Chapter 591: Castle Anjar
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Grandu Ice Ridge was originally the territory of Japan-Korea Region. However, ever since Winst Castle had fallen into the hands of Zhang Yang, those maps had been under his ‘control’. So, Zhang Yang tore a [Teleportation Scroll] and went back to Morning Town. Then he used the Teleportation Circle of Morning Town to reach Winst Castle within seconds. It saved a lot of time traveling. Well, he was very happy about that. The Teleportation Circle of the Territory came handy after all.
If the players of Japan-Korea Region were to know that Zhang Yang was using their Territory Gateway only for his own convenience, they would be punching their own teeth out --- you son of the b*tch! Using it to your own convenience, while disposing the convenience of hundred millions of players from Japan-Korea Region? Humiliating them completely? They would want to bite this China pig to death, literally!
Once he was at Winst Castle, Zhang Yang flew into the sky once again. The speed of Thunderhawk was surely one of the best among all [Flying Mounts] at the current stage of the game. With just a lightning-blue flash, it could disappear from one’s sight.
Zhang Yang did not try to put up a pageantry. After all, the place was the territory of the Japan-Korea Region. He was there only to complete his quest, not to look for trouble this time. If he is to be discovered by the players from that region, then he would not be able to avoid a fierce battle. Although Zhang Yang did not mind killing those players to earn some points, he would not want to risk compromising his quest.
So, that was that. Zhang Yang decided to focus on his current quest.
After a smooth and windy ride, he arrived at the Juval Mountains. After scouting the place a few times over, he discovered a tall and rugged castle among the mountains.
It seemed that the castle was already there for some time. The walls were dilapidated and thick with moss. Zhang Yang could not help but wonder if these walls were to face an oppressive army, how long would the walls last under the bombardment of the catapults? However, it was a huge castle. It was the total size of several small towns combined. It was rare to see such a large castle these days.
Zhang Yang did not land in the castle compound straight away. Instead, he chose to land by the entrance of the castle. He would like to go in like a guest instead of an intruder. So he paid the entrance fee upon entering the castle --- entering the territory by intrusion would only be provocative. If he was to do that in White Jade Castle, the Dragon Knights of the White Jade Empire would have pursued him to the ends of the earth!
Although there was no sign of any Dragon Knight in this castle, Zhang Yang did not intend to take an unnecessary risk. He came here for his quest, not to look for trouble. Furthermore, this was another stronghold of the Japan-Korea Region. It would be better for him to stay as low profile as possible.
Zhang Yang summoned Whitey out from his inventory. This big, adorable, silly bear had not breathed fresh air for quite a while. So it kept nuzzling Zhang Yang’s leg with its head, trying to act in a pettishly charming manner. Zhang Yang could not help but chuckle.
The castle was merrier than expected. The place was crowded with people. There were merchants and sellers shouting on the two sides of the streets trying to get people to look at their goods. Zhang Yang was walking on the street with Whitey. They went up to a cloth merchant in an attempt to get some information. Firstly, he spent two gold coins for a few pieces of cloth and silk. After that, only did Zhang Yang dare to ask, "Boss, do you know anyone by the name of Banct Roland?"
"Count Roland The Third? Of course! Of course! He was the Baron of our Castle Anjar! Of course, I would know that!"
"Was?"
"Yes! How could you not know that Count Roland the Third had been dead for a decade now? Ever since he passed away, his son Tinct Roland had inherited his legacy as the new Baron. Now, the castle is under the supervision of the Countess Amansari, the wife of Tinct Roland!"
Zhang Yang could not help but frown. Banct Roland did not just abandon Helena’s love, but he also had a wife and child? The question was, did he already have a wife and a child before Helena was infected by the plague or after Helena was infected by the plague?
If it was the former, this Banct must have been a selfish and heartless son of the b*tch! He was toying with Helena’s feelings all this while! If that Spectral princess ever finds out about this, the world would burn. She would definitely lead a massive army to burn and slaughter the people of this castle!
Actually... that was not such a bad thing, after all!
Zhang Yang could not help but widen his eyes in joy at the thought of it. It would not matter even if the drama ended in bloodshed and misery across the place. Everything in the game was virtual, after all! Furthermore, if the massive army of the Spectres were to cross the border, the players of Japan-Korea Region would be having a ‘great’ time.
Although Helena was just an Ethereal Tier boss, her Skills were powerful! Just like Queen Serena, even though her {Sword of Life and Death} was weaker by a few notches than expected, her AoE still had a huge range! Players would be wiped out before they can reach her!
With her {Thousand Shadow Slash}, Princess Helena could strike out with shadows of blades in all eight directions. Each shadow of the blade could cause up to 100% Melee Attack of Physical Damage and pushes the target 3 meters backward. More importantly, her Skill could reach all targets within a 50-meter range from her! By activating her {Thousand Shadow Slash} once, she could take out 80% of the players at the current stage of the game! Even if everyone happened to be mounted, 90% players would still die if she struck out twice with her {Thousand Shadow Slash}!
That would be great. These days, the Japan-Korea players have been destroying the Winst Castle more frequently than ever. Zhang Yang had to spend a large sum of money to repair the Territory repeatedly. Each repair would cost him about hundreds of thousands of dollars, sometimes, it even went up to millions! It was costing him a fortune!
Well, it’s about time to teach them some manners!
However, when Zhang Yang brought up his quest list, he realized that the quest ‘Search for News’ was not completed yet. In other words, the information that he had acquired up to this point was not enough. There might still be some clues at Banct Roland’s grave --- Zhang Yang hoped that the man had not turned into a Spectre and frighten him like how the princess did back there!
Zhang Yang continued to ask, "Boss, do you happen to know where Banct Roland’s grave is? I would like to pay my respects to him."
"It should be in the ancestral hall of the Rolands. It’s located in the middle of the castle, alright. But that is a restricted area. You can’t go there! Oh, right! What’s your relationship with our late Count? Could you be one of his illegitimate children as well?" Tsk tsk tsk! Our late Count Roland just loved sprinkling his ‘seeds’ all over the ‘place’! Hehehe!" the cloth merchant let out a sinister laugh.
Zhang Yang put the clothes that he bought into his inventory and went off towards the deeper part of the castle with Whitey.
Although he could not vanish or use stealth like how Thieves usually do, he did have {Burrow}. Zhang Yang could just sneak through the guards and all other defenses.
"China pig!"
Just when Zhang yang was ready to move forward with Whitey, he suddenly spotted two players with red-labeled names. The kind of red that almost seemed to be black. It was not the color that players would have after killing other players. If they did kill some players, their names would be bright red. However, this dark red color indicated that these players were from an opposing region.
One of the players had hidden their personal information while the other did not --- The Chaos Realm did not belong to any of the Regions. Although there were eight different Territory Gateways across the entire realm, those gateways were just a spot for players to take a break in. Basically, the gateways did not permanently belong to any one region. Therefore, the information of players would not be forcefully revealed to others. However, enemy players could still see which region the players were from.
"Kill him!" One of them was a Thief, while the other was a Berserker. After exchanging affirmations, the two of them charged at Zhang Yang.
The moment weapons were unsheathed, the merchants at the roadsides began to scream and run in terror. The situation erupted.
Zhang Yang hopped off Whitey’s back and charged at the Berserker. He stunned the Berserker with his {Charge} before the Berserker could activate his. Then he slashed at the Berserker and laughed out loud. Blood splattered across the ground and the Berserker received a damage of ‘-29,873!’. That was one-third of the Berserker’s HP bar!
On the next moment. Zhang Yang swung him [Sword of Purging Devourer] through the air as he spun on his heels. More blood was spilled! He had struck the invisible Thief and had knocked the Thief right out from his Stealth Mode. ‘-88,974!’ That swing was no ordinary attack. Zhang Yang had activated his {God of War Devastation} which caused 3 times the damage of his initial Melee damage. The Thief who did not reveal his player information was instantly killed by that hit!
"Nanda Kore!"
The Berserker with the name ‘Tienwu Ichiro’ turned ghastly pale. He took in a cold breath and shouted in a shaky voice, "You’re Zhan Yu!"
‘A Shield-wielder with incredibly high damage!’ That was the impression of players from Japan-Korea Region on Zhang Yang. Because Zhang Yang was wearing a helmet which covered most of his face, it would be very difficult to recognize a player without the player’s information revealed. So, the only way of guessing was by the way the player acted.
Huh? How could he have guessed that so accurately?
Zhang Yang laughed and said, "Ding ding! Correct! Sadly, no rewards for you!"
The one-second global shared cooldown passed, Zhang Yang activated his {Horizontal Sweep} and caused ‘-61,229!’ damage to Tienwu Ichiro, sending him straight to the Graveyard.
Without wasting any more time, Zhang Yang quickly fled the scene.
Zhang Yang knew that the players of Japan-Korea region wanted him dead, to eat his flesh and drink his blood! If they find out that he was all alone in their territory, they would definitely gather their men and attempt to surround him. Unless Zhang Yang activates his {God of War Transformation}, he would not stand a chance against hundreds or thousands of players at the same time.
Furthermore, judging from the hate that these players had for him, they would come in numbers of up to tens of thousands!
Without any hesitation at all, he quickly rode Whitey and charged towards the deeper site of the castle. In just a brief moment, he arrived at the front of an imposing manor. There were 10 fully armored guards guarding by the entrance of the manor. Right on top of the manor, there was a label. ‘The Count’s Manor’. The words were crystal clear as f*ck!
So, Zhang Yang quickly kept Whitey back to his inventory and activated {Burrow} to begin his infiltration. He dug into the solid-jade ground. Then he made his way into the manor like a fish in water.
The manor was like a country among countries. It was huge! It took quite a while before Zhang Yang could finally locate the whereabouts of the ancestral hall.
The Chinese people call it an Ancestral hall. The place was an underground tomb site. Zhang Yang went straight through a metal door and entered the mausoleum of Roland. Fortunately, the place was not too vast. The room was only hundreds of meter-square wide. There were tomb slots on all four walls of the room. Each of the tomb ‘shelves’ contained a coffin. There was also a plate that displayed the name of the coffin’s occupant.
Zhang Yang looked around for a bit. After just a while, he found the label of ‘Banct Roland’. He pulled the coffin out effortlessly. Screech!
Zhang Yang prayed hard that this corpse would not suddenly come back to life like the last one.
He reached out for the cover of the coffin and a progress bar appeared right on top of the coffin. 30 seconds later, the cover of the coffin automatically opened by itself. Creak --- the atmosphere in the room was creepy and spooky at the same time, thanks to the dim light and the sound the echoed throughout the large hall.
"Urgh ---"
The moment the lid of the coffin slid open, a dried up corpse sat up! His face was emaciated, and he was making some strange, spooky sounds like a zombie.
Pak!
Zhang Yang immediately smacked the man in the face with his shield! F*ck you! Stop scaring people already!
The dried body was immediately smacked back into the coffin.
[Banct Roland] (Normal, Humanoid)
Level: 130
HP: 100/20,800
Note: Third In Line, Count Roland. He was once a great Spellcaster. But now, he is a barely living husk of a man.
He was not yet dead!
Zhang Yang could not help but feel shocked. How could a living man be in a coffin in such a manner?
He helped Banct out of the coffin and said, "Hey, give me a cough if you’re not yet dead!"
"Who... are you..." Banct tried to speak.
"I’m an Adventurer. I’m here by the orders of Princess Helena. I was tasked to look for a man named Banct Roland!"
"Helena!" the lifeless eyes of Banct suddenly flashed, as if he had regained some vigor. It was as if the light of life had been shone upon him for a moment. "Isn’t... isn’t she dead already?"