Chapter 746: Darkness Falls (XIII)
Even though Rhode and Canary were legendary players who shook the gaming world, they couldn’t help but feel a headache in this problem. The ident.i.ty of Erin was enough to give them a hard time. If it were an ordinary Night Wyvern, perhaps Canary and Mini Bubble Gum could join hands and take it down. But—how do they defeat Erin?
Erin was the princess of the Country of Darkness and they would be in huge trouble if they crippled or even killed her. Rhode was confident that if that happened, the Dark Dragon would surely charge his way here to destroy the forest into a puff of smoke. Currently, he didn’t have the same number of players in the game here to take down the Dark Dragon and even if he invited Lydia over—there were still the four legendary generals around to keep her company.
Another way for him was to grind his teeth, think of a way to imprison Erin, use her as a hostage to stop the Country of Darkness from attacking, and make them sign an armistice agreement with the Munn Kingdom. The more time, the better for him and he could go through the Country of Law’s notarization… This way, at least he wouldn’t need to face imminent danger. But, he was sure that he would be dead thereafter because it would almost be impossible for the Dark Dragon to forgive him. But meanwhile, at least Rhode would have the time to improve. If he, Orchid Heart, Canary, and Mini Bubble Gum were able to reach the maximum level before the armistice agreement expired and unlock another Phantom Guardian after upgrading the system to its peak, all five of them could still take down the Dark Dragon…
Yes. Maybe. Perhaps.
But… would Erin be captured that easily?
Although she was the princess of Country of Darkness, she was unlike the weaklings in the legends where they were captured and locked up by the Demon King and cried everyday for the arrival of brave knights to rescue them. In the game, a saying among players was that if they treated the four legendary generals as the four emperors in a hackneyed plot, Erin would be the hidden fifth.
In a monarchy and as the Dark Dragon Ion’s younger sister, Erin didn’t need to be involved in politics and military. But her strength was second to none among the four legendary generals. In the mid stages of the game, almost every player knew the t.i.tle of ‘Moon Princess Erin’. Some players were even tricked by her ‘Moon Princess Erin’ t.i.tle, where they thought that she was a pushover and launched their attacks on the Country of Darkness. There was no need to mention the obvious results of their a.s.sault. Moreover, almost every player who entered the ‘Moon Castle’ dungeon perished miserably. Although there were indeed players who cleared the Moon Castle dungeon, they failed to get the first kill on Erin because… They completed the dungeon in her absence.
Apart from her terrifying strength, her valiant attribute also left the players speechless. After using countless ways to investigate details about her, her attribute was finally revealed.
As the second most powerful presence below the Dark Dragon, Erin could be said to be stronger than Lydia. Her rule strength was the moon, which was why people called her the ‘Moon Princess’.
She represented the highest authority under the moon in the mortal world—she lived and died with the moon. In other words, as long as the moon was up in the sky, she would never be killed. Not only that, but her attribute powers would also strengthen as the moon shone brighter. If the moon was in the shape of a crescent, her ability values would be upgraded by one point. But if it was a full moon, her ability values would be multiplied and she would be immune to debuffs. Not only that, but she would also be immune to dark attribute magic, critical attacks, backstabs, and all magical damage inflicted on her would be instantly halved.
After getting a clear idea of her attribute, players everywhere howled in grief because the Country of Darkness had eternal night and the moon wouldn’t vanish from the night sky, which also meant that Erin was invincible in the Country of Darkness. The players who intended to enter the Country of Darkness and kill her to demonstrate their powerful strength instantly changed their minds.
Thereafter, many player groups tried to lure Erin out of the Country of Darkness and launch their attacks under the Light Dragon Soul protection, and they almost succeeded. But what left them in despair was that Erin’s moon attribute wasn’t only effective in Country of Darkness—as long as the moon was in the sky, her powers wouldn’t be weakened. Therefore, the only way was to kill her during daytime. But Erin wasn’t foolish. How would she obediently wait for daytime to be surrounded by players? Moreover, even without the presence of the moon, would the players be able to contend against her legendary strength? Furthermore, she was a dragon…
Fortunately, she was gentle, sweet-tempered, and didn’t favor battles. In fact, the t.i.tle of ‘Court Scholar’ was also given to her in the Country of Darkness, where according to the players in the Country of Darkness, her favorite hobbies were art and history. Many players in the Country of Darkness received requests from her to search for ancient books and art pieces, and they were rewarded hugely thereafter. Therefore, Erin was popular among the players in the Country of Darkness, just like how players in the Munn Kingdom liked Lydia. The players adored Erin so much that when players in the Light Mainland formed an alliance to take her down, many players in the Country of Darkness grouped up to protect her.
Judging from this point, Erin was a princess who was very much in line with the ‘princesses’ in the players’ imaginations.
The premise was to ignore her terrifying strength.
In the game, many players discussed this question—why didn’t Erin join the war between the Country of Darkness and the Light Mainland?
Her authority under the moon wasn’t restricted by Dragon Soul protection and as a result, unless they fought in a region where the moon wouldn’t rise, no one could defeat her. On the other hand, some players even called upon Lydia and Erin to befriend each other because they had similar personalities; they loved and admired beautiful art pieces. But the only difference was that Lydia was outgoing and adored luxury and elegance. On the other hand, Erin was more introverted. Besides, their abilities appeared to complement each other—Lydia was invincible under the sun while Erin was indestructible under the moon. If one could have them as one’s subordinates, conquering this continent wouldn’t be just a dream.
But if both were to fight each other, perhaps there would be no definite end.
There were several conclusions after the players discussed this problem. Most of them believed that the reason why Erin didn’t lead the army was related to the monarchy. After Ion took over the throne, he carried out a great degree of reform to the ruling cla.s.s and swore to grasp all authority in his hands. Erin, as his younger sister, held the royal blood and was also a female, where it would cause instability if she held too much authority and status. On the other hand, Erin disliked battles and wasn’t strongly attached to them. Even though players often messed with her, her attacks were all in self-defense and she never initiated fights with others.
In the game, Rhode didn’t get the first kill on Erin because his ultimate target was the Dark Dragon Ion while he couldn’t care less about Erin since she didn’t obstruct him. Although Starlight didn’t attack her, she was slaughtered completely by the encirclement from members of the Glorious Edge, which was Rhode’s rival guild.
But the Glorious Edge Guild got into huge trouble thereafter, where they instantly subst.i.tuted Rhode in being the prime target of the players in the Country of Darkness, which wasn’t surprising. After all, Erin didn’t offend them and yet, they eradicated her ruthlessly.
Thereafter, Glorious Edge suffered from various beat downs from the players in the Country of Darkness. Although their strength improved greatly after gaining the spoils of war from defeating Erin, they were no match for all the players in the Country of Darkness, which resulted in their guild being disbanded.
Rhode didn’t pity Glorious Edge at all because they were established by players in the Country of Light. They should count their lucky stars that Rhode didn’t slaughter them right after he took down the Dark Dragon. Since they asked for death by killing Erin, Rhode didn’t mind watching them perish from the sidelines.
But now, he couldn’t stand idly by anymore.
No matter how Erin disliked battling, she definitely wouldn’t look on helplessly at her army crumble to the enemies. Rhode was sure that she would jump into the battle at the critical juncture and might possibly destroy the three precious Holy Maiden Statues. The holy spears were devastating to Undead Creatures, but Erin was a living creature, so they wouldn’t deal much damage to her. But, even if Rhode could—would he dare to hurt her?
Rhode’s head hurt at this thought.
This was truly an unresolvable problem.