The Amber Sword

Chapter 151 – The curtains rise

The men from the Holy Cathedral of Fire were presumably making a clear path leading to the Loop of Trade Winds, but the unknown monster was chasing after them. Brendel did not have the courage to follow the Holy Cathedral of Fire’s path.

What if the boss became tired of chasing after them and decided to head back instead?

[If this monster patrols the entirety of the outer areas of the Loop of Trade Winds, then it’s a boss that will actively hunt for intruders. If I go by the game’s standards, the closer I get to the center of the Loop of Trade Winds, the more likely the boss will detect me. The more I think about it, the more I feel that impossible problems are going to occur. I need to increase my options.]

The Holy Cathedral of Fire used their elite Grey Knights for scouts. Brendel thought he needed to copy what they did, and he started to think about using the Fireclaw Lizardmen to increase his map awareness. The latter was not exactly dedicated scouts, but it was where the Planeswalker’s system excelled. There were no restrictions on communication and it was real-time. He could easily expand the map range.

In order to make the detection stronger, he even took out the Fireclaw Buglers card out, activated it, and placed them next to the Fireclaw Lancers. No one knew that Brendel’s men increased as the Fireclaw Lizardmen were placed outside the eyes outside of other people.

He then distributed the Wind Spirit Spiders, Fireclaw Lizardmen, Rock Panthers, and the newly summoned wolves around the Centaurs and his men, creating a warning system that had no holes. With nothing left to do, he and the others eventually left the dead men behind.

Time passed quickly and it soon turned to noon. It was the second stage of a Planeswalker’s phase where the cards were shuffled and drawn.

Brendel tapped the Ashen Volcano card to replenish the Fire Element in his Elemental Pool, and he managed to draw a new Vampire Baron card.

[A pity. When the sun is at its brightest, it’s forbidden to use Black cards, or I would have put it into play regardless of the cost. The Vampire Baron is a first class scout because of its speed and short-range flight.]

He finished drawing all the cards and stared at the trees ahead of him. The fog was starting to sink; layers of white mist wrapped around the mountain ridges that prevented visibility. The Gold-rankers had already detected an unstable Element that was increasing rapidly in the air.

The borders of the Sea of Chaos was fluctuating and ebbing. A black Demonic Moon now hung over the sky instead of being silver. Mana began to surge, reaching to a peak level that happened only every thousand years, announcing its presence as though a tidal wave was descending all over the continent with a bellow.

This change was becoming visible by the minute as a sudden drop in temperature could be felt. It only took a few hours before Brendel and the others felt like they were experiencing a harsh winter. The trees and ground were starting to be covered with frost before their very eyes.

“The Calamity of Frost……” Someone muttered subconsciously, and several trembled with fear upon the mention of these words.

It was one of the worst natural disasters in the Dark Forest. The temperature would dip far below zero degrees in the matter of a few hours, and the extreme cold weather would kill any living creatures that were affected within the area if there was no protection.

Monsters were no different.

But since it was the Calamity of Wolves, then there were a particular subspecies that was not affected.

The Winter Wolves.

“Calamity of Frost!” Another repeated the same term, becoming conscious of what it really meant.

“The Calamity of Frost is here!” One of the centaurs took off his necklace in a hurry. A single crystal was adorned in its metallic core, with fine gold strings wrapped around it, and within that crystal was a tiny Fire Seed.

This tiny Fire Seed was unable to create a Sanctuary and convert the land to be under the protection of Mother Marsha, but it was used like a fire torch in the dark. It was capable of turning a small area that was affected by Chaos into a stable land.

Adventurers who ventured deep into the Dark Forest and attempted to reach the Green Tower must bring along this small Fire Seed, or the violent and unstable weather could easily kill any of them. But there were many foolish people amongst them who did not bother to prepare them.

A single pillar of light shot straight into the sky as the centaur activated the Fire Seed.

Black Mana gathered swiftly, as though it was competing against the Fire Seed. The Law of Mother Marsha, ‘Tiamat’, was broken at its outer layer, proving that Chaos was invading it. Blue light flared repeatedly amongst the clouds, as though there was lightning occurring in them.

A Mana Wave had arrived once again.

[We’re going to encounter wolves yet again.]

Brendel also took out a tiny Fire Seed. He obviously did not forget to buy it from the Green Tower before he set out for the Wall of Flowers. He placed it in between his thumb and index finger, uttered a chant, and the sigils on the Fire Seed glowed, emitting intense light.

He raised his hand, and another pillar of light shot into the air. The Fire Seed pulsated, resonating with the Centaurs’ Fire Seed.

Wydall looked at the youth with a raised eyebrow. The Druids had requested him to aid the young human, but the latter was constantly surprising him at every turn. He fought against the wolves as though he had been fighting them all his life, and he even traversed the Dark Forest as though he knew it like the back of his hand.

The third pillar of light fired into the sky, interrupting his thoughts. It belonged to Quinn.

The creation of the tiny Fire Seeds was not difficult, and only cost several thousand Tor Coins or a Fire Agate crystal.

Wydall walked up to the youth, unable to suppress his curiosity: “Have you been to the Dark Forest often?”

But Brendel’s fingers were rubbing over his forehead, which meant that he was thinking deeply.

[The second wave of attack is different from the game! The first wave of wolves belonged to those that moved in the shadows and fog. But the second wave is supposed to be blighted wolves…… There’s a difference here. Why?!]

The walkthrough that he had in his mind had to be remade. It was just a matter of swapping the order to handle the wolves, but he was extremely uneasy because he felt like things were slipping out of his control.

A few bone-chilling snowflakes landed on his face and he shuddered as they melted on his face. His eyes focused. The snowflakes outside the area of their Fire Seeds struck the surroundings as though tiny pebbles were thrown in the sky and rained down. He realized that they melted on his due to the Fire Seeds, not because of his warmth.

“Is this the sign of the second wave of wolves?”

The youth nodded with lips tightly pressed together, and he raised his head: “The Mana Wave is happening before our eyes.”

“Excuse me?” Wydall asked.

“Take a look at the sky. I think you will never see this incredible scene a second time in your whole life.”

The men looked up at Brendel’s indication.

A violent gust of wind suddenly rose from the ground and up into the air, bringing along dirt and vegetation into the air, and merged into the clouds that began to rotate. The hurricane expanded and many people started to shield their faces, while their hair and clothes fluttered heavily.

They stared in awe as the countless tree leaves form into a river that flowed upwards and defied gravity, blotting out the light that was already weakened by the thick clouds. Purple lightning raged across the peak of the clouds as they expanded like a burst dam, but there were no thunders that accompanied them.

A thick pillar of fiery red light shot into the sky, and Brendel guessed that it was the Holy Cathedral of Fire’s Fire Seed. This particular pillar of light seemed like it also called out to the other Fire Seeds that were slumbering; pillars of light reached the sky one after another.

[Orange-red, Kirrlutz. Even though they are supposedly King Gatel’s descendants, the Fire Seed that they possessed doesn’t compare with the purity of the Holy Cathedral of Fire’s Fire Seed. Still, there’s a golden tinge to it, which would certainly allow them to be so proud of their heritage. The light-green pillar of light probably belongs to the Druids. Blue? The Wind Elves are here as well? But they live quite far away from Aouine. Several light reds. Probably a group of knights from some dukedom. The weakest amongst them, colorless and dull, naturally belongs to the adventures and mercenaries that don’t belong to other factions. Around Thirty or forty pillars of light.]

The Fire Seed in Brendel’s hand was created by the Druids, which leaned towards a gentle but strong characteristic.

Still, the number of people in the Dark Forest still surprised Brendel, even when he knew that it was due to the Lionheart. But he also knew that even more were unprepared for the sudden drastic drop in the temperature. These adventurers would perish in the cold.

Hailstones began to fall from the sky followed by heavy snow. It only took several short minutes for the surroundings to turn white.

Brendel took a deep breath. Though his mind was heavy with the unexpected change in the waves of wolves, he felt a hint of excitement. He felt like time was reversing as he recalled the scene of the Mana Wave that he saw in the videos. He was now participating in a war that sought to create new lands.

It was a story that did not belong to him in the game, but now it was.

“Let us continue moving.” He said to Wydall, who ordered his men to move out.

When The Wall of Flowers was in visible range, Brendel discovered that the Fire Seed in that area was dim, but the wolves had not taken down the guard towers at the frontlines. The Druids had managed to repel the first wave of wolves.

Just a few minutes ago, the Fire Seed in the Green Tower was also activated and became something of a lighthouse in the dark. However, only seven out of the twelve watchtowers around the Green Tower activated their Fire Seeds.

A powerful explosion of Mana abruptly flared in the clouds, and the Fire Seed in the Wall of Flowers was extinguished. With this Fire Seed permanently gone, so did the flames of countless lives.

[This is bad. The Wall of Flowers is probably going to be taken down faster than I thought. In the game, it actually managed to last four waves of attacks from the wolves. Valhalla was also able to activate in time, or the wolves would have turned it into ruins.]

“We need to move even faster. The second wave of attacks is about to reach them. The position we’re in isn’t safe either.” Brendel said with a frown.

The Winter Wolves were monsters that had higher levels than the Black Wolves. Even though their numbers were fewer than them, they were definitely much more terrifying. The northern people called the Winter Wolves living in the Dark Forest ‘Spectres of breathing mist and fog’. It was not something that was exaggerated.

“That place—” But Wydall was distracted and lost in his own thoughts as he muttered to himself.

“Ahh.” The youth suddenly realized something.