"What should we do now?"
"Let's take it one step at a time. Let's climb the mountain first. If there are enemies … they shouldn't be able to plot against me. " Bai Xiaowen glanced at the Bracelet of Misfortune on his left wrist. The smiley face on it meant that there was no danger, which was very reassuring.
Perhaps it was to facilitate the pilgrimage of the residents of the North County, but there were man-made stone stairs leading to the peak of the mountain that led to the monastery. The mountain path was not too steep. With the physical fitness of the residents of the Spiritual Realm, it was not a problem for them to climb up.
Bai Xiaowen and Li Shuyi had even less of a problem.
As they climbed up the mountain, the wind and snow became heavier.
"Wait a minute."
After climbing for a while, Bai Xiaowen stopped Li Shuyi. He squatted down and carefully examined the stone stairs in front of them.
"Hmm?"
"The stone stairs here … seem to have been walked by many people."
"How can you tell?" Li Shuyi squatted down with great interest. "The snow is so heavy, and there are no footprints."
"The snow on the stairs is uneven. Many places are thinner by a few millimeters or even centimeters." Bai Xiaowen stretched out his hand and gently brushed the stone stairs, brushing off the loose snow on the surface. "The snow that has been stepped on will be firmer … After removing the loose snow, we can see more clearly."
"There are so many marks on the first step!" Li Shuyi was a little surprised. He was even more surprised by Bai Xiaowen's abnormal observation skills. She thought for a moment and said, "Xiaowen, do you think it could be the escaped Highlord Glendis and her guards? It could also be a group of civilians on a pilgrimage. "
"The marks are messy, and there are many places that have been stepped on repeatedly. This means that there are many people. Glendis escaped from the secret passage, so she should only have a few trusted subordinates with her. There can't be so many of them. As for the civilians, in this season, I don't think there will be so many civilians on a pilgrimage to a remote monastery at the peak of the mountain, "Bai Xiaowen said with narrowed eyes.
Li Shuyi nodded thoughtfully.
"Let's go! Until now, the warning from the Bracelet of Misfortune has been that there is no danger … Eh? "
Bai Xiaowen glanced at his left wrist and found that the pattern on the Bracelet of Misfortune had turned into a calm and expressionless face, which meant that the danger level had changed from no danger to slightly dangerous.
Bai Xiaowen used his spiritual power to scan the area and pointed in a direction. "There."
Li Shuyi ran along the snow-covered slope. With her agility, she wouldn't fall easily in the snow, even if she didn't leave any traces behind. Bai Xiaowen followed behind.
"It's two snow wolves."
On the other side of the cliff, two gray-white wolves were tearing a beast corpse apart in the snow.
Seeing Bai Xiaowen and Li Shuyi coming over, the two snow wolves growled threateningly.
Bai Xiaowen's sharp eyes caught sight of the beast carcass. He immediately raised his hand and summoned the Soul Catcher Delifa. "Chase those two wolves away and bring me the beast's corpse."
"Yes, sir."
Delifa flapped its pale wings, and a slightly illusory spear appeared in its hand. Its tip shone with a pale light.
Delifa leaped lightly over the cliff and stabbed with its spear like lightning. Its attack speed was faster than Bai Xiaowen had imagined.
One of the snow wolves couldn't dodge in time and was stabbed in the eye by the spear, killing it on the spot. Delifa then pulled out its spear and flapped its wings to move a few feet to dodge the second snow wolf's attack. The spear's shaft knocked the second snow wolf into the depths of the cliff.
Seeing Delifa fly back slowly with the beast carcass, Bai Xiaowen couldn't help but praise, "Delifa's long-handled weapon specialty will probably be upgraded to Level-8 or Level-9. Looks like I'll have a teacher with a long-handled weapon specialty. "
"After your Skeleton Warrior is strengthened, can't it fuse with the soul of a powerhouse? If it fuses with a high-level two-handed sword specialty, won't it be able to increase its two-handed sword specialty quickly? "Li Shuyi asked.
"Yes, I'm still thinking about which one to fuse with it … There are a few knight leaders' souls that I don't really want to fuse with," Bai Xiaowen said. After all, there was only one chance to fuse with it.
Delifa had already flown back.
"Long-handled weapons are known for their slow attack speed and long attack intervals. Your Dexterity isn't high either, so why are you so fast?" Li Shuyi asked curiously.
Delifa heard Li Shuyi's question and explained with a smile, "Mistress, my spiritual spear is actually an extension of the Soul Catcher's body. It's not a real weapon and has no weight. It's equivalent to hand-to-hand combat. Correspondingly, when I use the spiritual spear, there's no additional attack power. "
Li Shuyi suddenly understood. Hand-to-hand combat had the fastest attack speed. Even a dagger had to be ranked behind a fist.
"But Delifa is still very powerful. She has a spiritual weapon passive. Her normal attacks have additional shadow damage. Her melee specialty is so strong. If only her Strength and Dexterity were higher, "Li Shuyi said.
Bai Xiaowen shook his head with a smile. Delifa was only using the Soul Catcher's body as a carrier. There were restrictions in terms of attributes.
Bai Xiaowen recalled that Delifa had used the spear to hit the second snow wolf. In fact, it was not a standard attack. Delifa had only used the first attack to pull back the spear. It had nothing to do with the attack speed (the interval between attacks).
This was the power of a high-level combat specialty. It could control the rhythm of a battle. Even with low Dexterity, one could still be a melee expert.
[Hmm … Delifa's swinging skills are very good. This time, she faced a snow wolf. Next time, when she faces a humanoid creature, especially a male … it seems like she'll have an advantage?] Bai Xiaowen's super brain was mischievous for 0.1 seconds.
With a plop, the beast corpse fell in front of Bai Xiaowen and interrupted Bai Xiaowen's free thoughts. He lowered his head to check.
It was a snow saber-toothed tiger.
Bai Xiaowen had asked Delifa to drive away the snow wolves and bring the saber-toothed tiger's corpse here for a reason. The saber-toothed tiger was a Boss creature. Even if it was not an adult, it was still an Elite. It was much more powerful than two normal snow wolves. It was impossible for it to die in the mouth of a wolf.
In other words, the saber-toothed tiger was killed by other creatures.
Bai Xiaowen turned the saber-toothed tiger's corpse over and found a bloody hole in its abdomen. It had been frozen by ice and snow.
"It was penetrated. Even its intestines were torn." Bai Xiaowen stood up and exhaled. "I can't accurately determine the time of death. However, judging from the food residue in its stomach, it should have died within the last few hours."
"This kind of wound should be man-made … It looks like some kind of spear throwing weapon. The wound is charred. When it was thrown, it should have some kind of flame energy. "Li Shuyi also expressed his judgment.
Bai Xiaowen nodded slightly, took back Delifa, and continued to move forward with Li Shuyi.
However, when they were near the top of the mountain and were about to reach the monastery, Bai Xiaowen's expression changed slightly. He motioned for Li Shuyi to stop.
"There are people ahead."
Bai Xiaowen warned Li Shuyi in a low voice through the team channel. He repeated, "There are many people. I'll send Shadow Assassin to investigate first. "
The two of them half-squatted and hid in a secluded place. Bai Xiaowen steered Shadow Assassin, which was invisible, to quietly sneak over.
Shadow Assassin was Bai Xiaowen's extended eyes. With the shared vision, Bai Xiaowen could clearly see the rows of tents in front of the monastery and the symbol of a lion.
"It's the Imperial Army!"
Bai Xiaowen opened his eyes and whispered, "There are about five to six hundred people … From the fluctuations of the psionic particles, most of them are ordinary, but there are also many elites."
"Why did the Imperial Army suddenly come here?" Li Shuyi asked.
"I don't know. But looking at the actions of these Imperial Army soldiers, they are not protecting the monastery. They are monitoring it. " Bai Xiaowen steered Shadow Assassin to spy on the situation while softly sharing the information he had discovered with Li Shuyi.
"Isn't the Northshire Monastery and the Imperial Army in cahoots? Could it be that they have internal strife … "Li Shuyi rubbed his temples, trying to think of something.
After a while, Li Shuyi let out a long sigh.
His brainstorming failed.
"Xiaowen, why don't we just charge in? It's not the first time we've broken into their camp … "
"Calm down, the situation is still unclear." Bai Xiaowen shook his head. "Don't forget that this mission is an S + elite side mission, and it only requires us to investigate the monastery! What does this mean? The secret hidden in the monastery is more dangerous than S +. If we face it head-on, the difficulty might rise to SS. "
"Okay … Then can we ask Delifa? The Dark Soul Stone came from the Northshire Monastery, and Delifa is the manager of the Dark Soul Stone …"
Bai Xiaowen shook his head. "I've already asked her when this S + elite side mission was activated. A large part of Delifa's memory has been sealed. She can't even remember the origin of the Dark Soul Stone, let alone the monastery. "
"Then what should we do?" After Li Shuyi said this, he complained to himself, "I'm getting lazier and lazier with my brain."
"Let's use the secondary invisibility potion that Kevin gave us."
Bai Xiaowen recalled the shadow assassin and said in a deep voice, "According to my observation, there are no leaders among the Imperial Army at the entrance of the monastery, let alone leaders who specialize in mental strength. Let's be careful. I'll use my mental strength to form a barrier. We should be able to sneak in. "
Li Shuyi nodded, and the two of them got busy.
The two of them had already used the secondary invisibility potion and the mute spell scroll once to sneak into the heavily guarded Northshire City. This time, it did not take much effort to sneak into the monastery's gate.
The two of them maintained their invisibility and sneaked into the monastery's atrium. On both sides of the road, there were armored guards standing quietly with spears. Snowflakes fell on their bodies, but they did not move at all. It was quite a solemn and dignified scene.
Faint voices could be heard coming from the church.
Bai Xiaowen and Li Shuyi looked at each other and quietly turned the corner of the corridor. After shaking off the snowflakes on their bodies and wiping their boots dry, they followed the voice.
In the hall.
"Oh my God! There are so many leaders! "
Bai Xiaowen, who was invisible, could not help but exclaim in the team channel when he saw the scene in the hall.
There were dozens of people in the hall. From the fluctuations of the psionic particles … there were close to ten leader-level experts!
From the seats, there were about three sides to these experts. Bai Xiaowen threw a few insight over to identify the names of these people and gather basic information.
First, there were the hosts, two nuns in nun's clothes.
The old nun sitting in the main seat was wearing tortoiseshell glasses. Her name was Merda. Judging from her position, she should be the dean of the monastery.
The middle-aged nun standing behind the dean of Merda was abnormally strong. Her arms were thicker than Bai Xiaowen's thighs! Bai Xiaowen could not be bothered to observe such a rough aunty.
Next were the guests sitting in the VIP seats. The leader was a young and handsome man in luxurious clothes. His name was Richard Tibron.
"Tibron?" Bai Xiaowen's heart skipped a beat. Wasn't the surname of the royal family of the Lionheart Empire Tibron? This young man was actually the fourth prince of the Lionheart Empire. However, he should have been cleaning up the nobles in Waltram City.
Bai Xiaowen immediately received a notification from the Spiritual Realm.
[The target has disguised himself.]
[Due to unknown interference, you can pay 1,000 psionic points to see through the target's disguise.]
[Warning: If you do so, the target may notice.]
Bai Xiaowen pressed his twitching left eye and chose "No". Regardless of whether the target was Prince Richard Tibron or not, there was no need for him to alert the enemy and expose himself. Facing a room full of high-ranking leaders, Bai Xiaowen's greatest advantage was to hide in the dark.
For the time being, he assumed that this young man was Prince Richard.
Bai Xiaowen's gaze turned to the noble lady sitting beside Prince Richard in the same VIP seat as him.
This was a rather charming woman. Time had not left many traces on her face. Instead, it gave her a more mature charm. She was the fugitive Highlord of the Northshire, Glantis Olisfor.
Although Glantis was also sitting in the VIP seat, she maintained a distance from Prince Richard. She was considered a third party.
Bai Xiaowen's gaze turned to the few leaders standing behind the VIP seats. These leader-level powerhouses were the same as the coarse auntie who was so ugly that she did not have a name. They were the bodyguards of the leader.
"Gloria!" Bai Xiaowen was shocked again. He actually saw this "old acquaintance" behind Prince Richard.
Compared to two years ago, this royal knight captain had clearly become stronger.
However, Gloria's position was a little strange. She stood between Prince Richard and Highlord Glantis.
On Gloria's left side, next to Prince Richard's personal bodyguards, there were two other people, both of whom had leader-level psionic waves. This meant that Gloria was only the third most trusted person in Prince Richard's faction.
On Gloria's right, behind Highlord Glantis stood a middle-aged man with a thin face. He was dressed in coarse clothing. Against the backdrop of the room full of jewels and shiny armor, this man looked very fresh and refined.
Bai Xiaowen also took a second look at the man and used Insight. He was secretly shocked. This man was called Carlisle. Like Gloria, he was also a Level-8 leader. His profession was actually … a Sword Saint! One look and one could tell that he was not someone to be trifled with.
Knock, knock. Prince Richard knocked on the table.
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