Ascenders Rift

Chapter 116: Tale of the Cursed Swordsman, Infiltrating the Castle

Long ago, in an age forgotten by all, there was a tale of a hero, a legend of a warrior who fought hard to save a doomed land. He fought an unfavorable battle, for many years against a horde of undead, but no one knew where they came from, no one knew of their real motive. It was rumored to be a plague sent from the very being who watched over these lands. However, on one fateful day, this rumor proved to be falsehood, the culprit of this very act was none other than the king himself. The ruler of the land, which he himself had corrupted once he turned to the ways of necromancy.

After fighting for countless years against this evil horde, striving an oath to protect his kingdom, the warrior fell into despair upon this discovery. Yet, despite his pain, he still knew his duty, the warrior led a rebellion against the sinister king's plot. He fought a bloody battle in the palace walls, a place which once homed a beautiful scenery, filled with flowers of all kinds, capable of even shining brightness upon the world, now turned into a hellish scene.

The walls cracked due to the mighty weapons and attacks unleashed onto them; the grasses died due to the corrupted blood of fallen comrades, some turning into the kin of the undead only to fall against their closest friends.

A harrowing battle that led to an even more tragic end, as the moment this warrior defeated the king, striking his sword into his heart as he watched him bleed to his demise, he learned of a different truth. The truth that his arts of ocular came from the very keeper of these lands. The very being adored and respected by many, the God of this ruined world called Tusalon.

Tossed into madness by this news, the mighty warrior determined to fight against God, he welcomed the dark ways and walked a path more ferocious than his past king, but sadly, his campaign was but a futile effort, his battle was lost, his soul imprisoned as his world was abandoned to the realm forgotten by all.

***

[Mission - Kill the Cursed Swordsman of the Fallen World Tusalon] [Rank - Apex]

[Location - The Necropolis of the Old Kingdom]

[The time coefficient of both worlds is 1:1]

[Your party has four months to complete these missions, failure to do so... is death.]

[Possibility of Success - 25%]

As Evan rechecked the mission details, going over it with everyone as they stared at the group of black-armored skeletons that rode unusual war horses, each of whose steps left green flames onto the dry earth.

Just by looking at them, one would notice that they each wore wielded large shields and had a short sword at their waist, each of their eyeless sockets shone with a bright orange flame that gave one a feeling of danger.

"Inspect..." Evan whispered as he observed the details of these beings.

[Corrupt Horse General - Level 7]

[Race Undead (Superior) | State Stage 1 Lifeform]

[Class Undead Knight]

[Health - 850]

[Death Energy - 30]

[Strength - 79]

[Vitality - 0]

[Agility - 71]

[Defense - 79]

[Skills:]

[Knight's Guard A technique that conjures a barrier of death energy around the knight's shield, temporarily increasing one's defense by +10 points]

[Death Slash The slash a wave of death energies towards one's voice; it can cut both one's body and soul]

'The patrol is just as about as strong as I remembered, it will be pretty troublesome if we are surrounded,' Evan thought to himself as he stared at the direction they were headed.

While Evan observed, Joe and the others had also inspected the enemy's stats, their faces sunk even more as Rick complained, "Evan, have you gone mad? You're expecting us to take out all of those Level 7 Ghost Riding Generals with our current strength?"

Hearing Rick's words, Joe jumped in with his voice of complaint, "If we try to take them on we'll be surrounded and killed, you should remember what happened last time we encountered one of them how hard it was to get away?"

Layla and Emilia's faces showed traces of fear as they recalled the twenty-four-hour chase that nearly took their lives, even someone like Breya shuddered a bit.

Evan shook at this and replied in whispering tone, "That only happened because we were under-leveled, and you were extraordinarily loud. If you weren't, we wouldn't have even been discovered. Plus, Rick and I could have easily escaped, we didn't because we would have been forced to leave you all behind."

Joe, hearing this, made a surprised look, he turned and glanced at Rick who looked away in silence. It seemed that he, too, knew this fact as well.

"Hmph!" Joe made a snort before turning in silence as he didn't want to press this issue any longer.

Evan once more looked at the group and spoke, "Besides, I never said we were going to fight them now, did I?"

"Huh?" Everyone looked at Evan with looks of surprise once more when they heard those words.

Layla then spoke a question at the back of her mind, "Then, Evan, if you weren't going to take them down, why were you waiting on their arrival?"

Evan replied while pointing towards the now somewhat empty-looking castle as he spoke, "Look, those Corrupt Horse Generals had led a major portion of the castles guards with them. Right now, we can easily infiltrate it and seek out the Cursed Swordsman."

Layla and the others hearing this showed bright eyes as only now did they realize that the castle ground was free of the previous clusters of skeletons. Still, as they looked down, they noticed that the palace's drawbridge had already been lifted, showing no means of infiltration.

Breya stared at the castle carefully but saw no means of entry; even at their current altitude, it would be impossible to jump into its domain. She glanced at Evan and asked, "How do we get inside?"

Everyone turned to Evan once more as they were also puzzled by this, Evan smiled as he waved his hand, causing a few flat metal shaped surfaces to appear, each being a size of one meter.

He then spoke while pointing towards the palace, "We go by air."

Following his words, everyone's faces turn to curiosity as they saw each of the flat disks positioned itself underneath them before it slowly lifted them up by a few meters.

"Amazing, when did you master how to do this?" Joe asked in surprise.

Rick also looked at it with curiosity; Evan replied, "I did it before, but you probably weren't paying attention during that fight against those Flesh Mutators. It's a new talent of mine, to manipulate objects with space. Though, I am still a bit low leveled I should be able to carry us within the range, we'll have to jump the rest of the way."

Rick and the others were keenly listening to his explanation of his abilities, but when they heard him say the last words, their eyes when wide.

"What?" Joe was about to say something, but the disk underneath him had begun to wobble.

Everyone feeling this soon felt a dark feeling as their hearts went cold, but as if he was waiting for this chance. Evan made a strange smile as he spoke, "Everyone, this is an enormous palace, filled with many traps, other beings, and monstrosities. We still have a lot of time, so if you can, try to use this chance to level up by at least one, for the Cursed Swordsman isn't going to be a pushover. Now then, be careful on your way down..."

Following those words, the disk vanished into nothingness as everyone quickly began to fall towards the ceiling of the castle below them. Although they were all panicked, none of them screamed out loud as they knew full well what kind of danger would await them if they made such a silly blunder.

'Evannnn!' Joe and the others shouted in their mind while glaring upwards, but when they did this, they didn't even catch Evan's shade as he had already vanished to unknown quarters.

Swoosh! With a rushing wind, they each veered off into different sections as once they fell onto the castle's ceiling, a strange scene occurred.

Buzz! Following a buzzing noise, everyone was enveloped by a ray of dark light that swallowed them into the castle beneath them, leaving behind a quiet and normal scene.

It was unknown how long, but Joe awoke to an unfamiliar environment. Here was a room of blackness, the sound of dripping water being the only guide to comfort in this silent and gloomy chamber.

Or so, Joe thought, the moment his thoughts brought him here, there was an odd sound which resounded from the darkness, one that was similar to that of a creature breathing.

Joe felt a strange chill behind his back, causing him to swallow his spit, as his forehead ran with sweat, he gripped his Arc Shield with both arms as he thought while trembling, "I... I will fear no evil, f-for the l..."

Joe was about to finish his statement, but it was at this moment, two bright flames lit up from the darkness. If one looked at them slowly, they would see that they looked no different from the orange eyes seen in the sockets of a Corrupt Horse General. Yet, these flames were red, as they illuminated the face of a large ten-meter creature.

Just by glancing at this creature, Joe didn't even need to check its stats; he only opened his mouth and did what any man would do in this situation. He cursed, "Fuck you, Evan. Fuck you..."

The air turning dark, as after a savage roar, a bright crimson light lit up across the room soon after consuming everything in a sea of blood-red flames.