Summoning the Holy Sword

Specks of pale flames lined up along the dim canopied passageway. Di ambled and gazed at the scene filled with an aura of death and sadness before him. The young Vampire presented a vague smile, at the same time, stretching out his slender, pale fingers and arranged his cuffs, collar, and the hem of his attire. Sinister-looking stone statues could be seen curling up above the eaves on both sides of the path. As the footsteps approached, their empty eyes glowed with faint spiritual radiance. However, they quickly faded into pitch-darkness after spotting Di’s arrival.

Di flattened every crease on his attire meticulously like a robot. When he arrived at the heavy stone door at the end of the path, he hung his arms by the side of his body. The Dark Elf clad in steel armor standing by the stone door puckered his brows while resting his hand on the dagger hilt by his waist. He scanned the uninvited guest from top to bottom. After a few seconds, he gestured to his companion and they saluted respectfully before making way with their heads lowered. Deep rumbles sounded as the tightly shut stone door opened gradually. At this moment, the smile on the Vampire’s face vanished and was replaced by a stern expression.

A deep, hoarse voice sounded as though from the bottom of the graveyard. “I didn’t expect that you bats would actually head out for visits… Rascal, what do you have for me?”

“Your Honorable Sir Nefarian.” Di lowered his head immediately and bowed deeply to the darkness. “I’m really sorry to visit you while you’re busy. Please pardon my rudeness. I wouldn’t have come and disrupted your peace if it weren’t for something important. This is related to you, Sir, so…”

“Cut the crap. Get straight to the point,” the mysterious voice interrupted harshly.

Di’s words came to an abrupt stop and his expression remained unperturbed as though he wasn’t the one getting interrupted. After all, the presence before him wasn’t someone who a small Vampire like Di could argue with. It was the strongest out of the Four Legendary Generals and the most reputable presence among them, the ‘Spirit Chaser’ Balende. Nefarian could be said to be the protector of the Country of Darkness. Although the Country of Darkness was a nation of immortals, death wasn’t actually rare in this place. Of course, almost all the deaths were abnormal and unnatural in nature.

After experiencing countless conspiracies, schemes, assassinations in the thousands of years, it proved how powerful and terrifying Nefarian was to still be one of the Four Legendary Generals. No one knew exactly how long Nefarian had existed for. Rumors said that he had been protecting generations after generations of Dark Dragons loyally even before the Four Legendary Generals existed. Di knew that no ordinary presence could deal with such a formidable presence. There were also several ‘pioneers’ who had challenged the ‘Spirit Chaser’, but they weren’t successful at all. Those that issued the challenges had all died and he still existed as though he would live on forever.

But Di was different.

“Yes, Sir. I’m truly sorry for my rude behavior… But this matter is indeed related to you. This is how it goes, Sir. I have received orders from Royal Highness Ashvril to investigate the Munn Kingdom and I’ve unintentionally discovered the murderer of your student, Sir Vulture. This is extremely important, so I didn’t dare take matters into my own hands. That is why I’m reporting this to you. According to my investigations, I’m sure that the highly reputable ‘Mercenary Noble’ in the Munn Kingdom, Rhode Alander, is the culprit,” Di lowered his head. Even though there was no response, Di didn’t reveal a single trace of annoyance on his face. He continued to lower his head and waited patiently for a response. After a few moments, Di heard a snort. “Alright. Get lost now.”

Without the methods of accomplishing missions and clearing dungeons to gain EXP, Rhode could only use the most mainstream and primitive way to strengthen himself—grinding monsters. Coincidentally, there was a location with wild monsters between level 40 to 60 along the way. Although the monsters were high in level, they weren’t as difficult to deal with as the Elite monsters in dungeons. Grinding higher-level monsters would give him a lot more EXP and the location was near the Land of Chaos, which increased the respawn rate. This was why Rhode planned to strengthen himself on the way there and also level up the little mermaid. He welcomed Anne in strengthening herself since she was willing. After all, it would be much more efficient to get into battles than to sleep the whole day.

However, Rhode was surprised that there was also an unexpected guest apart from Anne.

It was Lize.

Rhode felt curious because Lize wasn’t the type who liked to head out for adventures. She would normally be by his side when he requested. After she heard Anne request to join Rhode into the Elf Dominion, whiteness spread across her face and lifted her hand to request the same.

After the ‘accident’ that day, Lize had been behaving awkwardly whenever she met Rhode and Canary. She would blush, stutter, and consciously avoid them. Rhode couldn’t do anything about it because this was Lize’s nature. On the other hand, Anne was entirely different. Although she had also witnessed the scene, she behaved as per usual the next day as though nothing had happened. However, Lize couldn’t do that. After all, time was the best cure for everything. As long as Rhode gave her enough time, perhaps she would recover from it.

But he didn’t expect Lize to make such a surprising move…

Rhode sensed that the young lady hadn’t untied the knot in her heart. Although she took the initiative to join Rhode on the adventure, she had been avoiding him and spoke more to Anne instead as though she was nervous.

It’s really hard to guess what women are thinking.

“Leader! Leader!” Anne skipped to Rhode and hugged his arm passionately. “Anne is tired! How much longer do we need to reach the Elf Dominion?”

“Don’t worry.” Rhode gazed at her and shook his head. “If we continue at this pace, it will take about three days. But I want to inform you beforehand that their social custom is different from human society, so you must be careful with your behavior. Also, the uneven road to the Elf Dominion will be filled with dangers and troubles. I hope you’re ready for it.”

“Of course, Leader!” Anne brandished her shield proudly before clasping to Rhode’s arm once more. “With Anne around, there will not be any problems!”

No one noticed that Lize had lowered her head with a complicated expression while her eyes revealed a glint of the worries deep in her heart.