Chapter 53: The Dagger Revealed
Sherlock walked ahead, with the other Sunwatchers following closely. He whispered, "Standard protocol is for the Kingdom of Bryston to hold a welcoming ceremony here at Witsel Church Square. They then wait for the clock to strike twelve before entering Dockland Fortress."
It was drizzling outside, but the moment they stepped into Witsel Church Square, the sky cleared and the sun shone down. This was the work of a massive alchemy array beneath the square that controlled the local weather. No matter the conditions outside, it was always sunny here.
Zhou Ning nodded with a hum of understanding. He had seen this scene several times in his previous life. In the game, Braxton was already the most powerful of the six nations. Its leader, King Charles VI, was an arrogant, fat man who called himself the "Sun King." Whether he was meeting players or foreign envoys, he loved to show off his authority by being fashionably late. He was consistently voted the most unpopular faction leader.
*To me, he's just like old King Jiji,* Zhou Ning thought.
As they entered the square, the honor guard was playing Braxton's famous march, "Matilda." The envoy from Luins, Runes, had already arrived. He was a middle-aged man with dark hair cut in a style that featured long bangs resembling drooping ears, and a kind smile was perpetually on his face. As for Charles VI, his honor guard was present, but the king himself was not.
*It seems being late saved the man's life... for now.*
Zhou Ning couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
"Is there anything I can do?" XB asked in a low voice, hoping to trigger a quest.
"Not for now."
Zhou Ning shook his head. Just then, he saw Qien West, accompanied by a middle-aged man in a Sun Guard uniform, break away from the crowd and walk toward them. He smiled and nodded at Zhou Ning before turning his gaze to Sherlock. "What's the situation? Have you dealt with the matter at the university?"
"It's done. I left a few people there to clean up," Sherlock replied, then relayed Zhou Ning's suspicions to Qien. The smile vanished from Qien's face, replaced by a serious expression. "That's highly likely. Thank you for the warning."
A prompt appeared on Zhou Ning's panel:
[Your favorability with the Sun Guard has increased by 1200 points!]
[Sun Guard: Friendly (200/1500)]
[Your reputation in the Kingdom of Braxton has increased by 1600 points!]
[Kingdom of Braxton: Respected (100/6000)]
XB received a notification as well, opening two new faction standings for him. The Kingdom of Braxton was initially neutral, with his status as an ordinary citizen. The Sun Guard, however, was still listed as cold.
*As expected, you have to follow the protagonist!* XB shed a metaphorical tear.
"Come with me. Stand behind me," Qien West whispered before turning back to the formation.
"Has His Majesty not arrived yet?" Sherlock asked.
"No," Qien West shook his head. "Luins came to Darkland to discuss the territorial dispute over the Poolyun Lands. His Majesty has no intention of giving in and plans to make them wait."
Zhou Ning's lips curled into a smirk. *Sure enough, King Jiji's tradition of being late was there from the very start of the game.*
They followed Qien into the ranks, standing behind him and quietly observing the delegation on the opposite side. The quest was here; there was definitely something wrong with the envoys from Luins.
Envoy Runes, the one with the peculiar hairstyle, maintained his kind smile. Zhou Ning's keen eyes, however, noticed faint burn marks on the man's right index finger and thumb—the telltale signs of long-term work with crucibles and test tubes. Zhou Ning's instincts screamed that this man was highly suspicious.
As for the other members of the delegation, there were no clues for the time being.
About ten minutes later, the sound of wheels approached from a distance, and a gorgeous carriage rolled into view. Zhou Ning straightened up. While officials could get away with much, only one person was permitted to ride in a carriage within Witsel Church Square: Charles VI.
The carriage stopped, and an attendant drew back the curtain. As expected, Charles VI was helped out. He walked up to Envoy Runes with a broad smile. "Welcome to Darkland."
After a round of diplomatic pleasantries, Ambassador Runes, in accordance with etiquette, retrieved a letter of credence from a box he was carrying and presented it to Charles VI.
As Zhou Ning's eyes swept over the letter, a prompt suddenly popped up on his panel:
[Unknown Strange Item: ???] The name was followed by a string of question marks.
*An Unknown Strange Item?*
Zhou Ning's heart skipped a beat. According to the game's lore, these were artifacts from the ancient era of the Four Heroes, often found in the wake of weather tides across the continent. Some were incredibly useful, but more often than not, they were harbingers of misfortune and disaster.
Just as he was about to speak, he saw Envoy Runes pull a dagger from within the letter of credence. The kind smile never left his face as he lunged toward Charles VI.
*So this is it... the mask finally comes off.*
Qien West was prepared. He reacted instantly, drawing his pistol and firing a shot into the envoy's chest. Runes's body stiffened and blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, but his charge toward the king didn't falter.
The others finally reacted, drawing their own weapons and opening fire.
After taking six more shots, Envoy Runes collapsed, motionless. He was dead.
The most horrifying part was that even in death, he still wore that same kind smile. The letter of credence in his hand fell to the ground with a thud.
"Wait!"
Zhou Ning sensed something was wrong. He had just opened his mouth when Charles VI interrupted, pointing an angry finger at the Luins delegation. "Seize them!"
But before anyone could move, the other members of the Luins delegation pulled daggers from their coats. With fanatical expressions, they unhesitatingly plunged the blades into their own stomachs.
In an instant, blood pooled on the ground, and the pungent, coppery smell filled the air.
The streams of blood snaked across the stone, converging to form a strange, six-pointed star. The lines of the hexagram lit up one by one, and with the opened book on the ground as its epicenter, a narrow crack tore open in the air.
Everyone at the scene was stunned. Through the rift, they could see a strange world: a blood-red sky looming over countless long stone bridges that connected one set of broken ruins to another. Beneath the bridges, a boundless river of blood stretched as far as the eye could see.
"This is... the Blood Plane?"
The legendary domain of the Blood Elementals, inhabited by countless elemental monsters. *Isn't this something that's only supposed to appear in the Elemental Rebellion expansion?*
The hairs on the back of Zhou Ning's neck stood on end. "Fall back, now!"
He drew his pistol without hesitation and fired at the open book on the ground. The bullet struck with incredible accuracy, snapping the book shut.
As its pages closed, the spatial rift began to shrink. But before Zhou Ning could breathe a sigh of relief, a dark shadow shot out of the disappearing crack and landed on the ground.
It was vaguely humanoid, with a blood-red, worm-like body and a human face on its head. A pair of glowing red eyes were embedded in the grotesque visage. Upon landing, it drilled straight into one of the nearby corpses.
An overwhelming sense of danger washed over everyone present.
"It's a Bloodworm! Don't let it get near you!" Zhou Ning shouted, firing at the possessed corpse. "It doesn't have a strong attack, but it splits after it feeds on blood! Use fire to deal with it!"
The corpse on the ground rapidly shriveled as the Bloodworm inside split into three. They immediately pounced on the other corpses, which in turn split into countless more, swarming toward the living.
"Frost!" "Meteor Storm!"
Qien West, one of the finest weather mages in the kingdom, unleashed his skills. Although he successfully froze many of the Bloodworms, a dense swarm still rushed toward the surrounding people.
The scene descended into chaos.
It was at that moment that a colorless, terrifying aura erupted from Zhou Ning, spreading out in all directions. With no time to distinguish friend from foe, those closest to him were blasted back a step, stunned for a second. The very space seemed to tremble. Then, the densely packed Bloodworms in the square were all thrown into a dizzy state as the game panel began to refresh frantically.
[Your Conqueror's Haki dealt 109 damage to the Bloodworm, reducing its Spirit to 25 (40-15). The Bloodworm is stunned. Target killed. You have gained 65 experience points.]
[Your Conqueror's Haki dealt 93 damage to the Bloodworm, reducing its Spirit to 24 (40-16). The Bloodworm is stunned.]
[Your Conqueror's Haki dealt 111 damage to the Bloodworm, reducing its Spirit to 27 (40-13). The Bloodworm is stunned. Target killed. You have gained 72 experience points.]
...
[You were attacked by Wayne Stewell's Conqueror's Haki, taking 79 points of damage. You are now dizzy.]
XB, who was standing right next to Zhou Ning, was caught in the indiscriminate blast. His health bar instantly evaporated, leaving only a sliver of red. Although his game character was unconscious, he was wide awake in reality. His mouth hung open, words failing him. He could only take a deep breath and force out a single word: "HOLY...!"
Seeing this, his live broadcast room went into a frenzy. Watching from his perspective, they had seen everything unfold.
"HOLY HELL, that move is called Conqueror's Haki! Isn't that a little too broken?!"
"That has to be a protagonist-exclusive skill! Coach, I want to learn that!"
"Waaah... my man is so fierce!"
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