Mercenary Wars

Chapter 177 Ghost
The stone statues guarded the area slowly.

At least for a group of people whose average level is over six, these heavy stone golems are only of average speed.

Unfortunately, most adventurers are in fact blind and unable to see.

In this state, even the slow-moving stone guardians can be deadly.

Soon after, screams echoed through the auditorium.

"Ah!" An adventurer, blinded by his loss of sight, stumbled around like a headless fly, completely unaware that the stone guardian had already approached with his sword. Only when the sharp edge of the stone sword was about to strike his neck did he scream and try to retreat.

It's too late.

With a spray of blood, the guard's stone sword unsurprisingly severed the head of the poor adventurer!

The tossed heads displayed a look of terror, and the unfocused, blind eyes gave them an incongruous sense of bewilderment.

The gushing blood splattered on some people.

In the darkness, the damp heat and the pungent smell of blood were chilling, but what was even more terrifying was the scream that followed.

"Ah—" Another adventurer was killed by the stone statue guard.

But that's not all that's scary.

As the adventurer died, the two stone guardians subtly became even faster.

It was as if blood was the lubricant for their actions.

No, they didn't have much blood on them.

They did not absorb the blood splattered on them, unlike some of the legendary bloodthirsty statues.

These stone guardians seem to be lubricated by souls.

The eyes seem to corroborate this.

The extra eyes they gained through "visual exploitation" were not diminished in the slightest by the deaths of the adventurers.

The numerous pairs of eyes covering their rocky skulls still possessed a chillingly eerie dynamism, rapidly rotating in the darkness along opposing paths, searching for their next prey.

A few adventurers, however, can resist the statue guards' "visual stealing" and still maintain normal vision.

Gaucano is one of them, and James is another.

As the first adventurer was slain, Gaucano charged forward with the Blood-Summoning Sword in hand.

Unfortunately, although the stone statue guards are not fast, their eyesight is excellent and they have a very good combat reaction, completely lacking the clumsy feeling that comes with their appearance.

Just as Gaucano set off, the stone statue guard subtly began to adjust his posture. When Gaucano arrived, he used a precise dodge to let the edge of the Blood Summoning Sword pass him by.

Despite narrowly escaping being struck by the Blood-Summoning Sword, the stone statue guard held no grudge against Gaucano.

Not only that, he also charged towards other adventurers in a direction far away from Gaucano.

He clearly knew very well that an enemy who could maintain sight was not easy to deal with.

James was in the same situation; his first attack was dodged in time by the stone statue guardian.

"Damn it!" he cursed, then shouted, "All blind people, come behind me!"

“Especially you, the blue-haired guy, the statue is about to catch up with you!” he added immediately.

"Mosa above, save me!" The blue-haired adventurer panicked upon hearing the voice and immediately ran in the direction of James's voice.

He ran with all his might and successfully shook off the stone statue guards behind him.

However, another stone statue guard came chasing after them from the side.

"careful!"

The reminder came too late.

By the time the blue-haired adventurer reacted, the stone sword of the statue guardian had already come crashing down on his head!
He died a quick and painless death, cleaved in two without a scream, armor and all.

James roared and stomped his foot!

"Boom!" A shockwave shot out from the direction of his toes, instantly striking the stone statue guard who had just finished swinging his sword.

James, as an eighth-level warrior, certainly possessed considerable strength in War Stomp, but it was still somewhat insufficient against the heavy stone statue guard.

Therefore, when the shockwave hit, the stone statue guard did not fall down, but only staggered.

Fortunately, in that moment of stumbling, a sound pierced the air.

"Whoosh!" It was Nils's throwing knife that shot over.

Niels had his eyes closed, but seemed to have other means of perception, which is why the throwing knife hit its mark precisely.

The mithril throwing knife flashed by and almost completely disappeared into the knee of the stone statue guard.

This brought the actions of the stone statue guards to a near standstill.

James then charged in, shield in hand, and with a roar, slammed his shield down.

"Boom!" A powerful blow struck the stone statue guard squarely in the chest.

Rocks flew everywhere, and the upper body of the stone statue was almost shattered.

Immediately, the stone statue's body also cracked, spreading rapidly from top to bottom. Finally, with a loud crash, the entire statue turned into rubble, scattering across the ground.

On the other side, Gaucano, empowered by Blood Rush, quickly caught up with another stone statue guard, leaped up, and raised Blood Summoning Sword while activating Earth Skin.

A devastating blow!

"Boom—Boom!" The power of Earth Skin and Heavy Strike Gloves gave the Blood Summoning Sword a ferocious momentum. With two rapid slashes, the rubble burst open with a deafening roar.

The stone statue guard's neck was severed by the Blood-Summoning Sword, but it did not die immediately. Instead, it swung the stone sword wildly.

The sharpness of the stone sword was somewhat unexpected. Even with his Earth Skin, Gao Jiano was easily cut. Fortunately, he managed to dodge with a bloodied dash, otherwise he might have been seriously injured.

After stepping back, he immediately took out Makar's door panel greatsword from the storage room. Taking advantage of the weapon's size, he stood outside the stone statue's attack range and delivered two more heavy blows!
"Boom—Boom!" The action was still a slashing motion, but the sound of the giant sword hitting the door panel was more like the violent smashing of a blunt weapon!
[Slay a level 6 golem, gain 300 experience points]

Like his companions, the stone statue eventually turned into rubble and scattered with a "crash".

The entire battle lasted only a few seconds.

However, in order to deal with these two stone statue guardians, more than a dozen adventurers have already suffered three deaths and two injuries, including a level seven named individual among the dead.

With the death of the two stone guardians, everyone's vision was restored.

Looking at the dead and wounded, and the blood on the ground, their faces showed solemnity and fear.

Undoubtedly, most of them would not be able to deal with the stone guardians while blind; they are alive now mostly by chance.

“This is terrifying…” an adventurer said in a trembling voice, “This is definitely a 'cathedral'!”

“Without a doubt, only a cathedral would have such a golem…” Others disagreed: “That’s hard to say. You should know that Faralro was much more powerful in the past. Hundreds or thousands of years ago, this might just be a stone statue guarding an ordinary church.”

"I don't want to stay in this hellhole anymore! Look, there's nothing here at all—except for danger!" an adventurer, overcome by fear, suddenly exclaimed, his voice trembling with emotion. "In the name of Mosa, let's go back!"

However, no one else responded.

There was even a slightly sarcastic voice: "You mean, before entering the Land of Tides, before entering this church, you had absolutely no idea of ​​the risks involved?"

Another mocking voice rang out: "Buddy, when you asked the fortune teller, you didn't ask 'Where is the danger?', did you?"

The other person was speechless for a moment: "I..."

Amidst the audible mockery and silent contempt of the crowd, he ultimately did not leave.

To some extent, this was an unwise choice. Because if the benefits outweighed the risks, others would certainly be eager for him to leave.

These current attempts to dissuade people from going to school, often in the form of mockery and disdain, may be genuine, but they also indicate that the current situation they face is one where "the risks outweigh the benefits," and they need more companions to share the risks.

After a brief conversation, it was time to divide the spoils.

There is something about the two stone statues guarding the area.

After some examination, the group found three valuable items.

First, there are the "body parts" of the statues. The golems aren't made of ordinary stone, but rather enchanted stone. For these two guardian statues, their bodies are "enchanted granite"—granite that has thus become as flexible as flesh and blood. As a material for alchemy, this enchanted granite isn't considered rare, but it still has some value.

Besides the enchanted granite scattered on the ground, there were also two level-six golem hearts, which were quite expensive magical artifacts, with a price comparable to that of a level-six magical beast core.

The swords guarded by the stone statues are not ordinary stone swords.

It's a stone sword made from a guardian stone—no wonder it's so sharp and sturdy!
As one of the main attackers and the one who directly killed one of the stone statues, Gaucano naturally took a Golem Heart and a Guardian Stone Sword.

As for the enchanted granite, since it wasn't very valuable, he didn't keep it all for himself. Instead, he shared some with everyone, more or less. After all, in the battle just now, the others had at least played a role in drawing aggro. Without others drawing aggro, taking on a single stone guardian would be quite challenging.

After dividing up the spoils of war from the stone statue guards.

The adventurer continued to explore his surroundings, cautiously looking around to guard against any other potential dangers.

Apart from the two stone statues guarding the hall, there seemed to be no other noteworthy decorations in the room.

There are only a few doors.

Unlike the first two doors, these doors were all tightly closed, some even seamlessly joined together, making it impossible for people to glimpse what lay inside.

"Which door should we go through first?" someone asked.

The issue sparked a brief controversy.

As a temporarily formed team of adventurers, their only commonality was their belief in Mosa—on the surface.

They each had their own ideas, and none dared to enter separately, so it was naturally difficult to reach a consensus. Gao Jiano was no exception; his plant perception made him want to choose the door closest to a level ten plant.

In the end, James, using the authority he earned by always being at the forefront of the team, declared, "This is the door!"

Some people seemed to want to say something but hesitated.

James then added, "Those who want to go through the other doors can go ahead themselves; the rest of you follow behind me!"

Upon hearing this, the disagreement vanished instantly, and everyone followed him toward the door he pointed to.

They soon arrived at the door.

Just like before, James held his shield and carefully pushed the door open.

A room that is not spacious.

In the center of the room stands a black statue of Hoddle. The statue is relatively intact, so his posture and expression are still discernible. He has his eyes closed, as if listening intently, and his expression seems to be one of sorrow or pity.

Besides these, there were several skeletons on the ground. The skeletons were scattered around the ground, and they did not appear intact, at least not in much better condition than the statues. Of course, it is more likely that these defects were already present when they died.

Looking at the skeletons on the ground, everyone's faces tensed up: "What are these skeletons? Are they adventurers from the past, or victims of the church's demise?"

“They don’t look like it. They don’t have armor or weapons. I guess they might be followers of Hoddle.”

“I feel like this place is a bit like a confessional. Look at the posture of the statue; it looks like it is listening.”

"Do Hoddle's followers have any special confessional rituals?"

"The material of the statue seems to be... Ah!" An adventurer suddenly exclaimed, his face filled with terror.

"Ah!" Another scream filled with pain and fear rang out, and the screamer immediately collapsed to the ground, clutching their head, their fate unknown.

But people clearly did not see any enemies.

The mage reacted the fastest: "It's a ghost!"

But he did nothing.

Because he was still shimmering with the glow of a magical shield, the ghosts obviously couldn't penetrate his shield and only attacked the others.

The others quickly responded.

Most people's first choice is to use a spell scroll to cast a Holy Light spell on themselves. Anything will do, as long as it has the power of Holy Light, it will keep invisible ghosts from approaching.

Gaucano then took out the ring bearing Fabian's emblem and put it on his hand.

He actually wanted to try clairvoyance.

However, he has not yet fully mastered this spell, and the ability to see through things is a form of dark magic and should not be used casually.

The ring's exorcising effect has begun to take effect.

Although Gaucano could not see the ghost, he was certain that the ring was very effective.

Because the moment he took out the ring, the holy light spells on several adventurers dimmed in a flickering motion, clearly indicating that they had been struck by a ghost.

For a ghost, the experience of such a collision is terrible, no different from a mortal touching a flame.

However, compared to the "exorcism" of the Fabion's Mark Ring, ordinary Holy Light spells seem to be easier to deal with.

As the blink appeared, a faint shriek echoed in the air, mixed with pain and anger. Immediately afterward, a surge of shadow energy appeared out of nowhere and shot towards an adventurer covered by holy light magic.

The holy light surrounding him was instantly extinguished by the impact of the shadow energy.

Fear appeared on the adventurer's face.

Immediately afterwards, another wave of dark energy struck, accompanied by a faint whistling sound.

"Mosa—" The adventurer cried out in despair as his body was swallowed by shadows.

An invisible battle suddenly broke out.

People used every means possible to harm the ghosts, and various holy light spell scrolls were torn open one after another, filling the small room with bright holy light in an instant!

(End of this chapter)