Chương 36: The Castle Gallery

The Wine-and-Meat Monk had dropped plenty of gear, but only one Gold piece—the broadaxe—plus three Silver pieces and a good fifteen more in Bronze and Black Iron. The Monk was a physical melee Boss, though, so almost none of it suited a Mage. Aside from Serena taking a pair of Silver boots and Bronze leather armor, the women each picked only a usable Bronze piece or two. The rest, Ryan stowed away. This Hell-difficulty Ashan Castle had four gates and three Bosses.

Slay the second-floor Boss, then head to the third floor and defeat the castle lord, and they'd clear it. Worth noting, the skill Ryan had plundered from the Wine-and-Meat Monk—Drunken Fist—was a fine passive. [Drunken Fist: Passive skill. After drinking, gain a state bonus that scales with the quality of the wine.] A passive that attached a random state grew more monstrous the later the game ran—because as high-quality wine became more available, a single bottle could grant a downright absurd bonus.

Swapping in some new gear, Ryan's stats rose nicely. He looked down at the great axe gleaming gold in his hand, well pleased. [Mighty Battleaxe: Gold grade. A gold broadaxe of tremendous power. Attack +200, Strength +20, Constitution +20, Crit Rate +5%. Bone-Shatter: passive—attacks have a chance to inflict Bone-Shatter, stunning the target for 1 second. Mighty Force: active—on cast, Strength +100 for 10 seconds. Cooldown: 5 minutes. Equip Level: 10] With Ambidexterity, Ryan could dual-wield, so between crossbow and battleaxe his attack easily broke past 600—enough to set him apart from the player crowd. After a short rest, they reached the castle gallery on the second floor—a maze, and on Hell difficulty its difficulty spiked, with castle soldiers patrolling the corridors throughout. For an ordinary team, a maddening gate. But with Ryan, it was a different matter entirely.

Dungeons always had clear-tricks, and having pored over every kind of strategy in his last life, this maze was nothing to him.

"Stick close—we're speed-clearing the third gate!" Ryan drew several casks of oil from his bag and handed them out.

"Wait here for now. I'll go out and pull the castle soldiers' aggro, and while they're occupied, douse the corridor's passages with oil. When you're done, let me know." With that he charged out to the gallery's edge alone, Mighty Battleaxe in hand, and began smashing the murals and bookshelves in a frenzy. The clattering soon drew a great mass of castle soldiers.

"Come quick—someone's broken into the castle and is wrecking the place! Let's grab him together!" If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

"Lord Marv is resting—we can't let this brat run riot here!"

"All at once! Show him what we're made of!" Seeing the soldiers drawn entirely to himself, Ryan smiled and led them off in the direction away from Rosalind and the others.

"Hurry up over there!" His order pulled the soldiers far away. These were elite monsters, far sturdier than common mobs, and the Hell-difficulty gallery held five hundred of them in groups of twenty—the instant one group fell, the System spawned a fresh group. So crawling through the maze by killing them off was hopeless. Worse, the gallery soldiers dropped no gear and gave no EXP, so there was no farming them either.

"All poured." Rosalind's voice came over the party channel.

"Pull back and hide at the corridor entrance—I'm coming!" Ryan said, then flipped the pursuing soldiers a middle finger, tipped up his chin in a taunt, and leapt onto a nearby bookshelf. Stepping light, he ran straight over the soldiers' heads and bolted back the way he'd come.

"Brat! Don't you dare run!"

"Catch you and I'll make you wish you were dead!" Toyed with—trampled over their very heads—the soldiers seethed and gave chase. Ryan soon returned to where he'd started, looked at the oil pooled everywhere, and smiled. Summon Venom Wolves! Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh! Three wolves appeared in a row, spaced apart; he leapt, stepped onto their backs as stepping-stones, vaulted the oil-soaked floor, and landed cleanly at the corridor's end—a dead end.

"Hah, fool—you've run yourself into a grave!" The soldiers laughed, their gloom swept away, and charged with blades bared.

"Something's wrong! There's a strange smell here!"

"No good—it's oil!" But by the time they noticed, it was far too late. Footing slick, they lost their balance and tumbled into a heap.

"Heh—who knew you'd be so cooperative." Ryan grinned and waved a hand. Thorn Pierce! The corridor was wrapped in thorns in an instant, sealing the soldiers' retreat.

"Bye-bye!" He stacked the summoned wolves together, stepped off them, flipped over the wall, and burst clear of the oil-covered zone. Near the corridor entrance, he drew out a burning torch and hurled it at the thorns, then ducked through the corridor's outer door without a backward glance and slammed it shut behind him. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! A violent roar came from beyond the door, a mighty wave of flame surging out, rattling the door on its hinges. Screams rang from within, the crash of collapsing walls unending.

"Who disturbs my slumber—come out and meet your death!!!" Suddenly, a furious roar. System: [Ding! Your actions have enraged the Beheader, Marv!] The corner of Ryan's mouth curled.

"Come on—time to go out and meet the Boss!" He pushed open the corridor door and stepped through. …

"I refuse." In a tavern in Fallen Star City, Violet—veiled—frowned and refused Nameless Slayer's demand.

"Think it through!" Nameless Slayer arched a brow.

"Claire isn't here. If you go up against us, Clear Rain Pavilion won't fare well at all. Dragging the whole guild down for one person—is that wise?"

"I won't say it twice. Someone, see our guest out." Violet waved a hand, the order to leave plain.

"I hope you don't regret it." Nameless Slayer snorted coldly and stormed off. All the better. I'll seize Clear Rain Pavilion now, while Claire's away. Since you won't know what's good for you, don't blame me for turning ruthless.