Chapter 179 : Chapter 179
Chapter : 179
Fitch's pupils constricted. Joker's hands, clad in leather gloves, exuded a slight chill as they strangled his throat. Joker's tone was clearly gentle and even carried a hint of amusement, yet it made one's spine tingle with extreme panic.
Fitch opened his mouth, wanting to continue his provocation, but ultimately dared not say anything.
Yan Yunqing narrowed his eyes. It seemed the intimidation was somewhat effective.
This pampered prince could still endure in silence for now. Who knew if he could hold out after another beating.
Thinking this, Yan Yunqing acted decisively.
...
When Fitch was lying on the ground like a dead dog, breathing in less than he breathed out, he finally stammered out some information. Yan Yunqing pieced together the truth himself.
After understanding what the so-called blood sacrifice was, Yan Yunqing was utterly enraged.
In recent years, conflicts between Bartovita and Romunik had become increasingly frequent, with constant friction between the two nations.
To give a concrete example: even in Sigret Academy, which claimed to be borderless and raceless, people belonging to the two countries couldn't completely coexist peacefully.
Just like Romunik's Fifth Princess, Elena, targeting Bartovita's Eleventh Princess, Alice, at every turn, who was younger than her.
Even the academy had this atmosphere, let alone outside. For various reasons, relations between the two countries had become increasingly tense.
Fitch came incognito this time because he made a deal with Little Robert, the son of the City Lord of Slanlipa City, through the Eternal Divine Sect.
He would give Little Robert some benefits, and Little Robert would hand over some of the commoners in Slanlipa City to him for the blood sacrifice.
Little Robert himself was a minor leader in the Eternal Divine Sect and naturally knew what a blood sacrifice meant.
Originally, for concealment, the prey chosen for such blood sacrifices were not from their own territory. But this time, the benefits Fitch offered were too great. Greedy Little Robert couldn't resist the temptation and agreed.
The requirement given was to avoid using Slanlipa City's commoners as much as possible. For this reason, Little Robert specifically selected the Slanlipa Festival period for the transaction. Because during the annual Slanlipa Festival, merchant caravans from all around would come to Slanlipa City.
The journey was long, and encountering demonic beasts was possible at any time. Casualties were normal, so the disappearance of some caravans wouldn't be conspicuous.
So Little Robert got the benefits he wanted, and Fitch got the commoners he wanted for the blood sacrifice.
However, what Little Robert didn't expect was: Fitch didn't want dozens or hundreds of commoners or caravans from the start. He wanted everyone in the entire Slanlipa City, including City Lord Robert.
Although he contacted Little Robert through the Eternal Divine Sect, the blood sacrifice Fitch was conducting wasn't the kind practiced by the Eternal Divine Sect. Instead, it was an array formation long lost in history that refined living people into an undead army.
When Yan Yunqing heard this, he thought he had misheard. There indeed was an array to create an undead army, and it was extremely vicious. It was created by the Necromancer Kien in the mid-to-late stages of the War of the Gods. The undead army he created was powerful; even the Demon King's forces couldn't gain an advantage against them.
Fortunately, the Angel race had already rebelled against the God of Light and joined the Demon King's forces.
The light magic mastered by angels naturally countered the undead. Only then could the Demon King completely slay Kien before he researched an undead army immune to light magic.
After killing Kien, to prevent a second insane necromancer like Kien from appearing in the world, the Demon King destroyed all the notes, data, and items left by Kien.
He didn't even leave many records of Kien's deeds, fearing that someone with outstanding talent might research Kien's array through these records.
Yan Yunqing was already surprised to learn that the array used to strip 'Talents' in the Eternal Divine Sect was a variation of the Soul Locking Formation.
Now, an Undead Conversion Array popped up. Was the destruction of the notes and data not thorough enough back then, or had that sinful Kien resurrected?
Resurrected... probably not. The Demon King killed Kien personally. Yan Yunqing was sure the guy was thoroughly dead, unless Kien reincarnated with his memories.
...No way? That would be too much of a bug.
Yan Yunqing's gaze fell on the lingering Fitch, a trace of disgust flashing in his eyes. This guy wanted to blood sacrifice an entire city and turn the people of the whole city into undead, just so this army of undead could slaughter wantonly within Romunik's borders, disintegrating Romunik from the inside. This would then allow Bartovita to launch an attack on Romunik and gain greater benefits from the war.
So while Fitch ostensibly represented the Augreer family, he was actually still working for the Bartovita royal family.
And this order was issued by that Queen.
Yan Yunqing had left Bartovita for a long time and didn't have a comprehensive grasp of the current situation of the Bartovita royal family, only gaining fragments of news from Alice.
In the current Bartovita royal family, the Barto King was still the old King Otto Bartovita, but due to health reasons, he barely participated in state decisions anymore. Currently, there were two actual controllers of state affairs.
One was the eldest and most favored successor to the Barto King: Felton Bartovita.
The other was the current Queen of the Barto King, that lady from the Augreer family. She was also the birth mother of the Second Prince, Felton.
In a sense, the current Bartovita was the Augreer family's one-man show.
As Felton's younger brother and Queen Augreer's third son, it didn't seem impossible for him to privately lead such an important mission to Romunik.
The most important thing now was to find a way to stop their actions.
Yan Yunqing was angry inside but knew he had to calm down. The blood sacrifice of all people in a city to turn them into an undead army wasn't a topic that could be easily glossed over. Even if Yan Yunqing looked at this matter very coldly from the perspective of his own interests, he had to stop it.
The reappearance of the undead would completely destroy the current temporary stability of the Ailman Continent. War always accompanied calamity, and no race living on the Ailman Continent could escape this disaster.
Not to mention the participation of players and demonic beasts now. Yan Yunqing dared not imagine what kind of chaotic scene the world would become then.
Moreover...
Thinking of the little girl who sold him the flower garland before... Even for those innocent ordinary people who knew nothing but were forced to become victims of the power struggle of these nobles, Yan Yunqing couldn't let Fitch's people do this.
However, under the few rounds of interrogation just now, Fitch didn't spit out more specific plan details.
Seeming to see Yan Yunqing's thoughts, the originally half-dead Fitch coughed and laughed: "Cough cough... you want to know... cough cough cough... the specific plan?"
As he spoke, Fitch even spat out a mouthful of bloody foam. He laughed maniacally, completely inconsistent with his usual cowardly image. "Beg me. If you beg me, I'll tell you!"
Yan Yunqing looked coldly at Fitch going crazy, feeling that the guy might have become mentally unstable after such a beating.
Speaking of which, Fitch really had no resemblance to the cowardly and sensitive Sixth Prince he learned about before. People who didn't know would think these were basically two different people.
Yan Yunqing, who beat Fitch into a rag doll, knew that unless this was someone who looked exactly like Fitch, those cowardly and sensitive external traits were all faked by him.
Probably faked quite a lot. Seeing how he was now, didn't he seem a bit schizophrenic?
Yan Yunqing analyzed inwardly, but his mouth was unforgiving. "Beg you? What can you know? You are just a pawn your mother uses to fight for power."
"I think that Queen Augreer wouldn't tell such an important plan to a pawn, right? Do you really know the specific content of the plan?"
Joker's voice was light, but it was like a thunderclap splitting open Fitch's thick turtle shell. His eyes widened, the whites bloodshot. "You're lying!"
He struggled to pounce towards Joker but was kicked away. After hitting the iron bars with a dull thud, he twisted and wriggled, muttering something.
Yan Yunqing took one last look at this miserable guy but didn't feel sorry for him at all. If even this kind of person needed pity, then who would pity those innocent people?
Yan Yunqing turned back into a black cat, squeezed out through the gap in the bars, and left without looking back, not forgetting to send a message to Penelope explaining what he found in Romunik.
But Penelope likely wasn't in Romunik territory right now. It would be difficult for her to go to Slanlipa City immediately to stop the tragedy. Meanwhile, Merlin and Isabel, who were on the home field here, had lost contact.
So he had to notify Divic, who was in charge of Romunik Novice Village.
Yan Yunqing deactivated the role-playing skill and quickly sent a message to Divic. Just after sending the sentence "Divic, you go take a look," alarm bells rang in Yan Yunqing's heart.
An inexplicable sense of crisis rose from the bottom of his heart. Yan Yunqing subconsciously pounced to the side and rolled forward. In the next second, the place where he was standing was smashed by a fist.
Yan Yunqing: ???
Yan Yunqing looked up and saw Yuchir's ordinary face and his incomparably bloodthirsty eyes at this moment. His scalp went numb.
Damn, he actually ran into this guy.
The sun quietly set behind the mountain, leaving residual rosy hues dyeing half the sky red, reflecting on both their faces but failing to add any warmth to their expressions.
At the entrance of the 『Blood Mist』 dungeon, the surrounding guards had disappeared at some point, leaving only a deserted courtyard overgrown with weeds. Several dilapidated stone statues stood in the corner, quietly watching the two confronting each other.
Yan Yunqing pulled out the dagger he was used to from his backpack with a backhand. He had experienced Yuchir's fast attack speed before; using a heavy sword would easily restrict himself, causing him to fall into a passive situation.
It was better to use the lightest weapon directly and try to deal with the opponent using attack speed. Maybe he could win by surprise.
Yuchir's pitch-black eyes seemed to faintly emit blue light. When looking at him, there seemed to be complex emotions, but when Yan Yunqing looked carefully, they disappeared, as if everything was a hallucination.
A light breeze blew past, lifting his falling chestnut bangs, fluttering and swaying with the vine leaves on the surrounding walls, making a rustling sound, adding a touch of vividness to this setting sun scene.
At this moment, Yuchir moved. He pounced fiercely towards Yan Yunqing, like an incomparably ferocious beast, attacking with full oppression.
Yan Yunqing calmly parried with the dagger in his hand. The dagger was small and light, and the parrying speed was fast. It was just that the power of Yuchir's every strike was considerable. Previously, parrying with a heavy sword numbed his wrist; now, switching to a dagger was the same.
A hideous and bloodthirsty arc hung on the corner of Yuchir's mouth. Every time they approached each other during the exchange, Yan Yunqing could see the intense emotions flashing in the other's eyes, which then disappeared instantly.
Clang clang clang clang
Yan Yunqing leaped back to create distance, but Yuchir didn't give him a chance at all. Rushing up like an agile leopard, his sharp claws went straight for Yan Yunqing's face.
Yan Yunqing turned sideways to dodge and swung the dagger horizontally. Yuchir smoothly tilted his head to the other side to avoid it. The dagger, which nearly pierced his throat, scraped past his chin, leaving a bloody mark.
After one move, they separated. Yuchir rubbed his thumb over the bloody mark on his chin. Upon seeing the crimson on his thumb, his smile became even more reckless, looking towards Yan Yunqing with a bit of fanaticism.
Yan Yunqing felt very baffled. He didn't know how Yuchir's fighting spirit was triggered. This guy fought more and more crazily. Several times Yan Yunqing almost hit his vitals, but it didn't cause the other party to feel any fear or retreat; instead, he fought more bravely.
This guy, a lunatic.
Why was he even crazier than Divic? Yan Yunqing felt his previous evaluation of Divic was inappropriate. Divic was clearly an obedient little dragon, while the guy in front of him was the real lunatic.
Without saying a word, just coming up to fight him—a lunatic among lunatics.
Seeing Yuchir making a posture to continue attacking, Yan Yunqing had no choice but to concentrate, ready to respond to Yuchir's offense at any time.
The dagger and iron claws collided fiercely in the air, making crisp sounds of metal clashing. The speed of the two gradually increased, constantly changing the angle of attack in mid-air.
The rhythm seemed to be gradually controlled by Yuchir. The surprise victory Yan Yunqing expected was difficult to achieve in the face of the great disparity in strength between the two.
Yan Yunqing began to consider whether to run away again while dealing with the attacks.
However, his Substitute Doll was already hijacked by the person in front of him, the portable waypoint wasn't installed, and the previous one had exceeded the transmission distance limit. So only [Sylval's Longing] remained.
Using [Sylval's Longing] would force him to return to Sylval. It would definitely be too late to rush back to Slanlipa City to stop the blood sacrifice. He could only pin all hopes on Divic, ensuring Divic could find those dark lines of Bartovita in time...
Tsk, could Divic's muscle-filled brain really stop their plan before the whole city turned into undead?
Perhaps Penelope could arrive in time?
With this hesitation, Yuchir caught Yan Yunqing's opening. He heard the other party say coldly: "Distracted while fighting the current me? Who are you thinking about again?"
Yan Yunqing: ?
Before Yan Yunqing had time to wonder what nonsense Yuchir was spouting, the other party rushed up again. Every move was ruthless, almost all aimed at Yan Yunqing's vitals. If Yan Yunqing parried even a bit slowly, his throat might have been slit, or a big hole gouged out of his heart.
As a result, Yan Yunqing simply had no extra energy to think for a while, concentrating fully on dealing with Yuchir's fierce attacks.
The sound of metal collision became more intense.
Yan Yunqing's skills, techniques, and experience were inferior to Yuchir's. The capital that allowed him to remain undefeated in the exchange actually stemmed from [Precision Sight] he obtained in Mandiper.
[Precision Sight]
Passive Skill. Dynamic visual acuity increases by 100%, visual precision increases by 100%. You are more sensitive to minute details and can capture possibilities unobservable by ordinary people. 『My eyes are a ruler!』
With the assistance of this passive skill, Yan Yunqing could thrillingly block Yuchir's attacks time and again. However, going a step further became difficult.
But the turn of events was just that sudden.
Perhaps because Yuchir had maintained a long period of offense and became fatigued, his attack rhythm slowed down a bit. Yan Yunqing seized an opening in that instant—
A cold light flashed, and the dagger was thrust out.
Target: Yuchir's heart.