Chương 220: Chapter Two-Hundred-and-Twenty

By the time the Old Kingdom's army was within reach of the Forlorn Castle's walls, the sun was high in the sky at its zenith. While the army was so much faster than the one that'd been led by the forlorn herald, they were still significantly delayed by the crossing of the Blue Vein, which required an improvised bridge.

Adam did all of the work building it with his magic, and he felt sure that without his sculpting powers, it would have taken even longer, since the guard captains had talked about needing to find the materials first. Before Adam had gotten occupied by the bridge construction, he had dropped off the other three to clear out the artillery that would decimate the army if left unchecked.

Given that the soldiers of the Old Kingdom could reach the walls intact, it was safe to say the others had done a good job laying out the welcome mat. Still, they were immediately set upon by reanimated people and animals as soon as they entered the city, and they lost easily forty soldiers within the opening attack.

Because they had several priests with them under the leadership of Father Adam, all of the dead were blessed after falling, preventing Adam from targeting them with his magic and keeping their bodies out of the Shadow's reach. The same went for the enemies they fought, since they didn't want to be stabbed in the back by the fallen rising again once they'd moved deeper into the castle town.

Seeing as the army was competent enough to keep itself safe, Adam linked back up with the others and moved towards the castle entrance. Within was the melody of one of the twin knights, as well as something stronger and denser behind him, which had to belong to the Forlorn King.

"Are you ready?" Adam asked, handing each of them a torch. He had already explained the twins' powers to them, but he reiterated them just to make sure everyone was on the same page. They had decided to split the two knights between them, with Adam and Seo-Yoon taking out the invisible assassin, and Chien and Natalia dealing with the spear wielder. Adam and Seo-Yoon both wore their aspirant's cowls, since it should allow them to see the dark mana used by the invisible twin.

Out of every relic in the Trials so far, the 'Mage Aspirant's Cowl' has got to be the most consistently-useful one in every stage, with the exception of the Floating Sea, Adam mused.

"Where is the beacon located?" Natalia asked Chien.

"I am unsure," he replied. Adam pulled out his compass and checked. It took him a few attempts to find the right wording, since he was seeking something quite vague that even Chien didn't know a lot about. The golden arrow ended up pointing towards the southern wing. I think that's where the catacombs might be located.

It was one of the potential spots for the true flame's ember to appear in, and by far the most troubling spot, given that it required somehow getting through at least one forlorn knight, while also being in the heart of the Shadow's domain. With all but the twins defeated, moving through the southern wing was quite easy. Most of the guards that would've defended the place had been relocated to the castle town, where the Old Kingdom's army was steadily putting them to rest.

I think the requirements for getting the 'Banish the Shadow' special quest must be saving Gothershall, completing the true flame quests, and defeating a set amount of forlorn knights. And given that they shifted the attack from the sixth to the fifth day, it can clearly be expedited if enough of the knights are defeated early.

The southern wing was a lot cleaner than the northern one, which led Adam to believe that many of the corpses strewn across the northern one's corridors and rooms had come from an attempt to free the people in the dungeons. They passed a large library, though it was decayed and dusty, with not a single tome intact. Following that they came across another spiralling stairwell, which led down into the castle catacombs and up towards the beacon they were seeking.

Before going up to find the beacon, they ventured down the spiral stairwell. Beck had said that the Godstone was found below the throne room in front of a large stone coffin, and Adam was curious to see if the place was connected to the catacombs. However, it was just a dusty and deserted place, clearly meant for high-ranking citizens and knights, not the royal family.

After sweeping for treasure with the compass and finding nothing, they went up towards the beacon, which turned out to be one of the towers sprouting from the castle. From the outside, the towers all looked the same, but the top of the one they climbed was almost like a lighthouse on the inside, with an unlit brazier stacked with Centennial Oak logs that'd clearly been here for a long time, based on the thick layer of dust.

Out through one of the large viewing portals in the top of the tower, the castle roof could be seen. It was coated in unnatural darkness despite the time of day, and Adam was certain this was what had tried to swat them out of the air yesterday.

"I will use one of the true flames for this," Chien announced. They did have several ways of creating more true flames, so while it felt like a waste to use one on this, nobody said anything. Adam went back down the steps as Chien lit the brazier, and he immediately felt the Forlorn Shadow's territory and reach shrink. Did we just stop it from spreading? Adam wondered. If so, doing this as early as possible could help make this stage a lot easier.

He doubted it would be so easy, but as he looked out through one of the small viewing ports in the curved wall of the tower, he saw how the darkness coating the castle roof retreated back down into the edifice, retreating to the throne room. The others came down shortly after, and together they retraced their steps to the entrance of the castle, where the faded blue carpet led directly to the throne room.

"The First Light and its people are on our side," Chien stated. His ever-present tone of righteous justice was even stronger than before. Completing his patron quest had clearly made him convinced the First Light was keeping them safe.

"Are we going to fight the twins here?" Natalia asked, looking around to get a sense for the space.

"We'll try," Adam replied.

"You three wait here while I get their attention." No one argued with that. With the aspirant's cowl on, Adam moved down the blue carpet. It led from the entrance to a chamber with a closed wooden double door. He pushed it open to reveal a long hallway with wide steps slowly rising up to an ornate gate that was flanked by extinguished braziers. In front of the gate stood a tall and lithe figure in a full suit of armour, his helmet similar to the beaked one worn by the intruder.

He wore a blue scarf and had minimal rust on him, cutting a sharp and imposing figure. Next to him was a blurry dark shape formed of mana. It was the invisible twin. < < Optional Stage Objective > > < Defeat the Forlorn Twins > As the spear knight regarded Adam but made no move to attack, the invisible twin slid down the stairs as though he was gliding on the air.

Adam immediately fired a flaming ball of fire at each of them, striking the dagger knight hard enough to briefly knock him out of his stealth, though it rapidly returned to cover him like a veil. For the brief moment Adam had seen him, the assassin had looked quite similar to the marksman, using more blue cloth armour than metal plates, as well as wearing a hood that obscured his face. His weapon was a single dagger that let off oily black smoke.

The spear twin released a pulse of dark mana as he slammed his light shield into the fireball, reflecting it back towards Adam, who caught it with his glove, reabsorbing it. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. Adam fired two of his gauntlet fingers at the invisible knight slinking closer, keeping him at bay but dealing no damage, although his veil started to show cracks.

Finally, the spear knight moved forward, taking a step down, before suddenly launching his body a third of the way in a single powerful leap. Adam didn't hang around and pulled on his raiment to fly backwards to where his team awaited him by the entrance.

"They're coming," he told the others. He kept the cowl equipped so he could see the invisible twin and prepared Snare spells on the two gauntlet fingers that'd regrown out of his raiment. Seo-Yoon followed Adam towards the right side of the entrance area, while Chien and Natalia moved to the left. Then suddenly the spear knight burst out from the antechamber, followed by the blurry dark shape that only Seo-Yoon and Adam could see.

Chien roared forward with a swing of his war hammer that the spear knight caught on his shield, before immediately returning the attack with a counter, catching Chien in the shoulder with his spear and triggering his holy nova, which blasted the knight back a step. Natalia was immediately there, swinging her katana through the twin's shield arm, severing it for a split-second before the Shadow's protection pulled it back in place and coated the joint in darkness.

She didn't let it slow her down and delivered a non-stop series of attacks that the shadowy protections had a hard time keeping up with. At the same time, Chien rushed in to fill the gaps between her attacks with his hammer. The spear wielder was given no time to defend himself or fight back. Before the dagger knight could come to his twin's rescue, Adam raised a wall of bright flame down the middle of the entrance, cutting him off.

Seo-Yoon launched the ice spike from her winter gloves, which briefly made the shadowy coating on the knight falter. She followed it up with a volley of magical attacks from her Spellcaster staff. Each strike made more and more cracks form in the shadowy veil. While she kept the knight occupied, Adam focused on the magic that made him invisible, plucking it from the boss and absorbing it into his flame glove, which transferred the invisibility to his right hand, making it disappear, even to his own eyes.

Still, it accomplished what Adam was after, and he swapped back to his crown and fired off all five of his gauntlet fingers, slamming them into the knight with enough force to shake the floor. Seo-Yoon absorbed some of the magic from Adam's fire wall and used it to launch a series of burning attacks, pummelling the boss. Both of the knights were being absolutely bullied by their attacks, and soon a message rolled in. [Forlorn Knight defeated.] Adam dispelled the fire wall just as Chien and Natalia rushed across the room, helping to put the defenceless dagger knight out of his misery. [Forlorn Knight defeated.] < < Optional Stage Objective Complete > > < Defeated the Forlorn Twins > They all stopped after Chien had dealt the killing blow. All of them looked around and Adam kept his blood sense piqued for any change in the Forlorn King's melody.

It had grown warbly and erratic, but it seemed more a consequence of losing all of its knights, and less like the preamble for an attack.

"I think we're good," Adam said, and the others sighed in relief, even Seo-Yoon.

"That felt way too easy," Natalia remarked.

"We didn't even need to use any of our special tricks."

"Neither of these knights had very strong powers," Adam pointed out.

"They are dangerous because their power over magic reflection and invisibility are meant to take us by surprise. It's like the imps from stage three. If you know how to deal with them and avoid what makes them dangerous, then they can be easily defeated."

"Yeah, but I mean, their dark protection from the Shadow felt weak. We were able to beat our way through it with very little resistance," she said.

"It must be the beacon," Chien remarked. If it actually lowers the Shadow's defences, that makes it worth doing, even if true flames are precious.

"I was able to prove my theory," Chien said, changing the subject.

"Even though Natalia slayed the spear-wielding knight, it permanently died when I blessed its remains using my rosary. I believe any form of blessing may work."

"Then why would they insist on true flames?" Adam wondered.

"I believe a true flame works best because it is a mix of something pure, sun fire, and a blessing, which combined allows for anything burnt by it to be immediately blessed. The reason why my rosary blessing works is likely the same reason why my Lightbringer evolution permanently kills the knights with its final blow. Although, I cannot say if it works with the rosary if it is not fully charged.

It may have a higher threshold for energy than when I bless Seo-Yoon's staff for the true flame attack, at least it feels that way." I really hope he's right, because having the ability to permanently kill the knights without the convoluted mess of worshipping Morrligt or the First Light, or doing the fetch quest for the ember, would make runs of this stage a lot more flexible, so long as I can get my hands on the 'Hero's Gauntlets'.

"They dropped a chest," Seo-Yoon interrupted, and they all looked to the space between the two defeated knights, directly on the carpet leading to the throne room, where a chest of rusted metal plates, blue cloth, and dark smoky shadow had manifested.

"I wonder what it could be?" Adam muttered. The dagger-wielding knight had also dropped his weapon, and he checked it out while Natalia went over to open the chest. < < Secret Weapon Obtained > > < Tainted Dagger (Rare) — The dagger of the Forlorn Twin > < Unique Skill (Cloak of Darkness) | Manifest a dark cloak from the dagger to conceal yourself, becoming invisible for up to 1 minute or until you take damage > That's a really good weapon.

None of the others were looking at it though, because the thing that'd appeared from the chest was so much more interesting. < < Secret Relic Obtained > > < Armour of the Forlorn Knight (Legendary) — Your soul is fused to the armour, sharing your Health and Defence with the Relic.

If the Relic is destroyed you perish alongside it | If you die but this Relic is intact, your body reanimates within it after 5 minutes | Reduces all forms of damage taken by 50% | All physical attacks deal Taint and Necrosis on hit > A third legendary in this stage?? The legendary relic was a full suit of rusted iron armour, with a helmet, cuirass, greaves, sabatons, gauntlets, shoulder-guards, plate sleeves, and royal blue cloth filling the gaps.

Unnatural darkness clung to the helmet, and from the sections where rust had eroded the metal enough to form holes, smoky shadow poured out. Now I'm starting to wonder if the Floating Sea and Moonport have more than just one legendary. It's possible the special quests are the only way to obtain them, but what would the special quest for Moonport be? Still, this thing is too powerful to not have some huge demerit.

"It's gotta be cursed," Adam remarked.

"Fusing your soul to the armour sounds like something a demon relic would require." Chien nodded.

"It is a vile thing. The angel says it will make any who wear it worship the Headless One." Does that mean what I think it means? Adam wondered. I thought that Absolute couldn't be worshipped.

"I want it," Natalia said.

"Don't be an idiot," Seo-Yoon told her.

"Do you want to repeat what happened to Diwa?" Natalia was taken aback by that comment coming from Seo-Yoon.

"But it's so powerful," she remarked.

"Halved damage from all sources, a permanent way to apply two useful afflictions, and the ability to survive death."

"You would have to give up almost every part of your build," Adam pointed out.

"I don't want to die," she replied, her voice sincere and her melody echoing the fear she felt. Adam went up to the chest and asked his cube, "Is it possible to take this armour with me without equipping it?" [No. The Armour of the Forlorn Knight must be equipped. You will not be able to transport it without wearing it.] Just as I thought. It's similar to the warning on cursed weapons when I try to send them back to Interim.

"It has said the same thing about every cursed weapon I have encountered so far," Adam stated.

"Just like the demon relics, they want us to equip or wield any cursed object we encounter, because they know it will lead to our deaths."

"Also," Adam continued, "I will warn you all now, but stage ten can't be defeated with something like a self-revive trick or reduced damage taken. It is a pretty mean damage test, pitting you against other players, with puzzles that require speed and clear-headedness." That finally made Natalia drop the stupid idea from her mind, and she closed the chest shortly after, walking over to inspect the dagger instead. Just then, Father Adam, the other priests, and the two guard captains came into the castle entrance.

"We have captured the castle town," Captain Tabian announced.

"Now only the Forlorn King remains."

"The First Light has guided us well," Father Adam agreed. Then something happened. Something Adam hadn't realised was possible. < < Stage Objective Updated > > < Defeat the Forlorn King > The ambient melody of the Forlorn King immediately warped and changed, and in Adam's mind he imagined a moth breaking from its chrysalis, taking to the air. He didn't need to enter the throne room to know that the King was dead and that the Forlorn Shadow had emerged.

< < Secret Stage Objective > > < Defeat the Forlorn Shadow > < < Special Quest Updated > > < Banish the Shadow > < Defeat the Forlorn Shadow > < < Stage Objective Updated > > < Find the Godstone's last fragment in the Royal Tomb > The Forlorn Castle started to rumble and shake.

"We have to get to the throne room now!" Adam yelled to the others. Before they could leave the entrance, it found them.