Chapter 95 - Another complication (1/2)
The fight with the second troll and the goblins finished much faster and easier than the previous ones. It also didn't cause any casualties which was unexpected. They quickly made their way to the right most end of the semi-circular passage, where the spectre was waiting for them.
”You have quite a large and capable team,” said Rozarius as he looked at the others. ”Which place did you all come from?” it asked looking at Rudra.
”White Heart City,” said Rudra uneasily. It was his first time conversing with a spectral NPC. Despite him playing quite a few games before and meeting spectral NPCs before, the experience in vita-nova was quite different. When one came near spectres, they feel a slight could and nausea. Shadow was used to the feeling in his past life and it didn't bother him much, but it was evident from the others' expressions that they didn't like it very much.
”Any relation to Col. Asmodeus Whiteheart?” it continued to ask Rudra. Rudra had no clue what it was talking about, but Balthazar knew the lore of the game and was able to answer.
”That would be the founder of the White Heart Kingdom,” answered Shadow.
”Hmm. I guess, it is fine if the fort went into the hands of his successors,” it muttered out loud looking at a distance.
”Here take this,” said the spectre handing him a square shaped token with a silver ”S” printed diagonally on it. ”This is the lord's token. I am willing to show you how to enter the core area under two conditions. Either you destroy the outer part of the fort or you go to your king and let him guard this fort under his jurisdiction,” said Rozarius looking at him.
This put all of the player around him in a shock. The quest didn't allow them to occupy the fort and had a ridiculous requirement. Rudra and the other were very excited at the prospect of obtaining a new base and the spectre's words broke down these hopes.
”What? What do you mean by that?” asked Rudra unable to accept this sudden turn of events.
”The lord always informed me that the shrine should be in worthy hands. If possible, I wouldn't have let you occupy the fort at all. If not for the goblins, I would have kept this a secret. But now, fate had brought you all here and you already have an idea of the core region,” said Rozarius looking at them.
”I am not left with much options. So, I am offering you the chance to enter the shrine and claim the power if you are lucky. But it comes at a price. Else, you can occupy the fort and I don't care,” it continued. ”Remember, it is quite hard to find what you want in the shrine. I have only heard of one person who managed to get out alive.”
With that the spectre turned back to Shadow. ”You are the one who led them here. So, I leave the responsibility of their choice to you. But you have only a couple of hours to accept or decline after that I will not entertain you,” said the spectre as floated away to a wall and rested against it as if it was a living being.
Everyone turned towards Shadow hoping to get some answers from him. He was the one who had found the quest. So, they all expected him to have a clue about what it was about. They didn't know enough about the entire quest of the place and were hoping to get some answers from him.
”Let us wait for the others the come, we still haven't opened another vault. It might be filled with more armaments,” said Shadow looking at them.
”We are not looking at you for that,” said Merlin who was irritated due to being in the dark about the entire quest. He was also under the assumption that they could occupy the fort after clearing the monsters and use it as a base. ”I want to know what the shrine is about and why you led us here.”
”I haven't the foggiest idea,” said Shadow putting on a bewildered expression as he shrugged his shoulders. ”I was just exploring the forest when I came across the fort. I was unable to scale the walls and was looking for some easier way when I came across the spectre NPC. I provided him a bit of help against the goblins, later fought the spectre and before I killed it, it stopped me and provided the quest.”
”You were attacking the NPC and it gave you the quest?” asked Merlin. The more Shadow told about it, the more confusing it was. NPCs don't give quests if they have a bad impression of the players and attacking an NPC was the easiest way to give it a bad impression.
”Helping it didn't work and it attacked me. So, I decided to attack back,” said Shadow.
”Look. Just this small part of the fort isn't really worth much. Moreover, from my fight with the spectre, it seemed to be guarding the shrine even after death and it looks like it would very important. At the very least, we would get some decent equipment inside. We have two hours and we can plunder the inner region before the time is up. I think it is best we agree to it. If, we give it to the kingdom, we could at least get some reputation or contribution points from them,” suggested Shadow.
”Not a bad suggestion actually. Maybe, it is better this way,” agreed Slaine.
”Fine, let us first collect the weapons from the other vault,” accepted both Rudra and Merlin.
The members which Lizzie was leading were about 10 minutes away from the fort. By this time, they have used the Colosseum points to gather a couple more dynamite designs and were busy making them. With the dynamites, they had they would be able to easily get through the forest to the fort.
During this time, the others also decided to go back to the city. They had their bags full and they had no work. Almost everyone except Rudra, Shadow and a few others stayed behind. Rudra was a guild leader and he decided to stay behind so that he could make a proper evaluation of all the things that would be found in the new vault. Due to the chaos, he couldn't do that the last time.
Shadow stayed back as he was mostly concerned about the shrine and the chance to obtain unique weapons. He also stayed back as he was supposed to open the vault. Roll had tried to open the previous vault and failed. He was the only one who managed to do it.