forest. I am just interested in killing the goblins,” he continued in a hurried manner. But it didn't seem to have much effect on the spectre. It continued attacking Shadow.

Spectres could turn intangible when fighting and this made it very hard to fight them. It is best to attack them with light magic or one can use fireworks to shock them before attacking them. Shadow had fireworks and could easily defeat it using them, but he knew that an NPC at such a remote location wouldn't be without any use. That is the only reason, he was trying to convince the spectre that he isn't an enemy.

”Anyone who dares covet the fort and the shrine must be killed,” shouted the spectre swinging its blade towards Shadow.

”I didn't even know of the fort. How the hell do you think I would covet something in it?” shouted Shadow back as polite speech didn't seem to work on the spectre. He didn't need to worry much about retaliation as the spectre was of a lower level than him. He even started to block its blade with his own rather than evading. Sometimes, it was required to change tactics. Not every NPC would be a logical and sensible character.

After a few more strikes being blocked by Shadow, he slowly went on the offence as the spectre didn't seem to be stopping anytime soon. He attacked it till its health went down to 100 HP.

”Wait. Wait. I am warning you to not go as it is very dangerous. The goblins and trolls which all tried to reach the shrine died. Only those who are fated can go to the shrine,” said the spectre.

”What do you know about the shrine and the fort?” asked Shadow. ”I can do something about the shrine after I kill the goblins and trolls. I wouldn't go to a place which could kill me. So, tell me everything that you know,” he continued pointing his dagger at the spectre.

It was clear that the spectre wouldn't run away. Spectres can easily escape once they turned intangible as only holy or light magic attacks could harm them in that state. But seeing that the spectre would rather talk with him than escape showed that it was an NPC which was closely related to the fort and secret in it.

”I hardly know anything of the shrine. I was only instructed to protect the fort and prevent any foreign races from entering the core region of the fort by Lord Silvannus. The lord told me that great power lies at the shrine and one shouldn't allow vile people to enter. He was the one who always made sure that only virtuous and noble beings tested by the Lord Silvannus were allowed inside,” said the spectre explaining the reason.