After the five of them reached an agreent, they set out to explore the Ancient Manor.
Misty Rain Traveler took out a dical flashlight for illumination, while Bai Mu simply picked up a candle straight from the dining table.
Just as he suspected, the candle's fla would not extinguish easily. Even when he gripped the candlestick and shook it back and forth, the fla showed no signs of shrinking or disappearing.
Aside from Misty Rain Traveler, who had her flashlight, the other four each grabbed a candlestick. These items seed as though they had been prepared specifically for them. The five Players approached the three doors opposite the main hall. Great Northern Wilderness, holding his sword, carefully pressed down the handle of the first door on the left and slowly pushed the wooden door open.
Only the first door would open. The other two doors refused to budge, no matter how hard they pushed.
Behind the first door lay a pitch-black corridor. In the middle of the hallway stood a hollow suit of knight's armor. The helt, greaves, and gauntlets were assembled perfectly, looking exactly like a guard standing at attention.
However, through the slits in the visor, they could see that it was completely empty inside. Yet, it grasped a battle axe taller than its own head, giving off an ominous feeling that it might spring to life at any mont and chop soone's head off.
"This thing looks extrely abnormal at first glance," Misty Rain Traveler muttered. "Isn't it practically screaming that it's a trap?"
"There are words on the wall," Nancheng Port suddenly pointed out.
Bai Mu also noticed the writing on the wall. The words were written in blood, and the stains were unusually fresh. They were still wet, as if they had been scrawled there just minutes before they opened the door.
A faint tallic scent of blood drifted out from the corridor.
Misty Rain Traveler shined her flashlight over. A conical beam of white light illuminated the bloody words, highlighting the crimson droplets that seeped downward, leaving behind several crooked streaks.
"A shield and an axe are a knight's pride," Misty Rain Traveler read aloud. "What is this, a riddle?"
"Isn't the armor's left hand empty?" Bai Mu said. "According to this sentence, it holds a long axe in its right hand, so it should be holding a shield in its left." "The question is, can we really trust this bloody ssage?" Scattered Fireflies asked. "No matter how you look at it, it feels incredibly suspicious."
"But we don't have any other clues right now," Great Northern Wilderness noted. "How about we go look for a shield sowhere else and co back here later?" "Don't you have a shield?" Misty Rain Traveler asked.
"But mine is just a small buckler. The size is obviously wrong."
Great Northern Wilderness raised his left hand. The shield was indeed very small, roughly half a ter in diater. Moreover, it was a wooden shield, reinforced only by an iron hoop around the outer edge. "Judging by that long axe, its shield should be at least waist-high."
"That makes sense," Misty Rain Traveler agreed.
"Isn't there sothing waist-high in the main hall?" Bai Mu asked.
"In the main hall?" Great Northern Wilderness paused, completely baffled by what Bai Mu was referring to.
But before Bai Mu could finish his sentence, the suit of armor suddenly moved.
Amidst a series of tallic clanks and grinding noises, the armor raised its long axe and took its first step. It marched toward the five of them. Although it was walking, its speed was terrifyingly fast. Its legs were incredibly long, considering the armor stood at least two ters tall. A single step for it was almost equivalent to three steps for a normal person. Furthermore, its movents were remarkably fluid. Such a heavy set of full plate armor should have been sluggish, but what drove it wasn't a human inside, but rather so sort of supernatural force.
The mont the armor closed the distance, it unleashed a devastating overhead strike, viciously swinging its axe forward.
Fortunately, the people present were all veteran Players with fast enough reflexes.
"Fall back!" Great Northern Wilderness was the first to shout. The group imdiately retreated from the doorway. Great Northern Wilderness violently kicked the heavy door shut and rolled backward. The axe slamd into the door with a loud crash, smashing a massive hole through the wood. The razor-sharp blade pierced right through the splinters. With just two strikes, the armor hacked the door to pieces and stepped out into the spacious main hall.
"How are we supposed to kill this thing?!" Misty Rain Traveler yelled, a headache forming. "My throwing knives are useless against a tin can!"
Her skills and weapons were specialized for dealing bonus damage to fleshy monsters. She had previously cooperated with Bai Mu to obtain a Forensic License, allowing her to take on the Forensic Doctor profession. However, a Forensic Doctor could not dissect an armored monster. This ant she was completely countered by this creature in every aspect. Facing this iron monstrosity, she was entirely helpless and had no choice but to run.
"I can't withstand this kind of strength either!" Great Northern Wilderness revealed a look of anxiety.
Even though he wore chainmail and had acquired a shield and a knight's sword, securing a "warrior" role for himself before the Script began, his base attributes hadn't improved by much. The armor's strength was terrifyingly vast. If he took a direct hit from that axe, he was certain he would either die or be permanently crippled. anwhile, Nancheng Port's arrows were naturally ineffective against a suit of knight's armor that possessed no vital organs. Although he experintally fired a few shots, the arrows simply snapped against the iron plating without leaving so much as a scratch.
Only Scattered Fireflies had a viable thod of attack. She raised her staff, and a small fireball coalesced at its tip before shooting forward with a sharp hiss. The blazing light briefly illuminated their surroundings.
Bai Mu knew this was one of Scattered Fireflies' offensive skills called the Fireball Spell. Out of the five of them, she was the only one who had acquired a supernatural class, specifically the Trainee Mage Apprentice.
She had unlocked the Mana system. Even though she was still a complete novice who could only shoot a few fireballs with the approximate stopping power of a handgun, it was genuinely a magic attack. It actually seed to have so effect.
The armored monster paused. The blast hit its elbow, causing the gauntlet to clatter to the ground. However, a second later, the monster crouched slightly, and the severed gauntlet magnetically snapped right back into place.
Its exterior remained smooth and unblemished. Magic-based skills could only hinder its movents montarily before it instantly regenerated.
During this brief window, Bai Mu pulled out his Camcorder to observe. He noticed that when Scattered Fireflies' Fireball Spell struck, the strange mist clinging to the knight's armor rippled slightly. However, the ambient fog in the house quickly swirled in to replenish it.
Judging from this, the creature was likely invincible within the Ancient Manor. If the mist acted as its health pool, then it was essentially bathing in a healing spring, regenerating its health at a terrifyingly rapid pace every single second.
"Run!" Great Northern Wilderness shouted. "Let's follow the hint and look for a shield first!"
But Bai Mu had no intention of running. Instead, he took the initiative to charge forward.
By this point, Scattered Fireflies' attack had drawn the armor's aggro, causing it to raise its axe and chase after her. She turned and fled as fast as her legs could carry her, but she couldn't outrun the armor at all. In just two or three strides, it caught up to her, swinging its massive axe straight for her neck.
She felt a sharp gust of wind sweeping toward her throat. In that split second, she thought she was dead. Her mind went completely blank, leaving nothing but the thud-thud-thud of her own heartbeat echoing in her ears like a drum.
However, a sharp flash of a blade swept past her eyes, followed by a piercing screech of colliding tal. Sparks even erupted wildly from the fierce impact. [Skill: Quick Draw]
Bai Mu unleashed this rare skill. He felt a trendous recoil jolt through the webbing of his thumb and index finger. The armored monster's physical strength was far greater than his own, but the Flaming Sword still managed to deflect the axe blade, albeit with so difficulty. He even managed to land a slash directly onto the armor's body.
Unfortunately, due to the creature's unique nature, the attack failed to trigger any laceration or bleeding status effects.
Bai Mu swiftly sheathed the Flaming Sword and unleashed a second Quick Draw. He hacked three tis in rapid succession, finally drawing the monster's aggro onto himself and luring it away.
Trembling with lingering fear, Scattered Fireflies watched his back as he kited the armored monster toward the main doors.
Of course, Bai Mu didn't do this out of so romantic desire to play the hero saving the damsel in distress. Scattered Fireflies was his teammate and a rare mage to boot. It would be far too much of a waste for her to die right at the beginning of the Script.
Furthermore, he wanted to test a theory. He led the armor over to the second heavy door. The massive axe swung right at the wooden barrier, but to his disappointnt, it didn't smash the door open. Instead, the axe simply bounced off.
'Taking a shortcut really isn't going to work, huh?' Bai Mu had expected as much, but he still wanted to try. What if it had actually chopped it open? However, even if the door couldn't be broken, he could still make it smash other things. Bai Mu led the armor in a loop around the main hall. The other four Players watched in sheer disbelief as he walked the armored monster around like a dog on a leash. It looked exactly like he was dancing on the edge of a knife. In fact, Bai Mu genuinely was dancing, as he needed to trigger the special effects of his Dance of Elvis.
The monster's movents were reasonably agile, but still far inferior compared to Bai Mu. Its only real tactic was relying on brute force to perform miracles with its axe. Thus, Bai Mu dragged it around, making it obliterate everything smashable in the hall, including the dining table, cabinets, walls, jars, and more.
As a result, he actually managed to uncover a hidden item. After the armor cleaved apart a previously unopenable cabinet tucked in a corner, a brightly glowing book caught his eye:
[The Witch's Diary].
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