Chapter 205: Phantom In White

{ONLY_ THE_ KING_ CAN_ TAKE_ THE_ SWORD_ FROM_ THE_ STONE!}

Only the King can pull the sword out of the stone.

This… isn’t this the bloody infamous Sword in the Stone?!

Chen Xiaolian gave a wry smile.

But… didn’t it said that this is a Historical Type instance dungeon?

You said this is a ‘Historical Type’ oyy!

Even though legend of the Sword in the Stone is an infamous one… but, but that is not true history argh!

That is just a bloody legend, man!

In true history, there is no Sword in the Stone!

Naturally, this did not mean that Chen Xiaolian was unable to accept a storyline that was not truly historical.

The instance dungeons that he had participated before this, be it the 72 Demon Pillars or the Tokyo instance dungeon, they had nothing to do with reality.

The problem lied in the fact that this time’s London instance dungeon had given the prompt: Historical Type!

In the earlier random quest with Jack the Ripper, the storyline was created using true events that occurred within history as a template.

At present, it suddenly took a different turn… and it came up with this Sword in the Stone?

Again, that was not to say that storyline involving legends was something unacceptable. However, what Chen Xiaolian had prepared for was real history of the UK.

However, this bloody legend of King Arthur suddenly popped out.

System, are you pulling a prank on me?

The story of King Arthur itself was a legend. However, there were presently so many versions of it; the number could be compared to the number of fur on an ox. How was anyone to figure out which?

Only God knew which one the system had selected to use as template for this storyline.

If they end up meeting Arturia Pendragon after going in to search for this Sword in the Stone, then what [1]?

“Would Arturia Pendragon really pop out?” Chen Xiaolian smiled wryly in secret.

Considering the outrageousness of the system and how it managed to cook up The Mech in the last Tokyo instance dungeon…

For it to cook up Saber in this London instance dungeon… did not seem improbable!

“Enter the Tower of London and find the thing of legend.” Chen Xiaolian calmed himself down and said slowly, “Obviously, this thing of legend should be the ‘Sword in the Stone’, the so-called sword of the King.”

“We have until the first ray of dawn,” said Tian Lie as he checked the time. “It is presently slightly over eleven o’clock. We have a few hours before dawn arrives.”

“The process involved will certainly not be easy,” said Chen Xiaolian. He stood at the edge of the street and regarded the palace area of the Tower of London… at night; it appeared as though it was a place capable of devouring humans.

…

“Still can’t find Jean?”

There was a grim expression on Culkin’s face. He stood on the rooftop, observing London that was wreathed in night.

Lei Hu who was standing behind him shook his head. “Sasha has taken control of all the surveillance cameras in London. But, he still could not find Jean…”

Culkin suddenly turned around and whispered, “Tell Sasha to give it up.”

“Give… give up?” Lei Hu was shocked. “But Jean is our companion after all…”

“It’s been over 48 hours.” There was a layer of coldness upon Culkin’s face. “It someone had made a move against him… 48 hours, it is likely that Jean is already dead. Additionally… Sasha is an expert who can hack into London’s surveillance system. For him to be incapable of finding Jean, I suspect that the one who made a move against him possess an ability similar to Sasha’s, the ability to control mechanical or electronic instruments.”

He sighed and turned to Lei Hu. “We still have our quest to complete. We cannot waste too much time.”

Pausing, he suddenly said, “Right, did anything else happen today?”

“The police are still investigating the serial murders case. I suspect… this might have been triggered by some storyline that certain game participants are involved in.”

“Hmm, keep an eye on that.” Culkin kneaded his forehead and said slowly, “If there is no need, we do not want to make contact with other game participants. Just do what we need to do properly… remember my words, stay in the dark forever. That way, we’ll be able to see things clearly.”

…

They entered past the outer walls of the Tower of London – for Chen Xiaolian and his group, it was not something difficult. However, Tian Lie chose to reveal his ability.

Chen Xiaolian saw him move toward the surveillance and alarm equipment that was set up on the outside before pressing his arm upon their surface. The surveillance equipment quickly lost power and the surveillance cameras were lowered down.

Could it be? This fellow’s ability is the same a Roddy: Mechanical Heart? Chen Xiaolian speculated.

“Let’s go.” Tian Lie smiled widely and he took the initiative to move in the front. He did not mind leaving his back to Chen Xiaolian and appeared devoid of any state of vigilance.

This action of his caused Chen Xiaolian to feel perplexed…

This fellow, he could put so much trust in some strangers that he had just encountered?

Is he simply reckless, or… did he have that much confidence in his strength?

At that instant, a burst of “shuo shuo” sounds could be heard from behind. Chen Xiaolian turned his head to look…

In the night, a flock of black ravens with glistening feathers flew over and landed upon the branches of some trees.

One of the ravens perching atop a tree turned its head over. It quietly observed the group of people who were entering the Tower of London in the night…

"I hate this atmosphere," Chen Xiaolian muttered.

…

The Tower of London was, in fact, a castle-styled building with a dense number of towers.

There was a militarized tower defence system in its perimeter.

The area that Chen Xiaolian and his group entered was the building attached to the Tower of London, the Crown Jewels Exhibition hall – it was also the most famous place in the Tower of London.

They walked into the Crown Jewels Exhibition hall. In the darkness, the huge hall was completely silent.

The architecture of everything inside was typical of the Norman style: Thick stone walls and small windows. Even during the day, it was likely that not much light would be able to come inside, much less at night.

A thick round pillar stood within the hall and the whole building was shaped in a square.

They walked into the Crown Jewels Exhibition hall. Before Chen Xiaolian could say anything, Jean, who was beside Tian Lie blurted, “Buildings build by the people of the UK are all so rigid. If this was built by us French, we would have made this a work of art.”

Tian Lie did not say anything. He simply walked in the front.

The Crown Jewels Exhibition hall was an exhibition hall opened for the public.

There were various square shaped glass cabinets within the hall. All of them contained precious objects belonging to the royalty.

However, the thick walls and the small windows, in addition to the fact that it was night gave the interior of the hall a grim and depressing atmosphere.

“Hey, look at those glass cabinets. Don’t they seem to resemble coffins? Under such circumstances… ha ha ha,” Tian Lie suddenly turned to Chen Xiaolian and cracked a joke.

The corners of Chen Xiaolian’s mouth twitched. He had to admit, Tian Lie’s words were fairly true, but…

“That joke is not funny,” Chen Xiaolian replied coolly. “We should look carefully. Try to see if the Sword in the Stone is here. This is where they place the objects belonging to the royalty.”

As they searched, Tian Lie appeared to be deliberately following beside Chen Xiaolian and they carefully searched each of the glass cabinets.

There were many extraordinary objects there. There were the sceptres that signified the royal authority, the crowns, royal swords…

They carefully checked the royal swords for a long time. However, they did not find the legendary Sword in the Stone among them – at least, none of them appeared to resemble the Sword in the Stone.

The royal swords placed on display there came with a text description. After looking at one of them, Chen Xiaolian sighed. “Not this one… this is the royal coronation sword gifted to the King of England by the Bishop of England, not the Sword in the Stone.”

“Quick, look over here!” Bei Tai, who was standing nearby, suddenly called out.

Standing before a glass cabinet, he pointed toward the treasure placed inside it.

It was a crown! Beside it was a cross studded with a ruby – Chen Xiaolian came over and read the text description and said, “This is Queen Victoria’s crown.”

“Victoria? The one who does *** ?” Bei Tai snickered.

Chen Xiaolian glanced at him and replied, “You need to go read up more when you return home, bro.” Pausing for a moment, he smiled wryly and said, “Queen Victoria, the greatest Queen in the history of the UK.”

After saying that, he pointed at a sceptre placed beside it and said, “This should be the most expensive one. See that diamond embedded inside it? That is the legendary Star of Africa, the largest diamond in the world.”

Bei Tai’s eyes shone and he raised a tactical flashlight to shine it upon the object. Under the rays of light from the tactical flashlight, the Star of Africa glittered brilliantly.

Bei Tai appeared moved by it. He swallowed his saliva and said, “Good stuff! That… can we take it away?”

Chen Xiaolian was shocked. Lun Tai stepped forward, gave his younger brother a slap, and smiled as he said, “Are you in serious need of money? Or are you already prepared to be pursued by the UK royalty and the whole world? Even if you did take this thing away, you won’t be able to take it out. Once someone catches sight of it, it will stir up countless troubles.”

Bei Tai was somewhat saddened. He looked at the sceptre with reluctance and said, “Err… even if I don’t get to take it out, I can still admire it at home whenever I have nothing to do.”

“Don’t think about nonsensical stuff.” Lun Tai dragged Bei Tai away.

As for Chen Xiaolian, he was attracted by another object within the Crown Jewels Exhibition hall.

"Do you know this item?"

Tian Lie had, at an unknown time appeared beside Chen Xiaolian. Chen Xiaolian turned around to glance at him before nodding his head.

In the cabinet before them was a gold bottle. A gold spoon was set down beside it.

“Holy oil,” said Chen Xiaolian as he regarded the bottle. He thought about it. “The mark of the Holy Spirit’s grace… this thing is of a higher class compared to holy water.”

He said with a sigh, “Unfortunately, this is the UK. If this is the Vatican… I would take it! A holy oil bottle from the Vatican would probably be the most effective against those evil-type creatures.”

Tian Lie looked at Chen Xiaolian and he suddenly broke into a smile. “For you to be saying that, it seems you have encountered some evil-type creatures? Could it have been during the previous random quest?”

Chen Xiaolian looked at him and asked him instead, “What about you? In this London instance dungeon, what quest did you do earlier?”

“Kill a few people and did a few things, nothing special.” Tian Lie shrugged his shoulders.

Then, Tian Lie changed the topic of conversation. “From the looks of it, the UK’s royal family does not have much items here… this place is neither big nor small, but it only has so little items. It seems there are not many royal crown jewels.”

Chen Xiaolian smiled. “The items displayed here are all items with historical values. It would be more accurate to say that there are more cultural relics here than real crown jewels… the royal family would never display all their crown jewels here.

“Besides…”

Pausing, Chen Xiaolian said slowly, “This may be the fault of Oliver Cromwell. Back then, when that Lord Protector overthrew the royal family, he gave the order to sell off many of the royal family’s treasures in order to raise funding for the military.

“A large portion of it was scattered among the people. Hell knows where they might have ended up. Who knows, some of them could be secretly hidden within a grand collector’s treasure room.

“The royal family have been trying to recover them. But after hundreds of years, they were only able to buy back a small portion of what was lost.”

“It seems you did your homework.” Tian Lie looked at Chen Xiaolian.

Chen Xiaolian glanced back at Tian Lie and said, “This is a Historical Type instance dungeon after all. Some information gathering is essential.”

Tian Lie remained silent for a moment. Then, he said, “Oh? So… about this Sword in the Stone, what do you know about it?”

“Quite a bit,” replied Chen Xiaolian. Then, he suddenly laughed. “Though, I fear it is all useless.”

“… … ?” Tian Lie looked on curiously at Chen Xiaolian.

Chen Xiaolian suddenly frowned. He narrowed his eyes and stared intently at Tian Lie. “Mr Conan, you… you should be a Briton, right? As a Briton, could it be that you do not know about the legend of your own nation? This Sword in the Stone is the UK’s most famous legend.”

Tian Lie was stunned for a while. Then he laughed out and answered, “I don’t read much, all right?”

His reply left Chen Xiaolian utterly speechless.

However, Chen Xiaolian quickly calmed down. He watched as Tian Lie turned around and walked away. Then, he suddenly said in a low tone of voice, “You are not a Briton.”

“… … …” Tian Lie halted his steps.

Chen Xiaolian slowly continued, “Although your attire and appearance look a lot like a Briton, I am certain that you are not.”

“Why so?” Tian Lie turned around. He narrowed his eyes as he looked at Chen Xiaolian.

“Just now, you wondered why there was so little objects here… I believe that Britons would not be so unfamiliar with this place. You know too little about your own nation’s history. Besides, even if we ignore that, how could you not know about the legend of the Sword in the Stone?”

“What about it?” Tian Lie said with indifference. “Does my origin have anything to do with our cooperation to complete this quest?”

“… … …” Chen Xiaolian was silent for a bit. Surprisingly, he did not choose to pursue the matter. Instead, he said coolly, “It appears not.”

“There you have it.” Tian Lie shook his head and said, “I will not pry into your secrets. Please don’t ask me about mine.”

After saying that, Tian Lie turned around and shouted out to Jean, Lun Tai and Bei Tai who were checking out the other areas.

“Let’s go. I think the Sword in the Stone is definitely not here… the system will not give us a quest with such a low level of difficulty. We will not be able to find it right from the start. It must be hidden somewhere that is not easy to find.”

Tian Lie and Jean moved in the vanguard position and they walked toward the other passageway situated beside the Crown Jewels Exhibition hall.

Chen Xiaolian waited for Bei Tai and Lun Tai to come up beside him. Then, he silently contacted them using the guild channel.

"Be careful with this Conan ... he's weird."

…

The core building of the Tower of London was naturally the famed White Tower.

The place was originally a military fortress, built in the typical style of the Normans. It was a square-shaped military fortress surrounded by a formation of towers.

Modern metal doors were constructed into the passageways connecting the towers together. However, with Tian Lie in their group, they were able to easily open those doors.

Seeing that increased the suspicion in Chen Xiaolian that this Conan fellow’s ability might be something similar to Roddy’s Mechanical Heart.

He was simply a humanoid master key.

The White Tower was shaped in a square with a height of up to nearly 30 metres. There were three floors and two walls surrounding it.

Chen Xiaolian and his group approached the White Tower through the peripheral area.

They approached the White Tower by going through a lawn yard on the left.

During that time, they could hear the unbearable sound of cawing coming from the ravens perched upon the distant trees.

Occasionally, there would be the sound of something flying about.

“This place looks just like a graveyard,” Bei Tai grumbled. “Only a cemetery will have this many crows.”

“Those are ravens,” said Chen Xiaolian. After thinking about it for a moment, he suddenly smiled out. “Although, it is not wrong to say that this is a cemetery.”

“What?” Bei Tai turned to look at Chen Xiaolian before turning around to observe the surroundings. “This is really a cemetery?”

“No… more accurately, this is the guillotine.”

“… … …”

Chen Xiaolian observed the ravens in the distant trees and said slowly, “This is not an ordinary guillotine. This was made specifically for the execution of those with distinguished statuses, nobles and members of the royal family. I recall reading about it. Those who died here were all prominent figures in history.”

Bei Tai shrank his neck and exhaled. “Son of a bitch! What bad luck! We just finished off that Jack the Ripper and now we ended up in this ghastly place… say, this quest, would we also end up encountering vengeful spirits?”

Bei Tai’s face was contorted as he continued, “We don’t have any firearms that could work against vengeful spirits.”

Likewise, the same expression could be seen on Chen Xiaolian’s face.

If they were to encounter vengeful spirits again… or another Jack the Ripper like the forensic doctor, Colombo, one who could utilize black magic to manipulate dead spirits…

He did not have any good methods against that.

Bai Qi had already been summoned once. Within the next twenty-four hours, they should forget about putting their hopes on Bai Qi.

If so…

At that moment, for some unknown reason, or perhaps their actions of walking through the lawn triggered the flock of ravens perching atop the trees…

The flock of ravens suddenly released a burst of “shuo shuo” sounds and flew up in unison. Then, they flew around the lawn in a circle!

The goose bumps inducing sounds of “caw caw caw caw” descended down upon them from the sky.

Hearing those sounds in the dead of the night caused a chill to run down their spines!

Bei Tai was unable to restrain himself and he pulled out a gun and pointed it up the sky. Then, after considering the situation, he kept the gun and spat out, “Damn it, if not for the concern that I might alert others… if only I knew, I would have brought bow and arrows! Damnable crows!”

“The ravens are the symbol of luck for the UK royalty,” said a smiling Chen Xiaolian. “The UK’s royal family believes in a legend. They believe that the raven is a divine bird. Should the day come when the ravens disappear from the Tower of London, then their kingdom will perish. Thus, these ravens are usually treated as darlings and there will be some special people to feed them.”

Hearing the grating sounds of “caw caw”, Bei Tai could not help but utter out a laugh. “Divine bird? The UK’s royal family sure have special taste!”

The three of them smiled as they discussed it and they quickly moved through the lawn toward the outer wall of the Tower of London.

Tian Lie had already opened up the door to the tower. He waved to the three of them.

Chen Xiaolian stepped forward quickly. He observed Tian Lie and the tower standing behind him.

At that instant, Chen Xiaolian’s face suddenly contorted violently!

In that short moment, he seemed to have caught sight of a white coloured shadow!

The figure appeared human in shape, and it wore white robes… although he only caught a glimpse, Chen Xiaolian was certain that he did not make a mistake!

It seemed that… on the second floor of the tower, in a corner of a certain corridor, a white coloured dress had flashed by!

Although its movement was as fast as the wind, it was clearly the silhouette of a woman!

The late night, the darkness brought by the night, the ancient castle and the ravens…

The figure of the woman in white flashed through the corner of the corridor…

A burst of cold wind blew forward and Chen Xiaolian abruptly felt a chill within his heart!

“You guys… did you see that?”

“What?” asked Lun Tai.

“… … …” Chen Xiaolian stared at the second floor of the tower and hesitated for a moment. Just as he was about to tell them what he just saw…

At that instant, a peculiar sound entered into Chen Xiaolian’s ears.

“He he he he ah…”

It was a woman’s voice.

The sound of soft laughter was inexplicably eerie and it seemed to have directly entered Chen Xiaolian’s ears!

Chen Xiaolian’s body promptly stiffened and he quickly summoned out Fearless War Axe and gripped it in his hands!

“Guild Leader?” The two brothers, Lun Tai and Bei Tai saw how Chen Xiaolian had suddenly summoned out his weapon, looking as though he was facing a powerful enemy. They asked, “What is it?”

“… didn’t you fellows hear that?” Chen Xiaolian’s expression grew more distorted. “That laughing sound.”

“… what laughing sound?” There was a perplexed expression on both Lun Tai and Bei Tai’s faces.

Chen Xiaolian’s expression flickered. He clenched down hard on his teeth and said, “Just now…”

Before he could finish what he wanted to say, his ears heard the sound again!

“He he he he ah…” The gentle laughter seemingly carried strange rhythm with it. However, it brought no pleasing thoughts with it. Instead, it only brought a chill down one’s spine!

Additionally, this time around, the sound of laughter that Chen Xiaolian heard was not soft.

After the burst of laughter was over, one word after another entered Chen Xiaolian’s ears.

It was a woman’s voice, filled with mournful resentment.

“My neck… hurts so much… he he he he…”

Chen Xiaolian’s face stiffened!

…

The moment they saw the twisted expression on Chen Xiaolian’s face, both Lun Tai and Bei Tai became aware that something was not right. The two of them quickly stood beside Chen Xiaolian, one on the left and the other on the right. They vigilantly surveyed their surroundings.

“Guild Leader? What is it exactly?” Lun Tai said in a low voice.

“I heard a voice,” said Chen Xiaolian with a sigh. “It was a woman’s voice… you fellows did not hear it?”

“No.” Bei Tai shook his head.

Chen Xiaolian raised his hand to point at the second floor of the tower and said, “Just now, I saw a white shadow flash by over there!”

Bei Tai had wanted to interrupt him. However, Lun Tai who had a vigilant look on his face pressed his hand down on Bei Tai’s shoulder and whispered, “Don’t interrupt Guild Leader when he is talking! En… Xiaolian, what else? What else did you discover?”

“There is woman speaking into my ears.” Chen Xiaolian’s expression turned baffled. “She said… her neck hurts a lot.”

The atmosphere turned eerie!

At the same time, the cawing sounds from the ravens descended from the skies in bursts…

…

1 Arturia Pendragon is one of the main characters in the Fate anime series. She is the female version of King Arthur and plays the role of Saber. On a different note, the sword she wields is called Caliburn. I was tempted to just type in Caliburn for Sword in the Stone. But for now, I’ll stick to the literal translation of ‘Sword in the Stone’. ↩