owlsbooks Chapter 59 Watcher's Fortress
Chapter 59 Watcher's Fortress
After passing through the fog gate and opening my eyes again, the surrounding scenery was completely different.
What You Che saw before him was a narrow, winding stone corridor with crisscrossing paths and walls covered with knife marks and arrow holes.
In addition, a light gray mist filled the corridor, making visibility very poor.
"Scout Corridor, Zone One?"
You Che only needed one glance to determine his location.
He looked to his left and right and saw Qingling and the prayer master Luna standing beside him, while the other three were nowhere to be seen.
"There are three of us here, we're lucky," You Che said with a smile.
The key is that Qingling is also by my side, which saves me the time of looking for her.
Luna surveyed her surroundings and determined their location: "The Scout Corridor... Should we go find the others?"
Aside from You Che and Qing Ling, she was the lowest-ranked member of the maze team, and also a mage.
Since You Che and Luna were clearly together, Luna naturally asked You Che for his opinion first.
You Che said, "No need. Didn't we agree before we came in that as long as we have three people, we can explore first? Let's go into the corridor."
The level mechanics of the Watchers' Fortress are unique, as it is divided into six parallel areas, each with different terrain, enemies, and a boss.
Most importantly, once inside the maze, there is a chance that a small team will be split up and teleported to different areas.
If the groups aren't too scattered, that's fine, but if some unlucky people are thrown into a particular area alone, then there could be trouble.
Among these six areas, some are extremely difficult for a single person to pass through, or will be attacked as soon as they enter. In such cases, the cooperation or support of teammates is very necessary.
That's why the Adventurers' Guild requires a party to have at least six people. This way, even if they get separated when they enter, adventurers are more likely to find their companions in the nearby area.
...Although in Yu Che's opinion, this rule is somewhat meaningless.
After all, even in a five-person team, it would be an extremely rare situation where a member would be left alone and unable to find teammates to support them. If we consider this possibility, even in a six-person team, if someone is unlucky during teleportation, they might still be left isolated.
However, this is an adjustment made by the guild to increase the survival rate of adventurers, as a six-person team is less likely to encounter extreme situations than a five-person team.
In the game era, this dungeon naturally did not have such a rule; this was purely an adaptation made by the adventurers' guild of this world.
The restriction that only those at level E or above can enter should also stem from this concept.
Ultimately, for the general public in this world, life is only once, so naturally they can't be as reckless and reckless as gamers, and efficiency is the priority when running dungeons.
At this moment, Luna hesitated after hearing You Che's words:
"Should we explore directly? But wouldn't it be dangerous for the three of us to enter the scout corridor? Considering our professions..."
The six areas of the Watcher's Fortress labyrinth evolved from different areas of the former fortress.
The Scout Corridor where You Che and his companions were located was the first of the six major areas. As its name suggests, it was originally the activity area of scouts. Now, the corridor, which has been transformed into a maze, is mostly inhabited by scouts and assassins.
Given their current lineup of two spellcasters, without any warriors or corresponding scout-type characters, it is indeed risky to rush into it... generally speaking.
You Che simply smiled and said, "Don't worry, we have experience dealing with enemies like assassins."
Luna hesitated for a moment, but then she saw You Che pull out a sharp, cone-shaped throwing knife and throw it. The knife flew straight towards a corner of the corridor ahead and, with a "thud," pierced out a scout who was originally hiding in the mist.
"Ugh..."
The scout was wearing leather armor that covered his entire body, but what gushed from the wound where the throwing knife had pierced him was foul-smelling blood, and he could not make a sound at all.
Yu Che's sudden move startled Luna, but after noticing the scouts over there, her expression turned to surprise.
[Wandering Soul Scout]
[Level: 15]
[HP: 164/180]
"A level 15 ghost scout? When did you find it?"
Luna instinctively wanted to ask that question, but her adventurous spirit made her swallow her words and instead grip her staff tightly.
"Throw a fireball—!"
"boom!!"
A small fireball flew out and hit the wandering scout on the head, then exploded into a large area of flames, causing considerable damage.
When the scout was attacked, his first instinct was not to fight back, but to try to escape. However, dark, thorny vines had somehow climbed up the ground to his feet and tightly bound his legs.
The wandering scout immediately fell heavily to the ground.
Then came You Che's flying knives and daggers in a combo, along with poison and blood explosions, which, combined with Luna's small fireball, neatly finished off the enemy.
"Oh? You dropped something?"
You Che stepped forward and took a look, discovering that an irregular, semi-transparent crystal cluster had rolled out from under the corpse of the wandering scout, appearing as a semi-transparent, ghostly blue in the darkness.
"Echo crystallization?"
Luna was startled again: "It fell so easily?"
The Echoing Crystal, which the merchant Owen longed for, is a special material produced by Watchers' Fortress.
According to the setting, this thing is a physical entity formed from the pure fighting will and spiritual power of a warrior who dies on the battlefield.
It has a wide range of uses; with some processing, it can be transformed into inlaid crystals, or used as a forging material, and so on.
Due to its wide range of uses and the fact that it only has a chance to drop from enemies of level 15 and above in Watcher's Fortress, it is expensive and scarce.
Of course, Yu Che knew that this thing wasn't only found in Watchers' Fortress, but the general public in this world was probably unaware of it at the moment.
As for Luna's surprise, You Che just smiled and said: "Sis, are you kidding me with 9 points of luck?"
Correspondingly, after witnessing Yu Che's brief display of his abilities, Luna's thoughts immediately changed.
She had previously thought that it was a bit suicidal for just the three of us to enter this area.
Now she's thinking, thankfully it's just the three of us; if there were more people, the pay would be less.
Their team's entry into the maze this time was planned in advance, except for collecting a certain number of materials specified by Mycroft. Everything else was distributed in the usual way.
Basically, those who participated in the battle had the right to distribute the spoils.
Moreover, for designated materials like Echo Crystals, if the amount collected exceeds the quota, the excess belongs to the individual.
The combination of You Che and Qing Ling has the ability to discover hidden enemies, the means to control targets and prevent them from escaping, and seems to have a high drop rate. All she needs to do is spam Prayer to deal damage and finish off the monsters.
I've never encountered such a good thing in all my years as an adventurer!
Of course she couldn't possibly miss it!
So at this moment, she was holding the long staff, looking at You Che with eager eyes, and the meaning couldn't be clearer:
When are we going to enter the map?
You Che chuckled. He had originally wanted to confirm one last time whether this teammate should go to other areas to find companions, but now it seemed unnecessary.
They had been standing still for a while, but no teammates came looking for them. It seemed that there were no lone teammates in the two nearest areas, so there was no need to worry.
So You Che nodded and said, "Let's go then."