Chapter 475: Katyusha in the Ruins

Three miles in the air, the sky was sapphire blue. A huge hawk with a wingspan of more than 100 feet flew in the air.

The hawk looked really strange. From afar, it looked like a hawk. But closer, Link discovered that it was covered in metallic dark red scales. They glowed faintly, and he could see many divine runes on them. They emitted a repressive aura. As for the wings, they were made of feathers, but at a glance, they looked like rows of knives. The edges glinted like blades.

Seeing this, Link realized what it was. It should be a pet, transformed from a Dragonhawk. It must be really powerful!

Regular Dragonhawks were similar, but their wingspans were at most 60 feet. The Agatha Nagas had displayed divine domestication spells before so Link wasn’t surprised.

A sound floated through the air. It was an Agatha Naga speaking from the back of the Dragonhawk. Instead of attacking immediately, Link hung around two miles away from the Dragonhawk and listened closely.

“It’s weird. The information said that Link’s ship left, but there’s been no trace. Did he crash halfway through?” The speaker was a Naga Warrior. Link also saw a small black-haired Naga sitting in front of her. For some reason, Link found her familiar, but most of her body was covered so he couldn’t see clearly.

“Alright, stop complaining. There’s nothing absolute in this world. If Link was so easy to deal with, he wouldn’t be so famous. He must have taken a detour,” another voice said. It was too far away so Link couldn’t pinpoint who exactly was speaking. He did feel that the voice was familiar though. It was as soft as a floating feather; it was lovely too.

The voice sounds like Misamier but smoother. I must have heard it somewhere before.

If Link heard it from the front, he would definitely be able to remember. However, they were three miles up and sped along at a couple hundred feet per second. The wind flew past them, distorting the voice Link heard, so he couldn’t think of the person at the moment.

After a while, another voice said, “Commander, are we going to the Orida Fortress like this?”

“Yes. We’ll change our outfits and go in. Humans look similar to us. If we say we’re going to join the army, they have no reason to stop us from entering.”

It was that lovely voice again. Now Link knew that she was the Naga commander.

After that, another conversation started on the back of the Dragonhawk. Complaints were thrown in too. Link listened patiently and soon could piece together their plan.

He hadn’t cleared all the Naga spies from the territory. These Nagas were able to find out the time and path he would take to go north. They’d been waiting for him on the way, but then he changed direction, so they didn’t get anything. Since they missed him, they decided to turn north and join the Orida Fortress to become the general’s soldiers.

To be honest, there was nothing wrong with their plan. From the outside, Nagas had no big difference from humans. Their energy was the dark red power of destruction. It was very different from Dark power and was rarely seen in the mainland. It was easy to fool others.

Once these Nagas successfully went to Duke Abel’s side, it would be extremely troublesome for Link.

At this moment, Link’s vision flashed. It was a mission.

Activate Mission: Intercept

Mission Content: While ensuring your own safety, stop the Agatha Nagas from entering the Orida Fortress.

Mission Reward: 10 Jogu

Seeing this, Link got an idea. There were only 13 Nagas on the Dragonhawk, all around Level-8 or nine. Only three were truly threatening to Link.

The first was the Naga at the very front, clad in a black and red dress. She was probably a Naga priestess. The other was the black-haired Naga. Link could feel that she was at the peak of Level-10. The last one was the Dragonhawk pet. The God of Destruction protected it, and it was extremely combative. However, its size meant that it wasn’t that agile. It was probably the least threatening of the three.

Even if it was these three, he should probably be okay if he was careful… Did they have some powerful battle techniques or crazy weapons? No matter what, the game warned him, so he had to be prepared.

He accepted the mission and quietly snuck towards the Dragonhawk’s body from below.

Link’s Void Walk was very powerful. At full force, it was as fast as his dragon form. The Dragonhawk wasn’t that fast. It was even slower than a Yabba airship’s cruising speed. It was only around 400 feet per minute, and Link could catch up easily.

The distance between them closed. Two miles… one mile… half a mile… Link saw the black-haired Naga start looking side to side. She felt something.

Link immediately stopped approaching and started putting everything into restricting the sound of wind around him. After following quietly for more than ten seconds, the black-haired Naga still didn’t let down her guard.

“That’s strange. Something feels wrong,” she started to say.

Now, Link was much closer to her and could hear her voice more clearly. He felt even more that her voice was familiar now. He must have heard her in the game, and she must be some Naga boss that caused him a lot of trouble.

Who is she? Who is she?

Link started thinking back. In the game, he’d killed 16 Naga bosses from the Silversand Islands in total. Each one had their own characteristics. There were a few black-haired ones too… Wait, Link suddenly remembered her name.

Her full name was: Victory’s Vow, Agatha’s Glory, Katyusha in the Ruins. She’d appeared in the second half of the game and was one of the few horrible bosses that could only be killed with the Suicide Battle Technique.

What was a Suicide Battle Technique?

This meant that the boss would use a powerful move every two seconds. This move would hit the player with the highest hatred level. It couldn’t be avoided, blocked, or freed from. Even the divine shield known by Holy Knights as “undefeatable” would be defeated in one hit.

Only a sea of Warriors could defeat Katyusha. They had to charge one by one to block her moves and tire her out with rounds of Warriors.

Link remembered that in the game, two guilds had teamed up to form a group of 1000 players. By the end, 857 had died, each from one hit. When Katyusha’s bloodline was below ten percent, her attack speed would increase by 200% and make a move every 0.6 seconds… It had been a total bloodbath.

Meeting Katyusha again in real life, Link discovered she wasn’t as powerful. In order to take care of the players, the game set the rule that Katyusha had to make a move every two seconds and hit the player with the highest hatred level. There was no such rule in the real world.

In real life, she might have other restrictions, but she would definitely be agile to the max. If she came at Link and he wasn’t ready, he would be dead meat.

Link thought for a few seconds and came up with a plan.

First, he waited for more than ten seconds. During that time, Katyusha looked side to side on the Dragonhawk. She didn’t find anything strange but still kept her guard up. A spear that shone like lightning appeared in her hands.

Seeing this, Link gulped reflexively.

He obviously recognized this spear. It was the Spear of Victory, a Legendary weapon only for Warriors. Of all the Legendary weapons that had appeared in the game, it was ranked fourth, above his Dragon King’s Fury sword.

After killing Katyusha, she would drop broken pieces of the sword. After collecting 20 pieces and completing some missions, he could find a dwarf blacksmith to make a low-level Legendary Glory Spear. After a dozen more missions, the last mission would be to trick the God of Destruction. Then he could quench the Glory Spear and create the Victory Spear.

The spear’s basic damage was already really high. It only had one effect but was perversely powerful and could be actively triggered. It was called the Thorn of Fate. Once triggered, the player’s next attack against a creature would increase 50 times or ten times against a player. It was unavoidable too.

Even more terrifying, the effect could be both long and short-range. When close enough, it could pierce an enemy directly. When further away, it could be thrown. Either way, it would hit its mark and was unstoppable.

In the game, Warriors were a very tragic career. They could only fight and charge brutishly. The other careers could play circles around them if they had even the slightest technical skill. A Magician especially could send a Warrior to thousands of feet up in the air and have them freefall.

But once a Warrior had the Spear of Victory, they would become an undefeatable hero. They could defeat anyone in seconds, and everyone would try to avoid them.

Of course, players who won the Spear of Victory in the game could be counted on one hand.

This was real life though. There was no difference between creatures and players. As soon as Link saw the Spear of Victory, he got rid of the idea to clash directly with Katyusha.

Fully guarded against Katyusha, Link crept towards the Dragonhawk. When he was around 2000 feet away, he stopped. He was now under the beast and in Katyusha’s blind spot. He could attack from here without worrying about Katyusha’s immediate reaction.

Taking a deep breath, Link took out the Dragon King’s Fury sword.

Despair Ball

A spatial sphere containing a black vortex appeared immediately. Link stabbed forward. Another Despair Ball appeared at the furthest place possible, and he activated another one. This way, the sword’s tip instantly crossed 2300 feet, arriving under the Dragonhawk’s belly.

The Dragonhawk was a god’s pet and was protected by divine power. Link’s Despair Ball couldn’t penetrate it, but this was enough.

The Dragon King’s Fury sword pushed against the scales on the Dragonhawk’s belly and stabbed forward. He activated Boundless Sharpness, and the scales were pierced. The sword buried in 12 inches deep, entering the Dragonhawk’s body.

“Void Destructor!”

The Red Dragon Queen had given him this spell. It worked well with Dragon Power. Its strength went without saying, and it was fast too. A dark purple fireball instantly appeared at the sword tip and then exploded.

Boom! Fire spewed out from the Dragonhawk’s belly. Flames spread deep inside it and burst out from other places. Seeing this, Link knew that it was game over for the Dragonhawk.

He didn’t stop for a second. Immediately activating the Dimensional Jump, he jumped, jumped, and jumped for up to three miles before starting to fly.

Link had put much thought into the direction he flew in. Rather than going towards the airship, he flew elsewhere, just in case.

He heard the Dragonhawk’s wail and the Agatha Naga’s surprised and angry roars. He turned and saw the Dragonhawk’s flaming body plummet. The Agatha Nagas on its back also fell.

Link saw Katyusha too. She stood on the Dragonhawk’s back and stared at Link. Her furious voice traveled over. “Link, don’t run!”

Then he saw the Naga priestess cast a mysterious spell on Katyusha. A pair of red wings, seemingly solid, sprouted behind her back. She flapped her wings and charged towards Link. She was only a bit slower than him.

Link was speechless. He wasn’t scared of getting caught, but now that he had someone on his tail, he wouldn’t be able to get to the Orida Fortress on time.

But then he thought, Divine spells have time limits. I just need to drag things out.

Chapter 476: The Naga’s Spear and Celine’s Guns

All mission weapons had some sort of weakness. Something as strong as the Spear of Victory was no exception to this rule.

However, Link had not the slightest idea where that weakness could be.

This was the first time Link had encountered such a weapon, and so he did not want to risk taking a full hit from the spear, especially when its wielder was one who showed no qualms about taking his life. In an instant, Katyusha had caught up to him, and his first instinct then was to run away from her immediately.

Everyone who had been watching the whole battle unfold on the airship was all surprised to see Link fleeing from the Agatha Naga.

“What’s going on? Why has Master Link chosen to run? He hasn’t even started fighting.”

“The lightning spear in the lady’s hand looks incredibly powerful!”

“Should we go out and help?” asked one of the Red Dragon Warriors.

“No, don’t. The lord has sent out his signal,” shouted Merlin, the captain of the airship.

Everyone looked at the magical image in the middle of the airship’s cabin and saw that Link was holding out his wand while flying at top speed through the air. From his wand, a stream of light began flowing out and forming a row words in front of him.

“Powerful Naga weapon, withdraw now!”

All of them looked at each, curious as to what kind of weapon had caused even Link to flee. As it was a direct order from their lord, the airship began making its retreat.

Just then, when the airship had only turned halfway around, tragedy struck once more.

Celine shouted, “Not good, she’s spotted us!”

In the magical image, the black-haired Naga who had sprouted a pair of dark red wings from her back seemed to be gazing in their direction. A few seconds later, she gave up pursuing Link and began speeding towards the airship.

Alarmed, Merlin asked, “How fast is she flying?”

One of his co-pilots conjured a magic seal from a fingertip and hastily tapped a few times on it. A few seconds later, he reported back to the captain, “800 feet per second, sir! She’ll reach us in one minute!”

The airship’s speed was no more than 180 feet per second, and its length from tip to tail was over 20 feet. The entire vessel was like a whale sluggishly floating in the air and waiting to be pounced upon by a more agile predator that was rapidly gaining on them.

Under such circumstances, escape was futile!

Merlin immediately gave an order to the rest of his crew. “Stand your ground, men. Ready the magic cannons and prepare for combat!”

The idea was that they might stand a better chance of winning this fight by taking their enemy head-on with everything they had instead of running away with their tails tucked between their legs and leaving themselves wide open to the enemy’s attacks.

The airship’s crew members moved in sync with each other as they dexterously adjusted the magical power output from the airship’s vents. With short intervaled whistles, the Battle Airship came to a stop in the air.

Metallic thumps resonated from every corner of the airship. Every magic cannon was brought out and aimed at the enemy. From the end of the cannon barrels radiated a brilliant light as they began charging up with magical power.

All Warriors on board the airship had also started making preparations for the battle ahead.

Captain Merlin continued giving his orders without any sign of panic.

“Put on your parachutes, everyone!” he ordered, as a precaution for when the worst-case scenario should come to pass.

One of the Warriors helped King Leon put on a parachute, while a Yabba man stood on the other side, teaching him how to use it.

“Your Highness, do you see this string? If anything happens, and you find yourself free-falling in the air, just pull on this string, which will deploy your parachute immediately, and you’ll be able to float yourself to safety. Maybe. At most, you’ll probably come out of this with two broken legs. Well then, God bless.”

King Leon never had any experience in aerial warfare. His face had gone completely pale, and he seemed to be on the verge of vomiting.

The three Red Dragon Warriors had all leaped out of the cabin. Taking on their dragon forms, they circled around the airship in the air as an additional layer of defense.

Celine and the rest of the marksmen all assembled on the second floor of the cabin, where firing ports had been fixed on both sides of the airship. The firing ports were reserved for Yabba snipers. However, in this case, Celine and the others were the only ones on the airship capable of striking from a distance, and so readied their guns at each port to fire at the incoming Naga.

Ten seconds later, all battle preparations had been made throughout the airship.

In the distance, Link did not expect such a turn of events.

He had not anticipated that Katyusha would be able to notice the airship 50 miles away in the air. With the airship now being targeted by her, he had no choice but to bring the fight straight to her!

Link cautiously kept himself at least 2000 feet away from his adversary. He had a vague feeling that if he were to go any closer, there would be trouble.

Whether his hunch was right or not mattered little; he dared not take any chances at this point.

He was now flying at 1000 feet per second, which was even faster than Katyusha. This gave him the chance to seize the initiative.

Despite knowing this, Katyusha ignored Link and continued making a beeline for the airship.

When Katyusha was within 10,000 feet of the airship, Link had already reached the airship’s vicinity. He stopped before the vessel, and shouted, “The Naga is holding a Legendary spear. As soon as she throws it towards you, abandon the airship immediately!”

Everyone on board was stunned at the mention of the Legendary weapon.

When Link had finished speaking, Katyusha was already within 3000 feet away.

He estimated that his foe’s maximum striking range was approximately 2000 feet. Even with Dimensional Jump and Instant Flash at his disposal, he had no intention of closing the gap between them.

In the game, once the Thorn of Fate had been activated by the Spear of Victory, it would lock on to its target. Even if a Magician were to use spatial spells like Instant Flash to escape to the other side of the continent, the Thorn of Fate would still find its mark.

This spear simply possessed unfathomable divine power!

Before he departed, Link suddenly caught a glimpse of Celine and felt uneasy about leaving her on board. Celine’s aim was true, but not enough to kill a Legendary opponent. If she caught the Naga’s attention and was then targeted by the spear, she would instantly be vaporized.

With the force of his will, a white light engulfed Celine’s entire body. In an instant, she reappeared outside the airship right beside Link.

“What the…?” Celine was bewildered by her sudden teleportation in the air.

“You’re with me now,” said Link.

He took out a leather rope and willed it to bind Celine to his back using the Magician’s Hand. “Grab on tight!” he said, before leaving the airship behind.

Before flying away, he spoke to Felina and the other Red Dragon Warriors, “The Naga is a Legendary creature, and extremely powerful. Keep your distance for now, and only attack when I give the order!”

“Understood!” replied the three Dragon Warriors, their faces stern.

Katyusha had now reached 2000 feet away from the airship, which also happened to be the striking range of the airship.

In the airship, Merlin shouted, “Aim, and fire!”

Hum, hum, hum… Magical power swirled rapidly within the airship. Moments later, every magic cannon began opening fire, shooting out purple balls of light at Katyusha. Trails of light could be seen in the wake of their flight through the air.

Each Battle Airship was equipped with ten magic cannons on each side, each capable of firing ten rounds. Every purple ball of light dished out by each cannon packed an explosive power of around Level-7. Once it exploded, it would leave behind a fireball with a diameter of more than ten feet. The resulting balls of fire had effectively blocked off Katyusha’s trajectory towards the airship.

At the same time, from the firing ports, the marksmen on board had begun raining down a bullet storm on the Naga.

Magic Pistols were powered purely by the fire element. Their barrels were exquisitely sculpted through the use of transformative spells. The sound they made with each shot was soft, but the impact of each bullet was incredibly powerful. With at least Level-6 penetrating power, even the most seasoned combatant would find it hard to defend themselves against shots taken with it.

There were 20 marksmen on board. When they opened fire in unison, a flurry of bullets instantly whistled through the air towards Katyusha.

In the face of such a concentrated attack, Katyusha had nowhere to run. She screamed, “Die!”

She then hurled the Spear of Victory at the airship. As soon as it left her hand, she immediately shielded herself with her wings.

Her dark red wings were continuously battered by the bullets and magical explosions. In the dazzling light, her wings which had been fortified by divine spells were horribly torn to pieces.

But in that moment, the Spear of Victory that she had sent flying through the air finally struck the airship.

The spear hurtled through the air at a breakneck speed. Throughout its flight, the weapon was cloaked by a dark red cyclone of energy, which flashed out streaks of lightning. It left a trail of dark red light in its wake.

In half a second, the spear hurtled through 1500 feet in the air and struck the airship. Under the force of the impact, the entire vessel was immediately torn in half.

The two halves of iron that once made up the airship now came crashing down from the sky.

All the Warriors on board leaped out from the gaping hole at the airship’s midsection. Once in the air, they pulled open their leather parachutes. Before long, the air was filled with Warriors floating down unceremoniously to the ground.

When he saw that Katyusha had flung out the Spear of Victory, he immediately roared, “Now, attack!”

This was their chance.

Link and the three Red Dragon Warriors rushed towards the Naga together.

Link flew the fastest. In an instant, he was within a few thousand feet away from Katyusha. This was also the limit of his casting range.

With a thrust of his sword, he conjured a series of Despair Balls in the air. A purple Void Destructor sphere began forming on the sword’s tip when it was within a few feet away from Katyusha.

When the spell was about to explode, Katyusha suddenly spread what was left of her wings outward. At the same time, she pulled at the Void, and the Spear of Victory she had thrown out moments ago appeared instantly in her hand.

Link was taken aback. This was bad; he had never encountered such a technique in the game before.

“Die, Link!” Katyusha screamed. With a twist of her body, she threw the Spear of Victory straight at Link.

At that moment, Link felt his heart drop. It was as if everything had slowed down around him, including the spear, which seemed to edge with excruciating slowness towards him.

He immediately detonated the Void Destructor and activated Dimensional Jump at the same time.

In the bright light, both Celine and he vanished on the spot. An instant later, they reappeared 1000 feet away. Just then, Celine shouted, “It’s coming for us!”

Link cast Dimensional Jump once more.

In the span of a second, he managed to cast Dimensional Jump three times, but it was no use. The Spear of Victory showed no signs of stopping. Not only did he fail to put some distance between them and the Spear, but it also seemed to be getting closer and closer towards them.

Link stopped fleeing. At this point, he had no time to cast any spell, nor was he certain that any of them would even be effective against the spear. Right now, his sword was the only thing capable of intercepting the spear. His Dragon Power began to boil in him as it flowed into the Dragon King’s Fury sword. He then thrust the sword out with all his strength.

What happened next horrified Link.

However he tried to parry it, from whichever direction he maneuvered his Dragon King’s Fury sword, the Spear of Victory always managed to evade his attacks, as if it was being controlled by an unseen force.

It was as if the spear itself was able to anticipate his moves before he even thought about making them.

Just when the spear was about to pierce through his body, Celine, who was still attached to Link’s back, suddenly pulled out her double pistols, “Link” and “Celine.”

Her eyes began emanating a purple swirl of energy, which then spread out over her entire body, and finally flowed into both pistols in her hands.

Bang! Bang! Celine fired both pistols at the same time.

At that moment, with his tautened senses, Link was able to track the trajectories of both bullets in the air. He also saw that they were radiating off a dreamlike purple glow.

The two bullets danced and twirled through the air haphazardly, while the Spear of Victory kept changing its course, desperately attempting to anticipate where the bullets might come, but it was all in vain.

With a metallic chink, the Spear of Victory was finally struck by both bullets.

Struck by a Level-9 attack, the Spear of Victory swerved off course and then vanished in thin air.

A few thousand feet away, Katyusha, who had a Void Destructor ball of light explode in her face, once again held the Spear of Victory in her hand. Her wings now reduced to withered stalks on her back, she began to fall straight to the ground, staring in confusion at Link, or rather Celine who was still tied to his back.

At the same time, Link felt Celine’s body go limp behind him. She had passed out.

Chapter 477: Power of Time

Whoosh!

With a gust of wind, another Naga with dark red wings appeared. It was that Naga priestess. She took away the falling Katyusha.

Link didn’t pursue them. The power of the Spear of Victory was obvious. If he chased them and Katyusha acted again, it would be game over for him.

He continued descending with the unconscious Celine.

The three Red Dragon Warriors didn’t dare chase either. They flew around in the air, saving the unlucky souls with damaged parachutes. After a flurry of activity, the group landed.

In total, two had died—one Yabba and one Warrior. The others all had light injuries with no serious problems. Deaths were unavoidable in battle. Two deaths were already good enough.

King Leon was okay too. He obviously didn’t break his legs and was just a bit shocked. The Warriors gathered around the airship ruins to bury the dead and treat the injured.

Link checked on Celine. Her breathing was steady, and her heartbeat was strong. He pulled back her eyelids and shone a magic light. Her pupils reacted well. She should be fine.

Link guessed that Celine must have been exhausted by overexertion. She should recover after a bit of rest. It was clear that both the Spear of Victory and Celine had used some type of time power. They clashed using time and the Spear of Victory lost.

The Spear of Victory uses a battle technique called Thorn of Fate. Fate is a track of time. It must be able to predict all my moves. No wonder I can’t block it. Link sighed inwardly.

He’d researched the mysteries of space to the extreme. However, he only grasped basic knowledge about time. He almost lost big time due to this today. Thankfully, he had Celine.

However, he still wasn’t assured. In his mind, he asked the sword spirit of the Dragon King’s Fury, “When do you think Celine will wake up?”

It’s nothing big. She’s just overexerted and will be fine in a while. You’re the one with the problem.

“Me?” Link was stunned.

Yes, you. You were targeted by the Spear of Victory but weren’t killed. Now, you have its causal ring on you. It will continue being in effect until the ring closes.

“Until the causal ring closes? The effect of the cause must be my death, right?” Link knew the basics of time.

Yes. In other words, you’re walking towards death.

Link actually wasn’t scared of this. Since the causal ring could be broken once, it could be broken a second time. “I wish the Breakpoint Dagger is here,” he lamented. “Otherwise, I wouldn’t be this miserable.”

The Breakpoint Dagger could cut through anything, including time.

Actually, I can cut the causal ring too. As long as Boundless Sharpness is completely unlocked, you can use me to block the Spear of Victory.

Link was overjoyed. Boundless Sharpness was the effect of the Dragon King’s Fury sword. It could easily cut through armor and spells. He didn’t expect it could cut through time too. “How do I unlock it?” he asked hurriedly. “How much power do I need?”

I know you have a numerical value for Dragon Power. Calculating using that, I think I need at least one million Dragon Power points. I will use this to upgrade to Level-12 and unlock Boundless Sharpness at the same time.

“I see! No problem.” Link nodded.

His Dragon Power recovery rate was 37 points per second. He could generate one million points in three days and give it all to the sword. It was simple.

While feeding the Dragon Power into the sword, he asked again, “How much do I need if I want to go to Level-13, 14, or completely unlock you?”

I don’t know. The sword spirit’s voice was a bit lost. You’re my owner. How far I can go depends on what level you can reach… The Dark Serpent was once weaker than me, but his owner ignited the Sacred Fire and became the Dark Spider, so it became a divine gear.

Link smiled in his thoughts. “Don’t worry. I’ll keep going.”

I’ll wait and see.

With that, the sword spirit stopped speaking.

By then, the Warriors had mostly taken care of everything. Commander Merlin walked up to Link. “Lord, what do we do now?”

The airship was ruined. They had no way to get to the North quickly.

“Where exactly are we? How far are we from the Orida Fortress?” Link asked.

“We are in the Glen Mountains 271 miles south of the fortress,” Merlin reported immediately.

“Two hundred seventy-one miles isn’t far. The airship is ruined so how about you collect the usable materials and go back to Ferde. The rest of the people go find the thickest tree in the vicinity. Dig a hole in the tree and wait for me.”

There were less than 120 thousand Yabbas in total; the pilots were even more valuable. They couldn’t be lost carelessly and weren’t that great at fighting either. There wasn’t much use for them at the fortress.

That way, Link would only have to bring 19 fire gun Warriors, King Leon, and three dragon Warriors. He wanted to make a canoe with a tree and have everyone sit in it. Then he would use the Void Walk and get to the Orida Fortress in one hour.

“Yes, Lord.” Everyone obeyed and left.

Link stayed to look after the unconscious Celine. A couple of minutes later, Link felt Celine move. Her eyelids quivered. After half a minute, she opened her eyes.

Seeing that she was in Link’s arms, Celine’s first sentence was, “Ah, I’m so tired. I can’t move.”

A crystal red ball of light appeared at Link’s fingertip. This was the Essence Vitality of the dragons. Merging the light into Celine’s body, he asked, “How does this feel? Is it effective?”

“Mm, yeah. I feel warm, but I don’t wanna move.” Celine didn’t get up from Link’s arms, and Link let her be.

At that time, Warriors shouted from the front. Something seemed to have happened.

Link’s heart jumped. Scared that the Nagas had come again, he helped Celine up and went over. He saw a Red Dragon Warrior drag a strange dirty man covered in vines and leaves.

Walking over, the dragon said, “Duke, this guy was sneaking around. I think he’s a spy for the Agatha Nagas!”

Seeing Link, the man pulled away the vines from around him, revealing a dirty face. “Lord, it’s me, Skinorse!”

Link recognized him and asked strangely, “Why are you here? Why do you look so pathetic?”

Skinorse sighed. While struggling with the vines, he said, “I’m here to send you a letter. I was on the other side of the mountain when I saw the commotion in the sky. I saw you too, so I hurried over.”

With that, he took out a bloodied letter and gave it to Link. “Princess Annie and Kanorse were supposed to send this, but they were chased by Nagas and hurt badly. My friends and I saved them, so I had to send this. It’s from the general. We opened it. That’s okay, right?”

He looked at Link timidly, fearing that he would get yelled at. It was different when they’d opened the letter earlier. He felt guilty when he saw Link.

Hearing this, Link frowned. He took the letter and opened it. He knew from the first word that this was indeed from Duke Abel because he recognized the handwriting.

As he read, his brows furrowed more deeply. “Do you know Gladstone’s situation?” he asked Skinorse. “Does it really have the plague?”

Skinorse scratched his head. “Not sure, but I heard from some mercenaries that the plague really did happen. But the city lord reacted quickly and controlled everything.”

Link was even more shocked. With Duke Abel’s current state, he wouldn’t care if the plague was controlled or not. He just needed an excuse to kill.

Furthermore, it was also possible that the plague was spread purposely. It could only be controlled temporarily. If the mastermind wasn’t found, it would keep spreading. In other words, this might turn into a massacre in Gladstone. They would either be killed by soldiers or the plague.

The bottom line was that this was a catastrophe for the residents of Gladstone City!

“How many days have you had this?” Link asked.

“One and a half days. I had to avoid Nagas, so I couldn’t go quickly. Thankfully, I met you here.” Skinorse felt so lucky. If he missed Link here, everything would be delayed.

One and a half days wasn’t too long. The Orida Fortress was around 60 miles north of Gladstone. It would take at least five days for the army to prepare and head over. They still had a chance.

Beside them, King Leon finally recovered. “Master Link, what’s wrong?” he asked.

Link gave him the letter. King Leon accepted it and halfway through, he jumped up. “Oh, glorious God of Light, we must stop him!”

“That’s what I think too.”

Just then, a mission appeared in Link’s vision.

Activate Mission Series: Gladstone Plague

Step One: Find the source of the plague.

Mission Content: Hurry to Gladstone and search the entire city for the distributor of the plague.

Reward 1: 100 Omni Points

Reward 2: Scapegoat Doll

Intrigued, Link checked the information for the doll.

Scapegoat Doll

Legendary

Effect: With this, the player can block one fatal attack.

(Note: My duty is to die for you.)

This was what Link needed. He immediately accepted the mission and said, “Let’s go to Gladstone!”

Chapter 478: The First Clue: The Cemetery, South of the City

Northern City of Gladstone

This was where he had spent his first night in the world of Firuman, and also where he first met Celine.

Back then, the Bloody Butcher Lund of the Dark Elves had plotted to raze the whole city. Now, the Agatha Nagas had set their sights on this place and had begun spreading an epidemic here. This city was simply a magnet for all manner of calamities.

Link and the others had ridden on a one-foot-wide, 20-foot-long wooden log to the city.

Link saw nothing out of the ordinary from outside the city. There was no sign of the soldiers from the fortress up north, or even of an outbreak in the city. The only thing that struck him as odd were the passers-by walking down the streets hurriedly, a dark cloud hanging over each of their faces.

Link let out a sigh of relief.

“We seem to have made it in time,” said Link. He found an empty clearing in the woods outside the city and began lowering the wooden log to the ground while regulating his Void Walk in the air.

The Warriors leaped down, a look of amazement on their faces, as it was their first time riding a wooden boat through the air.

It felt like a dream to have a mere wooden log fly them over 500 miles in one hour.

Without any delay, Link began assigning tasks to his entourage.

He said to Felina and the other two Red Dragon Warriors, “You three stand by at the main path 50 miles from here. Once the army from Orida Fortress makes an appearance, report back immediately. Also, keep yourself in the shadows. If you meet any Agatha Nagas, do not engage them.”

Felina nodded. “Understood.”

The three Red Dragon Warriors then headed for the North. They did not transform into their dragon forms, as it would stand out too much.

Link then turned to Skinorse. “So are you coming with me, or will you be going back to your friends?”

Skinorse thought for a moment, then said, “I’d better go back. They’re still probably waiting for me.”

When he finished, Skinorse fished a small pouch from his pocket and handed it to Link. “Here, the white stones that you wanted. I went digging in an ancient tomb and managed to find 23 of those stones. See if this is what you wanted.”

Link scooped the stones out from the pouch, and much to his joy saw that the white, round stones were indeed Jogus. He put away the pouch. “Excellent, I’ll keep that in mind. You still need 78 more pieces to receive your reward.”

A pained expression came across Skinorse’s face. “If only I had known to collect these stones from the start… I’ve been to a lot of tombs, and those kinds of places are just brimming with them.”

Link was overjoyed to hear this. “It’s not too late. Remember, the more stones you collect, the better your reward will be.”

“I know. Then I’m off.” Skinorse then scampered off into the depths of the dense forest.

Celine, King Leon, and the 19 marksmen were all that was left of his party.

Link said to King Leon, “Your Highness, we’re about to enter the city. I don’t think it would be a good idea to keep your royal robe and crown on you.”

At first, King Leon had intended to put the soldiers in their place in the barracks with his royal garb. Right now, though, their main concern was to handle the epidemic in the city. Wearing something as gaudy as a crown into the city would bring more harm than good to their current objective.

“Alright.” King Leon did not make a fuss about it. After all, danger abounded in the North, and his survival depended solely on Link.

When King Leon had put on his guise as a normal commoner, Link said, “Alright, let’s go into the city.”

Saying this, he activated Dimensional Jump.

Hum… A white light enveloped the whole party. In an instant, they were teleported beyond the city walls and now found themselves in an isolated alley in the old city district of Gladstone City.

An M13 branch was stationed in the old city district. If Link was to have the latest information on the epidemic, the M13 would be a good place to start.

However, their party consisted of 19 Warriors, and they were all wearing the same uniforms while being armed with powerful magical pistols. The follower responsible for the rampant spread of the epidemic would immediately be alerted of their presence in the city.

Their only advantage now was the element of surprise, as the Agatha Nagas still had no idea of their current whereabouts.

After much thought, Link pressed a hand on a stone wall in the alley. Dragon Power flowed out from his fingers into the stone. Three seconds later, he managed to grasp the layout of the room behind the stone wall.

It was probably a wood merchant’s warehouse. Almost half of the space inside was left empty, while dry wooden logs were piled up in the other half.

Link then teleported the rest of his party into the warehouse.

Once inside, Link drew out a few spatial runes on the walls in order to set up a Folded Dimension. The area of the already spacious warehouse doubled instantaneously as a result.

“Your Highness, Celine and I will start looking for information outside. Everyone else, stay here.”

Link gave a rune stone to King Leon. “If you find yourself in danger, just infuse your Battle Aura into this rune stone, and I’ll be by your side in half a minute.”

“I understand.” King Leon nodded.

Link then said to his Warriors, “Protect the king at all costs.”

“Yes, my lord!” shouted the Warriors in unison.

After leaving enough food and water to last for a month for his men, Link drew another rune on the stone wall. With a soft tap on the rune, a spatial door appeared on the wall. Link and Celine both strode out through the door, leaving the warehouse behind them.

Once outside of the warehouse, worried that Celine had not yet fully recovered, Link asked, “How are you feeling?”

Celine twirled a pistol in her hand and smiled at him. “Never felt better. For some reason, my recovery rate has improved tremendously.”

The spirit of the sword spoke to Link in his mind, “Celine’s blood has awakened considerably. Take a look at her hair and eyes.”

Link did as he was told, and noticed that Celine’s hair had become even more lustrous, with a layer of purple dreamlike haze shrouding it. Her eyes had undergone an even more astonishing transformation; her pupils were now a pair of purple, seemingly bottomless whirlpools.

The spirit of the sword added, “She’s starting to look more and more like the Soul Dominator.”

Link was happy to hear this. He beamed at Celine and patted her head gently, “Good to hear. Let’s go, then!”

The fountain square in the old city district was the same as the last time he was in the city two years ago. The only difference was that the wooden buildings that were burned down by Link had been replaced by even more fireproof stone architecture.

As they approached the iron fences of the M13 building, Link cast a Traceless Invisibility Spell on both of them.

Gladstone was a small city, and the strongest scout under the employ of the M13 branch here was no more than Level-5. None of the people inside even noticed them when Link and Celine entered the building.

They made their way to the commander’s office on the second floor. Link then knocked on the door.

Save for the sound of someone knocking on the office door, no other sound could be heard from outside the office. The clerks outside continued sifting through the piles of paperwork in front of them, too busy to notice anything strange.

“Who’s there?” A gravelly voice came from within the office.

Link pushed open the door and walked straight in, followed by Celine from behind. Once inside the room, Link removed the invisibility spell from both of them, revealing themselves instantly.

“I never said you could come in!” The gravelly voice spoke again, this time with a hint of anger.

Link searched for the source of the voice and saw a middle-aged man sitting at the end of a long table, a long scar running across one side of his face, his eyes cold and piercing. He was busy writing a letter with a quill gripped tightly in one hand.

With a sweep of his keen eyes at the table, Link was able to read what the man was writing. It was a written report to the M13 headquarters concerning the state of the epidemic.

Due to the fact that King Leon had been residing in Ferde all this time, the M13 headquarters had been moved to Scorched City of Ferde.

This meant that the letter would ultimately reach Scorched City.

“Who are you?” The middle-aged man had drawn out his dagger, his face alert and furious.

Link did not want to disclose his identity immediately. He seated himself opposite the man. Gazing at him, he pushed at the air gently in front of him. “Be calm!” said Link assertively.

It was a psychological spell called the Koan of Kund. It was named after a Magician known as Kund. Under the effect of this spell, all manner of emotion, be it fear, happiness, excitement or anger, would be quelled in the target.

Kund the Magician was said to have invented this spell as a prank. However, as a result of a joke taken too far, one of his friends ended up being sexually dysfunctional.

Under the spell, the M13 commander’s eyes widened. All agitation in him had been flushed out, and his voice was now level and calm. “How may I help you?”

Link asked, “There’s an epidemic in the city. I need to know the current state of the situation.”

Hearing this, he could feel a violent tremble from the man’s spirit. His face betrayed a look of horror. “There’s nothing good to speak about the situation. You’d best not hear about any of this, trust me.”

Link and Celine glanced at each other, sensing that the man was hiding something.

Link said even more firmly, “Tell me.”

The man hesitated for a while. Unable to resist the spell’s effect, he said, “We’ve found the altar of an unnamed deity in the city. We believe that it may have something to do with the epidemic. This was our only lead. Our scouts have tried to delve deeper into the matter, but all of them have disappeared without a trace. The ones we’ve sent as a follow-up have also met the same fate as the others. This is just terrifying. This epidemic must be an act of judgment from the gods!”

“All gone… Are there any survivors?”

“None. We only managed to find one of our Warriors’ corpse. His entire body was covered in deep wounds, and his arm had been shoved into his throat when we discovered it. This is beyond my jurisdiction. I need backup, I need stronger Warriors. I need to be quick. News of this should not spread out of the city walls, or else that bloodthirsty butcher in Orida Fortress will have all our heads!” The middle-aged man began rambling, but he had already given all the relevant pieces of information to his interrogator.

Link said, “I’ll need the coordinates of this altar.”

“The cemetery, at the south of the city. Every night, strange noises are reportedly heard from its depths. The guards and even their dogs were too afraid to venture any deeper into the place. A couple of kids had gone in there, though, and they came out infected by the disease. They were among the first batch of the infected.”

Link now knew everything he needed to know.

Link said to Celine, “Alright, to the cemetery!”

Chapter 479: The Gravekeeper and Blood Runes

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

After coming out of the MI3 headquarters, it was already a bit dark. Link took out his pocket watch and saw that it was 6:20.

In his memories, Gladstone City should still be lively at this time. Now, there was barely anybody on the street. When the wind blew past the street, and it sounded like a wail. Gladstone was filled with people, but it looked like a ghost town now.

The plague clearly affected the city greatly.

Link and Celine returned to the warehouse where King Leon and the others were hiding. They reported their findings and then continued southward.

The cemetery south of the city was close to Gladstone’s garden. It was quite far from the older parts of the city. Link activated the Traceless spell for them both, and they traveled invisibly.

By the time they got to the garden, the streets were even quieter. The people who lived around here were all elites in the upper class of society. They had ways to get news and enough money. Most of them had fled.

Along the way, Link discovered that many homes were already empty. Occasionally, there would be a building with lights—but only one or two lanterns with some old servants looking over their master’s beautiful mansion.

Because the streets were empty and unlit, the entire street was dark like a monster with its mouth open, waiting for someone to walk into the trap.

“I can feel great danger hiding here,” Celine whispered. “Like we’re being watched by a beast.”

She gripped both guns in her hands.

Link had one hand on the hilt of the Dragon King’s Fury sword. He was still feeding Dragon Power into it while keeping alert.

He wasn’t scared of any beasts. He was just worried this beast would be the Agatha Naga’s pet. If there was a pet, there would be a Naga priestess. Link wasn’t scared of fighting them, but this was inside the city. If the Nagas were desperate enough, the entire city could be hit by the shockwaves. It would be a disaster.

Link didn’t want to have any intense conflicts in the city.

They walked another few hundred feet, and the sky darkened even more. There were many ancient trees here, creating a thick curtain of leaves. There was even thin mist. The temperature started to drop too, making them feel coldness digging into their bones.

“This doesn’t feel right at all,” Link whispered. “I don’t feel the God of Destruction’s power in the air, but I feel tiny bits of dark aura.”

The aura was very slight. A regular priest wouldn’t feel it; it might not even alert a divine spell. Celine didn’t feel anything, and even Link could only feel a shred.

But if dark aura was present, it meant a dark force was involved.

There were only two dark forces in the North—the Dark Elves and the scattered demons. The demons had come from another realm and were mostly Warriors. They couldn’t plan many sinister things, so the biggest suspicion lay with the Dark Elves.

Celine’s mind worked quickly too. “Do you think the Dark Elves would ally with the Agatha Nagas?” she whispered.

Link nodded. “If they have a bit of ambition, they would.”

Actually, they’d already teamed up. This was recorded in Travel Magician Aisenis’ scroll. However, the scroll’s records were mostly general events and updated to half a month ago. Gladstone’s event wasn’t included, so Link had no way of knowing the details.

At this time, they reached the front gate of the cemetery. The people buried here were of high status, so the architecture was designed well.

There was a stone pillar on either side of the gate, 30 feet tall and two feet wide. The gate was a metal door with intricate carvings. Not too far behind was a small square. A statue of the God of Light’s Sleeping Saint, Alagrian, stood in the center of the square. There was a long candelabrum beside it, lit with soul lamps.

Everyone was gone, and the cemetery wasn’t well-maintained, so most soul lamps had extinguished. Only a few flames still remained.

The fog was even thicker in the cemetery; the temperature had dropped more too, seeping into their bones. The wind had mostly stopped, and there was no sound at all. The cemetery was deathly quiet.

Celine had lived in the lively Scorched City this year. Coming to this ghostly place so suddenly—she wasn’t used to it. She crept behind Link.

“Let’s go in,” Link whispered. He focused on the slight dark aura in the air and walked into the depths of the cemetery.

After around 150 feet, Celine pointed at a small cabin beside the path. “Look, there’s light. I think the gravekeeper lives there.”

Link snapped out of his thoughts and turned. He indeed saw a small cabin and the hazy yellow light that penetrated through the fog.

“Let’s take a look.”

If it was the gravekeeper, they would get more clues there. Faced with the unknown, any clue was critical.

The cabin wasn’t far—only around 90 feet away. The door was closed. Though there was light, no sound came from the cabin.

Getting closer, Link’s ears twitched. He heard an odd breathing sound. It was very slow, much slower than a regular person. There was also a slight rattle between the inhale and exhale as if there was phlegm in the lungs.

It was already clear to Link. “There’s someone inside, but he already has the plague.”

“Oh?” Celine had been hearing about the plague but didn’t see anyone with it. She gulped nervously and asked, “Should we still go look?”

“Of course. There’s no harm.”

Link used the Magician’s Hand to open the door. The door creaked open, and the smell of decay attacked their senses.

Then there was an inhuman sound and a figure pounced at Link.

Magician’s Hand!

The gravekeeper was completely infected, but he was still weak; he was only at the status of Level-1 Warrior. Link picked him up with a mere Magician’s Hand and easily dropped him back into the cabin, despite the gravekeeper’s struggles.

Once inside, Link cast another spell: Dark Cage!

This was a minor Level-3 spell he’d learned in his free time. It only needed ten Dragon Power points and was very useful against weaklings.

Buzz. A glowing silver chain cracked softly in the air and wrapped around the victim, immobilizing him.

Then Link and Celine started studying him.

Firstly, this gravekeeper wore a clergyman’s robe. He should be at the lowest level of the Light Church. His flesh was highly decayed, but there were no maggots in his wounds. He looked just like a skeleton with a layer of rotting flesh.

Celine didn’t want to look anymore. She was holding her nose too; the smell was too much.

Link used a small wind spell, circulating the air inside the room. The smell faded a lot. Then he started investigating the cabin.

The light source was a magic lantern. A small table stood in a corner with some writing tools and notebook. Link’s eyes brightened at this, and he walked over to read the notes.

After a while, he realized this was a diary, most likely the gravekeeper’s. He’d carefully recorded what happened recently in the cemetery, as well as the changes in his body. The writing stopped seven days ago.

The gravekeeper must have had recording training, and his records were very object. Even his own bodily changes were mostly devoid of personal feelings. He tried his best to objectively record every detail.

Link read carefully. Celine also walked over.

The most valuable entry was from nine days ago.

Some naughty kids came to play hide-and-seek today. They have such a bad upbringing, coming to hide behind the tombstones of the dead. I looked away, and they got lost… A while later, I saw them run out again. They ran so fast. One of them was crying too. I think they were frightened by something. I was curious, so I went to look. There were many runes written in blood on the innermost tombstone. I walked over and felt my body shake. It was like my bones were stung by wasps. It hurt horribly, and I was so frightened. I couldn’t look anymore. After running back home, I fell sick… Something evil must have entered my body.

At the end of the entry, the gravekeeper also drew three runes according to his memory.

Link narrowed his eyes immediately. “It’s the Blood Runes that the Dark Elves often use. It really is them!”

He looked through the last two entries. They were messier; the man’s mind was clearly in a bad state. Though messy, he detailed every change and was very specific.

Reading everything, Link furrowed his brows. “According to this description, it’s similar to the Level-3 undead spell ‘Undead Rays,’ but these people don’t have any power auras. The spell must have been modified. Let’s go look at these Blood Runes.”

Collecting the notebook, Link was about to turn when he felt a premonition. At the same time, he heard wind come from the window, like an arrow or something. Without thinking, he unsheathed the Dragon King’s Fury sword and sliced towards the window.

Poof. A dark red tongue covered in decaying liquid was sliced and dropped to the table.

It was still alive and kept wriggling, splattering the liquid. Everything that the liquid touched would sizzle, resulting in a large corroded hole.

At the same time, a sharp scream came from outside. It sounded like a woman’s strangled shriek and didn’t sound too far away. Link saw a black shadow fly away through the white mist.

Link immediately said to Celine, “Let’s go after her. It’s the Summoned Hell Beast, Zampo. There must be a summoner nearby!”

Zampo was a realm beast and great at sneaking around. Its scariest attack was its venom and piercing tongue. It was terrifying to the average Warrior, but to Link, it was like a rat against a dragon.