Chương 56: Creepy Statues

Oliver watched the healer gently put his hand on Evan's wound, arms crossed and a sceptical expression on his face.

"Who's spreading optimism now, huh?" Luca shrugged.

"Hey, come on, this is a brand new skill. I played around with it a bit on our way here, but Evan's going to be the first patient I'm trying this on."

"Just do it," Catriona urged.

"The longer you're yapping, the more time the poison has to spread and the harder it is to treat."

"Okay, here it goes…" Luca warned. A moment later, Evan felt the distinct sensation of cool water gently running over the wound. He expected pain, almost wincing in anticipation, but the magical water felt soothing. The burning pain radiating through his arm faded quickly. The bite itself still hurt, but it was no comparison to the pain he'd felt before. When Luca lifted his hand away, the previously green-tinted bite marks had lost their worrying coloration. All that was left was torn-open flesh.

Not a pretty sight, but not nearly as concerning as it had looked and felt before. Luca looked at him nervously.

"And? Did it work?"

"I feel a lot better," Evan said, carefully opening and closing his hand.

"The pain is so much better and the numbness is gone. Wait, let me check my status." A quick check of his status screen confirmed the success of Luca's treatment.

"All clear," Evan reported with a smile. Luca grinned back at him, visibly proud of his work.

"Nice. Now let me throw a couple of Healing Mists in your direction to speed up the healing." Warmth spread through Evan's body, and his health bar started climbing again. The bite marks were still there, but his arm hardly hurt, and when he moved it around, he found his strength and dexterity were mostly back to normal.

"I would need a proper mending ability to heal the physical wound, but I think this will do for now, right?" Evan pulled his sword out of the sheath and did a few test swings.

"Yeah, it will do. I'm as good as new."

"Then let's get moving again," Catriona said tensely, pointing at the horizon. Between the shrubs and trees, the hint of a purple line started to push against the blackness of the night sky. Evan nodded.

"Let's try one of the side entrances. I don't like the idea of waltzing through the main entrance." They advanced, weapons at the ready, following the gravel path winding between the hedges and decorative conifers. The crunching sound of their feet on the moss-covered gravel was the only noise. No howling or growling that might indicate another monster was protecting the estate.

"Maybe that's it?" Luca mused.

"Maybe those ugly caricatures of guard dogs are the only defense, at least out here?"

"Possible, but stay on guard," Catriona warned.

"This is a high-mana place. I can feel it. Anything can happen here." Evan felt it too. The mana surrounding them didn't feel as intense as in the Old Forest, but there was a distinct difference between the inside and the outside of the estate's fence.

"Is this area just naturally high in mana?" he asked the blonde archer, keeping his voice low.

"Is this why they built their house here?"

"No, I don't think it's natural. I think this comes from mana batteries. They're still supplying the estate and we have to assume the defense arrays as well."

"I couldn't use my teleport skill," Evan said.

"That's why the hound got me. I tried to teleport away, but nothing happened. This has never happened to me before." The experience had been a little unsettling for him. [Teleport] had been his very first skill, and it had saved his skin many times. His whole fighting style was built around it.

"That makes sense," Catriona said.

"Another sign the defense grid is still intact. Your teleport skill is probably blocked by a teleport ward."

"I don't like it," Evan murmured.

"I don't like any of this," she said quietly. They passed a large, round stone fountain. The basin was long dried out and filled with brown leaves and other debris. A bit further ahead, a new area of the extensive gardens began. Marble statues lined the narrow gravel path. Some had toppled off their bases, lying on the ground in smashed pieces. The ones still upright looked little better—chipped and weathered, with missing limbs and noses, covered in moss. From what Evan could tell, they'd once depicted humans.

He could make out armor and even weapons like staffs and swords in some of the more intact ones.

"I wonder who these people were," he asked out loud as they moved through the statues. For some reason, they sent a shiver down his spine. Just weathered stone, but the way they eerily loomed over them, watching them with dead eyes and unmoving faces, made Evan uncomfortable.

"Probably past members of the Vason family," Luca said.

"I hope these depictions are unflattering. If they really looked this ugly, it's not a surprise they turned evil. What choice do you have with a mug like this?" This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. He playfully patted the leg of one of the statues, a large knight-like figure carrying a broken sword. Luca casually leaned against the base.

"What do you think about a break, guys? I bet once we enter the house, the smooth sailing is over, so maybe we should take the chance and—""Luca! Watch out!" Catriona yelled. A moment later, Evan realized what was happening. The statue Luca had just insulted… had moved. Luca looked at Catriona, blinking in confusion.

"What? What is it?" The marble knight had reached down. He wrapped his arms around Luca's neck and lifted him off the ground. Luca let out a strangled yelp, kicking and flailing his legs. His fingers clawed at the statue's arms, trying to get free. Before Evan could react, Catriona had nocked and loosed an arrow. It harmlessly bounced off the statue's stony armor. Oliver dashed forward and rained down sword strikes on the statue. His blade left little more than a few scratches, but it was enough to distract it.

Joints creaking, it slowly turned toward Oliver, dropping the struggling Luca to the ground unceremoniously and jumped off its base, landing with a heavy thud and spraying gravel in every direction. The stone knight lifted the broken-off sword, and the strike nearly knocked Oliver off his feet. Evan stretched out both arms and collected mana in his palms. If physical attacks did so little damage, maybe magic could defeat the animated statue.

"Olly, duck!" he shouted before hurling two [Comet Shots] at once toward the knight. Oliver dodged the magical projectiles, but the stone statue was too slow to avoid Evan's attack. Both [Comet Shots] found their target, engulfing the attacker in a big ball of golden light. The light faded, and the damage the [Comet Shots] had done became visible. The statue's stone surface was covered with a web of cracks, and when it tried to move, the stone started to crumble. There wasn't much time to celebrate their victory.

Evan looked around and, to his horror, realized the Knight hadn't been the only statue that had come to life. All around them, stone statues started to move and jump or climb off their bases. Even the shattered ones on the ground wiggled around. The team gathered, backs toward each other, weapons raised, watching the lumbering statues shuffle toward them. They were slow, yes, but that didn't make them any less intimidating.

"Ideas?" Luca asked, voice scratchy after being strangled by arms made of stone.

"Focus on magical skills. Physical attacks don't seem to do much damage." Catriona whistled to get her familiar's attention.

"Sit this one out, Lys. Your teeth and claws are no match for stone and marble." The little fox gave a sound of defiance and pressed herself even closer to Catriona's legs. Then the statues were upon them, and a wild fight ensued. Catriona unleashed her butterfly skill, and to Evan's surprise, the papery wings of the magical butterflies did more damage than his own sword. He wondered if his sword strikes would be more effective if he were able to channel mana into the blade.

The statues seemed to be much more susceptible to mana attacks. Since he had no way of finding out, he focused on the two mana-heavy skills he had at his disposal: [Star Slash] and [Comet Shot]. His mana was draining quickly, but both attacks were pretty effective. [Star Slash] allowed him to cleave through the attacking statues, cutting off their limbs or breaking their weapons. Whenever he could get some wiggle room, he smashed them into a pile of dust and debris with a well-aimed [Comet Shot].

Once, he tried out his brand new [Super Nova] skill. His sword struck a statue armed with two curved daggers, he activated [Super Nova] and in the next moment he was momentarily blinded by an explosion of white light, engulfing both him and the statue. Everything within ten feet was pushed over by the pressure wave released from the explosion; only Evan himself was exempt. The [Super Nova] had smashed three statues in the vicinity to pieces, but it had also knocked Oliver to the ground.

His friend jumped back to his feet and rubbed the back of his head with a pained grimace.

"Hey, give me a warning the next time you set off an explosion like this, okay?" Oliver, having to deal with a much more limited mana pool than Evan, took the brute force route. He immobilized the statues with [Iron Root] and then just started hacking and slashing at them like a berserker, chipping away at their stone bodies in small chunks. Luca had taken their earlier discussion to heart and chipped in with his [Current Pull].

Whips of water shot out of the healer's hands, wrapping around the statues, dragging them to the ground and even smashing them into each other. The fight was intense. Evan whirled around, dishing out [Star Slash] after [Star Slash], occasionally joining Oliver's side to help him speed up the process of breaking apart the statues piece by piece. A knight statue, even taller than the one that had nearly strangled Luca, pushed against him with a giant stone shield.

Evan's blade hit the shield with a metallic clank and vibrated so intensely that he was afraid his blade might shatter from the impact. He sidestepped quickly when the stone knight tried to slam the shield against his body, then pivoted the attack from behind. His blade glowed golden from the activated [Star Slash] and seared through its back like a warm knife through a block of butter, cutting it in half.

He moved on to a wizard-looking statue, currently distracted by a swarm of colorful, softly glowing butterflies. A quick [Comet Shot] finished it off. Luca's [Current Pull] had wrapped around the neck of a stone archer. It dragged the statue forward until it toppled to the ground, then kept dragging it, dropping it right in front of Oliver's feet. Oliver slammed his sword down like an axe. Stone chips went flying until he'd managed to chop the archer's head off.

Breathing heavily, Oliver stepped back and looked around. The ground was covered with debris, stone chunks of all different sizes, making it look like a bomb had exploded on a construction site. Their group gathered, exhausted, to check their loot and stat gains. [You have killed 26 Enchanted Statues.] [You have earned 102 experience points.] [You have looted 341 mana stones.] [You have looted 3 stone affinity crystal shards.] [You have looted 1 stone affinity crystal.] Evan opened his menu to check his stats.

His progress to rank 5 had grown to 57%. He'd gained +1 Dexterity, bringing the attribute to 11, and +2 Spirit, for a total of 14.

"I gained three stat points," Evan reported.

"What about you guys?" Oliver had gained a whopping +3 in strength, which didn't surprise Evan, considering how his friend had gone to town on these statues. Catriona and Luca both had gained +1 Spirit. The loot was a nice bonus on top. Evan could only estimate the resale value of the crystals and crystal shards they had found since leaving Stormhaven, but he was already anticipating a nice shopping trip once they got back to the city. If they got back to the city.

Evan inspected his blade for chips or scratches, but even after repeatedly hitting it against solid stone, it looked brand new and shiny. Satisfied, he focused his gaze on the side entrance they had been heading for before the statues around them had come to life.

"Alright guys, let's go in."