Chapter 790 Chill
Caius, who was in the Sien Dungeon, suddenly felt a chill.
“.”
What's going on?
It feels like we're being watched by some extremely ominous entity!
To be honest, I haven't experienced this feeling of being constantly on edge for a long time, and I'll never get used to it again.
Maybe it's a monster?
Caius could only guess, since he wasn't very good at handling situations like this in the dungeon.
In other words, no one can guarantee that they can handle everything that happens in the dungeon, especially since this is the Sien Dungeon.
Never underestimate any dungeon, or you'll suffer a terrible fate.
He had heard of an arrogant Holy Knight who entered the Azure Dungeon without a teleportation crystal, only to be blown to smithereens by the Destruction Mushroom, to the point that he couldn't be saved.
Thankfully, there were no Destruction Mushrooms in the Sien Dungeon.
"Lord Caius, shall we now explore according to the clues on this?"
A soldier looked at the map from left to right. The one he was holding was a photocopy; the original had already been sent to headquarters by express courier.
That's right, follow the map.
Caius nodded, and the soldiers understood the meaning from the gesture.
But then he shook his head.
But don't take it exactly as he meant it; that's probably what he meant.
The soldiers thought for a moment, then looked enlightened and said they understood.
Caius is not talkative, which is common knowledge in the Church of Holy Light. So how do you communicate with him?
Those who know him well know that you can tell what he means just by looking at the extent of his nodding and shaking his head and his expression.
Ironically, this seemingly unreliable method actually works. Now, it's Caius who's taking the initiative to speak that people find unusual.
The map in their hands, after all, came from the Church of Sparks, and could not be completely trusted.
Caius, who has fought with Herve for so long, knows a thing or two about her temper; she might just dig a hole on the map.
Therefore, he did not trust the map left behind by the Church of Spark!
Absolutely no trust!
Therefore, he had other intelligence to refer to.
Thinking this, a palm-sized notebook appeared in his hand, filled with neat handwriting, densely packed with detailed hand-drawn maps.
This is the notebook of Luluvo, the famous adventurer, the uncrowned master of exploration, and the bat that soars through the night!
He seized it from an adventurer!
After capturing Hypa Town, although the Church of Holy Light did not capture any prisoners from the rebels, it did have some unexpected gains.
Those were the adventurers the rebels had taken in within the town.
Most of the adventurers fled, but a few greedy individuals tried to take advantage of the chaos to gain some benefits before leaving. As a result, although they obtained the benefits, they had no chance to use them.
Taking advantage of the chaos, they sneaked into the Skyward Strategy Team's room and stole a lot of strategy guides, but now all of those spoils have fallen into the hands of the Church of Holy Light.
It was thanks to these people's testimonies that Caius learned that the Skyrim conquest team, whose reputation had spread all the way to Scammeron, was actually helping the rebels explore the dungeons!
Although it feels disgusting, I have to admit that Luluwo and her gang are quite capable. Reading these guides has been very helpful.
Incidentally, it also helped Caius resolve his doubts about why the rebels' strategy was so detailed.
By comparing Luluvo's notebook with the map left by the rebels, he indeed discovered several tiny traps that could easily lead one into a pit if one was not careful.
As expected, Hervé left a trap.
But he never expected that the huge pits he had painstakingly created would be accidentally cracked by greedy adventurers!
Caius was in a good mood after seeing through his nemesis's trap.
The rebel map is for reference only; Luluvo's notes are the answer to the question, and he now has great faith in that famous adventurer.
This is probably the effect of reputation—it automatically increases other people's trust in you.
Let me see, according to the notes, this is how we should go now.
Caius glanced at the Firelink Shrine where they were, then followed the guide's instructions and headed towards the Undead Town outside the city, with the soldiers close behind.
The Sion Dungeon is staffed by a single person; the soldiers he selected were all those who had gone in with him before, so now they are all present in the Firelink Shrine.
Starting from scratch in the Undead Asylum in the North would be a huge waste of time, but to be honest, starting with Firelink Shrine isn't exactly an advanced stage of progress.
Caius and his companions' destination was Blighttown, the place where, according to Luluvo's notes, one could learn powerful skills like sorcery.
The rebels surprised the Holy Light Church's forces by mastering sorcery, resulting in a significant increase in their casualties. This also demonstrates that their power should not be underestimated.
If these weapons could be deployed to soldiers on a large scale, it would certainly help them increase their strength, and that is the purpose of this trip.
But the only thing that worried Caius was whether sorcery would be incompatible with the Church of the Holy Light.
The Church of Holy Light's specialty is called "Holy Light Magic," which is not the same as ordinary "Light Magic." The learning path is firmly controlled by the church, and one must join the church to learn it. Furthermore, different levels can learn different things.
Holy Light magic has a characteristic that is compatible with churches: its power is enhanced according to the user's faith in the Holy Light. The deeper the faith, the more powerful the Holy Light magic will be. Fanatical believers are the best candidates to use it.
Conversely, if one has no faith in the Holy Light, its power will be mediocre. If one hates the Holy Light, then one cannot learn it and may suffer a backlash from the Holy Light magic.
The Church of Holy Light does not oppose learning other skills because the nature of Holy Light magic requires that what church members learn must be screened, with the primary principle being "not to affect their faith in the Holy Light."
If sorcery would affect believers' faith in holy light magic, then elites like holy knights would probably not be allowed to learn it; at most, cannon fodder soldiers would be allowed to learn a few tricks.
If soldiers could master all kinds of abilities, they wouldn't be soldiers anymore. Letting them learn sorcery probably wouldn't be very effective either. In Caius's opinion, this was a complete waste of the rewards from the Sien Dungeon.
However, it's hard to say for sure right now. What if the spell is actually quite benign and doesn't affect people's faith at all?
Various thoughts flashed through Caius's mind as he charged into battle.
Even after the dynamic difficulty was increased, the mere zombie soldiers were still no match for him in his current best condition, and could only serve as a qualified speed bump to be run over along the way.
As for those traps and such, they are all recorded in detail in Luluwo's notes. Although the scene routes in the Sion dungeon often change, the pattern remains the same.
Caius charged through the Undead Town outside the city with incredible ease, like a dragon charging forward without any restraint!
Even he felt a sense of exhilaration from the depths of his heart at this feeling of unleashing his full power.
Other soldiers would have to run at full speed to keep up with his pace of killing enemies while thinking.
They were just there to create a lively atmosphere. The reason for bringing them along was mainly to familiarize these people with the route and let them come into contact with more campfires. Maybe there would be a campfire that you could quickly reach or teleport to by simply passing through a portal.
The soldiers searched for any light spots they could find along the way while trying their best to keep up with Caius's speed, turning the exploration of the dungeon into a strenuous march, and everyone looked quite pained.
God knows why I had to go through such a terrible thing after leaving the training camp!
Just then, Caius suddenly stopped.
The person behind him bumped into his back without warning, but he didn't move at all despite the impact, and just looked up at the bridge in front of him.
This is the place the rebels call "Flying Dragon Bridge".
"Aww!"
A loud dragon roar came from the sky, and a huge shadow swept over the soldiers lying on the ground, panting heavily. Then, with a loud "boom," the bridge shook.
A ferocious red dragon landed opposite them at the end of the bridge, staring at them with a fierce gaze and hot breath flowing from its mouth.
This red dragon has been dynamically enhanced to its maximum difficulty level and is now capable of fighting Grik!
Caius sensed a threat from the dragon, but he was confident that he would be the victor if a fight broke out.
But why should we fight?
In an instant, it was as if the sound of pages turning seemed to fill my ears, and the contents of Luluwo's Notebook material materialized in my mind, finally turning to the page about the Flying Dragon Bridge, which recorded:
There's absolutely no need to confront the dragon head-on. There are stairs in the middle of the bridge that you can reach at full speed. They lead to the interior of the bridge where you can temporarily escape the fire breath, and there's also a merchant there that archers will love.
[If you don't want to dodge, you can try using a fireproof magic shield as a temporary defense. A high-level fireproof shield can likely withstand one dragon breath attack, and three layers of shields are enough to get you to the end.]
Once you get there, you still don't need to confront the dragons head-on. Just run through the buildings and keep going until you reach the Undead Parish. Of course, there are also slightly riskier methods.
Solal is at the building at the end of the bridge. Just bring the wyvern there; he's a helpful person and will assist you in defeating him.
Moreover, one can obtain a very important treasure from him, which is the key to a new world of painting!
That's right, this is it! We don't need to fight the dragons at all, we can just run over there!
As expected of a famous adventurer, his strategy guide is incredibly authentic.
Caius grabbed the soldiers, one in each hand, and threw them like cannonballs to the end of the bridge. It was the first time that Feilong had seen a contestant clear the level in this way, and for a moment he forgot to stop him.
As a result, all the soldiers landed successfully, although they suffered minor abrasions and concussions.
Caius also rushed to the end with lightning speed, and the group ran into the building together. The enraged dragon roared and followed closely behind, its scorching flames relentlessly pursuing them.
What happened next was quite simple.
They successfully spotted Solar, and the kind and upright Sun Warrior, upon seeing the dragon chasing them, immediately began firing his Thunder Spear at it. Two shots were enough to make the dragon howl in pain and hastily flap its wings and fly away.
The Holy Light soldiers tried to talk to Solal, and found that all the words Solal said were in Luluvo's notebook, almost every word of which could be matched.
What else is there to say? Luluwo is awesome, that's all.
They found the campfire not far away by following the steps recorded in the notes, but no one touched the Sun Altar, as touching the oath of the Sun Warriors was a bit of a desecration of the Holy Light to them.
Following the clues in the notes, I chatted with Solar for a while longer, and eventually, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a card.
A complete world of painting?
Caius carefully used his mage's hand to receive the painting remotely; without direct physical contact, it wouldn't be absorbed.
Strangely, Herve and his companions obtained half of the painting after killing the dragon, and only after combining it with the other half given to them by Solar did the painting become complete.
Why did it become a complete painting when it was the Holy Light Church's turn? Did Gong Qiying lower the difficulty? This is something the Spark Church can't help but protest.
Moreover, whether it was the map left by Herve, whom people distrusted, or the notes left by Luluvo, whom people trusted.
None of them mentioned that the world of painting here requires two fragments to be pieced together.
Caius picked up the painting and looked at it.
The painting above depicts a suffering knight, with his body divided between endless night and blinding white light.
The knight struggled to break free of the chains binding him in the white light, throwing himself into the darkness that symbolized freedom. A blood-red eye-shaped gem gleamed before him, as if staring at someone outside the painting.
Before Caius could even look at the painting's title, a strange magical fluctuation suddenly appeared in the Sien Dungeon. The moment he came into contact with this fluctuation, his mage hand was instantly disrupted and dissipated, and the painting fell into his hand.
"?"
Before Caius could even utter a question mark, he vanished from his spot.
The soldiers stared wide-eyed and rushed over, unable to believe that the other party had simply vanished. It was then that they finally saw the name of the painting.
[The World of Painting: Apostasy, Heading Towards Freedom]
What a blasphemous name!
(End of this chapter)
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