Monsters guarding the hallway frequently showed up but Weed and Geomchis broke through with their extraordinary actions.
“Hey, over here. Heriam Fencing!”
When Weed stuck out the Sculptor’s Torch, the Undead were exposed to holy power, wrapping their skulls and suffered. Using these moments, he decisively slashed with his sword and kept going.
As they were heading on the upper part of the inner fortress, Weed who could see far
saw that there were fierce fights going on everywhere outside the fortress. Flames and smoke were rising, skeletons running around the fortress wall, ghosts flew around in the air.
“For the glory of Balkan-nim!”
“Kill the elves. Welcome these elves who came to become one of us.”
“Head toward the basement and help the Balkan-nim.”
In the passages Undead gathered in groups and moved about. Every time they approached, Weed, Geomchis and priests hid in empty rooms or behind the path and waited for them to pass.
“Sahyung, let’s continue.”
The destination Weed chose was on the third floor of the inner fortress. Through the steel gate guarded by 20 Vandal Knights, he speculated there will be Balkan’s Life Vessel behind the gate.
‘It’s probably the right place.’
Liches conceal their Life Vessels very thoroughly. Weed wasn’t able to enter but the possibility was high with severe protections.
“Intruders.”
“Humans rebelling against Balkan-nim.”
As soon as they arrived at the steel gate, the Vandal Knights confronted them in battle. While priests were casting blessing and healing spells and Geomchis were fighting them, Weed confronted one Vandal knight.
“I am the knight Elliot.”
“I am Weed. To meet like this is an honor.”
By instinct, Weed tried to raise his intimacy with him. The habit of flattery on higher-rank Undead still remained in Weed’s body.
“By coming here you must die. Farhead Fencing.”
The Vandal Knight stepped forward. When Weed was an Undead, he wanted to try fighting a Vandal Knight. The equipment they used looked unordinary and with Weed’s current level, killing a Vandal Knight would give him tons of experience.
Weed who learned the blacksmith skill, just by looking briefly he was able to figure out estimates of price or specs of equipment. Vandal Knights covered their bodies with heavy armor so their defence was very high but in return, they had less flexibility.
“Leave the land of Balkan-nim!”
Every time Vandal knights swung their swords, dark energies got released and swept everything within a 5-meter radius. Just a scratch took away a lot of Weed’s health.
“Moonlight Sculpting Blade!”
Weed swung his profound, shining sword against Vandal Knights and started his attack. He preferred close-range combat but it was difficult to hit them directly so he used Moonlight Sculpting Blade.
“Wow, amazing!”
“It’s really pretty!”
Even in this desperate situation, priests managed to get impressed by Weed.
It was the most beautiful skill that they had ever seen!
Compared to the simple flushing of white, black or reddish lights according to a swordsman’s speciality, his was profound and full of splendor. But the damage itself was weak compared to its effects. It had a great benefit of ignoring the enemy’s defence but it wasn’t like it could push the enemy with a strong force and the range was not so wide. Even so, it cost triple the mana consumption compared to the Sculpting Blade skill.
After he mastered Heriam Fencing, he used it barely and even then, it was for a short while but now he could use it as much as he wanted. He was holding the torch sculpted out of helium that supplied mana. It felt like receiving his first salary from a company and going out to eat with his co-workers!
“Right, let’s beat them evenly.”
Weed started to beat the Vandal Knights into a pulp. The Undead Vandal Knights that were much higher in rank than a Doom Knight!
Both sides neglected their defence and a slugfest erupted where they only focused on beating up each other. Weed took some damage as well but besides the healing he received from the priests, his resilience, endurance and defense from his equipment were quite high.
With priests behind him, he was able to fully focus on hunting quickly without caring about things.
- You obtained Elliot’s boots.
- You obtained Elliot’s cape.
- You picked up 81 gold, 34 silver and 58 copper.
Acquiring unique items!
When he finished off the Vandal Knight, the Geomchis finished their battles as well. Geomchi’s who fought in a group with a large number ended up with all kinds of injuries.
“Huk... That was a really hard battle.”
“But everyone fought well.”
They fought with everything they’ve got to show off in front of female priests and intentionally received injuries to feel the healing hands just once more.
“Now, if we open the door….”
Geomchis and priests weren’t fully recovered but Weed went straight to the steel gate. There were still Undead wandering around Vargo Fortress so he couldn’t afford to take a rest. Geomchi15 took out a key from among his drops from the Vandal Knights, he inserted it in the lock and turned.
CLINK!
The lock was released.
‘We can now kill Balkan completely. The final moment of Lich Balkan Demoph the legendary monster has come.’
Weed with all his strength opened the steel gate with both hands.
And then he was touched.
“Ohhhh, what a wonderful place!”
He predicted the Life Vessel would be standing by itself in a room but the room was filled with mountains of antique swords, armors and all kinds of treasures.
The place Weed and Geomchis went in was the treasure room of Vargo fortress.
___________________________________________________
“How much is all this.”
Weed’s smile stretched out till it felt like it could be torn. Golds in pots and chests looked like it was worth more than hundreds of thousands gold. But if only market value were taken into consideration the swords and armors were much more valuable.
“There are some of Balkan’s magic items.”
Due to their specs and rarity, magic items made by Balkan himself would bring in a lot of money.
A scepter that magnifies spells of certain attributes. Boots that allowed you to fly in the sky and walk over water.
“A jackpot!”
Overjoyed Weed’s first negative thought!
‘I should have came here alone….’
Geomchis, priests and Marey who followed along so he could compose a new song, because of them he had to share. As Weed was the one who led the quest, he had the ownership of 30% of all treasures that were found, the rest were divided based on the number of participants.
In a world where it’s heart-breaking to share even a small pea, how can you share mountains of gold, silver, treasures and items!
The second thought that came up in Weed’s head was that the sharing of treasures wasn’t even a problem. They could only take the gold, silver and treasure if they won the battle.
Weed’s face hardened.
‘Balkan’s Life Vessel isn’t here.’
Based on the fact that this place was in the center of the inner fortress with very heavy guards, he was certain this was the right place.
However…….
Weed sent a whisper to Mapan in haste.
What is the situation with Balkan?
A reply came back without delay.
Balkan’s withstanding by continuing summoning Undead.
His health?
Priests are almost out of mana, he drained health and mana from Geomchis and paladins so he’s still fine.
As long as he couldn’t destroy the Life Vessel, they couldn’t kill Balkan and will fail the battle as well. It became possible that all of the humans that entered Vargo fortress might be buried in here.
‘We must find the Life Vessel. It's definitely inside Vargo Fortress. There can’t be any other places. This place was the most safe and heavily fortified by the Undead.’
In critical situations, Weed’s brain only worked faster! In the room Balkan was, there was no apparent place to hide. Even so, the Life Vessel would not be hidden in a wine bottle in the basement.
‘It has to be a place where Balkan feels much safer and secured than this place where it is guarded by the Vandal Knights.’
Looking back through his memories calmly, he came up with a possible place where the Life Vessel was. There was a place several times safer than the outer or inner fortress. It was the top of the central tower in Vargo Fortress where Three Bone Dragons were flying around!
Everyone was exhausted from infiltrating the inner fortress of Vargo Fortress and breaking through the Undead. But now, they were in a situation where they had to fight against the Bone Dragons.
___________________________________________________________
United army of elves, barbarians and dwarves could not collapse the outer part of Vargo Fortress and continued to fight. If every warriors of each races came, they would have conquered the outer fortress already but their main forces didn’t get deployed as they had to protect the fairy queen.
Fortunately for the united army, the Undead force was divided as well. In the inner fortress, there was a limitation to number of soldiers that can fight due to the narrow hallway.
“Kill them all.”
“For glory!”
From the ground in the hills nearby, the Undead arose and headed toward the outer fortress like a tide.