Chapter 38: Plants vs. Assassins

Chapter 38: Plants vs. Assassins

Grey hulks of stone littered the ground at the once-borders of the castle, as the mighty structure dissolved into the green earth. Tall grass and lush bushes grew freely around the castle, where few dared to tread due to rumours of ghost sightings. The castle had once held a prominent place in the large Pext Empire, before this split into a handful of imitators such as the Kingdoms of Asuor and Brazekr. As such, myths about the castle's denizens were widespread, and they were still believed to haunt its former grounds. Three guards had been posted around the entrance to the castle ruins, to watch for vandals and warn locals of the risks. One of these guards walked to up Crucis' party, as they approached the ruins.

"Greetings," said Crucis, "We only wish to access the gardens. We were sent by Hiroto."

"You may enter," begun the guard, "Beware, the garden is haunted by Athur's ancient Knights, now known as the six devils! If you go in, prepare for trouble. The power of these Knights has waned over the centuries, so you may be able to fend them off. However, do not take this warning lightly, I have seen them with my own eyes."

"I understand the risks. Who tends the garden? It looks to be in good condition, but these ghosts would surely scare off most gardeners."

"It is rumoured that the ghosts themselves do this. Athur was inspired by the tales of far-off foreign warriors, who abided by a strict code of honour and were often masters of calligraphy, drawing, gardening, furniture arrangement and such arts. He tried to encourage his Knights to do the same.

"The ghosts can appear by harvesting the blood of corpses that they have killed, both in their lives and as ghosts. They are weak when they appear like this, but strong enough for gardening. When strangers appear, however, the ghosts can draw on the vitality of each visitor, and this will make them strong enough to fight. However, it means that they can only appear in as great a number as there are visitors, and must fight one-on-one."Witness the debut of this chapter, unveiled through Ñôv€l--B1n.

"I see. Thank you for the warning."

Crucis motioned his group to enter the ruins, and began to follow them in. He thought wistfully that this task would be easier with a [Necromancer], as their undead servants could dig in the garden and did not have enough vitality for the Knights to fight. However, his team would probably have to fight their way through. Hesitating slightly, he asked the guard, "Why do these Knights appear in the garden, specifically?"

"They were buried there," replied the guard, "They had grown up in this castle, raised as warriors from an early age. The garden was always a source of pleasure for them, and they were buried there to commemorate their life-long service to the Empire."

Crucis thanked the guard, then jogged to catch up with his party. He reached them at the edge of the garden, where the three of them waited and looked in.

"I wish my old dog was here, he would be good at this," sighed Digdugman.

"You're named Digdugman, you should be good at this," teased Crucis.

"Why, yes, and I'm also an old dog."

"Exactly. By the way, being serious, you are in the [Geomancer] sub-class, right? You can probably use some of your powers to make this digging easier."

"Most of my powers will return the earth to where it was before, after I have finished casting them. If I cast them while not in combat, then the spell will automatically finish after a couple of seconds."

"We can still use them to check where the sword is, then dig when we find the swords. As your spells shift the soil, we can scan it to see where the bodies - I mean, swords are buried."

The garden extended across the left side of the castle, sheltered from the world outside by three crumbling stone walls. As they entered, they saw that the garden was well-maintained, with soft, short grass and a variety of flowers planted across the length of the garden. A few strips of soil were barely covered by grass, and Crucis guessed that these were areas that previous swordfighting groups had dug into.

"The sword is probably in one of these places without much grass," he told his party, "so try to focus on searching there."

"What if the Knights appear while we're searching?" asked Digdugman nervously.

"We'll fight 'em off!" said GemsBond bombastically. Crucis chuckled slightly.

"Yeah, but if we get to digging and they attack, they might get the jump on us," replied the Mage, "we'll get mobbed by three opponents at once, and we won't be prepared."

GemsBond nodded matter-of-factly at this.

"Listen, you're right," said Crucis, who bent over and begun plucking pink flowers by harshly tugging the stem apart. "Instead of being surprised by the Knights, let's lure them out and fight them before we begin to search. They keep this garden in order, and it was important to them in their youth, so I'm sure they'll show up if we start pulling it apart."

His partners were taken aback slightly by Crucis' determination to enrage the fearsome ghostly Knights, but DigdugMan sighed as he realised that he had little choice in the matter. He went over to a corner and began tugging lightly at a few small, white flowers, then tossing them to the ground.

Holding up a fist of crushed delicate, pink petals, Crucis said, "Spread out a bit, the fights are one-on-one but it could get awkward if we were bunched together." His partners moved across the large garden to find space, as Crucis used his dagger to break a large plant adorned with many sunflowers, and tossed the array of sunflowers to the ground.

After about a minute, a large billow of dark-grey smoke rose from the ground in the centre of the garden, accompanied with a low, rumbling voice. "Who dares disturb our rest?" it said. Three figures appeared amidst the smoke, dressed in heavily damaged armour. Like the smoke, these figures were all uniformly dark-grey in colour, from their skin to their armour and sword, and were partially transparent.

"Why do you disturb our childhood rest?" said one of their figures, their mouth opening like a black gash.

"Air pollution is bad for the environment," replied Crucis nonchalantly, drawing his [Silver Wasp Sword]. He used [Warding], and prepared a [Wrath strike].

One Knight each charged towards the intruders, with sword raised high. A left-handed Knight, named [Gowein], approached Crucis, preparing a heaving strike from above his right shoulder. However, Crucis' [Wrath strike] snaked out towards the Knight's head, and Gowein's blade met it in half-swing. Stepping forwards, Crucis had used the longer range of the [Wrath strike] to leverage his Agility advantage against this opponent, stepping forwards and extending his sword to prevent the Knight from getting too close. As Gowein's unprepared strike deflected limply backwards after striking Crucis' blade, Crucis stepped forwards and used the opening to [Lunge] at Gowein's face. He struck the Knight right on the face, through a gaping hole in the Knight's broken helmet, and Gowein recoiled violently.

As Gowein approached him again, Crucis attempted a [Rising thrust], but Gowein easily parried it by moving his sword comfortably over Crucis' blade, and Crucis hastily used [Dodge Step] to backstep and avoid Gowein's follow-up thrust at his chest. This reminded him that, even though these Knights had diminished power, they were still based on powerful, experienced Knights and he should not risk loose strikes.

"Anyway, any clue what to expect from the next batch of Knights?"

"Since Ky mentioned Guinevre, it's likely that one will be based on Lancelot. They'll probably be quite difficult. Whoever is facing him should try to stall until the rest of us can help."

Crucis' companions nodded.

"Let's stand apart again, so that we don't get caught in the crossfire once the Knights arrive," said GemsBond.

As the three of them spread across the garden, a plume of smoke erupted from the centre once more. Three more ghostly figures appeared within the smoke, now at level 40. Crucis saw that one was named [Launce], and this figure quickly ran to accost DigdugMan.

"I will make short work of the Mage, if either of you fails then I will fight in your stead after that!" Launce shouted at his comrades.

A Knight named [Triste] approached Crucis, and held his sword relaxedly in Crucis' direction. Crucis attempted a [Slash] from the right; but Triste parried this easily. Triste attempted to raise his own sword and strike at Crucis over the right shoulder, accompanying this with a few steps forwards, but Crucis backstepped and parried in front of his body. Crucis used [Feint] to fake a [Lunge] after the parry, and backstepped out of range as the Knight swerved his blade to parry the feigned attack. Triste continued stepping forwards, and attempted a horizontal cut at Crucis below the chest, but Crucis agilely backstepped with [Dodge Step] and Triste's blade flew through empty air.

Crucis was surprised when Triste began to back off slowly, and figured that the Knight was daring him into an attack. Crucis lowered his ward, pointing his sword downwards in front of him, wondering if this would tempt the Knight to attack. However, Triste merely lowered his sword slightly, and pointed it at Crucis to threaten the Assassin if he should advance. Crucis ventured forwards hesitantly, and used [Rising thrust], but stepped backwards immediately when he felt Triste parry his thrust, and raised the hilt of his blade to ward off Triste's retaliatory cut with a hanging parry.

Crucis glanced at DigdugMan, and saw that the Mage had lowered Launce to 70% HP, but was himself on 45% HP. Frowning, Crucis struck forwards with a long [Wrath strike], but Triste parried high with a swing of his sword, and then attempted to respond with a downwards cut of his own. Crucis easily backstepped out of range of this strike, and, as Triste's sword fell, Crucis twisted his wrist to cut down at Triste's hands from the right. The Knight flinched in pain as Crucis' sword sliced across his skin and drew blood, and Triste let his sword droop towards the floor. Crucis used this opening to step forwards strongly, using his left hand to grab Triste's hands and restrain them, and then delivering a harsh [Slash] to the edge of the Knight's neck across the right side, following this up with a quick [Thrust] that pierced further into the wound. He stepped back after that, as the Knight followed him with a wide slash that flew just short. Triste now had 65% HP remaining.

As Triste ventured forwards, he feinted, pretending to strike at Crucis' head before shifting attention to the Assassin's right leg. Triste's blade cut lightly through Crucis' leg, and Crucis stumbled. Seeing that the Assassin was off-balance, Triste prepared a heavy strike at Crucis' head, but Crucis activated [Speed Demon] to raise Agility and backpedaled hastily away before the Knight could swing. Crucis crouched down in a corner of the garden to regain his balance, quietly picking up some wet soil, then stood up once again. Triste took a few steps forwards, and then attempted the same swing, but Crucis was expecting the strike and easily intercepted the blow with his own sword and ducked down, using [Hard/soft] to soften his blade and let Triste's blade deflect against the walls at the corner of the garden. As Triste's blade hit the walls above Crucis' head, and bounced to the side, Crucis stepped forwards and threw the wet soil in Triste's face. This further disoriented the Knight, as Crucis stepped to the left and slid his sword forwards to strike the Knight with a high [Lunge] to the face that drew plenteous blood. Crucis feinted another strike to the face, causing the Knight to instinctively flinch backwards, but instead grabbed the Knight's sword with [Sword hold] and used [Slash] to deliver a harsh cut to the Knight's hands as they wavered dizzily. As he saw his blade cut into the Knight's hands with a couple of bleeding gashes, reducing the Knight to 20% HP, he followed this up with [Thrash] directed at the wounds. He felt the Knight let go of his sword, so Crucis confiscated the Knight's sword and threw it away.

Facing the swordless Triste, Crucis used [Agile Step] as the Knight attempted to step away, and grabbed the Knight's shoulder to perform a rough [Slice] across the Knight's neck. Pressing his sword forwards across the wound and slowly drawing it to one side, he forced the Knight's head to tilt backwards in order to avoid the blow. Using a [Forceful Kick] on the back of the Knight's feet, he sent Triste tumbling hard to the ground, making a loud noise that gained the attention of the rest of the room. Ignoring the stares of his companions, Crucis kneeled down and used [Half-swording] to stab deeply through the centre of the Knight's exposed ear, and then used [Slice] to draw his sword across the Knight's wounded neck until Triste was dead.

Glancing up, he saw that Launce had retained 40% HP, and was playing cat-and-mouse with DigdugMan by hopping lightly from side to side and threatening to step around an [Earth Shield]. The Mage had only 15% HP remaining, but was preparing a healing spell. Meanwhile, GemsBond was still at about even HP with [Bedwyr], the Knight fighting him, as both had 60% HP.

Crucis knew that Launce would be a skilled swordsman. As Crucis approached the Knight, he used [Feint] to fake a strike at the Knight's head, but backstepped away as soon as he saw the Knight's blade vigorously rising to parry. Launce's sword thrusted upwards with a movement like a striking snake seizing prey, and Crucis realised that this opponent was very strong even in this diminished form. Crucis lowered his blade, as if preparing a low cut, and Launce also lowered his blade to follow. Crucis saw that Launce was smiling lightly, as if pleased that Crucis was reluctant to fight.

"You're wise enough to know your place," taunted Launce.

Crucis laughed slightly, and replied, "You aren't, you should be a swordsman again, not a gardener."

"Oh?" said Launce, seeming a bit surprised. "Well, yes. By the way, I like how your gardening is swordsmanship. All of these broken flowers everywhere, these other so-called 'Knights' will be crying for weeks. You should also be a swordsman, definitely not a gardener." He smiled, teasingly.

"They would be crying more if we found their bones, one of your allies was just begging me not to before I killed him."

Launce laughed. "They would be crying at first, but soon all of your human towns and cities would be crying. If their original stature was restored, so would their bloodthirstiness. My bones are buried deep by the gates at the back of the garden, from the opposite side as the one you came in, by the way.."

Launce comfortably parried a [Slash] from the side by DigdugMan, then sidestepped quickly and shoved the Mage roughly to the ground.

"Your friend here has been playing hard-to-get," said Launce, "Were you planning to have him hold me up until the rest of you could join in?"

"Yes," replied Crucis, seeing no point in lying about it.

"Then let me help!" said Launce, and he swiftly backstepped and swerved around to stab [Bedwyr] through the spine, interrupting his fellow Knight's bout with GemsBond. This removed all of Bedwyr's remaining 23% HP, and he lay on the ground dead, blood spurting out from the spinal wound. GemsBond and DigdugMan looked on in shock.

As GemsBond recovered from his shock, he pointed his sword out superstitiously at Launce, afraid of the Knight after seeing the decisiveness of the killing blow on Bedwyr. The three players surrounded the Knight.

"Thank you. Now surrender," said Crucis, with his blade pointed forwards.

"No, you surrender!" said Launce. Crucis laughed at the gallantry of the statement.

"If you take this bracelet, then it will strengthen you," continued Lancelot, holding out two black, thin bracelets with a long red line around the centre. "However, when we Knights revive at greater strength, you will be on our side against any opposing armies. I will not reveal more of my plans. There are two bracelets here, two of you must wear them. Do you agree, or do you want to fight? You will be waiting a while for your Mage to revive, if you choose to fight."

"I accept your terms," said Crucis, and took the bracelet. He wore it, and saw that it bound to his skin and he could not remove it, like a thin black-red scar.

He waited for the rest of his partners, and saw that DigdugMan also hesitantly accepted a bracelet and wore it.

"Then it is concluded. Enjoy fighting the King, I know I did," laughed Launce, as he bowed and disappeared into the air.

"What a model gentleman," remarked Crucis.