Chapter 239: Chapter 239: Upper District
Translator: 549690339
The ancient castle is vastly spacious, and it seems the designers intentionally made the lower passages particularly complicated.
To go from the blacksmith area to the staircase, one had to traverse hundreds of meters of winding passages.
After reaching the second floor,
you had to head to the central hub of the second floor, using the recently acquired Blacksmith Key to unlock the single stone doorway leading to the third floor.
Only then could you reach the upper level of the ancient castle.
The chances of encountering obstacles on the way were high, but they hadn’t expected to run into a squad of apprentice knights.
A three-member team.
All of them had reached the “Seed-breaking period” (Primary occupation allocation points hitting 5, breed not yet broken).
The lead was a standard-size Crusader clad in crimson armor, emitting a thick Evil Qi.
The eyes revealed within the helmet’s slit were also blood-red… Just by making eye contact, Han Dong and Winry felt extremely uncomfortable. Countless creatures had lost their lives to this man’s evil and wild attacks.
But it wasn’t just him.
The two teammates following him were also no pushovers.
One was a student who majored in [The Library]; surprisingly, he appeared even more feeble than Han Dong,
the arm protruding from his robe was as thin as a stick,
and he held a staff with a skull head as the centerpiece,
which emitted an aura of death from top to bottom.
The other was dressed as a typical assassin, wearing a dark skull mask,
going by her shoulder-length hair, gait, and figure, she seemed to be a woman.
This encounter scared Winry, causing her to stick close behind Han Dong.
The leading Crusader asked kindly, “Aren’t you guys the special newcomers? What are you doing here?”
“Seniors, hello! We just entered the Castle District and were attacked by an executive class. We got separated from the rest of our squad in the chaos… I’ve been leading her through the passages in an attempt to escape but we’ve completely lost our way.
Could you allow us to follow you? We just need to leave the castle.”
Han Dong put on the act of a rookie who was too shocked to think, lost in the winding tunnels. Paired with the pleading question, he didn’t seem out of the ordinary.
“We aren’t going to leave but head into the more dangerous areas and don’t have time to babysit you… You can just keep going along this road. At the forks, always take a left, around the third fork, the door you see should lead to the lobby area.”
“Thank you… This passage should be safe, right?”
“It is for now, but I can’t say for sure after some time.”
“Okay! Thank you, senior.”
Han Dong firmly held Winry’s hand, putting on an act of being in a rush yet frightened, continuing to move ahead… trying his best to distance themselves from this small squad.
From Han Dong’s observation,
the skillset of these three was high, even higher than that of the beefy Johnny’s squad… Moreover, all three of them were not righteous knights. If they were to be bothered by this group, Han Dong’s plan would be disrupted.
Shortly after Han Dong and Winry left,
the young mage, who looked like a necromancer, created a skull wrapped in ghostly fire using his staff.
Gradually, two gloomy eyeballs grew within the skull’s sockets, sharing the vision with its creator, serving as a method of surveillance.
The skull was thrown out, immediately trailing after them.
The Blood Knight in the lead whispered:
“We need to complete the area task to gain entrance to the castle.
This area is at the back of the castle, very far from the lobby. Even if they were separated due to an executive’s sneak attack, they wouldn’t have ended up here.
These newcomers seem far from simple.”
The necromancy apprentice from the library opened his mouth and said:
“Among these newcomers, there is a junior with a good relationship with Hera, the assistant curator of the library. His name is Dumps Martin… It’s a shame I haven’t met him.
If I had, I would have liked to have a profound exchange with such a prodigy.”
The three didn’t walk for long before they came to the “Blacksmith District”.
Upon opening the door, they only found apprentice bodies scattered all over the ground, but they could not find the blacksmith’s body.
Almost at the same time, the eyebrows of the necromancer apprentice furrowed.
“Captain, the skull I released has been found and destroyed by that little fool who was pretending to be foolish just now… according to their route of progress.
The likelihood of them heading towards the front hall is low; they should be heading to the second floor.”
“These freshmen are indeed not as simple as they seem… we need to pick up our pace.
If we encounter this group of freshers again, let’s spend a bit of time talking to them about the castle.”
“No problem, Captain.”
The necromancer apprentice had already dispatched a free-moving arm to collect bone material from the body of the blacksmith’s apprentice. Each additional corpse would enhance this apprentice’s fighting power.
“How dangerous… Is this the elite squad of the third year? If they found out I had the ‘Blacksmith Key,’ things could get quite difficult.
This factor must be introduced into the plan.
If I were to encounter them again in the castle, I would definitely be targeted.”
Han Dong held the cut skull, sensing the residual deathly aura within, his brows furrowed.
The encounter with such a knight squad had to some extent increased the overall difficulty of the operation, variablely affecting the whole plan.
“That was… [Blood Knight-Lucius]?” Winry said a little nervously.
“You know him?”
“Uh huh… I have looked into the records of all apprentice knights who were admitted on the basis of excellent performance.
This Lucius is well-known, he was once like you, enrolled as an outstanding Crusader apprentice, of whom the head of the department was highly optimistic.
It is rumored that the Scarlet Knights have sent him an early recruitment order.”
“Hmm.”
“Deputy captain, we must avoid conflict with them as much as possible.”
“It depends on the situation…”
Han Dong finally found the staircase to the second floor.
Returning to the old trick.
During the forging period, Han Dong also handled Blacksmith accordingly.
By passing through the corridor and reaching the second floor, they put the skin of the blacksmith on both of themselves and finished processing by ‘disguising’.
In the identity of [Blacksmith-Atros], they strode straight to the central elevator.
Along the way, they encountered various guards wandering in that area, and several special butlers drilling in and out of the walls like ghosts… but none of them could see through the disguise.
Click.
The key inserted into the stone door.
Following this staircase, which only allows executives and family members to enter, they successfully reached the upper area of the castle.
The narrow passageways of the lower area have become spacious here… a red carpet is laid on the ground, and the road on both sides is illuminated with luxurious candelabras.
The top also has an eyeball device that monitors the real-time situation in the passageway.
Such an eyeball device intrigued Han Dong. It was necessary to find its main body… it might facilitate an upgrade for Han Dong’s Little Demon Eye.
Finding the door labeled [Atros], they successfully snuck into this private room.
The room is not monitored by the eyeball.
“Wow! It’s so hot!”
They hastily stripped off the thick and warm blacksmith skin, which had them sweating profusely.
Thankfully, this blacksmith’s bedroom follows a normal European style, unlike the sweltering blacksmith room design.
There is also a large private bathroom for the two to use…