Chapter 273 Life Cycle 2

Jay watched the awkward human battalion slowly emerge from the root-covered forest and ascend the mounds of roots.

It caused Jay to feel helpless as he had locked himself inside the castle, and he knew that out there, in the forest behind them, an army of eighty knights was marching.

“Surely they’re not here to help me?� Jay smiled.

“I didn’t realize they liked me that much. Huh. I guess I was pretty benevolent for letting them live?�

Jay continued to watch through the arrow slit as the advancing army of knights marched into confrontation with the armor-clad humans.

“Poor bastards.� Jay frowned.

However, there was a sudden change in the humans behavior. They quickly rushed back towards the forest. They dropped torches as they retreated as quickly as they appeared.

“Huh? No fight? What...� Jay said, confused as he furrowed his brows.

“Don’t tell me they were just being greedy? Little bastards...�

Jay left the arrow slit and filled up the staircase with more bones.

“I guess I shouldn’t expect much from weak villagers... or humans. They weren’t coming to save me, they just wanted my crumbs.� Jay said, a sneering smile appearing. A part of him felt silly for even assuming they were coming to help.

“At least they will distract some of them... though it doesn’t really matter now that I’m inside.�

Jay went back to the gate enclosure and checked on the intelligent knights. Also momentarily distracted, they soon had resumed their plotting against Jay.

During this time, Jay had recovered enough mana to add more into the mana well, allowing three skeletons instead of two to rise from it when the time comes.

“Good. Just keep chatting. Keep plotting. Good, good.� He thought, smiling at them like a predator.

The more time they wasted, the more skeletons they would have to deal with, and the more knights Jay could slay.

Yet before Jay gained enough mana to queue a fourth skeleton, the intelligent knights acted.

Each of them split off in different directions, heading to the various passageways within the courtyard, but two of them went up the staircase that the skeletons were holding.

Jay would not sit around and wait, so he continued with his own plan.

(Red, it’s time. Blue, serve me well.)

Red appeared from the other staircase and grabbed another bone, munching it as it came to Jay.

“Let’s move.� Jay said and followed Red into the empty passageway leading through the wall; the opposite passage to the bone well.

In the passage, there were arrow slits in the wall all along the way, giving enough light to see the walls, but as it was dusk, the passage itself was almost pitch-black. The only benefit was it made Jay and Red harder to see as they navigated it as quickly as they could.

However, the darkness wasn’t a problem for Red, but an advantage as its [shade vision] made a mockery of the shadows.

Jay assumed there will be no enemies in these passages, but he readied his death-walker shield, which also had shade vision.

Red creeped forward and Jay followed the sounds of its foot bones against the stone floor, but suddenly Red disappeared in the darkness as it dashed away.

“Damn. Something found us.� Jay thought.

(Red, if there’s only one, don’t let it escape.)

Jay moved forward slowly, and his shield squeezed his arm.

Something was here.

Cautiously moving to the side of the passage away from the arrow slits, Jay concealed himself in the darkness and readied his sword.

Familiar sounds of armored boots approached.

“Sounds like there’s only one.� Jay thought.

A subtle shine of armor passed by the light coming through one arrow slit, and Jay could tell it was alone - but where did Red go?

*Shring!*

[115 Exp]

Sounds of crashing armor filled the empty passage before silence returned.

“There’s Red.� Jay nodded.

Red returned and guided Jay to the enemy corpse. It was a knight wielding a sword and shield, meaning it was of the intelligent variety.

Jay continued past, moving deeper into the castle, but now he had a problem. Discovering the dead body would be a matter of time, as the other knights would notice it was missing.

“Damn. I didn’t want them to know we came through here, and the corpse will probably cause a search to be conducted on this side of the castle.� He frowned.

“We’ll just have to keep moving. It was only a matter of time, anyway.�

Jay and Red pressed on through the passageways, going through the wall. They passed by a few stairs and ladders going up and down, but they only led to the top of the wall, while others led to empty rooms and pits; some filled with siege ammunition, while others featured more arrow slits for archers to fire through.

Jay received a few more exp notifications from knights dying, but no skeletons had fallen yet.

After a few investigations, Jay stopped exploring these areas, saving his time. The duo encountered no more knights until they came to another passage branching off the one they were walking through, away from the wall.

“This is it. The entrance to the castle.�

The new passage was much taller and had a decorative arch as its entrance. A faint leaf-green glow came flowing out of the passage, and two dark silhouettes stood guard.

“Two more knights. Damn. But are they the lesser or intelligent type?� Jay wondered.

Not wanting to walk endlessly through the dark wall passageway anymore, Jay decided it would be better to fight.

Since Red was proficient at piercing their spines, and held an advantage in the darkness, Jay decided to be the bait.

“Hmm, but if one turns to get backup... well, we better not let that happen.�

Jay had his helminth leave his body, entering its natural bone form. It couldn’t dig into the earth, but it could still slither around.

Red remained in the darkness, while Jay quickly dashed past the entrance, appearing only as a brief blur in the light and entering the darkness on the other side.

It was too fast for the knights to tell what they had just seen, and so, they came to investigate.

One waited at the entrance while the other entered the passage, going after Jay. It wasn’t ideal, but it was within Jay’s control.

Unfortunately, it was wielding a one-handed sword, a sign that it was of the parasite-filled lesser knight variety. It was a problem for Jay to fight them, but made things far more simple if they were stupid.

The knight stepped into the darkness, but Jay was ready for it. Without warning, he bashed his shield against it, causing it to stumble back into the light.

The second knight readied its weapon and charged into the darkness too, yet Jay ran further into the passage.

[115 Exp]

Red lunged forwards, not delaying any longer.

The first knight which stumbled backwards received a sword severing its spine.

The helminth slipped past, speeding towards the second knight.

The second knight didn’t even notice its ally had fallen as it aimlessly swung its sword, trying to connect its blade with Jay.

Suddenly it stumbled forwards.

Something caught around its feet.

Looking down, all it saw was some hollow green eyes, barely glowing in the darkness; a snapping sound, and suddenly a blast of chaotic energy assaulted its helmet as a glaring light filled its vision.

The helminth used its ensnare ability and punished the knight with a necrotic bolt, but it would only stall it for so long.

Thankfully, help came as another shield bash smashed on the knight.

The second knight stumbled back and could only fall over because of the bone parasite wrapping up its legs.

Jay didn’t fear any parasites getting on his shield, as it had mana-burn. Anything touching it would lose all mana, and if no mana was left, health would drain instead, killing whatever dared to touch it.

Red finally came to finish the job. The knight was lying on its back, so it plunged its sword through a gap in the neck.

Jay stood back, letting his two minions finish it.

“No need to take the risk.� Jay shrugged.

[115 Exp]

(Make sure you kill any parasites trying to leave their bodies)

Red stomped around for a moment as Jay entered the lighted passageway, glad to have vision again.

Oddly, Jay’s mind drifted back to the Losla adventurers. “They would lose their minds if they knew I was infiltrating a parasite-filled castle with my undead.� he smiled.

Stepping into the light, it caused Jay to wonder what he would have to kill to escape this place, while his quest was to save.

While killing and saving seemed like opposites, they could be closely related under the right circumstances.

“I must be close to something important if there're guards here.� He glanced over the corpses behind him, “Well, were guards here.�