Chapter 547: Pale Justice
“There’s still one more...”
After Chen Chen killed the paladin captain, he immediately remembered that another wizard had fled from here, but it was too late to chase after him. The other party had long since melded into the ruins of the city. Looking for him would be like finding a needle in a haystack.
However, up until now, there had been six people killed. Among them, only one wizard was left in this squad. A wizard and a rogue in the other squad had also died. It seemed that there should still be fourteen more survivors.
After thinking about it, Chen Chen searched the corpses of this group of people and found a lot of bottles and jars. In addition to some potions and gold coins, there were also some things that Chen Chen could not name.
For example, there were some spices and a weird badge, but after seeing the emblem on this badge, Chen Chen’s eyes suddenly brightened.
This badge was st.i.tched with a blood-colored j.a.panese rose. Blood was still flowing on the stem and there was a string of numbers on the back of the emblem.
This was...
Chen Chen turned around and looked at the top of the hall. The emblem depicted on it was indeed the same as this badge!
“In other words, does this emblem belong to me?”
Chen Chen wore a thoughtful look. “Then, if my guess is right, this string of numbers should be the code for one of the four gates.”
Seeing this, Chen Chen simply packed up everything and put them in the attic of his castle.
If they wanted to find these props, they must go through Chen Chen first.
After doing all this, Chen Chen noticed that the horizon had started to light up slightly and a ray of morning light appeared at the end of the sky. One night’s time was about to pa.s.s and the next day was being ushered in.
At the same time, Chen Chen also felt that his strength seemed to be a little weakened. This was a mandatory buff. During the day, the power of a vampire would be reduced by 10 to 20%.
However, after Chen Chen thought for a while, he did not return to the pa.s.sage in the fireplace. It would be like shooting fish in a barrel. If he was found by the other party, he might not be able to run. Therefore, Chen Chen went upstairs and found a room on the second floor with a wide view, then hid there.
In this way, if someone approached the castle, he would notice them at once and he could also prevent the opponent from finding the pa.s.sage behind the fireplace.
After taking refuge, Chen Chen silently watched the sky turning from the pale whiteness of the fish belly to a brighter hue. The original indigo blue color quickly faded and the sky became sky-blue like gla.s.s, pure and flawless.
As the sun gradually rose, a plume of black smoke suddenly curled up at the western gate of the city.
The black smoke rose straight up, for the tall city wall blocked the wind from dispersing it. When he saw the black smoke in the distance, Chen Chen could not help frowning.
Was it because they knew it was daytime, so Chen Chen was restrained, that they dared to build a fire to cook a meal?
No, if these people were a group of well-trained mercenaries who had drawn blood before, then they would not make such a low-level mistake. At this time, the black smoke was more like a trap, one that was supposed to entice Chen Chen to head there.
Chen Chen had already noticed that although he was a vampire, even if the ultraviolet rays irradiated his body, it would only cause burns to the epidermal skin. At this time, the wounds on his arm had healed at an unknown time.
In other words, short-term exposure to the sun would only cause minor injuries to him and he would not turn into ashes by a single ray of sunlight like in movies or legends.
This group of people seemed to understand him better than he understood himself or rather, they understood vampires very well.
It was too bad that, besides immense physical strength, Chen Chen had an even stronger Field power. Most of those people before were killed by Chen Chen’s pervasive Field energy.
Thinking of this, Chen Chen was a little eager and tempted. He was contemplating whether he should use the opponents to measure his own strength and beat them at their own game, wiping out the team near the black smoke. Nevertheless, on second thought, he gave up on this.
There were still two nights and there was no rush at all unless the group found one of the other three badges.
However, this group of people came here after being commissioned to find treasures and kill Chen Chen. That was to say, unless they suffered heavy losses and believed that the mission was impossible, they certainly would not leave easily.
As for the Consciousness Stealer hidden among the crowd, Chen Chen did not have any special strategies for the time being. It was best to go with the flow and kill this group of NPCs at the same time, eliminating the creature.
The black smoke did not billow for long. As if they knew that Chen Chen would not be fooled, the fire was soon put out again and then there was silence as before.
Chen Chen could not see any signs of movement and no one stepped into the scope of the castle, but at some unknown time, he discovered that the doors of some nearby buildings had been opened and then closed again.
The group of people was still searching for clues against Chen Chen in various rooms in the city.
Three or four hours later, when the sun set again, Chen Chen stood up and stretched slightly.
The heat of the day faded little by little and the familiar power surged up in him again, permeating through Chen Chen’s body.
Chen Chen suddenly realized that he seemed to like the feeling of darkness arriving.
Even so, after night fell, he did not act immediately. Instead, he waited for a while in the castle. After sensing that no one had sneaked in, he walked out of the castle and approached the west gate where the black smoke had risen during the day.
This time, Chen Chen’s speed was not fast. He did not see until he walked to the gate that a bonfire was piled up on the ground in front of the western gate. At this time, the bonfire was extinguished and only a wisp of smoke was left. There was no sign of people cooking food or resting on the side.
As expected, the black smoke during the day was a trap.
Thinking of this, Chen Chen looked toward the surrounding houses. His Field energy swept through the houses without any blind spots and soon, he found clues in some rooms.
Chen Chen’s figure suddenly flickered and in the next second, he appeared on the first floor of that house, only to see a few scratches on the ground here. It seemed that someone in armor had lain here before and all the doors of the house were open. There were even signs that the locks were broken by force.
There was also an iron box in one of the rooms, but it had been opened by someone, and the object in it was gone.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight...
Chen Chen found a total of eight traces in the surrounding houses.
If there were eight people, in other words, were these the two teams that he had sensed after killing the wizard and rogue?
At this time, Chen Chen already knew that there were four teams in this group of invaders. One of the teams was wiped out with only one wizard left and the other two teams were the eight people today. So now, it seemed, there was only one team left that Chen Chen had not encountered yet.
Thinking of this, Chen Chen had a faint intuition that maybe the Consciousness Stealer was hidden in the last team...
However, with its mere five points of intelligence, what would it do and why should it hide?
Chen Chen realized that he might be able to guess the thoughts of smart people, but he could not guess the thoughts of such monsters. No one knew what they were thinking.
Thinking of this, Chen Chen returned to the castle again but when he approached the castle, he suddenly got a strong whiff of blood. Chen Chen had never been so sensitive to the smell of blood, but now he was in the consciousness battlefield after all. Although the smell of blood was the same as usual, for Chen Chen, there was a hint of sweetness in this b.l.o.o.d.y stench.
However, this kind of diversion was not too tempting to the strong-willed Chen Chen. He flew straight to the castle and immediately saw a trace of blood flowing out of the inner floor of the castle.
Someone seemed to be injured.
Chen Chen glanced at the trap inside. Sure enough, in the brick above his head, all the spikes had flown out, and they were tightly nailed to the ground. At the same time, a few spikes were missing and on the ground, only a puddle of blood was left.
The track of blood trailed out from the castle, extending into the cl.u.s.ter of houses behind him.
Chen Chen’s expression flashed twice. He was about to chase after the blood trai, but once again he paused. “The spiked trap was launched from the top. If one was not prepared for it, one would die at once. It’s unlikely that someone would be injured but still survived, not to mention the amount of bleeding was not much... In other words, someone is setting up an ambush for this trap again?”
Thinking of this, Chen Chen’s mouth twitched into a smile. “Interesting...”
He did not follow the bloodstains directly but returned to the castle. At the same time, he stretched out his hand. The spikes popped out of the ground one by one, and then landed into Chen Chen’s palm like birds returning to their nests.
After that, Chen Chen walked to the other side of the second floor of the castle and vaulted over the window at the back.
At this time, his Field power was fully activated and he tried his best to detect signs of people around him. At the same time, he went around in a circle to explore the direction of the blood track from the side. Finally, after traveling over a hundred meters, he had reached a small square where a pile of bandages was left after being used to dress a wound.
In the surrounding houses of the small square, several adventurers were waiting quietly. Sure enough, this was still a trap.
Chen Chen first spotted two warriors with scruffy beards. One of them was only about 1.6 meters tall, but his head was twice as large as an ordinary person, with a big nose and two giant axes in his hands. Chen Chen immediately recognized that this was a dwarf warrior.
The other person was an ordinary human warrior and not a paladin because Chen Chen did not feel the threat of a paladin from his presence.
In a residential building near these two people, there was a man in black who was raring to go. He was dressed fully in black clothes, revealing only a pair of eyes, and he was not wearing any armor. Only two scimitars hung at his waist and he looked just like an a.s.sa.s.sin.
There were three of them in these two houses.
Chen Chen did not know where the remaining people were, but it seemed obvious. The remaining people were in the houses that surrounded the small square, but at this time, these people were acting as support by guarding the rear. It was impossible for Chen Chen to enter the small square to locate the remaining people, and if he continued to approach these people, he would be noticed by them.
Chen Chen was still keeping in mind the distance of 40 meters.
Unless Chen Chen could head in and slaughter them without attracting too much attention...
Thinking of this, Chen Chen immediately narrowed his eyes. He first selected the a.s.sa.s.sin in black and then he approached this opponent step by step. Although the limit of Field’s range was 50 meters, his control over Field at this distance was greatly diminished both in accuracy and strength.
Forty-five meters, forty-four meters, forty-three meters...
When Chen Chen was forty-three meters away from the black-clothed a.s.sa.s.sin, the a.s.sa.s.sin suddenly shuddered. He quickly stood up and was about to draw the scimitar at his waist but found that there was only air!
“Swish!”
There was a sound of metal slicing flesh and the black-clothed a.s.sa.s.sin only felt a chill at his neck. Following that, a large volume of blood sprayed from his neck!
“Hiss, hiss, hiss...”
The black-clothed a.s.sa.s.sin struggled constantly but he could not break free from the invisible shackles. He opened his mouth but his scimitar had already cut his throat, making him unable to utter a sound.
After half a minute, the black-clothed a.s.sa.s.sin had become limp, approaching death little by little.
Although Chen Chen was far away, he knew that there must be a b.l.o.o.d.y stench emanating from the scene and he had to kill as many as possible before others could smell the blood.
Thus, Chen Chen did not stop. He once again targeted the two warriors who were stationed together. At the same time, with a flick of his finger, four spikes flew toward the house of the two warriors at a leisurely speed.
“Hum...”
The four spikes were like four feathers. They drifted into the building through the gaps in the door and the window and silently hovered over the two people’s heads. Just then, Chen Chen raised his right hand, then abruptly closed it into a fist!
“Whiz!”
In an instant, the four spikes suddenly accelerated and penetrated the open eyes of the two at a lightning speed!
“Argh!”
“Aghh!!”
Two screams came from inside the house. Chen Chen did not proceed to kill them but immediately retreated and re-entered the shadows behind him.
“Roar!”
Sure enough, outside the small square, a furious cry suddenly burst out from one of the hidden buildings and then a warrior surrounded by a white halo rushed out. This soldier was brawnier than the paladin captain killed by Chen Chen. His silver-white halo was also more compact.
At this time, Chen Chen was already hiding in the shadows. He stoically watched the paladin rushing forward but when he saw the weapon wielded by the paladin, his pupils suddenly shrank.
The paladin was holding the simple longsword without any embellishments that Chen Chen had first discovered?
Thinking of this, Chen Chen’s expression darkened instantly. This longsword was prepared for the paladin and that was why it caused such grievous harm to Chen Chen.
Now, the longsword was found by his opponent, so the danger level had soared exponentially. Chen Chen was not even sure that his Field could stop the paladin’s slash!